adapted

Since I had most of the ingredients, I rried Jalna's sister, Dd's Ume Sesame Seed Dressing.

Dd's Ume Sesame Seed Dressing

1-2 Tablespoons umeboshi paste, 4 umeboshi seeds, removed** and chopped into a paste

1 Tablespoon water**

6 tablespoons white sesame seeds

6 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon agave nectar

2 teaspoons sesame seed oil

2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated

1.5 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Remove umeboshi from seeds, chop into a paste. Set aside. 

Place umeboshi seeds in a small mixing bowl along with water. 

Rub seeds in water to remove any excess paste. Reserve.

In a small skillet over low heat toast sesame seeds. 

When seeds begin to pop, immediately remove from heat. 

Grind toasted sesame seeds with a mortar and pestle until a fine powder forms. 

Transfer to a mixing bowl.

Remove umeboshi seeds from water. 

Add that water and remaining ingredients into bowl and whisk vigorously to bring to desired consistency.

Optional to combine all ingredients into a food processor and puree to desired consistency

Makes approximately 1.5 cups

NOTES: been trying to use the ume that I have in my freezer from when I made umeshu

Since my ume isn't salty and probably not as sour as umeboshi, I added a pinch of salt and also used ume vinegar instead of rice wine vinegar

Instead of agave, I used honey

We enjoyed this on poached chicken salad...it was more sesame than ume but there is a little tangy-ness every so often...it might be because I didn't use umeboshi...

I'll try the other ume dressing recipe Jalna posted and re-try this one using umeboshi after we finish this batch.

Thanks for sharing Jalna!

super cheap eats

I don’t know about you but whenever I see a discount sticker on stuff, I almost always buy it...

like this bento from Origin, it had a 30% off sticker on it.

2 pieces of fried fish, 1 chikuwa tempura, a little kinpira and 16 grain rice with nori and katsuobushi

360 yen - 30% plus 8% tax...272 yen total.

I wished they had given a little more kinpira but cannot grumble too much, this was super cheap eats!

This bento would be too small for Satoshi but it was the right size for me

sasacho brewing

Finally got to try Sasacho's mentsuyu

They have been in business since 1906 in the Hanamaki area of Iwate.

 

We tried it with cold somen...

The tsuyu is a katsuo (bonito) shoyu base and has mirin and sugar in it too

For one serving, I used 1 tablespoon of tsuyu and diluted it with 1/4 cup water

Look forward to using this with soba too.

A little pricey but I like that they use ingredients from Iwate prefecture and other ingredients from Japan

Would definitely get this again

patisserie akane

Up the street from Granza is Patisserie Akane.

A tiny shop that not only serves cakes, but also serves kakigori (shaved ice)

Since we were full from lunch, instead of eating their shaved ice, we decided to just takeout a few treats from here to try later.

Satoshi chose the natsu mikan gelatin...but was given this mango pina colada...

A passion fruit, pineapple mousse,  mango gelatin  topped with coconut cream, lemon guimauve (marshmallow), orange pate de fruit and coconut roche

When the staff reconfirmed if these were the two we ordered, I didn't pay attention and just said "yes"...

Unfortunately, they charged us for the natsu mikan gelatin...this mango one was more expensive...oopsa!

When I took them out of the box for us to try, it was then I realized they had packed the wrong item for Satoshi.

He was bummed that they gave him the wrong item but he said it was still delicious

Kat ordered the coconut annindofu (almond float)

Instead of the gelatin being almond flavored it is coconut flavored.

It was topped with melon, candied lemon and a melon gelatin.

I really enjoyed this one.

I hope to go back before summer ends to try their kakigori.

Patisserie Akane

2-31-11 Kamiikedai

Ota, Tokyo

Hours: 11:00-15:00 (Mondays), 11:00-18:30 (Tuesdays-Sundays) 

granza

Have had Granza on my "to try" list ever since we moved to Tokyo and then the pandemic hit and we finally got to try them yesterday..

A tiny shop that specializes in Napolitan pizza.

This shop has also won International contests with their pizzas 

We both ordered the A lunch...1600 yen (tax included)

It comes with a salad, the vinaigrette was tangy and a little puckery.

You can choose a pasta or a pizza..for one of our lunches we chose a pasta...they had 4 to choose from, this is their tomato sauce...it also had sliced sausage and peppers...delicious and garlicky 

for our other lunch we chose a pizza...they have 12 to choose from, I wanted to try one of their award winning pizzas

This is their STG.

STG stands for Specialita Tradizionale Garantita (Traditional Guaranteed Speciality) which means that the pizza is made from specific ingredients, made with specific techniques and uses specific ingredients

To add this pizza to our lunch we had to add an extra 750 yen (tax included)

The cheese was so buttery! simple and delicious.

(The other award winning pizza had crab on it and they also give you shoyu to eat with it...to add it to a lunch set you would need to add an extra 1450 yen (tax included)! the table near us ordered it and it smelled wonderful...will need to try it next time.)

We enjoyed our lunch here and look forward to trying other items on their menu...we'll be back.

Granza

2-37-6 Kamiikedai

Ota, Tokyo

Open daily 11:30-14:30 (lunch), 17:30-22:00 (dinner)

*Saturdays & Sundays dinner starts at 17:00

**cash only

semi-rant

Friend Hiromi just came back from a trip to Europe.

She was kind to send us omiyage...thank you!

I need to semi-rant about us trying to find this package...

Satoshi had come back from the doctor's and was checking the mail.

Inside our mailbox was the notice that the Kuroneko guy (delivery service) left a package in our lobby's locker.

Satoshi calls me from downstairs to tell him how to open the lobby locker.

I told him how and the locker opened but nothing was in it.

He shows me the notice and it doesn't have a tracking number on it nor who the package is from.

Unfortunately, most of the phone numbers on the notice are only for requesting them to re-deliver the package (and you need the tracking number for it to be re-delivered)...

Luckily the driver's phone number is on the notice...but he wasn't picking up...boo!

So, I dug deeper and called one of their offices.

I told the woman on the phone that there was no tracking number nor who the package was from nor when it was supposedly delivered

I gave her the driver's phone number, our name and address and she told me she would investigate...

About 15 minutes or so later, our phone rang...I think it was the driver.

He tells me that the package isn't in box 3 but in box 10...so I should go back down to the lobby to see...sigh

So Satoshi and I go back down...and we open the locker but only box 3 opens...so then I press the button that puts packages into the locker and press box 10 and lo and behold...

our package!

We figured out that the guy probably wrote up the notice, put the notice into our mail box, opened the locker then realized that it wouldn't fit into box 3...then put it into box 10...um, he should've written another notice but was too lazy!

And was too lazy to come up to our apartment in the first place!

I've been noticing that these delivery people are getting lazier...

Like when I order something, and ask for it to be delivered between a certain time, they'll just put the package into the lobby locker and not come all the way up to our apartment.

All while I'm waiting in our apartment trying not to go to the bathroom because they might come to deliver while I am in there...

And then when I check online it says "delivered"...then have to go all the way to the lobby to get it from the locker...

Anyway, long semi-rant..if you read this far, thank you!

We were thankful she sent us something.

And we hope she enjoyed her trip.

okagean

Satoshi had to meet up with friends but before he did so, he wanted to eat something light for lunch.

We went to Okagean, the Komeda Coffee that serves mostly Japanese style foods.

He had their curry kishimen, a flat noodle soup. (no photo)

I ordered their spaghetti...this came on a sizzling plate with egg at the bottom and napolitan on top

This had a weird medicine-y taste to it...I think it was the sausage...the rest of the meal was super hot, but delicious. 

Satoshi ordered this butterfly pea tea with lemon gelatin cubes

Kat ordered the butterfly pea tea with ume syrup

She had a taste of Satoshi's and his was more refreshing than hers.

It was after this that Satoshi somehow lost control of the menu book and it hit my drink right onto me!

Luckily I was wearing jeans, slippers and something blue...and even more lucky was that I wasn't planning to go anywhere after this.

Despite feeling like I had an "accident" and being sticky all over from the drink, I'm glad we got to try this place for lunch.

this and that

cold brew hibiscus tea with lilikoi syrup...refreshing
 

cold brew butterfly pea tea with lilikoi syrup...this was refreshing too

61, a new bagel at Bob's...uses an organic wheat grown in Saitama prefecture

Delicious but was hard.as.rock.

Been awhile since I made zucchini fritters instead of mincing the onion, I just sliced it.

We ate this with a shoyu kochujang mixture.

Wanted to try Domino's kalbi sandwich but they apparently discontinued it...was bummed because it was still on their menu and I walked over especially to order it and takeout...boo!

Not sure why I walked out of the house without my glasses, but ordered their deluxe pizza instead (because I could only squint that one out) ...790 yen (tax included)

 

Saw this at Family Mart, salt pine ame, apparently these are new and a "limited amount made" thingy, so I bought 2 packages when I saw it even if we hadn’t tried it…it’s sweet and salty.

It's been krazy hot the past week.

Hope it is cooler where you are.

mukan

1st time coming across this frozen mikan (tangerine) called "mukan"
 

This needs to be taken out of the freezer about 30 minutes to an hour before you intend to eat it.

the reason it is called "mukan" is because you don't have to peel it.

"mukan" is a casual way to say this in Japanese.

It was delicious! I hope to be able to find this again during the summer.

upcycle

Upcycled part of my favorite beach towel which had holes in some areas...

 

Turned it into a little bag to hold my umbrella especially when it gets wet from the rain...(I lost the original cover for my umbrella...boo!)

We also carry a small plastic bag to keep our wet umbrellas in because the wet foldable umbrellas usually don't fit in the bags that stores give out to put wet umbrellas in when it rains

Right now though it is holding my secret weapon

The weather has been blazing and super humid.

Everyone is wondering where the rainy season has gone...

suigo sawara & suigo itako ayame festivals

Saturday we planned to check out the Sawara & Itako Ayame (iris) festivals

It is at the far east end of Chiba prefecture, so it took us over 2 hours just to get to JR Sawara station.

Stumbled upon a Pokemon manhole in front of the station

From the JR Sawara station...there is a shuttle bus, 600 yen, to take you to the Ayame park...about 20 or 30 minutes from JR Sawara station by bus

Along the way you will see these "rivers" called suigo

Admission at the Sawara Ayame Park is 800 yen per person

And there are tiny suigo that you can pay to ride through to see the flowers

You can also see people taking care of the ayame

So pretty!

In front of the park is another Pokemon manhole that I stumbled upon.

To the right of the park is a tiny area where you can catch the water shuttle to Itako or take a tour of 3 of the 12 bridges in the area

We took the water shuttle to Itako...1000 yen per person

This is the water shuttle

Put your life vests on..

I don't ever recall having to wear a life vest and think this might be my first time.

Where the suigo meets the Tone (toe-nay) River, you'll need to go through a water lock since the water level of the suigo is lower than the water level of the Tone River.

It was cool to experience this.

And then the water shuttle speeds up and you travel up the Tone River to Itako

We were surprised at how big the Itako Ayame Festival area was...and it is FREE!

From up on top of one of the pedestrian bridges

You can also take suigo rides and they also have weddings (yomeiribune) at certain times of the day which you can watch if you happen to be there.

I hadn't realized this until afterwards, but Itako is located in Ibaraki prefecture...

There weren't too many choices for lunch, most restaurants were overloaded with people waiting...so we just grabbed some dango from Sawata

I wished we could've chosen what combination of dango we wanted, but they only had pre-packed types...yomogi dango with sweet bean paste 260 yen (tax included)

At this event, they were asking for donations to maintain their park.

I gave them a small donation and received this fan...one side

the other side.

We're glad the weather was pretty cooperative. 

It was originally forecast to rain but we were lucky it only drizzled

Dunno if we'd go to see this again because it was really far! but we were glad we got to experience this.

Suigo Sawara Ayame Festival

1837-2 Ogishima

Katori, Chiba

Hours: 8:00-18:00

*800 yen per adult under 65

**discounts for 65 and older

Suigo Itako Ayame Festival

1-5 Ayame

Itako, Ibaraki

Hours: 8:00-17:00

*FREE

3 minutes walk from JR Itako station

this and that

Sorry my photos uploaded all wonky, so this post is kind of all over the place...update on the reno…

So, they were gonna replace the number plates for our apartments...
 

This is how the new one looks...

Our new door knobs...

They planted these dietes bicolor, part of the iris family, in the front of our building

this is where they planted those irises...

After seeing the irises, I thought, good then that krazy lady across the street won't have any dried leaves to throw in our lobby...

And then yesterday, I saw that they also planted all these other plants with “plenty leaves” in the same planter space...wait till krazy lady sees this...

And then because everyone gets lost in our building, they painted numbers on the floors...

They gave us these key “holders” with sensors in them...this is so that when we come home, we don't have to take out our keys...the sensor in the key holder is supposed to open the lobby door.

I asked what happens when the battery in the sensor key holder runs out, and the guy said that just the key can be used to open the door too...

Because of safety reasons (skimming the key numbers), they couldn't put the key holders together for us, so Kat had to “read” the directions (thank goodness for pictures) to put her key into the sensor key holder...and she'll have to do the same for Satoshi’s key too....it’s so big I guess he won’t be able to fit it into his wallet 

our new door phone...the screen will show you who is there and you can buzz in people that are in the lobby...you can also see who buzzes your apartment when you aren't home, it will take a video of them...will have to instruct Satoshi on how to use this too...

our old door bell, in front of of our apartment

the old door phone, that was inside our apartment, you could only talk to the people right outside of our apartment

our new door bell, thought it would have a camera, but it is only a voice type 

Krazy lady has been active this week (probably because of the full moon?!)...yelling at the reno dudes & delivery dudes

Our rainy season has started this week, the weather dude says that the normal heavy rain that is usually seen at the end of rainy season is happening now...so expect to see a lot of damage in the coming weeks...

It's Friday the 13th and was full moon the other day, lots of krazy stuff happening all over....Have a safe weekend!