hodaka beef

Host Mom messaged me the other day whether we would like beef or grapes

I told her whatever she chose we would be grateful to receive

Then she messaged and asked thinly sliced or bite sized yakiniku meat

I told her thinly sliced

So that is what she sent to us

8 beautifully marbled slices of wagyu from Hodaka Beef, a butcher counter in the shopping arcade down the street from where Host Mom and Dad live

with 4 of the slices I made rolled beef with Japanese tartar sauce

I rolled iceberg lettuce and some shiso from the freezer in these

for the tartar sauce I used takuan, rakkyo and shibazuke

the beef was so tender!

then with the other 4 slices I rolled them with iceberg and onions

And used some kalbi sauce

I should've drizzled some sauce as I was cooking this and also served some to dip in

The piece of tallow that came with the beef, I cut and put into the freezer to use whenever I make fried rice

Thank you Host Mom & Dad! we appreciate your kindness

komeda coffee

Komeda Coffee opened in our train station while I was in Hawaii

We tried to eat here at lunchtime but the line was kinda krazy

So on a Sunday, we went when they opened at 7:00 

It took some time for us to figure out how to order on the tablet 

But at least it wasn't too busy yet

Satoshi ordered the mix sandwich

I ordered the egg toast

While eating we realized that these sandwiches are quite large, so in the future will order one to share or just order off their breakfast menu

We are glad we tried this place and plan to come often for their morning service

Well, we already went back, but their morning sets are a little "too teeny" for us, though we did find a larger cup of coffee on their menu.

And it seems like this shop’s menu is a little smaller than what they show online

Anyway, we’ll try another combination of items the next time we go

Komeda Coffee

Etomo Ikegami 3F

Ota, Tokyo

Hours: 7:00-22:00

seiryumon

We got together with friend Hiromi and her family.

The last time we saw them was last year in Kyoto.

This time, her son has moved to a new job in Yokohama.

We had dinner at Seiryumon.

We've eaten at the Universal Studios Osaka shop (pre-blog) many many moons ago

The interior is still as krazy 

The portions seemed small and it seemed like we had the whole place to ourselves

Anyway, it was nice catching up with everyone and we hope to see them more often in the coming months

Thanks for today!

Seiryumon

Cross Gate Yokohama 3F

Yokohama, Kanagawa

Hours: 11:30-15:00 (lunch), 17:00-22:30 (dinner)

change

Changed our curtains since it has been so blazing

These curtains were from when we were living in Osaka because Satoshi had complained that even with the curtains we had back then, it was too bright.

Well, we got these the other day and boy does it shut out light!

The left side is the new curtain, the right is the old

They are too long because we measured wrong, not sure if I will cut and sew them...too lazy! (though it does irk me that they are too long, so I’ll probably hem them)

I don't know if it will make things cooler but at least the sun won't feel like it is laser beaming into the apartment

domino pizza

We recently ordered from Domino Pizza

They had a curry pizza that I wanted to try

Also if you ordered a large you could get it at the medium price

 

The Summer Curry Quatro :

Summer Veggie Curry, Butter Chicken Curry, Mayo Potato and their Kalbi

I was surprised that on the receipt they tell you what each part of the pizza is, so you’d know what you were eating

Unfortunately, the way I took the photo of the pizza was not the same configuration as the receipt

still I thought it was a cool idea, and the pizza was ono

Actually, I was thinking of ordering two types because I wanted to also eat the kalbi one, but after seeing it was one of the toppings for the quatro, I just ordered the one pizza

natural disaster (s)

Last week, Typhoon 15 (Chan Hom) passed Tokyo, we had rain but not much more, other areas were not too lucky

Then Chiba had massive rain (I can’t remember if it was from Typhoon 15?!) and they had lots of flooding and some deaths

This past weekend, Tropical storm Lala turned into Hurricane Lala, so much rain and wind! for Hawaii

All the damage was so sad to see especially those fallen huge trees!

I know a lot of you in Hawaii don’t have power, hoping you get some soon, cannot imagine life without air conditioning!

Yesterday, there was also a huge landslide in Korea!

Hoping everyone can get back to their daily routines soon.

Sending good mojo

kalbi

even if I just came back from Hawaii, I was craving kalbi, the kind we have in Hawaii

looked in one of my cookbooks and found a recipe for the sauce

I made 1/4 of the recipe (the recipe I am posting is the full recipe)

Kalbi from Wisteria Delights Cookbook

2.5 pounds short ribs, sliced thin

Sauce: 

3/4 cup shoyu

1/4 cup sesame oil

3 cloves garlic, crushed (or use one tsp prepared crushed garlic)

2/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup honey

3/4 cup shopped green onion

Mix sauce ingredients and marinate beef for one hour

Barbecue on grill but don't overcook kalbi

NOTES: Instead of throwing out the extra sauce (because I soaked the meat in it), I should have only used a little of the sauce to marinate the meat and then used some extra sauce to drizzle onto the rice

I like the flavor of this sauce, so will make some to have on hand in the refridge

two kinds goya champuru

tried two new (to me) recipes that I had seen online

The first one used pork, atsuage and curry powder

Curry Goya Champuru : Tarzan Magazine

1 goya

200 grams pork thigh (shank?)

1 atsuage (fried tofu)

1 egg, beaten

1 tablespoon shoyu

1/2 tablespoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon curry powder

3 grams katsuobushi (bonito flakes)

Clean and slice goya

Cut pork into bite sized pieces

Break up the atsuage with your hand

In a pan, heat the pork and atsuage

Add the goya

When all is cooked through add the beaten egg

Add  the shoyu and oil

Add the curry powder and bonito before serving

NOTES: super easy to make, I added the curry powder before the egg, so that the curry powder could kinda meld

The second recipe used canned saba (mackerel), egg and goya

This recipe also used a little shoyu, sugar and sesame oil

Saba Goya Champuru : Lettuce Club

1 can saba (mackerel), water packed

2 eggs, beaten

1 goya

1/4 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon shoyu

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon sesame oil

Clean and cut the goya thin

use the salt to squeeze out water from the goya

In a pan, heat the saba, breaking it up as you cook it

Add the sugar, shoyu, sesame oil

Add the goya, then pour the beaten egg

Cook everything well

NOTES: I put the sugar, shoyu and oil into the egg before beating. I only made half the recipe so only used 1 egg but used the full amount of sugar, shoyu & oil. I omitted the salt

Both were delicious and different

I'm glad I tried these and would make them again

the fan (final)

Last Friday, they came to replace the parts, and it was “supposed” to take 5 hours!

If you missed out what happened previously check here and here

Let's back up though, Kat went on vacation and “someone” didn’t know how to use our phone, so when the management company called several times he didn’t know how to get the number to call back from our Caller ID…bruh!

Finally on one of the calls, our contact at the management company left their number so that “someone” could finally get in contact with them, sigh

Then he messaged me to ask when would be best for them to come…

So on the day, the guy came early…like an hour early!

And then he ran into some problems with the wiring.

so he had to create a "route" for the wires

At least now we can control the "strength" of the fan

I had to label the switches because they are in different places now

9 hours!! later but at least it is done and we can control the moisture in the bath area.

I put these sticker type filter sheets over the grates so that the dust won't go in (so that I won't have to clean it too often)

Thankful that they came to fix it.

kyushu

It's been a couple of weeks since the earthquake in Kyushu

10 years since the last time they had one this big in Kyushu

I am kind of disappointed with the government, it seems they still don't have a “good plan” as to what happens after one of these earthquakes occur

I hope everyone in Kyushu will be able to get back to their daily routines soon.

Sending good mojo.

savings bonds

on this trip back to Hawaii, I learned that the only bank in Hawaii that used to cash US Savings Bonds no longer does...boo!

You now you need to fill out a form and get it notarized if the amount you are cashing is over $1000

I also need to show proof of my name change (marriage certificate) as well as change of address

This will be my project next summer....

Last year, I thought I would be able to get an estimate for my Dad's ukulele as well, but will need to do it next time

ps I forgot to give a link for my Hawaii album, if you are interested, please look here

this and that

Almost always on my first day in Hawaii, I visit Mom & Dad

Went to Waipio Big City Diner with Aunty...had a loco moco "for Satoshi"

The hamburger patty was a little hard, but I was glad the portion was on the smaller size 

BFF found a can of Hello Kitty Spam for me at Longs

FYI a can in Japan is close to 800 yen?!

saw See's dark chocolate scotchmallow on Instagram and wanted to try

A little too sweet but still glad I got to try this

Oceanside Bakery's banana bread...super huge & moist

Had about three breakfasts from this

shrinkflation at Liliha Bakery

Their cornbread has turned into corn muffin and is now sliced then grilled, actually only one piece was grilled

$6 kalua bowl at Foodland...delicious! and reasonable but too much rice (for me)

Uncle's Ube ice cream sandwich...1/2 is one serving!

made the petit block that Ms V gave me...this one was hard and so teeny! the head and tail can move!

Lunch with the Aunties, W & BFF

could've been more tender BBQ ribs! baked beans and really dry mac & cheese

Was nice to be able to spend time with them

Pad Thai with Greg at King of Thai Boat Noodles

Always nice to catch up with him!

Dinner with Steph and BFF at Olive Garden

We "braved" having salad...during this trip there was the scary ED (explosive d-thingy) I usually eat more salads when I am in Hawaii but this time I didn’t want to chance it...

omiyage from Steph! Thank you!

catch up with Gaye at Oh My Grill

Their bbq beef sandwich and fries were delicious, plus you can ask them to fry the fries super crispy!

Thank you for today Gaye! and for the omiyage!

made this mini building block sea otter for BFF...the whiskers were a challenge! had to bust out tools!

I think she has now put me in charge of making all the different sets that she has

El Charro's pork tamale with mole sauce...1st time having mole sauce (I think)…mouth.on.fire! 

1st time having The Alley's chocolate insanity cake! so rich 

My IG algorithm had chocolate cake in it so had to nix the craving!

Tried the mango sticky rice bowl from Down to Earth

I don't think there was actually sticky rice in there, just tapioca

Still, this was refreshing and delicious!

Flight was delayed coming to Hawaii as well as going back to Japan

Apparently no one submitted the paperwork for us to take off from Honolulu, so we drove around the runways for almost 1 hour?! while they waited for approval…I think I saw Diamond Head 2 or 3 times in between naps...

Lucky I had this venison stick and some snacks because it was way past my lunch time and I was kinda hangry

This trip was kinda short.

Thankful Satoshi let me go on vacation and for BFF who let me stay with her and drove me around.

Saw many rainbows, friends and some family

Thankful for everyone who made time to meet up, who drove me to and from Pearl  City and for all the omiyage!

Looking forward to seeing everyone again.

new and old

got to check out the new stations for the Skyline

This was the one at Middle Street, it is called Kahauiki 

Thought there were more riders especially with bicycles than when the rail first started running

This is the bus station at Middle Street that connects to the rail

Here on the sign are the upcoming stations that they plan to build

The Bus seemed to be better coordinated with Skyline. I only had to wait about 5 minutes for a bus instead of 20.

During this trip there were many new condos being built, sad that it is getting so crowded with these high rises

It was also sad seeing Aloha Stadium being torn down.

so much changes...