this and that

peanut spread with cocoa, apparently this is a new flavor for Nutella and it had been 60 years?! since they had a new flavor

it kind of reminded me of the chocolate JIF (I think they had a peanut version) I had many many moons ago, this nutella did not have much hazelnut flavor (to me)

apparently Calbee will go back to printing the front side of their packages.

not sure but I think sales must be down because of the somber "colors"

tried the pitaya smoothie from 7-eleven...pitaya, lychee and apple...tasty!

blended it is a fluorescent pink! (see the photo above)

setoka, a type of orange

Okagean used this variety for their shaved ice...refreshing.

Yakiniku King is having a Hawaii fair...we tried their garlic shrimp...it was just okay

I didn't know it but they have a "secret menu"...this is their potato salad it is topped with yakiniku meat bits and fried garlic...tasty!

another thing on their "secret menu" is the tsukune...meh!

Went to Single O to try their banana bread with espresso butter

the butter should just be regular butter because I could not tell the difference

I also tried their Killerbee Cold Brew, this was delicious

Asahi's tomato chuhai is delicious

goya amasuzuke...so easy and ono!

huge peach from Shunpachi, a green grocer that I tried back when they had a shop in Gotanda.

They now have a shop in Hatanodai, so I look forward to trying their bento again here

The peach was delicious, the smaller one was a little more firm and not as sweet as the huge one!

tokyo little people...loved his shirt!

reconnected with moto's kitchen's taco rice...mouth.on.fire

Tried Amei Pan's meat floss bread...the meat floss was bland and the bread has a sweetened mayo in it...they sell a lot of taiwan style breads, not sure I would go back but glad I tried this

one day when I went to run errands I got there before the shops opened so I had breakfast number 2...an butter sandwich and iced coffee at Milkstand by Coffee Milk so I could sit in the air conditioned area

I'm glad I tried this shop

On Sunday morning we were shaken up by a rather large earthquake

Actually the earthquake itself lasted a couple of seconds...the alarm was the thing that scared me the most since it was 2 in the morning!

The other week Satoshi had to be hospitalized to do some tests.

In order to watch tv or run the refrigerator, you need a tv card...1000 yen 

When he was released, you put the card into a machine and if you have points still on it, it will refund your money

I had 257 points left on it and was refunded 250 yen...hoping his tests have good results

so hot that we had acai banana and strawberry milk smoothies while walking home one day

hemmed the curtains (by hand!) I feel so much better about them now...ha!

so many natural disasters again...Nepal, Ishikawa & Toyama...sending good mojo

so many things going on, not enough time to post...hope you all are doing well.

tajima coffee factory

Tried a new (to us) place, Tajima Coffee Factory

This shop is only open on Sundays!
 

The interior is kind of dark because they also share the space with a bar

Satoshi had their Brazil, he thought it could have been served a little hotter

And he had this with a dorayaki

Kat had their espresso lemonade soda with a brown butter financier

So refreshing!

2250 yen (tax included) 

They will be moving to another location in September and hope to operate on Saturdays and Sundays...we'll check them out again after their move

Tajima Coffee Factory

2-7-11 Minami Kamata

Ota, Tokyo

Only open on Sundays

Hours: 11:00-18:00

teshio gohan gen

There is a restaurant Satoshi has been wanting to try, Teshio Gohan Gen

It is in the basement of a building near the JR Kamata Station

Satoshi had their Teshio Teishoku, this had fish, and all sorts of veggie side dishes (no photo) 1500 yen (tax included)

Kat had their hamburger stuffed goya which was sliced thin then fried and fried veggies (onion & young corn)...1450 yen (tax included) 

Perfectly fried, delicious!

this also had a nicely cooked piece of eggplant, carrot salad and kiriboshi daikon

you can choose between white rice or zakkoku (different grains)

I also requested no soup

You can also have seconds of rice and soup, guess who had more soup, bruh! so much for watching salt intake

It looks like they have several shops in the Nakano area and several more shops around Tokyo

We'll be back.

Teshio Gohan Gen

8-1-6 Nishikamata B1

Ota, Tokyo

Hours: weekdays 11:00-15:30 (lunch) 17:00-23:00 (dinner), weekends & holidays 11:00-23:00

restaurant savy's

We tried a new (to us) place called Restaurant Savy's

 

they have mainly counter seating and one or two tables in the back of the restaurant

I tried their tomato omurice...delicious! 1000 yen (tax included)

Their tomato sauce is homemade and not sweet

It also came with a small salad and I requested no soup

Satoshi had the Savy's set...1600 yen (tax included)

This had a baked chicken with hamburger, fried shrimp, crab cream croquette

This also came with a small salad and soup

We enjoyed their food and look forward to trying other items on their menu.

We'll be back

Restaurant Savy's

4-5-6 Kamata

Ota, Tokyo

Hours: 11:30-23:00

*irregular days off, check their Instagram

chilling coffee and bake

Been wanting to check out Chilling Coffee and Bake for some time now, and finally got to the other day
 

This cafe is super teeny with only 7 seats.

Order and pay at the counter then have a seat

Glad I was able to get a seat, other customers had to wait outside (in the heat!) until a table opened up!

I tried their blueberry crumble bar and cold brew

Love that this had lots of blueberry in it!

And their cold brew was smooth

I want to try their carrot cake...I'll be back

Chilling Coffee and Bake

5-6-10 Hatanodai

Shinagawa, Tokyo

Hours: 11:00-17:00

*check their instagram for days off

regario

tried a new (to us) restaurant, Regario

Their menu is mostly Spanish and Italian cuisine

we ordered the Galician octopus...950 yen (plus tax)

The octopus was so tender! and the potatoes were perfectly cooked

The garlicky sauce was super tasty

I also like how “fancy” they made drinking water look

we ordered baguette so that we (Satoshi) could mop up the sauce from the octopus...400 yen (plus tax)

an order of their spicy seafood arrabiatta...lots of seafood in it and lots of kick! 1800 yen (plus tax)

bolognese...super peppery and meaty 1500 yen (plus tax)

We're glad we tried this place and want to come back for dinner...we'll be back

Regario

8-1-10 Nishikamata 2F

Ota, Tokyo

Hours: 11:30-14:30 (lunch), 17:00-23:00 (dinner)

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

UPDATE: I hemmed up the curtains (by hand!) feel so much better about them now...ha!

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