aiyah

Back in July we had a butterfly...the same type we had back in September of last year.

Well, guess what I found the other day...two more caterpillars...

guess our blood orange tree is listed on their places to eat  list

the tree hasn't really recovered from last September...

and right now there aren't too many leaves left...

hoping the tree won't die...

ps we are waiting for typhoon 23 (Nakri) to pass by, 22 (Haling) did a lot of damage on Hachijojima and looks to pass there again, hoping everyone will be able to stay safe
 

darumaimo yaki

Came across darumaimo at the market.

It is similar to nagaimo and yamaimo, it has a higher starch content which makes it really nebaneba (sticky)
 

I cooked it like okonomiyaki except I didn't add any flour

It was really soft, but delicious

I'm glad we tried this and will buy it again if I see it at the market.

tokushima shine muscat jam (compote)

Adapted from "Mes Confitures" by Christine Ferber and online recipe by Cainz DIY

600 grams muscat grapes

100 grams sugar

1/2 of lemon juice

Rinse grapes, take off the stems and re-rinse

Cut in half and check for seeds

Add sugar

Add lemon juice

Mix everything and put into refrig overnight

Next day, put into a pot and bring to a boil

Skim off any scum

Cook about 5 minutes

Check the set

Put into jars and seal

NOTES: I ended up cooking this longer than the 5 minutes that the recipes said to.

Next time, I will either put the macerated grapes before cooking through a sieve, or the cooked grapes through a sieve so that I can get rid of the "skins"...probably the latter

I also think I should probably cut the grapes up smaller so that it will "break down" more, these kinda stayed "whole" and firm.

This isn't sweet and grape-y like the purple grape jam/jelly (because the variety is different) I know but this is still delicious.

p.s. I guess more than "jam" this was a compote (fruit sauce)...we tried this on oatmeal pancakes...my favorite way to eat pancakes these days are with greek yogurt, some kind of jam/compote, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds

whoa

Friend Mayumi sent me this photo the other night...

“I'm sending you some grapes”, she said.

She said, “My friend grew Shine Muscat but they aren't super sweet”

I should’ve known when she said, “I cut the stems so I could fit more in the box”…

 

the box came the other day

when the post man delivered it, he said, "it's heavy" before putting the box in my hands...

I weighed it and it was a little over 4 kilos (8 pounds)!

I tasted some, it wasn’t super sweet like shine muscat usually is, but at least they weren’t sour/tart

I put some into the freezer, I would give some to our building’s cleaning lady but because they aren’t super sweet, I don’t think I should...

We’ll try to eat as much as we can and I’ll try making jam too

Thank you M!

shinano dolce

It had been some time since I went to Benny.

On the way, I noticed that the shop that I used to get bun nem ran & thit nuong (fried spring roll and bbq pork) from, was not there anymore...boo!

And a wagashi shop that we discovered during the pandemic had also gone out of business (back in May)...their sign said that they had been in business for 55 years!

so sad to see the neighborhood change...

While in Benny, I needed some kind of fruit for breakfast...I bought a new (to me) variety of apple called Shinano Dolce which was grown in Nagano Prefecture.

The young lady working the cash register, rang this apple up wrong, so I brought it to her attention.

Since the people working the registers do everything by sight (old skool), no scanning, she was shocked that she had mistaken the variety of apple

After checking with the produce staff, she found out that she indeed had mistakenly charged me the wrong price.

So we got things all sorted out and some money was refunded...

This wasn't crisp like the Fuji apples we enjoy, but it was still delicious.

I'm glad we got to try this.

ps Typhoon 22 (Halong) is supposedly passing to the south of Japan today, hoping there won't be any damage

shoe goo

Back in September 2024, I bought my first pair of Oofos sneakers...it lasted me the winter, though it wore out in what I thought was weird places (my other shoes in the past wore out differently)...

I bought another pair in May 2025...

Instead of throwing out my first pair, I bought Shoe Goo

I remember my dad used to fix his shoes with this and I'm glad Japan imports this.

So I fixed the heel 

and the ball area...

I think I should've bought the clear version rather than white...

I noticed that the pair I'm wearing now is also starting to wear down in the same spots

Now I’ll have two pairs to rotate between.

memory

When I was in college, I  kinda had a photographic memory.

Like whenever I took tests I could visualize my notes, and see where on the page I had written the info needed to answer the test question.

These days, I can kinda remember things I've seen, just have a hard time remembering where or when I saw it.

Like this photo.

I thought I had posted about it on the blog, and wracked my brain trying to look for it there, but it turned out that it was only on my Flickr.

Thank goodness that they haven't deleted any of my "excess" photos for their 1000 photo limit.

With City Bakery's chocolate banana pound cake, I tried toasting it and putting crunchy peanut butter on it, but this hardly had any banana flavor...boo!

Still glad I was able to find the photo I had seen in my memory so that I could finally go to sleep...