warm and cool

Do you change your dishes/tableware along with the seasons?

In Hawaii, we don't really have seasons, so I've never grown up with doing this.

On the other hand, my MIL changes her dishes/tableware with the seasons.

"Cool" dishes used mostly in Summer are clear, white and/or blue (like ice).

"Warm" dishes used mostly during the Winter are brown, green and earthy looking.

Of course, there are decoration type dishes too, with sakura (cherry blossoms), momiji (fall foliage) or fruits to match the seasons.

There is a vendor that comes to our shopping arcade several times a year. He mainly sells Arita-yaki and Mino-yaki (Two types of popular Japanese ceramics. Most areas around Japan have their own type of ceramics).

From what I've seen, I think Arita-yaki uses brighter colors like yellow, some reds and Mino-yaki uses mainly blue and white.

While you would expect his prices to be expensive, he actually sells his wares very reasonably, most under 300 yen (about US$3). I kind of overheard him talking with another customer and I think he takes defects or discontinued items off of department stores' hands then sells them, which is why he can sell them so reasonably.

Did you know that the Japanese got their blue and white technique from Delft?

Anyway, most of my dishes are blue and white, since they are my favorite colors, so I don't have many "warm" dishes, but I've put away my clear glass dishes for now.

kotobukiya

There is a tiny shop near our station called Kotobukiya, which opened last year.

I have been wondering how their sweets were and finally stopped to get some.

While googling around for info, I noticed that some people call these "koto-man" which apparently is short for "kotobukiya manju".

From a far, they look like tiny dorayaki, which are like slightly sweetened pancakes sandwiching sweet bean paste, but when you eat them, you will realize they are more like manju, with a denser pancake on the outside sealing the filling inside.

Apparently, this koto-man was all the rage during the mid-Showa period (about 1955) in Ikeda, selling almost 5000 a day! The original shop in Ikeda closed down at the end of the Showa period because the maker wanted to retire and had no one to take over his business.

I'm not sure if this Kotobukiya is of the same family, but it does seem like it.

The fillings at Kotobukiya change with the seasons. At this shop, they had about 8 different types. I was hoping to get some filled with kuri (chestnut) and satsumaimo (sweet potato), but since they only had satsumaimo 160 yen (about US$1.60), I also got matcha (green tea)...150 yen (about US$1.50).

These koto-man are filled generously and have just the right amount of sweetness to them. Great with coffee or green tea...I'll be back.

Kotobukiya
1-3-8 Ishibashi
Ikeda, Osaka
Phone: 072.763.4380
*a minutes walk from the Hankyu Ishibashi West exit
UPDATE:2012, this shop is no longer here

lunch

What do you usually eat for lunch? I think I've asked you before, but recently, I've been picking up a sandwich or some breads with cheese, ham in it. Or sometimes these chinese bentos from Daiei, I like these because they usually give you 3 items and only 320 yen (about US$3.20). There is also a sozai-ya (cooked foods) store in our shopping arcade, in Hawaii we call them okazuya, where I pick up some prepared foods.

Here are some of my lunches...

From Daiei, their chinese bento, filled with spicy renkon (lotus root), hoikorou (bell pepper stirfried with beef and sweet and sour pork.

From the sozaiya, a whole ika (squid) grilled with teriyaki sauce 250 yen (about US$2.50). I bought this and a musubi 105 yen (about US$1.05) the other day. It was the first time I saw a whole ika at this shop. It was delicious.

From Ferdinand, their smoked salmon sandwich 300 yen (about US$3). Smoked salmon, cream cheese, some thinly sliced onion and colored bell pepper with a little Italian dressing. I really love their bread!

And from Boulangerie Burdigala, I usually stop in for lunch or pick-up something to take home for lunch after French class.

Here are some of the things I've tried. The lentil sandwich, it was kind of messy but delicious.

Cheese roll with sun dried tomato reminded me of pizza.

Ham, tomato, camembert and avocado, now that was a hunk of avocado!

Bacon, tomato and basil, simple but so delicious.

I also sometimes pick up some sweets for my 3 o'clock tea time.

Burdigala's pain au chocolat...look at those flaky layers...too bad they don't have enough chocolate in it though.

And their orange brioche...soft brioche with orange peel bits here and there, the top is sugary, when you take a bite be prepared to get messy!

What have you been eating for lunch?

re-creating

Remember this yaki-onigiri (grilled rice ball) that I had in Hokkaido?

Well, I tried to re-create it.

I bought a yaki-onigiri (grilled rice ball) from a yakitori (grilled chicken) shop in our shopping arcade.

I then combined 3 ladles of konbu/katsuo (kelp/bonito) stock with some 2 ladles of homemade soba tsuyu (buckwheat noodle sauce) (recipe to follow).

When it came to a boil I added some slurry to thicken the soup.

Then in a non-stick pan I heated some sliced enringi, red bell pepper and gobo.

Then I added the yaki-onigiri, ladled the soup and garnished with the veggies and some green onions.

The smokiness from the grilled rice ball matched with the soup and veggies. (I actually filled the bowl up with the rest of the soup after taking the photo.) The grilled rice ball was chewy but stayed together in the soup.

Soba/Udon Tsuyu
(soup for buckwheat noodles or wheat noodles) : serves 2

4 tablespoons mirin (sweet rice wine)
4 tablespoons sake (rice wine)
600 cc. (about 3 cups) dashi (I use a konbu/katsuo (kelp/bonito) blend)
40 cc. (about 1/4 cup) shoyu (soy sauce)
5 grams katsuo bushi (shaved bonito)

Put all ingredients except katsuo bushi into a pot and bring to a boil to let alchohol burn off.

Boil for about 5 minutes, lower heat and add katsuo bushi. Turn off heat.

Serve immediately over noodles or cool and keep in airtight container for several days.

NOTES: I am not too sure where I got the recipe for this soup, but it is really easy to make and better than buying the bottled stuff. I hope you like it. I can't believe it is almost a month ago that we were in Hokkaido!

Hope you have a good week!

baraen

There is a little kissaten (coffee shop) called Baraen (Rose Garden) near our shopping arcade. From the outside it looks run-down. The inside interior hasn't been changed in years, the walls are yellow from all that tobacco in the air.

I usually don't hang in places like this because of all the smoking, but we wanted to grab a fast breakfast the other day and this place was empty.

Most of the coffee shops in Japan offer reasonably priced "mo-ning" (morning) sets. This usually includes toast, salad, maybe an egg and coffee. At Baraen, their morning set is 400 yen (about US$4). It comes with a ham and egg salad sandwich, salad and coffee.

There are other kissaten in our shopping arcade, hopefully we'll get around to trying them.

Have a great week.

tokyo

Friday was a rainy day. It brought back memories of a rainy trip to Tokyo 2 years ago. There were many places that I wanted to check out while Satoshi was visiting his university's new baseball field.

My first stop was Daimaru in Marunouchi. They have the only Boissier in Japan, I went to the counter and was a bit shocked at the prices. I wanted to buy their caramel tea, but didn't want to pay $40 for a tin. I wanted to buy their petal chocolates, but didn't want to pay $30 for a tiny package. So I settled for their chocolate pearls for 1980 yen (about US$20), I hope they are good. (UPDATE: delicious, high quality)

I got back onto the train and went to Ginza to check out their Laduree. It is the only one in Japan and I think the only one outside of France. The shop and cafe are quite small but very elegant. It was lunch time but I didn't want to pay $42 for their lunch, so I had 4 macaron (1200 yen about US$12) and coffee (1000 yen about $10) instead for "lunch". The macaron flavors I chose were cedrat (citron), fleur d' oranger (orange flower), petale de rose (rose petal) and fruits rouges (red fruits). Each was flavored nicely, delicately. It was a nice way to get out of the rain.

After "lunch", I went back into the rain and jumped onto the train and headed for Roppongi to check out Tokyo Midtown. This is a new office complex with lots of eateries and cafes. I wanted to see Belberry, a Belgian confiture (jams & jelly) maker. I was about to buy some marmalade when this caught my eye...purple fig chocolate...I immediately picked this up. Can't wait to try it on baguette and ice cream. (UPDATE: sweet but delicious on toasted baguette)

The rain was still coming down but I still had a few more places on my list and I still had a couple of hours before I had to meet Satoshi. I jumped on the train to Jiyugaoka. When I first got on, I thought I made a mistake but didn't (whew!). The train/subway system in Tokyo is massive, you can easily jump or transfer onto the wrong train. Signage is really bad too.

My first stop in Jiyugaoka was Le Palais du The. I first knew of them when I visited a cafe in Biei, Hokkaido. The owner was serving their tea and I was immediately hooked on the sweet aroma. When we returned to Osaka, I looked on the internet to find that the only store in Japan is in Jiyugaoka.

When I checked their site before this trip, it just so happened that they were having a sale. I noted down the teas that were on sale that I was interested in. It is a good thing that I did this too as when I got to the store, you have to tell them what teas you want and then they weigh everything out for you.

I bought several Earl Grey varieties (Earl Grey Fleurs Bleu, Earl Grey Imperial, The de Lords). The thing that was good about this sale was that you could purchase small amounts starting from 20 grams for a really low price. (When I try something new, I've come to like buying small amounts...just in case I don't like it.) I bought about 7 different teas at 20 grams each. I can't wait to try them. (UPDATE: all are great, my favorites are The de Lords & Earl Grey Fleurs Bleu)

On the other side of the Jiyugaoka station, is a spice shop called L'epice et Epice. They have so many different spices that it was hard to decide what to get. I ended up purchasing a little flask of masala chai for 525 yen (about US$5.25)...mmm chai season is here!!

Since I didn't have a real lunch (again!), I stopped into Paul Bassett for something to eat. I got their quiche plate, but was very disappointed. It was really watery and the crust was burnt, definitely not like the quiche I had in Kyoto. I guess the highlight of the meal was the latte art.

After re-fueling, I went to meet Satoshi at Shinjuku Isetan. I wanted to pick up some things from their gourmet shop. I picked up this French salted caramel chocolate sauce, Italian chestnuts in syrup & some rose petal jam by Christine Ferber. (UPDATE: this rose petal jam is really delicious, a light rose aroma, very nice, texture similar to honey)

It was a long day with lots of walking, but I was happy that I was able to check out everything that I had on my list.


Saturday started out early...we went to check out Tsukiji Fish market. This place is crazy. People rushing around trying to get their fresh fish out as fast as possible. I couldn't help but feel like I was in the way.

After walking around the market, we had sushi for breakfast at Yamazaki. Luckily, we didn't have to wait in a long line. (hint: don't try the place in your guide book--you'll just have to stand in a long line, anywhere that is serving sushi at Tsukiji is worth it!) I had the 7 piece (2100 yen about US$21) and Satoshi had the 8 piece (3150 yen about $31.50)....delicious.

After breakfast, we caught the subway to Tsukishima, Satoshi was interested in seeing this man-made island from a recent television drama. The Tokyo area is known for monja, similar to okonomiyaki but very wet and mushy. Satoshi doesn't care for monja, so we didn't try it.

From Tsukishima we went to Jingu Stadium to check out his university team. The Tokyo Big 6 is similar to America's Ivy League. Satoshi's university, Meiji, is part of the Big 6. The oendan (cheering team) for both sides cheer all through the game. Talk about noisy! Though Satoshi's team lost, it was an interesting experience.

From Jingu Stadium, we went to check out Tokyo Tower. The last time I visited Tokyo Tower, the tour only took us to the bottom area, unfortunately the lines were so long that we didn't get to check out the observatory deck.

Again, I didn't get to eat "lunch", but saw a crepe stand...Marion crepes. I remembered Lori's post(her blog is no longer up). And got the chocolate banana crepe (300 yen (about US$3)....ooey gooey chocolate and banana with a slightly crisp edged crepe....delicious.

From Tokyo Tower, we went to see Satoshi's friend in Asagaya. This area has a huge shopping arcade. They were having a jazz festival and it was quite lively.

On Sunday, our last day in Tokyo, we went to check out Shibamata. This area was a location for many "Otoko wa Tsurai" movies. The shopping arcade is quite tiny, but there are many retro looking shops. I am not too familiar with the movies but since Satoshi wanted to see this area, I went along to check it out.

There is a very old temple called Taishakuten, for 400 yen (about US$4) you can see the intricate carvings on the sides of the building as well as the beautiful Japanese gardens.

There is a Tora-san (the main character in the "Otoko wa Tsurai" movies) museum as well as many Japanese sweet shops.

One interesting sweet shop, Ishii, was selling shio dorayaki (salt dorayaki). They filled the inside of the dorayaki with buttercream and sweet bean paste....addicting.

Our schedule in Tokyo was packed, we didn't get to visit many friends (sorry!) but we did get to see a lot!

Hope you have a great week.

Boissier (UPDATE: no longer at this location)
Tokyo Daimaru-B1

Laduree
Ginza Mitsukoshi 2F

Belberry
Tokyo Mid-town B1
Roppongi UPDATE: as of 9/2010 seems to have closed

Le Palais du The UPDATE: they moved to Akihabara in 2012?!
5-24-2 Okusawa
Setagaya
Phone: 03.5701.8750

L'epice et Epice
2-2-1 Jiyugaoka (UPDATE: 2019 moved to 2-9-6 Jiyugaoka)
Phone: 03.5726.1144

Paul Bassett (UPDATE: no longer at this location)
2-3-12 Jiyugaoka
Phone: 03.5731.5820

Isetan Shinjuku Gourmet Shop B1

Yamazaki sushi (UPDATE: no longer at this location)
inside Tsukijimarket
Phone: 03.3541.1105
Open 5:30-14:00

Taizankan (UPDATE: no longer in business)
Asagaya Shopping Arcade
Phone: 03.3314.1286

Ishii sweets
Shibamata 7-6-20
Phone: 03.3657.1749

Takagiya sweets
Shibamata 7-7-4
Phone: 03.3657.3136

Yabuchu soba
Shibamata 7-7-8
Phone: 03.5668.6658

odds & ends

Just some odds and ends: This huge carrot was one of two that I got at the supermarket recently for only 98 yen (about US$.98). Most times the carrots are narrow and skinny.

Chili cheese burger at MOS a couple of weeks ago, the chili was spicy, but delicious. Made me feel like I was in the U.S. or Hawaii.


Starbucks has a new "canned" coffee out-- Matcha Latte. I didn't like this though, the flavor was good but it was kind of gritty.
Mini tai-yaki filled with all sorts of creams & bean pastes...delicious.

Instant ramen from Tamakikat which I got a while back and ate awhile back too, these had little Hello Kitty kamaboko in them. Whenever I make instant ramen I usually throw out the soup and only cook the noodles for half the time, I like the noodles to be on the hard side. (Thanks Tamakikat!)

A new tea cup which I bought in the shopping arcade. Every so often different vendors come to a stall in the shopping arcade. I love it when this vendor comes because I can usually buy Aritayaki dishes for 100 yen each (about US$1).



Next door has started construction, it looks like it is going to be 5 or 6 homes. Yesterday they were installing the power lines. Our power went out several times yesterday afternoon (good thing I wasn't on the computer, but some of our appliances in the house kept going off and on). Since I was the only one that flew out of their apartment to see why the lights went out, they came to apologize several times. They also left a letter in our mailbox just in case some of our appliances got broken because of their "outages".

I made a batch of rafute, this past Wednesday and with some of the leftovers made a rafutedon for dinner last night.

To make the rafutedon (2 servings), take some thinly sliced onion, and heat in a pan. Add the slices from 2 pieces of rafute and add 1/4 stock (from when you boiled the pork). Let things heat up. Add some gravy from the rafute and throw in some chopped green onions. Then with one scrambled egg, add it to the pan in two pourings. Depending how well cooked or rare you like your eggs--cook them, then serve over hot rice...delicious.

The rosemary on my lanai must think it is Spring, it has started to flower.

October 10th was apparently tomato day. The Japanese love to take the sounds of numbers and make up different days. 10-10 is toe-mah-toe in Japanese.

We spent the 3-day weekend at my MIL's, lots to tell, will post about it soon. Have a good week.

bi bim bap

Yesterday I met my friend Kathy at Takatsuki. She lives in Ibaraki and teaches English at a University nearby.

After lunch and some window shopping, we were browsing around the Takatsuki shopping arcade.

I came across a kim chee shop that I had been looking for. The shop was featured in a foodie magazine and every time I've gone to Takatsuki I had been looking for it.

I didn't realize this, but you can also eat inside. They serve bi bim ba, buta kim chee (pork kim chee), chijimi (pajeon) and many other dishes. (will have to go back to try them!!)

They sell a bi bim ba veggie set. I bought one of the sets (400 yen--about US$4) and decided to make bi bim bap with it. The set comes with spinach, mung beans, zenmai (flowering fern/osmunda) and daikon (long white radish) namul.

I put some of the veggies onto some rice, added a little kim chee and corn, topped it with a sunny side up egg and some bi bim kook soo sauce.

Kind of mixed up Korean style food, but this was a great dinner with almost no cooking involved.

Fuji Kim Chee
16-19 Takatsuki-machi
Takatsuki, Osaka
Phone: 072.683.5129
Open 10:00-19:30 Closed on the 3rd Sunday

odds & ends

It is the end of the month, so let's clean out the photos that weren't posted about.

Baked some scones using a new recipe. These definitely have to be eaten with jam--not sweet at all, still delicious though.

New version of stuffed bell peppers, added some renkon (lotus root) to the beef and onions and left out the egg.

Made some 3-bean salad (only with 2 beans--canned garbanzo & cooked daizu(soy bean)). Added corn, bell pepper and onion.

Curry fried chicken. Added some curry powder, salt and pepper to panko (bread crumbs). Dipped the chicken pieces in egg then dredged it in the panko mixture. Ate it with some tonkatsu (pork cutlet) sauce--delicious.

New version of Meiji's almond--this one has salted caramel wrapped around the nut. Japan's latest fad is salty sweets. Delicious, but gets quite salty after awhile.

Used one pod of the Lifou vanilla to make strawberry jam.

Have been enjoying the jam on yogurt in the mornings.

Cut some basil tops so that it wouldn't flower, put them in water---hydroponics?? (maybe) Planted them in the soil, hopefully they will grow.

Found these cute bananas, called "monkey bananas" in Japan and are also called Senorita. Thought they would taste like apple bananas, these were really sweet, not tart like the bananas we get in Hawaii.

Tried the Green & Black's Organic Cocoa. Followed the instructions on the can. Not much flavor. Kind of disappointing.

Got this Japanese confection from one of the memorial services. It is called Hakata no hito (lady from Hakata). A tiny baum kuchen with a sweet bean paste filling--delicious.

Our neighborhood 7-eleven closed on Friday. Satoshi and I are particularly sad to see it go because it came into the neighborhood the same year we moved into the neighborhood.

Another store which closed on Friday is the bakery in our shopping arcade a.k.a. my almost everyday lunch pick-up place. Since I have to find somewhere new, looked into buying bento (boxed lunch) from a sozaiya (pre-made foods store)--420 yen (about US$4.20)--rice with crunchy ume (pickled plum), hijiki (edible brown seaweed), tsukemono (pickled veggies), iwashi hamburger (sardine patty), tamagoyaki (omlette), pumpkin & kusamochi (rice cake mixed with yomogi (mugwort)).