ootoya

I really like the black vinegar sauce that is on the fried fish and fried chicken at Ootoya

It's been awhile since we've eaten there and so the other day we went for lunch and they had a pork and tsukune combination with the black vinegar sauce.

I've never "counted" how many pieces of "meat" were in my serving until this visit...

There were only 2 pieces of pork and 2 pieces of tsukune (oh and if you are interested, there are also 2 of each veggie)

I was disappointed because one piece of pork was really teeny and the other piece was really fatty and hard.as.rock.

Will go back to ordering the fried fish version...hopefully I'll receive 4 normal sized pieces...

chikin mu

Had bought half a daikon and noticed one end turning brown so I tried making chikin mu

Found a recipe on this blog and it seemed really easy, so I cut up the daikon and mixed the brine.

We tried it with dinner the other night and Satoshi said he liked it.

I think it could be a tad sweeter, but will taste it again because it hasn't soaked overnight.

Chikin Mu from Stellan Spice

1/2 pound daikon

1.5 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons white vinegar

1/3 cup water

Peel the daikon

Cut into discs that are between 1/2 inch to 1 inch depending on your preference. I usually cut them about 3/4 of an inch

Cut the discs into cubes

Combine sugar, salt, white vinegar and water until dissolved then add daikon and shake or mix until fully submerged in the pickling liquid

Store in the refrigerator for 1 day before eating

This will stay good for up to 2 weeks

NOTES:  easy and tasty

I didn't have white sugar nor white vinegar and used what I had in my pantry (brown sugar and rice vinegar)

It's a good way to use up daikon and is easy to put together

I would definitely make this again.

this and that

Sorry it’s been quiet here I caught some kind of bug

I had an off and on fever, a cough, runny nose

I figure it was going from hot to cold places, and staying in wet perspiry clothing over and over

And it didn’t help that the "other person" in the apartment started coughing before I did…ahem

here's a hodge podge of stuff not blogged about from August-ish

castella ice cream sandwiches which I had seen on Matsuko’s show...delicious! 

they also have a matcha version that I saw at the market and when I looked online they had many other flavors too

citrus coffee from Family Mart reminded me of espresso tonic but without the fizz...love!

when you have jet lag (early August), you can see beautiful sunrises...

origami hydrangea...so pretty!

sad my yangnyeom chicken & chickin mu fix place went out of business (photo from a previous visit)

Latch bolt is fixed! the guy that fixed it wasn't too sure if it was because the bolt was dirty or because when they put this new lock into our door it didn't really fit...anyway it is fixed and he said he will tell our building management that if it happens again, that they should replace our locks. 

Tokyo furry people...love seeing the furry ones riding around in the baskets of bicycles...

Got this gadget to open up the back of my teeny clocks so that I can change the batteries

Not sure what the big yellow one is for, but I did use the teeny screwdriver and the mallet (which I already had)...

I'm pretty sure the teeny screwdriver is similar if not the same as the one I have for eye glasses...

The new batteries were "special" so they don't sell them at convenience stores or at the 100 yen shops, luckily I found them at a DIY shop and they cost about 600 yen plus tax each!...at least now I know I can change these.

Tried this new (to me) ice cream from Godiva...so ono!

Hard chocolate top, pistachio and chocolate ice cream underneath.

Would get this one again.

Last Thursday, we had our ward's fireworks show.

This year it was held a little later because our ward had a hard time getting security guards during O-bon.

I have a short video here if you are interested

Broken English spoken perfectly here...

the sky the other night

typhoon 15 (peipah) is approaching today, stay safe

hope you are all doing well

10 photos

Easy Pupu : had to try this after seeing this photo, it was easy, different, and delicious
 

Nira (chive) sauce : easy and delicious to put on tofu and other types of proteins

Reconnect : reconnected with Mom’s Bread & Butter Pickles

Frito Pie : 1st time making frito pie, delicious! Fritos are not commonly found in Japan, so had to bring some back from Hawaii to try this.

S'mores : 1st time for BFF to eat s'mores! glad she now knows what she had been missing

Monkey Chews Kitchen : a tiny French restaurant in our area was a nice way to celebrate our anniversary

Karuizawa : 1st time to this area, we now know it is cooler here than in Tokyo

Furry Get Together : 1st time meeting these 3, it was a nice get together

Atami : 1st time to this area, beautiful beaches and sunrises

Shimoda : 1st time to this area, delicious fish and sights

I started this round up back in 2008 as part of a meme, nowadays, I use it as a nice way to look back on the year.

We didn't try too many new recipes this year, so I included 1st time experiences to make this year’s 10 photos

books

 whoo hoo read 3 books this year

1. "Kau Kau"by Arnold Hiura

2. "The Undomestic Goddess" by Sophie Kinsella

3. "Can You Keep A Secret?" by Sophie Kinsella

Since I have about 20 minutes at physical therapy, I "brilliantly" figured out to bring a book...

If you read something you'd like to share, please let me know in the comments

thanks for today

Went to Mount Takao with V & A on Friday.

The Autumn Colors have finally started, so everyone was out and about
 

We took the lift since the line was the shortest...950 yen (tax included), round trip per person

no filters

we brought musubi for lunch, good thing, the lines for most food items were krazy!

Someone needed rescuing, there was even a teeny ambulance that came afterwards...hope they were okay and it wasn't anything too serious

Points if you can see Mount Fuji with a little cloud on top

It was nice bonding with nature

We were glad the weather was really nice

super cool in the shady areas

Mount Takao (big furry) people : so many furry ones along the way

The ride down was scarier! and fahreezing

It had been 3 years since I'd been to Mount Takao, there have been some changes in the area near the station, but it was nice to be outside

Thanks for today V & A!

this and that

Tokyo People: first time to see a welder working in the Meguro River
 

Tokyo People: looking at this woman's jacket as we rode the escalator....I think someone's fingers were on the wrong keys

cool bicycle

Kanagawa People (probably)

Remember the buttery baby castella? well I found a cutie in 

the bag amongst the orbs...teeny rabbit

Tokyo People: when you so busy you gotta walk and work at the same time

Went to Blue Poppy Bakery to pick up a pumpkin pie for us to share after our Thanksgiving dinner.

I also purchased their brioche lox and molasses spice cookie...1600 yen (tax included) for everything

I had the brioche lox for lunch and shared the cookie with Satoshi.

The brioche was delicious, lots of cream cheese, smoked salmon and herbs

The cookie was dense with lots of spices...love!

Used this hack I saw online to put a cupcake or mini pie into the refridge

Since the container is deep it acts as a high "roof" to protect the frosting of a cupcake

By using the cover to hold the pie, you don't have to worry about messing up the pie trying to put it into the container

For Thanksgiving dinner, I made poached chicken which we had with cranberry chutney and tried V's kaki caprese hack putting it into a salad with mini mozz and topping it with balsamic vinaigrette.

Yakiimo with kouign amann spread and pumpkin pie from Blue Poppy Bakery

The crust of the pie wasn't too good and the filling was missing a spice that I can't put my finger on, but it was nice to enjoy all these foods.

did you know that "black friday" is a thing here? they start a couple weeks early and end a couple weeks after...more like a "month"..ha!

It's the start of December! 

kouign amann spread

V gave us this kouign amann spread from Kaldi

She said she saw it on social media and thought it might be fun to try.

It looked interesting, just spread it onto bread and toast

It is supposed have that brulee top like a kouign amann should have

Lots of cautions : it might catch fire, don’t spread too much, you might burn yourself…in other words, don’t spread too much..ha!

We tried it with a baguette type of bread

And on yakiimo (roasted sweet potato)

I think I like putting it on yakiimo the best

V, Thanks for giving this to us to try