10 photos

tokushima shine muscat jam/compote

1st time making jam/compote with shine muscat it was a nice way to use some of the shine muscat we received from M!

inari eggplant

was a delicious experience once I could get the aburaage open to stuff

chikin mu

super easy recipe and good way to use daikon

eggplant gyoza

nice way to make "gyoza" without wrappers

Yamagata no3 Jam

1st time using fresh apricots

Adapted Dd's dressing

still need to try the other ume dressing recipe Jalna posted :)

Bird Bar

finally found a recipe similar to down to earth's bird bar!

Stuffed Tomato

not really a recipe but tasty

Saborecipe

nice way to kinda "play hooky" from cooking

Ashikaga Flower Park

bucket list item checked! what a great adventure.

I only had 9 kitchen experiences, so I added one of our favorite travel adventures.

We started 10 photos back in 2008 as part of a meme, nowadays I use this as a way to look back at the year

books 2025

Read 3 books this year 

"Aunty Lee's Deadly Specials" by Ovidia Yu

"Geisha, a Life" by Mineko Iwasaki

"Aunty Lee's Chilled Revenge" by Ovidia Yu

I have a couple more books on my shelf but they are huge books, so not very transportable

Still, hope to read more in 2026

this and that

belated Thanksgiving...poached chicken brest with cranberry chutney, wilted spinach with lemon dressing, roasted kabocha, maitake sauteed in butter and takoyaki sauce and really old purple cabbage pickles

dubai style chocolate pie from Vie de France...chocolate puff pastry filled with pistachio cream and crunchies...too sweet

who knew Toyota made sewing machines?! (seen near Think) if I understood the article correctly, they were apparently selling them until 2019?!

Tokyo University of Art...I think it might be a graduating student's project.

There were two other objet next to this one, but this one had the biggest impact on me

got the girls mammo'd....our city pays for the screening on even numbered birthdays (I think), so I had to pay 500 yen (very cheap)

recently been seeing this tuk tuk around our area

been following overall arts for some time now and noticed that they did a mural in a shopping arcade near the Keikyu Kamata station

when you don't lable the stuff you throw into the freezer, you reheat a chicken meatball instead of what you thought was a little ball of rice...ha!

hope you have a good week!

ueno

In order to get to Think, I walked through Ueno Park
 

I noticed this huge tree on the grounds of the Tokyo National Museum luckily it could be seen from between the slats of the outer fence 

Tokyo University of Arts

So stinky but so pretty

thank you

Thank you A for sending us a box of apples.

These apples are called San Fuji. 

Crisp & sweet

If you are interested in the difference between Fuji and San Fuji apples, please look here.

We appreciate your kindness A!

yoroniku & ebisu gardens

V invited us to celebrate her birthday at Yoroniku in Ebisu.

She and A dined here last year and enjoyed it.

Unfortunately Satoshi had something so he missed out

This post is gonna be long and you will gain weight...you have been warned

Assorted kim chee and namul

shoyu based sauce a little sweet, lemon & ume shu soda

beef tartare

after mixing it up and putting it on the garlic toast…so ono

2 types of beef sashimi ichibo (sirloin cap) and uchimomo (top round)

thick tongue, outside skirt and loin

salad with salt dressing (kinda like vinaigrette but not puckery)

this salad had huge pieces of lettuce in it, so a lot of us used it to wrap our meats in it as we ate

outside skirt with green onion sauce

thick tongue with lemon

loin with special sauce

lean meat and tsuchinoko (near thigh?)

eat in slightly sweetened sauce...so melt in your mouth

osuimono (clear soup) with bits of tripe...type of palate cleanser

wagyu onigiri

chateaubriand and silky loin

chateaubriand was cooked on super low heat to keep the tenderness and flavor of the meat

silky loin was cooked on a higher heat but was still very tender

dip the chateaubriand in sauce then cover the teeny rice ball...enjoy!

sirloin

eat sirloin with oroshi daikon and sauce first bite...add wasabi to change things up second bite

zabuton (chuck) "sukiyaki" with truffle

the chuck is shabu shabu-ed in this sukiyaki style sauce 

and then they truffle it

really truffle it

and then they froth it up

the rice they will add after you eat the meat, so don't eat up all the truffle egg mixture

frothed up truffle egg and meat

after adding the rice to the truffle egg

awa somen is a thicker type of somen from shikoku

chewy similar to reimen

add condiments...nori tsukudani and wasabi to change up the flavors

dessert...matcha shaved ice to share...first round eat as is

second round add the kuromame and condensed milk

surprise shaved ice for the birthday girl (left)

this one was shirokuma style which means fruits are embedded in the shave ice then covered with condensed milk

the staff worked so hard to cook the meats and serve so that we had the best dining experience

after dinner we walked (rolled) a little to Ebisu Gardens to see the Baccarat chandelier "tree"

This tree is displayed every year at about this time.

The chandelier is 5 meters (16 feet) tall and 3 meters (9 feet) wide and has about 8500 crystals and 250 light bulbs made by 13 MOF (meilleur ouvrier de france) craftsmen and took about 15,000 hours to make

At the opposite end they have this 10 meter (32 feet) tall Christmas tree!

Thank you V for letting me celebrate your birthday with you this year!

We are thankful for your friendship and appreciate your kindness.

We hope you enjoyed your trip! Have a safe trip home.

Yoroniku

1-11-5 Ebisu, GEMS 8F

Shibuya, Tokyo

Hours: 17:00-00:00

*reservations recommended