update

I thought I should bring you up to date...if you remember, when we first moved to Tokyo, I had thought that we would have to bathe at the public baths over the winter because our bathtub didn't have a "reheat" button...

Well, "someone" must of heard me because after posting about it, I stumbled on the reheat button for our bathtub...saving me from going to the public baths during the cold months...whew!

One thing I learned while watching the local cable channel and also from the article I linked in my previous post on public baths is that the bath water is black in our area and is called "kuro-yu" (literally black hot water).

I am not sure what makes the bath water black, but think it may be due to the types of minerals in the hot spring water.

Satoshi's been to the one nearby several times but if I do get a chance to check out a public bath in our neighborhood, I'll be sure to share the experience.

sento

One thing we've noticed is that our area has a lot of sento (scent-oh...public bathhouses).

We have several a couple of minutes walking distance away from where we live.

And since our furo (bath) does not have a reheating unit (it is super old!) we are probably gonna be using the neighborhood sento this winter.

Sento is more casual than onsen (hot springs).

Like onsen though most sento have a bathing fee.

You need to bring your own towel, soap, shampoo, etc.

And if you want to use the hair dryer afterwards, there is a fee too.

There was an article I found about some of the sento in our area here.

Hope to share with you our sento experience later this year.

lately...

Remember this?

Well, recently, anything and everything has this salted caramel or caramel flavor added to it...Actually, this has been going on for awhile in Japan now, but it seems like more and more things are popping up here and there.

We tried the caramel version of the W cream eclair and say that the original version is best.

Theobroma's caramel chocolate drink...I prefer the original chocolate.

Starbucks convenience store brand, Discoveries' Provence is creme brulee flavored. It reminded me more of a caramel macchiato than creme brulee.

Haagen Dazs' Truffe Chocolat, this was really chocolaty with bits of chocolate in it too....mmm!

Banana Chocolate was so-so, banana ice cream with a chocolate swirl running through it.

Almond Praline, almond ice cream with caramel running through it. The caramel was a little bitter, probably to off-set the sweet almond ice cream....meh!

I recently found stroopwafel at Starbucks...140 yen (about US$1.40), I guess I was impatient because the caramel wasn't too gooey when I had this, but it was good.

I also got an apple cinnamon macaron...220 yen (about US$2.20)...the outside was vanilla and the inside was an apple cinnamon gel...not too sweet and good with black coffee.

Veggie lasagna...I tried making this with no-boil noodles. I didn't have enough liquid, so I ended up adding some water while I was baking this. Still it was easy to put together and very delicious.

Harnn soaps...these soaps from Thailand smell so wonderful. I first saw this in a magazine on the plane from Palau, I thought the only place to buy them was in Guam, but when I went online I found out they sell them right here in Osaka.

I think they use jasmine extracts. The rice series (black, white and red rice) has bits of rice in them, good for exfoliation.

Ellie's baked shrimp with feta...I didn't have feta and used goat cheese...this had a lot of liquid, good for lots of bread mopping.

My hand at cappuccino art...I think I'll stick to being a housewife.

Burdigala's citron brioche...bits of citron baked into a soft brioche. I don't think the icing is too necessary though it does keep the brioche moist.

Huge maitake (hen of woods), doesn't it look like a corsage??

The cappuccino at Malebranche doesn't come with a spoon but a stick of cinnamon to stir....delicious but hard to get at the crema at the end.

Starbucks' fruit jewel 390 yen (about US$3.90)...a cake made with graham flour and dried fruits....one of the fruits that they use is lingonberry. My only gripe with the lingonberry is that there are tiny seeds that get stuck in my teeth, other than that it was a really delicious cake, nice and moist.

Starbucks is also collecting books/magazines from December 1 to 25 called "book for two", I think they donate or re-sell them, anyway, I donated a book that I didn't need anymore.

Pafonte's cinnamon roll 120 yen (about US$1.20)...buttery and delicious and just the right size.

What have you been eating/into lately?

furo

If you're in warm areas, bear with me. Since it's been so cold for the past week, I've decided to write about our "furo" (bath tub).

I think our furo is quite big for our apartment size (apartment size = 60 sq. meters--645.83 sq.feet), I can stretch my legs out without any problem (although I am short, so that may not count??) and very deep (it holds 200 liters(52.83 gallons) of water but I only fill it to 180 liters (47.55 gallons)). In the winter, the bath water is set at 43C (109F), in the summer we bring the water temperature down to 39C(102.2F).

The rules of the furo (or so I was taught), are that you are supposed to wash yourself, rinse off and then go into the furo. The water is for everyone to use, so you should be clean when you go into the furo. After you are done, leave the water in for others to use, and don't pull the plug! (Satoshi has different rules (he just rinses off before going in), so I like to go in before he does...)

To get your body all warmed up, they say that it's best to stay in for at least 20 minutes. Coming from Hawaii, we don't really have bath tubs to soak in. (I grew up taking an occasional bubble bath and mostly showers).

So, when I first moved here, going to an onsen (hot spring) was as Satoshi says "mottainai" (a waste). I would only go into the bath once (right before bed) and only stay in for a couple of minutes, while Satoshi would stay in for hours. (When you go to an onsen you are supposed to go at least three times: once before dinner, once before bed and once in the morning before breakfast).

I think I've made some progress, I usually bring in a magazine (one that can get wet) with me so that I can stay in the tub for at least 30 minutes. :)

The weather people have said that this will probably the coldest winter in 10 years. They researched the winters in the past and it appears that cold winters come around every 10 years (last year we had a relatively "warm" winter).

Keep warm if your in places like I am, and cool if you're somewhere warm!
Have a great week!