sol

It had been awhile since I visited SOL.

For one, the owner opens at noon, and it is rare that I am walking around his shop at that time.

Another thing was that he was renovating, taking over the kitschy knick-knack shop boasting "Hawaiian plate lunch" (which we were too afraid to try) next door.

By taking over the next door's space, he was able to increase the number of seats to eat on and also open up his kitchen.

I usually order the keema curry but it isn't back on his menu (yet), instead I ordered the chicken curry...300 yen.

The naan is definitely getting bigger...200 yen.

And the cup of chai had just the right amount of sweetness...100 yen.

It was nice to see a good amount of foot traffic while I was there.

There is no parking, though everyone just puts their hazards on and parks in front of the shop (typical Japan!)

He's kept his prices the same and I hope he can keep up with the orders, his curry is definitely worth going back for.

chocolate chai snickerdoodles

Since moving to Japan, nothing says the holidays to me like a nice warm cup of chai.

All the different spices warming you up...mmm!

I've had this recipe bookmarked probably since I started this blog, and finally got around to trying it.

Of course, I cut the recipe to a fourth, but I'm going to post the full recipe for those with "real" sized ovens.

Chocolate chai snickerdoodles from Familystylefood.com : makes 42 cookies

2.25 cups sugar
1 teaspoon each ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon each allspice, white pepper
1 cup softened butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2.25 cup flour
1.5 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Stir sugar & spices
Remove 1/2 for dredging.
Add cocoa to the other half and mix well.
Beat butter until fluffy
Add spiced cocoa mixture and cream
Add eggs and vanilla
Add flour and baking powder at low speed until combined
Form 1 tablespoon sized balls
Roll them in the reserved sugar and arrange 2-inches apart on parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake at 350F (180C) for 12-15 minutes
Cool in pan a few minutes before transferring to rack

NOTES: The dough was really sticky and kind of hard to work with. I ended up with 9 cookies because my tablespoon sized balls were not even.

Also, I think I would reserve less of the sugar mixture to roll in, adding it to the dough instead because I ended up throwing some out at the end.

These are good though, spicy, chocolatey and I like saying "snickerdoodle".

Happy Holidays!

stollen and chai

Recently for breakfast, we had stollen and chai. (I actually hadn't known about stollen until coming to Japan.)

Now, it is a signal to me that Christmas is coming.

At Epinard, a local sweet shop in Minoo, I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were selling stollen....240 yen (about US$2.40) for their mini size.

It was my first time trying their stollen, which had lots of fruit and nuts in it. I bought 2 mini sized pieces and cut each into 3 for our breakfast...delicious!

A little on the sweet side with the powdered sugar on the outside, kind of like a cookie, it was perfect with some unsweetened chai.

Is there something special you eat/drink during this time of year?

Epinard
6-6-8 Minoo
Phone: 072.724.2248
Closed: Wednesdays

Yesterday, a couple of elementary school boys pointed out this huge full moon as I was on my walk (actually they were chatting amongst themselves and I overheard them).

Since I didn't have my camera with me, I took a photo of the moon as soon as I got back, just after sunset.

odds & ends

It is the end of the month which means that I need to clear out some photos.

Taste Delight's Maple Leaf Cream Cookies. Maple syrup flavored cookies with cream centers. Pulling them apart reminded me of Oreos, I loved the maple syrup flavor. The cream center wasn't maple syrup flavored, if it were I think it would have been too much.

My Smoothie's Superfruit acai smoothie, a product from Sweden have these great design boxes, the box folds up after drinking.

According to the outside of the box, the smoothie has 19 acai berries, 1 apple, 1/2 banana, 14 raspberries, 52 blueberries and 9 blackberries all in this tiny box. I loved the taste but didn't like the pulp, almost made me gag, I'm such a wuss.

Sekai no Kitchen's Tiramisu Latte, was very almond extract-y (is that even grammatically correct?) and combines marscapone and espresso. I don't think I would drink this one again.

Lipton's extra shot Chai....this one was more on the clove side, not sure if I would get this one again.

Dean & Deluca's Bretagne Caramel Walnut Ice cream....delicious. Lots of walnuts in caramel ice cream.

Awhile back, I bought these hotate (scallops) which were grilled at Daiei, 150 yen (about US$1.50) a stick. I also picked up some tako (octopus) and then made a donburi (bowl) with rice, lettuce, the hotate and tako, a little kim chee and yuk-hoe sauce, a fast delicious dinner.

I was surprised at how small the filet-o-fish at McD's is...it was the size of my palm! This sandwich reminds me of my grandma.

When we were growing up we would catch The Bus with my grandparents to Ala Moana shopping center. We would eat lunch at McDonald's and my grandma would always eat the filet-o-fish.

I recently defrosted some homemade portuguese sausage and paired it with kim chee fried rice for a quick weekend lunch.The month flew by so fast!

sol

Saturday after a lesson, I walked to the grocery store.

On my way, I passed by SOL to see if he had keema curry....nope.

I debated whether to get lunch from there, but on my way back from the grocery store, I stopped to pick-up some tandoori chicken (3 drumette pieces) 300 yen (about US$3), naan 200 yen (about US$2) & chicken curry 300 yen (about US$3).

The tandoori was skewered onto metal skewers then placed into the same vertical "oven" that the naan was baked in.

Since I wasn't feeling too hungry, I ate 1 drumette, halved the curry and halved the naan.

I think the only time I've tried tandoori chicken was at CPK (California Pizza Kitchen) and that version was really dry. The tandoori chicken at SOL was moist, tender with a little zap of spiciness....delicious.

I also made some chai, using the spices I picked up in Tokyo.

Lunch the next day was even better, I put the chicken and naan in the oven to warm up. The chicken got bright orangey-pink and a little burnt, the naan got crispy and the curry was delicious, it was a nice way to warm up on a cold day.

chai scones

Yesterday, I forgot to thank all our friends and family for their cards, letters and gifts. We always look forward to the cards, especially the ones with the photos and enjoy the letters. We also appreciate the thoughtfulness of the gifts. It is especially this time of year when we wish we were closer to family and friends. (Thank you!!)

Now back to the post...I love chai and I love scones. So, I tried putting the two together yesterday. I used this recipe for chai but only used the measurements for the spices and 3/4 teaspoons of finely ground black tea (not brewed) and this recipe for the scones.

It came out delicious. We ate them plain. I don't think they would match with jam, but if you need to put something on them, maybe some clotted cream would be nice.

We hope Santa brought everything you wished for!

chocolates, chocolates, chocolates

One last chocolate post for 2006....On a recent trip to the gourmet supermarket, I found Charlemagne chocolates. These Belgian chocolates are naturally flavored with no GMO (genetically modified organisms, I think that's what it stands for) or extra oil added. Since I had never tried this chocolate before, I bought the assorted neapolitans (squares).

There were 6 flavors: amer (75% cacao) a dark, rich chocolate, gingembre (54% cacao) with a light ginger taste, cafe d'orient (60% cacao) an assortment of spices, cannelle (60% cacao) a light cinnamon flavor, menthe fraiche (54% cacao) a light mint taste and jasmin (54% cacao) a flowery jasmine flavor. There was one flavor that wasn't included in the assortment, but I wouldn't mind trying some time, earl grey. Guess it will have to wait until the next trip to the gourmet supermarket.

Also at the gourmet supermarket was Venchi, an Italian chocolatier. I had tried them before and was interested in their dark chocolate with almonds. The almonds are caramelized then made into a bark covered with dark chocolate. These mini bars are just the right size.

For Christmas, I recently received these tiramisu flavored almonds by Ekchuah, a chocolatier in Osaka. The almonds are covered with caramel to give it a crunch, then covered with a tiramisu flavored chocolate and rolled in cocoa powder. Delicious!

Lastly, I bought this chai bar by Dagoba awhile back. It is a 37% cacao with chai spices and bits of crystallized ginger in it. This one is flavorful and really nice.

Can't wait for more chocolatey adventures in 2007!