nian gao

Lucky to find nian gao at Tokyo Doujiang Seikatsu…350 yen (tax included)

(In Japanese, they pronounce it "nengao")

They had two types, one with adzuki bean and one with black sugar

I chose the one with black sugar

It also came with instructions on how to eat it...

• zap in the microwave for 10 to 20 seconds 
• steam 
• fry in a pan 
• wrap in puff pastry and toast 
• wrap in spring roll wrapper and fry

My mom used to make her own gau, and it used to be super sticky...if you didn't wrap it properly mold would take over...

This one was firm and easily came out of the aluminum pan.

Hope to try frying it in a pan and zapping in the microwave.

Not as sweet as my mom's version, glad I got to try this one.

happy lunar new year

Hope you have a Happy Lunar New Year!

Apparently it is the Year of the Wood Snake

I wanted to check out Yokohama’s Chinatown, since the last time I went for Lunar New Year was pre-pandemic, but since I just got vaccinated and heard that 90 million?! Chinese are traveling this week, and that their number one travel destination is Japan, I decided to lay low.

I instead bought us Chinese bento from Niihao...680 yen (plus tax)

1 main choice...I chose sweet sour pork, 2 side choices...I chose happosai (eight treasure vegetables) and eggplant gyoza (this was eggplant and minced meat that was deep fried, I think the sauce was the sweet sour sauce...1 starch choice, I chose their noodles since I read somewhere that noodles should be eaten for the New Year.

I also bought some spring rolls at the market since this should also be eaten for the New Year and also just in case this bento wasn't enough for Satoshi...for his main I chose ebi chili (spicy shrimp)

I ate my bento for lunch, but Satoshi will eat his for dinner. (Kat will eat leftovers for dinner)

I hope the New Year will bring you good health, happiness and prosperity.

happy lunar new year

Happy Lunar New Year!

We went to Yokohama's Chinatown on Saturday to celebrate.

It is only a 30 minute ride by train from where we live.

We started off with some happo tea and snacks at Gokuchaso (which apparently translates to Monkey Magic Tea House).

Happo tea has eight different dried items like goji berries, chrysanthemum as well as some tea too.

It was pretty nice to sit and leisurely drink tea without too much chattering going on in the cafe.

I ordered an amanikuman which was a bun filled with housemade char siu.

Not too sweet and the steamed bun was really soft!

I would definitely get this again.

Satoshi ordered the char siu with white scallion bowl.

I've notice this combination is popular in the Kanto (East Japan) area.

Top the bowl with a raw egg and add more seasoning if you wish with soy sauce or chili sauce.

Satoshi said he enjoyed this.

After several pots of tea, we went kitty corner to the Masobyo Temple which in Chinese is the Ma Zhu Miao Temple.

Apparently this is the temple for the Sea Goddess Mazu.

We didn't realize we need to pay to visit this temple, so after looking around a bit, we left.

Lunch was at Ryuhoshuka.

Satoshi ordered these shrimp gyoza which turned out to be har gow.

They were delicious.

We also ordered this zuwaigani (snow crab) fried rice.

This was rich and delicious!

Lots of douchi (black bean) sauce.

I wanted to order the paiko fried rice...paiko is written páigǔ in Chinese and is a kind of spare rib, but they had run out of it, so instead I ordered the short rib donabe gohan which was a garlicky rice dish cooked with short ribs in a clay pot.

This was delicious, especially the parts that were stuck to the pot.

We ate a lot of rice that day but everything had different flavors and were delicious.

There are other places we want to check out so we'll be back to Yokohama's Chinatown.

Gokuchaso
130 Yamashitacho
Naka-ku, Yokohama
Phone: 045.681.7776
Hours: Mondays-Fridays 11:30-20:00, Saturdays 11:00-21:00, Sundays 11:00-20:00

Ryuhoshuka
152 Yamashitacho
Naka-ku, Yokohama
Phone: 045.662.9201
Closed Tuesdays
Hours: 11:30-14:30 (lunch), 17:30-21:00 (dinner)

foodie saturday in kobe

Saturday it was sunny so we decided to check out the Chinese New Year festivities in Kobe.

It was packed and hard to find a place to eat lunch at.

Our first choice had a krazy line, and the restaurant next door had no line, so we chanced it and had lunch at Koshusaikan.

They said we may have to share our table. We ended up against a wall with a teeny table.

Satoshi and I ordered the dim sum lunch which came with 12 different "tastes"...980 yen each.

These lunches had been made and had been sitting awhile because the skins of the dim sum were dried out...blah!

The bowl of noodles had either hardened or at least the noodles were in a massive clump...probably the worst meal I've had in Japan?!

I guess that is the chance you take when you veer blindly off your "to try list"...

A bit hungry we walked around a bit and decided to check out Lima Coffee.

They just opened last October and are part of the "third wave" coffee trend sweeping Japan.

Siphon-style, Satoshi enjoyed watching the guy behind the counter brew the coffees.

Satoshi had their Mandheling (medium) while I had their Peru (small)...770 yen for both.

Their coffee was good!

Since we were still hungry we checked out the second place on my list, Hyotan Gyoza.

This tiny shop has been in business for over 60 years!

They only have 8 seats so be prepared to wait.

If you don't have time to wait, order some "to-go".

Warning: If you eat at their counter, you have to order at least one order of gyoza per person.

We ordered two orders (one order has 7 pieces)...740 yen.

The skins are thin and have a little pull.

Kobe style is to eat the gyoza with a miso sauce. The sauce is made with hatcho miso, a red soy bean paste. We added a little vinegar to it, but you could also add chili sauce or shoyu.

We also tried their garlic soy sauce (bottle stuffed with sliced garlic and soy sauce), by itself.

Both are good.

Satoshi enjoyed these. He said that if he lived in Kobe, he would be here often.

I'm glad he liked this place...we'll be back to the latter two places.

Have a good week!

Koshusaikan
2-10-8 Sakaemachi-dori
Chuo, Kobe
Phone: 078.393.0607
Hours: 10:00-22:00

Lima Coffee
3-8-1 Motomachi-dori
Chuo, Kobe
Phone: 078.335.6308
Closed Mondays
Hours: 8:00-18:00

Hyotan Gyoza
1-11-15 Motomachi-dori
Chuo, Kobe
Phone: 078.391.0364
Hours: 11:30-22:30, days off not set, call before going

dinner

Last night we had "chinese" food for dinner since it is Chinese New Year.

Lup cheong rice & cantonese chicken with broccoli & maitake.

I marinated chicken using the recipe for the clay pot chicken, then stir-fried it with maitake and some steamed broccoli.

For dessert, mooncake.

I know it is for a celebration in Autumn, but you can find it here year round.

Nothing really authentic, totally just in the spirit of the holiday.

Have a nice weekend!

hello february

Yesterday afternoon we had a teeny blizzard that whizzed past our window.

It stopped after a couple of minutes and it seemed like that was that.

This morning we woke up to a light dusting of snow...whoo!

I had said on the blog yesterday, that it was Chinese New Year but was corrected by a friend on social media, turns out I was looking at the date for 2014?!

Anyway, I guess we'll be celebrating the Chinese New Year twice.

In a couple of days we'll be celebrating Setsubun with our ehomaki, I've written about both here. This year's direction is west-south-west.

Happy Sunday!

odds & ends

Not enough days to blog about everything, so this post is packed with randomness...

Yesterday, we had snow, all.morning.long.

Luckily, I didn't have anything planned, so I stayed indoors and made this brownie dessert for Valentine's.

I used milk chocolate since that is what Satoshi likes. I didn't add sugar to the recipe since I was using milk chocolate and I also made a glaze/frosting for the brownies...don't ask me how much butter I used...gasp!

Earlier this month, we had some Chinese food for Chinese New Years at Lei Can Ting.

I don't think anything on my plate was traditionally Chinese New Years food, but it was fancy and really delicious.

There was a piece of shrimp coated with a sweet mayonnaise, daikon cake, half a piece of spring roll, some steamed dim sum, salad, a soup with a gyoza in it and for dessert a jin dui filled with sweet bean paste...oh an a bowl of congee topped with crunchy spring roll skins, pieces of pickled daikon and green onions...whew!

Had to try Deb's caramelized pineapple with dark chocolate, after seeing her version, here.

I didn't grill mine, just used a non-stick pan, and my sugar coating was a bit watered down, so it took awhile to caramelize, but it was so delicious with the dark chocolate.

The sweet from the pineapple and the tartness from the dark chocolate...great with wine.

And then there was an evening when we had buri sushi (amberjack).

The pieces of fish were so thick and fresh. Love the supermarket's pre-made food area.

Recently tried this imperial porter called "To whom it may concern, we didn't ask you what kind of beer you like, sorry".

Made with black sugar it had hints of chocolate and caramel...yum!

Celebrating 30 years, Haagen Dazs came out with a rose ice cream...wow the rose flavor is so nice, not perfumy or overpowering.

On the other hand, their sakura ice cream was bad, really bad....even if sakura translates to cherry, it isn't the same cherry as bing or sour cherries...blah!

Ginormous potato, and only 38 yen!

I boiled the potato and mixed in a tablespoon of andasu and some mayo for a kind of potato salad...delicious!

What have you been enjoying?

canelé du japon

After having my latte at Streamers, I went to Canelé du Japon, as they are just down the street.

For winter they have two flavors, hazelnut (top) and secchu-carrot (right). Secchu is literally "in the snow". So this flavor is "carrots in the snow".

It's a good thing when you can actually taste what is supposed to be in there like carrots and hazelnuts.

I also got anzu (apricot(bottom)) and kurozato kurumi (black sugar walnut (left)), from their regular line-up of flavors.

I'm glad I got to try them again they didn't disappoint.

p.s. it's Chinese New Years today, "Kung Hee Fat Choy", if you're celebrating! and have a nice weekend.

kung hee fat choy

It's the start of Chinese New Years...the year of the Dragon.

I've posted a picture of this before.

This dragon was painted on the ceiling of Myoshinji in Kyoto. The unryuzu (picture of the dragon) is 25 meters (82 feet) long and 20 meters (65 feet) wide and was drawn on the ceiling by Kano Tanyu, no matter where you stand in the room, the dragon is always looking at you.

Kung Hee Fat Choy!

setsubun + kung hee fat choy

"Kung Hee Fat Choy" (Happy New Year), today is the start of the Chinese year, the Year of the Rabbit.

I came across this chocolate rabbit over the weekend, it was similar to this lion bread except they made long rabbit ears and put a sliced almond for the teeth...yum!

Today is also Setsubun. I've written about this in detail in the past, here.

We ate our ehomaki (uncut sushi for good luck) this morning since Satoshi usually comes home late and doesn't eat rice at his dinnertime.

Instead of making the ehomaki this year, I found some at 7-eleven. Since they didn't have two of the same type, I bought one of each and gave the bigger one to Satoshi.

This year's lucky direction is nan-nan-to (south-south-east).

I think it is the first time these two occasions fell on the same day, must have some extra good luck behind it, don't you think?

kung hee fat choy!

It is Chinese New Year today and all around the Islands you can hear and see people wishing each other a Happy New Year with the greeting, "Kung Hee Fat Choy!"

I sometimes I think my mom secretly wanted to be born Chinese, she even told us that she wanted to marry a Chinese chef (in front of my Dad even!)...when we were younger, she used to make baked manapua (char siu bao) for us and for Chinese New Year, she makes gau. Gau is the Chinese version of mochi (rice cake), except that it is made with mochiko(sweet rice flour), dark brown sugar, water and a little oil. (well, that is how she makes it anyway)

First she melted the brown sugar sticks.

Then with all the ingredients mixed together, she steamed them in a steamer. When we were younger, I remember she used to make it in a pressure cooker and you could hear the cooker making that "shucka-shucka-shoo" noise as it cooked.

When it comes out it is still watery, so don't cover it with foil or plastic wrap, instead just put it into a brown paper bag to "dry". If you don't do this, you'll see mold form on it faster than you can say "kung hee fat choy".

Then top each one with a red date (I think she said it is called a hung jo) and some sesame seeds. (When I was still working, one of my Chinese-American friends once told my mom that she makes gau better than some Chinese ladies...he got gau from her every year after that.)

Usually, you can't eat the gau right away because it is too soft. After about two days, the gau firms up and is just the right texture to cut and eat. Some people use grated yam and some people coconut. All the variations are delicious!

We had some dim sum the other day for lunch from Chun Wah Kam. A huge steamed char siu bao or manapua as we call it in Hawaii, pork hash and Hong Kong noodles. Delicious and filling.

I really miss manapua, the Japanese have something called nikuman, but it just doesn't taste the same. I think it is because our char siu is sweeter than the Japanese char siu.

The year of the Rat is the beginning of the Lunar cycle. Let's hope this year will be a good one all around!

Kung Hee Fat Choy!

local foodie kind of weekend

Saturday, we checked out the Farmer's Market at KCC (Kapiolani Community College). There were all sorts of food items as well as potted plants and cut flowers. One item which I purchased was made by a local company called Honolulu Fudge Sauce Company. They have several different flavors mostly made with Guittard chocolates, but the one that caught my eye was their Premium Hawaiian made from 100% Hawaiian chocolate grown on the Big Island. With a name like "Spoonalicious" you know it has to be good!

Another item which I picked up was locally made honey. There is a co-op (which I didn't know about) called the Hawaiian Honeybee Co-op which makes different kinds of honeys in different parts of the islands. This particular honey was made in Enchanted Lakes (Kailua, Oahu) from a variety of flowers.

Sunday was the start of the Chinese New Year, to which you should greet others saying "Kung Hee Fat Choy" or "Happy New Year". It is the year of the Boar and a Golden Boar at that, which supposedly only comes around every 600 years! It is supposed to be a very lucky year, but also one for many natural disasters, so please be careful everyone!

I also got together with BFF and S for some shopping and noshing. It was a great time. At one of the shopping malls we went to, I searched for the Sahale Snacks, but still haven't found any :( Oh well, I guess I'll just enjoy the one flavor (Sing Buri) that I did find.

Next year or maybe at the end of this year, Whole Foods Market will be opening here, so I'm looking forward to more foodie finds on my next trip back home.

Monday was President's Day--a State & Federal holiday here. We got together with some of my relatives for dinner and a kanikapila (playing the ukelele (hawaiian musical instrument) and singing). It was great!

And lastly, today is Fat Tuesday and Mardi Gras--the day before Lent in which rich ingredients such as flour, eggs and milk are supposed to be used up.

Even though my religion does not observe Lent, it gave me a good excuse to get some of my favorite--Champion Malasadas.

Hope you have a great week!

foodie kind of weekend (sort of...)

Before I start this post, I'd like to say, "Kung hee fat choy!" (No, I'm not swearing...really) This is how we say "Happy Chinese New Year" in Hawaii...The Year of the Dog begins today.

My foodie kind of weekend started on Friday...Satoshi had the day off. We decided to roam around in an area near Kobe called Okamoto.

In college, I studied at a university in Okamoto with a study abroad program for 9 months. 

Before studying abroad, I couldn't speak Japanese at all (In fact, a conversation teacher at the U.H. (University of Hawaii) told me, in my 3rd year, that I should change my major because I was never going to be able to speak Japanese!). 

I am really grateful to this program and my host-family because they gave me the confidence I needed to speak Japanese (boy, would I like to "talk" to that teacher now!!).

Lunch was in an area called Motoyama-nakamachi. We ate at a place called "Sekai no gochisoo Palermo". Sekai = world, Gochisoo = feast, treats...Worldy Treats Palermo. 

The chef of this restaurant travelled the world and enjoyed the foods in different countries. 

He serves from what I can tell, authentic cuisine. The restaurant is really small and he has NO wait help, so be prepared for really SLOW FOOD...when you actually get your meal though, it is worth the wait. 

Everything tasted really good. And when you order, be sure to order the "nan" (I think this is an Indian version of bread)...this restaurant has spinach flavored nan which is really delicious. (Sorry, I didn't take any photos, I'm still a bit shy about going out to eat and "whipping" out my camera to take a photo of my meal...)

Sekai no gochisoo Palermo
3-3-21 Motoyama-nakamachi
Higashinada-ku, Kobe,
Phone: 078-431-5021 Closed: Wednesdays

Next door to this restaurant were 2 Italian restaurants that also caught our eye...we'll definitely make a couple more trips back!

From Okamoto, we caught the train to the next station over called Konan Yamate. I read about this cake shop on my host-sister, Tomoko's website. The shop is called Peri-tei. It is located in a quiet neighborhood.

When we got there, there were 6 or 7 women ordering different things to take out. The shop has only 12 seats, so if you want to eat your cake there, you may have to wait for a table. 

Satoshi and I chose the cakes we wanted to eat from the showcase (and be prepared to take a while to decide...it is VERY impressive!) After oohing and aahing, we finally made our choices. We sat down and ordered our drinks. Satoshi chose coffee and I chose Earl Grey tea.

This is what we chose...Satoshi: strawberry rolled cake. Kat: strawberry tart.

The rolled cake was so FLUFFY and light and the tart was really good and flaky (I don't like crusts that are on the hard side).

And isn't the way they serve their tea, cute??

Peri-tei
3-2-1 Moriminami-machi, Villa Cuore 1F
Higashinada-ku, Kobe
Phone: 078-431-3963
Closed Mondays

After our tea break, we decided to walk a bit back to Okamoto. While walking back we realized that the shop was actually really close to Okamoto and we actually could have walked to have dessert!

In Okamoto, we stopped at a bread bakery called, Backer Bursch. I think it means "baker brothers". This bread bakery specializes in hard type breads but they also had some quiches and scones too. This is what we got for our breakfast. 

A slice of french bread with mentaiko (chili pepper spiced pollack eggs), a plain scone, a mushroom quiche and a vegetable/ham quiche. They were all very tasty, although the girl who was working the register wasn't too friendly.

Backer Bursch
1-13-22 Tanakamachi, Motoyama Urban Life 1F
Higashinada-ku, Kobe
Phone: 078-413-1251
Closed Tuesdays, TAKE OUT ONLY

On Saturday, we were invited for dinner at my host-family's home. 

Since studying in Okamoto, I have kept in contact with my host-family over the years. 

In fact, I consider them to be my family in Japan. During this New Year holiday, we were all quite busy so we decided to get together at a later date...that day was today. My host sister and her husband were kind enough to pick us up at the train station and took us to my host mom & dad's home.

My host brother and his family live nearby and they came over too. My host brother's children are getting bigger and more talkative and his wife is expecting their 3rd child! 

There was a LOT of food and lots of chattering. It was a great evening. My host brother's wife gave us this hanjyuku (half baked) cheesecake by La Cote d'Azurlwhich is one of her favorite french pastry shop in Ibaraki prefecture, her hometown. This cheesecake was really light and tasted delish!

La Cote d'Azurl
19-26 Higashi Arai
Tsukuba city, Ibaraki prefecture
Phone: 0298-58-3094

Today, we went to Kyoto's International Conference Facility. 

Satoshi's brother works for a kimono designer. He and about twelve other designers had a fashion show to show off their designs and to try to encourage more people to wear kimono regularly.

In Japan nowadays, kimono is considered a form of formal wear, so it is mostly worn to weddings, funerals and to other special events. 

Satoshi and I never went to a "fashion" show, so we were amazed at how they showed off their works. Loud music with an asian flair, flashy lights...I tried to take photos, but some of the models would spin so my pictures are a bit blurry...still, it was a great experience.

One thing we (I) do before we go anywhere is search the internet for places to eat...Today's lunch was a couple of stations away from the International Conference Facility at a restaurant called

Yamabiko (yamabiko in Japanese means echo). This place is known for its gyu-suji curry udon. 

"Gyu-suji" is the tendon part of beef that is stewed until they become really soft. "Udon" is a wheat noodle. Satoshi ordered the gyu-suji curry udon and I ordered the shrimp curry udon...boy, was it temperature hot and spicy hot...I have a burnt tongue as proof...it was really good and of course, SPICY!! Really warmed us up...Satoshi had actual beads of perspiration running down his face!!

Yamabiko 122 Tanakamachi Nishinotoin Higashi hairu, Marutamachi
Nakakyo-ku, Kyoto
Phone: 075-231-5477
Closed Saturdays

After lunch, we walked back to what I call the main area of Kyoto called Shijo. 

My friend, Kiyomi, had told me (a couple of years ago) about a cafe that had great desserts called Au Grenier D'or. Ever since she told me about this cafe, I've put it on my list of places to try and it has been featured in several magazines. 

This place was REALLY small, and REALLY busy! At one point there were 20 people standing in front of the showcase!

We were lucky to get one of the 6 tables and chose our desserts. 

Satoshi chose a chocolate millefeuille (layered puff pastry) and I chose parisbrest, it was a puff pastry filled with cream and nuts. It was really light and fluffy. Satoshi had a bit of a hard time eating his because the chocolate was kind of hard, still he said he enjoyed it.

I also got some chocolate pralines to take home.

Au Grenier D'or
527-1 Nishikikoji Agaru, Sakaimachi
Nakakyo, Kyoto, Phone: 075-213-7782
Closed Wednesdays

Sorry this post was REALLY long, but I wanted to share everything with you...We had a delicious and fun 3-day foodie weekend.

Hope you enjoyed yours.