meh

Thought these two would be something I would enjoy but sadly they were both too sickly sweet.

Meh.
 

saturday

Saturday was the start of a 3-day weekend for us, I went to Shinjuku to do some shopping, in the corner of my eye I spotted Takibi Bakery's stollen (love their packaging)

We've tried Takibi Bakery's stollen a couple of times in the past and enjoyed them.

This version had lots of spices. There is no tea in this, but it was similar to the spices used in chai.

I look forward to trying more stollen in the coming weeks.

From Shinjuku I walked to Shibuya.

It was interesting seeing neighborhoods that aren't visible from the train.

Like this cool building that is split in half and connected by their wallkways.

I also stumbled upon a day of the dead procession...which reminded me of the movie "Coco".

I met Satoshi after his German class for dinner at Jiyugaoka.

He said he wanted to try Devil Craft.

I tried their Imperial Stout, a kick-a 11.8% chocolatey brew...delicious!

Also appreciate them filling their 200 milliliter serving to the 200 milliliter line on the cup.

We shared this caesar salad while waiting for the deep dish pizza to cook.

We also watched the World Rugby Finals between England and South Africa (South Africa won).

Satoshi enjoyed the pizza and also ordered several pints.

I'm glad he enjoyed this place, and I'm sure we'll be back.

Wanted to share with you this "interesting" suit I saw while waiting for Satoshi...it says "F*ck off" in full lettering over and over on the stripes...amazing what you see in Japan, yeah?!

Have a good week!

foodie july (first half)

Some of the new things I tried in the first half of July...

Stumptown Cold Brew with Coconut Cream & Sugar...I used half the carton (serving size is the whole carton) and diluted with more iced coffee...this was delicious.

Juicy and ice cold mountain apple...delicious!

1st time at Pieology.

You can put any amount of toppings and the pizzas are all the same size and price.

Fun, fast and good.

Firestone Walker's Nitro Merlin Milk Stout...chocolatey, a little smokey.

Would've been nice(r) with a scoop of vanilla ice cream in it...

Moena Cafe in Kapolei serves dinner and we went there while my Dad's sister was in town...

The braised short ribs were tender.

The okinawan sweet potato mash was a little too sweet and a little too coconut-y.

Restaurant Kuni's catering menu...great service and perfect for the memorial service we had for my Dad.

Zippy's Dream Cake...Dream cake was one of my Dad's faves...this version was kinda meh...

My brother thought the chocolate was kinda too oily...

Gina's Fish Jun...the sauce was sweet and sour which was different from other fish jun I've had.

The taegu was overly soft and sweet too.

Will try some other sides next time.

7-eleven has a 7-eleven day on July 11, in which they give away free small slurpees.

I had never had one, so I went to check them out...I didn't know how to operate the machine (sad, yeah?!), so I needed coaching from the masses standing in line behind me (Thank you!)

Li hing mui slurpee was super sour but tasted more like cherry...meh, but at least I got to try.

Li hing mui is a Chinese preserved plum which is similar to dried Japanese umeboshi...if you salivate when hearing either, you probably grew up in Hawaii.

Japan's 7-elevens need slurpees though...

Meat Jun Bento from Paalaa Kai Mini Mart...only $6 and the meat is tender and flavorful.

My Aunty M1 commented that BFF W and I have gone here quite often this trip home...I told her that "it is closer to get to from Pearl City"...

The malasadas from Paalaa Kai Bakery, called Sada's Malassadas...are super poofy and stay that way the next day.

The sugar melts (the next day) but the malasadas stay intact and doesn't smoosh like others (you know which ones), nor are they oily....love!

While others go to this bakery for their snow puffies, I have only been buying this malasada.

Black Sheep Cream Co.'s "Rub some bacon on it"....Peanut Butter Cream and their Homemade Maple Bacon Toffee...so so good!

That is their single scoop (HUGE) and only $4.50 (tax included).

This place is hard to find...it's between SuperCuts and Subway near the Waipio Costco...no signage outside and the interior is dark, so they don't look like they are open...

Have a good week.

Restaurant Kuni
94-210 Leokane Street
Waipahu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.671.1100
Hours: Lunch 11:00-14:00, Dinner 17:00-21:00

Pieology
Pearlridge Uptown
Aiea, Hawaii
Phone: 808.200.5085
Hours: Mondays-Saturdays 10:30-21:30, Sundays 10:30-20:00
Closed when the mall is

Black Sheep Cream Co
94-1235 Ka Uka Boulevard
Waipio, Hawaii
Phone: 808.620.7904
Hours: 10:00-21:00

things I'm liking (disliking)

Yesterday, it rained all.day.long. and now the cold is back (until Saturday, so says the weather dude...)

It's been awhile since I've done a liking (disliking) post...

Disliking the Pablo monaka (wafer) ice cream bar...the ice cream was a cream cheese flavor surrounded by a sickly sweet apricot sauce enveloped by a crisp wafer shell.

Pablo is a popular cheese tarte (cheesecake) maker, and they have had some delicious convenience store creations in the past, this just wasn't one of them.

Kind of in the middle on Minoh Beer's Godfather 4.

While I normally enjoy stouts, this one seemed a bit watery.

On the other hand, the yuzu flavor was nice.

Meiji Almond...this was a rich matcha (green tea).

Usually whenever something is green tea flavored they usually mix the green tea with white chocolate making things a bit too sweet.

This version was nice because it wasn't sweet.

Kinoko no yama's matcha and chocolate "mushrooms".

The balance of matcha and sweet chocolate are perfect.

Nature Valley's Coconut Crunch granola bars.

I first came across these at the cash register area of Yamaya. After buying one, I had wished I had bought more.

There is lots of coconut in this.

I'm glad I was able to find more at Yamaya recently.

City Bakery's rugelach. Packed with dried fruits and nuts.

This is huge but so good with the flaky croissant type outer shell.

Here is a better photo from the first time I tried it.

What have you been enjoying lately?

gyoza & beer

Saturday, it rained all.day.long.

Friday, I stocked up on foods so that we wouldn't have to venture out in the rain.

For dinner, I made gyoza.

I think I finally got the cooking of gyoza down...

The bottoms came out crisp and the tops were chewy.

I tried this beer by Minoh Beer called Godfather 4 dedicated to their founder who passed away a couple of years ago.

This stout was nice with a hint of yuzu.

How was your weekend?

craft beer house molto

Yesterday was a holiday, but Satoshi had to work so I met him for dinner in Umeda.

We checked out Craft Beer House Molto.

They have many craft beers from around Japan on tap.

You choose how much you want to drink...small (about 240ml), medium (about 450ml) and large (about 660ml)

And which beer you want to drink.

I started with Iwatekura's Oyster Stout (small) I liked the full body of this beer.

Satoshi also ordered a dark beer called Schwartz (medium), his seemed a bit watery.

The amuse bouche (tsukidashi--stuff you didn't order but are expected to pay for) was a jar of mixed nuts (pistachio, cashew & corn nuts)

Haven't eaten corn nuts in awhile, so good!

Buri (amberjack) carpaccio was the carpaccio of the day.

I liked the oiliness of this fish. They serve it with a gelee type dressing.

Assorted smoked items.

These come to the table on a smoking platter. Most of the items have been smoked previously keeping the meats/seafoods half raw.

This platter had tako (octopus), hotate (scallop), sasami (chicken breast), pork and salmon.

Under the salmon is a dollop of their potato salad.

Margherita pizza...tiny 4 or 5 inch.

The bottom was super crispy and the crust chewy.

Delicious.

By this time, Satoshi had had another beer (medium) (I cannot remember what) and ordered another one (medium) with my Isekadoya's Yuzu beer (small).

The yuzu beer started off with a nice yuzu aroma, but then the yuzu got to be too perfumy for my liking.

The view from the 31st floor was wonderful.

The weather was overcast, so the sunset was meh!

Total damage was a little over 8000 yen (the beers are what makes this place pricey). If you aren't a beer drinker they also have wines and cocktails too.

Make reservations if possible, they don't have that many seats and especially if you want to be seated by the windows!

We'll be back for special occasions...

Craft Beer House Molto
Hankyu Grand Building 31F
Kita-ku, Osaka
Phone: 06.6809.2641 (info), 050.5868.3983(reservations)
Lunch: 11:30-15:00, Dinner: 17:00-23:30
Open when Hankyu Grand Building is

amarcord ama mora

We had this Amarcord Ama Mora beer last night. Chocolatey!

Apparently it is made by a tiny brewery in Apeccio, Italy. The beer uses a selection of Pascucci coffee and Malawi sugar.

Too bad I didn't read about it before trying it, I could've paired it with some ice cream since it was like a porter.

Instead, we had this with kim chee gyoza and a salad.

I enjoyed this and would definitely buy it again.

What have you been enjoying these days?

baladin super

Recently tried this amber ale by Baladin called Super.

It had a medicinal alcohol taste to it. Dunno that I would buy this one again.

meh

Over the weekend Satoshi and I shared the following two beers by Belhaven...oh em gee...just colored fizzy water with foam.

How can they even call this beer?!

Even more disappointing was their stout...just darker colored fizzy water with foam.

You know, I really don't like to post negative things, but this was bad.

Meh.

sunday dinner

With the salts that we received from Kirk, we tried them with dinner yesterday.

Kirk mentioned that the habanero salt was good with steak, so that is what I served. A-5 Kagoshima kuroge wagyu ichibo (top side).

I wasn't too sure what to serve the uni (sea urchin) salt with, but after tasting it, I thought it might be nice to dip seafood into it.

So I pan seared some scallops.　Since I didn't season the scallops before searing them, the uni salt gave the scallops a nice ocean-y flavor.

And we dipped our steak into the habanero salt...boy, did it have a nice after burn (cough!).

The fried ika (squid) and fried shrimp I picked up at the market so these were already pre-seasoned. We ate them as is.

For veggies we had some kiriboshi daikon mustard salad.

and washed everything down with this Italian Collesi Amberata. This amber ale was a little fruity and with 7.5% alcohol content had a nice kick.

This beer is unpasteurized and naturally fermented in the bottle. They suggest you serve this with grilled meat so this was perfect with my menu.

I'll keep experimenting with these infused salts. Do you use infused salts? Write how you use them in the comments. We both enjoyed our first try of these salts...Thanks again Kirk!

craft beer picnic

Saturday after Satoshi's German class, we grabbed something light for lunch, then headed to Nakanoshima Park to check out the Craft Beer Picnic.

There were about 13 booths and about 50 different beers from around Japan.

Even though there was a typhoon approaching, it was good to see everyone out and about.

For 1000 yen, you can buy "Drink & Food". You receive 10 tickets valued at 100 yen a piece. If you want to buy a 270 mililiter cup of beer you can use 4 tickets, or you can just use the tickets for foods.

For another 1000 yen, you can buy "Picnic Beer" tickets. You receive 4 tickets for 4-150 mililiter cups of beer, a paper tray, and a ticket to borrow a mat.

We bought one of each ticket.

I started off with Ise Kadoya's Stout (Mie prefecture) while Satoshi tried Shiga Kogen's African IPA.

Both were delicious!

For something to snack on, we bought this currywurst...600 yen.

Even though I like the snap of sausages in Japan, I like that the guy cut these up for us, it was easier to eat! That bread that came with it was good for mopping up that homemade sauce.

We also bought a large cup of chips...200 yen.

And a small bag of popcorn...200 yen.

Next I tried Dotombori's Osaka Dark Ale and Satoshi tried Tazawako's Pilsner (Akita prefecture)

Both of Satoshi's beers were really fruity!

A little bigger than the World Craft Beer Tasting event, we thought this event was nice too.

I hope we can check out more of these types of events in the future.