to peel or not to peel

Do you peel your kiwi?

I saw something online where you should try to eat the peel because of the nutrients in it

I can kinda understand the red kiwis because their peel is smooth

But I don't think I would be able to eat the green ones'...seems too prickly 

The red kiwi peels are a little “chewy” like some pear peels can be and a little tart 

We’ve been eating the red kiwi peel but will try with the gold ones, since I just bought some

whoa

Friend Mayumi sent me this photo the other night...

“I'm sending you some grapes”, she said.

She said, “My friend grew Shine Muscat but they aren't super sweet”

I should’ve known when she said, “I cut the stems so I could fit more in the box”…

 

the box came the other day

when the post man delivered it, he said, "it's heavy" before putting the box in my hands...

I weighed it and it was a little over 4 kilos (8 pounds)!

I tasted some, it wasn’t super sweet like shine muscat usually is, but at least they weren’t sour/tart

I put some into the freezer, I would give some to our building’s cleaning lady but because they aren’t super sweet, I don’t think I should...

We’ll try to eat as much as we can and I’ll try making jam too

Thank you M!

shinano dolce

It had been some time since I went to Benny.

On the way, I noticed that the shop that I used to get bun nem ran & thit nuong (fried spring roll and bbq pork) from, was not there anymore...boo!

And a wagashi shop that we discovered during the pandemic had also gone out of business (back in May)...their sign said that they had been in business for 55 years!

so sad to see the neighborhood change...

While in Benny, I needed some kind of fruit for breakfast...I bought a new (to me) variety of apple called Shinano Dolce which was grown in Nagano Prefecture.

The young lady working the cash register, rang this apple up wrong, so I brought it to her attention.

Since the people working the registers do everything by sight (old skool), no scanning, she was shocked that she had mistaken the variety of apple

After checking with the produce staff, she found out that she indeed had mistakenly charged me the wrong price.

So we got things all sorted out and some money was refunded...

This wasn't crisp like the Fuji apples we enjoy, but it was still delicious.

I'm glad we got to try this.

ps Typhoon 22 (Halong) is supposedly passing to the south of Japan today, hoping there won't be any damage

yamagata no 3 jam

we tried the jam this morning and we enjoyed it.

The fruit was a little tart and the jam also sweet.

I'm glad it was tasty and I'm glad I tried making this into a jam.

yamagata no 3 jam

I should have tried the apricot before turning it into jam

But, after seeing the recipe that was tucked in the package of apricots I took it as a sign that they were tart…

Here’s the recipe

500 grams of apricots

300 grams of sugar

After pitting the apricots I only had 450 grams (before pitting it was 480 grams), so I cut the sugar back by 50 grams (250 grams)

Since I had 1/2 a lemon, I squeezed it and added it to the fruit and sugar, even if the recipe didn’t call for it

The recipe had said to let it macerate overnight, but I have something to do today, so since I had started macerating the fruit early Friday morning, I made the jam in the afternoon.

I brought the mixture to a boil then turned it down to a simmer, and scraped the scum off 

I simmered the mixture for about 30 minutes.

And was left with about 300 milliliters of jam

We look forward to trying this soon.

I hope it will be tasty.

yamagata no 3

Was happy to find fresh apricots at the supermarket.

This particular variety is called Yamagata No (number) 3 and was grown in Nagano.

I hope these are sweet, though I did read online that they may also be sour/tart and better made into a jam rather than eating them fresh...

mukan

1st time coming across this frozen mikan (tangerine) called "mukan"
 

This needs to be taken out of the freezer about 30 minutes to an hour before you intend to eat it.

the reason it is called "mukan" is because you don't have to peel it.

"mukan" is a casual way to say this in Japanese.

It was delicious! I hope to be able to find this again during the summer.

ninomiya orchard

About this time of year I talk about blood oranges

In recent years, I pre-order them from Tabechoku’s group of farmers

Back in October of last year, I pre-ordered 4 kilos to be delivered in January

One reason I chose this farm was the price for the blood oranges and shipping were reasonable…5218 yen (tax included)

The specs of the order was that 2 to 7 days from January 15th, the order would be sent out

Well, January 17 (2 days) came and went and so did January 22 (7 days)

I wrote to the farm as well as to Tabechoku

The farm replied that since the summer was so hot and that there were a ton of kamemushi (stink bugs) their crops were late and the quality of their products were not so good.

While I understand that not everyone is tech savvy, the farm still could have at least communicated this to us, instead of letting the delivery date lapse

So the farm said they would send our order out some time next week…

Tabechoku also replied and pretty much said the same things the farm did…

So on the last day of January, my order finally came

Since I would be going out during the day, I left a note on our door (wish I had taken a photo of it) for the Kuroneko Yamato guy to leave the box outside our apartment.

I came back from my holoholo, and it still hadn’t come, so I left the note on the door 

‘cuz somehow I just knew it would be delivered when I was about to go bocha (take a bath) or while I was using the toilet

Sure enough, I’m getting ready to bathe and “pin pon” (the sound the door bells make in Japanese) the door bell rings…after coming out of the bath, I looked outside, and there was the box

The delivery guy took my note, probably for proof that I said it was okay for him to leave my box outside of our apartment.

Anyway, it was delivered, they aren’t the usual reddish color on the outsides nor do they have the fragrance of blood oranges when I opened the box

And due to global warming, they are all sorts of sizes...at least they are sweet

And even with all the stress still thankful we will be able to enjoy some blood oranges this year.

shine muscat

It's shine muscat season...

The thing that irked Satoshi was that the guy that he has ordered from in the past just sent an email to him on Friday telling him that he sent us a box and that we should deposit 4500 yen into his account without confirming whether Satoshi was going to order or not.

And then somehow we had missed the delivery guy's message on Saturday, so we were surprised when the delivery guy came by to redeliver it on Sunday.

It wasn't refrigerated, so I think it got a little "cooked" in the truck because there were many orbs that were not on the stems 

Either that or the quality is not too good this year

Satoshi contacted the guy and he said “if you don’t want it just send it back” WT?!

At least they were still sweet, even if this whole incident left a “bad taste” in our mouth.

kajibou

When I was looking at Tabechoku to order blood oranges, the farm we ordered from last year, T-farm had not posted anything, so I bought 4 kilos from Kajibou instead, another farm in Ehime prefecture.

This is the Moro variety.

With tax and shipping it was about $45. 

A little higher than T-farm’s price last year and 1 kilo less, but we look forward to enjoying these.

shine muscat and charcuterie

Over the weekend, Satoshi ordered Shine muscats from his friend.

He said he ordered 2 kilos but it looks like it might be more...with shipping and tax 4000 yen?! not sure how much since Satoshi ordered it...

I ordered a selection of sausages from Meister Toganeya, who makes their sausages in the German style.

I was particularly interested in their Linguica because I am always on the lookout for “portuguese sausage”.

I also ordered their corned beef, chorizo, weißwurst (white sausage), liver pate and salami…5590 yen (tax and shipping included).

Since this charcuterie maker does not use preservatives, I put almost everything into the freezer for us to enjoy with wine or breakfast in the coming weeks.

So far, we've had some of the liver pate as banh mi.

The maker suggest toasting the pate on baguette, so that is what I did, super flavorful and creamy!

And one of the linguica with rice and egg...so ono! the meat inside the casing is super tender and tastes similar to the portuguese sausage we have in Hawaii.

The weather has been in-between Fall and Summer, so it is hard to determine what to wear, whether to bring an umbrella or whether to turn on the ac.

I hope the weather is nice where you are.

wassa

I can't remember how I learned about the fruit variety called "wassa"

Apparently “wassa” is the nickname of  the man who first grew the hybrid, a cross between a peach and nectarine.

Apparently Wassa is quite rare outside of Nagano Prefecture (where it is grown), so I was happy to find it at the market.

The outer "skin" comes off quite easily like the peaches here in Japan.

The flesh is a little firm like a nectarine and also a little sweet like Japanese peaches.

I'm glad we got to try these.

t-farm

Ordered a 5 kilo (11 pounds) box of blood oranges from T-farm through Tabechoku.

It cost a little less than $40 with tax and shipping.

This is 2 kilos more than the farm I bought from last year..total 38 orbs, some are huge while others are tiny.

Hoping these are sweet.

T-farm is located in Ehime, Shikoku.

Besides blood oranges and other citrus, they also grow avocados.

I am interested in trying avocados grown in Japan but they are pretty pricey, 1 kilo (2 pounds) is $40-ish plus tax and shipping.

Guess I’ll have to wait a couple of years until they become more plentiful so the price will come down.

In the meantime, we’ll enjoy these blood oranges.

shine muscat

I told you that I had ordered 2 kilos of Pizzutello Bianco...well, after the grapes arrived, my fridge was filled with the box.

Then on Wednesday Satoshi had his Zoom German class and a classmate was selling Shine Muscat grapes.

So he ordered 2 kilos...and he tells me on Friday that he ordered some!

So over the weekend we were eating the Pizzutello Biancos like krazy since we didn't know when the Shine Muscats would arrive.

I thought about freezing some of the Pizzutello grapes but since they have seeds, I thought it might be hard to eat.

Well, the box of Shine Muscat grapes arrived on Saturday night.

As V said, "what a grape problem to have"....ha!

The Shine Muscats orbs are huge! sweet and seedless.

We'll be eating these this week...

iwasakien

It is grape season here as well.

I wanted to get my hands on some Pizzutello Bianco (the pointy grapes that we tried in the past), and found some online from Iwasakien, a farm in Yamanashi prefecture.

Love the picture/poster they include when you open your box.

I purchased their smallest amount which was 2 kilos which turned out to be 3 large bunches.

My fridge is now filled with this box of grapes…whoo!

Unlike the pizzutello bianco we tried in the past which were seedless, these have seeds.

Still, very sweet and crisp though.

I'm glad I found some online and we'll be enjoying this for a couple of days. 

fig season

It's fig season...we have been enjoying them with our yogurt in the morning.

The one on the left is called Masui Dauphine and was grown in Aichi prefecture.

The one on the right is called Toyomitsuhime and was grown in Fukuoka prefecture.

I loved the red color of the Toyomitsuhime.

Both were delicious and I'm glad we got to try these.o 

taiyo & kouka no shizuku

We've been trying different plums lately...

This one is called Taiyo (which means sun) and was grown in Yamanashi prefecture.

So so sour!

This one is called Kouka no Shizuku and the name is a combination of meanings taken from the chinese characters used to write the name..."deep red", "fragrance", "droplet"

This plum was grown in Aomori prefecture.

So so red!

Not too sweet but definitely sweeter than Taiyo.

I'm glad we got to try both varieties.

What have you been enjoying these days?

fantasia

We tried a new (to us) nectarine called Fantasia.

It was grown in Fukushima prefecture and is apparently a cross between Gold King and Red King nectarines.

It was quite large compared to the nectarines we had earlier this summer.

The first one wasn't super sweet, but was still delicious.

The second one was super juicy and was a little tart.

I'm glad we got to try this variety and am always on the lookout for new varieties of fruit/veggies for us to try.

 

chura pine

We recently tried a new (to us) pineapple variety called Chura Pine, which was grown on Ishigakijima.

“Chura” is beautiful in Okinawan.

And the Japanese called pineapple, “Pine” for short.

When I looked online for “chura pine”, there were different varieties that popped up.

So, I compared my photo to the different photos on a farm’s site...it wasn't a Snack Pine which is the Bogor type (which we’ve tried before).

It wasn't the Peach Pine....which is supposed to smell similar to peaches...

It was the Hawaii variety...it looked different from the pineapple we have in Hawaii, look at the "floppy" crown.

Trivia tidbit: Apparently pine cones were once called pineapples.

This pineapple had lots of "eyes", it could have been more ripe & sweeter but it was still delicious.

I'm glad we tried this and have planted the top.

Hope the heat doesn't kill it.... 

p.s. Yesterday we received our 1st vaccination...whoo. 

I think we sat in the waiting room longer than it took to actually get jabbed.

Our arms are a bit sore, but so far so good.

Hopefully the 2nd one will actually be in 3 weeks.

p.p.s. a typhoon (Nepartak or Number 8) is heading for our area today....eep!

this and that

This past Saturday (Friday in the US) was my cousin's son's graduation.

I think in order to keep the gathering small, each student could only invite 4 people to attend the ceremony.

Luckily, they had an online viewing, so we were able to watch the ceremony, love technology!

It was Satoshi's first experience to see an American high school graduation.

Congratulations K and the class of 2021!

Chiyohime peaches...these were smaller than normal, but super floral.

Chiyohime literally means Princess Chiyo

They could have been a little more ripe because the flesh near the seed was sour and really firm.

Can't wait to try different varieties in the coming weeks.

On June 20th last year, we were eating at Civitas.

Since last year, most eateries have these acrylic "walls" to block "flying germs"...which also makes conversations pretty hard to hear...

The only reason we were eating out was because we went to see Satoshi's friend perform rakugo.

We saw him perform a couple of times in Osaka.

The auditorium that we went to see the performance at had seats blocked off with these signs so that no one was seated next to each other and not right behind each other.

Everyone had to keep their mask on while watching the performances.

This dude was not paying attention and sat right in front of me.

The sign which was taped to the chair fell off the seat and when he stood up to leave, guess what was attached to his back?!

We should have chased after him....we wondered how far he got before someone told him about it…or if anyone told him about it

It was nice to be out and about, but it was oh so humid especially while wearing a mask.

Not to mention my feet got beat up from not wearing sandals in over a year.

Loved the stained glass in the lobby of the auditorium.

Near the main entrance there was a life-size cut out of sumo wrestler, Taiho.

On the way back to catch the train I noticed this huge magnolia hanging over the temple wall next door to the auditorium..

Monday...emergency dental thingy, I freaked myself out and thought one of my lower front teeth had cracked near the base of the tooth and was kinda depressed about it…after some checking the dentist says…”it is plaque!” and had the hygienist clean my teeth…whew! and thankful for insurance.

As for the Olympics, they (JOC-Japan Olympic Committee) have decided to go against what the medical people have recommended.

The medical people recommended no spectators…JOC plan to allow 10,000 spectators to view each game and allow 20,000 spectators each for the opening and closing ceremonies.

The medical people recommended people from other prefectures not be allowed to come to Tokyo..so JOC are allowing it.  

And while we are at it... the main branch of government have also allowed people from other prefectures to come to Tokyo to get vaccinated!

As of June 21st, the state of emergency in Tokyo has ended, bars & restaurants are allowed to serve alcohol.

BUT, you can only be in a party of 2 and can only drink for 90 minutes (at a time) between 11:00 and 19:00…there are people that have been drinking non-stop from 11:00 to 19:00…geez!

All eateries/bars must close at 20:00....excuse my finger, but you can see how antsy everyone was to go out drinking with all the empty bottles in front of a bar...

Can you believe JOC was thinking to serve alcohol during the games in the stands?! which would've been a double standard for all the eateries who would have had to stop serving at 19:00...sigh

Oh and there was one member of the team from Uganda who tested positive AFTER arriving in Japan.

The main government is playing the "I thought you were supposed to do it" card with who is supposed to check on the others travelling with the infected member and the other passengers on the same flight...sigh

As of today, the infected one member from Uganda has since increased to two members...eep!

Tokyo is on the rebound with infected cases, with the state of emergency ended and everyone out and about like the pandemic is over, I can only imagine what the numbers will be like next week.

With less than 30 days until the start of the games, Tokyo will probably skyrocket out of control...pray for us people...at this point, the main branch of government is only relying on the vaccines...

Have a safe weekend.