amicono gelateria

Have been wanting to try Amicono Gelateria ever since seeing them on “7 rules”, a television show that showcases females (mostly businesswomen) and shares the 7 rules that they follow in their daily life

This shop is in Jiyugaoka, but with the pandemic plus their opening time (12 noon) we’ve have never been able to eat there.

The owner believes that you should eat her gelato with both hands, so she doesn’t open on rainy days

She was recently selling a Valentine’s set, so I ordered it for us to try.

The set of 4 is about 1/4 cup each.

Cioccolato (top left) dark cocoa (black) mixed with Valrhona chocolate…super rich

Amor (top right) this is chocolate mixed with organic lavender. I know there are people who don’t like the taste of lavender in their food, but we loved this! super floral

Bacio (bottom left) chocolate and hazelnut, this is her Italian mentor’s recipe. So much hazelnut flavor, love!

Cacao Sale (bottom right) Milk based gelato with chocolate cookies and hints of Nagasaki Goto Island salt, delicious!

I’m glad we tried these and hope to get to try more at her shop

Amicono Gelateria

5-27-9 Okusawa

Setagaya, Tokyo

Hours: 12:00-18:00

*check social media to be sure they are open

ibaraki

(Photo: field of cosmos) Back in May, we went to Hitachi Seaside Park to see their nemophila hillside.

Well, after the nemophila plants bloom and die, they uproot everything and plant kochia (bassia scoparia).

The kochia kind of look like green tunbleweed bushes and I've heard some also call them "broom plants" because when dried they look like brooms.

With the drop in temperatures, the green bushes turn reddish.

After seeing this on a news program many years ago, it was on our list "to see".

From Tennodai, it was a little over 2 hours to get to Hitachi Seaside Park.

Once there the weather was a little overcast with the sun peeking out here and there.

It was still impressive to see.

One area that we passed through on our way to Hitachi Seaside Park was Isozaki. Ibaraki is the second largest producer of sweet potato in Japan (I think the top producer is Kagoshima in Kyushu).

Fields and fields of sweet potatoes!

If you'd like to see a video I took from the train, please look here-- at about the 3 minute area I hope you'll be able to see all the harvested sweet potatoes!

It was exciting to see all those sweet potatoes from the train.

Like we did in May, we stopped at the Nakaminato area and walked to the fish market.

We had intended to eat at the conveyor belt sushi restaurant there, but the lines were krazy!

So we went back to the shop we ate at...Morita Suisan.

I ordered the same thing I did back in May and this time around Satoshi ordered the kaisen donburi too.

We were happy to get a table quickly and as always the food was delicious.

After lunch we walked around the town and stumbled upon this shop selling dried sweet potato called Daimaruya.

Inside, there were all sorts of dried sweet potato.

There was also a gelato shop that sold gelato made from different varieties of sweet potato.

Satoshi and I shared this double...left side is akaioimo (literally red large potato), which tasted more like pumpkin and right side was tamaotome (literally round maiden).

Both were delicious.

Kinmokusei (osmanthus) is blooming...love this fragrance!

Autumn is starting here, hopefully we'll be able to see some fall colors which is forecast for the end of November.

We have a special holiday tomorrow as the new Emperor will be crowned.

Hope you have a nice week.

Daimaruya
18-38 Shakamachi
Hitachinaka, Ibaraki
Phone: 029.263.7777
Hours: Mondays-Saturdays 10:00-17:00, Sundays-Holidays 9:00-17:00

kan zaman (kaimuki), via gelato & snacks

I was lucky to be able to meet up with Deb as she's quite busy these days with work.

We met at Kan Zaman in Kaimuki.

I had their shop in Chinatown on my "to try" list and then recently, they opened another shop in Kaimuki.

Deb and I both had their falafel sandwich...loved the salad dressing, it was fruity.

Unfortunately the falafel were overcooked so they were quite hard & dry.

The sauce they served this with didn't add much to the sandwich...bummer

I did enjoy the iced mint tea, perfect for the hot day that it was.

Our waiter while nice was super antsy asking if we were ready to order dessert, and we had only just started eating our lunches!

It was great having the whole place to ourselves, though I hope they do well here.

After lunch, we went over to Via Gelato for dessert.

Deb had their Apple Pie gelato, nice chunks of apple pie in there!

I chose the Fierce Chocolate and Coffee Toffee with nice pieces of toffee here and there.

Deb spoiled me with all these snacks! Huge bags of the latest Lay's flavors as well as some things from Trader Joe's and other goodies.

It is always nice catching up with Deb and I appreciate her taking time out of her busy day for me.

Thanks Deb!

Kan Zaman Kaimuki (UPDATE:2019 out of business)
1127 11th Avenue
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.260.1763
Hours: Sundays–Thursdays: 11:00–21:30
Fridays-Saturdays: 11:00-22:30

harbor pier 38 & via gelato

Met up with Mineko today.

We had lunch at Harbor Pier 38.

I'm glad this place wasn't crowded, so we got to chat & lunch leisurely.

We shared this crab & artichoke dip...super creamy!

I had their reuben...not too sure what was making this so salty...the chips or the meat inside the sandwich...

Mineko had their clam linguini...looked delicious!

After lunch we went to Via Gelato.

We both got affogatos.

I chose Mint Chip, while Mineko chose Green Tea.

Surprisingly Green Tea matched with a shot of espresso.

I enjoyed how the mint flavor of my gelato wasn't overpowering.

Mineko gave me some omiyage...a lipstick & these chocolates by Pierre Marcolini...I think I will share these with Satoshi when he visits in a couple of weeks.

It was great catching up with Mineko, I hope she had a nice time too.

Thanks for a great day!

p.s. I hope you can view the photos...when I pressed preview, I couldn't see any of the photos...

foodie tuesday in kaimuki

These days there are so many eateries in Kaimuki.

I have quite a bit bookmarked and have been trying to check them out whenever I'm in Hawaii.

Tuesday, I was able to meet up with Deb of Kahakai Kitchen.

For lunch, we checked out Sprout Sandwich Shop.

This shop has 3 counter seats and two tables.

Most people take out and lots stand on the sidewalk out front to wait for their order.

Deb tried their Big Kah-tuna (tuna salad, havarti cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers and sprouts).

Deb isn't a big fan of sprouts but forgot to tell them to switch it out, her sandwich was a bit messy too.

She also had their homemade Limeade.

I ordered the Floater (roasted turkey, apple slices, brie, lettuce, pickled red onion)...loved this sandwich especially with the pickled onion in it.

I also had their ginger cooler (ginger, lemon, lime and some cayenne)...boy that had a kick!

After lunch, we went for dessert at Via Gelato.

Since the weather was hot and a little humid, this really hit the spot.

Deb had their olive oil, balsamic strawberry and stracciatella.

Deb treated me to their affogato with fierce chocolate gelato...so good! (Thank you!)

She also gave me so many goodies...homemade syrup & jam, as well as some new (to me) foodie books and other snacks to try.

I appreciate that she was able to take some time out of her busy schedule to meet up.

It was nice catching up with her.

Thanks for a great day, Deb!

Sprout Sandwich Shop
1154 Kokohead Avenue
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone: n/a
Open everyday 10:00-14:30

foodie saturday

Yesterday, we went to see a movie, "Sugihara Chiune" (a really good biography/historical type movie) and then went to Awajishima Burger for lunch.

It's been 5 years since we've been here and it is even more popular now.

In fact, walking to the shop, the burgers were literally calling us with their aroma.

I had their regular bacon cheese...800 yen while Satoshi had their large bacon cheese...900 yen

We also ordered some fries...150 yen

Their prices have gone up a bit, but the burgers are still delicious. Still super hard to eat without getting sauce on your face.

We'll be back.

After lunch, we wanted a little something sweet, so we walked back to Nishinomiya Gardens and had some gelato from Milkissimo.

Fondant chocolate for me (hard to see) and Mango for Satoshi and coffees.

The weather is still funky but I am still hoping to see flurries...have a good week!

miyazu-fukuchiyama-osaka

Breakfast was Japanese-style again and this time they offered to cook our "raw eggs"...whew!

After breakfast, the minshuku dropped us off at the station and we were able to ride the Aomatsu (blue pine) train.

Willer has three types, Akamatsu (red pine), Aomatsu (blue pine) and Kuromatsu (black pine) for various lines in the area, some are reservations only, some have extra fees and some can be ridden without added costs.

Aomatsu could be rode without added costs, so we were happy to be able to get seats.

It was like sitting in a moving café. It was a great experience.

The first thing we did when we arrived in Fukuchiyama was get some coffee and then find the castle ruins.

It takes about 10 minutes from the station to walk to the castle ruins.

The inside of the castle is modernized, but you can see the city from the top.

There were crazy Japanese people sticking their selfie sticks outside of the castle windows to take pictures of themselves inside the castle...geez!

It was so hot that we stopped for some gelato at Adachi Otoemon. This Japanese confectioner makes lots of sweets using local Tamba kuri (chestnuts).

Satoshi ordered a 2 dip (flavors) with Marron gelato and Kuri (chestnut overkill?) his scoops had tons of chestnut bits in it. Delicious!

I chose Uji matcha and bitter chocolate. The rich chocolate balanced out with the bitter matcha.

Refreshed, we checked out the Chisui (flood) museum. This museum is located in a restored home and provides information on floods and also teaches about flood control.

About a year or two ago, Fukuchiyama was flooded out. The volunteer explained that the older style home floors were protected with flood control techniques but the newly built home floors were destroyed with the flood.

It was a neat and informative place to check out.

Lunch was at Konamono-ya.

Earlier while walking to the castle ruins, a banner caught my eye..."B-kyu gurume Gomuyakisoba".

If you know some Japanese, you'll know that "gomu" means rubber...I knew we had to check out this place.

I ordered the gomu yakisoba meshi and Satoshi ordered the gomu omusoba.

The noodles were "rubbery" but what was interesting was the topping of a little marinara and basil mayo, which actually matched their yakisoba sauce.

I'm glad we tried this!

We brought home some canned sardines and a tokkuri ika. The squid is shaped and dried into a tokkuri (bottle) for you to put your sake into. The top is shaped and dried into an ochoko (cup). After drinking your sake from this several times, the squid becomes soft enough to eat as a chaser. I'll be sure to post about this when we try it.

We had a nice time and for the most part the weather was cooperative. I hope you enjoyed our adventure as much as we did.

Adachi Otoemon
44-18 Naiki
Fukuchiyama, Kyoto
Hours: 9:00-19:00 daily except New Years Day

Konamono-ya
251-2 Aza Amadaekimae-cho
Fukuchiyama, Kyoto
Phone: 0773.22.0032
Lunch: 11:00-14:00, Dinner: 17:30-20:00
Closed Tuesdays

talenti's gelato

Been able to try some Talenti's gelato while I'm here...Mediterranean Mint, kinda funky tasting mint gelato, but loved how there were lots of dark chocolate shards were in there.

Coffee Chocolate Chip....rich coffee gelato with dark chocolate shards...yum!

Sicilian Pistachio...I think they should either chocolate coat or caramelize the pistachios, too soggy to just blend them in there. Oh, and they should peel the skins off of the nuts too...meh, I've tasted better.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup...teeny peanut butter cups in chocolate gelato, how can you go wrong?!

What have you been enjoying?

via gelato

After lunch at Koko Head Cafe, we still had some time on our parking meters (and space in our tummies), so one of my aunties and I went across the street to Via Gelato.

These guys used to sell their gelato from a food truck and now have a "brick and mortar" shop.(or maybe they still have their truck?)

Aunty had their lilikoi...which she enjoyed...

While I had their fierce chocolate and salted caramel, both of our cups were keiki (child) size....$3 plus tax each.

Fierce chocolate was super rich and chocolatey, while salted caramel had a little saltiness to it and some chocolate covered coffee beans in it (or at least that was what I thought was in it).

Keiki size was the perfect amount especially after eating lunch.

It was funny because we saw many others there that had just dined at Koko Head Cafe too.

So many other flavors to choose from, I'll be back.

Via Gelato
1142 12th Avenue
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.732.2800
Hours: 11:00-22:00

revisits

I recently revisited a few places...like Circo D'oro

This time around I had their affogato...470 yen. Hot espresso is poured over vanilla gelato.

The owner let me pull my own espresso. Well, actually he had to help me, their machine is a Fiorenzato and it is a lever type of espresso machine. The lever is super tight because of the spring inside.

Count to 5 and release slowly...out comes your shots of espresso.

It was a cool experience and the affogato was nice too.

I went back to Boulangerie Goût. This time I bought their earl grey cream bread...which was good but got smashed in my bag.

A brioche type of bread filled with earl grey cream and topped with tons of macadamias.

Their cinnamon roll. I love how they packed it, the topping was a cinnamon flavored cream cheese frosting.

Satoshi and I shared both of these for breakfast one day.

And this past Saturday, I went back to The City Bakery.

I had actually wanted to go to All Day Coffee, but they didn't open until 10:00.

This time around I had their cinnamon apple biscuit and the sesame azuki muffin...so good!

Have you been revisiting some of your favorite eateries?

talenti's gelato

Social media is great, not only to "socialize", but to also find out what's trending...like Talenti's Gelato.

You wouldn't believe how many of my friends on Twitter and FB were talking about this stuff.

So, when I saw it on-sale at Safeway, I convinced my mom "we should try it".

3 pints (Caramel Cookie Crunch, Double Dark Chocolate and Tahitian Vanilla Bean), in 3 days.

Delish! And, it is Made in the USA...whoo!

circo d'oro

On Tanimachi-suji is a tiny gelato shop called Circo D'oro.

Their menu is quite extensive not flavor-wise but with various ways of enjoying gelato.

I chose their Sicilian pistachio and chocolate gelato which was named Amore della Luna...700 yen.

This also came with a little taste of their Amaou strawberry sorbet. Amaou is a type of strawberry here in Japan that is sweet, the berries are quite large and are also quite expensive.

The sorbet was refreshing.

The pistachio was just that, pistachio...delicious! And the chocolate was rich and creamy.

It doesn't look like a lot of gelato but it was quite filling.

I'll be back.

Circo D'oro
7-3-4 Tanimachi
Chuo, Osaka
Phone: 06.6767.0515
Closed Wednesdays
Hours: 11:00-19:00

p.s. hope you have a nice weekend!

deliziefollie

Man, Saturday was hot and humid! perfect weather for gelato.

Satoshi and I checked out the newly opened Deliziefollie in NU Chayamachi Plus before his German class.

Apparently, this is a French company and the name supposedly means "crazy delights". They have 2 shops in Paris and 10 in Japan...

They have 4 serving styles: medio (3 flavors), grande (4 flavors) in cups. And the same on cones.

We both chose the medio in a cup...550 yen (about US$5.50) each.

Satoshi chose Cubano (rum & dark chocolate), Nocciola (made from Piedmont hazelnuts) and Arancia Rossa (blood orange).

I chose Fruitti Rossi (raspberry, cassis & strawberry), Pistacchio di Bronte (made from Bronte pistachios) and Stracciatella (milk gelato with chocolate chips)....650 yen (about US$6.50)

Mine was a 100 yen more because pistachio is a premium flavor...ahem!

Oh My! if you are going to eat gelato make sure you eat gelato here.

All the flavors are spot on. The fruit ones were really refreshing and the cream type ones were creamy and flavorful, not artificial tasting.

Though the one with rum was a bit overpowering with the alcohol and Satoshi was warned when he ordered.

Definitely going back here.

Deliziefollie (UPDATE: as of 10/2013 this shop is now closed)
Nu Chayamachi Plus 2F
8-6 Chayamachi
Kita, Osaka
Phone: 06.6485.7123
Open 11:00-21:00

la gelateria and other stuff

Just noticed this imprint of Hello Kitty on my MAC lipstick. My friend Gaye gave this to me for Christmas or was it for my birthday? (sorry, I can't remember, sad yeah??) and I only noticed the imprint now...

Changing the subject...I followed one of my readers, Shirley Lou's advice and checked out La Gelateria after lunch on Thursday, since we were in the area. I had the black sesame seed gelato which she recommended (their last one in a cup!)...mmm! creamy and nutty, loved it! (Thanks!)

Mom had pineapple and Dad had the mango, they both enjoyed theirs too (in fact, they finished before I did! must have been good.). At US$2 a cup it was just the right amount. We ate ours on their chairs in front of the store.

The other day we picked out a small watermelon from Times (a local supermarket). The watermelon was grown in Kunia by Sugarland and it was so sweet and delicious!

La Gelateria
819 Cedar Street
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.591.1133
Open Monday-Friday 8:00-17:00
Closed Saturdays & Sundays

What have you been enjoying this summer?

lake bake, some sights & grom

In yesterday's post, I mentioned that we had some delicious bread with our dinner. The bread was baked here at a tiny shop and cafe called Lake Bake. The owner of the B&B told us about the shop as we were checking-out. This shop is right near the shore of Lake Kawaguchi and the cafe has a great view of the lake and Mt Fuji (on a clear day).

Having just eaten a big breakfast, we instead bought some "emergency" food. A milk bread filled with butter and honey 186 yen (about US$1.86) and a baguette coated with honey 230 yen (about US$2.30). We ate these on our bus ride back to Tokyo (this was actually lunch for us). The milk bread was soft and the sweet butter filling was delicious. The baguette despite being coated with honey was crisp, delicious with a touch of sweetness.

A couple of doors down from the bakery was the Nature Center. This center has blueberry jam making classes as well as a lavender festival.

We bought some jams (apricot, blueberry & rhubarb)600 yen (about US$6). The rhubarb jam caught my eye because I've seen rhubarb used in desserts and at restaurants but never in the markets here.

We also bought kodaimai (literally ancient rice), this rice is like a short grain wild rice 1000 yen for 650 grams (about US$10). There are red grains, black/purple grains. When you add a tablespoon of it to a cup of white rice, it will turn the rice red or black/purple when cooked. There has been talk over the years that this type of rice has more minerals in it, though I don't know if this is true. I like it because the rice seems to get a bit more chewy and tastes a little nutty.

We also found a mochi covered truffle from Kin-Daruma. Chocolate ganache is covered with a soft mochi (rice cake) then dusted with some cocoa powder. 900 yen (about US$9) for 9 in a box. Delicious! Eaten right out of the refrig was the best! Soft mochi and the semi-hard ganache...mmm.

Though most of the sights like museums and such around Lake Kawaguchi can be seen in a day or so, we felt that to be able to see Mt Fuji from the various points around the lake was the true attraction.

Our last stop before going to Haneda was stopping to have some gelato. I had heard about Grom from Kathy & David's blogs. This Italian gelato shop recently opened in Tokyo on April 24th and is the only shop in Japan, so you can imagine the lines!

Apparently during the Golden Week the wait was 2 hours, luckily we got our gelato after a 20 minute wait. There were so many flavors it was hard to decide. Unfortunately by the time we got there, Pistachio (which was one I wanted to try) was already sold out.

Satoshi chose the piccolo (small) cone with Yogurt & Coffee, 490 yen (about US$4.90), these were a bit grainy but the flavor was delicious. The yogurt was a little tart and the coffee (made with Guatemalan coffee) had lots of flavor.

I chose the piccola (small) cup with Crema di Grom (meliga biscuits, egg cream and Ecuador chocolate chips) & Extra Noir Chocolate (Bolivian chocolate gelato with chocolate chips), apparently no cream or milk is used to make this extra chocolaty gelato so it was very rich! this is for chocoholics only! The crema di grom was delicious, I liked the crisp biscuits here and there and the dark chocolate chips were delicious too. My cup was also 490 yen (about US$4.90).

We enjoyed the gelato, though we wished we could have eaten it slowly to savor it, but the line outside waiting to come in made it hard to relax.

On a side note, have you ever seen the eye of Shinjuku? I hadn't so Satoshi took me to the basement of the Subaru building, located in Nishi-Shinjuku.

There is a sculpture of a mezmerizing eye. Made by Yoshiko Miyashita in 1969, the center of this "eye" spins. Kind of neat to watch everyone walk by without really taking notice of it, I guess they see it everyday...I actually found video of this on you tube (check it out)!

Hope you enjoyed our little trip! We surely had a good time (despite the weather).

Lake Bake
2585-86 Ooishi
Minamitsurugun Fujikawaguchikomachi, Yamanashi
Phone: 0555.76.7585
Closed Tuesdays, Wednesdays
Open 10:00-18:00

Lake Kawaguchi Nature Center
2585 Ooishi
Minamitsurugun Fujikawaguchikomachi, Yamanashi
Phone: 0555.76.8230
Closed Fridays (during July-September open)

Kin-daruma
7407 Funatsu
Minamitsurugun Fujikawaguchikomachi, Yamanashi
Phone: 0555.72.2567
Open 9:00-18:00

Grom Gelato (UPDATE: this location no longer in business)
Shinjuku Honkan 1F
3-30-13 Shinjuku
Shinjuku, Tokyo
Phone: 03.3354.0101