winners

Thank you all for entering.

I loved reading all of your comments.

The winners for the giveaway are Kalin's Mommy, "N" & De-Aloha.

Please email me your snail mail address: kat(dot)nsatoshi(at)gmail(dot)com so I can mail out your care package.

I'll send you an email when I send it out and if possible, please send me an email when you receive it.

Thank you again for entering and helping me celebrate.

birthday giveaway

Since it was a milestone birthday for me this year.

I thought it would be nice to do a giveaway to celebrate.

3 lucky winners will be picked at random.

Just do the following to enter:
1) enter only ONCE to be fair to others
2) in the comments please write what you'd like to eat in Japan and where you'd like to visit in Japan
3) if you do comment anonymously, please do write a "nickname" with your comment so I can tell the anonymous entries apart
4) you may enter even if you have won in the past.

Comments will be closed at noon on Thursday, February 15, 2018 (Japan time)

I hope what I put in the box will meet customs requirements where you are, and not be anything you may be allergic to, if not, I'm sorry in advance!

Good Luck!

p.s. we're back from Tohoku, will try to get some posts up this week.

Thanks for entering, comments now closed

this and that

Sorry it has been quiet here.

For a couple of days now, I have been trying to view a blu-ray DVD that my friend gave me. At first, I thought I could use the public library's player...nope they only allow you to view DVDs that are at the library, you cannot bring in your own...boo!

Then, I rented a player from Tsutaya, a CD/DVD shop...after getting the player set up, I still couldn't view it!

I called the maker of the player as well as Tsutaya....turns out the disc was bad...something about it not being finalized...have spoken to my friend and she said I could watch the shows at her house...whoo!

Fast forward to today, I had an appointment to fix my crown (this has also been ongoing). Today was putting the crown on...took all of 10 minutes and I have to go back next week for cleaning...boy, do these dentists like to drag stuff out!

While sitting in the waiting room, I noticed their flower arrangements...kind of harvest-y, autumn-y, foodie.

After my appointment, I walked over to Nakanoshima Park.

The rubber duck is back.

Mona received the giveaway box, so now I can show you what was inside...a Uni-Qlo Star Wars T-shirt (this won an award or something), Kabuki Face Masks, a Hello Kitty Moleskine notebook, a musubi holder, green tea, Japanese-y post-its, colorful furikake, oil blotting paper, masking tapes, and some candies and cookies (not shown).

Another 3-day weekend coming up, hope your week is going well.

the winner is

Yesterday, we celebrated our blogaversary with cakes from Patisserie Hare. It had been some time since we've been back so I thought it was nice to re-connect with them.

I had their fig tarte. This had a nice custard and coffee gelee in the middle, as well as sweet figs.

Satoshi had their bear cake, which I've written about here.

On to the giveaway winner.

Can I just say that I loved reading all your comments?!

I hope you will all be able to visit or re-visit the places in Japan that are on your lists!

and now to what you've all waited for..

we picked a winner...it's Mona!

Please email me your snail mail address so I can send you your care package.

I'll post a photo of what was in the box after I know it has reached Mona.

Thanks again for participating and for helping us celebrate a milestone blogaversary!

we're 10

Looking back, the past 10 years have relatively been a blast.

Sure, there have been ups and downs with real life stuffs but for the most part, blogging has become my passion.

We've made a lot of friends over the years.

I hope to be able to share more stories with you in the coming years.

Thanks for being a part of the adventure.

we're back, we're (almost) 10 & giveway

Silver Week is rapidly coming to a close. The weather was awesome and I've got lots to share after I sort out photos and stuff.

In the meantime, can you believe this blog has been around for almost 10 years? I can't.

I started this blog as a way to give updates to family and friends without filling up their email inboxes.

Who could have imagined that we would have readers from around the world!

To celebrate, I want to send a care package to one reader.

How to qualify:
1) Have you won one of our giveaways before? No problem, you can still enter.

2) Have you ever commented on our blog? No? then please de-lurk with the following...

3) Tell me in the comments where in Japan you have been...what? you've never been to Japan? okay, then tell me where you'd most like to visit in Japan...oh no, you live in Japan? then tell me where in Japan you haven't been but would like to visit.

4) Please comment only ONCE to enter to be fair to others.

Good Luck, you'll have until September 28, 2015, 12:00 noon, Japan time to enter.

I hope what I put in the box will meet customs requirements where you are, and not be anything you may be allergic to, if not, I'm sorry in advance!

Thanks for reading our adventures, I really appreciate your comments, they really brighten up my day!

*comments now closed* thanks for entering!

wine & a winner

Wanted to share with you the wines I bought from Takamura wine...a Barolo, this one seemed like it was medium body.

And this Pinot Noir by Cono Sur, seemed really light...meh!

Bummer because the ones I tried in the past were good.

I hope to check out Takamura Wine again soon...

And now the winner of my birthday giveaway...

K of Never Turn Down a Cupcake.

Please send me your snail mail address, so I can send out your care package.

Thank you all for entering!

birthday giveaway

If you have been reading this blog for some time now, you'll know that I usually don't like to draw attention to stuff, especially my birthday.

Anyway, it has been some time since I did a giveaway and I thought it might be nice to give 1 reader a care package to celebrate.

Not sure as to what will be in the box, but to enter here's what you need to do...

Comment ONCE on this post...de-lurk, say "hi" or something (nice hopefully)...

Or like our FB Page.

You'll have until February 12th (Wednesday, 12 noon Japan-time) to do either (or both).

Thanks for reading and Good Luck!

UPDATE: comments now closed, thanks for entering!

honor box + winner

I noticed this honor box while walking the other week.

In the past, when we lived in Takatsuki, there was an honor box near the housing that we lived in and it sold veggies and cut flowers.

When I noticed this particular box/stand, it had some daikon (long white radish) for sale, unfortunately, whenever I go walking, I usually don't carry any money with me.

I think the next time I go walking in this direction, I'll bring some coins, just in case they have some nice looking veggies.

The sign says that everything is 100 yen (about US$1) that is a bargain.

Now, onto the winner of the giveaway...

I want to thank everyone who entered, I loved reading your comments and hope that you all accomplish what you set out to do in 2011.

The winner of the giveaway is Linny!

She used to live in Japan and if I remember correctly, she emailed me once for info on a Kobe steak place that also served vegetarian fare (she's vegetarian but her significant other is not)...I hope this was how we "met"...

Thanks for entering everyone!

giveaway

Just before the end of 2010, I noticed we were nearing 500 followers.

At that point, I told myself that if we did indeed reach 500 followers, I would do a giveaway, as a thank you.

Well, we've actually gone past 500 and are presently at 503, whoo!

I can remember when I first started this blog intending it for family and friends and getting hits from all over the world.

Blogging is truly amazing!

So, I'm planning to put a box together, I must admit, some of the items that I've already purchased are kinda "girly".

The value of the contents will be about 5000 yen (about US$50).

Anyway, to enter here are the rules:
1) in the comments section, write one thing you'd like to accomplish in 2011.
2) be subscribed to this blog's RSS feed
3) no ad or anonymous comments will be allowed
4) enter only once for this giveaway to be fair to others.
5) have a blog and post about what's in your care package, linking the post to this blog.
6) you can enter even if you've won in previous giveaways.

You have until Friday, January 21, 2011 at 5:00 p.m. (JPN time) to enter, the winner will be announced on Saturday, January 22, 2011.

Thank you for reading our blog and good luck!

Comments now closed thanks for entering!

UPDATE: to see what was in the box, click here.

odds & ends & a winner

Cleaning out some photos, so if you're only interested in finding out the winner to the giveaway, scroll all the way down.

Received this Hello Kitty (HK) from a friend of Satoshi's. He knows I like HK and since he is from Kochi, bought me this one of Sakamoto Ryoma.

Wherever you go in Japan each prefecture/city has their own "flavor" of HK, usually something that represents the area whether it be a food or person. The face will be HK's but the "costume" will be the representation of the area.

Sakamoto Ryoma, who was originally from Kochi, Shikoku, wanted to end the feudal ways in Japan. In 1867, he was assassinated at the very young age of 33 and his murder is still a mystery.

This year there is a historical soap opera on television which has sparked his popularity.

Snyder's pretzels and Meiji Chocolate teamed up to make this delicious treat. The pretzels are thick and the chocolate semi-sweet.

I participated with some of my Twitter friends in a Twitter Taco Party recently. Everyone that participated uploaded their photo of their tacos. It was delicious virtually.

I didn't have time to thaw out some tortilla, so I instead made a layered dip using homemade black bean dip, salsa, sauteed veggies (eringi, orange bell, eggplant & asparagus), cheese and some leftover flat leaf parsley.

Satoshi liked the black bean dip (I think he just likes to eat things with tortilla chips). Also I hope to participate in their Twitter food party next month.

Char siu men at Ou-Lou. It was my first time to try this, but the char siu was the sweet/salty flavor that I grew up with in Hawaii and the broth reminded me of what is served with saimin (a broth/noodle dish in Hawaii), kind of light, chicken broth.

Did you know that Minoo has the very 1st Mister Donut in Japan? Apparently, the company wanted to see if the suburbs would be receptive to their donut shop.

Who would've thought that it would spread like wildfire all over Japan and some areas overseas?

Our shop in Minoo is the only one with this number 0001, cool yeah?

A new Kit Kat. This version is "otona no amasa" which means "adult sweetness".

Whenever they bring in the word otona (adult) to food you know it will not be as sweet.

I liked the fact that they used dark chocolate to coat and in-between the wafers are crushed chocolate cookies.

Javana's Speculoos Tea from Brugge.

Received this from Tamakikat when I saw her last month, it is delicious cold and is even better served hot with some milk. (Thank you!)

There are almond slices and cinnamon in there...like drinking a cinnamon cookie, similar to chai but without the cardamom.

Cilantro on the lanai starting to actually look like it.

I have started covering some of my plants with plastic during the evenings so they won't get frost or too cold.

After seeing "Eat, Pray, Love" the other week, I just had to have pasta for lunch (with wine!) at Cappriciosa.

I loved the food scenes as well as the scenery itself in the movie.

Whenever I watch movies in English (subtitled in Japanese), I always feel like I'm the only one who catches the little "jokes" as I'm usually the only one snickering or smiling.

Can you believe the man sitting two seats from me in "EPL" was actually snoring loudly (from the beginning to the end)??

Satoshi on the other hand, didn't see this movie with me and opted for a samurai flick instead.

Caught two butterflies, doing their thing.

Black Wych was on sale at Yamaya because the expiry was close, it was like 250 yen (about US$2.50) for one!

Saw this in the window of the Mercedes Benz showroom...little cars for your kids...so this is how they grow up wanting to drive a Mercedes...

As for the giveaway, we had 41 entries. Thank you again for participating, I loved reading all of your comments.

Anyway, enough rambling, you want to know who won right? I had Satoshi pick the winner....and the winner is...Kirk K, one of our favorite reads.

Please send me your snail mail address at kat (dot) nsatoshi (at) gmail (dot) com as soon as possible so I can send out your care package.

It is Friday here, hope you have a great weekend.

we're 5!

When we first moved to Japan in 2001, I would update our friends and family with emails.

But not wanting to stuff their inboxes nor bore them, I started this blog in 2005 so that if they wanted to read what we were up to they could whenever they wanted to.

Who would have thought that people from all over the world would also check into what we were up to??

Fast forward to today...this blog's 5th birthday...I can't believe I've kept a journal for this long!

To celebrate, I thought it would be nice to give something away...a care package to 1 lucky reader.

Keeping with the "5" theme...this care package will be valued at 5000 yen (about US$50) not including postage.

Hopefully you will not be allergic to anything I put in the care package nor will the customs guys decide that they need to receive the package or contents instead of you, or that they will make you pay some ridiculous tax or fee for it.

If you win, please blog about your care package after you receive it, linking your post to this blog.

To enter, please write a comment in our comments section by September 30, 2010, 9:28 a.m. (Japan time), no anonymous or ad type comments please, also to be fair, please enter only once....Satoshi will be pulling the name of the winner, and we'll announce the winner on October 1, 2010.

I would like to thank you for reading our blog. I am happy to have met some of you personally and also cherish the virtual friendships.

Blogging has really expanded my interest in food and my waistline (LOL) and I've learned a lot about cooking and myself in the process.

Not sure how long I will be able to keep this blog going but am definitely looking forward to blogging for at least the next couple of years.

Kanpai! (Cheers!) UPDATE: comments now closed, thanks for participating! to see what was in the box, click here.

sunshine in the mail

I recently entered a blog contest and won!

The package arrived on a rainy day and upon opening it up, brightened up my day.

I received this cute cover-up by Letarte, a swimwear company from Maui.

Will definitely be using this near the pool or ocean this summer or the next time we go somewhere warm.

If you want to find out about "all the modern island goodness of Hawai'i", especially regarding fashion & beauty, you should check out Hapa|Hale.

Thanks Hapa|Hale!

soup weather

And here I thought that Spring was coming...not!

The other day the weather here took a 180 degree turn and went back towards winter.

In Tokyo, they even had snow! (those guys are so lucky, though they may not think so...)

It has been rainy, blustery and actually quite dreary weather.

Satoshi has been working late. Since he comes home at midnight or later, feeding him dinner can be a challenge.

I want to feed him well, but at that time of night, he really shouldn't be eating so much.

So, I usually end up giving him a bowl of soup or having him drink a glass of milk (if it is really late!) then feed him for breakfast what I would've fed him for dinner.

Here are two types of soups we've been having.

A miso soup with potato, onion & kabocha. My MIL made a miso soup for us once with just potato and onion in it. I cooked the veggies for about 10 minutes then added the miso.

Usually when you make miso soup, you need to make dashi (stock) first. I cheat and use a miso that already has dashi (stock) in it.

And since I had some kim chee in my refrige that needed using, I made a kim chee chige with kabocha, eringi mushrooms, carrots and gobo (burdock). Again, I cooked the veggies for about 10 minutes and then added the kim chee & miso.

Both were perfect for these chilly nights.

p.s. Thank you for all the wonderful comments the other day, the winner for the giveaway per random number generator is Jalna, who has a great photo blog, by the way.

Please email me your address so that I can try to get the box of "stuff" out to you a.s.a.p. Hope you aren't allergic to anything I've put in there. Thanks for participating everyone!

UPDATE to see what was inside the box, click here.

thank you! giveaway

I am posting again today because I was so excited to see that 400 people are following our adventures. Amazing and thank you!

While I would want to send out something to each of you, unfortunately I can only send something to one.

To qualify, you must have a blog and write something in the comments as to why you like our blog.

If you win, please link back and post about what you receive.

You have until 20:10 (8:10) on February 3rd (Japan time).

I'll post the winner on the 4th...good luck and thank you!

Thanks for participating...comments now closed.

whoo hoo!

Back in late October, I noticed that I got some hits from Foodie Blogroll.

They recently updated their site and if members updated their profiles, we were automatically entered to win either a mug or tote...and I won a mug!

It just arrived over the weekend and I'm going to use this for hot chocolate a.s.a.p.

If you blog at least 50% about food, you too can sign up to be on the Foodie Blogroll. Check out their site to find out more info.

Thanks Foodie Blogroll!

What are you waiting for? Sign up now!

whoo hoo!

Sorry this photo is so teeny...(from Satoshi's cell phone)

Before coming to Hawaii, I had some lottery tickets for a shopping mall's contest. I asked Satoshi to check the numbers and we won...a case of shoyu ramen (looks like he also got some other cup noodles too).

Guess I know what Satoshi will be eating while I'm in Hawaii (ahem)...

shogayu + winner

First off, I want to thank all of you that entered my giveaway, the lucky winner picked by the random number generator was Lynne! Please email me your snail mail address at kat (dot)nsatoshi (at) gmail (dot) com, so I can send out your box of "stuff".

Now, onto my post...depending on where you are in the world, you may have the need to warm up.

In Japan, there are packages of instant shogayu, but there is a pretty easy way to do it yourself.

First of all, what is shogayu? Literally it is ginger hot water. The packaged instant version has kudzu (arrowroot) in it to make it thick, and sugar but if you don't have kudzu you can make it with just 3 ingredients: water, ginger & your favorite sweetner.

I grated a nub of ginger using a fourth for a different recipe and the rest for the shogayu. (If you want it more "gingery", then grate more.)

In a pot, I put 3 cups of water and the grated ginger. When the water came to a boil, I stirred in a bit of honey. (You could make this really sweet or not, it is up to you.)

After the honey melts, strain the mixture into a cup (unless you want to drink the grated ginger). Drinking this mixture should definitely warm you up, naturally.

Stay warm everyone!

p.s. I think this drink would also be quite nice chilled too, but I'll try that in a couple of months.

p.p.s. the winner of this giveaway no longer has a public blog

post #1000 + giveaway!

This post is the 1000th...wow! I don't think I've ever kept a diary this long. (have you?)

To celebrate and as a thank you to my readers, I want to give a box of stuff to one reader.

Just tell me which post of the 1000 was your favorite?

You have until January 16, 2009 (Friday), 10:00 pm (Japan time) to comment.

UPDATE:the person who won this giveaway no longer has a blog so I can't link to show you what was in the box.

winner + caffera galleria

First of all, I want to thank all of you who entered the giveaway. It was really interesting reading your comments. I hope that you will be inspired to travel to Japan, re-visit or explore new areas. I used a random number generator and came up with the winner....the winner of the giveaway...is Jenster! Please email me (kat (dot) nsatoshi (at) gmail (dot) com) your snail mail address, I'm going to try to send the box out on Monday. Thanks again for all of your comments, maybe I'll have another giveaway in 2009.

I want to tell you about a cafe that I ate at on Tuesday.

Caffera Galleria is located in Daimaru Umeda on the 4th floor. They are related to this shop, but they have better food.

After French class, I couldn't decide what I wanted to eat for lunch , walked around a bit, and found myself here.

It was my first time to try this place, and I am glad I did. I had their Toscana-style salad plate (1260 yen about US$12.60). It came with your choice of drink. I chose a cappuccino. The regular price of a cappuccino is 630 yen (about US$6.30), so I thought the price of the lunch was kind of reasonable.

This salad reminded me of a Nicoise salad. The bread was olive bread and the dressing had anchovies in it.

It was a good sized portion and filled me up.

I wouldn't mind eating here again sometime.

Caffera Galleria
Daimaru Umeda-4F
Phone: 06.6348.3322
Days closed according to Daimaru Umeda's schedule