rokko

The other day, I went to Yamaya, and they were out of Wychwood beers (insert pouty face). I asked the cashier and she thought I said "wedgewood" and says, "they make beer?" Then asked the manager but no one knew...sigh.

So, yesterday, since my lesson cancelled last minute, I had free time on my hands. I went to Rokko to check out their Yamaya.

Of course before getting there, I checked out several bread shops.

Sometimes I think I could live on breads/pastries alone! especially when they are chewy, sometimes flaky, sometimes crispy, and paired with curry, sausage, cheese, chocolate...mmm.

So, I googled and found two that looked interesting.

Boulangerie Petit Blé is located near the Hankyu Rokko station. I didn't write anything down and tried to find it by memory...(I should have written down the directions)...I was going round and round longer than I should have been.

As I was just about to give up, I found it!

This bread shop was tiny, and had so many yummy things to choose from.

I picked up this fig and walnut bread 210 yen (about US$2.10), it is only the size of two fists, but will be perfect for our breakfast.

And I also picked up this chocolate croissant 180 yen (about US$1.80) for my 3 o'clock tea time. This was flaky, chocolatey goodness.

There was another bake shop I was looking for, but realized it was really far away, (plus it was really sunny and hot) so I gave up and found Yamaya instead.

The Yamaya in Rokko is HUGE! I think it is 2 times the size of the Minoo store. Unfortunately, they didn't have any Wychwood beers, but I did find some others (which I'll tell you about some other time).

On the way back to the Hankyu Rokko station, I stopped into another bread shop, Köln and picked up this pizza 180 yen (about US$1.80) and curry naan 110 yen (about US$1.10) for my dinner. (Satoshi had a business trip yesterday so he didn't need dinner, which is cool with me because this means I don't need to cook! and can just pick up something. I just added some vegetable sticks to these and dinner was served.)

The pizza was thin and crisp and l-o-n-g about 30 centimeters (about 11 inches)! The curry naan had curry baked inside the naan...this wasn't too spicy but still both were delicious.

It was a nice carbolicious Friday!

Boulangerie Petit Blé
1-2-3 Yamada-cho
Nada, Kobe
Phone: 078.858.8815
Open 8:00-18:00, closed Wednesdays and 2 Thursdays

Köln
2-3-15 Morigo-cho
Nada, Kobe
Phone: 078.841.3933

brats

I recently found Johnsonville smoked brats at a local supermarket and thought they would go nicely with the bottle of sauerkraut I had in my fridge. They were 4 for 480 yen (about US$4.80).

I was looking at the back of the package and they have a Japanese website, maybe Italian sausage will soon be in our local markets?? hmmm...

So, I "grilled" the brats on my grill pan along with some onions, red bell pepper and eringi mushroom.

Since I couldn't find hot dog buns without margarine in them, I bought these long-ish raisin walnut rolls which I split open then toasted. These still had margarine in them but I figured with the raisin and walnut I offset the bad fat...

To eat this I needed a knife and fork, the outside of the brats had a nice crisp snap to them....delicious.

yamaya (again)

Thank you everyone for your condolences. We had the wake and funeral for Satoshi's grandma over the past couple of days. She was a spunky lady and was that way until the end. Though it was hard for everyone to say "goodbye" to her, we all knew she had a full life and we were all grateful to be a part of it. Thank you again.

Changing the subject...I went back to Yamaya a week after my last visit...and they were having a sale!

Most times in Japan whenever you see the word "SALE" or "BARGAIN", most times it is a slight reduction in prices but nothing to get too excited over.

The other day when I went back to Yamaya, it was something to get excited about...

I purchased Wychwood's Hobgoblin, regularly 498 yen (about US$4.98), on sale for 158 yen (about US$1.58), Fuller's London Porter regularly 388 yen (about US$3.88), on sale for 128 yen (about US$1.28), Al Ponte Proscuitto Crudo 50 grams regularly 380 yen (about US$3.80) on sale for 150 yen (about US$1.50) and Terra chips olive oil, sun dried tomato and basil flavor 298 yen (about US$2.98). The chips were the only thing that I bought that weren't on sale.

The Hobgoblin was a dark beer, kind of reddish, was a bit fruity and actually had some punch! Satoshi liked this one more than the Black Wych.

With the proscuitto (there were only 3 slices), I sliced each slice in half then wrapped them around some melon. The sweet and salty combination was delicious.

The London Porter by Fuller's Ale, was smoky, a hint of chocolate. While Satoshi enjoyed the Hobgoblin, I liked this one better.

Since we've eaten up what I purchased, I may have to go back soon...

yamaya

First off, I have to get this out of my system. I ordered a book from Amazon Japan, paid for it and it was to be delivered yesterday (Thursday). Satoshi had the day off, so we did some errands. We came back and I saw the package sticking out of our mail box at the entrance to our building.

Now, our mail box has a trap door that the mail deliverer can slip things in, but most times you would not be able to fish things out unless you open the door with the combination.

So, the delivery guy shoved the package into the mail box and because the door has that trap door area, the package went in, but refused to come out....

I pulled at it, tried to wiggle it out. I even opened the door with the combination but was afraid I was going to break the trap door. In the meantime, Satoshi had gone upstairs, not knowing what was happening.

After 5 minutes, I finally got the package out by wiggling it out of the trap door. The package was badly scraped and it seemed that it was scraped from it trying to fit into the mail box, then from wiggling it out of the trap door. Luckily though, my book wasn't damaged. Still, I called to complain. I was so mad, I almost spoke in English. The woman at the call center apologized, took my delivery number down and told me they would warn the delivery guy. While I think it was good that it saved him/her another trip to deliver the package, saving time and gasoline, I think they should have used more common sense...sigh..Thanks for listening, I feel better...let's move onto something nice...

After posting about making my own cappuccino, my friend Mari, wrote in the comments about a shop that she likes going to called Yamaya.

I checked out their website and realized that I had passed by this place before, thinking they were "just a liquor shop". And I also realized that Tamakikat had taken me to her Yamaya in Kyoto awhile back. (Actually, I kind of thought she did and emailed her to double check...)

The best part is that the store in my neighborhood is just a 30 minute walk away! (I am glad this store isn't closer otherwise I may be there everyday!!)

So, Wednesday, I picked up my lunch at Abientot then walked down to Yamaya.

Of course, I had to walk every aisle.

I bought some Terra chips 298 yen (about US$2.98), Solleone garbanzo 168 yen (about US$1.68), Black Wych beer 498 yen (about US$4.98), Olitalia EVOO 480 yen (about US$4.80), San Paolina diced tomatoes 78 yen (about US$.78) and Valle del Sole whole tomatoes 78 yen (about US$.78).

I couldn't believe how cheap the canned tomatoes were, I never find them under 100 yen in the local supermarkets.

I had seen this beer on Rowena's Flickr page. Yesterday, Satoshi and I tried the beer and the chips. I liked the beer, it had a hint of chocolate and was a little bitter. The chips were good too, kettle-style, thick and salty...mmm!

This place had a lot of great items and was cheaper than the gourmet supermarket that I have been shopping at. And the beans were in a box rather than a can. A recent can of beans that I bought had half the amount of beans that this box version had and was more expensive!

I want to bring Satoshi with me the next time so he can help me carry some wines and beer.

Thanks again for the tip, Mari!

Yamaya
4-1-27 Makiochi
Phone: 072.720.5058
Open 10:00-22:00

Hope you have a good weekend!