setagaya boroichi

I've been wanting to check out the Setagaya Boroichi for awhile now and finally got to do so yesterday.

From where we live it took me about an hour (and three transfers) to get to Setagaya.

Since it was a weekday, it wasn't krazy crowded (though I did get banged around by older ladies not paying attention where they were walking!)

This boroichi (literally rag market...flea market) has been around since 1578!

It is held every December 15th & 16th and January 15th and 16th from 9:00-20:00.

It used to be a place where fabrics were traded but these days it is more like a flea market where there are vendors selling old and new things.

The specialty of the market is the Daikanmochi.

The line can be short or very long.

I overheard a man telling another man that at last month's boroichi, the line for mochi was a 5 hour wait!

Thank goodness I only had to wait an hour...still, it was fahreezing, but I guess it is better than it being gross humid (or raining)....

You could choose between 3 types...karami mochi, anko (sweet bean paste) and kinako (soy bean powder).

I purchased the karami mochi (karami means spicy), because it was something I don't see too often.

The mochi is covered with a "spicy" grated daikon, a little shoyu, nori, some chili and katsuobushi (shaved bonito).

We had this for dinner with some veggies.

Before heading home, I picked up some nikuman from Lu Gang, which makes Taiwan style steamed meat buns.

They do have different flavors, but during the boroichi they were only selling their original meat bun.

I loved how the outside was a little sweet and the pork inside was just that, no fillers.

I am glad I checked out this flea market and look forward to going back to Lu Gang.

Have a nice weekend.

Lu Gang
3-1-12 Setagaya
Setagaya, Tokyo
Phone: 03.5799.3031
Hours: 9:00 until sold out
Closed Wednesdays & Thursdays

supermarket finds

Came across nectarines at the market recently.

They are grown in Nagano Prefecture.

I've never seen nectarines in our markets when we were living in Osaka. (Maybe because I am not usually around in Japan during summer?!)

A little tart, but really juicy.

I'm glad we got to try this and I hope the rest of these will be as good or even better.

p.s. I'm glad to hear that Oahu didn't get hit with the hurricane, but I do hope that Maui and the Big Island will be able to make a quick recovery from all that rain.

Have a good week everyone.

maya rucksack market

Saturday, we met up with Satoshi's friend and his son to go to the Maya Rucksack Market.

Maya is the name of a mountain in Kobe. Rucksack is a European word for backpack.

This market is actually a flea market.

To get to the market, we needed to take the Maya Cable up.

When we got there closer to 11:30 (the market starts at 11:00), many vendors were scattered along the walkway to the Maya Ropeway.

There is also a tiny park where some vendors had set up, there were also many families picnic-ing.

There is no fee for sellers. If you want to sell food though, you need to apply in advance listing what you will sell and what ingredients you are using.

Apparently this market is held several times during the year.

Since we didn't know what types of vendors would be there, I packed a bento for our lunch.

Karaage (fried chicken), eggplant with shoyu & vinegar, red bell pepper with black sesame, green bell pepper with oyster sauce and carrots simmered in dashi (stock) and ume.

I also made some musubi (shiso and konbu).

For dessert, I also shared some energy bars with his friend...so good! lots of goodies in it, Thanks again Jalna!

One thing that I bought while at the market was this karinto (fried dough).

I've tried savory karinto before and this one was curry flavored. Shimacchi curry karinto, made by a group from Kochi prefecture in Shikoku.

They had 3 types, mild, medium and hot.

I bought medium...400 yen.

Gosh, this thing was hot, we were all coughing while eating it, and then we got kinda used to it and couldn't stop.

Fun times.

hounan ichiba

I told you a little about the Hounan Ichiba (hounan market) in yesterday's post.

This place is rather large and many eateries buy their ingredients from here.

There are many vendors selling different things. I thought their prices were quite reasonable.

In Japan, most vendors specialize in particular items, for example you buy fish from the fishmonger, meat from the butcher, etc.

Unlike the U.S., where most items are sold at supermarkets these days.

I picked up this bag of chirimen (whitebait)...200 grams for 475 yen. I divvied them up into 10 grams each and froze most of it.

Scored "bambucha" (huge) brussels sprouts...not sure how heavy these were but they were only 400 yen.

Which I used some in a Kimu-Taku stir-fry...we had this with lots of rice.

Huge San-Fuji apples, these are about 200 yen each, I think the markets sell each for more.

I also found super cheap goya (bittermelon)...2 for 150 yen.

I used 1 for goya tsukudani and the other one for goya champuru.

By the way, our weather is still funky, Thursday it rained.all.day.long.

And then yesterday there was hail and flurries!

Not to mention there was also a huge earthquake 5 or 6 level near Shikoku which Satoshi and I didn't even feel (we were in deep sleep), though it rocked pretty much all of Kansai and Kyushu...

At the rate we are going Spring is gonna whiz by and then we'll be left with super-humid-hot-blah Summer until October...sigh.

Hope the weather is warmer and nicer where you are.

Hounan Ichiba
right outside of Hankyu Shonai station
Toyonaka, Osaka
Open everyday except Sundays & Holidays
Hours: 9:00-18:00

hawaii shops

If you like checking out the vendors in Chinatown, but maybe don't like the parking situation there, then check out the Chinatown Marketplace located in the City Square Shopping Center in Kalihi.

This place opened recently and there is lots of free parking and quite a number of vendors. An eating area is also in the works.

There is no main phone line and I think each vendor has their own hours and days off.

We'll be back.

Chinatown Marketplace (next to DMV)
City Square Shopping Center
Kalihi, Hawaii
Phone: none listed

hawaii revisits

Went back yet again to Palama Market, this time I tried their bulgogi bento, only US$5.50 + tax.

The meat was kinda gristly, but the serving was plentiful.

Not too sweet either.

Yet again, sour kim chee (boo!) but this one also had some cucumber kim chee which was delicious.

Also in the bento were 2 mandoo and some sauteed cabbage.

They also have a snack area now, at the back of the store, here you can order plates (even bowls of noodles), which were a little higher priced than the bento.

They also have some chairs and tables to eat your food at or sit and wait for your order.

I'll be back.

swiss chard

Do you like swiss chard? I hadn't known about it until the last time I went home (to Hawaii).

In Hawaii, lots of people grow veggies in their yard and share with family and friends when they get bumper crops.

Anyway, the last time I was home, we received swiss chard several times, from one of my grandma's friends...by this point, the rest of my family was tired of eating this, but for me it was something new.

It reminds me of eating the greens of beets, which are totally rare to see in our area of Japan. (the beets and the greens)

So, I was at the market the other day, they have a special corner now for veggies grown around Japan that are kinda "ugly", the items are deformed or not pristine like most veggies you see in the markets.

And on them, most have the names of the farmers that grew them too.

I kind of have a pet peeve with how pristine most veggies are here and would be happy to pay a little less for an "ugly" one because I think it will almost more than likely taste the same or maybe even better than that pristine one.

Plus, I think the "ugly" ones may be organic...

Anyway, I spotted bags of this swiss chard in this area and they were so colorful!

And they were only 100 yen (about US$1) each so I bought 2 bags.

To prepare them, I washed and put them into a non-stick pan.

I wilted them down and then blanched them in cold water to stop the cooking.

Then I squeezed out the water, and cut them into about 3 inch pieces.

Before serving, I cut the pieces into bite sized pieces and then topped with leftover ginger-sesame sauce.

Usually in our household (in Hawaii), we eat spinach, beets (swiss chard) with a shoyu-mayo mixture.

Since the ginger-sesame sauce was a similar flavor, this went really nicely with it.

I'm glad I came across this at the market.

on the way to the market

I usually go to several different markets, depending on my mood, depending on what I want to cook.

On this particular day, on this route, there is a "house" in our neighborhood that has 3 sakura trees on their property.

I say "house" but on their property there are actually 3 houses! (I've seen the inside when their gate opened to let their car in)

In the foreground there are also these huge sequoia trees, Satoshi says "you can really tell the seasons with these trees".

Actually to the left of this shot, is the other house.

Then in a small alleyway, you pass by a little garden and can see a huge sakura tree which overhangs onto a parking lot.

I love how people here have trees and plants that can be enjoyed throughout the year.

I want to share with you another funny conversation between Satoshi and I recently:
s: (he's reading the newspaper in english) "Kat, do you feel geo-para-dized?"
k: "what?!"
s: geo-para-dized
k: "what?!"
s: geo-para-dized
k: "what are you reading?" (looks at what he is reading)
"jeopardized!"...
(she rolls on the floor laughing...)

garapan street market

Saipan is a dominion of the United States. It is 71.4 square miles or 185 square kilometers with a population of about 58,000. (Osaka is 85 square miles or 220 square kilometers and a population of 2 million population...ack!!) 60% of the people in Saipan are Chamorro or Carolinian. The rest are Filipino, Japanese, Chinese and Korean--most of these people are in Saipan as contract workers.

The main language is English, but most speak Chamorro or Carolinian. Since tourism is Saipan's main industry, most people also speak Japanese.

Here is a story about the Chamorro. It was said that when Spaniards took over the Islands, they changed the peaceful islands. A certain Spanish commander fell in love with a beautiful Island girl, but she was already promised to a local boy. The commander was determined to be with her, but her family was against this. The only way for them to be together was to jump off a cliff together entangled within each other's hair. This tragic story was passed down through generations of these island people who became known as "Chamorro".

The Garapan area is where most of the hotels in Saipan are located. There is a great foodie fiesta called the Garapan Street Market. It is held every Thursday from 17:00-21:00. Located on the road right outside of our hotel.

There is live entertainment and lots of food to choose from. A lot of places were giving 5 choices for US$5....so cheap. There were also stands selling fresh veggies.

The hotel arranged a dinner for us on Thursday, so it would have been rude to change or cancel, we hope that the next time we go to Saipan (hopefully soon), we'll be there on a Thursday to try all this food!

I'll just let you enjoy all the photos, hopefully some of the excitement will come through.

culture shock

The other day I went to the market and saw all these people crowded around something in the produce section. When you see a crowd or line in Japan, you know something good is happening (usually anyway).

I went closer and realized that they were stuffing mikan (mandarin oranges) into plastic bags. I looked at the sign and it said tsumehoudai (all you can pack) 300 yen (about US$2.50).

I've seen this on television at many Tokyo supermarkets. The store puts an item on special and gives you a really low price for what you can stuff into the bag they give you. Some of those people on the television stuffed 60 weiners into their bags or 20 carrots. Sometimes it is a timed event, like a half hour or 10 minutes, so most people are in a frenzy trying to get the most of the items into their bags.

So I grabbed a bag and tried getting into the crowd. Those older women and men are brutal! They were blocking the boxes of mikan and really stuffing their bags. I thought the mikan would smash the way they were stuffing them in. You could hear chatter amongst them and one woman was saying how someone had stuffed 19 into their bag so she wanted at least that much.

The produce guy felt sorry for me and let me take my mikan from his cart, I felt each one as I put it into my bag and took 12. (6 days worth of mikan for our breakfasts.)

When I went to the check-out, the lady at the register said, "you can fit about 6 more into your bag". (If you look at the photo, there is still some room at the top. The top of the bag also had a "handle", so there are two holes near the top.)

I told her I didn't want to buy too many and have them spoil before we could eat them.

Then the lady in back of me put in her 2 cents..."yeah, you should get more and put more in"

After paying, I could hear the cashier and the lady that was in back of me continuing on their conversation as to how I could have put more into my bag.

It was a great way to get a lot of mikan for a low price, but I don't think I want to go through that again.

all things french

A lot of the areas around New Caledonia felt like Hawaii, especially the trees and flowers. The houses and condos reminded me of San Francisco with a European feel.

In the supermarkets I was surprised to see so many baguettes and breads just lying out in the open (take your pick!)

And I was amazed at how many people just have their french bread sticking out of their bags uncovered, or like this guy, right on the passenger seat of his car!

The wine selection in most grocery stores are HUGE! I had no idea there were so many labels of French wine.



You can also find a lot of French candies. This one is a licorice mint called Cachou Lajaunie.

Noumea also has a morning market daily from 5:00 am until 11:00 am. It was a nice place to have breakfast.

Although, when you get a grouchy French dude taking your order, you get pain au beurre (plain french bread not even toasted with butter) instead of pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant), because like I said he was grouchy and unwilling to put up with my bad French pronunciation and probably only heard pain. (TIP: walk around the market, there are other vendors with cheaper pastries and just buy your coffee from this stand. As long as you don't sit at his counter, you can stand and eat your food at the surrounding table.)

We also learned that cafe means espresso. If you want an bigger cup of coffee, remember to order a gran cafe. (But I loved the fact that they served their espresso with a dark chocolate neapolitan!)

Since the selection of French wines were so large, we decided to bring some back with us. (Are these two good?) We bought them because they were really reasonable and way less than what we would pay for in Japan!

Just remember that with the new security rules, you need to pack these babies in your suitcase and it needs to go into cargo, not on board. (these made it back safely, but Note to self: next time, bring bubble wrap!)

Next post about the food (finally!) and some souvenirs...stay tuned.

Noumea Morning Market (Marche)
Port Moselle
Open daily from 5:00-11:00

La Buvette du Marche (cafe)
inside the Noumea Morning Market

foodie thursday & friday

My Aunty emailed me today to tell me that I must be slipping because there isn't anything new on my blog...as she would say, "hold your horses, will ya?"

Anyway,yesterday Satoshi was off, but had to go to a funeral, so I had dinner by myself--Some chicken wings which I bought at our shopping arcade, delicious asparagus, leftover carrot salad, several olives with feta cheese and corn..oh, and a dark beer. But, I was a bit disappointed by this corn.

When I bought it, it looked really fresh and sweet (look how big it is too about 10 inches long, they even had it packaged to show off the nice, plump kernels), but after steaming it, it wasn't sweet at all. I think it may be a bit too early for corn here. (I wonder if it was the area that it was grown in? I usually buy Hokkaido (Northern Japan) corn, but this one was from Kumamoto (Southern Japan).)

This morning, I went chocolate shopping in Kyoto. After finishing "The Chocolate Connoisseur", I realized that a LOT of the chocolates I've been eating were not in the author's eyes "true chocolate". And that a lot of chocolate that say 70%, sometimes have other "not so good" ingredients in them, just to make a sale. So, I went to seek out some of the recommended tastings that were listed in the book. I hope to learn more about tasting so that I can be a bit more descriptive than just saying something was "good" or "delicious".

Whenever I go to Kyoto, one of the places I sometimes walk through is Nishiki Market (I don't always go because this place can be at times really chaotic!). This place is the best place to find fresh foods and veggies and they give LOTS of samples! After seeing HwnPake's post on tsukudani, I decided to pick some up. Tsukudani is anything that is preserved by boiling in shoyu (soy sauce) and sugar. I bought two types.

Kurumi-chirimen (walnut-whitebait)--this one is on the sweet side, plus the walnuts give it a nice crunch.

Chirimen sansho (whitebait-Japanese pepper)--this one is more on the salty side and the sansho gives it a nice zing.

I also picked up some tonyu (soy milk) donuts. I only wanted one, but they only sold them in tens...I gave half away to my friend Kazumi at our lesson this afternoon. These donuts are really light and fluffy.

Lunch was at Mlesna Tea House. They are apparently a Sri Lanka tea company and have a tea house in Kyoto. I had their vegetable curry set, which came with a salad, choice of hot or iced tea and petit four (the little plate with a cookie, meringue & chocolate covered almond). The iced tea was an apple flavored tea and was great without any gum syrup in it. Unfortunately, I was facing the kitchen and saw the guy open a package of pre-made curry and add in the veggies....

Tonight, Satoshi has a party to welcome new staff, so I'm alone for dinner again. I bought some fried aji(horse mackerel) with veggies and a sweet and spicy sauce. I ate up the rest of the carrot salad and leftover asparagus.

Hope you have a nice weekend....enjoy the post Aunty!