odds and ends

It is the last day of March, let's clean out some photos...

Kansai (Western Japan) style sakura mochi is sweet bean paste and a bumpy gelatinous outside made from Domyoji-ko.

Domyoji-ko is steamed mochi rice which is then dried. I think it looks like coarse sugar when it is dried and I think it is then re-constituted when it is used to make sakura mochi.

Kanto (Eastern Japan) style sakura mochi has a thin mochi outside, the sweet bean paste filling and the salted sakura leaf.

Sakura mochi has a salty and sweet flavor---salty from the sakura (cherry blossoms and leaves) which are soaked in a salt water mixture, sweet from the sweet bean paste.
On one of my walks, a Mini that I saw pull into a bank parking lot.

Sakura (cherry) tree in full bloom on one of my walks.

Fresh tulips decorate the lobby area of the Hilton West Plaza.

An animal hospital that I saw on my walk, has these cute dog parking stops, though I think they should change them, aren't they supposed to be taking care of the animals? not "using them" as parking stops??
Shrimp fried with won-ton wrappers at Ou-Lou (Hanshin Department Store). I've had this with spring roll wrappers before, this version is just as delicious.

Rilakkuma, a character by San-X (which I think its name is a combination of "relax" and "kuma" , is currently in French mode...I found this mechanical pencil (which the Japanese call "sharp pencil") at Kiddyland and this strawberry au lait drink at Lawson.

An easy side dish for dinner. The recipe was on one of my calendars. Cut an onion in half, wrap some bacon around the base, top with cheese and roast for about 30 to 40 minutes (220°C/420°F). Easy, cheesy and delicious!
Mascot's hayashi rice (hashed beef) roux has a demi-glace sauce base. I browned some onions and fresh mushrooms, then added some thinly sliced beef.

Diluted the roux with 2 cups of water and simmered. A delicious rich "stew".

I also boiled some fresh peas and roasted carrots and potatoes. This was a different but delicious version of "hayashi rice".

Since the sauce was demi-glace, I thought this might be nice over omurice (an omlette which envelops some rice) for another dinner....I was right.
Byron Bay's Sticky Date and Ginger cookies, chewy with small kicks of ginger here and there, great with a cup of tea!

The chicken nugget mustard sauce at McD's tastes like French's yellow mustard but creamier. Maybe leaning a bit towards honey mustard-ness? Anyway, this is my sauce of choice now.

Oh, and why are the nuggets and side salad so expensive? Total 550 yen (about US$5.50) for the two items...if you choose a salad instead of fries with your burger set, you'll need to pay 30 yen (about US$.30) extra...kinda like penalization if you ask me.

RF1's sakura bento...loved all the okazu (side dishes) and the rice was so cute with the sakura flower on it.

Vietnamese summer roll by RF1, they serve this with nuoc mam (sweet chili sauce).
Me-li-le Poom with almonds.

On one of my walks I spotted a Lotus Europa Special revving its engine in front of an auto body shop (by the way, there is also a yellow Ferrari Testarossa in the garage).

Kuri (chestnut) jam from my student (Thank you). This was chestnuts and sugar, more like chestnut paste though not as sweet...delicious!

Hoegaarden's White Beer (5% alcohol) kinda fruity and fizzy, different.
Gobo (burdock) salad with 7 different veggies in it...love the creamy sesame dressing and crunchiness from all the different vegetables.

Savory taiyaki, this version is similar to okonomiyaki, the bottom is pancake-like, there is shredded cabbage and red pickled ginger, the top is an egg and there is okonomiyaki sauce in there...different but delicious.

Have been interested in these music cases that are like backpacks. When I was in highschool we never had cases this colorful nor this easy to carry.

Every couple of weeks we get our recyclables taken away. These guys on bicycles come ahead of the city trucks to take the aluminum cans. The guys on bikes are actually doing this illegally because our tax dollars are being used to pay the trucks.

I remember once, one of these guys had a big bag of cans on the back of his bicycle and the bag broke...cans everywhere!

Remember I thought that Tougarashiya had a kim chee sushi? Well, I mis-read their sign, it said "korean-style" sushi, not "kim chee" sushi.

Whew...sorry this was a long post there was so much to share and not enough days to post.

wan? nya?

In Japan, the word for dog is "inu" but often they are called "wan-ko-chan" (whahn-ko-chan) or "wan-chan", which I think may be the baby talk version...

Unlike the US dogs who say, "ruff ruff, bow wow or woof woof", dogs in Japan say "wan"..."wan wan".

By the way, cats are "neko" (neck-oh) but they are often called "nyan-ko chan" as "nya" or "nyan" is the sound they make..."nya nya".

Anyway, this is Hana-chan, a yorkshire terrier of an acquaintance. Her owner says that Hana-chan doesn't always like everyone. Guess she was okay with me as she couldn't keep still and wanted to be close by.

I've passed this house many times on my walks and the very first time I noticed this HUGE St. Bernard, I was bummed I didn't have my camera.

The owners have an old bench car seat in their living room and he hangs out there. They even leave their living room door wide open (so I could take a photo of him).

He makes the seat look pretty comfy, yeah??

What do dogs and cats say in your country?

p.s. we're in Kyoto today for my FIL's 3 year memorial service...

hinamatsuri

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day. The wind was quite strong and nippy but overall a beautiful day.

I went to pick up a Hinamatsuri (Girl's Day) bento at the nearby department store. This one had assorted nigiri (rice balls)...735 yen (about US$7.35).

The top two nigiri are supposed to look like members of the Heian court, with the nori (laver) and egg used to resemble their kimono (Japanese formal wear).

I thought it wouldn't be too filling because it was small, but it was just right for lunch.

I also went to check out Kotobuki manju in our shopping arcade.

They had a new flavor, sakura (cherry blossom)...130 yen (about US$1.30)

This had cherry blossom flavored an (sweet bean paste) and a salted blossom on top.

Both were perfect with some green tea.

When I go on my walks, there is a huge tree with yellow flowers and a huge tree with pink flowers that is in full bloom.

Every time I've gone past though, it has been overcast and kind of dark, not good photo conditions, especially for my iPhone which cannot zoom (and it doesn't have a flash either).

When I went past yesterday, it was clear and sunny, perfect! I had brought my point and shoot, so I was able to zoom.

I googled around and found out that the tree with the yellow flowers is an Acacia Dealbata (Silver Wattle) and I think the tree with the pink flowers is either ume (apricot) or momo (peach).

There is an order as to which blooms first in Japanese (ume or momo), but I can't seem to remember it (nor can Satoshi!)

around the neighborhood

It has been awhile since I've posted an "around the neighborhood" post....

Saw this Mini Cooper near our shopping arcade. The guy driving was still in it with the engine running...bad for the environment.

This one seemed to have been lowered because I was actually able to see the top of the car and I am short (5'1")! I was playing around with the Picnik software and came up with this shot.

This cute little truck was parked at a repair shop. Since the repair shop was for Daihatsu, I think it may be the same brand.

I didn't know it but most children in Japan learn how to ride a unicycle (though Satoshi says he can't). I often see them peddling around the neighborhood. On this day, I found all these unicycles parked at a nearby elementary school.

We found this action figure, well half of one. Satoshi says this is "Metoron Seijin" from the Ultraman series. I think the people who upkeep this garden area must've found it and placed it onto this branch.

Did you know that if a glove or keys are lost, people who find them hang them on a fence or leave them on a nearby wall? This is so that the person who lost them can pick them up when they pass by.

On Valentine's Day, we went to Suigetsu Park and some of the trees had started to bloom.



A week later, definitely starting to look more and more like Spring. More trees at Suigetsu Park have begun to bloom.

Found this red Mini on the way back from the park.

Anything exciting happening in your neighborhood?

around the neighborhood

Friday I had an errand in Ikeda, it was a sunny day, actually it was super humid, but still sunny, so I decided to walk back from Ikeda to Ishibashi (where we live).

The walk usually takes me 30 minutes if I don't stop along the way.

But it was so hot that I stopped here and there along the way and 30 minutes turned into 2 hours.

One of the places that I stopped at was Suigetsu Park.

There were many dragonfly about. In Okinawa, I heard that when the dragonflies swarm about, a storm is approaching. I don't think there were too many to be a sign of a storm coming, but I was excited to capture some with my camera (I guess that is why it turned out to be 2 hours...)

Anyway, there was the akatombo (red dragonfly)(photo up top). It actually came close enough for me to get a good shot of it with my macro lens on.

These blue ones are called shiokaratombo. Actually I didn't realize this, but dragonflies are kinda huge! and have scary eyes.

And then I saw this one, a black and yellow one, I think it is called oniyanma.

The zakuro (pomegranate) have started to flower and begin to produce their fruit. I didn't know that the flower turns into a hard flower and then forms into the fruit.

And oniazami (thistle), you can see these huge thorny plants (weeds?) all over the place. Definitely bigger than the ones I've seen in Hawaii.

At night you can hear the frogs croaking in the rice fields. I think in a couple of weeks the semi(cicada) will start their chirping.

sleepless in minoo (or urusai!)

My neighbors are awful. They like to fight at 2 in the morning. With my ear on my pillow I can hear EVERY word that my neighbors on the 2nd floor are screaming, and every door they are slamming. I'm amazed at how much sound carries in a cement building. The way sound bounces off the other building around us, it sounds like they are fighting right out on our lanai. Why don't the police come? The police here don't seem too powerful like the ones in the U.S. (or maybe the ones in the U.S. are too powerful?) Guess I'll try to take a nap now, everything seems to have calmed down...Hope no one got hurt.

around the neighborhood

Not much happening around here, Satoshi had to go to work today. Just wanted to show you some shots from around the neighborhood.

Everyday on my walks to the grocery store, I see this cat. He/she actually had a white face, somehow it has turned gray, probably from pollution. Anyway, he/she is always on the shady side of this house. In the afternoon, he/she moves to the glass sunroof area, which I think may be even cooler.

The playground area of an elementary school nearby. I was shocked because there is no grass! I've only seen grass at schools in Okinawa. Growing up in Hawaii, our playground area always had grass and we always ran around barefoot!

The outside shell of the semi (cicada) in Japanese it is called utsusemi and is quite fragile. Kinda ugly, yeah?

Last night, we walked to the Minoo Falls area thinking it was lit up with all these candles (I had seen an ad)--It was the weekend before. :( The falls were lit up with regular lights though, although my digital camera didn't take very good photos at night. :( Though, I was able to catch a butterfly trying to figure out what to drink at a vending machine.

And lastly, a foodie item, this curry pan (fried bread filled with curry) is made at a bakery inside of a nearby supermarket. This is the first time I've come across a curry pan that actually had chunks of beef in it and the bread is actually fluffy in texture! Delicious!

Hope you are keeping cool where you are! Have a good week!