this and that

I wanna know why falling dishes fall in slow motion...
 

gloopy gravy loco moco...this organic gravy was meh...Satoshi still enjoyed this though

I see a smiley face

cyclamen getting ready for the pretty season

so mini

so teeny

Yesterday, got to spend some time with V...we went to lunch at Butadaigaku...so ono!

And then visited Ikegami Plum Garden

early blooming cherry blossom at Ikegami Honmonji

Thank you for all the omiyage V, the kettle corn is so ono! and we look forward to spending time with you towards the end of your trip. Enjoy!

Have a safe weekend.

19691

Met up with V and her daughter A on Friday, it was a beautiful day. We went to Boulange D316 picked up some baked items for brunch and walked along the Tamagawa...saw Mount Fuji who was a little shy.

This chestnut scone was delicious....there were bits of chestnut as well as chestnut paste mixed into the dough.

I also had a fish sandwich...

The leaves were still turning but I loved all the different colors.

While eating, we were talking about what to do next.

V mentioned that she has always wanted to eat the 8 layer soft serve at Nakano Broadway.

She looked up how to get there and we were off!

Strawberry, pistachio, vanilla, chocolate, yakiimo (roasted sweet potato), ramune (carbonated drink similar to 7up/Sprite), cafe au lait, goma...there is also a sign that say you should eat this carefully because if it topples over, they will not make re-make it again!....1000 yen (tax included)

The small was 340 yen (tax included) and you could choose 1 to 3 flavors...so of course I chose 3!

Goma (sesame), chocolate and yakiimo (roasted sweet potato)

So good and the cone super crisp!

Oh and if soft serve isn't your thing, Daily Chiko also has a stand and eat udon shop next door....

We had to stand and eat our soft serve but V said that Daily Chiko also has some chairs to the side of their shop (which were being used when we were there)

The basement also had many tiny grocery shops and knick knack stores...I could see myself spending a lot of time here and will come back to explore the upper floors...

JR Nakano Station wall art

Then we went to shop at Shinjuku...everyone in Christmas mode...Louis Vuitton's lego display

And while A shopped at Sekaido, V and I went to Oiwake Dango Honpo to get dango!

I bought the “adult” mitarashi for Satoshi which has shichimi (7 spice) and sansho (Japanese pepper) mixed into the sweet salty mitarashi sauce and I also got him the yomogi (mugwort) which was topped with tsubuan (chunky bean paste)

For myself I bought yuzu an (citron mixed into a white bean paste, so good!), and kuri (chestnut sweet bean paste topped with whole chestnuts)

I hope V and A had a nice day and got to do, see and eat everything they wanted to.

Thanks for today V and A!

Daily Chiko

5-52-15 Nakano, inside Nakano Broadway B1

Nakano, Tokyo

Phone: 03.3386.4461

Hours 10:00-20:00

p.s. if you are interested in seeing other photos from the day click here

p.p.s. V, thank you so much for all these goodies!

sea luck

Back at the end of December, we tried this fantastic katsuo chip snack.

Well, I looked online and found their website and ordered all sorts of things.

Packets of dashi (stock), different types of furikake and the katsuo chip snack.

One type of furikake has the katsuo chip bits, dried shirasu (tiny sardines), nori cut into different shapes and tororo konbu.

Each package is triangular shaped and labeled with 8 popular views of Mount Fuji.

Hamanako (Lake Hamana), Hamamatsu, Oigawa, Yaizu, Nihondaira, Mihon no Matsubara, Fuji and Izu...so cute!

The nori is cut into 20 different shapes that represent the specialty items to Shizuoka as well as some of Katsuokun's friends...(Katsuokun is the character of this brand.)

Shizuoka prefecture, Mount Fuji, mikan (tangerine), tea, wasabi, unagi (eel), strawberry, sakura ebi (Lucensosergia lucens), gyoza, sakura (cherry blossoms), castle, oden, melon, steam engine, katsuokun character, katsuochan character, magucchi character, hazesokun character, tororo konbukun character and shirasu taro character.

The katsuo chip bits are crisp and the nori shapes are fun to see.

I'm glad we ordered from them and will definitely order again when we run out of these snacks and condiments.

ginza kikunoya

Ginza Kikunoya has been around since 1890...making these cute tiny senbei (wafers)...called "Fukiyose" (literally gathering fortune)

There are also tiny candies in the mix too.

I brought these to Kyoto for MIL, BIL in December and even sent these to Canada to Yumyumtofu as a thank you for sending me chocolates.

Great as omiyage or as a gift.

Ginza Kikunoya
5-9-17 Ginza, Ginza Azuma Building 1F

Chuo, Tokyo

Closed Wednesdays

Hours: 9:30-18:00 (9:30-17:30 Saturdays, Sundays & Holidays)

hanaichie

I found out about Hanaichie from a television program.

They are similar to the place V told me about in Kyoto as well as the one that I like from Kanazawa.

Their main shop is in Azabujuban, but I also found a kiosk at the Daimaru near Tokyo station.

When we went to Kyoto in December, I gave some to MIL.

This particular one has Asakusa nori (laver) in it.

Put some rice into a bowl.

Break it up and then pour some hot water or hot tea over it.

Delicious.

Hanaichie
Daimaru Tokyo, B1

omiyage & lunch

Some omiyage we brought back with us from Kyoto...Tsukemono (pickles)

From Doi Shibazuke Honpo (left) Shibazuke & Suguki Kizami...shibazuke is a pickle made with red shiso leaves...suguki is a fermented pickle.

Daiyasu (right) Senmaizuke & Yuzusu Nagaimo...senmaizuke is pickle that uses the Shogoin turnip and is thinly slice to make senmai(1000 slices)...yuzusu (citron vinegar) is used to marinate nagaimo (chinese yam).

The chinese yam had the closest expiry date, so we've been eating it and it is so crisp!

Far right bottom: chirimen sansho from SIL (thank you!)

From MIL we received these "cookies" called Senju Senbei made by Kogetsu.

Wavy cookie with a cream filling. (thank you!)

For the ride back to Tokyo, I picked up some things from Oreno Pan Okamura.

We actually tried their cafe last year and weren't impressed with their food.

Their baked goods & sandwiches on the other hand were delicious.

Like this katsu sandwich with shibazuke pickles...the bread was so soft and the katsu cooked perfectly

And this matcha mame cube.

Matcha bread filled with all sorts of candied beans.

When we were going back to Tokyo, we had planned on shopping at the Istean Food Floor, but instead shopped at the arcade near the Hachijo exit...way less crowding and easier with luggage.

thursday with v & k

Thursday, I spent most of the day with blog reader V and her husband K.

We started out early, "fighting" the salarymen (businessmen) "ocean" at Shinagawa Station, then finding our way to Tsukiji.

Since we moved to Tokyo in April, we have not been around here, so it was hard for me to remember what everything was like before.

It seemed to me that a lot has changed.

After going row by row in the market, I'm glad we found the furikake that V wanted to get.

We then walked to Ginza/Yurakucho to have unagi for lunch.

On a previous trip V tried the Osaka shop and wanted to have unagi again at their Tokyo shop.

I liked how "crispy" the unagi was...thank you for lunch!

We then went to Kyu-Shibarikyu Garden and walked around.

Not too much fall colors, but at least they were able to experience a Japanese garden.

V gave us lots of snacks.

I'm glad we were able to meet up and it was nice to meet K too.

It was overcast and a bit drizzly, still I hope they had fun and enjoy the rest of their trip.

Thank you V & K!

Hitsumabushi Nagoya Bincho
2-2-14 Ginza, Marronier Gate 12F
Chuo, Tokyo
Phone: 03.5159.0231
Lunch: 11:00-15:30, Dinner: 17:00-23:00
Closed when Marronier Gate is

big island bee & la tour bakehouse

As I was trying to figure out what to bring back as omiyage, I came across these cute packages of honey.

There are 8 sticks in each package and are sold for about $3 (plus tax, prices vary at different stores) each.

8 = hachi (ha-chee) in Japanese which is also the same pronunciation for bee...I'm not sure they intended to make that connection but I thought it was cute...

another item I picked up for friends is the Furikake Puffs by La Tour Bakehouse, which are sold at all La Tour Cafes.

These are $3.50 (plus tax) and would recommend picking these up at the main location in Iwilei--they have the most inventory, though the parking lot is kind of a pain to get in and out of.

I hope the friends I give these to will enjoy them.

imabari-okunoshima-takehara

From Imabari, it took us about 40 minutes to get to Inokuchi Port by bus.

Before getting on the bus, Satoshi called a taxi company to meet us at Inokuchi Port, so that they could take us to Sakari Port.

When Satoshi had called, he explained that we wanted to catch the ferry to Okunoshima.

To get to Inokuchi Port, you need to cross the Shimanami Kaido, a roadway that links the small islands in the Setouchi area.

On a sunny day, the view is quite spectacular.

I hope you can view this video I shot as we crossed one of the bridges on the Shimanami Kaido

We arrived at Inokuchi Port a little before 9:00 and the taxi was waiting for us.

In fact, as we got off the bus, the taxi driver said, "jump in, we can make the 9:05 ferry"

Sakari Port was 2 kilometers away from Inokuchi Port, so off we sped.

As he drove on the winding coastal road, he radioed the ferry that we wanted to get on the 9:05 ferry.

So, they waited for us! (so nice! thank you!)

We jumped on the ferry and 15 minutes later were at Okunoshima, also known as Rabbit Island.

Okunoshima is part of Hiroshima prefecture and is a tiny island about 3 kilometers around.

During the war, this island had a factory making and testing mustard gas and tear gas.

Apparently, rabbits were used to test the gases and effects.

After the war, when the factory was destroyed, they also killed the rabbits that were on the island.

Then when they decided to turn the island into a park, they released a new set of rabbits into the wild.

Now you can camp and there is also a tiny hotel.

Dogs & cats are prohibited as well as hunting.

Our only regret was not bringing veggies for the rabbits.

They don't sell any food for the rabbits on the island...bummer!

Fortunately, rabbits have bad eye sight, so we picked up some rabbit food that someone had left on the ground, and fed them with it.

This little guy stole my heart!

After walking all the way around the island, we caught the ferry to Tadanoumi.

Since we had about an hour wait for the train, we went to look for lunch.

Choices were quite slim.

Luckily, we were able to have some Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki at Eshimaya.

I enjoyed the shiso and thin noodles in the okonomiyaki.

From Tadanoumi, it was about 30 minutes to Takehara.

After putting our bags down at the hotel, we explored the area.

There are so many preserved homes here.

Like stepping back in time.

It was fun exploring all the tiny alleyways.

Dinner was at our hotel, everything was so tasty.

Dessert was from the cute patisserie nearby, Fraicheur.

I had their cassis chocolat...super rich! but I enjoyed the dark chocolate paired with cassis.

Satoshi had their pumpkin mont blanc...he felt there was too much going on in his dessert with the matcha cake crossing out the pumpkin cream...bummer!

We also went omiyage shopping at the supermarket nearby...furikake, snacks, citrus tea and instant curry.

It was a long day, but the weather was super nice (hot!) and we got to see and do quite a bit.

Eshimaya
2-7-10 Tadanoumi-nakamachi
Takehara, Hiroshima
Phone: 0846.26.2386
Lunch: 11:00-13:00, Dinner: 17:00-22:00
Closed Mondays

Fraicheur
4-7-31 Chuo
Takehara, Hiroshima
Phone: 0846.22.7526
Closed Thursdays
Hours: Monday-Saturday 10:00-19:00, Sunday 10:00-18:30

Green Sky Hotel
4-2-18 Chuo
Takehara, Hiroshima
Phone: 0846.22.1355

tohoku omiyage

From Aomori : We got lots of apple things like these dried apples.

There were only about 10 pieces in the bag but were individually wrapped, perfect for snacking, though not ecologically friendly.

Apple tea, and an Aomori Blend filter drip coffee packet.

The tea is apple flavored, but the coffee is a nice chocolatey blend (not apple flavored).

Pickled garlic, shiso wrapped anzu (apricots) and shiso wrapped apple pickles

From Ooma: Maguro simmered in shoyu, konbu, sugar...good with rice.

Dried tako legs to make kamameshi (rice cooked with dashi (stock), veggies, shoyu, mirin, and other items like seafood, chestnuts, gobo (burdock))

Kinoi sake.

Aomori Nebuta Beer (Pilsner).

From Ishinomaki: I actually ordered these t-shirts and bumper stickers online because their shop, Tohoku Kazoku, wasn't open the day we were in Ishinomaki.

Since we only travelled with backpacks and weren't going to check our bags into the aircraft, we didn't bring back any liquids.

Things we ate/drank that we didn't bring back:

Aomori: Apple juice...so sweet! and they don't add sugar.

Sparkling apple juice...no alcohol, just fizz.

Apple Pie...buttery crust and lots of filling with a little custard, so good!

Sendai: Zunda mochi..soft mochi that is covered with mashed soy beans mixed with sugar

Sasakamaboko (fish paste that is steamed in the shape of bamboo leaves (sasa)).

Hope you enjoyed our omiyage.