private brand

Private Brands, private labels...recently I've been surprised at how cheap some of the items have been at the market under their private brand

Seiyu was having a sale for their private brand...2 for 500 yen (tax included) so I bought some curries to try.

They also had lu rou fan, so I tried that one too.

It was delicious, the meat was tender too.

I’ve been eating these packets on rainy days.

mart iijima

Went to check out yet another market nearby called Mart Iijima.

(photo from the internet)

A whole cabbage for 80 yen...karaage (fried chicken) and a huge musubi.

The musubi had all sorts of stuff in it and was only 108 yen!

All of the okazu/sozai(pre-made) foods are cooked in-store.

Look forward to trying other okazu.

benny super

About a 10 minute walk from where we live is Benny Super.

Like Sankei, it doesn't have many shelves and everything is mostly kept in boxes, so you need to look at everything, BUT it is less crowded.

I like that the meat area has freshly cut meats though the fish area was mostly frozen stuff.

The fruits and veggies are mostly from around Japan...this was where I found the pretty watermelon radish.

How is their point card, pretty old skool, yeah?!

Will definitely be shopping here when I need to get some groceries.

supermarket finds

We recently tried these Red Beauty Plums which were grown in Yamanashi prefecture.

The outside is a deep red but tart.

The inside is a yellow-orange flesh and sweet.

Have you tried this variety before?

p.s. Typhoon season has started here and we are already on our 3rd! Hopefully it will pass quickly today without any damages.

(trying to) live pono

Do you try to do the right thing?

In Hawaii, there is a saying "live pono".

If I'm not mistaken, there are several meanings, but for me, it means to "do the right thing".

The other day, I went to the market and bought a salad, a container of poi (mashed taro) and the salad came with a dressing packet (which was free with purchase of the salad).

The line at the checkout had a slight hiccup, and the guy before me needed to get something price checked.

When everything finally got sorted out, he paid then left.

Then the cashier proceeded to ring my items up.

I am usually good about watching when the cashier rings things up, because sometimes the price on the shelf isn't what is scanned, but on this day, I wasn't paying attention.

The cashier gave me a total, I paid then went home.

As I was eating my salad, I pulled out my receipt and realized that the cashier had charged me for the dressing and hadn't charged me for the poi!

So, the next day, I went to the store and explained what happened and that I wanted to pay for the poi.

The manager was so thankful and almost started crying as there had already been several shopliftings earlier that morning. (eep!)

She then tried to give me a case of water (using her reward points) for being so honest, but I refused it because I was only there to pay for the item that I wasn't charged for, not to receive anything for trying to do what was right.

I know I probably should have gone back the same day, but I'm still glad I went back to do the right thing.

Have you ever had something similar happen to you? Did you live pono?

bento

In Japan, you can find lots of okazu or sozai (prepared foods) at the supermarkets and department stores.

Most times bento (boxed foods) have lots of deep fried items because they supposedly last longer.

You can also find simmered items called nimono. Whenever I look for bento, I try to find one with more nimono items than fried.

Of course, making your bento from scratch is the best way to know what goes in them, but if you don't have a lot of time (or are feeling lazy), then prepared foods are the way to go.

Nowadays, bento can be Japanese, Western or Chinese, as the Japanese say, Wa-Yo-Chu. In the States, I think bento are mainly eaten for lunch, but here, they are also eaten at dinnertime.

In Japan, whenever you are trying to decide what to eat for a meal, usually the first thing the other person says is "Wa-Yo-Chu?" Meaning...Japanese, Western or Chinese foods.

Anyway, this was a pork bento I bought a couple of weeks ago from a department store...871 yen (about US$8.71).

Larger than most bento I normally pick up, this was really filling!

From Daiei (a supermarket)...stir fried goya (bittermelon) 217 yen (about US$2.17), 5 spicy chicken wings 180 yen (about US$1.80) and a musubi 98 yen (about US$.98)..total 495 yen (about US$4.95). (These actually came in stryofoam trays and I transferred them to a bowl before eating.)

The bittermelon was delicious, it had scrambled egg, kamaboko, kikurage (wood ear) and a thick, clear gravy.

I like these chicken wings, they are spicy with a little sweetness to them.

As you can tell, the price of foods from the supermarket are way cheaper than the department store.

Both were equally delicious.

What did you have for lunch/dinner?

things I'm liking (and disliking)

A little round-up of things I'm liking and disliking...

Starting with the disliking...Muji.

Well, to be specific, the lady working at Muji.

Awhile back, I went in to buy a replacement ink cartridge for my ball point pen. I found one but didn't know if it would fit the particular Muji pen I had.

I saw the same pen in the store and brought the pen and the replacement ink cartridge to her and asked her, "will this cartridge fit in this pen?"

She replied quite smugly, "if it is a Muji pen, it will fit". So, I bought the ink cartridge and went home.

Well, as I tried changing the cartridge, I realized that no, it did not fit the pen. In fact, it was L-O-N-G-E-R than the pen...Since I had opened the package, I figured that I probably couldn't return it, so with some extra strength tape, I am making do with it.

Lesson learned...next time bring the empty ink cartridge.

Moving on to liking...

Muji's foldable beds. We had been looking for a box mattress or bed for awhile now, but with our limited space, something foldable is the most practical for us.

The foldable bed by another company, that I originally had my eye on, had wheels, could fold up easily and you could lift up your head and feet with a remote. When Satoshi saw it, he said it reminded him of hospital beds, so, that was out.

Then I saw these beds at Muji. When not in use, you can fold them up into a sofa. Each one is about the size of a love seat. It can fold out flat to sleep or prop up your legs and back, kind of like those lounge chairs at the hotel pool.

When we first got them, we sat with our feet propped up, I read and Satoshi watched tv. It was kind of a resort-like mood, then Satoshi says to me, "where's the remote to move our feet up and down?"...sigh.

Durance's home fragrance reed difuser, this is a French company which makes soaps and other items. I bought white tea--a musky, yet clean fragrance.

Es.Koyama's paprika & framboise macaron...I recently went to view some pieces from the Louvre with Tamakikat, she brought some macarons from Es.Koyama for our snack. You can read about our day here. (Thanks again!)

Daiei's chinese bento. I've written about this before, and the price apparently went down on Thursdays. It used to be 320 yen (about US$3.20), and is now 299 yen (about US$2.99). On this particular Thursday, I chose stir fried egg and chive, mabo eggplant & sweet sour chicken.

I have also been liking Daiei's Thursday sales...most veggies are 100 yen (about US$1) or less! I find I look forward to Thursday's grocery shopping.

Nissin's mini-chicken ramen...these are perfect for a lunch side dish---like along side a sandwich.

Put one into your mug/cup and fill with water...steep for 2 minutes and eat.

I like my noodles on the harder side, so I usually steep for less than a minute.

And lastly, the sunsets...have been really orangey and beautiful. When I see them lighting up our other room, it has a warm and fuzzy glow.

What are you liking/disliking?

odds & ends

It is the end of the month, so let's clear out some photos.

There was an assorted fish (maguro, ika, salmon), shrimp salad maki for lunch one day...mmm.

We've been eating carrot and cucumber sticks with a teaspoon of olive tapenade with our dinners.

My generous blog friend, Abigail of Mamatouille sent me some Jasmine tea and Espresso flavored Kit Kats, along with some Cadbury milk chocolate and a cup of 60% Ghiradelli chips...thank you again!

The Jasmine tea flavored Kit Kat was my favorite, the tea flavor really shines through. The Espresso flavored was good also but a little on the bitter side. The Cadbury Dairy Milk was creamy.

I received these Japanese sweets, which I think are called kangori from my friend Kazumi when we went to Nose.

Kan is the chinese character for cold but also because they use kanten (agar-agar), gori is ice. These aren't cold treats but they resemble pieces of ice. Biting into them, they have slight crunch to them but the inside is gelatinous.

For another lunch, I had some inarizushi stuffed with okowa (mochi rice). These were delicious because they have assorted savory flavored mochi rice.

I made some walnut covered chicken for a dinner. I actually had made this before when I was in Hawaii, but used mac nuts then. These came out just as delicious.

I tried Ellie Krieger's Ranch dressing, it was easy and delicious. We've also been eating carrot and cucumber sticks with this dressing too.

This photo of the dog and his owner was taken in January (I think), I totally had forgotten about this photo. The owner can barely walk and uses this cart to steady herself while the dog just sits calmly as it rolls along.

My goya (bittermelon) before I "killed" it. There were aphids on my bell pepper plants and I got crazy...sprayed everything with a soapy solution and the goya plant (and bell pepper plant) dried...I am hoping for a revival.

Lastly, a bento I bought from Daiei for lunch...they had kodaimai (short wild rice), salmon, some assorted tempura and some nishime..only 498 yen (about US$4.98).

Yet another delicious month....goochisoosama!

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!

trying to beat the heat (part 4)

Something usually seen during the summer are these clouds called nyudogumo (cumulo-nimbus), they are usually seen in the afternoon and bring thunder and rain. Unfortunately, even though it rains, the humidity still lingers.

Changing the subject, have you ever wondered what I do about grocery shopping during the summer here?

Since many people here have to travel a bit to get to the supermarkets, many stores have ice chests where you can help yourself to some free ice, put them into plastic bags and lay them near your fresh foods like fish, meats, dairy products. You can't eat the ice because it is treated with something that keeps the ice from melting quickly. I usually don't like this type, because if you can't eat the ice and it gets on your food, is it safe?

There was a story on Slashfood recently that also talked about free ice.

Other stores have re-useable ice called horeizai, it looks like those big blue ice packs for your ice chests or lunch bags only smaller. I like these because they are re-useable. Plus, if you wrap a couple in a towel and place it around your neck, you can feel cool for a couple of hours! (at least long enough to catch a nap without the a/c on...) Oh, and if you happen to buy ice cream, you can purchase dry ice for a small cost.

Changing the subject again, there is another dish that reminds me of Okinawa called goya champuru. Goya is the Okinawan name for bittermelon (nigauri in Japanese). Champuru means to mix.

This dish is a type of stir fry and is really easy to make. I usually make this dish during the summertime because goya is plentiful and also has a lot of vitamin C, almost 4 lemons worth. It is supposedly a good food to help your body shield the sun's rays.

To make this dish you need a block of tofu (firm type) (soy bean curd), some bacon/luncheon meat (sliced), a goya and an egg.

When buying goya, make sure that the bumps on the outside are rather large, if they are small, this means your goya is too young (and VERY bitter!).

To prepare the goya, first cut it in half. You'll notice there is a lot of fuzzy stuff inside, this is called wata (literally cotton), use a spoon and get as much of this "cotton" out, the more you take out the less bitter it will taste. After taking the "cotton" out, slice thin and rub with salt. This is supposed to also take some of the bitterness away, then rinse.

Open the container of tofu and put it over a strainer to get out as much water . Cut up your tofu into bite size pieces. Put a tablespoon of oil in a pan and "fry" your tofu, this is also to get out a lot of the water. Take the tofu out of the pan and set aside.

Add the sliced bacon/luncheon meat and goya and cook until the goya is tender, then add the tofu back into the pan. Lastly, scramble an egg and pour over the whole thing and cook until the egg is cooked, mixing every so often....dinner is served!

Hope you all are keeping cool where you are!

the day after...

It's the day after Valentine's Day...Satoshi was so busy that I didn't even receive a card :( Although, we did receive these chocolates from Satoshi's staff (Thank you!!)

Satoshi had the day off so we did some errands. After all of our errands were done, we went to see the movie "Flightplan". It was an interesting movie that kept you at the edge of your seat until the end.

For lunch, we went to a restaurant called Tawawa. This restaurant uses Kyoyasai (vegetables from Kyoto) and have an all-you-can-eat salad bar. My main dish was roast pork with a whole tomato on top(there is pork under there...). The whole dish was baked. There wasn't too much added seasonings so the flavor of the tomato really came through.

This is my first round at the salad bar (I went for seconds...)

After lunch, we had some time before the movie so we walked around the Carrefour market. I bought some anchovy paste since I want to try to make olive tapenade soon.

After roaming the aisles, we still had over a half hour before the movie, so we decided to have dessert. Our favorite cafe, Hiro, has a shop at the shopping center we were at, plus I received a coupon in the mail entitling us to 2 free cake and coffees (the key word....FREE!). Satoshi had a matcha cake with matcha white chocolate called "Japone", I had the sacher torte. I had never had it before and was surprised because there was apricot jam in between the chocolate and cake.

It was a great day despite the rain....

UPDATE: as of November 2011, Carrefour and Hiro are no longer at Visola

while roaming the aisles of the supermarket

My breakfast this morning was Tofu Salad (Satoshi's was Pasta Carbonara). My family in Hawaii has this for dinner sometimes and we sometimes make it to take to pot-luck parties. Usually we put canned salmon, onions, tomatoes and lots of watercress, bean sprouts and a cut up block of firm tofu (soybean curd). I made it a bit simply with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, carrots and tofu. The dressing I used was the same dressing I used when I made my seared ahi-avocado salad.

Do you like to roam up and down the aisles of the supermarket? I do!! A nice thing about the upscale supermarkets in Japan is that they bring in products from all over the world. I really enjoy seeing new items at the supermarket.

I was first introduced to this brand of tea, BOH (I think it's pronounced "bow") about 2 years ago when I received it as part of a Christmas gift from my host-sister, Tomoko. The tea that she gave me was a black tea called Cameron Highlands. This brand of tea is grown in Malaysia. As I roamed the aisles of the supermarket today, I came across a new line of this brand called, Seri Songket Collection. Because the Cameron Highlands was good, I decided to get one from this new collection. I chose the Lemon and Mandarin flavored tea (because it sounded really good and mainly because it was the flavor that was ON SALE).

I had it with lunch today, and it was really good! A very light lemon and mandarin orange flavor--it doesn't over power the tea. On the box it says to drink it black(or as the Japanese say "straight") and hot or over ice with a slice of fruit.

Another tea brand that caught my eye while walking the aisles of the supermarket was Janat. I've seen this tea being sold at our favorite cafe, so I was happy to find that it was also ON SALE at the supermarket today.

According to what I could read on the internet in Japanese, before the French Revolution, there was a commerce trader named Dores--his grandson , Janat Dores started Janat Tea in 1872. On the tin, it says Paris, but I couldn't seem to find a website in English or in French (not that I can read French). So, it may be that this is product can only be found in Japan...hmm...the tin is really cute though, it has 2 cats on it.

The tea I got is called Moon Valley (no. 1030), it is a Darjeeling tea with a hint of muscat (grape). I tasted this tea during my afternoon tea and it was really good, a hint of sweetness, but the main flavor of Darjeeling wasn't lost.

With tea this afternoon I had a "yukiichigo" which means "yuki" (snow), "ichigo" (strawberry). My aunty came upon this dessert while roaming around the train station shopping arcade near her hotel when she visited us 5 years ago. The one we had back then was really light and fluffy. There was a piece of sponge cake at the bottom, a strawberry in the center and whipped cream around it (sorry the picture is a bit dark). The whole thing was wrapped in a very thin mochi (rice cake).

I found this version, again while roaming the aisles of the supermarket...I bought it and envisioned the same light and fluffiness of the first "yukiichigo" I had, only to be disappointed because the cream wasn't whipped--it was actually a bit on the heavy side (definitely PMS-ing...)