komeda ogura an

The other day I was looking for some sweet bean paste and came across this one by Komeda Coffee, a coffee shop chain from Nagoya.

Komeda Coffee is one of the original shops that serves ogura toast...toast topped with butter and sweet bean paste.

I love the packaging which says to put it on toast, pancakes and ice cream.

We tried it the yesterday for breakfast.

I copied something I saw on social media...putting strawberries, sweet bean paste, cream cheese and blueberries on toast...

I'm glad we tried this sweet bean paste and I will try to use it up making anpan or again on ogura toast.

salvage

The day I came back from Hawaii, I was unpacking and getting ready to get some sleep when Satoshi says, "Kat, I tried to make rice..."

"There was a little more than 2 cups so I dumped it all in, but when it finished cooking it was super dry"

"So, I added more water and cooked it again"

"It was super junky"

So, I went over to check out the rice cooker...yup, clumpy, goopy, rice...

I told Satoshi, "I'll try to make ohagi from it"

He said, "you can do that?"

Well, the picture above is what I tried making...mini ohagi. I rolled a little scoop of rice into a ball then molded some sweet bean paste around it.

I also dusted some with green tea, some with kinako (powdered soy bean) and some were just as is.

He was impressed, I still have more "junk rice" but at least I know it can be salvaged.

To read more about ohagi, check out what I wrote here

things I'm liking (disliking)

So many photos backlogged, not enough time to post about each and every one, so I'm putting them into one long post...

Some sweets from Shogetsudo, these were eaten the day after the earthquake when we needed some kibun tenkan.

Found rolled oats here, made by Nisshoku, same company I found these oats by.

Cha-no-ka, matcha langue de chats with white chocolate. I'm not a fan of white chocolate but these were delicious. Received them from a lady in French class (Merci!)

White day (March 14) came and went. Satoshi was nice and got me a box of chocolates and this cute card.

I ate the dark chocolates and shared with him the white and milk chocolates.

Love this tuna sandwich from Cascade. There is so much filling than bread (a good thing) and they also put veggies like green beans & corn in there too.

It had been 5 years since I had eaten Esola's cheesecake, in that time, they have closed a shop and now have other "flavors". We tried their matcha and their strawberry.

All were delicious, though we agree that the original is the best.

Not really liking the "American burgers" from McDs. Satoshi tried them all, I just took a bite from each.

There was Texas2 (patty with cheese, bacon & chili), Idaho (patty with cheese, hash brown, mustard sauce & onions), Miami (patty with salsa, tortilla chips & taco meat), Manhattan (patty with swiss cheese, pastrami, lettuce & onions)

Texas2 and Miami were my favs while Satoshi liked Idaho, Texas & Miami.

Sanuki Hime (Sanuki Princess) is the name of a strawberry from Kagawa Prefecture. Sanuki is the old name for this area.

This one was a bit tart but a nice match with bananas and some yogurt for breakfast.

Mochikichi's chocolate covered arare...totally addicting stuff! My host-mom gave me these when we met up for lunch. (Thank you!)

Love how when you slice off the bruised area of a strawberry it looks like polka dots.

For White Day, I bought myself some teas (and salted butter caramels). From Harney & Sons, I got their tag-along tins, these only had 5 tea bags each. I also got the assorted Kusmi Tea bags. If you click on the photo, you can read all the descriptions for each tea.

All are now gone, but all were very delicious!

I loved the tea tags from the Kusmi tea, laminated and sewn onto the muslin tea bag.

Be sure to hold the tea tag above your tea cup when steeping though or you will find a tea puddle on your counter.

We had our own little tea party at home one afternoon, with some sweets from Chikujian and a pot of green tea.

UPDATE: Because of the disaster, and radiation issues, tourism is really down (among other things), I think they were saying 50% down?? It will take many many months for these devastated areas to re-build but each of us can do our share to help. We are trying to eat locally, trying to buy things "made in Japan" and trying to travel to areas that aren't affected.

What are you liking, disliking?

Esola (UPDATE: 2018 no longer in business)
3-6 Shimoajiharacho
Tennoji-ku, Osaka
Phone: 06.4305.8136

Shogetsudo
1-7-39 Sakuragaoka
Minoo, Osaka
Phone: 072.724.0727

yawata & ikeda

Yesterday, Satoshi had the day off and since the weather was forecasted to be sunny, I decided we were going to check out more sakura.

One of my friends on Flickr had taken photos from Yawata and I was interested in checking this place out.

You see, along the bank between the Kizu River and Uji River are 250 cherry trees, stretched across 1.4 kilometers (about 0.8 miles).

Beautiful and amazing to see. The best part is there is no admission fee!

I packed us a bento (tamagoyaki, goma-ae, tsukemono, tsukudani + some musubi and muffin) and we headed to Yawata.

It is about an hour from Osaka to Yawata which is in Kyoto prefecture. Did you know that Satoshi had never been here and he grew up in Kyoto??

It was amazing to see so many trees and they were all in bloom. The wind was quite strong so at many times the petals were flying.

In Japanese, they call this "sakura fubuki" (cherry petal storm).

After our early lunch, we took the Otokoyama cable car up Mt Otoko and checked out the Iwashimizu-hachimangu as well as the look out area.

There is also a memorial for Thomas Edison. Apparently, he used a piece of bamboo from this area to create his light bulb.

We then took the Seseragi trail down the mountain. This was quite scary. Just 700 meters (about 0.43 miles) down a steep, leaf-laden path, I'm glad I didn't slip (as I'm famous for doing...)

After coming down the mountain, there were several temples we checked out as well as this Sakura Kinrin Koen. A large park with many cherry trees, they even had a little zoo for kids (and adults) to check out.

I was amazed that these weeping cherries were right next to a fishing spot.

After checking out this park, we walked to the Shokado Gardens.

They boasted a beautiful weeping cherry, which they sort of did have, but there were more varieties of tsubaki (camellia) that made the 400 yen admission worth it.

The bus system is a little spotty, so we walked back to the station (almost 2 kilometers, about 1.2 miles) and were hungry, so we stopped in for something sweet.

Yawata Hashiriimochi is a famous sweet in this area. Originally from Otsu (in Shiga prefecture), this sweet was created to look like a sword, in 1764. Then in 1910, this sweet was brought to Kyoto and was sold in Yawata ever since.

We had the hanami set with matcha, 570 yen (about US$5.70). This came with 1 hashiriimochi, 1 sakura mochi & your choice of drink.

After all that walking this really hit the spot.

Even though our feet were tired and we saw a lot of sakura, we decided to see more (because the days are limited to see them).

We took the train back to our area, and went to Ikeda.

Every year, Satsukiyama lights up their cherry blossoms and we got to see them on the last day of the event.

A very long day, but we saw a lot, we walked a lot and got to see a lots of beautiful sakura.

I have uploaded several videos but want to share this one with you. It was taken while we were at Yawata Sewaritei, the wind was quite strong and we were in a "sakura fubuki" (cherry petal storm).

Yawata Hashiriimochi
19 Yawata Takabo
Yawata, Kyoto
Phone: 0120.75.0154
Open: 8:00-18:00

day 3 hikone

The inn we stayed at was located in a district with lots of small pubs, so you could hear karaoke almost all night long. Another thing was that someone at the inn was chain smoking for most of the night too.

The smell and noise made it a rather sleepless night. Still, on Sunday we woke up to, sun!

After a hearty breakfast of grilled aji (horse mackerel), nagaimo (chinese yam) with katsuobushi (shaved bonito), a piece of ham, over-easy egg, some tsukemono (pickled veggies), miso soup and rice, we checked with the ferry people to see if they were running and they were (woot!).

There was a free shuttle from the JR Hikone station to the harbor, so we did a little galavanting before the pick-up time.

Our first spot was a walkway lined with keyaki (zelkova), these trees are huge! I can only imagine how beautiful they must be with leaves.

To the opposite side of the walkway were sakura (cherry) trees, this walkway must be beautiful when the sakura is in bloom and the leaves of the keyaki comes in.

We then went to Daishiji which has a ne-kobo (sleeping Kobo Daishi aka Kukai). Kobo Daishi was a Japanese monk and is the founder of the Shingon sect of Buddhism.

We then caught the shuttle to the harbor. From Hikone, it is about 40 minutes by boat to the island of Chikubushima. And a round trip ticket costs 3300 yen (about US$33) per person.

This island is considered a holy place and one of eight beautiful views of Lake Biwa.

The ferry to Chikubushima runs 4 times a day, and for each run they give you about 70 minutes to explore the island before the next ferry arrives to take you back. I am not sure if you can skip a run to stay longer.

There are a few shops and some small places to eat at the base of the island and things were pricey, but for us, we just went to check out the island.

Also at the base of the island you need to pay an "admission" fee of 300 yen (about US$3) per person.

After paying your fee, you are met with stairs, lots of them and they were quite steep.

This island isn't wheelchair friendly unfortunately.

The information pamphlet says that there are 165 steps to the top. I didn't count them, but there sure were a lot.

The steps are called Pilgrim's stairs because these stairs lead people to worship.

One of the many temples on the island that we stopped at was Benzaitendo which houses one of three famous Benzaiten statues in Japan.

Benzaiten is one of the the 7 gods of good fortune and is thought to bring monetary fortune.

She also represents music and poetry.

There were lots of daruma amulets in the form of Benzaiten too.

To the east side of the island was a cliff with a torii (gateway). Below were all these ceramic disks.

For 300 yen (about US$3), you receive 2 disks. On the first disk, write your name. On the second, write your wish.

Then face the torii and fling your disks one by one (thinking of your wish as you fling it), if they go through the "legs" of the torii, like an upside-down field goal, then your wish will come true.

Most people we saw do this either hit the torii "leg" or missed completely, including us.

Just above this area, is a long hallway called Funaroka.

This hallway was apparently made from hull of Hideyoshi's boat, the Nihonmaru, wow!

There were a few more temples to the east of the island, but we had run out of time.

The boat had come back for us, so we returned to Hikone for lunch.

Our next stop was Taga Taisha, but the train was on the Sunday/Holiday schedule and only running one every hour, so, we decided to get some lunch while we waited for the train.

Yachiyo is a small shop near the JR Hikone station. I chose the kitsune udon and Satoshi had the shippoku udon (which had kamaboko, nori, mizuna, fu (dried wheat gluten), yuba (bean curd skins).

I was quite surprised when my udon came out, the aburage (fried tofu) was cut up and not seasoned like most kitsune udon you see. Satoshi was saying that it might have been Kanto (Eastern Japan) style.

Still, it was delicious and hit the spot.

Taga taisha is about a 10 minute walk from the Omi Taga Taisha mae station.

The town is quaint and in front of almost every home you will find these ema (picture amulet).

Even shop signs are in the shape of these ema, in fact, the road to the shrine is called Ema-dori (picture amulet road).

This shrine is known for en-musubi (matchmaking, god of marriage) and is a popular place for weddings.

Just in front of the shrine are several shops selling different foods.

One item in particular that we tried was ito-kiri mochi. This mochi is filled with sweet bean paste and instead of using a knife to cut the mochi, they use a string to cut each piece.

Apparently this is sweet was first created to celebrate Japan's victory over Mongolia way back when.

Besides a lot of daruma, we saw a lot of shamoji or shakushi (rice paddles) on this trip. These are considered good luck as you "scoop" up some good luck.

Despite the first two days, our last day in Hikone turned out to be a beautiful day. We were able to see all that we wanted to and got to enjoy some delicious foods.

I don't really want to end this post on a low note, but thought I should give you some update on the situation in Tohoku.

Apparently they are finding personal items (namely photos) in the rubble, so instead of gathering everything up and throwing them away which would inevitably make clean-up faster, they are sorting through to try to re-connect them with their owners, thus it is taking a little longer.

The aftershocks still continue, even in Tokyo, ranging between magnitude 1 and 5, most people they are talking to in the shelters aren't too sure they will return after things settle down, they are too scared, I would probably be too.

Sadly, a farmer has apparently committed suicide and it is thought that it was due to the ban on selling of "radioactive" veggies, though his family is too kind not to blame his death on this. (I still think we should be eating these veggies if the levels are safe!!)

The news keeps flip-flopping about the nuclear plant too.

Grim news. It will all take time to heal. All we can do is hope and pray for the best.

Sorry this was such a long post, hope our trip didn't disappoint.

Yachiyo
9-1 Asahimachi
Hikone, Shiga
Phone: 0749.22.1159

Itokirimochi Ganso Enjudohonpo
599 Taga
Taga-cho, Inukami-gun, Shiga
Phone: 0749.48.0800
Closed Wednesdays

Taga Fugetsudo
630 Taga
Tagacho, Inukami-gun, Shiga
Phone: 0749.48.1012
Closed Thursdays

things I'm liking (and disliking)

It has been awhile since I've done a liking/disliking post...

Let me start with the disliking...Mahou Negra, a dark beer from Mexico, tasted like darkened fizzy water...meh.

By the way, "mahou" means magic in Japanese...boy this beer needs some...

I am not sure if I like the cream cheese anpan at Starbucks or not.

Maybe they could nix the peanuts on top and put a little more sweet bean paste inside?

Moving on to liking...Heichinrou's charsiu-man (cha-sue mahn).

Heichinrou's main restaurant is in Yokohama and they have other restaurants around Japan.

These aren't as sweet as the ones I've had at Ou-Lou, they are also a little bigger and there are nice chunks of meat in there. I found these at Hankyu's food floor...913 yen (about US$9.13) for 3.

Grob Ofen, a little German sweet shop nearby, has many delicious treats. For example, the Thuringia Brot. Brot means bread in German, but this is more like a shortbread cookie.

Apparently this is a traditional sweet in Thuringia, an area in Germany. This is not too sweet and filled with hazelnuts and raisins...179 yen (about US$1.79)

Another is their Nussknacker (Nutcracker), a shortbread cookie covered with dark chocolate, hazelnuts and orange peel.

The nuts and orange peel are "stuck" onto the cookie with a hardened caramel (loved the taste just don't break your teeth on these!) 189 yen (about US$1.89)

Spring onions are in season here, I've put it next to an onion you normally find throughout the year. Spring onions are tender, white, sweet and great for roasting.

Tulips on my lanai have started to bloom. Love how when the sunlight hits them they look like light bulbs all lit up.

Ferdinand's florentine & choco-rentine. Usually a florentine is toasted nuts, candied fruit baked together with honey and sugar then topped with chocolate but this is made with bread.

Ferdinand's florentine is made with their danish type bread, caramelized sugar to keep it together and topped with sliced almonds.

The choco-rentine is made with their chocolate chiffon bread, the caramelized sugar and sliced almonds. This tastes like a brownie.

So that is my list, what are you liking/disliking?

minoo

Sunday, I stopped in at Abientot to pick up my lunch and this anpan. It is not like the usual anpan. The outside is a french bread. It may look like there isn't too much sweet bean paste in there, but there is just enough for every bite.

A few blocks up from Abientot is a neighborhood near the Minoo station where I shot these two videos. There were also many people out taking photos under the trees as well as many cars slowing down to take in the view.

Last year we visited the same area, and I posted about it here.

The two videos are shot from different points along the same road.

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.