3 w's

Saturday was White Day...the day when the guys give back to the girls after receiving something for Valentine's day...Satoshi gave me this box of millefeuille sweets by Francais

I've had this in the past, it is crisp wafers with  different flavored cream layered between the wafers then covered with chocolate...thank you!

In the afternoon we went to see "Wicked : For Good"

It was the sequel to the "Wicked"

I hadn't realized that Satoshi hadn't seen the original "Wizard of Oz", so I ended up having to explain that story to him too...

Still we enjoyed the movie

Dinner was at Warayakiya

It was my first time to eat on this side (Konan side) of the JR Shinagawa Station, it is kinda dark and sketchy...so we usually we eat on the Takanawa side

I bookmarked this restaurant because they cook over straw (wara) and serve food unique to Kochi Prefecture

Amuse bouche...the stuff you don't order but need to pay for...raw veggies

Miso & something (forgot what he said) (left) and Shrimp & Chili (right)

To eat the raw veggies with

My favorite was the miso & something

Fruit tomato & warayaki unagi sushi

Warayaki is when you cook something over straw (wara)

We were seated on the 3rd floor of the restaurant, if they had had an opening on the 2nd floor we would've been able to them cooking the unagi and katsuo

Delicious

Warayaki katsuo (bonito) tataki

This is Satoshi's favorite...served with salt, wasabi, raw garlic slices, green onions, myoga (Japanese ginger) and raw onion slices

They ask you not to eat with shoyu so you can enjoy the aroma of the straw

My favorite was this...huge tsukune (chicken meatball) with lots of shoga (ginger) in it and served with a slightly sweet shoyu sauce and raw egg to dip the tsukune in

So good

I enjoyed this yuzu and sansho (Japanese pepper) sour

There are other items on the menu that we'd like to try...we'll be back.

Warayakiya* (they also have shops around Tokyo & one in Nagoya)

2-5-5 Konan, Konan OMT Building 2F & 3F

Minato, Tokyo

Hours: 17:00-22:30 (Mondays & Sundays), 17:00-23:00 (Tuesdays-Thursdays), 16:00-23:00 (Fridays & Saturdays)

white day (part 2)

So, let me continue telling you about our White Day.

Lunch was at a little yoshoku-ya (western-style food shop) called 114 (ichi ichi yon). How cute is the door?!

I had their one plate lunch...900 yen this came with a homemade hamburger patty dressed with demi-glace sauce and dry curry. It also came with a little salad and a poached apple.

Delicious and filling. The hamburger was really tender and the curry had just the right amount of spice.

Satoshi had this. Their ebi fry (fried shrimp) and hamburger plate...800 yen, which he really enjoyed.

I was really surprised at how popular this place was with females, mostly you find men at these types of shops during the work week.

After lunch we saw Amour. This movie won the Academy award for best foreign film this year.

The story was in French which was good for practicing my listening skills, but I know I missed a lot because I can't read the Japanese subtitling quick enough.

Anyway, the movie overall was a bit "too real" for me, and afterwards I was feeling a bit down.

Luckily, we happened upon Cafe Tipo 8 and decided to have some coffee, maybe something sweet.

I think this place is relatively new, and they specialize in coffee.

I really liked the interior.

I had their (P) sized cappuccino...400 yen. (I think (P) stands for petite because their other size is (G) which I think stands for grande). Satoshi had their coffee...300 yen. We also shared a cake doughnut...130 yen.

All in all, it was a great day. (Thanks Satoshi!)

114 (Ichi ichi yon)
1-12-18 Oyodonaka
Kita, Osaka
Phone: 06.6454.2234
Lunch: 11:30-14:30 Dinner: 18:00-21:30
Closed Sundays

Cafe Tipo 8
5-2-9 Nakatsu
Kita, Osaka
Phone: 06.6136.3184
M-F 7:30-19:00, S-Su 10:00-18:00

white day

White Day was yesterday.

Satoshi gave me these delicious macarons made by Le Cordon Bleu (orange, pistachio, strawberry and caramel chocolate).

And this Lindt bar. (Thank you!)

He had the day off so we went out to have lunch and see a movie, which I'll write about another day.

I hope you have a great weekend!

demel

Got these chocolate from Satoshi for White Day before I left for Hawaii.

Since I don't really care for chocolates with liqueur in them, I told Satoshi he could eat the ones with cognac in them.

I saved the ones from Demel and had them the other day.

It was a box with 3 bon-bons. A raspberry caramel, a plain caramel and an apricot caramel. Besides the caramel, each also had a cookie in the center and all were covered with dark chocolate.

Thanks Satoshi!

sunny sunday

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day aside from the pollution in the air, which left a slight haze.

We decided to check out Banpaku Koen. This park was the site of the 1970 World Expo. Since the weather is getting warmer, many flowers have started blooming. Here are some things that we saw...
(top left)Jobitaki (Daurian Redstart) part of the swallow family
(top right) Mansaku (Witch Hazel)
(bottom left) Tsubaki (Camellia Japonica)
(bottom right) The tram that you can take (for a fee) around the park.

(top left) Mitsumata (oriental paper bush) part of the daphne family, this plant's branch branches off into 3 directions then flowers, which is why the Japanese call it mitsumata (literally 3 legs)
(top right) Nanohana (rapeseed blossoms)
(bottom left) an objet that really does look like a barber shaving his customer
(bottom right) Lappa suisen (wild daffodil)
(top left) Tosa mizuki (corylopsis spicata) part of the witch hazel family
(top right) Ume (apricot)
(bottom left) Neko Yanagi (pussy willow)
(bottom right) Asebi (Japanese Andromeda/Lily of the Valley)
(top left) Kanhizakura (Taiwan cherry)
(top right) Boke (flowering quince)
(bottom left) Suisen (narcissus)
(bottom right) Godiva chocolates from Satoshi for White Day (thank you!)

We walked quite a bit I think about 7 km (about 4 miles), but seeing all these flowers and plants was a nice way to end the weekend. Hope you have a great week!

nakayama-dera

We've visited this area several times in past years, but I have never written about the ume (apricot) trees at Nakayama-dera. This temple has a bairin (the literal translation is apricot forest, but I think apricot orchard is a little more appropriate for this particular area), which we've visited pre-blog.

On Thursday, the sun was "in and out". The whole hillside was covered with light and dark ume, I particularly liked the darker pink flowers, as they stood out. There was also a little path in which you could walk through the orchard.

Since the past couple of days had been rainy, it was nice just to get out of the house. (Probably everyone that was there felt the same way.)

We had lunch at a nearby cafe called Effet (sorry no photos, was too hungry).

Satoshi had their seafood pasta set which came with lots of seafood, a salad, soup, coffee and all-you-can-eat assorted bread...1400 yen (about US$14).

I chose the steak donburi (steak bowl). This was a piece of sirloin grilled and served with lettuce, tsukemono (pickled veggies) and dollops of wasabi (Japanese horseradish) and oroshi (grated daikon). It also came with some shoyu (soy sauce)...my lunch only came with some miso soup...1500 yen (about US$15). Filling but delicious.

The dining area located at the back of the shop seats about 20 with a couple of seats out on the terrace area. They also sell cakes and baked items at the front of the shop.

After lunch, we went to the market across the street and bought some groceries.

Walking back to the station, we noticed a Japanese warehouse. It turned out that it was a coffee shop called Lamp.

Even though Satoshi had some coffee with his lunch, we decided to go inside to have a cup of coffee.

The inside was quite dark. Of course, since we were having coffee, we decided to check out their desserts. The desserts served at Lamp are made by a local patisserie called Kazu. We enjoyed their pudding roll (an eggy cake filled with cream and topped with custard) & napoleon (a puff pastry sweet with strawberries and cream). The cappuccino I ordered was different from the kind I normally have. This one had a lot of whipped cream on top and was served with a cinnamon stick.

The only thing I didn't care for was that they had a smoking area at the front of the shop which you needed to walk through to get to the non-smoking area. Other than that, their coffee and sweets were delicious.

I'm glad we were able to get out to see some ume (apricot). It was a great Thursday.

Effet
5-15-1 Nakasugi
Takarazuka, Hyogo
Phone: 0797.88.3030
Open: 10:00-23:00

Lamp
5-18-1 Nakasugi
Takarazuka, Hyogo
Phone: 0797.88.8853
Open: 7:00-23:00

p.s. it is White Day today, Happy White Day!

white day

Yesterday was White Day, the day when the guys give something back to the girls...in other words, the girl's chance for their Valentine's Day.

Satoshi surprised me with some tulips (my favorite) and a box of chocolates.

Though the weather wasn't too good, we still had a nice day.

Thank you Satoshi!

baking for white day

Yesterday after lunch, I spent some time baking some mini muffins for Satoshi to give his co-workers for White Day.

White Day is on the 14th of March and is the day when the males "give back" to the females after receiving something for Valentine's Day.

Since Satoshi has 30 co-workers in his department (mostly females), I decided to bake instead of buy something.

When I went to MUJI, they had these box mixes. I figured by buying 4 boxes (1 box making 10 muffins) to make 40 muffins was cheaper than buying something pre-made.

The picture on the box was a bit deceiving, they looked like big muffins. Upon opening the box, I realized they were "cute" mini muffins.

The neat thing about these mixes was that it came with the muffin cups, muffin mix, chocolate pens to decorate the muffin, freeze dried strawberry "dust" and cellophane bags with twisties to wrap up the muffins. All I needed to do was add an egg, some oil and some milk and bake!

Since the muffin cups were tiny, I figured out that I could bake 2 boxes (20 muffins) at once on my turntable.

The batter was easy to put together and was rather easy to divide amongst the cups. The baking time was a bit longer than the suggested, but it was noted on the box that it would depend on your oven.

After baking all 4 boxes in 2 batches, which took about a half hour, I took a nap while I let them cool.

To decorate them, I heated up the chocolate pens in hot water as the box instructed. I had never worked with these pens and realized there wasn't much control when using them.

There were splats of chocolate here and there, but I think the decorations were quite "contemporary" looking, don't you? (I was going for 2 hearts, one white and one dark)

Since it was a cool day, the chocolate hardened quite quickly and I didn't have to put them into the freezer as the box instructed.

I put each muffin into a cellophane bag and tied them with a twistie.

Of course, I couldn't send these off without tasting one (or two)...they were very moist and delicious.

I hope they enjoy them...Happy White Day!

bye-bye kitty

I hate it when I bang up my own dishes...I was recently washing my Hello Kitty plate and hit it against the faucet. Most dishes I have are tough, but I guess this one was thinner. I am stubborn and won't throw this out until it really cracks...

Let's end this post on a happy note...here are the chocolates/cakes that Satoshi received from his co-workers for Valentine's.



one was even called "mahalo" which means thank you in Hawaiian.

So what is Satoshi giving back to his co-workers on White Day? Find out on March 14, I'm baking...cross your fingers it works out...

white day

It's nearly the middle of March and we have gone back in time. The weatherforecasters are saying that the temperatures are that of mid-winter...um, well, the snow flurries that we had for most of yesterday would do it, don't you think?

One thing I forgot to mention about Okinawa is that they are known to have the longest life expectancy. This is due to their diet which consists of lots of veggies, fish, pork and their lifestyle.

About 3 years ago, when Satoshi was helping me search for my roots, I read "the Okinawan Program". Although this book is very thick, it was filled with lots of interesting facts and information about the Okinawan culture. Being able to connect with relatives in Okinawa was a dream come true! There were cousins as old as my father and many stories were told. Although there were some areas that are still mysteries, it was nice to be able to find family.

While living in Japan, Satoshi has not only helped me connect with my Okinawan relatives on my father's side, but with relatives on my mother's side. Her side of the family includes stories about immigrating to Hawaii, picture bride marriage, life during the war and a family tree that goes back to the Edo period. I've been able to write up our family trees from the info that family members have given me. And to be able to have a written record of things has been a good learning experience. If you have the chance to find out about your roots, especially from the elders in your family, I truly recommend either using a tape recorder or taking notes, because once these elders pass, there is no way to recover what they know or have experienced.

Changing the subject, today is White Day in Japan. This is the day when the GUYS give the girls something in return for Valentine's Day. Satoshi gave me my ticket to Hawaii and some Australian soaps. I usually go back to Hawaii once a year, usually for two or three months, usually during most of winter. This year is a bit different, I'll only be going home for a month. Although it won't be as long as the times I've gone home in the past, I'm still thankful to be able to go. (Thanks Satoshi!)

During the winter in Japan, the main local citrus fruit that you see is called mikan. I think it is a type of tangerine. The skin is very thin, there are no seeds and it is easy to peel. Recently, I've seen more citrus fruits being brought into the markets. One is the kiyomi orange which we had with breakfast. This orange grows in the Wakayama prefecture. The skin is very soft and there is hardly any membrane sacs, mostly all "orange" and really juicy! If you get a chance to try this one, it is really good!