the winner is

Yesterday, we celebrated our blogaversary with cakes from Patisserie Hare. It had been some time since we've been back so I thought it was nice to re-connect with them.

I had their fig tarte. This had a nice custard and coffee gelee in the middle, as well as sweet figs.

Satoshi had their bear cake, which I've written about here.

On to the giveaway winner.

Can I just say that I loved reading all your comments?!

I hope you will all be able to visit or re-visit the places in Japan that are on your lists!

and now to what you've all waited for..

we picked a winner...it's Mona!

Please email me your snail mail address so I can send you your care package.

I'll post a photo of what was in the box after I know it has reached Mona.

Thanks again for participating and for helping us celebrate a milestone blogaversary!

wine & a winner

Wanted to share with you the wines I bought from Takamura wine...a Barolo, this one seemed like it was medium body.

And this Pinot Noir by Cono Sur, seemed really light...meh!

Bummer because the ones I tried in the past were good.

I hope to check out Takamura Wine again soon...

And now the winner of my birthday giveaway...

K of Never Turn Down a Cupcake.

Please send me your snail mail address, so I can send out your care package.

Thank you all for entering!

honor box + winner

I noticed this honor box while walking the other week.

In the past, when we lived in Takatsuki, there was an honor box near the housing that we lived in and it sold veggies and cut flowers.

When I noticed this particular box/stand, it had some daikon (long white radish) for sale, unfortunately, whenever I go walking, I usually don't carry any money with me.

I think the next time I go walking in this direction, I'll bring some coins, just in case they have some nice looking veggies.

The sign says that everything is 100 yen (about US$1) that is a bargain.

Now, onto the winner of the giveaway...

I want to thank everyone who entered, I loved reading your comments and hope that you all accomplish what you set out to do in 2011.

The winner of the giveaway is Linny!

She used to live in Japan and if I remember correctly, she emailed me once for info on a Kobe steak place that also served vegetarian fare (she's vegetarian but her significant other is not)...I hope this was how we "met"...

Thanks for entering everyone!

odds & ends & a winner

Cleaning out some photos, so if you're only interested in finding out the winner to the giveaway, scroll all the way down.

Received this Hello Kitty (HK) from a friend of Satoshi's. He knows I like HK and since he is from Kochi, bought me this one of Sakamoto Ryoma.

Wherever you go in Japan each prefecture/city has their own "flavor" of HK, usually something that represents the area whether it be a food or person. The face will be HK's but the "costume" will be the representation of the area.

Sakamoto Ryoma, who was originally from Kochi, Shikoku, wanted to end the feudal ways in Japan. In 1867, he was assassinated at the very young age of 33 and his murder is still a mystery.

This year there is a historical soap opera on television which has sparked his popularity.

Snyder's pretzels and Meiji Chocolate teamed up to make this delicious treat. The pretzels are thick and the chocolate semi-sweet.

I participated with some of my Twitter friends in a Twitter Taco Party recently. Everyone that participated uploaded their photo of their tacos. It was delicious virtually.

I didn't have time to thaw out some tortilla, so I instead made a layered dip using homemade black bean dip, salsa, sauteed veggies (eringi, orange bell, eggplant & asparagus), cheese and some leftover flat leaf parsley.

Satoshi liked the black bean dip (I think he just likes to eat things with tortilla chips). Also I hope to participate in their Twitter food party next month.

Char siu men at Ou-Lou. It was my first time to try this, but the char siu was the sweet/salty flavor that I grew up with in Hawaii and the broth reminded me of what is served with saimin (a broth/noodle dish in Hawaii), kind of light, chicken broth.

Did you know that Minoo has the very 1st Mister Donut in Japan? Apparently, the company wanted to see if the suburbs would be receptive to their donut shop.

Who would've thought that it would spread like wildfire all over Japan and some areas overseas?

Our shop in Minoo is the only one with this number 0001, cool yeah?

A new Kit Kat. This version is "otona no amasa" which means "adult sweetness".

Whenever they bring in the word otona (adult) to food you know it will not be as sweet.

I liked the fact that they used dark chocolate to coat and in-between the wafers are crushed chocolate cookies.

Javana's Speculoos Tea from Brugge.

Received this from Tamakikat when I saw her last month, it is delicious cold and is even better served hot with some milk. (Thank you!)

There are almond slices and cinnamon in there...like drinking a cinnamon cookie, similar to chai but without the cardamom.

Cilantro on the lanai starting to actually look like it.

I have started covering some of my plants with plastic during the evenings so they won't get frost or too cold.

After seeing "Eat, Pray, Love" the other week, I just had to have pasta for lunch (with wine!) at Cappriciosa.

I loved the food scenes as well as the scenery itself in the movie.

Whenever I watch movies in English (subtitled in Japanese), I always feel like I'm the only one who catches the little "jokes" as I'm usually the only one snickering or smiling.

Can you believe the man sitting two seats from me in "EPL" was actually snoring loudly (from the beginning to the end)??

Satoshi on the other hand, didn't see this movie with me and opted for a samurai flick instead.

Caught two butterflies, doing their thing.

Black Wych was on sale at Yamaya because the expiry was close, it was like 250 yen (about US$2.50) for one!

Saw this in the window of the Mercedes Benz showroom...little cars for your kids...so this is how they grow up wanting to drive a Mercedes...

As for the giveaway, we had 41 entries. Thank you again for participating, I loved reading all of your comments.

Anyway, enough rambling, you want to know who won right? I had Satoshi pick the winner....and the winner is...Kirk K, one of our favorite reads.

Please send me your snail mail address at kat (dot) nsatoshi (at) gmail (dot) com as soon as possible so I can send out your care package.

It is Friday here, hope you have a great weekend.

soup weather

And here I thought that Spring was coming...not!

The other day the weather here took a 180 degree turn and went back towards winter.

In Tokyo, they even had snow! (those guys are so lucky, though they may not think so...)

It has been rainy, blustery and actually quite dreary weather.

Satoshi has been working late. Since he comes home at midnight or later, feeding him dinner can be a challenge.

I want to feed him well, but at that time of night, he really shouldn't be eating so much.

So, I usually end up giving him a bowl of soup or having him drink a glass of milk (if it is really late!) then feed him for breakfast what I would've fed him for dinner.

Here are two types of soups we've been having.

A miso soup with potato, onion & kabocha. My MIL made a miso soup for us once with just potato and onion in it. I cooked the veggies for about 10 minutes then added the miso.

Usually when you make miso soup, you need to make dashi (stock) first. I cheat and use a miso that already has dashi (stock) in it.

And since I had some kim chee in my refrige that needed using, I made a kim chee chige with kabocha, eringi mushrooms, carrots and gobo (burdock). Again, I cooked the veggies for about 10 minutes and then added the kim chee & miso.

Both were perfect for these chilly nights.

p.s. Thank you for all the wonderful comments the other day, the winner for the giveaway per random number generator is Jalna, who has a great photo blog, by the way.

Please email me your address so that I can try to get the box of "stuff" out to you a.s.a.p. Hope you aren't allergic to anything I've put in there. Thanks for participating everyone!

UPDATE to see what was inside the box, click here.

shogayu + winner

First off, I want to thank all of you that entered my giveaway, the lucky winner picked by the random number generator was Lynne! Please email me your snail mail address at kat (dot)nsatoshi (at) gmail (dot) com, so I can send out your box of "stuff".

Now, onto my post...depending on where you are in the world, you may have the need to warm up.

In Japan, there are packages of instant shogayu, but there is a pretty easy way to do it yourself.

First of all, what is shogayu? Literally it is ginger hot water. The packaged instant version has kudzu (arrowroot) in it to make it thick, and sugar but if you don't have kudzu you can make it with just 3 ingredients: water, ginger & your favorite sweetner.

I grated a nub of ginger using a fourth for a different recipe and the rest for the shogayu. (If you want it more "gingery", then grate more.)

In a pot, I put 3 cups of water and the grated ginger. When the water came to a boil, I stirred in a bit of honey. (You could make this really sweet or not, it is up to you.)

After the honey melts, strain the mixture into a cup (unless you want to drink the grated ginger). Drinking this mixture should definitely warm you up, naturally.

Stay warm everyone!

p.s. I think this drink would also be quite nice chilled too, but I'll try that in a couple of months.

p.p.s. the winner of this giveaway no longer has a public blog

winner + caffera galleria

First of all, I want to thank all of you who entered the giveaway. It was really interesting reading your comments. I hope that you will be inspired to travel to Japan, re-visit or explore new areas. I used a random number generator and came up with the winner....the winner of the giveaway...is Jenster! Please email me (kat (dot) nsatoshi (at) gmail (dot) com) your snail mail address, I'm going to try to send the box out on Monday. Thanks again for all of your comments, maybe I'll have another giveaway in 2009.

I want to tell you about a cafe that I ate at on Tuesday.

Caffera Galleria is located in Daimaru Umeda on the 4th floor. They are related to this shop, but they have better food.

After French class, I couldn't decide what I wanted to eat for lunch , walked around a bit, and found myself here.

It was my first time to try this place, and I am glad I did. I had their Toscana-style salad plate (1260 yen about US$12.60). It came with your choice of drink. I chose a cappuccino. The regular price of a cappuccino is 630 yen (about US$6.30), so I thought the price of the lunch was kind of reasonable.

This salad reminded me of a Nicoise salad. The bread was olive bread and the dressing had anchovies in it.

It was a good sized portion and filled me up.

I wouldn't mind eating here again sometime.

Caffera Galleria
Daimaru Umeda-4F
Phone: 06.6348.3322
Days closed according to Daimaru Umeda's schedule