kameido & kinshicho

Tokyo People: look at his large lens!

Yesterday got out early to check out the wisteria at Kameido Tenjinsha.

The news had mentioned that the wisteria was in full bloom.

It was beautiful.

Be careful: large scary bees buzzing around

Afterwards was planning to walk to Asakusabashi, but it was too blazing.

Instead I walked through Olinas Mall and Kinshi Park,

Then I caught the train home from JR Kinshicho Station.

Please look here for a few more photos and videos.

wisteria walk

Yesterday was a relatively sunny day, so I got out and about.

Up the street with all the flowers...

Construction on a road made me detour and stumble upon this house.

Tiny wisteria in front of a shop.

Love how they use the wisteria to shade their cars.

We're back to rainy and cold today.
 

wisteria walks

I've been stumbling upon wisteria on my walks these days.

Most are in front of homes.

This one was on the grounds of a school, I took the photo from outside the fence.

This one was growing on a house's fence that bordered a parking area and really low to the ground.

While walking, I noticed a woman who was walking a couple feet ahead of me, with a friend point at something.

Being niele (nosy), I looked in the direction she was pointing and this pocket park’s wisteria caught my eye.

I'm glad I looked.

When we went to Takeuchi Bakery, we walked along the Former Nomigawa Green Space.

We came upon these two walking their ducks!

And were able to see the wisteria in the same spot as last year.

The temps have been flip-flopping and there are days when it rains, so when the weather is decent we try to get out and about.
 

kameido tenjinsha

Back in March, we visited Kameido Tenjinsha.

I bookmarked this area and waited for the fuji (wisteria) to bloom.

Tuesday was forecast for the last sunny day for the week, so I went to check it out.

Unfortunately with all the temperature ups and downs they haven't bloomed fully (the first photo is of one of the longest wisteria vines when I went)

We have other things planned for GW (Golden Week), so I'm not sure if I'll be able to go back and check it out again.

Still it was nice to see.

If you'd like to see some of the other photos I took, please look here.

noda fuji

Saturday, after lunch, Satoshi and I went to check out the Noda Fuji.

This year the strands of fuji (wisteria) weren't too long. After chatting with one of the volunteers, he mentioned that all the weird weather was to blame.

He did recommend a spot for us to check out, near the Ajigawa (Aji river).

It was the first time I've seen pink and double wisteria.

cool, yeah?!

The fragrance is quite heady, but I like it!

saturday

It seems that we've jumped from Spring head first into Summer...

The daytime temps have been quite warm.

At least early mornings and evenings have been quite comfortable.

Saturday after Satoshi's class, we headed to Fukushima for lunch at Pannya.

A tiny curry shop, they have about 6 different types on their menu.

I went with the dry keema...this wasn't too spicy and had lots of cilantro.

I loved the baked naan-thingy, it was crisp with a little salt...kinda like chips.

Satoshi went with the katsu curry.

His came with pickled cabbage and a nice piece of pork loin. The curry was "soup curry style" and very spicy (it had many chili pepper markings on the menu)

Both lunches also came with a small salad and cup of coffee afterwards (hot or iced).

There are other items on their menu we'd like to try.

We'll be back.

After lunch, we walked to check out the Noda fuji (wisteria) at their community center.

It was beautiful!

Have a nice week.

Pannya
2-9-10 Fukushima
Fukushima-ku, Osaka
Phone: 06.4256.6319
Closed Tuesdays
Hours: 11:00-15:00 (lunch), 18:00-22:00 (dinner)

alien to resident to fuji

Recently Japan changed their "alien cards" for foreigners to "residence cards".

Since my re-entry visa was coming up for renewal, we called the Immigration office to see what we needed to do.

It turns out that all we needed to do was come in to change the "alien card" to the "residence card" and we no longer had to renew the "re-entry visa".

Talk about spending less time and money at the Immigration office.

I think we used to pay something like 6000 yen for the "multiple re-entry visa" every 3 years or so.

So, we got there after lunch, filled out the paper work, I took an ID photo in their photo booth....

Paying 800 yen for 4 photos & they only use 1 is a total rip-off! But I'm glad we received the card that day. The next time we need to renew this card is in 7 years...whoo!

On our way home, we noticed a board with a notice for the Noda Fuji Matsuri. Fuji is wisteria in Japanese and Noda is the area which this flower grows in Osaka, Matsuri is festival.

Since the area was kind of on our way back, we checked out some of the many spots they have listed on the festival map.

Some turned out to be duds because they were located inside of many school grounds or some hadn't started blooming yet, but for the most part, most were located at parks.

One location was in front of an apartment building this was really nice to see in the concrete jungle.

I wish they would've given more addresses than just points on their map, we had a "scavenger hunt" of a time finding some of the locations.

I want to go back to see some of the spots we weren't able to see.

If I get a chance to I'll definitely share the photos with you.

Have a nice week!

happy earth day

Happy Earth Day!

Just wanted to share with you some of the fuji (wisteria) that I've been seeing...like this one I saw on a walk.

The tree wasn't too tall, in fact, I think it was the same height as me (short).

This one I saw from a bridge.

And this tree was huge! The flowers were like a waterfall.

Our weather has since gone back to cold...Hope this week will be a good one.

simple salad

I tried this really simple salad recipe (in the photo it is the salad on the right) from Made Healthier. For the dressing I used my favorite, lemon oregano vinaigrette. Since the only honey I had open was a blueberry one, I used it in the vinaigrette. The dressing came out really nice.

I wanted to show you the packaging for the lemon. It shows the picture of the farmers that grew it. Nice way for you to appreciate your food and the people who grew it.

I also made the gobo salad with fresh gobo. I used this gadget by OXO to julienne the gobo and carrots.

On my way back from the market, I happened to be looking up at the trees and noticed this fuji(wisteria) hanging down from it. It was about 3 feet from where I was standing, so I had to zoom up on it.

For breakfast today, I mixed the rest of the salad into an omlette, topped it with some pre-made pasta sauce and had some baguette with herb garlic cream cheese.

odds & ends

Last year, I posted about these dried tart fuji apples. Well, I think I may have found a similar product in Japan. These dried apples are imported by Kanebo foods. But at 168yen (about $1.70) per bag it is a bit expensive, especially since there are only 4 pieces! Oh well, it was nice to find them here.

Before coming back from Hawaii, I found these dark chocolate covered mac nuts dusted in cocoa powder made by Mauna Loa. BFF told me not to put them into the refrig as the cocoa gets kind of funky when it comes out of the refrig....with the weather warming up I guess I'll have to eat them up soon!

A flower that is in bloom here are there is the fuji (wisteria). There are purple fuji, which we found at a local park.

And white fuji, which we found at Otokunidera. I'm not sure if they have a fragrance, but they look really dainty.

This morning Satoshi had to go to work, so I made him a chili moco (well, almost). A local eatery in Hawaii, Zippy's, came up with the idea. Rice with their famous chili, a hamburger patty, their mac salad sauce on top of the patty and then an egg (ordered to your liking). I didn't realize their chili moco was this intense until I googled it. Mine was sans the patty and the sauce. I'll have to try making this again sometime....

Lastly, I wanted to share with you a new wine that I found. Since Australia is nearby, I've noticed that there are a lot of Aussie wines in the stores these days. Made by a company called Barokes, they have 3 types (Rose, Chardonnay Semillon, Cabernet Shiraz Merlot) and 2 versions (with or without bubbles). They are about a cup and a half and perfect for picnics.

Well, it is a rainy Sunday and Satoshi is at work. I'm debating what to do today...hope you are staying dry and enjoying the weekend where you are.