kuwagata

The other day while walking to the market, I spotted this squished kuwagata (stag beetle). I've only seen the live ones in the pet stores, most quite expensive.

I showed Satoshi the photo and he said that it may have been a wild one or maybe it flew away from its owner. (yipes! they can fly??)

Too bad it got squished. The next day it was gone. Either a cat/bird got it or one of the housewives around there swept it up.

semai

In Japan, you always hear about how space is a premium, houses/buildings are built so close together that some are only inches apart from each other.

In Japanese, this is referred to as the area being semai (say-my) (cramped, narrow). The opposite being hiroi (he-roy) (spacious, wide).

Our apartment is quite small, and most furniture is sold by measurements. I never realized how much you had to measure the space before buying, until after I had purchased some items...sigh. Even some of the stuff we bought in Hawaii and brought over had a hard time fitting in.

As for sports, most teams have to share the field with each other, I recently took a photo of these little leaguers, the center fielders are almost facing each other (I circled them in pink). I asked Satoshi, "don't they get hurt?", and he said, "sometimes".

He also said that it cannot be helped because there just aren't enough fields to go around for a team to have their own.

Most fields are not free either, you need to pay to use them. (I think if I needed to pay to use the field I wouldn't want another centerfielder in my face.)

If you also notice, there is no grass in the outfield, somehow practicing out here in summer doesn't appeal to me...

Other examples are the roads. The road that runs by our apartment is actually the width of one car and traffic flows in both directions, most drivers have to pull over to let the other pass, but on a particular day when this l-o-n-g trailer came to pick up a bulldozer thingy, he actually caused a traffic jam.

The long trailer was actually on the side street (where the man is walking), but couldn't put down the ramp to load the green bulldozer thingy, so he had to move out onto the main street.

I was amazed he got back out onto the main street without jumping the curb or falling into the ravine. (we have streams that flow on both sides of the main road).

It took some time and many were impatient, but it was interesting to watch from above.

p.s. recently at the market they had a special of shiso (perilla), I bought a packet of 20 leaves only 98 yen (about US$.98) and made rolled beef with japanese tartar sauce and ume pork. We have also been enjoying this Ravenswood Merlot. I first heard about this brand on Jen's blog and was surprised to find some of their Vinters Blends at Yamaya.

Hope you have a great week!

köln

On a recent trip to the market, I found Köln's Chocoppe. 126 yen (about US$1.26) If you remember I tried some of their breads on a recent trip to Rokko.

Well, after that trip, I was surfing the web and found that their Chocoppe was quite popular.

Koppe pan is actually a made-up Japanese word apparently taken from "coupe" in French and "pao" in Portuguese.

This particular koppe pan was like french bread with a slather of dark sweet chocolate.

I've had something similar from
Isuzu bakery, theirs is called chocolate france. (The Japanese sometimes call baguette "france pan".)

Köln's version is delicious, I loved the chewiness of the bread and the chocolate has just the right amount of sweetness...perfect snack with coffee.

p.i.t.a. (a.k.a. honey glazed walnut shrimp)

Most times whenever I try a recipe, I try the ones that look easiest to me. The ones that don't need me to fuss over them and can usually get me in and out of the kitchen within 30 minutes to an hour.

But this recipe has been tempting me ever since I saw the photo of it. I've had this at Chinese restaurants, crispy shrimp coated with a mayonnaise sauce topped with crunchy glazed walnuts...mmm.

Looking at the recipe, it didn't "seem" so bad, but going through the steps...oh boy!

I started with blanching the walnuts then boiling them in sugar water then coating them with honey...then frying them...

Can I say, I have a phobia of frying things at home because of all those oil splatters on the wall, on me...then having to discard the used oil...

I put as little oil as possible in my pan (and I don't have a wok)...so the nuts took a little longer than if I fried them in a wok.

Then came the shrimp, deveined and cleaned that was the easy part...I forgot to coat them with flour after dipping them in beaten egg whites...so guess who needs to soak her pan?? and maybe need to buy a new one since it is supposed to be non-stick??

Needless to say, it was a p.i.t.a. (pain in the A) of a recipe but tasted similar to what I've eaten in the restaurants. It didn't have that crispy outside that it should have, but it was still delicious.

Will I make it again? Meh, not unless President Obama is coming for dinner. (Though if I find an easier way to make this, maybe omitting the frying somehow, I "may" make this again.) Otherwise, I tried it, it was delicious, let's put it on the "done" pile...

p.s. If you really want to try this one, email me and I'll email you back the recipe.

bi-ru

In Japan, beer is pronounced (bee-ru) with bee being elongated. If you pronounce it short (beeru), you will be talking about buildings.

Anyway, during the summers here, there are beer gardens, usually located at the top of department stores or hotels, where you pay a flat rate then drink and eat all you want.

Usually the men pay more than the women, but if you are woman with a hearty appetite and can drink a lot, you can usually get your monies worth and more.

When we first moved to Japan, we checked out these beer gardens, but the food is kind of junk and not worth the price you pay. Plus, if it rains, there are no refunds.

I've heard that some places in Europe like their beer room temperature, but in Japan the beer is served ice cold, sometimes so cold you can get brain freeze.

I wanted to share with you some of the beer we have been enjoying with our pupu (appetizer) style dinners.

Heineken Dark Lager 355 ml, 5% alchohol from Holland. I bought this on sale at Yamaya for 278 yen (about US$2.78). I didn't care for this one, even though it was dark it didn't have much depth or punch.

Fuller's ESB, 330 ml, 6% alchohol from England, also from Yamaya on sale 188 yen (about US$1.88). This beer was fruity, so-so for me.

Paulaner's Oktoberfest Bier, 6% alchohol from Germany, also on sale at Yamaya for 298 yen (about US$2.98). Though this one was pale, it had a nice punch to it.

If you have been drinking beer, what types have you been drinking?

trying new recipes

Yesterday, our area went into the rainy season, this is actually 12 days later than last year and is supposed to last for 40 days. Not looking forward to this muggy, uncomfortable weather, but it is something that has to be done, for the plants, etc.

So in need of some "cool" foods...Monday, I tried several new recipes for dinner. Here is my dinner tray.

One I found on Serious Eats, this recipe which combines tuna with garbanzos as a salad. It is easy to put together and delicious.

Fragrant chickpea salad : Nick Kindelsperger, The Paupered Chef, serves 2 -3

1-15 oz. can chickpeas, drained & rinsed

2 bellpeppers, red or yellow, diced

5 tablespoons EVOO

2 tablespoons sherry vinegar

1 onion, diced

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon fennel seed

1/2 teaspoon chili flakes

2 teaspoons paprika powder

1 can of tuna, water/oil drained

handful of parsley, chopped

salt & pepper

Roast peppers

Heat oil, add onions & spices

Whisk in vinegar

Add all the ingredients

Combine well

Season with salt & pepper

NOTES: I cut this recipe in half. I didn't have sherry vinegar and subbed balsamic vinegar. I also didn't have fennel seed so I left it out. I ate this as is, but this would be great on baguette or as a sandwich filling.

The original recipe heats the spices and roasts the bell pepper, but I just dice and throw everything together without heating anything up. I do this a day ahead and we eat this cold.

Another recipe I tried was Ellie's "Muhammara" from "The Food You Crave". Another easy recipe which uses walnuts and roasted red peppers, it was great on this pistachio baguette I got from Ferdinand.

This baguette was delicious, filled with lots of pistachios from end to end!

The recipe uses bottled roasted red peppers, but I roasted my own, and cut the recipe to match the one red pepper that I roasted (actually for the tuna with garbanzos it uses a roasted pepper also and I roasted a yellow one for that).

I didn't have bread crumbs, so I added some ground flax seed. I also didn't have pomegranate juice or pomegranate molasses, so I used balsamic vinegar. I really liked this and want to try it as a sandwich spread.

The last recipe I tried was Ellie's "Chickpea and Spinach Salad with Cumin Dressing", which was also from "The Food You Crave".

I cut this recipe in half and used the remaining half can of garbanzos. I couldn't find spinach so I just served this on iceberg lettuce. I was really disappointed with the lettuce at the market, everything didn't look too good, even the iceberg lettuce. The salad also calls for mint, but I forgot to add it...still, I loved the flavors of the salad.

Actually all three recipes had overlapping flavors, so they all tasted slightly similar, but I really enjoyed them.

p.s. on Tuesday night I put some thinly sliced chicken in the oven with ras el hanout, salt and pepper and cooked it for 12 minutes @ 350F (180C). I put it into a pita with the muhammara and some lettuce...mmm.

one lovely blog award

The other day, I received this "one lovely blog award" from Kim, of Pass the Pocky. She says she is new to blogging and has a delicious blog, check it out!

I won't pass this one on because I think this award has made its rounds and there are so many lovely blogs out there, it would be hard for me to choose.

Thanks again Kim!