honolulu coffee

Honolulu Coffee opened a shop in Osaka recently.

I was also pleasantly surprised to find they are selling cups of macadamia nut flavored coffee in some convenience stores too.

This cup is slightly sweetened, but a nice reminder of home.

sounds of summer

The sound of summer in Japan is made by the semi (cicada).

They are awfully noisy especially in the morning. Sometimes you can even hear them at night too.

I once saw one on our lanai door and boy did it shake the glass with its chirping.

I've written a pretty detailed post on them here.

Do you have cicada where you live? What is the sound of summer where you are?

on the lanai

The other week, I went to the DIY center to pick up some new dirt for my pots.

After changing the soil, I sprinkled some kale, chard, beets, italian parlsey & cilantro seeds.

Of course, my style of "farming" is just throw the seeds in the ground, if it grows, it grows.

I didn't sprinkle the same seeds together either, it was all "chop suey" (mixed up).

So, I was surprised that something is coming up.

I think these are the chard (I think this because the stems are reddish...)

Oh and while cleaning some soybeans for dinner, I found one sprouting, so I stuck that into the "ground" too.

Hope to show you more as these plants get bigger.

ogura toast

In Nagoya, you'll find ogura toast on their coffee shop menus.

Toasted bread topped with butter or margarine is then slathered with ogura-an.

Ogura-an is koshi-an (smooth sweet bean paste) that is simmered with some honey then whole adzuki beans are added at the end to keep the shape of the beans.

For this recipe I used tsubuan (chunky sweet bean paste) because it is more readily available.

Ogura Toast : for 1

your favorite slice of bread, toasted
some butter
a dollop of tsubuan

NOTES: The taste reminded me of how my mom likes to heat up her tsubuan mochi in a pan with some butter.

I enjoyed the sweet-salty combination, it went nicely with some black coffee.

brooklyn roasting company

Not too sure how I heard about Brooklyn Roasting Company, but I do remember wanting to check them out.

Since they were near my dentist, I went after getting my teeth cleaned.

Although the weather was a bit too hot for cappuccino, I was still interested in trying theirs....400 yen.

I enjoyed this cup.

I also tried their orange muffin, which I found out is made by West Wood Bakers. A shop in Nishi-ohashi.

I liked how there were lots of candied orange pieces on the bottom half of the muffin...280 yen.

The cafe faces the Tosabori-gawa (Tosabori-river), and they have many seats on their terrace too.

I'll be back.

Brooklyn Roasting Company
2-1-16 Kitahama
Chuo, Osaka
Phone: 06.6125.5740
Hours: Monday-Friday 8:00-20:00, Saturday-Sunday & Holidays 10:00-19:00

eat this...

Been wanting to try this recipe with purple cabbage...it's perfect for the super hot weather we've been having.

Oh, I also added half a cucumber...

Hope you have a nice weekend!

oodles of noodles

Since it has been so hot here, I've been choosing lots of "cold foods", in particular, noodles.

You may be familiar with zaru soba, but I wanted to share with you other choices you'll find in Japan.

Like this rei-shabu pasta. Thinly sliced pork is cooked (shabu shabu style) in a broth then chilled. Then, chilled pasta is topped with the pork and lots of veggies.

The dressing was a creamy sesame...Delicious.

Rei-men, literally means "cold noodles".

This particular dish was similar to hiyashi chuka but this version was chilled green noodles topped with ham, cucumber, egg, some banbanji chicken & kim chee.

The dressing for this was also a creamy sesame dressing.

How are you staying cool this summer?