world beer museum

Last Saturday, I was waiting for Satoshi to finish his German class.

While I was waiting, I roamed around looking for somewhere for us to eat lunch at and came upon...World Beer Museum.

Their menu is extensive...they have many beers on tap as well as in bottles.

Their food...so-so.

I ordered a Pike Stout...280 milliliters.

I liked the smokiness and punch it had.

Satoshi had the Spaten Münchner Hell (which I think is their premium lager)...300 milliliters.

We also shared their original salad...this was so-so. I think it could've been served without the oily, stale chip-like thingies.

The currywurst was delicious though...I like how the sausages in Japan all have "snap", this is also served with some potatoes.

We also ordered their onion ring tower.

It was at this point that Satoshi also ordered the Franziskaner WeissBier...500 milliliters.

Pretty pricey for lunch. Most beers start at 850 yen and most food items at 750 yen.

There is also a 10% service charge.

I liked the interior and it was interesting trying to explain some of the signage to Satoshi in Japanese, which kinda lost its punch in translation.

Still, we were happy to try this place and are interested in checking out the World Wine Museum which is right across...we'll be back.

World Beer Museum
Grand Front Osaka North Building B1F
Umeda, Osaka
Phone: 06.6371.6968　
Hours: 11:30-23:00, open when Grand Front is

summer teas

This year's summer tea from Mariage Frères is called Panama.

A green tea base, there is lots of mint, some red berry and hibiscus. Really refreshing as an iced tea.

Since I needed to purchase something in order to receive my free sample, I picked up their Matin Parisien.

This is a black & green tea blend with citrus and vanilla. This was interesting because served hot the vanilla really stood out, but served iced the citrus really stood out.

I've been doing lots of cold brewing lately.

The semi (cicada) started chirping too.

How is summer where you are?

gads

I think gasoline prices are going up all over the world right now.

You would think that since we don't have a car, it wouldn't affect us, but...

It is affecting the prices of a lot of things over here like butter, processed meat products, even dry cleaning.

And to make things worse, as of July 1st, a lot of companies here have either decided to raise their prices or lessen the amount of the products they are selling (Like a bag of chips may be lessened a couple of grams but sold at the same price it was before the weight was lessened)...maybe even both?!

And with Japan eating as much bread as they are these days, there is talk of some bakeries turning to margarine...no-o-o!

I hope the government will re-think raising our sales tax from 8% to 10% in October...

How's life in your corner of the world?

pagong x hello kitty

Over the past 8 years or so, I have enjoyed wearing Pagong's tops.

Recently they came out with a new print, in collaboration with Hello Kitty's 40th Anniversary.

Before moving to Japan I wasn't too much of a Hello Kitty fan, but once here, I found that she was everywhere and couldn't help but fall in love with her.

Anyway, the scenery is called Horai-zu which is based on a Chinese myth about Mount Penglai, you can read more about it here. It is supposed to be a magical world.

Unfortunately, the Japanese version of the myth is not "happy".

Still, Hello Kitty is scattered throughout this print and according to the description card that came with my top, it says that "happy things" may come to you as you look for Hello Kitty.

It is the beginning of July, with all the crazy weather going on here in Japan and around the world, I hope your summer is going well.

imbibing

It's definitely beer season here. Here are just a handful of beers I tried recently...

I tried the hyuganatsu version earlier this year.

I liked this one too. A fruity beer with kinkan (kumquat).

Brew Dog's Hardcore IPA (super bitter with a kick), 5AM Saint (hoppy red ale, fruity with a bitter aftertaste) and Punk IPA (super fruity).

Tokyo Waiwai, a Belgian White, was fruity.

Lots of fruity beers of late, what have you been drinking these days?

oh em gee

So, the other day, I happened to check on the plants on the lanai...and noticed all the kale had holes in it...

I found one inchworm and threw it off the lanai. And then I found another and threw that one off the lanai too.

And when I looked closely, I could see all these guys...

And then after going through all the three pots of kale...I came up with all these guys...

I didn't kill these, I thought maybe some birds would come get them and left them in a planter dish.

Instead, they are back in the kale and roaming the lanai for something to eat.

I'm heading to Hawaii in a couple of weeks and usually while I'm away, the substitute farmer (Satoshi) kills everything...so I think I'll let these guys eat their fill so they can turn into moths or butterflies or whatever nature-ish things they need to do...

Hope better things are happening in your garden.

boulangerie goût

After eating at Grill Stereo, I picked up some things at Boulangerie Goût...like this lemon lime tart.

Super puckery but the custard is really thick and rich, the pastry really flaky.

Their gorgonzola, walnut & pastrami.

This wasn't a big sandwich, in fact the baguette was about 5 or 6 inches long and 1 inch in diameter.

The sandwich also had a berry jam which matched perfectly with the whole combination. Toasted, this was even better.

An-butter...sweet bean paste is whipped with butter and cream.

The baguette "top" is dotted with lots of sunflower seeds.

One bite and the filling oozes...so nice with iced coffee.

Enjoy your weekend! It's been hot in Osaka. There was a hail storm in Tokyo, which also included flooding...crazy summer!