so fast

Hard to believe that there is only a month left for this year.

We're supposed to get more rain tomorrow.

Was nice seeing some of the yellow gingko leaves today.

Hope your November was a nice one.

coffee uta

There is a tiny cafe we stumbled upon...Coffee Uta.

From the outside, it looks like someone's house, but if you look carefully, you'll see a sign and realize they are a cafe.

It was a nice space with lots of natural light coming in from a skylight.

I had their orange toast plate with coffee 1050 yen...this came with a small salad and some orange pieces.

I loved their toast, speckled with orange peel and slathered with butter.

Satoshi had their sandwich plate with coffee 1150 yen...his plate also came with salad and lots of fruit (apple and persimmon).

A bit pricey but we loved the different pottery items they had displayed (I think most are for sale) and they also don't allow smoking!

We'll be back.

Coffee Uta
1-8-28 Minoo
Minoo, Osaka
Phone: 072.721.8033
Hours: 11:00-17:00
Closed Wednesdays, Thursdays, Sundays

menu

Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving.

It isn't a holiday here, but Black Friday is slowly catching on here.

Since Satoshi went out on a drinking thingy on Tuesday, which was Ii Fufu no Hi (literally good couple day), we went out for dinner at Menu the next day which was a national holiday (Kinro Kansha no Hi, like a combination of Labor Day and Thanksgiving).

Dinner started out with a plate each of their appetizers...salad, proscuitto, dragon fruit, purple sweet potato terrine, sweet potato frittata, clam rice croquette (arancino), tako (octopus) with a broccoli puree.

Soup: Daikon potage topped with cacao nibs

Pasta: mushroom pepperoncino and gingko nut ras el hanout chicken cream pasta (both to share)

Main: sea bream stuffed with mushroom puree wrapped with bacon, cooked saltimbocca style and chicken piccata

Dessert: dark cherry brownie

Coffee or Tea

Satoshi also had a glass of wine with dinner.

We love this place because their servings are just right, their food is delicious too, they serve reasonable servings of wine and their prices are quite reasonable too.

7050 yen for our dinner.

We'll definitely be back.

inari gyoza

There is a new recipe that is getting quite a bit of attention here...Inari Gyoza.

Instead of using gyoza wrappers, you stuff the gyoza filling into an aburage pocket.

The recipe was super easy, so I had to try.

Inari Gyoza by Yanagisawa Hideko : 2 servings

150 grams minced pork
2 handfuls of minced chives
salt
pepper
4 thin aburage (fried tofu)

Cut each aburage in half so that you have a total of 8 pockets.

Carefully open each pocket.

Mix the pork with salt, pepper & chives.

Divide your pork mixture into 8 and stuff each pocket.

In an unoiled pan, fry until the outsides turn a light brown.

NOTES: This recipe was so easy!

The hardest part was opening up the pockets to fill.

Since my packets were quite bulgy, I added some water to the pan, to steam the insides.

It took me about 10 minutes (with flipping every 3 minutes) for it to cook.

I would recommend flattening your packets when frying so that it cooks quickly and evenly.

I would serve this with shoyu or your choice of sauce.

This is a great recipe to cut carbs because you aren't using wrappers.

I'm making these again.

p.s. Today it snowed in Tokyo, it was 54 years ago that it snowed in Tokyo in November! Krazy weather...

p.p.s. Happy Thanksgiving! I am thankful for family, friends and you, the readers of our blog...have a delicious one!

muji

If you've been reading this blog for awhile, I think you know how much I love MUJI.

I recently saw this "make your own gift" can on television.

They come in 3 sizes.

The top is sealed.

You need to fill the can from the bottom.

It holds quite a bit.

They recommend not putting in anything too fragile and not over stuffing it.

Then pop the bottom on.

I decorated the can with masking tape.

Then I wrapped the plastic box with craft paper so that I could write the address on it...and sent it off.

Cool, yeah?!

p.s. Today is a National Holiday Kinro Kansha no Hi

ii fufu

(photo taken on Sunday in Osaka)

Today is Ii Fufu (good couple) day in Japan.

I've written about this before here.

Sadly, the Tohoku area had another big one (earthquake) this morning.

They were told to evacuate and are on tsunami watch.

Hoping there won't be too much damage this time.

Sending hugs to Tohoku and the surrounding areas.

foodie friday in kyoto

We've been having rain off and on. Kinda gloomy.

Friday was forecast for sun, so I made sure to get out and about.

I started by walking around Tofukuji.

I didn't want to pay admission and fight the crowds, so I just admired the fall colors from afar.

Then I went to Demachi Futaba and queued up for some sweets.

They have been in business for over 100 years...

Love their mame mochi (mochi that is filled with sweet bean paste and studded with black beans).

It's kuri (chestnut) season, so I made sure to get one of their kuri mochi too.

I also got an inaka mochi (yomogi mochi filled with sweet bean paste) for Satoshi.

Afterwards, I went to Matsuhiro Shoten to check out their gamaguchi bags & purses.

I've written about them here.

After trying to decide on a print and style of bag, I got myself this one.

There may have been wine with the duck and fig terrine I had at Le Bac à Sable...the cheese bread they served was good too!

After lunch, I checked out Weekenders Coffee.

They opened a little shop on Tominokoji.

The shop is at the far end of a parking lot, so you may walk past it without noticing it...I almost did! (thank goodness for GPS!)

Their cappuccino was nice, too bad there aren't many places to sit...

Window shopped in Gion at the new Hermes shop.

This area is widely known for geisha and high end places to eat, so this shop totally fits in.

It was a warm autumn day and it was nice to get out.

Demachi Futaba
236 Seiryu-cho
Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto
Phone: 075.231.1658
Closed: Tuesdays & 4th Wednesday
Hours: 8:30-17:00

Weekenders Coffee Tominokoji
560 Honeyano-cho,
Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto
Phone: 075.746.2206
Closed Wednesdays
Hours: 7:30-18:00