this cat

I told you about this cat how it always looks mad.

Well, I was lucky to get a photo of him...

He's smiling...really.

It's blazing here these days...hope you are doing well.

out for a walk

Since it rained all day on Friday...Saturday we went out for a walk....up to Myokendo...

down through Yogenji...

spotted a plumeria tree along the way...

lunch was a noriben from Soki...only 350 yen (tax included).

This one was their deluxe...since everything was boxed already, we figured out the "deluxe" was the addition of an egg and a karaage (piece of fried chicken) after we opened up our lunches.

Too much rice for me, but loved all the okazu (premade foods) and the price!

We'll be back to try other bento.

Ugh...the humidity has started...

Soki

4-11-8 Omorinishi

Ota, Tokyo

Phone: 03.6423.1139

Closed Sundays

Hours: Mondays-Fridays 8:00-20:00, Saturdays 10:00-18:00

labels

I previously wrote about the amazing labels that our fruits and veggies have, here.

Well, when I bought a melon recently called "El Sol" I noticed that the label on it was even more amazing....

If you scan the QR code, you can tell what sweetness the melon is...WT?!

After scanning the QR code, it will bring you to this screen...the sweetness is 14.5, which is relatively sweet.

(16 is super sweet)

The screen will also tell you who grew the melon and what else the farmer grows.

 

I wondered how the heck do they tell how sweet the melon is without actually opening it up?

So, I looked around online and if I understood this correctly, they use a UV light to see how heavy and how sweet the fruit is...amazing yeah?!
 

this and that

We went back to Zoshiki and checked out Mizoguchi, which sells all sorts of meats and homemade foods.

We picked up their curry...2 servings only 650 yen (tax included)

Nikujaga only 300 yen (tax included) & chicken with daikon only 400 yen (tax included).

The curry was rich and had lots of tender meat in it.

Similar to Mother's Meat's curry it had enough spicy for me.

I thought this was a bargain because it was 2 servings.

We ate the nikujaga and chicken with daikon for dinner and both were simmered well ...everything was tasty and tender.

We'll be back to try other items.

Stumbled upon this homemade custard flan at Mart Iijima.

Only 128 yen (plus tax)...minus the 30 yen discount...only 105 yen!

After we ate the pudding, I poured water into the container to measure it and it is about a cup of pudding.

So ono! Rich, creamy and also not too sweet.

Satoshi and I shared this.

We'll be back to buy more.

Forgot to mention this plastic hippo that we saw at Tamagawadai Park.

The tongue and innards have their parts labeled in 3 different foreign languages.

So cool!

Figgy Piggy...love the name!

I saw this combo on one of those food truck programs many moons ago and finally got around to trying this.

The food truck's version had more "things" in it, I instead just used what I had...

Peanut butter, bacon, fig jam and cream cheese.

It was a good reason to use my hot sandwich maker.

Next time I will add more bacon and add oozy cheese instead of cream cheese.

This sign..whenever we pass by this shabu shabu restaurant I always think it is so cute.

We tried this edamame snack recently...I was leery it would be too "wasabi"-ish for me but fortunately it wasn't overpowering.

I've tried Yukimusume's in the past that were filled with strawberries, custard and whipped cream...this one had a chocolate mochi outside, chocolate whipped cream, chocolate covered banana and some yellow sponge cake...oh em gee so good!

Bought some cakes from Takano for Satoshi's birthday yesterday.

Being a fruit shop, I would've thought that most of their fruits were fresh...bummed that most of the fruit on this was canned and the piece of melon was hard...boo!

The bottom was a rolled cake (swiss roll) with lots of whipped cream and nuts...whoo!

This noriten (fried nori) is korean style with sesame oil...so good!

Birthday chirashi for Satoshi...I made some myoga amasuzuke and then mixed some of it into some cooked rice then layered some sashimi (raw fish slices) on top.

The sashimi we bought was cut inconsistent, some pieces were thick while others were really thin! 

The otoro was super buttery though!

Stumbled upon this lot that they were clearing and saw the remnants of vines, maybe ivy?! spanning the width of the building that was next to the one that was cleared.

I thought it looked so beautiful and was also kind of sad seeing it too.

So...Tokyo is still going forward with the Olympics despite what the medical people are saying...I feel that if this pandemic were some other type of disaster like an earthquake, they would cancel the Olympics in a heartbeat...

Tokyo's state of emergency is extended until June 20th and our daily cases have been hovering around 500.

There is talk that we might be able to receive our vaccinations mid-June, I am not holding my breath.

I hope you all are doing well, even if we’ve had some rainy days, we still haven't started our rainy season here in Tokyo.

Have a safe weekend.

Mizoguchi

2-27-2 Nakarokugo

Ota, Tokyo

Phone: 03.3735.2981

Hours: 10:00-20:00

fruitica

Came upon these tomatoes at Benny called Fruitica (I should've taken a photo of them when I first bought them)..I think there were 8 of them in the package.

So sweet!

They are about the size of golf balls and grown in Karatsu, Saga in Kyushu.

 Love how they also add the photo of the person who grew this.

I'm glad we tried this variety...looking forward to trying different tomatoes in the coming weeks.

tamagawadai park

I've known about this park since we moved here, but it was my first time to check it out.

This park is about 15 minutes by train from where we live and is next to the Tamagawa Sengen Shrine

There are many kofun (historical burial mounds) throughout the park and some cherry trees, and if I am not mistaken there are about 3000 hydrangea plants.

There were many families out and about especially with their dogs.

In the park is a little pond with water lilies...so pretty!

This little guy had a net so big, not sure what he intended on catching with it, but I'm pretty sure he would fit in it!

It was a beautiful area to walk around and hard to believe this was in Tokyo.

I'm glad we checked out this place and it was nice to bond with nature for a little bit...we'll be back.

Tamagawadai Park

1-63-1 Denenchofu

Ota, Tokyo

Open daily

zoshiki

About 30 minutes walking from where we live is Zoshiki.

This area was recently featured on a television show, so we went to check it out.

Along the way we saw lots of hydrangeas.

After some checking online, this one is apparently called pineapple guava.

Loved the look of this retro building.
 

I picked up a doner kebab for lunch from Kolbe.

Lots of veggies and lots of meat this was worth the 600 yen (tax included).

We also stopped at Takahashi Shoten to try their doughnuts.

All are cake type.

We purchased cocoa glazed, goma (sesame) and beniimo (purple sweet potato).

Bummer the goma and beniimo were so dry!

The glazed was definitely the way to go...so moist!

There are more shops we want to check out in this area, so we'll be back.

Kolbe

2-21-9 Nakarokugo

Ota, Tokyo

Phone: 080.5401.5434

Closed Tuesdays

Hours: 11:00-14:00 (lunch), 16:00-18:00 (dinner)

Takahashi Shoten

1-40-11 Nakarokugo

Ota, Tokyo

Phone: 03.3734.4626

Closed Sundays

Hours: 10:00-19:00