sundays

I think I've mentioned before that we get together with family for Sunday dinners. My mother and her sisters take turns cooking and we gather at the house which dinner is being cooked.

Last night was my Aunty M1's turn to cook, so we gathered at her house. Her husband is Swiss so we had a Swiss dish called Zurcher Geschnetzeltes, which is like beef stroganoff except it uses veal, or in this case, she used pork. It was delicious though I thought the gravy could have been a little thicker. We also had salad and some sauteed beans.

Dessert was this fabulous tart, made with fresh berries. The colors of the berries were so deep and the fruits were ripe and delicious. On top of that, the crust was perfect! nice and flaky.

It was nice to see my Aunty too, she and her husband travel a lot, so they are usually on the go.

I hope your Sunday was just as nice.

around the house

An interesting colored cymbidium that I found around the house yesterday.

It is also Father's Day here, hope all you fathers have a great day!

Have a nice week.

zippy's

Got up really early to meet up with my aunties and uncles on my father's side of the family.

The thing about Hawaii is that many businesses are open really early, so it is perfect to get an jump start on things. This is one thing I had to get used to in Japan because almost no businesses opens before 10:00 am.

So, we all met up at Zippy's, a local family eatery. It had been awhile since I'd eaten there for breakfast.

I chose the small portion hot cake sandwich, US$5.60 (I think). It came with 1 hot cake and your choice of meat, I chose portuguese sausage.

This was the perfect sized breakfast for me...and the best part, free refills on coffee (which is non-existent in Japan).

It was a nice chance to see my relatives and we all had lots to talk about.

UPDATE: I was reminded by my blog friend Martin, that Mr Donut offers coffee refills and that if you ask at some Japanese restaurants for another bowl of rice you often get them free.

hawaii eats

The thing I love about Hawaii is that there are so many different cultures, which can only mean that there are many different cuisines.

We often give our neighbors fruits or other food items and in return receive something that they have made or food that they have in abundance.

Many people who are friends of the family are called "aunty" or "uncle", something you most never see in Japan (at least where I live anyway).

So our "Aunty" recently gave us a big tub of her homemade guisantes, a Filipino dish. Pork, peas, pimentos, maybe some tomato sauce??...I am not sure how this was made, and this was my first time trying it and mmm...loved it!

My father, who almost always chooses Filipino food when we go to the food courts, loves this dish....I can see why. (Thanks Aunty!)

jal & mon chou chou

It had been ages since flying with JAL. The amount of direct flights from Kansai International to Hawaii have been getting lesser and lesser as the years pass.

I usually fly United in order to accumulate mileage, but since they only fly out from Narita now, and there were talks of maybe them merging companies and maybe discontinuing the mileage program, we decided to use up our United mileage and join JAL's mileage program instead.

I try not to eat on board, the food isn't always good, and then if we hit turbulence...well, you get the picture.

So, I was all ready to skip my meal on board when I saw this orange box...Mon chou chou's Dojima roll cake. This cake is so popular in Osaka that there are lines to buy them.

Of course, not having tried it in Osaka I had to eat it...after eating some veggies and fruit, the entree was nothing spectacular.

The soft sponge cake is jammed with whipped cream....there is more cream than cake...delicious. I can see why there are lines for this.

Before our meal, everyone also received slippers and wipes for perspiration.

The thing that surprised me was that as soon as they cleared our dinner trays, they passed out these bags filled with a bottle of water, an anpan (sweet bean filled bun) & a milk bread...our breakfast.

The flight was long (close to 8 hours), but at least I was able to sleep.

I am glad that the tradewinds are back, I've heard it has been quite miserable for the pass couple of days.

Hope you have a great weekend.

p.s. my dates and times will be posted in Japan time.

odds & ends

Cleaning out some photos...

My tofu container bought at the dollar store in Hawaii, the meshed container is where you put your tofu, the container under it is where you put water, this keeps your tofu fresh. I also put cheesecloth in the meshed container to strain water out of yogurt for dressings/sauces.

A pork katsu (cutlet) sandwich at Hanayashiki. I've written about this place before. The little old man behind the counter is still there. Expect to wait for your meal or coffee, he does everything himself. This sandwich was delicious, not greasy. Satoshi had the katsu curry, which I've had before. He said he enjoyed this too.

Down the street from Hanayashiki is Boulangerie An. It was our first visit, I picked up some scones...I think they had way too much baking powder in it because it left a weird feeling in my mouth (I wouldn't choose this again). Satoshi tried their egg sandwich and rolled cake, he said he liked these.

Trip to Starbucks, I tried their Choco-mint pie...the mint filling is whipped cream with flecks of chocolate...crust could be crisper but overall delicious.

On another trip to Starbucks, I tried their dacquoise and marble chocolates....meh, both not worth it. The green marble chocolates were supposed to be matcha (green tea), but weren't anywhere near green tea in taste. The brown marble chocolates are coffee flavored, I think the coffee flavor overpowers what little green tea flavor when eating the two together. The dacquoise didn't have much flavor and was really sweet.

Pafonte's chocolate cream...a hunk of chocolate bread split just enough to fill it with some whipped cream then dipped in chocolate...only 126 yen (about US$1.26)...definitely worth it!

Mior's rose dessert....custard, strawberry preserves and whipped cream, an edible rose tops the dessert. Delicious!









Ginza ichigoza...Satoshi brought some back when he went to Tokyo on business. This is the same company that makes that Tokyo Banana dessert. A baked manju outside filled with strawberry cream flavored bean paste and strawberry jelly, covered with strawberry flavored chocolate....think strawberry newton!

Ferdinand's chicken curry lunch...the curry wasn't spicy in fact it sort of reminded me more of shoyu chicken than curry, but it was very filling!

Stinky bleu cheese...gorgonzola, stilton and roquefort...mmm.

Family Mart's (a convenience store) private label or as the Japanese call it "pb" (private brand), coconut milk with black tapioca. The coconut milk was a bit watery but the tapioca really chewy.

Morinaga's chocolate mint au lait, which just came out in the convenience stores. (I found this at Daily Yamazaki) I loved the combination of chocolate milk and mint, reminded me of the ice cream or Andes mints.

p.s. Get ready for "hawaii eats" posts...I'm off to visit friends and family, talk to you soon!

lunch

What do you usually eat for lunch? I think I've asked you before, but recently, I've been picking up a sandwich or some breads with cheese, ham in it. Or sometimes these chinese bentos from Daiei, I like these because they usually give you 3 items and only 320 yen (about US$3.20). There is also a sozai-ya (cooked foods) store in our shopping arcade, in Hawaii we call them okazuya, where I pick up some prepared foods.

Here are some of my lunches...

From Daiei, their chinese bento, filled with spicy renkon (lotus root), hoikorou (bell pepper stirfried with beef and sweet and sour pork.

From the sozaiya, a whole ika (squid) grilled with teriyaki sauce 250 yen (about US$2.50). I bought this and a musubi 105 yen (about US$1.05) the other day. It was the first time I saw a whole ika at this shop. It was delicious.

From Ferdinand, their smoked salmon sandwich 300 yen (about US$3). Smoked salmon, cream cheese, some thinly sliced onion and colored bell pepper with a little Italian dressing. I really love their bread!

And from Boulangerie Burdigala, I usually stop in for lunch or pick-up something to take home for lunch after French class.

Here are some of the things I've tried. The lentil sandwich, it was kind of messy but delicious.

Cheese roll with sun dried tomato reminded me of pizza.

Ham, tomato, camembert and avocado, now that was a hunk of avocado!

Bacon, tomato and basil, simple but so delicious.

I also sometimes pick up some sweets for my 3 o'clock tea time.

Burdigala's pain au chocolat...look at those flaky layers...too bad they don't have enough chocolate in it though.

And their orange brioche...soft brioche with orange peel bits here and there, the top is sugary, when you take a bite be prepared to get messy!

What have you been eating for lunch?