vending machines

If you have ever visited Japan during the colder months, you may or may not have noticed that the vending machines sell "hot" and "cold" drinks. 

Apparently, the machines change from all "cold" to some "hot" & "cold" at the beginning of October. 

Then, at the beginning of Spring, depending on the weather temperature, it changes back to all "cold". 

Even if you cannot read Japanese, it is pretty easy to figure out which is which because the "hot" drinks have a red line under them, while the "cold" have a blue line.  

Recently though, I've been noticing that these vending machines are selling soup, like corn potage. 

They probably have been doing this for years, but since I don't always buy drinks from the vending machines, I've never noticed them until now.

Another thing I've noticed they are selling are zenzai and shiruko. 

Don't know how it would be to "drink" this out of a can, and they probably wouldn't have any mochi (rice cake) in there, for sure (because you might choke on it.) 

Some other beverages served "hot" are cocoa and a lemon drink. Where in the States, we say "coco" for cocoa, people here pronounce it "coco-ah". 

I've never tried the "hot" lemon drink but have a feeling it must be like marmalade tea minus the citrus bits and nutrients.

What kinds of interesting items are in your vending machines?

pinocchio regalo

Yesterday, we went to visit MIL, but before doing so, we brought some flowers to the family grave, which is near the hospital that MIL is currently in.

Her skin grafts have been done and she has to stay on her back for the next two weeks.

At max, she is only allowed to bring her body up to a 30 degree angle and can only lie on her left side. (I think the right side of her body had the skin grafts.)

We chatted and watched her eat lunch...let me tell you, eating at a 30 degree angle, only on your left side, is so difficult, especially while using chopsticks. (I guess it is good she is right-handed and not left.)

And as it is she is a very picky eater and only about 87 pounds, so in order for her to get better, the doctors say she needs to eat more and drink more fluids.

Hopefully she'll cooperate and eat and drink more. She will probably be in for the rest of the year and will start rehabilitation once they are sure that the skin grafts are healing.

We didn't spend a lot of time visiting as we knew she needed to rest too, so after she finished her lunch we went to look for lunch for ourselves.

It was a beautiful day and we ended up walking to Kyoto Station and ate at Pinocchio Regalo.

A tiny Italian restaurant inside of the NHK building, we ordered the Shokado Bento (with dessert)...1575 yen (about US$15.75).

This started off with a demitasse of soup.

Lots of veggies especially corn and potatoes and bits of bacon in a clear broth...delicious.

The bento was filled with all sorts of foods...an arancini (fried rice ball with mozzarella), a Japanese simmered vegetable dish, tender pork belly with veggies, pasta with a tomato sauce, marinated seafood & smoked salmon.

A lot of different things to eat and even if it looked like a little bit of food, the portions were quite generous.

We loved that everything was served in Japanese tableware...kind of like an Italian-Japanese fusion.

Dessert was a tiny matcha (green tea) brulee. We loved this and wished they gave us more, especially the crunchy caramel topping.

It was a different array of foods and everything was delicious.

Pinocchio Regalo (UPDATE: 2016 no longer in business)
849 Higashishiokoji-cho, Renaissance Building 2F
Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto
Phone: 075.365.0202

tokumasa

I should talk about the bad weather more often...because the next day will almost always be sunny (knock on wood).

Yesterday, Satoshi and I went to Umeda before his German class and had lunch at Tokumasa, which I've written about here.

Satoshi ordered the menchi katsu curry teishoku...all teishoku (set meals) here come with a bowl of rice with egg on top called tamago gohan.

As I've written previously, in Kansai (Western Japan), most noodles come with a bowl of rice.

I wasn't feeling like noodles, so I ordered their curry cheese donburi (bowl).

This was a large bowl filled with their spicy curry, cheese and green onions over rice.

Like before, this curry starts out sweet then the spices kick in.

At the end, be sure to cleanse your palate with some sweet takuan (pickled radish).

Curry was a great way to warm up on a nippy yet sunny day.

Have a great week.

some days...

Some days you just need sprinkles...lots of them.

The weather was crazy...rained all last night, then this morning seemed like it would be sunny.

All of a sudden it got really dark and then the rain and wind came. It was so windy that lots of things were flying around.

When I went walking in the afternoon, you could hear the wind howling.

Hope your weekend is going well.

(photo: a delicious doughnut from Hokuo)

odds & ends

Odds and ends...a coffee drink by Mt. Rainier coffee, I love that they used 70% chocolate, made the drink a little sweet but not sickly sweet.

Starbucks has a new coffee drink in convenience stores...chocolate eclair latte.

This one is sweet but actually does taste like an eclair.

Pafonte's cream bread...in the shape of Hello Kitty, cute and delicious.

The cream was a chocolate custard, even better. The flower was unfortunately a soggy cookie with a maraschino cherry.

Eyes and nose were sweetened black beans.

Lawson's rolled cake filled with an earl grey tea cream.

The earl grey tea is made by Ahmad.

Dinner at Chaina, we tried their ebi-mayo (fried shrimp coated with a mayonnaise sauce).

Delicious.

Anchor's Humming Ale.

I loved the fruitiness.

Katharine Hepburn brownies, recipe by Lori Longbotham.

I think my pan doesn't heat nicely or the batter wasn't mixed good because the middle rose up really high and after it came out of the oven it looked like a mound.

Even though it didn't look nice, it tasted good--rich and chocolatey.

Lawson's char siu-man...like char siu bao (or what we call manapua in Hawaii).

This one was tasty though there wasn't much meat in there, more sauce.

Maisen's mini burgers. Maisen is a katsu (cutlet) shop in Tokyo. They sell their katsu sandwiches in many department stores.

I tried their mini burgers for lunch one day--shrimp katsu, menchi katsu (hamburger) & filet katsu...All were delicious and no skimping on the fillings.

Chocolate Cranberry Pistachio Flax Olive oil muffins....nice and chocolatey.

Dunno if your Starbucks has this but at the bottom of the receipts here, whenever you order regular coffee, you can get another cup for 100 yen (about US$1).

I've seen people buy a cup and use the receipt to get another one (not as a refill).

I think you should have to re-use the cup that you received the first cup in, it would be better for the environment.

Gokan's Lemon-san...a delicious moist lemon cake with a light lemon glaze.

Perfect with tea.

Paulaner's Salvator...meh, dark colored fizzy water.

Starbuck's chocolate loaf cake...this is tiny but I love that it is a chocolate spice cake filled with figs and glazed with a dark chocolate ganache.

And after all that eating...we need a nap.

This guy was totally snoozing in McD's...

It is Friday here, hope you have a nice weekend!

todoromi marmalade

Satoshi has been working very late hours. He also leaves for work earlier than usual too.

It is taking its toll not only on him, but on me too.

Most days I feel like I am jet lagged or have a hangover. One day, I ended up sleeping practically the whole day.

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day, I was still feeling sluggish, but decided to get out and about because the next couple of days are supposed to be rainy.

I headed to Minoo station and went to check out several shops that I heard were selling the Todoromi yuzu (citron) marmalade made with yuzu grown in a part of Minoo called Todoromi.

I was happy because they had some. One bottle was 450 yen (about US$4.50). I decided to buy one to try and one to give away.

Over the years, I've learned that during winter, most people in Japan drink yuzu-cha (citron tea). There is no "tea" involved, they just melt some marmalade into hot water.

After drinking the "tea", they eat the yuzu bits.

It is a nice way to fight off colds and warm up too.

I hope this is good, though I'm pretty sure it will be. UPDATE: it was delicious!

wasanbon-toh

Wasanbon-toh is a fine grain sugar made from chikutoh, a thin sugar cane.

Most of this type of sugar is manufactured in Shikoku and is the choice when making traditional Japanese confections.

You can also find them made into these molded shapes.

They are served with the strong almost thick matcha (green tea) at tea ceremonies.

I've also heard that you can also put them into coffee, like sugar cubes.

Some people use the unmolded sugar in cooking.

I received these from different people, the one on top is from Kyoto and the other from Shikoku and I like the different shapes and pastel colors.

I know I should use them, but they seem a bit too pretty to use, don't you agree?