gas truck

During the winter you'll hear this cute children's song outside.

That's the cue that the gas truck is making its rounds in the neighborhood. Many people use the gas to heat their homes with gas stoves in the winter.

Our apartment complex does not allow the use of gas stoves, but I have seen some people in our building with plastic gas tanks...ahem.

Anyway, I shot this video of the truck when we went to Kyoto last Autumn.

And here is a video I found online of the song with english subtitles.

What do you use to heat your home during the winter?

p.s. here is a picture of the toumyo, I wrote about before...now, 10 days....cool, yeah?! (by the time this uploads we'll have eaten it and we'll be starting round 3)...

little okinawa

It was a 3-day weekend recently, and Monday was a holiday (National Foundation Day) which Satoshi had off, unfortunately he worked on Saturday and Sunday.

Anyway, not wanting to waste the day he had off, we went to check out Taisho-ku located in the Southern part of Osaka, also known as Little Okinawa.

Some of my relatives used to live here but have since moved back to Okinawa, too bad we'd never visited them while they were there.

This area is surrounded by the rivers of Osaka, kinda like an "island", though there are many bridges that connect it to Osaka prefecture.

Lunch was at a cute shop called Marutomi Shokudo, this place only has 4 tables, so if you go during lunch be prepared to wait or share your table with others.

I had the Okinawa soba (top photo), this was a shoyu based soup with tender seasoned pork belly, some kamaboko and some slices of hard boiled egg.

Perfect way to warm up on such a chilly day.

Satoshi had their soki soba, a miso based soup with pieces of tender seasoned pork ribs, daikon & cabbage.

There was also a complimentary andagi as well as green tea.

After lunch, we checked out the Thanks Shopping Arcade a.k.a. Hirao Main Shopping Arcade.

There weren't many places open because it was a holiday, but check out this stash of andagi in front of a tiny grocery store.

From there we went to check out one of the 7 ferry landings in this area.

The city runs these ferries and each one is free of charge. The main purpose is for people to commute from Osaka prefecture to Taisho, without having to go all the way around to where a road or bridge connects Osaka to Taisho.

If you want to check out some of these ferries, here is the info in English from the Osaka city page.

I also shot a short video of our ride on the Senbokumatsu ferry route. You'll see that we pass under the freeway. It was also kinda noisy because of the wind. It is a great way for bicyclists to cross over to Taisho.

Lastly, we checked out a man-made hill called Showa-yama. It is 33 meters (108 feet) high and made from the debris and rubble after digging the Osaka subway system.

Not many sights, but you really get an Okinawan vibe.

I'm glad we checked out this area.

Marutomi Shokudo
5-2-13 Hirao
Taisho-ku, Osaka
Phone: 06.6553.0274
Closed Tuesdays, Hours: 10:00-20:00

p.s. it's Friday here, I hope you have a nice weekend.

happy valentine's day

Happy Valentine's Day...in Japan, it's only for the guys...which I've told you about here and here.

This is the recipe I used for the truffles, though I only made half the recipe.

Super easy and only 2 ingredients, well 4, if you consider the matcha powder and chopped almonds.

I tasted some before giving them to him and we also had some extras to enjoy too.

Have a nice Valentine's Day, everyone!

foodie saturday in kyoto

Saturday, Satoshi had to work, so I met up with Tamakikat for lunch.

She took me to Kani Doraku for my birthday. It was my first time here and they serve crab, lots of it...

And how neat is this wooden tool to scrape and "poke" out the crab meat?!

After lunch we did a bit of walking and came upon this tiny bakery.

Cute with the giraffe painted on the outside, yeah?!

Sidenote: Satoshi and I halved their an france (an pan) & curry france for our Sunday breakfast.

We loved the chewiness of the bread and there was a lot of filling. The an pan also had walnuts alongside the sweet bean paste.

After picking up some baked items, we then walked up towards Kiyomizu temple and stumbled upon this taiyaki shop.

They were having a special for their custard & chocolate filled taiyaki...only 100 yen!

I thought this was better than some taiyaki I've eaten before, the outside was crisp, almost like a waffle cone.

While walking past some shops we came upon Happy Bicycle.

The owner, an expat of Chile, makes these wire bicycles. This particular model is made from 1 piece of wire!

He also had one which cheered on the Tohoku area.

We ended our day at a retro coffee shop called Otafuku Coffee.

Their prices are reasonable and their coffee delicious. Downside of this place was that there weren't many seats and they allow smoking.

All in all, it was a great foodie day. Thank you Tamakikat!

Kani Doraku
525 Tenshojimae-cho, Sanjo Teramachi Nishi
Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto
Phone: 075.211.0671
Hours: 11:30-22:00

Pain Raku
458-2 Masuya-cho, Takatsuji-dori
Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto
Phone: 075.344.2378
Closed Sundays & Holidays
Hours: 10:00-20:00

Shiawase no Ougon no Taiyaki
5-126-2 Kiyomizu
Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto
Phone: 075.551.3160
Hours: 10:00-19:00

Otafuku Coffee
609 Teianmae-cho, Teramachi Shijo
Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto
Phone] 075.256.6788
Closed every 15th of the month
Hours: 10:00-21:30

les petites papillotes

This was the shop that suspended their cafe service until after Valentine's...Les Petites Papillotes.

Although we didn't get to try their cakes, while we were there, I picked up some of their mendiants to try--dark chocolate with marcona almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios & orange peel.

Delicious.

I'll be back to try your cakes...sometime after Valentine's..

Les Petites Papillotes
1-12-24 Kyomachi-bori
Nishi-ku, Osaka
Phone: 06.6443.7875
Closed Mondays & Tuesdays
Hours: 11:00-22:00

de tout painduce

It had been awhile since I visited Painduce.

Since then they opened a couple of shops, one which is closer to Umeda.

We tried their spinach black sesame and all grain bagels...I liked the all grain one better. The spinach one when toasted, was a bit too soft for my liking.

Still, we'll be back.

de tout Painduce
Osaka Eki Marche
Phone: 06.4797.7770
Hours: 7:30-22:00

UPDATE: we figured out the spinach black sesame bagel was a nori black sesame bagel...sorry for the confusion, I checked the shop's sign and it was definitely spinach black sesame not nori.

b-day

Thursday was my birthday, Satoshi was able to take the day off so we went to have lunch at Ig Cafe.

We then walked to a cafe for dessert only to find out that they have suspended their cafe service until after Valentine's...um, put this info on your website, s'il vous plait! (please!)

So, we walked back to Umeda and checked out an earlier showing of "Starbuck". (fun movie)

Afterwards we had some pupus (appetizers) at Enoteca.

And then dessert at Ladurée.

I had the Religieuse Rose Framboise filled with rose custard cream and fresh raspberries...mmm!

Satoshi who was still hungry had their Club Saumon sandwich. This sandwich was impressive though I wondered what they did with the rest of the bread...

The weather was drizzly and grey but all in all it was a great day. Thanks Google for sending me a birthday wish on their top page and thank you to all my friends & family and those on FB & twitter for their birthday wishes!