lion curry

A new curry place opened up in our shopping arcade, Lion Curry.

From the outside it looks like a small shop, but inside there are several booth type seating as well as seats at their counter.

Their menu is rather extensive with grilled items and fried items.

I chose their grilled harami (skirt steak)...890 yen (tax included).

The steak is marinated in a shoyu, garlic sauce, which is a little sweet. Then grilled after you order.

Talk about melt in your mouth!

I got half portion rice and half portion roux so they minused off 100 yen.

The curry had just enough spices, but didn't overpower the harami.

Satoshi went with their ro-su katsu (pork loin)...850 yen (tax included).

This is also fried after ordering.

He got the regular portion of rice and roux.

There are other items on their menu that we want to try...we'll be back.

Lion Curry
Hankyu Ishibashi Shopping Arcade
no phone number or hours available

crispy spice oil

I've been wanting to try this recipe for some time, I just had to get all the ingredients together...

Crispy Spice Oil : makes about 300 cc (about 1.5 cups) : about 4 servings from "Spice Cafe" : Kazushiro Ito

A) 100 cc (1/2 cup) mustard oil
50 grams fried onions (minced)
40 grams fried cashews (chopped)

B) 100 cc (1/2 cup) mustard oil
1.5 heaping tablespoons mustard seed

C) 2 heaping tablespoons cumin seed
1 heaping teaspoon fennel seed

D) 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (ground)
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt

E) 100 cc (1/2 cup) mustard oil
20 grams minced garlic

Place A) into a bowl.
In a pot, put the ingredients for B) and cook on high heat.
After about 2 minutes or when the seeds start to pop, add C) and stir.
Add D) and stir again.
Add this mixture to the bowl.
In another pot, heat E) and cook on high until garlic turns light brown (about 1 minute)
Add to bowl, mix and cool.
After cooled, transfer to airtight bottle.
This will keep in the refrigerator for 3 weeks.

NOTES: I cheated here and there. I used pre-made fried onions and didn't fry the cashews. Also, the recipe says that if you cannot get hold of mustard oil, to use sesame oil, which I did. Instead of using fresh garlic, I used dried since I had some that needed using up. Everything is supposed to be quite minced but I kept everything quite chunky.

The recipe says you can use this on meats, on salads or as a dip for fresh veggies.

I put a couple teaspoons on top of some salmon. I liked the crunchiness from the onions and want to try it on chicken. I also want to try to mix it with some yogurt as a dip.

I'm glad I tried this and am making this again.

lever du soleil

After that meh pasta lunch, it got me to thinking...

"why was it so expensive?"

In Osaka, usually when you order something à la carte, the price is usually under 1000 yen.

I looked online this morning and realized they had overcharged me!

The price they had charged me had included their salad bar and a beverage (coffee, tea, or juice)...

I told Satoshi about it and he said that even if we complained, it would be a waste of a round-trip bus fare to go and get them to return my money.

I am usually good about recognizing when I'm over charged but I guess I wasn't paying attention...grr!

Oh well, lesson learned...but I am still kicking myself for not noticing until this morning.

Will end this post on a good note...

My main reason for going to Onohara yesterday was to try Lever du Soleil which opened recently.

The bakers from Boulangerie Antibes have teamed up with this bakery now.

This morning we tried their curry pan (similar to the curry pan at Antibes with walnuts in the bread), tomato spinach quiche and yuzu shio (citron salt) pan.

Everything was delicious, especially the yuzu shio pan, crisp outside and a flaky soft inside with lots of yuzu salt flavor.

If I can get back out this way, I hope to stop in at this bakery again.

Lever du Soleil
3-9-43 Onohara-higashi
Phone: 072.726.6066
Closed Tuesdays
Hours: 8:00-18:30

meh and yum

Today's lunch at Ichirin Coffee was meh...1350 yen (tax included) for this sad looking, overly salty pasta.

They don't even give you some bread with your dish...Am not going back...ever.

Ending this post with a yum...

Yesterday's savory french toast stuffed with smoked chicken and 3 kinds of cheese (cheddar, emmental & parmesan) at Afternoon Tea.

Besides the french toast, it came with a small salad and a cup of minestrone...1300 yen (tax included)

There was also some blueberry sauce (not sweet) to drizzle.

This was so good! especially the burnt cheese bits.

The weather is still flip flopping, though they are forecasting the cherry blossoms to start blooming in Osaka around March 25.

How's your week going?

paris in your mailbox

Are you a Francophile?

Do you know someone that is?

You might consider getting them (or yourself) a subscription from Paris Breakfast on Etsy.

Carol Gillott, the watercolor artist behind all the beautiful artwork has several categories on her Etsy such as "Paris Mail", which you can subscribe to receive a Parisien-themed print every month.

"Paris Maps" is another category.

With your subscription to the maps, you will also receive "A tip sheet of shop/bistro business cards (carte de magazine). Plus BEST BUYS suggestions, where and what to eat. Paris cards will be included if available."

All items are color photocopies of her original works.

In the past, I've received her "Paris Mail" and recently she sent me her "Paris Maps".

I love them!

I've hung most of them on my wall to daydream of Paris.

Thank you Carol!

Disclaimer: I received the maps from Carol in return for an honest product review. I was not compensated for this and the thoughts and opinions written here are my own.

teriyaki spam

Have you tried Teriyaki Spam? It was our first time.

I think we received this can from Aunty M, though I don't quite remember. (thank you!)

I was a bit leery about flavored spam because it is Hormel's version of "teriyaki", which means it could be really good or really bad.

Well, it was really bad...

The texture of the spam was spongy, kinda mushy.

There was a weird smell probably from the "teriyaki" sauce.

Of course, I still didn't want to throw this out...

Yesterday, I found green papaya at the market and bought some to make champuru.

Even though the teriyaki spam was gross, with the green papaya in champuru, it was edible.

We had some teriyaki spam for breakfast this morning.

I made teriyaki spam sandwiches with egg, lettuce and a little mayo.

We still have half a can, will probably make spam musubi...

If you tried this version, how did you use it?

things I'm liking (disliking)

Yesterday, it rained all.day.long. and now the cold is back (until Saturday, so says the weather dude...)

It's been awhile since I've done a liking (disliking) post...

Disliking the Pablo monaka (wafer) ice cream bar...the ice cream was a cream cheese flavor surrounded by a sickly sweet apricot sauce enveloped by a crisp wafer shell.

Pablo is a popular cheese tarte (cheesecake) maker, and they have had some delicious convenience store creations in the past, this just wasn't one of them.

Kind of in the middle on Minoh Beer's Godfather 4.

While I normally enjoy stouts, this one seemed a bit watery.

On the other hand, the yuzu flavor was nice.

Meiji Almond...this was a rich matcha (green tea).

Usually whenever something is green tea flavored they usually mix the green tea with white chocolate making things a bit too sweet.

This version was nice because it wasn't sweet.

Kinoko no yama's matcha and chocolate "mushrooms".

The balance of matcha and sweet chocolate are perfect.

Nature Valley's Coconut Crunch granola bars.

I first came across these at the cash register area of Yamaya. After buying one, I had wished I had bought more.

There is lots of coconut in this.

I'm glad I was able to find more at Yamaya recently.

City Bakery's rugelach. Packed with dried fruits and nuts.

This is huge but so good with the flaky croissant type outer shell.

Here is a better photo from the first time I tried it.

What have you been enjoying lately?