vinho verde

I am probably late to the game but I just stumbled on Vinho Verde.

Wines from the Vinho Verde region of Portugal.

Most have bubbles, light, fruity, some are dry and there are also rose versions too.

Don't forget to look for the seal of guarantee too.

What are you enjoying these days?

hiyajiru

Hiyajiru (literally cold soup) is something eaten during summer when your appetite is supposedly not too great.

Luckily, I've never had a problem with my appetite during summer or any time of the year for that matter (ahem!)...

Anyway, I think we were watching a television show and it mentioned this dish, which Satoshi then requested me to make. 

Many prefectures in Japan have their own version and many families have their own versions too.

This summer, the heat has been pretty brutal.

Over the past week or so, sadly, many people, mostly elderly have died due to heatstroke because they were sleeping without their a/c.

In the past, I would set the a/c timer to turn off in the middle of the night, but this year we have had the a/c on all day and night...

The other night, I tried making hiyajiru.

Adapted from the internet : makes 2 servings

200 grams kinudofu (soft type tofu)

300 milliliters liquid dashi

2 teaspoons miso

1 cucumber, thinly sliced

1 can of tuna (75 grams)

1 myoga, thinly sliced

5 leaves shiso, chiffonade

2 okra, sliced thin

1/4 teaspoon ground sesame seeds

Break up the tofu into a bowl, add the veggies

Dissolve the miso into the dashi, pour over the veggies & tofu

Enjoy! with rice, somen or your favorite starch.

NOTES: super easy, tasty and definitely no cooking.

There are some recipes that ask you to heat the miso in the toaster or over an open flame to deepen the miso flavor, but I didn't do that.

You could probably use whatever veggies you have on hand since it is like cold miso soup.

Hope you have a safe weekend!

maff

Tuesday, we received this envelope from MAFF (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries).

My first thought was "oh no it's those mysterious seeds being sent from China".

But upon opening up the letter, it was something being sent from the US.

It was 1 gram of wasurenagusa seeds...I looked up what that was.

"forget-me-not" seeds...

I called the number and talked to the person working there.

He mentioned that a letter addressed to us had be scanned and these seeds were in them.

The seeds were not marked as inspected by agriculture in the US, so they were not able to forward the seeds to us.

I asked him who was sending us this letter.

He told me the name and I realized it was my cousin in California.

Then I remembered that some families send seeds as a thank you whenever someone passes.

Which is why the seeds were "forget-me-not", they were for my Aunty who passed due to COVID earlier this year.

I told the person to remove the seeds and forward the letter to us.

He said that due to COVID, the forwarded letter will take about 2 to 3 weeks! as it passes through the Japan postal service (and it is only going from Yokohama to Tokyo)...sigh.

Afterwards, I emailed my cousin and told her what had happened.

She confirmed that she did have a packet of seeds in with her thank you note for the sympathy card we had sent to her.

Thank goodness it wasn't from China...and thank goodness I was able to sort things out smoothly.

this lady

Walking around our neighborhood are the meter ladies. 

I say ladies because I have never seen men doing this job. 

Do you remember this post? I've not seen any ladies here in Tokyo checking the meters this way (yet).

Anyway, she has her mask on and jacket!

Her mask has a slit in it so she can drink water while she is on her route.

If you look carefully at her jacket though it has a built-in fan!

I've also seen men on construction sites dressed this way too.

The heat is brutal this year, hope you are keeping cool (and safe) where you are.

flourless okonomiyaki

This was actually supposed to be a huge flourless takoyaki, but I didn't read the recipe and assumed it was okonomiyaki.

Super easy and tasty...my kind of cooking these days.

Serves 4: adapted from 3 minute cooking

300 grams chinese yam, weighed, rinsed, peeled and grated

1 cup dashi (liquid)

4 eggs

200 grams pork belly

100 grams julienned cabbage

shaved bonito

aonori

okonomiyaki sauce

mayo

Mix the grated yam, eggs and dashi.

Add the cabbage 

In a heated non-stick pan, add the cabbage mix

Cook for 5 minutes on medium heat

Before flipping over, add pork belly

Cook for another 5 minutes

Top with okonomiyaki sauce, bonito, aonori & mayo

NOTES: delicious! more like a fluffy omelette but perfect if you cannot have flour or are cutting back on flour.

Will try with boiled tako (octopus) to make this like takoyaki next time.

the gyoza snob

I am a chocolate and coffee snob, Satoshi is a gyoza snob.

He says he hasn't found a gyoza that he likes in Tokyo.

One day when I was looking at my favorite supermarket's ad, I noticed they had frozen Min Min gyoza on sale.

Min Min is a popular place in Osaka...of course, the gyoza snob loves Min Min's gyoza...he also loves Kyoto Ohsho.

So, I didn't tell him I bought this...

Instead I cooked up half the batch and kept the rest in the freezer for another meal.

After he took his first bite, he looked at me and said, "is this Min Min gyoza?!"

My secret was out...He's knows his stuff yeah?!

I noticed they have a couple of shops in Tokyo, so we’ll check them out when it is safe to eat out.

hibiya park

One place that Satoshi found near his workplace is Hibiya Park.

This park is large and a nice way to get away from the hustle of the city for a bit.

He said he eats his lunch here.

From his photos, I think this is Kumogata Pond.

I haven't explored this park (yet), but look forward to in the future.

Have a safe weekend everyone.