Finally made the haupia using the mix that friend Val had given me...instead of putting it into an 8 x 8 pan, I put it into my yogurt/pudding jars.
I still have the bread pudding mix to try...hope to do that soon.
Yumetouka...another variety from Yamanashi Prefecture, this could have been a little more ripe.
It was firm like a nectarine and a little sour near the seed.
Ichi maru hachi's imagawayaki.
They sell all sorts of matcha based drinks as well as these matcha based imagawayaki.
I purchased the one filled with tsubuan (chunky sweet bean paste) for Satoshi and I.
They also have cream fillings too.
I tried to crisp up the outside in the toaster, but should have toasted it longer.
I'm glad we tried this.
Tried the Plant Based Whopper with Avocado...
It was pretty good, though you could tell it wasn't beef.
I wish they made this in the whopper junior size...
The krazy things you see in the window of a dentist's office....I like the creativity of using "teeth" as lamps..
So…Tokyo’s daily case numbers hit 900 on Wednesday…pretty much what science said would happen.
The prime minister is putting us back on "prohibition"…which he feels is taking "preventive measures"...what?!
Bars, karaoke and restaurants will not be able to serve alcohol.
I think they need to stop selling alcohol after 20:00 at convenience stores too to prevent people from drinking on the streets, but what do I know?!
No spectators will be able to view the games in person, BUT staff, Olympic VIP and athlete entourages will be able to view the games in the stadiums...boo!
I don't think doing this will stop the foot traffic during the day or night...
Between rain bursts, we've been lucky to get out for a bit to buy food and necessities.
The weather dude says that our rainy season is almost over, which means wet and humid will turn to blazing and humid.
We called our doctor's office and are waiting for them to call us with our vaccine appointment...hopefully it will be soon.
Kasugai peaches...these were grown in Yamanashi prefecture.
So juicy and sweet!
Tokyo people...decided to put commentary with the pics…loved this guy's red shoes and printed shirt.
Meals on wheels...
A group was sketching at the botanical garden...and there was this furry one begging for food.
Another meals on wheels
Semi-good news!
We received our vaccination tickets yesterday...hopefully we can get appointments smoothly, there is talk that there are not enough vaccines…demand is greater than supply, so they are stopping reservations in some areas…
You should know that the only English was on the outside of the envelope and all the paperwork is in Japanese..boo!
On June 30th, Starbucks came out with 47 different frappuccinos for each prefecture to celebrate their 25th anniversary in Japan.
Tokyo's frappuccino is a caramel frappuccino with coffee jelly (gelatin)...682 yen (plus tax) tall size only
Not overly sweet, it has also been awhile since we have had anything from Starbucks.
Bummer you can only drink the frappuccino of your prefecture, it would have been fun to try some of the others.
Tokyo's case numbers have gone up, Wednesday's number was over 700.
As of July 1st, many foreign teams have started to come to Japan…
Satoshi had signed up to work at the Olympics, I’m relieved he could not be scheduled.
Can you believe that the Prime Minister is keeping his decision a secret as to whether the Olympics will have spectators or not?!
It will depend on the outcome of the election this weekend?! gah! hoping everyone will vote the Prime Minister’s party out.
It is rainy season so the weather has been rainy, sometimes humid, sometimes cool.
That's how many steps I had on my pedometer after we got back from an adventure yesterday.
First stop...Shinobazu Pond.
The lotus flowers were only starting to bloom.
Hopefully we'll be able to get back here when they are in full bloom.
Next we stumbled upon this tiny arare shop, Takesen.
They've been making arare for over 60 years.
Everything made from scratch and no preservatives or artificial sweeteners.
We purchased two types...the one on the left has three flavors, sugar, matcha and plain.
The one on the right uses "white" shoyu.
We look forward to trying both soon!
Then we made our way to our next stop...journalist, Takashi Tachibana's cat building.
He was apparently a cat lover.
He recently passed away and when I saw the story on the news, they showed his building, a quick check online showed where the building is located.
I'm glad we got to check this out.
And then we stumbled upon Okano Eisen's main shop on the way to our next stop.
If you remember, we stopped in to their Toranomon shop earlier this year and felt they were quite cold, plus we weren't able to purchase their mame daifuku.
Well, this shop was nicer and we got lucky on this day.
I'm glad we tried this, it was filled with sweet bean paste and there are cooked red beans (mame) worked into the outer mochi...the sweet and salty combination is nicely balanced.
Our next stop was the Koishikawa Botanical Garden...loved these copper fences that were punched with holes made to look like leaves.
If I am not mistaken, this botanical garden is run by Tokyo University.
This botanical garden holds all sorts of plants, trees and herbs.
In September 1923, this garden was a shelter for residents during the largest earthquake in Tokyo.
Hope you can see this short video of the krazy worm I saw in the garden.
It was iridescent green/yellow and there were ants or something eating it...eek!
And then we walked back to have lunch at Firehouse.
I had seen this shop on a Japanese drama and bookmarked it to try.
We had to wait about 30 minutes for a table.
Satoshi had the egg burger.
The egg was oozy and he said he enjoyed this.
I had their apple burger...apples sauteed with sugar and cinnamon.
Totally different but I enjoyed the sweet and salty combination.
It was nice to eat out for a change but I was disappointed that the restaurant did not have any acrylic barriers between diners and that at the other diners were talking out loud without their masks while dining.
Hoping this was a safe meal and we plan to be more careful with our choice in eateries in the future...
After lunch, we then walked to see the Akamon (red gate) of Tokyo University.
We had often seen this on the news, but never saw it in person.
We couldn't go on to the campus, but it was nice to walk around this area.
I loved looking at the different buildings.
Like this tiny barber shop amongst the cement jungle.
and then we were back at Shinobazu Pond...I was fascinated by the water beads on this large lotus leaves...click to see the short video.
And then before going home, we went to check out the Tsuki no matsu located at Kiyomizu Kannon-do in Ueno Park...the original was damaged in the Edo period and this one was restored in 2012.
Hiroshige Utagawa painted this scenery of the Tsuki no matsu and Kiyomizu Kannon-do in his U-kiyoe paintings.
It was quite a long day...luckily it didn't rain very hard, just some drizzles and we got to see all that we wanted to.
The krazy things you see in the window of a dentist's office....I like the creativity of using "teeth" as lamps..
