shishito

1st time cooking with shishito peppers...where have I been?!

On Saturday, I wanted to make skewers and needed another veggie.

When I walked into the market, this packet of shishito was staring at me.

On top of that the price was nice...100 yen!

These peppers were on the small side but easy to use.

The other skewers were tomato with pork belly and ume shiso pork belly rolls.

On Sunday I served this with some grilled lamb.

I still have a little left so will use them for our dinner tonight.

It is a holiday today, Umi no hi (Ocean Day)...5 days until the Olympics and boy! are there all sorts of problems arising.

Have a nice week.

this and that

Tokyo people....this couple was dressed up!

Caught these two waiting for their turn at the vet...it was so blazing! that day.

Cute origami found in the vending machine windows...

Banana called Caribbean Queen apparently a grand nain variety from Costa Rica.

Highlight for Satoshi this week was not having to go to work and to be able to watch the Home Run Derby and MLB All Star Game.

Warning: if you are snoring (loudly) and Kat cannot nap, this may happen....

It's nectarine season, I thought I had wrote about finding this last year, but didn't.

The nectarines we have in Tokyo are grown in Nagano prefecture.

I'm glad I found them again this year.

And so, on Wednesday, Tokyo's cases hit 1149 and 1308 on Thursday...pretty much what science said would happen.

By the time the Olympics rolls around in a week!, we (Tokyo) should be near 2500?! or higher.

The "bubble" that the Olympics said it would have with media, athletes and staff has holes in it, as they are finding foreigners walking around Tokyo as well as other discrepancies ....sigh

Oh and the IOC have “special rules”…only needing to “quarantine” for 3 days AND can travel outside the bubble to Hiroshîma and Nagasaki while the Japanese need to “stay at home”…grr

And as if there is not enough drama, with the temperature of the Pacific ocean so warm, it may make a typhoon sometime soon…eep

Have a safe weekend.

inyo

Two shops down from Songbird Bakery is a cafe called SSYET (not too sure how to pronounce this...definitely hoping it is not pronounced as "sh++")

SSYET doesn't open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and instead lets Inyo use their space on these days.

I think it is nice way for eateries to “test out” brick & mortar places before actually committing to a place of your own.

Anyway, we tried Inyo's spice curry on Tuesday.

Inyo only does take out, which is perfect for things these days.

minced pork and summer veggie keema...potato and green bean spice stir fry...cucumber and myoga pickles...beet and coconut stir fry...medium boiled egg and cilantro...1300 yen (tax included)

This curry was delicious and filling.

The side dishes…some were spicy *cough* while others were just aromatic.

I liked that everything wasn’t oily or salty.

The owner also gave me an ume shrub drink (which I shared with Satoshi) since their credit card reader was wonky.

I added some carbonated water since it was a little too sour for my liking.

I'm glad we got to try them and hope to takeout from here every so often.

Inyo

1-2-12 Nishikamata

Ota, Tokyo

Phone: n/a

Open Tuesdays and Wednesdays 

Hours: 11:30-14:00

hio ice cream

We recently tried a craft ice cream called Hio (hee-oh).

They are a small batch ice cream maker.

Their main shop is in the Jiyugaoka area of Tokyo.

They also have a shop near Kamata, where we live.

The ice cream they make uses single origin milk from Hokkaido and organic ingredients.

Currently they are selling their ice cream at some Lawson in the East Japan areas, which is where I purchased these.

The vanilla ice cream was smooth, super creamy and rich.

The salted caramel, like the vanilla was also smooth, super creamy and rich. The flavor reminded me of eating those French salted caramel candies.

We want to see what they are selling at the shop in Kamata, as they are supposed to have seasonal flavors.

I'm glad we tried this and hope we can try other flavors in the future.

inose

Sunday, we checked out the Zoshiki area for lunch and dinner...

What caught our eye was fried shrimp from a butcher shop called Inose.

I bought a roll from Family Mart and made a sandwich.

Satoshi bought some rice and instant curry to make his fried shrimp curry lunch.

The fried shrimp was all shrimp, without spaces of only batter like some places.

We also purchased Inose's reishabu salad.

Reishabu is thinly sliced pork that is blanched and usually seen during summer.

The salad had lettuce, onion, cucumbers and the pork.

I added some shiso and okra.

The dressing that came with this salad was so good!

It was kind of like ponzu (citrus soy) but with (I think) some ginger in it.

I still have one more bottle, so I will use this soon.

Inose also makes shumai, which we want to try but need to reserve, so hopefully we'll be able to do so soon.

Inose

2-25-2 Nakarokugo

Ota, Tokyo

Phone: 03.3732.4062

Closed Fridays

Hours: 9:00-19:00

yesterday

Yesterday, we had one of those krazy rain storms.

It brought hail, krazy winds and lots of rain at once in parts of Tokyo and the surrounding prefectures.

We heard a lot of thunder and saw some lightning and also heard many running to get out of the rain.

This was the sunset afterwards...

And the faintest but wide rainbow seen from the other side of our apartment.

Today is the start of yet another state of emergency...it is again only "on request" nothing mandatory.

This one is supposed to last until August 22, the end of the Olympics.

During this state of emergency, there are "events" like O-bon, summer vacation and various holidays...

Many shops that mainly serve alcohol (bars, izakaya, karaoke) are asked not to operate and will be "compensated".

These shops are very upset because they still have not been compensated for other states of emergencies.

All shops and restaurants are asked to close at 20:00.

Convenience stores are exempt from this rule, so you know where the people drinking on the street are getting their alcohol from...

Over the past week, there has been so much damage in Kyushu from rains and other prefectures in Honshu.

On top of that, Tokyo's rainy season isn't even over and we've gone straight into blazing and humidity, our temps yesterday was 33C (91F)!

A little over 2 weeks until the Olympics...I still feel Japan should not be holding this.

Have a good (safe) week.

this and that

Reconnected with this recipe.

I omitted the ginger and it was still delicious.

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.

 Hope you are doing well....have a safe weekend.