fantasia

We tried a new (to us) nectarine called Fantasia.

It was grown in Fukushima prefecture and is apparently a cross between Gold King and Red King nectarines.

It was quite large compared to the nectarines we had earlier this summer.

The first one wasn't super sweet, but was still delicious.

The second one was super juicy and was a little tart.

I'm glad we got to try this variety and am always on the lookout for new varieties of fruit/veggies for us to try.

 

this and that

Back to Songbird Bakery...

Soleil is the name of this bakery's melon pan.

I've tried melon pan in the past and most times, the bread that is under the cookie dough topping is dry and tasteless, but Songbird's is a game changer...buttery moist and so so good!

Cheese bread

Fig simmered in red wine, cream cheese bread

Ururu.....is another unusual named bread.

This one looks hard but is super soft.

Apparently the baker puts lots of liquid in his dough then bakes it slow and low.

Look forward to trying the cheese bread & fig bread with wine tonight and I put the ururu bread in the freezer to eat later.

If I can gather the ingredients, I want to re-create this tako (octopus) salad from 7-eleven.

If you want to try, this is what the salad includes...tako, edamame, celery, broccoli, potato and pesto....sounds easy & tasty yeah?!

7-eleven also came out with mochi doughnuts but they are not as good as some others I have tried.

So...The night after receiving my 2nd vaccine my joints got all stiff.

I woke up the next day with body aches and a headache.

I took some aspirin and then took my temperature, which had gone up a bit.

We laid low on Tuesday and took many naps.

That evening, we both had fevers.

Overall we both felt sluggish.

On Wednesday, I was back to normal but Satoshi was still feeling sluggish, he refused to take any aspirin, so I think his reaction took some time to weaken.

Satoshi, he kept saying..."Kat you are so strong!"....I was like, “just take aspirin!”

I admit 10 years or more ago I probably would have waited until the last moment before taking pain relievers, but nowadays, I don't wait.

Japan is in a krazy downward spiral…case numbers increasing rapidly and so many people dying at home because there are no hospital beds for them...Japan hit 20,000+ new cases on Wednesday and at this point there are 70,000 at home waiting for hospital beds!

The place that I get my hair colored also had two cases over the weekend, so I guess I need to wait a couple more weeks for the vaccine to do its thing or at least until they can get the case number in a more manageable range before I can get my hair colored.

The main branch refuses to lock everyone down because they say it won't work (how do you know unless you try?!) AND is still on summer vacation! (what is wrong with these people?!)

Oh and the Lambda variant from Peru came with someone from Peru during the Olympics but no one from the main branch of government addressed it until AFTER the Olympics was over, because it was only 1 case....um, it only takes 1.

On top of all of this it is still raining in Kyushu, Hiroshima and the surrounding areas, so much damage and loss of life.

We plan to lay low, hopefully the case numbers will go down as well.

I hope you all are doing well.

Please keep safe and have a nice weekend.

beautiful

So happy I woke up to see this, this morning.

Hope you can view this too.

keeping cool

This summer, we've been keeping cool with ice cream and sweets...

Like this frozen creme brulee.

It had a hard sugar top and the chocolate custard was rich and creamy.

They also have a custard version, so if I see it at the market, I'll get it to try.

This chocolate bar filled with vanilla ice cream.

I usually break it in half so I can enjoy it for two days.

Watermelon...so refreshing.

This one would've been good had it not melted on the way home and then refroze into a big blob.

It was our first time trying this one, filled with all sorts of fruits...pineapple, peach and orange.

This stracciatella bar was more chocolate than vanilla...love!

I heard there is a chocolate banana version, hope to be able to find it to try.

My all time favorite is this monaka...like a huge rectangle cone with vanilla and chocolate inside.

I also break this one in half to enjoy for two days.

What have you been enjoying to keep cool? 

hokkaido

Since Family Mart was having a Hokkaido Fair and we can't travel we bought some foods to eat our way through Hokkaido.

Chicken skin chips...oh em gee...so bad for you but so good!

Almost $5 for a teeny bag but so worth it...I would get this one again.

They had different flavors but we tried their salt version.

Fruit beers made by Hokkaido Beer.

Yubari melon and Yoichi Cherry & Berry ales.

Just like drinking the actual fruit juices!

Hotate Butter Shoyu Ramen by Fujiwara Seimen.

So much scallop and butter flavor!

On the package it also said to add rice at the end for zosui.

Satoshi was excited because he thought Kat was gonna let him drink all the broth...ha!

He was bummed when he found out he had to use the spoon with holes to eat the zosui...

Yakisoba bento. I had been wanting to try this but apparently this is only sold in Hokkaido.

I was excited to see that Family Mart brought it in,  add the hot water to make your yakisoba.

Then instead of throwing the water out, pour it into a cup and add the instant soup to have with your yakisoba.

I only took a sip of the soup because eating the yakisoba and soup would be too much salt, but you know who drank all of his soup...ahem.

I'm glad we got to try all these different items from Hokkaido but am looking forward to the day when we can travel safely again.

we are still bored

Remember I told you about the hanger we saw on the roof of the apartment building across the street?!

Well, it is gone.

I am not too sure when it happened but think it must of fallen off when the winds were krazy the other week.

Hoping no one got hurt when it fell off.

We are still bored but with all the rain we have been staying indoors and hopefully this is keeping us safe.

At least the temps dropped to 19C(66F)…whoo!

Semi-good news...we are scheduled for our second vaccination today, hoping we won't have any side effects.

The medical system is in a panic trying to save everyone.

So much rain and damage in Kyushu, Hiroshima, Nagano and Gifu...they predict the rain to stop later this week!

And while all this is happening, can you believe that the main branch of government is on "summer vacation"?!...grr

Hoping you all have a safe but good week.

this and that

Weird stuff found inside of these oranges I had bought, it was hard...ew!

note to self, make sure they are not imported...
 

This pediatrician that has been on most news programs regarding the pandemic wears these interesting neckties.

This one was a surfing picture, but he also has Disney & cartoon character neckties too.

Been enjoying these butter biscuits from Family Mart.

Whipped cream cheese is sandwiched between two butter cookies.

The cookies are kind of soggy but I love the cream cheese fillings.

This one was lemon and the one I tried before was chocolate.

Sad to see someone throw out their teddy bear.

Tokyo's numbers haven't totally exploded but is hanging around 4000-ish per day.

Almost every prefecture's case numbers are up too.

I wish the main branch of government would do more.

On top of that Mother Nature has thrown us back to the rainy season especially Kyushu.

I think we all need a smile these days...please stay safe.