on a walk

Last Tuesday we got out and about.

It was actually cool enough, no humidity too...whoo!

We went to check out this bath house...Myojin-yu.

It is being used in a J-drama we are watching, and after looking online we realized it was about 40 minutes walking distance from where we are so we wanted to check it out IRL (in real life).

It is huge! and was built in 1957.

If I am not mistaken bath houses were made to look like temples after the war to calm people and give them hope for the future.

Satoshi says he wants to go bathe there after our COVID cases go down.

Nearby is this huge park called Higashi Chofu….

With all these fun things for kids to play on.

Even a real steam engine!

I love this house along side the rail tracks.

It looks like it is half of a barrack.

I love when the roses are blooming on their lanai.

The sunflowers in our neighborhood are huge too.

Taller than Satoshi.

This kochia plant in our neighborhood is getting huge too.

It has been overflowing out onto the roadway.

It reminded me of a caterpillar...ha!

Lunch from Hutte.

Weiner with a snap, salted butter anpan and chocolate nut scone.

13565 steps...legs felt like jelly afterwards but we were happy to be outside for a change.

this and that

Tokyo people...the traffic guy at a nearby pachinko parlor.

These guys were talking story...I was more interested in the NYPD police car parked...looks real too!

Since it is new month I bought some flowers for all the people that passed away in our lives...these sunflowers have also been brightening up the recent cloudy, rainy days.

We have been running out of ideas for lunch...dinner too for that matter.

Satoshi was happy that Kat let him drink beer on a weekday.

A sign of the season changing...Mount Fuji had some snow on top which was apparently a month earlier than last year.

All this rain has made the price of vegetables skyrocket.

As I was updating my recipe page, I think I might have erased some recipes, I hate how blogger updates soon after a change happens, I wasn't able to undo the deletion....boo!

I am a mosquito magnet…*scratch* *scratch*

Main branch of government is planning to have an election in a couple of weeks for the next Prime Minister...boo! which means all the media and the government is focused on this and not the pandemic...boo!

I hate the fact that they are not in session but will come out of “hiding” just for this...like the opposing parties said, "work on the pandemic from 9 to 5 and then you can talk about elections after those hours"...I think they should all be working on this pandemic 24-7…

Japan’s 2nd vaccine rate is only 49% and will slow down because they are running out of vaccines.

Hoping the "myu" variant from Colombia which seems to be resistant to vaccines doesn't increase in Japan especially since they've already found 2 cases...

Tokyo's numbers are still slowly going down, BUT severe cases and cases waiting for hospital beds are still high.

Hoping you all stay safe.

Have a nice weekend.

iwasakien

It is grape season here as well.

I wanted to get my hands on some Pizzutello Bianco (the pointy grapes that we tried in the past), and found some online from Iwasakien, a farm in Yamanashi prefecture.

Love the picture/poster they include when you open your box.

I purchased their smallest amount which was 2 kilos which turned out to be 3 large bunches.

My fridge is now filled with this box of grapes…whoo!

Unlike the pizzutello bianco we tried in the past which were seedless, these have seeds.

Still, very sweet and crisp though.

I'm glad I found some online and we'll be enjoying this for a couple of days. 

fig season

It's fig season...we have been enjoying them with our yogurt in the morning.

The one on the left is called Masui Dauphine and was grown in Aichi prefecture.

The one on the right is called Toyomitsuhime and was grown in Fukuoka prefecture.

I loved the red color of the Toyomitsuhime.

Both were delicious and I'm glad we got to try these.o 

this and that

Tried this chocolate & butter salt popcorn which I found at the 100 yen store.

The chocolate popcorn had more flavor than the butter salt pieces.

And the butter salt popcorn was on the verge of going stale.

Glad we tried this but wouldn't buy it again.

Pierre Herme teamed up with 7-eleven again and came out with a coffee eclair.

Coffee jelly (gelatin), coffee custard and coffee whipped cream.

This was delicious!

Not too sweet and lots of coffee flavor.

Since the start of September our temps have dropped!

TMI: I think I started “the change of life” between vaccine #1 and #2…kinda hard to tell if I have a fever or if it is a hot flash…

Tokyo's numbers are slowly going down, but it is still high we are definitely not out of the woods yet.

Satoshi and I were thinking about going to Hawaii so that I can renew my driver's license BUT our biggest hang up is that we would have to quarantine for 14 days after returning to Japan.

We wouldn't be allowed to use public transportation to get home either.

Which means we would need to walk home from Haneda airport without coming in contact with anyone?! or stay near the airport?! kind of impossible.

So right now we are waiting for everyone's numbers to go down and hoping that Japan will change their quarantine policy.

We hope you are all doing well.

Have a safe weekend.

taiyo & kouka no shizuku

We've been trying different plums lately...

This one is called Taiyo (which means sun) and was grown in Yamanashi prefecture.

So so sour!

This one is called Kouka no Shizuku and the name is a combination of meanings taken from the chinese characters used to write the name..."deep red", "fragrance", "droplet"

This plum was grown in Aomori prefecture.

So so red!

Not too sweet but definitely sweeter than Taiyo.

I'm glad we got to try both varieties.

What have you been enjoying these days?

malabar spinach miso walnut-ae

  Tried a new (to me) recipe.

It is kind of like goma-ae (veggies coated with sesame), instead the sauce used is a miso walnut.

Adapted from Sangmi Yojo Gohan : serves 2

1 package malabar spinach : about 100 grams

50 grams walnuts

10 grams miso (about 1 teaspoon)

1 tablespoon mirin

Clean malabar spinach and cook

Rinse, squeeze out liquid

Cut into bite sized pieces

Toast nuts in dry pan for about 3 minutes

Whizz 30 grams of walnuts in food processor

With rest of walnuts grind in mortar and pestle with miso and mirin

Mix sauce with spinach and food processed nuts

NOTES: this was easy and tasty

I usually just wilt my green veggies in a non-stick pan so that is how I prepared my spinach.

And to make the sauce I just whizzed the nuts, miso and mirin and didn’t use the mortar and pestle.

I think you could use different types of nuts and greens.

I’m definitely making this again.