sakura walk

Today was forecast as cloudy but it turned out to be pretty nice.

We headed out early to Shibuya to check out Sakurazaka.

A really short street, but beautiful!

Interesting looking school.

Taihu Brewing...

Lamborghini

Daikanyama

Krazy cloud

Baseball season...

Tokyo people...check out how high her shoes were...AND she ran! across as soon as it was safe to cross...

15040...it was nice to be out and about.

Made a short video if you are interested...here.

this and that

(photo...1957 Cadillac) Sunday, Tokyo's sakura was declared "in season"...if you remember, the weather dude looks at a certain tree in a designated area and if he sees 5 flowers blooming, he declares the sakura season to begin.

In Osaka, the tree was located near Osaka Castle.  In Tokyo, the tree is located near Yasukuni Shrine.

(photo...tiny Nissan pickup) Tuesday, Mother Nature decided to "fling" us back into Winter with a cold snap…it was raining and at times snowing.

On top of that, since the power plant run by Tokyo Electric needs to recover from that krazy earthquake the other day, Tokyo as well as 7 other prefectures were asked by Tokyo Electric to conserve electricity.

akabanamitsumata (edgeworthia chrysantha)

tsubaki (camellia)

Tried Oogoshi's daigaku imo...hint of dashi (stock)

Not overly sweet..delicious.

Teriyaki chicken sandwich from Sakaeya Bakery

Learned that these are disc fish.

Was in awe that these are in the waiting room of a dentist that we passed by.

Gadget we have to "fluff" up our futon (comforters) has an attachment to dry shoes...

For all the good left in the world, hoping Ukraine will prevail and the war ends soon.

Have a safe weekend.

9232

Went to Omori yesterday to buy some coffee beans.

I had thought these sakura trees were kawazuzakura but looked at our ward's page and these were noted as a variety called yoko.

Love the dark pink color.

While waiting for the train to leave...love the anime type billboards.

Cup sake...bought the sake for hubs and the cups for me...he he

Neko neko bread...these are supposed to be strawberry swirled.

We ate this with cream cheese this morning and it was so good.

You could smell the strawberry as it toasted.

This type of bread is a bit pricey to eat every day (250 yen or so, a slice), but would be nice to give away.

300 yen (tax included) bento from Oogoshi.

Croquette and grilled salmon.

Delicious.

I also purchased some kinmedai nitsuke (simmered splendid alfonsino)...400 yen (tax included) each for our dinner.

Love how they also pack some "gravy", to pour on top when I reheated this.

The wind was fahreezing yesterday but it was nice to get out and about after the rain/snow.

chimoto

Monday was a holiday, Vernal Equinox or the First day of Spring.

I had actually planned to go to the Toritsudaigaku area on Tuesday, but the weather was forecast for rain, so we went on Monday instead.

Since it was a holiday there were quite a number of people out and about.

One place we stumbled upon was Chimoto.

Apparently they have been in business for about 50 years.

They are apparently known for their Yagumo mochi.

The mochi is super soft.

A look at the ingredients and it is similar to homemade marshmallows.

Made from brown sugar and cashews, meringue and other ingredients it is not very sweet and there are sometimes pieces of cashews.

I’m glad we were able to try this, as I’ve seen people post that they were sold out by the time they went.

In the summer they are popular for shave ice, and in the fall they are popular for kuri (chestnut) yokan.

Because of the pandemic, their cafe area is currently closed, so hopefully we'll be able to check out their shave ice in the future.

We'll be back.

Chimoto

1-4-6 Yagumo

Meguro, Tokyo

Phone: 03.3718.4643

Closed Thursdays & some Wednesdays

Hours: 10:00-16:00 earlier if they sell out.

kitchen croquette

We tried a new (to us) bento place, Kitchen Croquette.

They have been in business for over 40 years.

Matsuko Deluxe even ate there (there is a photo of her on the door)

Satoshi and I both got their daily bento which had 5 different bento items...white fleshed fish with tomato & clam sauce, chicken katsu with parmesan cheese, eggplant nibitashi (braised), pan fried ham, harusame (glass noodle) salad, cabbage and tsukemono...650 yen (tax included)

For 50 yen more you can change the white rice to multi grain rice...so that is what I did.

And since the shop is called Kitchen Croquette, we picked up two of their croquette to try...120 yen (tax included) each.

The croquette was perfectly fried, creamy, delicious!

And every item in the bento was flavorful and delicious.

My favorite item was the fish.

I'm glad we tried this shop and will definitely be back whenever we are nearby.

Kitchen Croquette

4-35-8 Omorihigashi

Ota, Tokyo

Phone: 03.5471.2751

Closed Sundays

Hours: 11:00-14:00 (lunch), 16:00-20:00 (dinner) 

jimmy's

Jimmy's is a chain type bakery in Okinawa, I've never actually been to one when we visited Okinawa, but think it may be similar to Zippy's or King's Bakery.

I think they also have restaurants around Okinawa too.

Apparently they have been in business since 1956 and the owner used to work on the American bases in Okinawa and people used to call him "Jimmy".

He also apparently went to Hawaii to learn how to bake cakes.

I recently found their muffins at the market, so I picked up their banana nut and chocolate chip for us to try.

They are "larger" than the muffins that you find around Japan, so in essence you could say they are "American sized" (though I think the muffins you find in America are probably larger)

These were super moist, buttery and delicious.

On their website they note that they also have purple sweet potato muffins, which I would like to try.

I'm glad we tried them and would pick them up again. 

this and that

One thing you cannot find in Kanto (Eastern Japan) are ka-ru (curls) similar to cheetos made by Meiji.

Wasn't ever really into these when we lived in Osaka, but bought them for our Friday/Saturday pupu parties.

Kamogawa....Kamo river.

Sunday was overcast and super warm.

We tried Kamogawa, a Japanese sweet made by Choseido, which has been in business since 1919.

This sweet is supposed to represent the clear water of the Kamo river and the river rocks that you can see in the water.

We also tried the Chosei mochi...kinako mochi...so soft...delicious.

Since we had nothing else to do (no tv or wifi)...Satoshi worked on his videos.

He can do them himself using an app...yeah!

I'll post some of them later...shh!

I was so bored that I took pictures of all sorts of things.

Like this bottle of sake...Kyochitose.

Some things I brought back..the bells that were attached to my Mount Fuji hiking stick.

A koa clock I found in MIL’s stash that I think my mom gave to her that was made by my Uncle Herb.

A wind chime I found in MIL’s stash...love the sound of this one.

Gonna see if Book Off will buy this MD player.

Cute robot at the Haneda Airport Information Desk, guess they have replaced people...

This monaka made by Suehiroya, this Japanese sweet shop has been in business for over 70 years and is  located on the way to the family grave.

Bought some of Satoshi's favorite tsukemono, suguki and red turnip.

The neighborhood kanhizakura tree has started blooming.

Had to make space since "someone" is not ready to danshari (purge), he sent 5 boxes from Kyoto to Tokyo...can you believe those boxes originally came from Hawaii?! (which means he has not opened them for over 20 years?!) sigh.

Have a safe weekend.

Choseido

22-1 Shimogamo Kamikawara-cho

Sakyo, Kyoto

Phone: 075.712.0677

Closed Mondays & Tuesdays

Hours: 10:00-17:30

Suehiroya

3 Sennyuji Suzumegamori-cho

Higashiyama, Kyoto

Phone: 075.561.6043

Open Daily 9:00-17:00