nakayama-dera

We've visited this area several times in past years, but I have never written about the ume (apricot) trees at Nakayama-dera. This temple has a bairin (the literal translation is apricot forest, but I think apricot orchard is a little more appropriate for this particular area), which we've visited pre-blog.

On Thursday, the sun was "in and out". The whole hillside was covered with light and dark ume, I particularly liked the darker pink flowers, as they stood out. There was also a little path in which you could walk through the orchard.

Since the past couple of days had been rainy, it was nice just to get out of the house. (Probably everyone that was there felt the same way.)

We had lunch at a nearby cafe called Effet (sorry no photos, was too hungry).

Satoshi had their seafood pasta set which came with lots of seafood, a salad, soup, coffee and all-you-can-eat assorted bread...1400 yen (about US$14).

I chose the steak donburi (steak bowl). This was a piece of sirloin grilled and served with lettuce, tsukemono (pickled veggies) and dollops of wasabi (Japanese horseradish) and oroshi (grated daikon). It also came with some shoyu (soy sauce)...my lunch only came with some miso soup...1500 yen (about US$15). Filling but delicious.

The dining area located at the back of the shop seats about 20 with a couple of seats out on the terrace area. They also sell cakes and baked items at the front of the shop.

After lunch, we went to the market across the street and bought some groceries.

Walking back to the station, we noticed a Japanese warehouse. It turned out that it was a coffee shop called Lamp.

Even though Satoshi had some coffee with his lunch, we decided to go inside to have a cup of coffee.

The inside was quite dark. Of course, since we were having coffee, we decided to check out their desserts. The desserts served at Lamp are made by a local patisserie called Kazu. We enjoyed their pudding roll (an eggy cake filled with cream and topped with custard) & napoleon (a puff pastry sweet with strawberries and cream). The cappuccino I ordered was different from the kind I normally have. This one had a lot of whipped cream on top and was served with a cinnamon stick.

The only thing I didn't care for was that they had a smoking area at the front of the shop which you needed to walk through to get to the non-smoking area. Other than that, their coffee and sweets were delicious.

I'm glad we were able to get out to see some ume (apricot). It was a great Thursday.

Effet
5-15-1 Nakasugi
Takarazuka, Hyogo
Phone: 0797.88.3030
Open: 10:00-23:00

Lamp
5-18-1 Nakasugi
Takarazuka, Hyogo
Phone: 0797.88.8853
Open: 7:00-23:00

p.s. it is White Day today, Happy White Day!

salvaged

I had a recipe for pecan nib cookies bookmarked for some time now.

Since the weather was bad on Tuesday, I decided to stay indoors and tried it.

I cut the recipe back because I didn't need 48 cookies around. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what I did wrong, but the dough came out to crumbs, I tried to press it together into a log, but it just fell apart.

After letting it rest in the refridge (part of the directions), the dough was still crumbly, so I pressed everything into a round baking pan and baked it according to the directions.

When it came out of the oven, it was still REALLY soft.

I tried to take it out of the pan, but it just crumbled.

In the end, I used a butter knife and cut it into triangles (like scones), then let it cool in the pan...I managed to salvage about 8 pieces like this. The rest were crumbs, which was nice on ice cream.

I liked the crunch from the nibs and pecans and the cookie was really, REALLY flaky.

I'll definitely try this again, so I can at least figure out what I did wrong.

shin-jaga

Even though the weather is kinda wishy-washy, I know Spring is coming because there are shin-jagaimo or shin-jaga (new potatoes) in the markets. This particular variety is called May Queen.

The new potatoes here are tiny, only one or two inches, I think they maybe different from the new potatoes you see in the U.S.

When I first came to Japan, I had a hard time figuring out what types of potatoes there were. In Hawaii, the only types I've seen are red, yukon & russet, none of which are in Japan (to my knowledge anyway).

Anyway, here in Japan, certain types are good for curry and some good for croquettes (I think it depends on the texture of the potato, though I usually rely on the sign at the market to tell me which is good for what).

I bought this from a little yaoya (vegetable/fruit stand). A little less than a pound for only 100 yen (about US$1).

I thought I had posted this recipe before but looked through my archives and didn't see it.

The recipe is easy and delicious.

Shin-jaga to gyuniku no amakarani (Beef and new potatoes simmered in a sweet-salty sauce) adapted from Orange Page's "Haru ni Oishii Kondate": Serves 4

405grams (a little less than a pound) new potatoes, scrubbed, eyes removed
100 grams (about 3.5 ounces) beef, thinly sliced
1 carrot, cut into bite size pieces
2/3 cup dashi (stock)
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons shoyu (soy sauce)
olive oil (about 2 tablespoons)

Cut potatoes in half, lengthwise
Fry cut-side down on medium in olive oil, tossing around for about 7-8 minutes
Add meat, cook until meat changes color
Add stock, carrot, sugar and shoyu
Cook uncovered until all liquid evaporates, stir once in awhile
Enjoy with rice

NOTES: I loved the sweet and salty combination and it came together quite quickly. Probably the thing that would take the longest is to make your dashi (stock), though I normally cheat and use dashi packets, which look like tea bags and are filled with konbu (kelp), katsuo bushi (bonito) & niboshi (dried small sardines).

If you can find dashi in these packets, I would highly recommend it, this method is fast and you don't have to go out to look for the individual ingredients.

It's Friday, hope you have a nice weekend!

mejiro

Monday, the sun came out, even if it was for a little bit, the air very crisp.

I walked over to Suigetsu Park. Most of the ume/momo (apricot/peach) trees are in full bloom and one of the many sakura (cherry) trees has started to bloom.

As I was taking some photos, I noticed a group of mejiro (which literally means white eye) attacking the flowers, I'm not sure why they do this, but I've also seen other birds do this to the sakura (cherry) trees, I wonder if there are bugs or something in the flower that they like?

We also have mejiro in Hawaii which surprised Satoshi. I think they were introduced to Hawaii to take care of insects.

Anyway, these photos were the best out of what I took, these birds move quite quickly, plus I didn't want to get too close to scare them away.

I leave you with a short video of the mejiro, sorry I couldn't zoom in on them, I was taking this with my iPhone (which doesn't zoom) and like I said before, I didn't want to get too close to scare them. It was overcast, so the video is a bit dark. Also, there is the rustling of my plastic bag in the background.

belated hinamatsuri

On the last weekend of February, Satoshi went to Kyoto, which I talked about yesterday.

MIL sent him home with this...Hinamatsuri kamaboko (fish cake).

The male character (left) is called O-dairisama & the female (right) is called O-hinasama. Both are supposed to represent the Emperor and Empress of the Heian court.

While I appreciate her sending this home with Satoshi, I wasn't sure how or when we would eat it.

It turned out that we ended up eating it after Hinamatsuri passed, but before the expiry date...whew!

We had this with some udon. I usually make my own tsuyu (soup/sauce) for noodles, the recipe is here. I don't strain the katsuo bushi (bonito flakes) before using the tsuyu, I serve it.

I also cut some green onion (from our lanai) and added a pinch of tororo kombu (thinly shaved kelp). We also sprinkled some shichimi togarashi (mixture of red pepper and 6 Japanese spices).

It was a great lunch on a cold, rainy day.

foodie sort-of saturday

The last weekend of February, the cold came back.

That Saturday evening, Satoshi went to Kyoto to meet up with some of his high school baseball teammates for a reunion of sorts.

Since he would be staying over at his mom's after the gathering, we went to pick up some Japanese treats for her from Kamuro.

Then a couple of streets down from Kamuro, we went to Minoh Beer.

I've been wanting to check out their brewery and to pick up some of their W-IPA (double India Pale Ale) to try. This beer uses 2.5 times the hops and malt to make a strong ale.

The brewery is a small warehouse and is run by 3 sisters who brew, bottle and even paste the labels onto the bottles by hand.

I didn't realize how close this place was to Yamaya. Next time, I go to Yamaya, I'll definitely try to stop by here too.

And a couple of doors down from the brewery is Mimiu, a fancy udon shop. This shop has the patent to the word "udonsuki" which is a dish where udon (wheat noodles) is simmered in a hot pot with seafood broth and vegetables. Apparently the parent company originated in Osaka over 200 years old and has shops around Osaka, Tokyo and Nagoya.

Satoshi had their kayaku gohan set 1600 yen (about US$16) and I had their agemochi udon 1150 yen (about US$11.50). Kayaku gohan is also known as Gomoku gohan, rice cooked in a shoyu flavored sauce with vegetables and aburage (fried tofu). Agemochi is a fried rice cake.

It was my first time eating at Mimiu, I enjoyed their udon, not a place I would to go everyday for udon, but still delicious.

It was great to explore more of Minoo's foodie offerings.

Kamuro
3-9-13 Makiochi
Minoo, Osaka
Phone: 072.725.9622
Closed on Wednesdays

Minoh Beer (UPDATE: 2015 they moved a couple of doors down to a larger location called Minoh Beer Warehouse, this address is only their brewery now)
3-19-11 Makiochi
Minoo, Osaka
Phone: 072.725.7234
Hours: 10:00-18:00, Closed Thursdays

Mimiu
1-1-19 Ina
Minoo, Osaka
Phone: 072.720.5688
Closed 2nd Tuesday

p.s. UPDATE: Not knowing what foods would be good with the W-IPA, I googled around and found that most match with spicy foods. I had envisioned something Mexican, but since I realized we had some kim chee in the refridge that needed eating, we tried the W-IPA the other night with kim chee gyoza and leftover Indian curry. It went nicely with both of these foods. The beer had kick (9% alchohol), hoppy with hints of fruit. I liked it.

me-li-le-pi om!

"Me-li-le-pi Om!" Is a Zen mantra...not!

The weather on Thursday was cold and rainy so I stayed indoors and tried to keep myself entertained by making some sunshine.

The "mantra" stands for Mexican Lime Lemon Pistachio Olive oil Muffins...I shortened it because, well, it was too long! (See what happens when I stay indoors all day long??...)

I've been intrigued with many posts about olive oil cakes/muffins. Looking at the many online recipes, it seems as though they use olive oil in place of butter, so using a muffin recipe that I always use, I subbed a Mexican Lime Olive Oil which I had received from my cousin way back when.

The oil was amazingly still good and very fragrant.

I had intended to also put some lemon juice into the batter (squeezed the lemon and everything) but totally forgot to, so the recipe only has the zest of a lemon in there (and I had a nice yet sour apertif while waiting for these to bake).

The muffins came out very moist, citrus flavors are strong with a little crunch from a handful of pistachios (should've added a little more!). (I received the pistachios from Rowena, thank you!)

Here is the recipe if you'd like to try it: makes 6
150 grams flour
6 grams baking powder
1 egg
80 grams sugar
50 grams Queen Creek Mexican Lime Olive Oil
70 mililiters milk
handful of pistachios
zest of 1 lemon, minced

Sift flour and baking powder, set aside.
Throw in zest and pistachios into flour mixture to coat

With a hand mixer, beat egg and sugar
Add in oil and milk, beat a little longer

Add the wet mixture to the dry and mix well with a rubber spatula

Bake at 180C (350F) for about 25 minutes.

NOTES: Actually, I was envisioning a lemon poppy olive oil muffin, but couldn't find black poppy seeds, only white. Then I got to thinking about the pistachios I received from Rowena and lemon. And then remembered I had the lime olive oil tucked away in my cupboard.

Anyway, this was very citrusy and moist. I would definitely make this again especially when I am too lazy to defrost some butter.

Even though the weather outside was miserable, I'd say there was a lot of sunshine in my kitchen.