osaka-tokyo

Saturday after Satoshi's German class we flew to Tokyo.

Up above the clouds the weather was pretty wonderful, sunny and blue skies.

Down below though it was pretty grey and gloomy.

Luckily, our hotel was only a "hop" from the subway station.

After checking in, we walked in the drizzle to Shinjuku, which was about a 10 minute walk.

Dinner was at a Chinese restaurant, nothing fancy.

We both had cold noodles. Satoshi is the type to eat temperature hot foods even when it is hot, so I thought it was a bit strange that he wanted something cold.

After dinner we walked in the underground to get this...croissant taiyaki.

This is brilliant! Flaky buttery croissant pastry filled with sweet bean paste and glazed with something to give it a crunchy caramel crust...210 yen (tax included).

We agreed this was good and that it would've been even better if we had had it right when we bought it, when it was piping hot.

The rain was still coming down　but we hoped that it would stop for the next leg of our trip to Hakone...

A nice ammenity at this hotel is that there is wi-fi throughout the property, the bad part of this hotel is that it is located near the bar and club district (Kabuki-cho) so you hear emergency vehicle sirens...all.night.long...

E-hotel
Higashi Shinjuku
2-3-15 Kabuki-cho
Shinjuku, Tokyo
Phone: 03.5287.3588

Xian Gyoza
Shinjuku Center Building B1F
Shinjuku, Tokyo
Phone: 03.5339.1935
Closed Sundays & Holidays: Lunch 11:30-15:30, Dinner 17:30-22:00

Gin no An
Shinjuku Alta 1F
Shinjuku, Tokyo
Phone: 03.5312.7708
Hours: 11:00-22:00, Open when Shinjuku Alta is

we're back

We just got back from a mini-travel weekend...here's a preview of how our weekend went (sort of)...

Will sort through photos and write something up a.s.a.p.

Have a great day!

hanashobu

It's that time of year for Hanashobu (Iris).

I walked through Suigetsu Park on Friday and despite it being very overcast, there were many people having their lunches there.

They were setting up tents too, I think they were preparing for their Hanashobu Matsuri.

The weather didn't look too good for the weekend though...

Oh and the hydrangea is also blooming.

Hope you have a nice week!

keeping cool

Way back, I wrote about keeping cool using glass dishes...here.

Well, I took out our Ryukyu glasses for summer (Ryukyu is another name for Okinawa)...it does look "cooling" doesn't it.

During summer I look forward to all the "hiyashi" & "rei" (cold) dishes...like this reimen at Chaina...750 yen.

I like this version with a little kim chee...spicy and cool...

I learned something new, eat more chilis to boost your spirits during the rainy season...

Summer is here!

rainy season

The other day, our area started rainy season.

We were actually lucky because on the same day, the people in Shikoku also started their rainy season and got slammed with buckets and buckets of rain (like a month's worth of rain?!).

According to the weather dudes, the average rainy season is supposed to last 40 days.

But, apparently this year is El Niño so the weather people are forecasting the rainy season to be prolonged. You know what that means?

More frequent typhoons and the rainy season extending all the way until the beginning of August.

The photo above is of the skies the other day. Weird looking, yeah?!

I think this summer will be interesting...stay safe everyone!

carrot salad with pistachios

I recently tried a new recipe by Smitten Kitchen.

I didn't roast the garbanzos, in fact I left these out.

I just made the dressing (though I left out the chili flakes) and instead added some cumin to it.

Then I shredded my carrots, mixed it with the dressing and just before serving, threw in a handful of pistachios.

It was delicious. I would definitely make this salad again.

It is Friday here, I hope you enjoy the weekend!

keen-wah

Tried cooking quinoa (keen-wah) for the first time recently.

It takes awhile, I think longer than it does to cook couscous.

I served this with swiss chard, cherry tomatoes, half of a hard boiled egg and basil dressing.

The quinoa took on the flavor of the dressing since I didn't cook it in a broth.

If you've never tried quinoa, just remember that 1 cup of quinoa will produce 3 cups of cooked quinoa.

Luckily, I read that somewhere and only made 2 tablespoons...

I'm going to eat the rest of the quinoa for breakfast with milk and maybe add some granola.

If you've made quinoa before, please tell me how you ate it.