past couple of days

Happy New Year!

Hope the new year is off to a good start for you.

This year's New Year "break" wasn't too long for Satoshi.

On the 29th and 30th of December we went to the Totsukawa area of Nara, I'll post about this soon!

The 31st...we spent making our way back to Osaka then turning in early before the New Year.

January 1st...we had o-zoni (traditional soup) then went to various temples and did hatsumode (prayers for the New Year).

Dinner was o-sechi, which I've written in detail here.

January 2nd...we went to Kyoto to visit MIL.

She is doing fine and we had a nice time chatting, eating and helping her clean some areas that she wasn't able to reach on her own.

After lunch, she let me "raid" her cabinets for dishes...thank you!

It was nice visiting with her.

Yesterday, we hung out at our favorite neighborhood cafe, Hiro, for breakfast.

And because I was craving greens...Dinner was a big grilled Thai beef salad with Kiuchi Brewery's sparkling umeshu.

We still haven't seen a speck of flurries in Osaka.

Hope you have a great week.

thank you!

Thank you following our adventures. I appreciate your comments, feedback, emails and messages.

I hope you got to do everything you wanted to this year.

It's been a krazy year with the weather and nature-related events.

We had lots of visits from family and friends. And we were able to catch up with a lot of blog friends too.

Although there were some sad days, there were definitely more happy days.

May everyday of the new year be filled with new connections, re-discoveries and delicious adventures.

Thank you for a great year.

Talk to you again in 2016!

books 2015

Books read this year...please share what you read this year in the comments!

1. Jennifer L. Scott "Lessons from Madame Chic"
2. Samuel Chamberlain "Clémentine In The Kitchen"
3. Amelia Freer "Eat.Nourish.Glow."
4. Fran Gage "Bread and Chocolate"
5. Leslie Jonath "Everyone Loves Paris"
6. Marnie Hanel "The Picnic"
7. Alice B. Toklas "The Alice B Toklas Cookbook"
8. Sarah-Kate Lynch "The Wedding Bees"

10 photos

I first posted 10 photos back in 2008 as part of a meme, now I do this every year as a way to look back on the year.

1. Our first nabe (hot pot) using the clay pot we got from MIL's stash.

2. (not)Rolled Cabbage, a fun and easy dish.

3. Kei-chan, a dish we tried when we visited Gujo-Hachiman.

4. It was my first time making my mom's recipe for Bread & Butter Pickles. It was a really easy recipe and a nice way to remember my Mom.

5. Re-created a dish we had when we went to Awajishima...so easy and so good!

6. Incorporating Autumn ingredients, I made this Autumn Corn Chowder

7. Was craving "home" with all the rainy days, so I made some W & M-style Sliders.

8. An easy keema curry that adds some marmalade.

9.Peanut Nishime, a dish that I recreated after trying it in Tokoname.

10. Sweet Sour Meatballs, a favorite comfort food.

Re-creating, re-connecting as well as trying new recipes...how was your year in the kitchen?

saying goodbye

In late October, Grandma had a stroke. She was paralyzed on the right side, had a hard time eating and had some pain.

Several weeks ago, I face-timed with her, my brother & Aunty. (love technology!)

Even though she didn't recognize me, it was still nice to see her.

Unfortunately, she passed away the other day at 99.

I've said it before but she was the "tough one" in our family. The one to hold our family together.

Inspire us to move forward towards our goals.

I am thankful for the time I got to spend with her, for her words of wisdom, her love and guidance throughout the years.

You will be missed a LOT!

Love you.

foodie saturday

Yesterday, we went to see a movie, "Sugihara Chiune" (a really good biography/historical type movie) and then went to Awajishima Burger for lunch.

It's been 5 years since we've been here and it is even more popular now.

In fact, walking to the shop, the burgers were literally calling us with their aroma.

I had their regular bacon cheese...800 yen while Satoshi had their large bacon cheese...900 yen

We also ordered some fries...150 yen

Their prices have gone up a bit, but the burgers are still delicious. Still super hard to eat without getting sauce on your face.

We'll be back.

After lunch, we wanted a little something sweet, so we walked back to Nishinomiya Gardens and had some gelato from Milkissimo.

Fondant chocolate for me (hard to see) and Mango for Satoshi and coffees.

The weather is still funky but I am still hoping to see flurries...have a good week!

udon kichi

Two Sundays ago, after doing our o-soji (New Years cleaning), we had lunch at Udon Kichi.

I had their niku kasu udon while Satoshi had their curry udon with a side order of rice.

While we were waiting for their food, I noticed that they had a new item on their menu...mazemen (mah-zay-men).

"Maze" means to stir and "Men" is noodle.

I have seen mazemen around on the web, and most look quite spicy.

So, on Wednesday, which was a holiday, Satoshi and I went back for lunch.

I ordered the mazemen...800 yen and he ordered the curry udon with a side order of rice.

Atop the udon is the spicy meat topping, a dollop of what I think was kochujang, a raw egg yolk, some chives, green onion, strips of nori, as well as thin chili strips.

I don't think anyone has ever instructed me to "stir everything until the noodles turn red"...whoa?!

So I did...

And it did turn reddish...This was so good!

Sweet, salty and spicy...super addicting!

As I was eating, I realized that I would have leftover meat topping...so I asked for a "shime-gohan" this is a bowl of rice to end the meal, usually when you have soup or something like that...plus 50 yen.

On the piping hot rice was a little more meat topping and green onions.

And then I was instructed to "dump it in and mix it well"

So I mixed...

I was (super full) but so glad I ordered the extra rice.

It would've been a shame to waste all that good topping...

I think this is going to be my new fave here.