We've often passed this coffee shop during the pandemic and said we would eat there when it was "safer".
The shop was pretty empty when we went, which was nice.
Satoshi had their napolitan...it looked delicious.
His lunch came with a salad and drink (he chose hot coffee)...900 yen (tax included)
Satoshi also enjoyed listening in on a conversation about baseball between the owner and what we thought was a regular customer.
I had their B set...it came with half a sandwich, salad, mini dessert (I chose chocolate ice cream) and drink (I chose iced coffee).
Not bad for 770 yen (tax included), though I wish they had toasted the bread.
There are other items on their menu that we want to try, we'll be back.
The kinmokusei (sweet olive) is blooming for the 2nd time this season.
I guess the cool nights have stimulated the "late blooming" plants.
It is nice having the fragrance waft in when I open the windows in the morning.
This week, Mother Nature has been throwing us back and forth between Autumn (in the early mornings and evenings) and Summer (during the day)
There is a different yakiimo man in our neighborhood, with a different "song" to draw people out to buy.
When he passed by our apartment, you could smell the sweet potatoes roasting, a smokey caramel smell...hopefully one day I will be able to "run down" to try to buy some. (turn your sound down if you are watching this at work).
The first part of the video is only the "song" and the last part of the video is when he passed below our apartment.
Yesterday on the train platform, I heard Satoshi yelling, "Kat, Kat!"
I turned around and he was looking at this butterfly.
He said he just saw a guy step on it!
Apparently, the guy had gotten off the train ahead of us was focused on his phone and stepped on this butterfly! poor thing!
When we lived in Osaka I would see this type of butterfly often but not so much since we moved to Tokyo.
I'm glad I didn't step on it.
Last year we tried this Marron (chestnut) stollen, I am glad they brought it back and that I was able to get one for us.
This year seems a bit early but we look forward to enjoying this after our physical check-ups in a couple of weeks.
So, since we are getting our physical check-ups done in a couple of weeks, I tell Satoshi, "so we aren't doing pupu parties until then?"
He says, "no Kat, pupu parties are mandatory"...ha!
It is kaki season but I've been noticing that most kaki are partly green at the markets.
Will wait a bit before we eat this.
Tokyo's case numbers as well as the rest of Japan have gone down quite a bit.
Hopefully we will be able to travel to Hawaii soon.
I have been keeping my eye out on the driver license website and they have (again) extended the period for renewal...whoo!
Last night there was a huge earthquake in Chiba prefecture.
Our phones were going krazy warning us and you could hear the rumbling coming up the street.
We shook for what felt like a long time and it almost felt like seasick type swaying afterwards…blah
Thankful we are okay, no damage or injuries.
It was the “biggest” earthquake that we’ve experienced since moving to Japan.
Luckily this was a “deep” earthquake so the experts think there won’t be many aftershocks, if any.
These natural disasters just show us that we are connected to one another.
Last Wednesday, we went to check out the unmanned bakery, we arrived there a little after 19:00 (when it starts) and was surprised to see the small line waiting to buy baked goods.
The neat thing about the lockers is that you can kind of see as to what you are purchasing.
For 500 yen, our locker had 1 sesame anpan, 1 bacon potato bread, 1 ham and egg bread and 1 melon pan.
The bacon potato bread was so bland! could have used some pesto or mayo.
The other items were delicious.
I'm glad we got to try this it is a good way to get out walking at night.
Plus, the bakery can cut back on food loss.
Since the weather will be cooling down, we will try buying again in the Spring.
After having a hard time finding our bearings, we finally found the spot where the 1st post office in Japan was started.
On the outside wall of the building, there is a plaque noting this and the building is still used as a post office.
We also found Tamahide...they have been in business since 1760!
They are well known for their oyakodon but also serve course menus too.
We thought they would be closed since we thought their website said so, but they were open and we didn't have to wait too long for a table...whoo!
The last time we ate out was back in July.
We both ordered the aburidon, broiled chicken thighs are used...the oyakodon is so huge! 1800 yen (tax included)
The chicken is cooked perfectly and the custardy egg has dashi and other seasonings mixed in it.
I couldn't eat all of it and Satoshi finished it for me.
I'm glad we got to try this place!
After lunch we walked up the street to Yanagiya, which has been in business since 1916!
Satoshi had their azuki ice monaka. 160 yen (tax included)
I had their taiyaki. 170 yen (tax included)
The weather was so blazing, that eating something piping hot was krazy (plus I was still super full from lunch), so I took a few bites then put it into my bag to eat later.
The outer part of the taiyaki was so thin and it was filled to the gills with sweet bean paste!
I'm glad we got to try this too.
Afterwards we checked out Suitengu, a shrine where a lot of families go to get their newborn children blessed.
On our way back to Tokyo station, I was intrigued by this building...from this angle the slats are pink and green.
But from this angle it is blue and purple...cool yeah?!
16560...totally out of shape from “staying at home” plus the weather was so miserably hot.
Tokyo's state of emergency ended on Thursday and we hope to get out more often in the days to come.
The other day I sent Satoshi to Mini Stop to get us some Belgian chocolate premium soft serve.
He tells me, "write it down Kat so I don't buy the wrong thing"…"cause you know if I buy the wrong thing..."
what? me? I not that mean....bwhaaa!
So he bought them, and I was impressed again with their edible cone covers.
The soft serve was so rich.
There were brownie bits as well as chocolate swirls and almonds.
Of course it had melted a bit from his walk back.
But it was delicious!
After having this oven for 20 years, I learned for the first time (by accident) that the oven temp can go really low (40C/104F)!
Gonna try baking this winter!
“Huge” Peruvian avocado with a tiny seed...usually the avocados at the store are from Mexico and are small.
This one was 300 yen-ish (the Mexican ones can go as low as 98 yen)..we enjoyed this as avocado toast and with taco rice.
Remember at the beginning of the month I said that Mount Fuji had snow on top?! Well it melted after that, so apparently the people in Yamanashi who deemed it a month early “took back” their claim and since it has snowed again in the past week, have re-declared it now as “being on schedule”…WT?!
You could hear the helicopters and sirens as he passed through our area on the way to Yokohama from Narita.
Normally when Japan royal females marry, they leave the royal family, become "commoners" and are given a financial package which is supposed to help compensate their life "in the real world".
Princess Mako has declined this package ($1.35 million) and all the royal ceremonies in order to marry this guy.
I am probably a prude but am not too keen on his new hair-do nor all the gossip surrounding their relationship, but wish them all the best.
Wednesday, the Liberal Democratic Party had their internal election to choose a new Prime Minister, who is Fumio Kishida...He is the 100th Prime Minister and the 11th one since we moved here in 2001...
On Monday, Tokyo's case numbers went as low as 150-something...
It's the start of a new month, let's hope Japan can keep its case rate down so we can finally give the medical people some rest.
There is yet another typhoon approaching...#16 (Mindulle), hoping there won't be any damage.
Saw this on television the other night and had to try.
Hishidaya is a popular restaurant that used to be on the Tokyo University campus over 120 years ago but moved to their current location near the Tokyo University Komaba campus in 2002.
Serves: 4
1000 grams (about 2 pounds) thinly sliced pork
1onion sliced thinly
1 or 2 tablespoons oil
Sauce: 150 cc (3/4 cup) shoyu
50 grams sugar
50 grams ginger, grated
3-4 cloves garlic, grated
Heat the pan on high and add the oil
Place the pork in the pan so that it does not overlap
Cover and count to 5.
Add the onions, flip the meat, cover and count to 5
Add a ladle of the sauce to the outer edge of the pan
Toss everything 3 times and serve.
Super fast and easy.
NOTES: this is a very quick dish so that the meat does not get tough.
BUT, the garlic tends to be raw, so it had quite a bite to it.
I should have used even thinner sliced pork so that it would cook through a little better.
I also should have weighed the ginger so that there was more ginger flavor than garlic flavor.
Satoshi enjoyed this, but for me the garlic was a bit too much.
I was happy to see that Hishidaya liked my photo on Instagram and I also found out they have a cookbook, so I hope to borrow it from our library.
Dunno if I would make this again, but I'm glad I tried it.
And when we feel it is safer to eat indoors, I hope we can go to try their dishes.
