ehomaki

About mid-January, Rakyo posted on Instagram that they would be taking orders for their ehomaki…1500 yen (tax included) for one.

So we called and put in our order.

Last Thursday, we went to pick it up…it was HUGE!

They had 10 different items in the ehomaki…7 items were fish related and caught locally (mackerel, squid, amberjack, belt fish, croaker, spanish mackerel, mackerel soboro(floss)), the remaining 3 were cucumber, dashimaki egg & red daikon namasu.

There were l-o-n-g pieces of fish in the ehomaki since most ingredients should not be cut.

The lucky direction was hoku-hoku-sei (north-north-west)

This was so good (and filling), some of the fish had been marinated, while others were not.

Satoshi used shoyu but I didn’t.

I also made miso soup.

This was totally worth it and a nice way to support local fishermen and a small business.

Loved the hashtag they used too… “to live is to eat” (ikiru koto wa taberu koto)

Like last year, I'm hoping that this pandemic is over soon.

this and that

Weird cloud on Tuesday morning a couple hours after we had a small earthquake.. 

For our dinner on Tuesday (the day they turned off our water), I made "lasagna" layering hakusai (chinese cabbage), eggplant, maitake, cheese, creamed mushroom soup which I had froze, and some meat sauce.

I wilted the hakusai and eggplant ahead of time then layered everything and baked it off.

It was delicious even without the lasagna noodles.

Care package from Finland...Teas, chocolate and an eco bag...Thank you Lily for your kindness!

3 tiers of chocolates...Thank you Hiromi for your kindness!

Thursday was Setsubun, we ordered our ehomaki from Rakyo.

This year's lucky direction was hoku-hoku-sei (north-north-west)

I’ll write up a detailed post on this soon.

Tokyo's case numbers this week ranged between 11,751 and 21,576.

Since Japan doesn’t have enough tests if you are a close contact and have symptoms, they will “label” you as “covid confirmed” …eep!

We learned the other day that one of Satoshi's friends, O contracted COVID (he had no contact with Satoshi) and seems to be on the mend…hoping he’ll make a full recovery.

Hoping you all are doing well.

Have a safe weekend.

gyoza nabe

We recently tried these huge gyoza called Ken-chan gyoza.

They are made in Tokyo and the wrappers are quite thick.

I thought the gyoza snob would not approve but he gave this a thumbs up.

shh...I don't think he actually has criteria for gyoza....

This was tasty though and I'm glad we tried this, if I see it at the market again, I'll pick up some more.

houou no hane

New (to us) bakery nearby (about 20 minute walk) that we checked out the other day called houou no hane (wing of phoenix)

Apparently they opened up last November, then at the beginning of this year closed to “level up” their baking skills…they re-opened at the end of January.

The baked items are in a jewelry showcase and as you tell them what you want, they place each one into a glassine bag.

Satoshi had told them he wanted the “fromage” (cheese) bread, but the girl gave him a butter roll...which looked similar to a croissant. 

He wasn’t paying attention when the girl was packing the breads nor did he pay attention when he put the purchases into our eco bag.

I wasn’t paying attention either since I went to pay for the purchases.

So when we got home, we realized we didn’t receive the right bread and called them.

Apparently it is a 30 yen difference and the cheese bread was more expensive.

We told them we would DM (direct message) a copy of our receipt and a photo of the purchases.

As I am writing this they have not looked at our message….boo!

We will not be back.

p.s. the other baked items we tried was their an butter (sweet bean paste with butter), currywurst and cinnamon roll.

semi-rant

They are planning to turn off our water today for an hour from 16:30 to 17:30 to do some type of work…I wanna know who chose that time frame?!

…that is prime dinner cooking time for me…

I was thinking to order pizza, but there is also a big soccer game around that time, so I’ll probably cook something ahead so we can eat on time.

Hope they won’t run into complications with the water…1st world problems…

Happy Lunar New Year!

watanabe

Tried a new (to us) sushi place/izakaya, Watanabe.

I ordered the chirashi...this was not worth 800 yen (tax included).

More wakame than anything...AND there was a piece of iwashi (sardine) that had so many bones!

The rice smelled funny too...eep!

Satoshi ordered the negitoro bowl...750 yen (tax included).

He was disappointed as well.

He said the rice was dry (maybe old?!)

We are glad we tried this place but won't be back. 

this and that

Tokyo People...was following behind these two grandmas...so cute that they were "talking story" (with their masks on).

this guy with a beret...he actually bypassed me
 

As Valentine's gets closer there is more chocolate to be found...

This doughnut covered with chocolate truffle pieces...with every bite some would fall off...too sweet but loved it had a lot of chocolate.

Bought this for Satoshi...crispy croissant filled with chocolate cream and those chocolate truffle pieces...he said it was ono!

Since last week, I think Japan now has a total of 80,000 cases...Tokyo has been increasing 10,000+ cases per day...eep!

There is panic for the close contacts trying to find a place to get tested and or to even find home tests.

As for boosters, just like vaccines, Japan has hit another bump, again there aren’t enough…sigh

Hope we can avoid getting this...

Have a safe weekend.