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Sun Oct 04 05:47:05 UTC 2009
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Our Adventures in Japan
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My Registered & Protected Copyright: http://katnsatoshiinjapan.blogspot.com/
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Sunday, October 04, 2009 7 blue things Do you have 7 blue things around your home? That was the topic on Rowena's blog recently.I actually had more ...here are 7...Daiso (100 yen shop) staplercurtainsCasio calculatordishes (actually lots of blue/white dishes)cafe cup (Italian)Sony walkmanFranco Sarto sandalsbonus shot: a glimpse of the harvest moonGreat meme Rowena! Explored by: K and S at 12:00 AM 0 adventurers said: Adventure tags: meme Saturday, October 03, 2009 bento In Japan, you can find lots of okazu or sozai (prepared foods) at the supermarkets and department stores.Most times bento (boxed foods) have lots of deep fried items because they supposedly last longer.You can also find simmered items called nimono. Whenever I look for bento, I try to find one with more nimono items than fried.Of course, making your bento from scratch is the best way to know what goes in them, but if you don't have a lot of time (or are feeling lazy), then prepared foods are the way to go.Nowadays, bento can be Japanese, Western or Chinese, as the Japanese say, Wa-Yo-Chu. In the States, I think bento are mainly eaten for lunch, but here, they are also eaten at dinnertime.In Japan, whenever you are trying to decide what to eat for a meal, usually the first thing the other person says is "Wa-Yo-Chu?" Meaning...Japanese, Western or Chinese foods.Anyway, this was a pork bento I bought a couple of weeks ago from a department store...871 yen (about US$8.71).Larger than most bento I normally pick up, this was really filling!From Daiei (a supermarket)...stir fried goya (bittermelon) 217 yen (about US$2.17), 5 spicy chicken wings 180 yen (about US$1.80) and a musubi 98 yen (about US$.98)..total 495 yen (about US$4.95). (These actually came in stryofoam trays and I transferred them to a bowl before eating.)The bittermelon was delicious, it had scrambled egg, kamaboko, kikurage (wood ear) and a thick, clear gravy.I like these chicken wings, they are spicy with a little sweetness to them.As you can tell, the price of foods from the supermarket are way cheaper than the department store.Both were equally delicious.What did you have for lunch/dinner? Explored by: K and S at 12:00 AM 11 adventurers said: Adventure tags: bento, department store, supermarket Friday, October 02, 2009 find a penny... You will almost never find money on the ground here.If you do, it will probably be 1 yen (about US$.01) or 1 yen that someone has glued to the ground as a prank (yup, I found that one! and tried to pick it up, almost broke a nail while trying to...)Today, as I walked to the train station, I walked pass this on the ground...50 yen (about US$.50)It took a split second to register, then I walked back to pick it up.I think the "rule" is if you find bills you are supposed to turn it into the police...(though Satoshi says unless it was a huge amount, most people don't turn it in at all...)On another positive note, I answered a questionnaire in a Japanese foodie magazine that I subscribe to. When you answer the questionnaire, you can indicate what prizes you would like to win.I was aiming for the 2 bars of chocolate from La Maison du Chocolat, but received a bottle of peach jam from L'ami de Ble.I was happy just to recieve something. This jam is made from white peaches. If you have tasted white peaches in Japan they are juicy and very sweet.This jam was just that, with lots of big peach pieces. Unfortunately, this jam's carbon footprint wasn't too good though, it went from Kobe to Tokyo back to Osaka.I checked my archives and realized that I have won 2 other prizes from this magazine...a Cuoca chocolate tasting set and Pukka tea.It is Friday here, hope you have a great weekend. Explored by: K and S at 9:31 AM 14 adventurers said: Adventure tags: culture shock, jam, Japan, l'ami de ble, questionnaires Thursday, October 01, 2009 sweet potato hummus While the weather is trying to figure out whether it is Autumn or Summer, the markets are saying that it is Autumn.Sweet potatoes are in season here. I love steaming them. The satsuma imo (sweet potato) turns a bright yellow.In July, while I was in Hawaii, I found this recipe in "Body and Soul" for hummus using sweet potatoes.Since I had some leftover sweet potato, I bought a bottle of garbanzos and tried this recipe.I've put the amounts that I used in (italicized parentheses).Sweet Potato Hummus from "Body and Soul" July/August 2009makes about 4 cups (made a little over a 1 cup)1 pound (about 453 grams) of sweet potato, steamed, cubed and peeled (150 grams sweet potato, steamed and cubed, I didn't peel all the pieces)1 can (19.5 ounce) chickpeas, drained and rinsed (220 grams garbanzos about 7.5 ounces)1/4 cup lemon juice (3 tablespoons lemon juice)1/4 cup tahini (2 tablespoons tahini)2 tablespoons EVOO2 teaspoon cumin (1 teaspoon cumin)1 clove garlic, chopped (1/2 clove garlic, chopped) salt & pepper (I didn't add salt nor pepper) Steam the cut sweet potato about 10 to 12 minutesWhiz everything in a food processorAdd water if necessary (I added 1/4 cup of water)Serve with pita and/or veggie sticksNOTES: I think if I used more sweet potato, the flavor of the hummus may have turned out a little sweeter. While peeling the steamed potato, I thought it was a waste to throw out the skin, so I left the rest of them and found that it added some nice purplish flecks here and there.My food processor is quite small, so there were a lot of "unprocessed" bits. Still I liked this, and would definitely make it again, maybe adding more sweet potato the next time, just to see if the flavors would be different. I served this with carrot and celery sticks. Explored by: K and S at 12:00 AM 16 adventurers said: Adventure tags: chickpeas, garbanzo, hummus, recipes, satsuma imo, sweet potato Wednesday, September 30, 2009 italia When I first came to Japan, I realized that they pronounced names of countries different from the US. For example, in the US we say "Italy" but here they say "Italia". Germany is "Doitsu" meaning Deutsch.Takes some getting used to but definitely good to know.Anyway, recently Hanshin Department store had an Italia Fair (Italian Fair).Last Wednesday, I had some time to spend before meeting Satoshi for dinner, so I went to check it out. They had Italian pottery, cameos, rugs, a huge Italian wine and market area.I came across these chocolates in the market area.Barratti & Milano--I've tried some of their chocolates before. They are from Torino. The guy at the counter was nice enough to give me a sample, so I bought 3 types of chocolates.Pinguino--a cream filling covered with dark chocolate. Pistachio--pistachio cream sandwiched with gianduja. Gianduja--hazelnut milk chocolate. The chocolates were 126 yen for 10 grams, my bill came out to 433 yen (about US$4.33)My favorite was the Pinguino, I liked the contrast of sweet cream and dark chocolate.Just a couple of counters over was Silvio Bessone--This chocolatier was from a town outside of Torino.I got the Marron Glace--a chestnut paste with meringue bottom covered with 70% dark chocolate.And Nej--a dark chocolate mixed with gianduja. Both were good but on the bitter side, I think these might have gone better with red wine or a malt whisky instead of coffee. 210 yen for Nej (about US$2.10) and 315 yen (about US$3.15) for the Marron Glace.The lady in line before me bought 10 Marron Glace and 10 Nej, I was actually kind of embarrassed to buy something after her.After more browsing, I met Satoshi for dinner at E-ma. There is an Italian restaurant that we like called La Botte Piccola.Whenever we eat at Italian restaurants, we always order a salad, pizza and pasta to share.I had a glass of Bellenda Contrada di Conceniqo, a full body red made with cabernet, merlot & marzemino grapes...800 yen (about US$8) a glass. I really liked this wine and hope to find it online or at the gourmet shop.Satoshi had a glass of 2008 Rivera Terra al Monte Sauvignon, a crisp white...700 yen (about US$7).We chose the seasonal salad...endive, baby greens, proscuitto and ricotta...1080 yen (about US$10.80). I loved the light texture of the ricotta.Satoshi chose the seafood pasta...1400 yen (about US$14), this had clams, shrimp, scallops with a garlic butter sauce.I chose the 4-cheese pizza...1400 yen (about US$14). This place always had a nice thin crust, which I love. They used mozzarella, gorgonzola, ricotta and parmesan. A little olive oil and parsley. Really simple yet oh so good!After all those days off, Satoshi was kinda bummed that he had to go back to a full week.La Botte PiccolaE-ma 6F1-12-6 UmedaKita, OsakaPhone: 06.4795.7510Hours: 11:00-23:00Open when E-ma is. Explored by: K and S at 12:00 AM 13 adventurers said: Adventure tags: barratti and milano, italian, la botte piccola, silvio bessone, umeda Tuesday, September 29, 2009 trying new recipes After all that feasting the other day...Sunday's dinner was simple...salmon with sweet and spicy rub. To go along with the salmon, I tried Ellie's oven baked onion ring recipe.This recipe was easy to put together. I didn't have baked potato chips, so I didn't put the cooking spray on the rings before baking like the recipe says to do.If you make these, you have to eat them straight out of the oven. They are crisp, delicious and you won't miss that they aren't deep fried. We had this with some leftover spiced mixed nuts, a salad and Monteith's Hearty Black Beer, a smoky, smooth dark beer from New Zealand. 330 mililiters, 5.2% alcohol, 430 yen (about US$4.30).It was a great way to end the weekend. Explored by: K and S at 12:00 AM 10 adventurers said: Adventure tags: beer, ellie krieger, food you crave, monteith, onion, salmon Monday, September 28, 2009 happy 4th birthday! Today is the 4th birthday of this blog...I cannot believe how fast time flies.I cherish the friendships made through this blog. The vast amounts of information learned and shared from blog to blog.Drooling over photos on other blogs, inspires me to take photos just as delicious.Thank you for reading my blog, it is the first journal I have kept going (for so long).Here's to another year of travels, adventures and food! Kanpai! (Cheers!) Explored by: K and S at 12:00 AM 28 adventurers said: Adventure tags: birthday, blog Older Posts Subscribe to: Posts (Atom) About Us K and S Minoo, Osaka, Japan Originally from Hawaii, I love to travel, eat and catch a baseball game or two. I also like to bead and sew. Please feel free to leave a comment, email us your questions or just say "hi", no spammers or ads please. If you have info on a place that was blogged about that is now closed/out of business, please tell us about it :) View my complete profile Get widgetLearn Japanese All content, photos and recipes are copyright of Our Adventures in Japan unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved. Email us: kat (dot) nsatoshi (at) gmail (dot)com Kat & Satoshi's Flickr Albums www.flickr.com Go to Kat & Satoshi's photostream Lifestyle "surf" spots Alive in Kyoto BlogHer Kitchen Critic Kurashi LOHAS Mighty Foods Out of the Box Gifts Slow Food USA Treehugger Kat's other favorite "surfing" spots Bead Explorer's Tree of Life Bloglines Deb and her Camera Grant's blog Honeycomb your Hair... (Debi's blog) Japan Hopper Japanese Chinese Major Pacific Islander Paul Ogata, Comedian Photos by Jalna Rick's blog Why Travel to France Yakyuushonen Delish! food blogs A Passion for Food Baking & Books Biancorosso Blue Lotus Candy Blog Chocolate in Context Chocolate Obsession Confessions of a Cardamom Addict Cooking Adventures of Chef Paz Cream Puffs in Venice Cupcake Blog Delicious Days Dessert First Dhanggit's Kitchen Feed Me I'm Hungry Genki Tummy Hwn Pake In Okinawa Jeena's Kitchen Journeys of a Foodnista Jumbo Empanadas Kahakai Kitchen Kitchen Wench Kyoto Foodie Kyoto Foodie's Forum La Fuji Mama La Tartine Gourmande Leite's Cuilinaria Ma'ona Made Healthier Mamatouille Mmm-yoso Nami Nami Nordljus Obachan's Kitchen & Balcony Garden Obento Baby! Ono Kine Grindz Oswego Tea Paris Breakfasts Rubber Slippers in Italy Slashfood Sourdough monkey wrangler Steamy Kitchen Still Clumsy with Chopsticks Tamakikat Tamarind and Thyme Tea & Cookies The Chocolate Nerd The Tasty Island The Traveler's Lunchbox Three Tastes Traveling Food Lady Winos & Foodies Some of Kat's favorite food & book "surfing" spots Ali'i Kula Lavender Asia Food Source Cocoaroma Magazine David Lebovitz Dean & Deluca Dorie Greenspan Food Network Gourmet Sleuth Hapa|Hale Lion Coffee Mariage Freres Michael Mischer Chocolates Online Conversion Photograzing Sweet Aloha Chocolates Japanese blogs/websites Ayumi's room chocolat Jotaro Saito Sansai Welcome Home(Tomoko's website) What Kat recently devoured "A Bridge Between Us" "In Defense of Food" "Dirty Sugar Cookies" What Kat is munching on "Insatiable" Our Other Web Pages Kat & Satoshi's travel page My Craft Adventures (Kat's craft blog) Blog Archive ▼ 2009 (263) ▼ October (4) 7 blue things bento find a penny... sweet potato hummus ► September (26) italia trying new recipes happy 4th birthday! the day after foodie staff party no aloha days starbucks hele katsu musubi uji things I'm liking (and disliking) lemon chocolate nib muffins tandoori chicken and couscous chocolate zucchini nib muffins 100% vrai roasted stuffed peppers things I'm liking (and disliking) ahi poke sliders on mini buns palau relaxing palau eats palau eats palau eats palau sights palau eats palau culture nagoya-guam-yap-palau we're back... ► August (29) conversations things I'm liking (and disliking) greedy piglet pancakes per caffe bianco kamizono mini muffs kyoto happy 50th! things I'm liking (and disliking) jammin' greek nachos koshien cool busy busy ferdinand abientot damasareta things I am liking (and disliking)... thinking outside the box apple gorgonzola salad ► July (28) ► June (30) ► May (29) ► April (30) ► March (31) ► February (28) ► January (28) ► 2008 (322) ► December (31) ► November (25) ► October (28) ► September (25) ► August (28) ► July (30) ► June (30) ► May (31) ► April (25) ► March (21) ► February (27) ► January (21) ► 2007 (319) ► December (29) ► November (21) ► October (29) ► September (23) ► August (29) ► July (32) ► June (27) ► May (35) ► April (29) ► March (18) ► February (22) ► January (25) ► 2006 (285) ► December (24) ► November (30) ► October (26) ► September (19) ► August (26) ► July (24) ► June (23) ► May (28) ► April (9) ► March (23) ► February (23) ► January (30) ► 2005 (62) ► December (24) ► November (17) ► October (18) ► September (3) Buttons Galore Friends along for the ride Kat's wish list Mentions or link-ups....thank you! Blogs of Note : 10/21/08 Treehugger--Asian Food pyramid (through Kurashi) Taste Tv-blog roll Chowhound--okara Knowledgehound-chirashizushi Onitsuka Tiger-used our photo in mosaic Slashfood-cherry clafoutis Japan Times/Kyodo--article - 60c54aeffe99a01da7bee6b7fcb3471cdaee9562b1358880ce795f0515f95e06
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