takoyaki pancake

It's been months since my friend Nobu gave me his brand new takoyaki maker, and the other night I finally brought it out to use.

I didn't make takoyaki, I made pancakes!

I've saw the Ebelskiver pan at Williams-Sonoma and loved it! I then thought of my little takoyaki maker and figured I could theoretically make some pancakes with it as well.



It worked! I even tried to put in some chocolate pieces for another batch. I'm gonna try to fill them with some sort of cream or jam next time.

The only thing was that I used skewers to turn the pancake balls (like I'd seen people do in Japan,) and they didn't work very well. I'm seriously considering buying a pair of these.

pig in the sky

I saw a flying pig in the sky!


and it was a chubby one!

[Seattle 09.09] crepe and stinky tofu

There's a little crepe place outside of the Convention Center. John and I had seen it many times but never tried it until this time.


Cute girls are a bonus.


Lots of choices.


We got a savory one.

It had ham, Swiss cheese, spinach, herb butter, and white sauce. Simple, quick, and good.

How come we only got one? you ask. It was because we were heading down to the International District to have some Taiwanese food! When we were at Kappo, the lovely server lady told us about a Taiwanese food place called "Henry's Bento." We decided to give it a try.


We had the soy sauce eggs for appetizer.


Beef noodle soup with "shaved" noodles.


Stinky tofu.

They were tasty!

Crepe and stinky tofu for lunch was a good thing.

[Seattle 09.09] Chiso Kappo

Another big event for us in Seattle this time was to visit Chiso Kappo. John made a reservation for us, and it was one of the best dinners EVER.

We were served omakase style, and we got to talk to Chef Taichi, who was simply talented and amazing.

All the dishes served that day were delicious. I believe they came to us in a particular order so we could taste enjoy each of them competely (if what I'm describing actually make sense.) Chef Taichi even got John to try something he had never thought of having before!

We were served many dishes (and different sake), and I took too many photos. I loved all of them, but I'm just going to post a few here. You can check out the rest on our flickr page and see everything we had.

Chef Taichi started us off with a spinach and ikura. Delicious already. And here are some of the dishes we had that evening:


Super fresh small oysters. I think John actually enjoyed them very much!


Chef Taichi showing us how to enjoy the soup in the clay "teapot."


Preparing one of the most delicious dishes ever...

Chef Taichi would explain each of the dishes to us in detail, which I totally love!


... mushrooms, clams, scallops, and magic.


Yes it was a fishhead, and yes that was a fish eyeball. It was cooked in a special broth for a long time. Wow.


And then we got nigiri.

Chef Taichi's skills were amazing. The nigiri we had were very well crafted, the flavors were balanced, and the mouth feel and flavors were amazing.


After sushi we had some green tea. I believe it was sencha.


Almond custard for dessert.

The almond custard had the most amazing texture. It was perfect to end the meal with a delicate and carefully prepared treat.

I was in love.


Cheers and bravo to Chef Taichi Kitamura!

toasted mochi

I found this package of mochi that I brought back from Japan last time... it might have been past due, but the pieces looked perfectly fine, and they were still super tasty.

Some of you know I really love mochi, especially the toasted ones!


Just out of the toaster oven.

Toasted mochi has a crispy skin, and a soft and gooey center. I love dipping toasted mochi in seasoned soy sauce (sometimes wrapped in seaweed.)

I must make some mochi with my mochi maker soon.

[Seattle 09.09] Coffee Fest funness

One of the main purposes for our trip to Seattle this time was to attend Coffee Fest. John and I used to go almost every year before we opened up the shop. I really enjoyed checking out new products, meeting with the people that we usually only talked on the phone with, and all the fun stuff that Coffee Fest has to offer.

This year it was great, too!


We tasted awesome gelato and pastries.


Mr. Schomer working behind the Synesso.

Mark at Synesso was kind enough to bring us parts for our Cyncra. Thanks Mark!


And we were fortunate enough to have David make us an espresso and a macchiato!


We also tested the cup/pitcher rinser. I want one.


Hmm... matcha.


I also watched the latte art competition...


... with the cool judges.


We also watched the NWRBC. Awesome.

ANd of course there were a lot of goodies that we got. My favorite were the Synesso pins and bottle opener. They were so cool. I even got some with Synesso's old logo on! Now that I think of it, I probably should have grabbed more of those.

Disney 25th anniversary glass

I found this 25th anniversary "Remember the Magic" glass from Disney, and I really like it!





And of course I have to drink all iced drinks in it for now.

i want strawberries

The strawberry season is (almost) over, but I really want fresh strawberries. The ones in the supermarkets now don't really look good any more.

But the other day I found a lovely little snack stand outside a Mexican market:



See "Fresas con Crema" on the sign? I was so happy, and had to order it using my very broken Spanish.



Oh my. The strawberries were so fresh and firm, and the condensed milk(?) and milk mixture was sweet and delish. Mmmmm.

I wonder where the stand owner got the fresh strawberries.

Ahhh I want strawberries!

big rottweiler boy

So I haven't been blogging. Lazy me. I'm going to try to make up for it... so possibly there are multiple posts within one day!

The other day John took garbage out, came back in, and looked a bit worried. He said, "There's a dog outside!"

"Ahh! Is he cute?"
"Yes, and he's really big."
"Bigger than Nuki?"
"Yeah!"
"What was he doing outside?"
"Don't know. He's resting in front of a delivery truck."
"Are there people?"
"I don't think so."
"..."
"..."
"I'm gonna go and check him out. Hope he didn't get lost. I'll call for help if no one knows who he is."

So off I went, and I brought a piece of bread with me.



Seriously. This boy was HUGE! I thought he was probably a Rottweiler and Saint Bernard mix. HUGE. He was quiet, and just chillin'. I went into the shop where the delivery truck was making deliveries to and asked if the dog belonged to anyone. No one even knew this guy was out there!

After a little while a young employee came in and said, "Oh, he was just waiting for his people to come drop off more stuff. They'll be back soon."

I gave him the bread and some water. He was not too interested. I decided to go back and check on him again after a little while, but when I went back outside he was already gone.

He was a gentle and nice dog. Hope he's around a lot. All I can remember now was how big his paws were... They were almost as big as my hands!

[Seattle 09.09] first night and serious pie

We flew in to Seattle-Tacoma late afternoon, and took Metro bus 194, heading toward downtown Seattle.


The last stop of the bus was the downtown terminal, which was new to us. It was conveniently located (just a couple blocks above the Convention Center.


We checked in to the 6th Avenue Inn.

There were a few conventions going on that weekend, and a lot of people were in town. We saw a LOT of Japanese people.

We relaxed for a little whie, and headed out to explore Belltown.

It seemed like a lot of things had changed... some new shops opened up, and some closed.

We then decided to go to Serious Pie for dinner. We had seen it many time in the past, with it being really close to the hotel and all. We had to wait for a little white before we were seated, but I'm glad we went in.


Serious Pie.


Meat and cheese aging(?) and storage behind the counter.


Watching pizza dough being "stretched."

When we were finally seated, we sat by the window, which I really liked.


The space was pretty dark and "tight." Reminded me of some Japanese bars.



I got the "roasted mushrooms, truffle cheese," and John got the "cherry bomb peppers, sweet fennel sausage" pizza. Yum.


Gotta have beer with pizza. We both had the "pike kilt lifter" that was recommended by our server.

I like the Serious Pie logo.

And then it was dessert time.


"cannoli, ricotta, huckleberry." I really like the berries.


"spiced olive oil cake, poached apple sabayon." It was probably just me, but the cake had corn bread texture. Interesting.

Serious Pie it was.