strawberries!

I've been craving strawberries these days.

I want to eat strawberries! I wish I could go pick strawberries right now.


Last night I made a simple strawberry dessert with strawberry yogurt, frozen strawberries, strawberry sauce, and some whipped cream.


No I didn't even thaw the frozen sliced strawberries. I just wanted to eat them!

Ooo maybe I should try to make some strawberry whipped cream for next time.

[Tokyo Fall 2008] Yokohama: Anpanman "uncle Jam" Bakery part.2

"
So what did we get at Uncle Jam's Bakery?

After we got into the bakery, more fresh bread came out!



We decided to grab Melon pan, Toast pan, and Curry pan.


The girls at the counter were really nice and they seemed very happy. Who wouldn't when you work with cute and yummy bread all day!


Toast pan and Curry pan.

Toast pan was two thick slices of soft white bread with custard center! It was really soft and sweet. Yummy.

The Curry pan was still hot when we ate it because it just came out when we went into the store! He had ketchup eyebrows and mouth, with yellow mustard nose and cheeks. I believe his eyes were cream cheese and chocolate(?). The inside was of course curry (with savory ingredients)... I loved it!


cute little Melon pan.

She was so cute. I had to have someone imitate her:


OK I don't think it worked.

All three breads were yummy!

CUTE!

[Tokyo Fall 2008] Yokohama: Anpanman "Uncle Jam" Bakery part.1

One of the first shops we saw at Anpanman Museum area was "Uncle Jam's Bakery."


Uncle Jam's Bakery.

There was a sign by the door indicating when fresh breads were coming out... and we waited for the new batch. I was watching the bakers work inside the window. I think they were a little shy when they saw me.


Raw Anpanman waiting to go into the oven.


Ahhh Anpanman and friends inside the window.


Anpanman in progress.

And then there was a bell... the new breads were out!


Uncle Jam and his apprentice(?) welcome you.


Lovely pan lady.


cute cute cute.


umm... I didn't quite know who he was, but he seemed nice. Confused, but nice.


custard pan.


It was almost Christmas, so there was Santa Anpanman.


curry pan.

There were other cute breads but they were gone in a just a couple of minutes! "What did you get?" you may ask. Let me post another entry for that.

[Tokyo Fall 2008] Heading Off to Yokohama + Anpanman intro

One of the easiest ways to get to Yokohama is to take the Tokyu Toyoko Line from Shibuya.



When John and I were in Tokyo, we wanted to spend a whole day in Yokohama, so we also purchased a day-pass for Minatomirai Line, which runs from Yokohama Station to Motomachi/China Town area by the bay. There are a few very fun spots along Minatomirai Line, and the first stop we made was at the Shintakashima Station, where the Anpanman Museum was!

Shintakashima Station is the first station after Yokohama.


We saw an Anpanman as soon as we got off the train, and according to him, we had to take exit #2 for the museum.


Apparently Miratomirai Line is very deeply into the ground... these stairs head up to exit #2! We saw similar long stairs/escalators in other stations as well.
And you guessed it, we took the escalator.

After we got to the ground level, we saw some kids (some wearing Anpanman t-shirts and accessories) walking with their parents and we just followed them. According to the Anpanman web site, it's a 7 minute walk from the Shintakashima station.

We walked and walked.


And then we saw this guy (Baikinman) at a window!


More of Anpanman's friends at another window.


We eventually saw this sign... I knew we were close.


We were there!

In case you're wondering who Anpanman is: He's one of the most popular animated characters in Japan. Anpan means "red-bean bread", and he has special "pan" power. You can read more about him here.

The museum was fun. John and I had a lot of fun there, even though we didn't go inside the actual museum building. I'm going to write more about it later.

[Tokyo Fall 2008] Pancake Days

OK this is one of the places I wish I had visited, but I didn't.

I saw this lovely little place called Pancake Days on our way to Miyazaki's Ghibli Museum... didn't go in because we had just eaten, but I was intrigued by the cute little setting in and out of the shop.

I only had my video camera with me... so please excuse the fuzzy photos.


Ahh the girls all looked very "manga" (animation) like in the photo! The shop was tiny and oh-so-cute!


Outdoor signage. Notice the smiley face pancakes in the pic? I think they did put a smiley face on every stack of pancakes!


Menu.


Their logo(?).

Everyone that was inside looked happy. I'm definitely going to visit the place next time I'm in the area.

new year steamed buns

"Happy New Year" from Nuki!

We didn't do much for New Year's, but we managed to make some small steamed buns for dinner, and yes, the dogs got a couple each, too!


A small steamed bun with ginger dipping sauce.


I have yet to master the "bun-making" technique...

These steamed buns are generally tiny and juicy, and are served in a bamboo steamer, along with ginger dipping sauce. For some reason I think they are very festive... just perfect for new year's!

my tiny little guard

During the Christmas holiday I'd stay up late and just surf online, talk to friends, or work on projects. Everyone would be sleeping, but there was one little guy who'd stay up with me and keep me company through the late hours. She actually does it every late night (usually only on weekends) that I stay up.


It's Ginger!

She'd usually sit on one of the chairs by the dining room table (where I usually use my laptop), facing away, and keeping an eye on everyone that's coming into the kitchen. She'd stand up as soon as someone comes in. It's really cute.


Once in a while she'd sneak onto the table.


She'd also come and sniff(?) me if I pet her.


And a lot of times she'd just come and sit by my laptop to monitor(?)/check out what I'm reading online!

She's my tiny little guard late at night!

[Tokyo Fall 2008] Miyazaki's Ghibli Museum in Mitaka

Visiting Miyazaki's Ghibli Museum in Mitaka was one of my must-do things in our trip to Tokyo this year.

The day we purchased the tickets at Lawson's that morning, I was really excited we were finally going to see the museum.

Our admission time was four o'clock. We walked alongside the Inokashira Park according to the signs indicating the museum's direction. It was almost getting dark, and we were getting a little worried, but then eventually saw this:


It was the head of the big sky robot!

We arrived at the gate, and there were a lot of people already. After we entered the museum, we showed the staff the tickets and they gave us cool limited edition "movie stubs" (that I will find in my luggae and take pictures of soon!)

No cameras allowed in the museum, so there isn't any... but we watched a short film by Miyazki about how Mei (the cute little sister in Totoro) visited Totoro and the whole Totoro world! It was awesome! I think this alone was worth the adimission fee.

After watching the film, we were able to see Miyazaki's work room, his scatches and paintings, all his previous works (including those from his childhood) and such. It was just amazing.

Of course we also visited the gift shop... I was tempted, but no I didn't get anything. Can you belive it?

There was a kid play area with a giant cat bus and kids were having a blast! No cameras allowed still, though. Past the play area we went out side onto the belcony:


A water fountain! I did have quite a few sips here.


A fish bench with a handle(?) or clock hands(?) of some sort. The bench was very sturdy by the way.


And then we went up here.

And then we saw the big sky robot!


He was giant!

Everyone was taking pictures and staying in line to have their pictures taken with the robot.


You know these were not us. Just a random cute couple that posed with the robot.

A girl was kind enough to offer to take pictures of us, and we did the same for her. She was so cute!

We then walked around the museum.


A robot manhole cover.

There was also Kiki's room and behind the bakery areas (from Kiki's Delivery) but it was a little bit too dark for my video camera to pick up anything great.

But then we saw Totoro!




I love Totoro! :)


It was one of my favorite museums ever!

Oh, and I really loved it when I saw the little figurines that spin and made animation movements. I was very deeply moved.

sort of a strawberry cake

OK this is not a real cake, but I was really craving some strawberry cake the other day, and just didn't have the energy to bake one... hence this "sort of a strawberry cake" pancake cake.


So it has layers of cake, whipped cream, and stawberries. Yumminess.


I was almost tempted to frost the whole "cake"... would have been more real!

I used about 3/4 cup pancake mix, 1/2 cup milk, and an egg, to make the batter for the "pancake cake" (for two stacks/8 pancakes). The cakes were firmer than regular pancakes, and they stacked very well. I'm going to experiment with different "cakes" soon.

beefy dog biscuits - twisty sticks

We've been enjoying a lot of yummy food at home this holiday weekend, and I thought I'd make the dogs some yummy treats too.

I saw there was still a couple cans of low sodium beef stock in the cupboard, so I made them some beefy biscuits!



Beefy Biscuit Sticks for Dogs

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cups dry milk
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 egg
1 1/2 cups low sodium beef stock
some cornmeal

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the flour, dry milk and garlic powder. Add the egg and mix everything together, and add the beef stock to make dough.

Mix in enough cornmeal to form a stiffer dough (so it's not sticky to the touch). Use your hands to "pick" the dough, a small amount at a time, and roll it with both hands to make little twisty sticks. (Or you can roll the dough out and cut it into shapes.)

Bake in the 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes. These sticks are really crunchy ( I think it's the cornmeal that's doing the trick!) I love hearing Nuki make loud noises when he eats these!


Hmm... beefy biscuits...