christmas ham bone

I was putting away groceries in the fridge and saw that we still had the ham bone from Christmas! We had wrapped it tight after we cut off all the pieces of ham, and thought we'd give it to the doggies some time soon... but we (almost) totally forgot about it!

John carefully examined the bone to make sure nothing went bad, and then seperated it with his sharp sandoku knife. Half for Nuki, and the other half for Yama. They loved it!


Hmm... bones.

Thank goodness the smoked bone was still good after more than 2 months... the doggies didn't have funny tummy after eating it.

coffee chiffon cake

My friend Joanne made me a chiffon cake using our coffee. She said the flavor of the cake turned out so well because of the quality of the coffee. *blush* I think she's just talented.



The cake was so moist and delicious. I'm tempted to make one myself, too, but I'm not quite good as a baker, so we'll see.


She also used some ganache on the cake... a thin layer of it, and it was yummy.


Plus I get to take semi art-sy pictures of it.


Hmm... soft and delicious coffee chiffon cake.

Thanks Joanne!

[Tokyo Fall 2008] Tokyo Tower

We walked in the fairly quite streets toward Tokyo Tower. The people and cars of Tokyo were still all around, but for some reason the area seemed a lot quieter than anywhere else in Tokyo.

We saw the tiny little tip of Tokyo Tower got bigger and broader as we got closer. (dah!) We saw a large wooden gate with giant metal doors, and walked upward on the path next to it. There were a lot of trees and little shrines along the way. Very peaceful.

And then I saw this:



Tokyo Tower was so graceful and pretty at night. I just couldn't get my eyes off it.

I couldn't quite capture the beauty of the tower, but I still tried to take pictures of it with different camera settings. I also took a lot of "mental pictures!"


Tokyo Tower with a reddish tint.


Tokyo Tower with a purple-y tint.

You can go up the tower to the Observatory and see the Tokyo night view, but we didn't go. It was super romantic at the bottom of the tower already!


The two levels of observatories.

Note to myself and all who's visiting Tokyo Tower: bring a good camera!

cactus candy

My friend Dana brought me a box of cactus candy a while ago, but I never tried it. I'm not very adventurous as far as fruit and vegetable goes... since cactus, being a plant, is sort of like a kind of vegetable to me, I didn't really want to try it, even though I love candies.

But I love the box. It's so cute.



Yesterday I gave the box of cactus candy to EC. She was excited and opened it up right away. She tried one and said it was pretty good, and that I should give it a try, so I took a piece.


Ooooo they were red!

I carefully took a bite. It had a slight lemon taste to it up front, and then a fruity flavor came along. Its texture was like that of a gum drop... but slightly different.

I actually didn't mind it at all.

Now I can tell people I've tried cactus candy!

[Tokyo Fall 2008] on the way to Tokyo Tower

We really wanted to take the full advantage of our East JR day pass, so after dinner at Shinjuku we hopped back on the train and arrived at Hamamatsucho.


We saw this cool guy on the train. I believe his pants read "Japan Sport Science University." Awesome.

It was a bit later so the train was not too crowded. Nice.


The north gate.

Hamamatsucho was the closest JR station (that I knew of) to the Tokyo Tower. We took the north exit at the station.

We could see the tip of Tokyo Tower when we stepped out of the station... and we knew which way to go.

It was later at night, but there were still shops open, and people walking around in the area. We saw interesting little things.


"World's wish for traffic safety."


A small yakitori place.

I really liked the signs on the shop:


Totally made sense.

As we got closer and closer to Tokyo Tower, my heart, for some reason, started pounding faster and faster.

strawberry smoothie

I've been enjoying strawberry smoothies at home quite a bit: frozen strawberries, strawberry yogurt, ice cubes, and some smoothie powder (I think you can substitute this with dry milk) together in the blender. I'd sometimes add some whipping cream to the mixture, too. Yumminess. Hmmm... strawberry smoothies.


and I like serving (myself) my stawberry smoothies in the strawberry yogurt container.

I also love drinking it with a fat straw (normally for bubble teas)!


It's so good even Yama wants some.

simple apple cake

I made a simplified version of apple cake the other day. It was a quite "thin" cake, and I made in my ceramic quiche dish. Seemed to work well.


My first apple cake!

Simple Apple Cake

100 g. glour
1/4 t. baking power
1/4 t. salt
130 g. sugar
1 envelope vanilla sugar (vanillinzucker)
2 eggs
1/4 c. milk
1/3 c. butter, softened or melted (but not too hot)
1 apple, peeled, cored, and cut into 4-8 pieces

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix everything well. Pour into a baking pan. Use a fork or a knife to "mark" or cut (but not all the way through) the apple slices, place on the batter.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 30-35 minutes. Voila!

You can also sprinkle some powdered sugar before serving.



I was thinking, since the apple slices on top are the only apple element in the recipe, I can theoretically replace the apple with other fruit like peaches and possibly come up with a peach cake some time. We'll see.

Or, I can dice the apples and make the whole cake more apple-y.

[Tokyo Fall 2008] Kushiya: Food on a Stick

When we went to Osaka we visited this little place where you eat fun fried foods on sticks, and drink beer, and be happy.

I did a quick research online before heading off to Tokyo and found that Kushiya serves food on sticks and you get to fry your own sticks at your table.

I checked their web site and decided to go to one of their stores in Shinjuku.


After being lost for a little bit, we found the store among these signs.

It was a night before a national holiday, so the restaurant was busy. I think we waited about half an hour or so before we were seated. Not too bad.


We were guided to our "frying table." A girl explained to us how things work.

Kushiya designed their seats with a box underneath, where you can store your jackets and accessories in to avoid the risk of having your clothes catch the "fry smell." Cool.


Food area at Kushiya.

At the food area customers can get meats, vegetables, seafood, savory cakes and such on sticks inside the refrigerated glass cases. There were also other food items like soups, rice, snacks, and desserts.


You can theoretically fry any kind of food in the store. They supply you with a light batter and crumbs, and off you start frying!


I got all kinds of fun stuff.

Ahhh I love those small fish with lots of roe inside.


Frying guide at the table.


John taking a bite.

I was frying seafood, cakes, sausages, chicken, meatballs, and all sorts of crazy ingredients. There were also different dipping sauces for people to choose from.


We had quite a few sticks!

We also had almond tofu and custard for dessert. Yum.

Overall the food was OK, but the experience was fun and interesting!

waffle house

For the past couple times we were in Denver, and were hungry late at night, we would go to Waffle House. It's open 24 hours a day, so we could go and have hot meals any time!


It was a small but lovely diner, with a cool guy cooking and a happy lady serving. (late at night)


Fairly extensive menu.


Oooo what should I get?


I think I got a ham & cheese omelet meal... with toast and hash brown, and little sausage patties.

Their has brown is different than that I was more used to... they were almost like short noodles! The sausage patties were firm and flavorful.


John got their double waffle.


The waffles were thin(ner), pretty, and buttery.

Ahh I wish there's some waffles in front of me right now.

[Tokyo Fall 2008] Shinjuku at Night

The day we went to Ueno we bought a JR East Day Pass, so we figured we'd take advantage of the pass and ride to as many places as we could. We bought some treats and goodies at Ameyayokocho (in Ueno) and brought it back to the hotel (in Ikebukuro) first, then we decided to go to Shinjuki to have dinner at Kushiyamonogatari, which would be a post of its own later on.

We arrived at Shinjuku on the JR, and did get lost for a little bit... but we got to see the pretty and sparkling shinjuku lights!




I really like this photo... it almost looks like something mysterious is coming down from the sky!


One of the things that were really interesting to me was that there could be tons of different small businesses, food or retail, within the same building in Tokyo... and they have the signage to prove it!

I took some more pictures, but most of them were a bit fuzzy... I like them, however, so if you like you can check them out on my flickr.

Oh, and we did manage to find the restaurant among the busy streets and buildings. It was on the 7th floor by the way.