#kiwi okonomiyaki

[shambalasims]

Scaring little sister

[doobler]

Top names I wanna give my future cat

Muffin

Cheese/Cheddar/Brie

Momo

Peaches

Melon/Honeydew/Cantaloupe

Kiwi

Yuzu

Soba

Okonomiyaki

Tiramisu

Ramuné

Tartine

Pear

[alexracheltravel]

INTERLUDE: Shinkansen Musings

Introduction:

While we travel from Tokyo to Kyoto, we wanted to offer our reflections on our trip so far.

 Favorite Foods

AJM-

#5 Sometaro (okonomiyaki in Asakusa)

#4 You (Omurice)

#3 Gonpachi (Yakitori and Kill Bill vibes)

#2 Sushi Dai (Tsukiji Market)

#1 Rokurinsha (Dipping ramen on Ramen Street in Tokyo station)

 RMF:

#5 Kiwi/lime/mint gelato- Pariya (Food Show at Tokyo Station)

#4 Sushi Dai (Tsukiji Market)

#3 Gonpachi (Yakitori and Kill Bill vibes)

#2 Shoyu Ramen (Ramen Museum)

#1 Sometaro (Okonomiyaki in Asakusa)

Favorite Neighborhoods

AJM-

#3 Shibuya

#2 Ginza

#1 Harajuku/Aoyama

 RMF-

#3 Odaiba

#2 Shibuya

#1 Asakusa

 Favorite Activities

AJM-

#5 Golden Gai

#4 Akiba Kart

#3 Shopping in Akihabara

#2 Meiji Shrine

#1 Tsukiji Market Tour

 RMF-

#5 Shopping in Harajuku

#4 Golden Gai

#3 Meiji Shrine

#2 Tsukiji Market

#1 Akiba Kart

 Concluding Tokyo Thoughts

AJM: I was skeptical at first that Tokyo would be different from other cities but after visiting, it is a complete different kingdom from New York. From the way people stand in lines everywhere to the signs of respect in everyday culture, this trip opened my eyes to how diverse a planet we live on. It is definitely a bigger city than just a haven for anime and video games.

 RMF: I kept saying the entire time we were in Tokyo that everything we hate about New York is not a problem in Tokyo. It is impeccably clean everywhere you go, people speak at reasonable volumes, there are clean bathrooms everywhere, people are nice to each other (in general of course), and the first instinct is to respect the person next to you, not ignore them. I loved how distinct each neighborhood was. I mean, that is also true in New York, but I think in a very different way.

[galileosunshine]

cherry, grape, kiwi

Aaah, sorry for the super late response. Today was a busy day.

cherry: can you play any musical instruments or can you sing?I play the piano! But recently I haven’t been practicing at all...I’m afraid I’m losing my skills ;_;And I can sing decently well at karaoke lol.

grape:if you could take a vacation anywhere in the world, where would you go?This might be obvious but I definitely want to go to Japan. Some really specific things I want to do is to go to Hokkaido and maybe attempt to find Galileo Galilei’s studio house in Sapporo, and go to their hometown which is Wakkanai (I’m sorry I’m this way lol). I also heard the scenery is amazing in summer.And I’d like to go to Akihabara, and go to Disney in Tokyo, and have okonomiyaki in Osaka, and....lots of things.

kiwi: what fascinates you?EVERYTHING. There’s so much to learn and not enough lifetimes to do it :P

These were fun! Thank yooouuuu~~ ^^

[joyceinkiwiland]

Week 7 (I love Japanese food)

Kia Ora!

I saw kiwis. Actual, real live kiwis! (As you might have seen already) We were anxious about not seeing them, since some people said that they’re not really active at the zoo, but nothing was less true! We saw three!

It was a really fun weekend, we went early to the island of Rangitoto and had a blast going up there (which was tough, but worth it) and we took the first boat back. As tired as we were, we decided to shower and go up K-road and Ponsonby Road, where we window-shopped and had dinner at Little Easy (an awesome place, may have told you about it before). Mount Eden and One Tree Hill were also a blast, just some walking up hills and recreating photos of Renske’s grandparents to see who did it best. It was fun!

In the zoo we saw kiwis (like I said!) and some more native animals to New Zealand, which are mostly if not only birds.

Then the week was cool, I have been connecting to one of the children a lot and she’s been clinging on to me, which is cute. I read a lot of ‘special’ stories to her, which is cute and a good way for me to get to read those books about Maori culture and lots of other kids’ books. Apparently the little girl hadn’t been at Oma Rapeti long and couldn’t speak a full English sentence when I came in. Now she’d been talking to me in English a lot. I have great influence  on kids and their language skills.😉

I have been focussing a lot on the kids who have language barriers, which have mostly been the kids with Chinese or Korean families. Especially the Korean ones have been a struggle, since I want to be able to talk to them since I understand a little, but alas… I did get great tips about approaching them, especially in crisis time (read: fights).

Matariki preparations are going hard as well. Flax stars have been made and a sign has been put up. We’ve been practising the songs of Twinkle Twinkle a lot and we’ve started on the Matariki Macarena, which is really fun. Maori is a nice language! It makes me want to watch Vaiana/Moana on repeat, since the origin of the story used in that film is mostly derived from Maori and Polynesian culture and myths.

Our week is short though, since we’ll be going up to Waipu to see glow worm caves, and we’ll go to Piha Beach and eventually cycle on Waiheke Island (another island off the coast of Auckland), where we’ll do a wine tasting, since it’s quite famous for it’s wines. We’re not sure about the cycling yet, since it’s very hill-y (and Kirsten said that it’s awful to cycle there). So yeah, I’m curious about tomorrow!

Mia cooked her Okonomiyaki, by the way. AND! I want to eat it forever. It was amazing, very tasty! She gave us the recipe, so we can make it at home. I do think I’ll make it at home, cause it was really good. I’ll post the recipe I think!

I did have a day off at work, cause I felt sick (I still have a massive cold) and I’ve been a little overwhelmed by the idea of going home. I’ve been projecting it on one of the kids who has bad intolerances (anaphylactic shock terrible) and I’ve been scared of having him at the table. I’ve been able to talk about it with the teachers and they’ve been taking him over from me, which has been difficult because he’s been latching onto me too (telling other teachers that I’m his favourite teacher). It’s nice that I have been able to be open about it, but I’m a little sad that I can’t really get my overwhelming fears in check. Something I will have to work on a bit more. And something I will be working on next week, cause I don’t want the little boy to suffer under my fears…

Bye! I’ll be enjoying nice car rides and singing along loudly xxxxxx

[tokyo-animism]

Japan x Korea Day 💙 . . #xandriaiscooking Beansprout, Tofu & Spinach Miso Soup, Korean BBQ on Teppanyaki Grill, Sesame Veg, Sushi Rolls, Okonomiyaki & Lychee Jelly w Peaches, Kiwi & Condensed Milk #japanesefood #koreanfood #miso #bibimbap #myrecipe #teppanyaki #desserts #niku #bbq #foodie #foodstagram (at Sunningdale)

[shambalasims]

Far from San Myshuno, poor Kiwi is still a freezing high school student in Willow Creek

[rebeebit]

JaPOW 2017

Andy and I decided last spring to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary by going skiing in Hokkaido, Japan, with our dear friends Carrie and Dave. We scored our plane tickets with Andy’s airline miles in April, and 9 months of anticipation finally came to a head on February 4th of this year.

A few days prior to our departure, we started receiving mixed reports from Carrie saying that some snow was great, some was terrible, and we realized perhaps we had better temper our expectations. We reasoned that many, many people take ski vacations in Colorado with the promise of amazing pow, only to be skunked. With measured enthusiasm, we packed our bags for what was sure to be a great time, even if the snow didn’t blow our minds every second.

To say that we were pleasantly surprised would be an understatement. But skiing wasn’t the only great thing on the trip, I’ll break my trip report into four parts:

THE FOOD

I thought this would not be a very cultural trip, and as I had spent ten months in Sapporo in 2001-02, I felt I had a good handle on Japanese culture anyway. However, we experienced the gestalt of Japanese cuisine - and if food isn’t considered cultural, I don’t know what is. I forewent coffee for most of the trip, opting for tea in the morning (about 1000 cups of it, the cups are so small! But this was good for hydrating me for the daily ski tour. Oh, I shouldn’t deceive you, reader: the coffee tasted like grimy dishwater, so I drank the tea because it was all I could stomach.). I weaned myself off western fare at breakfast, and after a few days was eating rice, fish, miso, and eggs, along with other sundry, often unidentifiable, items. The sticky rice is so named because it sticks with you - I could power along the ski tour all the way until lunch without a snack!

Andy (ahead) and I, skinning up to the alpine on day 3. The snow just kept getting better...

Dinners were divine. Of course, you probably think of sushi when you think of Japanese cuisine; some of you might include tempura as well. However, you can’t forget ramen (not the crappy 99 cent kind), okonomiyaki, monja, shabu shabu, and the offerings of the izakaya (think tapas, Japanese style). Some pictures of this excellent fare are below.

The snack aisle in the supermarket is a little different...

Shabu shabu! Dunno what all that was, but it was tasty.

Pushing back some savory sushi at the kaiten (conveyor belt) zushi.

Okonomiyaki, savory pancakes. The name means, roughly, “what you like,” and we did like. Carrie and Dave, getting hungry....

Monja, a specialty from Tokyo. The restaurant owner cooked both these and the okonomiyaki at our table. More experienced restaurant guests are allowed to cook their own, but I’m pretty sure we looked ignorant of the ways of the okonomiyaki-ya.

Ermergerd, ermergerd, ermergerd. All the little sea critters are so delicious! I’m ruined on sushi for a few months - there is no way any place in Denver can top this meal.

THE SKIING

I could go on and on here, but since many readers are not skiers, I’ll just say it was FABULOUS. We skied powder every day, and were treated to one day of the snorkel-worthy deep snow that has made Hokkaido an iconic ski destination. We didn’t take any pictures on the snorkel day - we were too busy skiing as much as possible. But you can get an idea from this:

The stoke for this run was palpable. We’d already had one blower run, where I was veritably submerged in powder on each turn. I was ready for more!

Didn’t need to see that much, just go!

On a different day, but almost as fluffy. Here Andy drops into a nice tele turn.

We decided to hire guides for this trip: since we only had a week, we wanted to efficiently pillage all of the best snow. While it wasn’t the cheapest way to ski Hokkaido, it was certainly the most stress-free! We’ve never done a trip like that, and lucked into having two exceedingly competent, very witty Kiwis to take us to the best skiing.

This is Peter. His super slangy Kiwi accent made for some hilarity - we learned words like mongrel, pancake, and frizzah. Sweet as. Peter liked to be a little bawdy and find the rowdiest line on each pitch.

Jim, the serious one, but he tolerated us admirably! Both guides worked in Colorado as ski patrollers, which was quite a coincidence.

I will brag a little, and say our guides were excited about us (as excited as you can be about working, I suppose) because we were very content to ski uphill, and ski a lot, and ski up big peaks. Granted, the latter required a little coaxing on their part for your author, as she is afraid of heights and generally underestimates her ability to do anything on skis.

Carrie and me, summiting again. On the first summit, Jim asked “who’s excited, and a little nervous?” Carrie and I raised our hands. He told us we’d be just fine. We informed him that if Andy or Dave were trying to get us up here, we would have been cursing and whining and turning back! I said I really believed he didn’t want to kill us.

The peak we skied two days in a row. 1500 vertical feet of pow, followed by another 2500 vertical of fun, sometimes rowdy, tree skiing. Steepest trees I’ve ever skied!

THE ONSEN

Onsen, or hot springs, are a Japanese cultural institution. When I taught English in Sapporo, my students would often come back from the weekend telling me about their trips to the onsen in various quaint villages near Sapporo. My experience at onsen was limited during that first trip, but I remembered that there are lots of rules to follow. First and foremost: onsen are not clothing optional, they are clothing forbidden. There was much humor regarding personal grooming habits when I first informed Carrie and Dave about this, but I won’t describe such vulgarities here. Once you have your clothes off, there are more rules, explained by the picture below:

We quickly developed a habit of going to the onsen after skiing, as every hotel has one. If we were en route to a new hotel after skiing, we would stop at an onsen straight away - nothing worse than cramming six smelly people into a van for a long ride. On the third morning, our guide Jim mentioned that he likes to hit the onsen before breakfast - start the day the way you want to end it, he said. We realized the wisdom in this, and started to double down on onsen. I don’t think anyone managed a triple onsen, however. The best ones were those that had outdoor baths, as you can see below. I couldn’t get very many pictures of onsen, as I’m guessing most folks would take umbrage to having their photo snapped while in their birthday suits.

SAPPORO

I had the opportunity to reconnect with my old friend Brendon on our last night in Sapporo - we worked together when I lived here in 01-02. It’s always great to catch up with someone where it feels like it has been 15 minutes, not 15 years, that you saw them last. He guided us to a fantastic sushi restaurant (food pictured above), where we let him do the ordering - and ended up eating fermented squid, some weird green crab thing, and (hooray!) lots of raw prawns. After dinner, we took in the Sapporo Yuki Matsuri (Snow Festival). It was just shutting down for the evening, but we had enough light to capture the mammoth creations in Odori Koen (Big Street Park) in the center of the city.

Some of the snow sculptures are at least two stories tall. I think Andy didn’t believe me when I told him that - then we saw them. He was impressed.

I’ll leave you with this parting shot of the USA’s sorry excuse for a leader and his apple pen, whose sculpture was inspired by a Japanese viral video.

[shambalasims]

Mango and Kiwi’s summer memories 

[shambalasims]

Cooking Mama proudly pres-- /shot. 

During summer, the sisters Mango and Kiwi have been helping out at their family Oishii restaurant, due to the fact that the waitresses went off and got married and pregnant ( thanks, MCCC xD ). Though, the only one really helping out was Mango, while her sister was either sleeping or playing with her Naruto toys :T 

[shambalasims]

A mini family hotspring vacation with aunt Polly,aunt India and cousin Toru. Dad was not invited because as we know he had an affair with Yuki Behr and doesn’t live with them anymore ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[shambalasims]

I found the perfect lipstick ever <3 

[shambalasims]

Sakura viewing in spring 

[shambalasims]

Mango, Clover,Maple and Kiwi <3 

Created with Zephyo’s live portrait maker

[shambalasims]

The twins grew up, but somehow they look nothing alike? :Y

[sugirandom]

☂️🐾🐉🌲🌷🍎🥐🍟🍪☕️~ヽ(´▽｀)/

☂️ What’s your favourite type of weather? : I prefer partly-cloudy weather since the sun is usually less intense, I have pretty sensitive skin and whenever I’ve been put on an antibiotic it’s usually the kind where you have to avoid sunlight which just makes it worse. I also like snow if I don’t have to travel very far in it.

🐾 What’s your favourite animal?  Dolphins are my favorite Animal but I also really like owls, wolves, and cats.

🐉 What’s your favourite mythical/extinct creature?  Hmmm… I like the Eastern-Style Dragons, the ones with whiskers.

🌲 What’s your favourite plant?  Sunflowers, I think they’re pretty awesome and some can grow to be so tall!

🌷 What’s your favourite flower?  Ha ha, oops I already answered that…well I also like Forget-me-nots.

🍎 Favourite fruit?  Kiwi

🥐 Favourite foreign food?  Okonomiyaki, If you ever visit the Kansai region (Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, Himeji) of Japan you have to try this! They have a slightly different style of Okonomiyaki in Hiroshima but I prefer Kansai’s style. I don’t think they serve it in the Kanto region (Tokyo, Yokohama, etc.)

🍟 Favourite fast food place? Taco Bell and Wendey’s

🍪 Favourite sweets/candy/snack?   I like Skittles and any form of Mint Chocolate.

☕️ Tea or coffee? (I don’t know if you asked this one or not since your symbol looks a bit different…feel free to let me know if you asked something different): I’m more of a tea person, being in Japan especially got me into drinking Green Tea and on occasion Oolang tea but I can’t have Oolang tea often because it has a lot of caffeine in it which I don’t respond very well to.