remembering mommy

Mom made "cheese pimiento" with red pimiento, star margarine and grated cheese. It really goes well with pan de sal, much better than the "cheez whiz version".

I skipped the margarine this time and used butter instead, no pan de sal here so a baguette had to do.
Not as tasty as the original but, the chunks of pimiento and cheese really brought back sweet memories of helping mom in making this spread.

dinner time!

What's for dinner? Well, we have sashimi tuna, salmon, amaebi, kanpachi and hotate. There's an assortment of veggies, 2 patties of grilled satsuma-age, and a block of tofu from Kyoto garnished with fresh myoga, ginger and spring onions and drizzled with yuzu tare. Persimmons are in season so that's our dessert. We'll have chilled nihonshu that's semi-dry to drink. Ittadakimasu!

yesterday at the ballpark

It's Waseda U vs Hosei U, and at last I finally got to watch Saito Yuki on the mound! He's been really popular since he debuted at Koshien in 2006 with his pitching skills, his good looks and his habit of using a blue handkerchief (a towelette, really) his mom gave him, to wipe the sweat off his brow before he throws a pitch. Hence, the media dubbed him with this cheesy moniker, "The Handkerchief Prince". A buying frenzy for that blue handkerchief soon after made sales for a towel company really booming and a loyal following of devoted middle-aged women could be seen at every game where Yuki is pitching. I saw a gaggle of them yesterday, toting mini-binoculars and digital cameras and happily cheering for their prince.



Two hits by the "handkechief prince" made for 2 home runs, plus a great play added another point at the 5th!

We brought sandwiches and warm drinks to the ballgame and had draft beer afterwards. Looking around at what people are usually eating, there was one munching on a home-made rice ball, one tucking into his obento, there was also curry and rice, hotdog on a stick, and hard-boiled egg (with salt)! The fare was very Asian, which made me think about bringing a Pinoy obento next time.

Hosei rallied on the 7th, caught up with Waseda and our handkerchief prince had to replaced at the pinch. The game was extended to 3 more innings and ended up in a draw at 3-3.


We visited a dear friend in hospital afterwards, and then it's happy-hour at a yakitori nearby. That's grilled chicken with ume paste and wasabi. Kanpai!

a boxful of delectable yummy stuff

Funwari Shokora - there's a long line at their shop at Tokyo station and google shows that it's been much blogged about lately.

There are "cheaper" versions of this, like Lotte's Choco-pie... but this one is more artisanal, spongy, moist choco cookies that's not so sweet, with a wedge of "nama" chocolate in between, subtle balance of bitter and sweet with spicy and orangey notes as well in every bite.

A box of 5 pcs. costs about 850¥, I think.

a weekend at the ballpark

After a typhoon-ravaged week, blue skies and a cool breezy weekend! We got tickets to a Tokyo Big6 baseball game between Waseda and Rikkyo U. It was my first time to a baseball game and it's really fun to watch the game with a "sports jock". I learned a lot about baseball, and was hoping too that I get to take home a foul ball. However, Waseda U's ace pitcher, Yuki Saito was on benchwarming post today so it was not as thrilling as I expected it to be.

Waseda U lost, a shut-out to Rikkyo kicking thier butts with 4 HRs! Rikkyo's ace pitcher really gave the Waseda boys a tough time. Rikkyo's cheering squad was superb!

After the game, it's koteri ramen-time!