Walking home hand in hand

 

A video here.

Naoya built this craft by himself!

 He cut, glued, and taped all by himself. Impressive! 

Grilled vegetables & horse mackerel Southern France style

 Cooked as Chef Kikuchi's recipe book says, it came out very good! Originally you cook sardine but I replaced it with horse mackerel. 

野菜と鯵の南仏風重ね焼き。菊池シェフのレシピ本を参考に作ってみたら、あら美味しい！レシピでは鰯を使うのだけれど、なかったので鯵で代用。

Hydrangea 紫陽花

Not much to do so walking around the neighborhood, counting and telling the colors of hydrangeas.  

Mo's sports day

 Despite the State of Emergency, the school had the sports day under some restrictions. Mo was appointed as a cheer leader of the cheer group of team read, and he had been practicing very hard. It was great that he had a stage to show his effort at the graduating year. Oh boy it was a rough way to get to this point. 

Videos:

Mo on 100m race;

Mo on a group gymnastics;

"Raise your flag";

Mo entering the field;

Mo cheering the team white;

Mo cheering;

Mo cheering, then leaving;

"Roll the big ball" 1st;

"Roll the big ball" 2nd; and

"Roll the big ball" 3rd;

竹の子ご飯＆姫皮の味噌汁 Bamboo shoot rice & miso soup

 竹の子ご飯＆姫皮の味噌汁 やっと作ったよ季節のお料理。姫皮はお味噌汁に。ワカメが食べられないので、寂しげ。お豆腐入れたら良かったね。

Bamboo shoot rice & miso soup. Seasonal dish I finally had a chance to cook. Soft skin parts in miso soup. 

This month's flowers

 

Carnation(Farida, music box), agapanthus, alstroemeria/lily of the Incas(pearl), hypericum, juneberry, Solomon's seal 

カーネーション 、アガパンサス、アルストロメリア（パール）、ヒペリカム、ジューンベリー、鳴子欄

Waiting for kindergarten to open

 

Masa made steam cakes

And twins love them! Thank you, Masa!

Naoya

Masaki

 

Vegetables from my home

 実家から野菜が届いたのでさあ大変。大量の蕗は、下ごしらえしたことがないというお友達を巻き込んで地味に筋取り。お浸し、炒り煮、炊き込みご飯に。スナップエンドウは軽く茹でてサラダ。堪能しました。関係者の皆様、有り難うございました！

Vegetables from my home arrived. A friend who's never cooked butterbur helped me with prepping and stringing them A LOT. Cooked 3 dishes: marinated in dashi soup, cooked with sweet & soy, and with rice. Lightly boiled snap peas for salad. We enjoyed it. Thank you very much to everyone who was involved!

I can see a rainbow, or caprise?

 

Masaki made this craft car!

 

Greek lunch at Milieu

Rolled cabbage Greek style

Baklava!

おこっぺヨーグルト Many yogruts from Matt & Kana

Mo's new favorite. 

Twins making a paper car, using scisers

 Video here.

Dinner at Hi Nichinichi in Higashi Azabu

 It used to be a fishmonger run by grandpa, now a modern and simple Japanese restaurant. Haven't been here more than an year. Looking at those beautiful lunch boxes, waiting being picked up to go on the corner of my eyes, I ordered roasted tea for my drink. No alcohol rules under the state of emergency, doesn't bother me at all. It might be some mistakes but here's a list of dishes I had.

Faba beans, chopped wasabi stems and salted plum mixed with rice, wasabi on top;
Sea bream sashimi;
Grilled bigfin reef squid, asparagus, along with marinated spinach;
Lightly grilled bonito sashimi;
Tuna and grated bitter daikon radish;
Grilled Manganji green & red peppers and Kamo egg plant in a dashi soup;
Grilled sea bream;
Fresh Japanese pepper, Omi beef, and Kujo leek pot;
Soba noodle and conger; and
Ice cream with white bean sweet paste, sprinkles of salt and sweet potato Shochu spirits.

Off course the fish dishes are marvelous, and they were salted just right. Didn't make me thirsty at all. And Japanese pepper hot pot I wanted to try while it was still in season. Never imagined I would become addicted to its sparkling biting spiciness on my tongue. And the last surprise was the dessert. It was an ice cream, a bit of salt and sweet potato distilled spirit, shochu over it to taste. The aroma of shochu was outstanding. Very good idea for grown up dessert. Casual and simple place, my new favorite. Should try lunch boxes next time. Thank you very much for the feast!

https://www.hinichinichi.jp/

東麻布の日日日さんへ。久しぶりの外食。以前はおじいちゃんがやっていた昔ながらのお魚屋さんがモダンでシンプルなしつらえのお店に変わっていた。この辺りは一年以上は来ていない。ちょうどお迎えを待っていた素敵なお持ち帰り用のお弁当を脇目に、ほうじ茶をいただく。お酒が飲めないので、肩身の狭い思いをしなくてちょうど良い。もしかしたら記憶違いがあるかもしれないけれど、頂いたものの覚書。

お米は雪若丸と空豆、山葵の茎と叩き梅のご飯、おろし山葵添え
桜鯛のお刺身
アオリイカ、アスパラガスの焼き物、ほうれん草のお浸し
カツオの腹身のたたき
鮪と辛味大根
万願寺唐辛子と賀茂茄子の焼き浸し
鯛の焼き物
近江牛、九条ネギ、実山椒鍋
蕎麦と穴子
アイスクリームと白餡、塩と芋焼酎掛け

お魚が美味しいのはもちろん、塩気が絶妙で、まさしく良い塩梅。食べ進めてもしょっぱくならないのが素晴らしい。そして、是非頂きたかった実山椒鍋。生の山椒の季節が終わらないうちに試したいと思っていたので、とても嬉しい。このピリリが大人になってハマるとは想像しなかった。最後の驚きは、デザート。アイスクリームに塩、そして、いも焼酎を掛けただけなのに、その香の良さにびっくり。良いこと教えてもらいました。カジュアルで、シンプルで、新しいお気に入り。今度はお弁当をいただきましょう。ご馳走様でした！

Photos here.

水茄子＠永徳園

Water eggplant from Eitoku en in Kishiwada, Osaka. Very shiny and beautiful. Couldn't forget how delicious they were last year, I purchased a dozen of it again as the season started. Firstly, sashimi, then rolled prosciutto with it, little by little so that I won't hurt my tummy. You can't stop eating deep fried ones with dashi soy sauce, ginger, and Japanese shiso basil. Thank you very much for the delicious eggplants!

大阪は岸和田の永徳園さんから水茄子が届く。艶々で美しい。去年初めていただいて、とても美味しくて、また今年も購入。まずはお刺身、生ハムを巻いて、食べすぎないように少しずつ。素揚げにして出汁醤油に生姜と大葉を薬味にいただくと、いくらでも食べられてしまう。ありがとうございました！ 

水茄子のお刺身

Baby corn and scallop spring rolls

I liked playing with corn silk. It's like smooth hair. This recipe is mainly focused on eating the corn silk, and I used scallpe to go with instead of shrimp. The texture of corn silk is very interesting! While I was at it, I also made banana, bacon, and cardamon spring rolls, and salmon & spinach with cream cheese. Spring roll is really hard to make...

ベビーコーンと帆立の春巻き。とうもろこしの髭がサラサラで冷たくて、まるで髪の毛のようで、子供の頃遊ぶのが大好きだった。とうもろこしの髭をメインに食べるということで、なるほど、これは面白い。エビの代わりにつ帆立を使う。ついでにバナナとベーコン、カルダモンの春巻き、冷凍庫にあった鮭とほうれん草とクリームチーズも春巻きに。春巻き、慣れないからか、巻くのが難しい。

Baby corns

Scallops on top of baby corn and its hair!

ベビーコーンと帆立の春巻き Baby corn and scallop spring roll

バナナ、ベーコン、カルダモン春巻き Banana, bacon and cardamon spring roll

 

Twins grinding walnuts

 A video here.

坦々麺@En

 Dandan noodle at En, Azabujuban. Temporary shop, and opens only Mon&Tue, I just swung by and could have a seat. They serve only one item, I added coriander. Customers keep coming. Yum!

麻布十番のEnさんで坦々麺。間借りで、しかも月火しかやってないので、思い付きで寄ってみると、ちょうど開店し始めたところで入れました。メニューは一つだけ、パクチーを追加。待っている間に次から次へとお客さんが入ってきましたよ。美味しゅうございました！

Masaki kicking in a head of Mo while sleeping

Revenge! 

Red radish leaves pesto!

 Made red radish leaves pesto. Came out pretty good! It's mostly parmesan cheese, and I used walnuts, so it shouldn't go bad. Chopped the red part left close to the leaves for decoration and looks beautiful. 

ラディッシュの葉を使ってペーストを作る。捨ててしまうのはもったいなくて、パルメザンチーズ とクルミと一緒にミキサーでガーっと。根本に残っていた赤い部分も刻んで飾りに。上出来！

Twins helping with house

Videos of:

Naoya washing his pants

Masaki cutting carrot

Maritozzo & croissant break with twins

Masaki

Naoya

Croissant with pistachio paste

Masaki

Naoya

 

Twins' Teddy The Dog and Pink Cute Dolphin

 

Friday ice cream break after kindergarten

 

Masaki

Naoya

TGIF! to my iced chai tea

FunFun Luroufan, Sangendyaya 帆帆魯肉飯

魯肉飯　Taiwanese minced pork on rice

 Got a take away lunch at FunFun Lurofan in Sangendyaya. They only have takeaways as the State of Emergency is in effect, though I'd like to come back and eat there one day.

三軒茶屋の帆帆魯肉飯で魯肉飯のお弁当を購入。今はお持ち帰りだけだけれど、落ち着いたら店内でいただきたい。ご馳走様でした！

http://www.funfunluroufan.com/

Coffee Elementary School, Daikanyama

 Went to pay a visit to Coffee Elementary School before they close on May 15. Had my decaf iced latte and ham sandwich. Beautiful summery weather, I could relax for a while. The new gig will be in Shirokane dai, which is a bit closer from my place. Will come back to see Teacher Yoshida!

5/15が最終日の私立珈琲小学校へ。ディカフェのアイスラテとハムのサンドイッチをいただく。お天気がよく、久しぶりにボーッと気分転換。新しいところは白金台とのことで、自宅からは少し近くなるので、楽しみ。ご馳走様でした！また吉田先生のところにお伺いします！

Beautiful summery day