Please help Japan in anyway that you can.

I was there only two weeks ago.

[via 2or3things; 1. signal noise, 2. Editions of 100]

My heart is with all of my friends in Japan.

[1. ACS]

I usually don't eat very much bread in Tokyo—or really rice for that matter. But some of the bakeries here have the most delicious breads, so once in awhile I cave in. For breakfast this morning, I had this delicious artisanal walnut and currant bread with a fine cup of coffee at Levain Bakery near Yoyogi-uehara station. No butter necessary.

[1-2. c. lynn]

I’ve been staying at my friends H and S's house in their family’s charming neighborhood inside Tokyo. It's really fun to imagine what it would be like to live here, which isn't something that I've been able to do while staying at hotels in the city center. 

Another great thing about staying here is that H has offered to teach me some Japanese home-cooking including a delicious seafood nabe or stew (なべ物), which is wonderful since my father gifted us with a proper donabe (土鍋) for Christmas this year. She uses a metal pot, but the one I have is made of earthenware and must be cured properly before use with day-old rice.

Gather:
15 small chicken meatballs (you can purchase these already prepared at a Japanese market, but to make them combine ground chicken thigh, soy sauce, and green onion)
12 shrimp, deveined
10 scallops
10 oysters (optional)
1 small blue crab
12 cockles
1 package soft tofu (or firm if you wish)
1 leek, cut into bite-sized rounds and soaked to remove any sand
1 bunch of hakusai, or Chinese cabbage, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 package glass noodles
1 carrot, cut into thin rounds or length-wise
1 bunch enoki mushrooms, cleaned, chopped in half, and pulled apart into bite-sized clusters
1 daikon root, sliced thinly into small half moons
2 yosenabe soup packages (you can purchase at a Japanese market)
1 bottle ponzu (optional) 

Equipment:
1 nabe pot (metal/clay)
1 portable gas cooker

Cook:
1. Prepare and clean all vegetables. Arrange together in bunches on a plate for ease of cooking.
2. Add yosenabe packages to nabe pot, cover, and bring to a boil over open flame.
3. Add daikon, carrots, and half package of glass noodles to yosenabe mixture.
4. Add cockles, crab, and chicken meatballs.
5. Add shrimp, hakusai, enoki, and leek.
6. Bring back to boil and add scallops, slices of tofu, and add the rest of the glass noodles.
7. Add oysters.
8. Overall cook time should be about 20 minutes from when the yosenabe boils.

To serve, bring pot to table and place on gas cooker to keep everything warm. Place a small bowl, chopsticks, and a soup spoon at each place setting. Serve up nabe and add a dash of ponzu if it suits you.



[1. Shoko Muraguchi]

I found the most amazing little things at Tokyu Hands, a mega-store filled with six floors of everything you could ever want to fill your new Japanese apartment or to take home as souvenirs for friends. The selection is overwhelming and there are so many well-priced gems all over the place.

First, I found these little stainless-steel pitchers that are filled with cream and served with coffee. They are adorable and really remind me of the cafe at Tas Yard.

Second, these hilarious doggy squeak toys in the shape of a gyoza and baozi (steamed bun) with faces on them! Is that a mustache on the steamed bun? I'm not completely sure, but it's amazingly cute. Oh, and I love that the gyoza has a yaki (grilled) brown bottom.



[1. atk1983; 2-3. c. lynn]

Let's have cereal for every meal! Or at least stews, soups, porridge, ice cream, and anything else that could be served by bowl. Who needs plates, if you set the table with these bowls from One Kiln.

[1-2. One Kiln]

What a wonderful trip so far! We've seen so many things together and have thoroughly enjoyed the company. I love traveling as a pair—taking turns navigating, making judgment calls, scouting new coffee shops, picking lunch restaurants, and pitching in together no matter what comes our way.

But we must nurture ourselves apart as well, so I'm off to Tokyo while Aa attends a workshop. I'm excited to share some of my favorite parts of this city with you.



[1. Janne M; 2. Kim Erlandsen]

Couch to onsen (温泉) bath to kaiseki (会席 ) dinner, and again. This is how we spent our very romantic Valentine's day at in Noboribetsu (登別市).

[1-3. c. lynn; 4. Bourou]

A few snaps from the robata restaurant where we feasted on hokke, pork sirloin, green onion, and grilled potato.





[1-3. c. lynn]

One of the things that I hope to pick up in Tokyo is a set of chopstick rests. I adore this brass version by one of Japan's oldest ironworks Futagami in collaboration with designer Masanori Oji.

[1-4. Analoque Life]

I had to post about this amazing tempura (天ぷら) restaurant that was recommended to us on our first night in Sapporo. Ebi-ten serves up the most delicious tempura that I've had—just as amazing as the tempura that we once had in Kyoto at Ten-ichi (a high-end tempura restaurant that Clinton visited during a presidential trip to Japan).

At Ebi-ten, we enjoyed the Hokkaido tempura set meal, which included the most delicate squid tempura, as well as tempura kabocha (カボチャ) or winter melon, succulent hotate (ほたて) or scallop, potato, salmon, Hokkaido surf clam or hokkigai (ほっきがい), and shungiku (春菊) or garland chrysanthemum. We also had to order the kuruma ebi (くるまえび) or Japanese imperial prawn, which is served as a piece of tempura prawn accompanied by a tiny popcorn-sized tempura prawn head (atama, あたま). I firmly believe that I could eat these by the bowlful, which makes me wonder about how potentially delicious crickets and grasshoppers could be served in the tempura style. 

(Below: The ultimate onion ring: a tempura pearl onion)




[1-4. c. lynn]

This afternoon we decided to check out Otaru (小樽市), a neighboring city of Sapporo, known for their snow candle-lit path alongside a canal (yukiakarinomichi). The canal is draped in strands of globular glass lights and the path is adorned with snow structures that house little tea lights producing a magical winter wonderland effect.

I loved the little pressed flower ice votives and the warm glow from the candles buried in pockets of snow. What a romantic way to spend an evening just before Valentine's Day!





[1-4. c. lynn]

Hokkaido is famous for their hairy crab, king crab, and queen crab. We tried this delicacy from the Sea of Okhotsk in several preparations: vinegared crab (served cold with sweet vinegar), grilled crab legs, and finally in a delicious shabu-shabu preparation.

Shabu-shabu (しゃぶしゃぶ, ), meaning "swish-swish" in Japanese, is a hot pot preparation where you cook raw meat in a broth of water and sake. You also add vegetables to help build the broth like cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, and finally glass noodles. At the end of the meal, when all of the main protein is devoured, you can ask for zōsui (雑炊) or leftover rice/noodle, which are then added to the broth to soak up all of the remaining liquid.



[1. Bryan Chan, 2-3. c. lynn]

After the briefest introduction to Shanghai (where I think that I'd like to spend more time) we left China for Japan, settling in at a hotel in Sapporo (札幌市), on the northern island of Hokkaido (北海道) Japan.

One big bowl of Ippudo ramen (ラーメン) to warm our bellies later, we set out to photograph the enormous snow sculptures that have made the Sapporo Snow Festival or Sapporo Yuki-matsuri (さっぽろ雪まつり) a main attraction for both domestic and international tourists alike.

I loved the architecture of these two snow sculptures, first, the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests at the Temple of Heaven (rendered in snow at half-size) and second, the Kiunkaku of Hongwanji (rendered in snow at almost full-size).




I was also enamored with several of the smaller snow sculptures of favorite cartoon characters and their cute friends. Contrasted against the buildings, the rabbits look almost sinister, as if they plan to take over the city with their rabbit mischief.



[1-5. c. lynn]

A favorite cocktail of mine while traveling in Japan is an umeshu soda or an umeshu no oyuwari (umeshu with 2/3rds hot water), which I favor for winter months. Umeshu is a liqueur made from unripened ume (うめ) fruit, which is similar to a Japanese apricot or a Chinese plum. Many households in Japan make their own version, which seems relatively simple—steeping the ume in shochu and sugar; if can find some ume, learn how to make it here.

[1. denslee]

Of course, I couldn't really go to Japan and not pick up a selection of beautiful washi masking tapes. Although they are becoming readily available in the states, I found a great selection to choose from at a stationery store in Shibuya station. To pick up some for yourself, click here. Or to pick up a pretty wooden single dispenser, click here or here. For a multi-roll dispenser, click here.


[1-3. mt washi tape]

I love the simplicity of the honey jars from L'abeille (French for "bee") in Japan. There are so many pretty and delicious things at Tokyo Food Show, which although hard to describe is basically a luxury department store for prepared foods and produce; I would call it the Bergdorf Goodman of supermarkets.


[1. L'abeille]

A few photos from a farmers market that we stumbled into at Yoyogi-koen. It would seem that gourds have made their way into the market in a big way!

[1-3. c. lynn]

I happened to stop in a little paper shop and press near Playmountain, called Papier Labo. Among the handsome bound books of photography and letterpress cards, I found some adorable postcards by Sab Letterpress.  

Isn't their lightbox sign cool? I love it.

[1 & 2. c. lynn; 3-5. Sab Letterpress]