PHOTO-A-DAY: 2013 February Day 17

"in my hand"

mmmm yummy new japanese choco snack i got at Uwajimaya.

PHOTO-A-DAY: 2013 January Day 19

"delicious"

Kimchi oden...yum!

PHOTO-A-DAY: 2013 January Day 16

"two things"

my grandmother returned from her month long trip to japan.

she brought me back some goodies♥

here's a cute kitty coin purse and the old school dice caramel candy!

PHOTO-A-DAY: October Day 3

"this happened today"

手作りコロッケhappened today♥

美味しかった～♫

PHOTO-A-DAY: June Day 24

"on my mind"

seattle...going out...beautiful weather...summer!!

went to Issian again with erika again and it was delish!

(japanese restaurant/izakaya in Wallingford)

James loves the place too!

i was nervous about bringing Kai out to a restaurant since i knew we'd be there for a while but he was so good!  didn't cry or anything.  he had his dinner with us and played around mostly..

he seemed entertained enough by the atmosphere that he didn't fuss around.

i guess that means we can go out more frequently now, eh?

hee hee, cute squirt of mayo!

(this is the bacon wrapped mushroom skewers but i LOVE their grilled shiitake skewer!!)

this was scallops...baked? i think..with a creamy sauce and onions... yuM!

we also had tons of other plates...the main dish being the Maguro no kama.

Maguro no kama is the whole head/jaw of a tuna fish baked!

ya sounds crazy and it's huge but a great deal and fantastic!

i'll have to get a photo next time

PHOTO-A-DAY: June Day 3

"on my plate"

everything was so good today that i couldn't just decide on 1 photo!

so...good..!!

久しぶりの外食だったし、ししゃもも食べれて幸せ♥

美味しかった～また行くよ、ぜったい！

PHOTO-A-DAY: May Day 27

"something sweet"

久しぶりにお店で桃の天然水を発見！

しかもこれはソーダ入り・・・ぷぷぷ、美味しかった～

紙風船

懐かしい～紙風船だよ！

よく遊んでたな～

海ちゃんと遊ぶ為に買いました。

hello kitty pasta...!

squee how cute! only in japan♥

found this at uwajimaya! (it even comes with a hello kitty sticker)

i was so tempted to buy it...but like all things imported from japan, it was seriously overpriced.

BOO!!!

green tea kit kat...!

my mom brought back some 'green tea' kit kat bars.

it's even green in color!

it tasted interesting...like those matcha ice creams.

not bad ^_^

prezzies from J-pan...!

yes, my parents have returned form their trip to Japan and they brought back some goodies♥

since they took the train everywhere and checking in bags and carry ons are now strict and expensive, they couldn't bring back a whole lot of stuff.

check it out!

personalized chopsticks! this is so great!

she got one for my family: james, me and Kai.

(notice that they all have owls on them! apparently owls are really popular in Japan right now too)

Candy!!! there can never be enough candy for Ivy!!

seriously, i think i already ate about half of these...

this is cute, it's a Kokeshi nail-care set.

cute cute cute ♥

and lots of good food.

this was nostalgic:  

it's a sweet rice mochi snack. it's so yummy...

it comes pre-packed like this. comes with a wooden utensil too.

comes with a sweet sauce.

(i don't use the sauce since the mochi is already sweet.)

see! it's so cute!! even their tiny snacks are cute♥

and these were some gifts for baby Kai.

i wrote a short explanation of these on my other baby blog.

check it out if you'd like.

now i can't wait to go back to Japan with James and baby Kai.

the food, the toys, and omg...tokyo disneyland and disneysea. 

CAN'T . WAIT . 

seaweed...!

love these things!
 even as a kid, my snack of choice was always seaweed over chips or candy.
however, these are nothing compared to the real japanese seaweed snacks...
the only reason i get these 'american' kinds are because they are wa~y cheaper than the japanese kind.
these are only 99cents a pack!
hmmm...i should check and see if costco sells these by the case...

the greatest sushi restaurant in the world...!!

goodness!!

just seeing this photo makes me drool...

so james showed me an interesting article.

a movie is coming out this year about the "greatest sushi restaurant in the world".

i guess it's like a documentary of (seriously) the best sushi restaurant.

since i'm not good at writing, here's the link:

Jiro Dreams of Sushi

check it out! 

i, for one, can't wait for it. definitely watching it.

being a sushi chef in japan is a huge deal. you go through so much training, it takes years and years to become a master.

o, just check out the trailer:

cute rice crackers..!

my grandmother just returned from a month long trip to japan!

she brought back these cute rice crackers♥

hehe they're so yummy i ate a whole bag of them already...

fumie's (melting pot of) gold cake...!

so there's a pretty popular japanese cake shop in downtown bellevue called "Fumie's gold"♥
AND it's famous for being this super teeny tiny shop with very limited selection AND constantly selling out! well well, jamus and i finally decided to go one Sunday RIGHT when it opened!
it opened at 1pm...we got there probably around 1:40.
2 (annoying) japanese ladies were in front of us and seriously almost bought out the whole store!
i was so worried i wouldn't get any cake for myself!

but i did♥ i got a strawberry shortcake (mmm one of my faves!)
and a couple chocolate cakes!

o, did i mention it was 80+ degress on this day??? by the time we got home... my precious cakes melted!!
and it did not look pretty. i was pretty sad.. still tasted good but still sad... (￣^￣)ゞ
i'll have to go back for some revenge cake!

アセロラ大好き♥

日本でいつも食べた！
アセロラのど飴とかアセロラドリンクも超好きだった！
UWAJIMAYAで偶然これを発見して大騒ぎしちゃったよ！
でもアセロラドリンクはどこ見ても見つからないんだよね～
飲みたいな～・・・

コカ・コーラ。。。！

お！！！
2011年の新コカ・コーラキャンペーンがまた安室ちゃんに決定したそうです！
って事は？新曲もそろそろ出るって事？
新しいCMはいつから放送されるんだろう～

浜ちゃん＆まっちゃん・・・！

JASMINEのツイートからいただいた写真。
今ジョージアの缶コーヒーは浜ちゃん＆まっちゃんが使われてるらしい！
な・なんかカッコイイよ、このテーマ！
お笑いコンビなのにシリアスでかっこよくなってるぅ～
♥
うっジョージア飲みてぇ～

大好物だった！

うひょ～！なつかしい！
皿うどんです！
子供の頃大好きだったな～
あのパリパリとしためんがトロトロになって美味しいんだよね☆

Cheeky Cafe...♥

the 'Cheeky Cafe' !
so cute!!!
so there's a cafe right around the corner from erika's place...
since it was a "cafe" we figured it'd be coffee, lattes and some pastry...
turns out it's a full on sit down restaurant, cafe-style. with small portions AND dinner size portions as well.
(and our waiter dude looked EXACTLY like Alice in Chains' Lane Staley... woa!)

erika got the japanese style curry & rice

i wasn't expecting the place to be a restaurant so i wasn't too hungry.
i opted for the small plate, potato korokke!
mmm it was suuper yummy!

looking over the menu, we noticed it was a lot of japanese foods.
i guess the owner if a japanese lady♥
i'll have to bring jamus here someday!

o, and they have a happy hour too!