Makiko Itoh : Not a nameless cat.

Chocolate katana, modeled after one owned the Oda Nobunaga twitter.com/allex_japan/st…

The building blocks of basic katsuo dashi (katsuobushi based soup stock): katsuobushi, which is fermented and dried katsuo (skipjack tuna or arctic bonito) and kombu seaweed. There are other dashi formulas but this is the most popular one. It is a fundamental building block of Japanese cuisine. . . . . #japan #japanesefood #washoku #katsuobushi #kombuseaweed #konbuseaweed #dashi

I somehow had a random cup noodle in my suitcase, and ate it. Although I have raved about Nissin’s Seafood Cup Noodle flavor elsewhere, if anything their Chili Tomato is even better...or at least as good. It is sooo packed with flavor, not to mention surprisingly tasty mystery chicken-like meat. I am hard pressed to decide which I like better. . For what it’s worth, here is my ranking of my top 5 favorite Nissin Cup Noodle flavors. This is just about the ones made and sold in Japan, not their overseas versions, which imnho are way inferior. It also does not include their Donbei udon and soba. . . . 5. Original Flavor - a classic. . 4. Cheese Curry - rich and mildly spicy. Not good as a midnight snack since the aroma wakes up the whole household. . 3. Hokkaido Milk Seafoodo (Seafoo-Do, get it?) - milky, mild and flavorful. . Tie, 1. Chili Tomato and Seafood. . Just out of the rankings: Rich Dan Dan Noodles, Original Light (less calories!), Seafood Light (ditto). . . . #cupnoodles #nissin #nissincupnoodles #noodles #japan #snack #omgthecarbs #midnightsnack #ramen

Something I brought back with me. Thick, rich, eggy, made from happy eggs. The only ingredients listed are cottonseed oil, apple vinegar, egg yolks, sugar, salt and mustard. No preservatives. Costs about 3x as much as Kewpie. Forget Kewpie. This is far better. . . . #japan #japanesefood #mayonnaise #kewpiemayo #betterthankewpie #kewpie

For my last meal in Japan (for now) I thought about sushi, but had some black Higashimurayama yakisoba instead. . . #japan #japanesefood #noodles #yakisoba #lomein

Carb in carb, the classic yakisoba pan - fried noodles in a soft roll sandwich. . . . #japan #bread #japanesefood #yakisoba #Japanesebread #snack #bread

Just a little flower stall in the neighborhood. . . . #japan #spring #yokohama #flowers

This pasta dish is so simple but sooo good. While you are boiling the pasta, sauté 1 sliced sweet onion and as much tender spring cabbage as your frying pan will hold in olive oil until everything turns a bit limp. Add drained canned tuna, season with salt, black pepper and just a bit of soy sauce. Add the hot pasta with a little bit of the cooking water, toss together. Done in the time it takes to boil the pasta. . . #food #spring #pasta #lunch #cabbage #quickcooking #tuna

I had this recently...probably the last oysters of the season, cooked as kakimeshi or kaki no takikomi gohan. Shucked and cleaned whole oysters briefly cooked with dashi and a little sake and soy sauce, taken out, the rice cooked with that broth, then the oysters added back right before serving. So delicious, but very, very intensely flavored so a little is enough. . . . #food #japan #japanesefood #washoku #oysters #rice

GACKT (yep that GACKT) endorses these bananas.

Another Haagen-Dazs Japan flavor, Matcha Cheese Cookie. It tastes exactly like the name (the “cheese” part is cream cheese). . . . #japan #japanesefood #icecream #haagendazs #haagendazsjapan #snacks

This is a takeout sushi set I get a lot when I am in Yokohama, from Takashimaya. It’s really fresh, and only costs 501 yen!! Sells out fast though. . . . #food #sushi #japan #japanesefood #washoku #yokohama #bargain

So I bought what I thought was a big bar of Meiji milk chocolate in Amazon Fresh, which came up as a “you might also like” suggestion when I was putting snacks in the shopping cart. I added it without looking too closely. When it came time to open the bar I noticed it said “Difficulty level: Pure (on the sweet side)” on the front. Huh? Difficulty level?? Ok and it also says “Warning: Not edible” next to that. So I looked at the back, and...that’s when I realized I’d bought a chocolate bar shaped puzzle by mistake.

The “mille-crêpes” is a dessert with French roots that may have been invented at a Japanese cafe in the 1980s. Two places claim to be the originator though - Ruelle de Derrière in Nishi Azabu, Tokyo and Paper Moon, also in Nishi Azabu. (Lady M and Paper Moon share the same management apparently.) It’s a stack of crêpes with custard cream in between them, refrigerated until set and sliced like a cake. There are recipes in French for gâteau de crêpes, but I’m not sure how far back they go. In any case, mille-crêpes are a pretty ubiquitous dessert in Japan these days. I had this yesterday at a local restaurant. (I have made a stack of crepes thing for decades, but a savory version with a cream cheese and sour cream based cream.) . . . . #japan #japanesefood #dessert #crepes #millecrepes

A photo I took a few years ago of various sansai (mountain (ie wild)) herbs or vegetables). . . #food #japan #japanesefood #sansai #mountainvegetables #spring #foraging #washoku #bambooshoots

It’s takenoko (bamboo shoot) season, and one of the best ways to enjoy it is in takenoko gohan, bamboo shoot rice. The bamboo shoot is boiled first, cut up and cooked with the rice in dashi (stock). Strips of aburaage (fried tofu) are added here too. . . . #japan #japanesefood #washoku #bamboo #bambooshoots #takenoko #和食 #筍 #spring

By request, here is Häagen-Dazs Japan’s Story Time Snow White’s Apple With Custard. It’s apple gelée with custard ice cream and apple chunks. Very tasty, and so pretty. The Story Time flavors came out in the fall, but I couldn’t find them locally until recently. . . . #japan #japanesefood #japanesesnacks #icecream #haagendazs #haagendazsjapan #アイスクリーム #snowwhite

Häagen-Dazs Japan’s Story Time Alice’s Tea with Cookies. So adorable! It tastes like old fashioned sweet milk tea, with a hint of butter cookie crumbles. . . . #japan #japanesefood #japanesesnacks #icecream #haagendazs #haagendazsjapan #アイスクリーム #aliceinwonderland

I made banana cakes. . . . #baking #banana #bananacake #bananacakes #food #sundaymorning