A Superb Collaboration

Between a sake brand from Himeji and an English metal band.

And so appropriate in the year of the dragon!!

Tatsuriki

DragonForce

Sunday Cooking Time

Since I went out for lunch on Sunday, I wanted to take it easy in the evening including not doing big grocery shopping but trying to clean out the fridge.  I had the left over canned beans from the week before and found just the right recipe in a cookbook by Yoko Arimoto (wow, I just found her on wordpress) whose recipe I have come to religiously use for my breakfast.

She called the dish “Bean curry” (in Japanese) and you’re actually meant to cook the beans from scratch.  The rice is my doing and not part of the original recipe.

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I did not mean to add so much water to the mix.  It should’ve been only about half the amount of what I actually used.  I might reduce the amount of spices used the next time.  Very spicy!  (The cloves I kind of put more than what the recipe required as they had been sitting in my cupboard for ages and I had the urge to use more rather than less.)

Sunday Sushi Lunch

It’s the same sushi joint I write about all the time but it’s been a while since I had gone for lunch which is only available on Sundays so I took a few photos that are a bit different.

The entrance which can appear overwhelming given that it's a sushi restaurant but it's really not because the sushi master here is soooo nice.

Inside the entrance and before going into the restaurant. I guess it's like a waiting area but I've never seen anyone wait here.

Mounted salt in front of the inner door. Salt placed this way is meant to drive bad spirits away.

And some of what I had today.

February Music – the First Half

Didn’t go to so many music events this month but here is what was up in the first half of February.

Friday, February 3

Kazuma Miura @ Kioi Hall

@ 21 years old, Kazuma Miura is already a virtuoso bandoneon player.

Saturday, February 11

Halie Loren @ Cotton Club

Lovely Halie Loren for the Valentine's weekend. Would've also loved to see John Pizzarelli but had scheduling conflict.

Monday, February 13

Kaori Kobayashi @ Blues Alley

Kaori Kobayashi's popularity extends to Thailand and Taiwan.

Tuesday, February 14

Candy Dulfer with Printz Board @ Blue Note Tokyo

Apparently Candy was not feeling well on this trip...

Lunching in Hiro-o

Hiro-o is one of those neighborhoods that, despite being right in the middle of Tokyo, is not the most convenient to get to with limited public transportation access.  But partly because of that, it’s calm and quiet, even serene in much of the residential area.  I could be somewhat biased, however, as it is where my alma mater stands and I liked my school.

I used to take this bus everyday when I was in middle and high school.

The reason for my visit today was to have lunch at this lovely Japanese restaurant that used to be in Omotesando near my old office.  It turned out to be a very pleasant and friendly lunch with old business friends that I do not get to see everyday.

Tsubaki