Merlot Magic & Winter Comfort foods

So Mike and I along with our friends, David and Jennifer, found this hidden gem to eat at. I can't tell you the name because then you may go there and then there won't be any room for us. I realize most of you reading don't live here, but I can't take the chance. Jennifer and I agreed to keep it a secret.

So one of the events this place holds is a Wine Adventure in which they feature a certain type of grape/wine and pair it with a 3 course meal. And in Tokyo, the price for this dinner was a steal. We went on Saturday night and had the best time enjoying food, drinking wine, and making new friends!

February's adventure was this post's title.
We started out with a Seared Hokkaido Scallop and a Truffle Mushroom Flan w/carrot reduction. It was paired with The Velvet Devil Merlot....AMAZING and my favorite course of the night by far.


Next we moved onto Braised Short Ribs w/Olive Tapenade malfatis paired with L'Ecole No.41 Merlot......I didn't take a picture b/c I started eating it immediately. However, it was good, but not my fav, but definitely Mike's favorite.

Next we had Hearty Winter Cassoulet and Duckleg Confit paired with Reininger Merlot Walla Walla (After the instructor said this, Mike looked at me and said "bing bang," which was exactly what I was thinking. And yes we are dorks, some days)


We finished dinner with a chocolate molten cake, which lacked the molten part and some delicious lemon cookies. Outrageous lemon taste that was spectacular!

Here is our group shot early on in the evening before drinking too much wine. David and Jennifer are on the right and then Ruth, a lady we met that night on the left. Ruth was quite fun to get to know.


And of course a shot of us for our February picture of the month.


As you can see, we had a wonderful time here. The instructor gives you an opportunity to purchase the wine featured at discounted prices, so of course we purchased some. And the restaurant actually has a wine adventure club, where you pay a set amount and can enjoy 6 wine adventures through out the year, which we joined as well!!! Not sure the owner will like us by the end of the year, but she'll definitely like our business as we will be going back as often as we can.

Quote of the night, though it was hard to choose was "Is merlot a grape?"

Pesto and Pizza

PESTO...one of my favorite sauces in the world. My love for pesto slowly grew over the last 10 years. I started out with jarred pesto, but it was always so oily and I never felt good afterward. I looked into making fresh pesto and thought it was a process. However after much delay I found a recipe for fresh pesto and linguine. I made it fresh and have never looked back.

So on Thursday evening it was monthly book club night and I was hosting. I decided to make pesto and linguine. Well, I made too much pesto and needed something to use it with. I could have frozen it but its not recommended with all the ingredients already combined b/c its won't taste as good. However, you can freeze the blanched basil leaves and then just add everything when you are ready...Ok so Friday I made pesto pizza. I bought the pizza dough, slathered the pesto on it, topped it with some pancetta and sprinkled a mix of gouda/white cheddar cheese on it. It baked in like 10 minutes and the cheese was nice and gooey.

Here is our pizza. What a great way to use the left over pesto and have somewhat gourmet pizza without having to pay ridiculous amounts for it at the restaurant.

Bunraku

Bunraku is a Japanese form of art, where puppets are used as characters and someone sings the story to you. It's very similar to kabuki, just with puppets and not people. So a lady I was on a committee with knows one of the puppeteers and invited me to watch the show. He gets her tickets and allows her to bring people back stage. So I went on Wednesday evening and we saw "Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cheery Trees" (Yoshitsune Senbon-zakura.) Apparently this is one of the famous stories discussing a battle between 2 different clans and then the love for one of the leaders who survived.

It was really neat to go back stage and see things from the other side. Here is our "friend" showing us the puppet he works with. He stated that the main person, holds the head and works with the right hand. There is another person who handles the left hand only and then one who does the legs. So 3 people to make this work.


In order to make the puppets appear tall or at least the height of a human, the puppeteers must wear these shoes. Aren't they crazy?? There must be a rule somewhere that says Japanese arts and festivals must include crazy shoes!


Here I am holding the main female character, Shizukazen, who is the focus of the 2nd half of the show.


Exiting stage right since the show was going to start soon!


So it really was quite interesting to see this form of Japanese art. The first half of the show had 2 or 3 acts and quite long. I rented the English audio guide so I could understand what was going on. I was able to make sense of most of the story, but was slightly confused at the end of the 1st half. The audio guide stated what was happening in like 1-2 sentences prior to that scene beginning, so a little off. However, the 2nd half was rather quick and quite lovely as the cherry blossoms were on stage. All in all, a good experience and I'm glad I went. I figure I should take these opportunities when they arise, seeing as how Mike would not even consider going with me, especially after Kyoto!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BAILEY

Today is Bailey's 4th birthday...wow, she is getting big and probably still a crazy goof ball as usual. I don't have any recent pictures of her, but still miss her lots. The new owners commented to Mike's dad "who spoiled this dog? She has a bed on the floor, but we find her on our bed, in the middle of us, with her head on the pillow sometimes..."

I guess that would be my fault, but seeing as how it was she and I, I did not mind if she used the other pillow! Case in point


HAPPY BIRTHDAY BAILEY...hope you are having all kinds of fun in the snow! Here's one of the pictures from the summer and I know she is having fun!

Love is in the Air

and all the other Blah Blah Blah that goes along with it. As you all know, I strongly dislike this day, but can't seem to get away from it. I think I mentioned this last year, but I'll mention again...V-day in Japan is all about the boy and then 3/14 is "White Day" and all about the girl. Either day is just any other day...

However, I know my husband is going to buy me a card or something, so I figured I would do a little something for him. I must admit though, his gift was going to be a slice of NY Cheesecake, but by the time I was able to go get it, it was raining and getting colder. Needless to say, I wasn't leaving the house, so no cheesecake..shh don't tell him! I made him some goodies and a homemade dinner b/c if I have to recognize this day, I might as well be eating something good.

Here is our mini-candle light dinner: Parmesan crusted chicken with risotto and sauted zucchini.


And the goodies...chocolate chip cookies. I even tried to make some of them hearts, but they look funny. (Please note that Mike will probably eat 2 cookies and then I will probably eat the rest...no bueno.) Mike saw this and called me "cheesy," so much for my effort.


And to top it all off, I made everything in my pjs!!!! There's no need to dress up as we aren't going anywhere.

Anywho, enjoy the day, as I enjoy my dinner, cookies, wine, and then sleep from my food coma!

Its an influx

Today I woke up to find that another friend of mine got engaged. What exciting news for her. And recently, like in the last 2-3 weeks, I have had about 4-5 friends get engaged in the US, which is wonderful.

Now over here in Japan, I have 4 friends that are pregnant and all due this year in the following order: March, May, August, Septmeber.

Is anyone seeing a pattern here...influx of engagements in the US and influx of pregnancies in Japan. Hmmmmm

I am happy to report that I am safely and happily in the middle of these 2 life changes. Obviously done with engagement and wedding planning, but not quite ready for the pregnancy and baby to occur just yet. I am extremely happy for all my friends with their upcoming joyous occasions and will support them fully, but I am also happy to be just in the middle!!!!

Okay, off my soap box now...Congrats to everyone

Snow Day

in Japan...Not exactly what I expected when I saw it was going to rain all day, but definitely surprised when I started seeing the flurries falling from the sky.

When I first woke up, it was just raining with small flurries that hit the ground and became ice. As the day progressed the snow started coming down harder. Here's some pictures around noon time.



Today was also a national holiday, so Mike had the day off. We spend the day inside watching tv and keeping warm. He was also sick, so we kept warm separately since I didn't want to get sick. The snow kept coming and I was in awe, literally. Here's my take around 3pm.



I realize our snow day is nothing like the snow storms most of you received over the last 2 weeks, but I'll take any snow I can get. I also realize most of you would trade places with me so as not to deal with the snow, and I'm willing to make that trade; however, be advised that walking around in the rain even with an umbrella isn't fun either.

Yay for snow...now time to snuggle some more before bed!

Setsubun 2/3/11

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Setsubun at Zojoji

Happy Chinese New Year and happy Setsubun!!!

Yesterday was the day for all kinds of celebrations. As I mentioned before, I was going to attend the real Setsubun festival and I did, yesterday. It was quite the experience and definitely different from the one this weekend. So everything was happening at this temple, Zojoji, and they attached a platform in front of the temple to make it easier for everyone to see and to throw the beans.

It started out with a parade of people like before, the kids, people who would throw the beans, a bunch of people carrying the same dog (???), and some sponsors. There was quite a bit of talking, though I had no idea what was being said as it was in Japanese! Then the chaos began. They started throwing random bags of chips and small bags that had beans in them. People were pushing and shoving with arms failing just to catch these things. Next came the parade of "devils" and the kids throwing beans at them, which was super cute.




So my friend Jenn came with me and we were both quite surprised at the aggressiveness exhibited by the older Japanese people. So we stayed and endured another 2 rounds of pushing and shoving. She managed to get some beans, and I managed to get a bag of green tea bread chips (which didn't taste bad) and a bag of ramon noodles. Like I said, definitely different. When I got the second bag, this old lady behind me starting yelling and saying something and I was like "calm down, sorry, I'll give it to you if you stop yelling at me." This was also the lady who was like my size and kept trying to get something, but the height factor was totally against her AND she kept hitting me in the face or in back of the head with her hands. UGH.
After that, we were done and went to have lunch. We both enjoyed it and definitely something you have to experience. However, I was really glad I went to the one this past weekend, where it was calm and civilized.

This was after we walked away and were headed to lunch...


Anywho, always an adventure here. I'll post the rest of the pictures, so if you have time, check them out!