Our Osaka Adventure in 72 hours: PART ONE

Words can't describe the amount of food we indulged in in a short week in Tokyo and Osaka. We primarily travel to eat, then fit in anything else there is time for, which is why we decided to spend some time in Osaka before heading to Tokyo for Knot Fest. Osaka is arguably the food capital of Japan. Udon, Okonomiyaki, Takoyaki... Osaka specialties, to name a few.

After an extremely long travel day (20+ hours!), we naturally wanted to hit the sheets and sleep, but we just couldn't ignore the flashing lights in Shinsaibashi, vendors turning takoyaki balls by the hundreds, comically large crab and octopus sculptures, and the iconic Glico man; Shinsaibashi is Osaka's own Times Square. 

We stayed at the Cross Hotel which I highly recommend. It's newly renovated (which is an unusual amenity in Japan for some reason), the lobby flows right onto the main stretch of Shinsaibashi, and was pretty affordable. Their in-room soaking tub was to die for! 

Our good friend Tomoko kindly scooped us up before our heavy eyelids took over and helped us seek out Okonomiyaki and Yakisoba for our first feast. Okonomiyaki is a savory pancake of sorts. It literally translates to "cook or grill whatever you like." We ended up at Sanpei at Hozenji Yokocho. It was tiny, cozy, and absolutely delicious. We order yakisoba to start followed by three okonomiyaki. We didn't write down what we ordered and we were in a travel fog, but I know our favorite was kimchi and pork.

Okonomiyaki Sanpei at Hozenji Yokocho 

In true Matthew form, he just couldn't go to bed without stuffing himself to the brim. So we stopped at a gyoza shop for him to top off.

The next morning I knew the first thing I wanted to hit was another Osaka specialty, and my favorite noodle, Udon. I have to admit that it's incredibly challenging to get around Japanese cities via google maps. Addresses are impossible to spot and often times, you have to be looking up! We wandered aimlessly within 1 block of Kawafuku until we finally realized we had walked passed it a few times. We entered a tiny shop with a few seats at the bar. We slurped our udon with a row of businessmen. 

Kawafuku in Shinsaibashi

Tempura Udon at Kawafuku 

We then wandered the streets of Osaka to check out shops. I learned quickly that asking for an American size 10 shoe at Doc Martens was absurd, shops filled with all things American in Americamura are a hot topic in Japan, vintage shops in Osaka have the absolute BEST vintage band shirts, and traveling with two musicians means you will hit any and every guitar shop. Matthew found his guitar and signed a few things for one of the shops.  

As if 20+ hours of travel and jet lag wasn't enough, I decided to get tattooed at the legendary Chopstick Tattoo within 18 hours of hitting the ground in Osaka. I've had a bit of an unlucky year and also wanted to get a travel token tattoo, so I sought out the incredibly talented Kyon at Chopstick to create a maneki-neko (lucky cat) for me. The story of the maneki-neko originated in Osaka, so I thought it was a perfect fit for my souvenir. You can check out the variety of stories surrounding the meaning. I was a little nervous to get tattooed in a foreign country considering the language barrier, however, Kyon interpreted my emails well and created something absolutely perfect for me with almost no direction! I was also hilariously way too tall for the tattoo table (I'm tall, even for American standards), so I was less comfortable than I'd like to be, but thankfully, it was a quick hour and a half.

Seems like a lot to do in one day? Nonsense, we still had a lot of hours to go! Our friend Yoko from the also legendary Rock Rock Bar met up with us to take to a well-known restaurant for a bite to eat before heading to the bar. We stopped at Ajiho in Shinsaibashi and indulged in a few mugs of beer, takoyaki, oden, and yakisoba. Oden is a Japanese winter dish that consists of vegetables, fish cakes, and other items stewed in a savory-sweet soy broth. Even 7-11 in Japan has pots of stewing oden available near the counter for a bowl of super cheap winter soul food. It sort of reminds me of the potatoes and carrots from stewed pot roast, but with a soy-based twist. 

Ajiho in Shinsaibashi 

Ajiho in Shinsaibashi 

Yakisoba, takoyaki, oden at Ajiho in Shinsaibashi

We then headed over to Rock Rock Bar for a few beers before we called it a night. By 10pm, all three of us could hardly keep our eyes open and were ready to rest up for another day of feasting and adventures.

Cross Hotel
2-5-15 Shinsaibashisuji, Chuo-ku, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture 542-0085, Japan

Kawafuku
1-14-17 Higashishinsaibashi chuo-ku Osaka-shi Osaka

Ajiho
2-2-15 Shinsaibashisuji, Chuo-ku, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan

Chopstick Tattoo, 1st Shop, AmericaMura
Down Town Building, 3F, Nishi Shinsaibashi 2-17-9, Chuo-ku, Osaka

Okonomiyaki Sanpei
2-2-10 Shinsaibashisuji, Chuo-ku, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan

Coffee Culture in Tokyo, Japan

We've been to Japan quite a few times now, and it has generally been challenging to find really good espresso. We are usually relegated to Starbucks (which isn't a bad thing when they have interesting Japanese seasonal flavors to try!) but when you have small batch, specialty espresso, you quickly realize the difference. I found a few blogs where people have discovered the burgeoning coffee culture in Tokyo, and we were quick to add a few spots to our list.

When I heard about this unbelievable, has-to-be-seen latte art, we hustled on over to Streamer Coffee Company. They have 3 locations in Tokyo. After sauntering through some side roads of Shibuya, we found Streamer Coffee Company tucked away on a quiet backstreet. They had a strict no photo policy near the coffee counter, so I took a few discreet shots once we sat down and refrained from being a nuisance. We ordered a straightforward latte as well as their specialty, Matcha White Chocolate latte - the "Military Latte" due to its camo-like surface after all three ingredients are mixed together. We had reservations on matcha mixed with espresso, but it was positively perfect! 

Streamer Coffee Company | Tokyo, Japan

Military and Standard Latte

Matcha White Chocolate Espresso Latte - "Military Latte"

We also stumbled across The Roastery by Nozy Coffee while walking through Harajuku. At The Roastery, they actually roast their own single origin beans inside the shop - it felt like we were back in San Francisco! I snuck a few photos in despite getting spoken to in Japanese in what felt like a request to not photograph. The Japanese culture is quite camera obsessed, so I was surprised that both coffee shops had a similar sentiment, but we of course obliged (got a few in before though!) I think they like to keep their amazing latte art a well-kept secret.

Next to The Roastery (although not related) was the cutest little donut cart called COCO-agepan. These donuts were amazing! They were filled with organic refined coconut oil cream. We've never had anything like it and we are eager to try to figure out how to make these ourselves.

Streamer Coffee Company
1F 1-20-28, Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 

The Roastery by Nozy Coffee
150-0001 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 5-17-13

Coco-agepan
神宮前５丁目-17-, Shibuya, Tokyo

Creatures of Habit

We love to try new spaces and places, however, we also have our list of never-to-be-missed spots that we continue to repeat every time we visit a city. San Francisco is probably the one city with our most tried and true favorites despite endless new places to experience.

Every time we are in San Francisco on a Saturday morning, we try to hit the Ferry Building Farmer's Market. It has grown to become a city and tourist favorite over the years, but hasn't lost any of its charm despite its growth. The building itself is beautiful and at over 100 years old, it was once a transportation hub for the city. We are always interested in spaces that allow you to experience history with a modern utilization.

We started our visit with coffee from Blue Bottle Coffee; it was a heat wave this trip so we opted for the New Orleans style iced coffee in lieu of our usual lattes; creamy and lightly sweet, it's the best iced coffee we've had this year.

Interior of the Ferry Building Farmer's Market

Primavera Mexican Tamale

We also always go to Primavera Mexican. We don't have a lot of authentic Mexican food in Orlando, yet it's one of our favorite cuisines. This trip we got the tamales and chilaquiles. Perfection!

Primavera Mexican Chilaquiles

It wouldn't be a trip to a farmer's market if we didn't bring back some goodies to keep the memories alive at home. This trip, we visited Dandelion Chocolate. We have a little bit of a fancy chocolate bar addiction, so we had to pick up some small batch dark chocolate. Be sure to head to their site and read about their artisan bean-to-bar process. If we lived there, we would definitely sign up for a class! 

We also picked up some lavender sugar, but we basically love all things lavender. A shortbread recipe is definitely to come.

We also rarely miss a trip to the Miette shop because eating macarons is something that is best done as much as humanly possible. Perfect "feet" and impeccable flavors. We paced ourselves with just three.

Ferry Building Farmer's Market | 1 Ferry Bldg Marketplace, San Francisco, CA 94111

A Venture to the West Coast of the West Coast

We make the trek to San Francisco quite often to get tattooed and overindulge in the bountiful offerings of the City by the Bay. Of our many times here, we haven't ventured to the coast before considering there is so much to do inland. 

Like most people nowadays, we follow many talented and interesting Californians on Instagram and kept seeing visits to Outerlands pop up in the feed. Enticed by the beautiful photos, Four Barrel coffee with perfect latte foam leaves, and farm fresh ingredients, we made it a point to head out to Ocean Beach on this visit. 

I checked in advance, and since there are no reservations, we were given the advice to head there early to beat the crowd. We thought 9:30am for San Franciscans was pretty early, but everyone else seemed to have the same idea. We only had to wait 30 minutes, and the weather was cool - it was well worth the wait.

It was a different experience being seaside - 15 degrees cooler than inland, lots of barefoot surfers waiting in line for coffee, and the laid-back vibe of the locals. We definitely recommend Outerlands as a must-visit, and we'll certainly be back.

Four Barrel Coffee Latte

Four Barrel Lattes

Dutch pancake with baked apples and housemade ricotta

Smoked pork with crispy potatoes, fried eggs

Buttermilk scone with coconut and sweet potato

When you're on a trip for two, it's tough to get photos together, so we try to at least photo across the table when we can remember. We sat outside, as the wait was much less, but peeked inside to see the beautiful interior covered with wooden planks and a rustic vibe.

Ashley at Outerlands

Matthew at Outerlands

 

A taste of Turkey at home... we're back in the cooking game!

It has been a long, busy summer in many ways and fun cooking hasn't been a big priority. Matthew just spent nearly 3 months on tour with only a couple of days home, and cooking for one isn't very exciting. What is exciting, is tour souvenirs. Matthew tends to pick up cookbooks in countries where he has wonderful food experiences that he wants to bring home for us to try together. He was in Istanbul in June and picked up this little gem Istanbul: A Journey to the Heart of Turkish Cuisine. It's an accessible book that is in English and also helps you figure out how to make some of the dishes and spice mixtures that would normally be difficult, if not impossible, to find in the U.S. That's probably one of the biggest challenges about bringing books home from around the world - if they aren't meant for American/English translation, it can be virtually impossible to find ingredients or make things correctly, in which case, they just sit on a shelf. This book is really easy to follow and has a bit of everything Turkish we love.

For years, we've been wanting to make baba ghanoush (smoked eggplant dip). We are eggplant junkies, but let's be real - eggplants (or aubergines, as you Brits and Canadians call it) are not the easiest berry (yes, we just learned yesterday they are technically classified as a berry) to cook. We also learned that their bitterness, if not properly drained or prepared, comes from their lineage in the tobacco plant family. Cooking is for learning, kids! If not paired well in a recipe, they can also be smushy and flavorless. But if it's being smoked on the grill and paired with tons of olive oil and garlic, you really can't go wrong!

We also made chicken kebap - the recipe called for chicken livers, but admittedly, I'm a bit squeamish with animal guts. These simple skewers with turkish spices were delicious. Matthew did most of the heavy lifting on this recipe - his first since being back home from tour this week. We'll definitely be back in the cooking game over the next few months while he's on break, so stay tuned.

Scooping out smoked eggplant to be mashed through a sieve and mixed with yogurt, olive oil, and garlic.

Fresh garlic mashed in a mortar and pestle into a paste.

Skewered chicken. Next time we'll cut the chicken smaller for speedier grill time.

Grilled veggies and chicken over pita, sprinkled with sumac and a squeeze of lemon.

Cookbook: Istanbul: A Journey to the Heart of Turkish Cuisine

Soundtrack: Alan Shavarsh Bardezbanian Middle Eastern Ensemble - Oud Masterpieces

Planning ahead for the work week... for once.

Every week, I say to myself that I'm going to plan my lunches. I'm going to make a batch of something delicious that sits well in the refrigerator, that isn't a plain ol' salad. Every week, I fail to do this. I don't know why. The extra work on Sunday pays off for extra lunch break time! This Sunday, I committed to making something tasty that will last a few days to make my midday break a breeze.

When Matthew is on tour, I typically go vegetarian. I was actually a vegetarian as a teenager for nearly 6 years until we got together. As a steadfast carnivore, it didn't take long for him to pull me to the dark side, but alas, vegetarian recipes call my name 9 times out of 10.

We have a fantastic cookbook library at home, however, I find that the best vegetarian recipes come from amazing bloggers on the world wide web. Of course it's pretty easy to come up with dishes of veggies and greens, but I'm not at a point where I feel very inventive with healthy dishes, especially when it comes to lunch. My absolute favorite go-to when I'm hankering for a bright and fresh vegetarian dish is Cookie + Kate. If you haven't checked out her blog before, you're missing out! 

The Peanut-Sesame Slaw with Soba Noodles called for brussels sprouts, however, I didn't find any at the market that looked good, so I went with shredded broccoli. Also, in the essence of time and a lazy Sunday, I went with pre-shredded organic slaw veggies to cut out some time. 

One of our favorite things to collect while on tour is kitchen goods. When Matthew was on tour in Cleveland, Ohio recently, he visited one of our favorite restaurants The Greenhouse Tavern and picked up some of Chef Jonathan Sawyer's fantastic handcrafted vinegars from Tavern Vinegar Co. I highly recommend these vinegars! Tasty enough to taste from a spoon... that's my kind of vinegar. Definitely took this slaw up a notch.

Pretty excited for lunch this week! Now... to keep up with this every week.

Meanwhile, Matthew played Download Festival today and they had fireworks on stage... fireworks! You can check it out on his instagram.

We've posted a lot of honey to date. But here's to the metal side.

Sadly, I am not able to make it out on the European festival run due to obligations at home, but updates from Matt are coming in daily. Here he is hard at work at Germany's Rock am Ring and Rock im Park over the last two days. Just a couple of people hanging out! 

European festivals are amazing. There are few places in the US where this many (or even close to this many) people come together for music. An incredible sight!

When was the last time you traveled far and wide in the name of music? 

Stinky cheese makes everything better.

We love to host Sunday brunch. It's the best day of the week to get your favorite people together and have a potluck. Our group of friends is filled with people who know their way around the kitchen, so we always end up with an amazing spread.

I have my usual go-to's that I like to make: Spicy Baked Grits, anything from the Bubby's cookbook, a blood mary bar. But since I have been on a kick cooking my way through David Lebovitz's new My Paris Kitchen, I decided to give the Ham Pear and Blue Cheese Quiche a whirl.

I've never made this more French-style "deep dish" quiche, which definitely requires more cook time, but comes out with a much more impressive presence than using a shallow pie or tart pan. I originally thought I had done a crummy job with the crust, but not much, if any, of the creamy goodness leaked out. David made a great tip to cover the sides and bottom in foil, just in case you have any leaks. Avoiding oven messes is always a good idea! To my surprise, I ended up with a pretty perfect, nicely browned crust. All around, this was so flavorful and an amazing combination of flavors. Heavy cream, a touch of nutmeg, salty ham, pungent cheese. The pear added just a touch of sweet to a stinky cheese that can easily overpower your palate. I am definitely planning to make this again, but vary the ingredients -- the possibilities seem endless! And that excites me. 

Top of the muffin... TO YOU!!

That's a Seinfeld reference, in case you didn't catch it -- watch some comedic gold here. I'm pretty much known to quote Seinfeld daily, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus is one of my comedienne heroes, so it probably won't be the first time I rope Seinfeld into a cooking post.

We've hit that time of the year in Florida where afternoon storms roll in every day and you get stuck inside for a few hours. Matthew left for his European tour a few days ago, so on days like these, it just ends up being me and Miyuki (our French Bulldog) holding down the fort. I find this to be perfect weather for baking.

I don't have a gluten allergy, but I'm always interested in working with alternative flours. I grew up on plain bleached white flour, and I don't think I ever knew you could bake with anything else until well into my 20s. 

One of my favorite baking cookbooks is La Tartine Gourmande, not only because I really love any variation on tarts and tar tines but because her book has helped me understand varying flours so well. Amaranth, buckwheat, quinoa, brown rice, coconut, hazelnut -- just some of the interesting flours the book introduces you to.

I'm pretty much head over heels for anything with banana and chocolate. Throw some nuts in there, and I'm sold. And who doesn't love a muffin? A food that is socially acceptable as both a dessert and breakfast is a winner all around. These Banana Chocolate Hazelnut muffins are delicious and definitely different than the muffins I grew up on.

The recipe gave you a choice to use walnuts or hazelnuts, and I went with walnuts because they're pretty much my favorite nut.  The recipe also called for three kinds of flour -- hazelnut, quinoa, and buckwheat. I ended up using brown rice flour instead of quinoa flour because I had it in the pantry. They are both medium flours, so I thought the swap would be equivalent. The only thing about these muffins is that they didn't rise as much as I had expected, but perhaps that was the flour swap. Either way, puffy or not, these muffins take the cake! Definitely indulging in them for breakfast tomorrow.

What are your favorite food stories?

I posted a photo on my Instagram this morning, and it reminded me of how often Matthew and I tell stories about our childhood or the time before "us" (nearly 10 years ago!) which almost always involves food memories. It's part of why we started a blog, there's so much incredible storytelling in food, and we both come from families where food is centric to all of our gatherings. 

Whenever I hand slice a thick loaf of bread, it takes me back to a time when I was an exchange student living in the South of France (Antibes/Juan les Pins) with a French family. They spoke almost no English, and my mere 15-year-old self was very much still learning, but food is an international language. Every single morning before I went to immersion school, I had a plate of three thick slices of fresh baked bread, smothered with fresh butter and honey with a cafe au lait (always in a bowl, not a cup). For 3 weeks, this is all I ate for breakfast, and I loved it. 

I've definitely had some ideas in the making for reinventing some of the foods that made my childhood eating experiences so memorable (banana pudding with nilla wafers anyone?)

Tell us your favorite food story, or a kitchen activity that brings you back to a distinct memory. Post below: we can't wait to hear!