Today’s Treat2025/02/10


A custard cream bun with coffee (no refill) / about 400++ yen.

More expensive than I expected, but the coffee was unexpectedly good for this type. 
A variety of chocolate buns was very limited, even though Valentine's Day, the day we are all supposed to have chocolate, is approaching. Perhaps Japan has become so poor that it can no longer afford chocolate...Sad.  

Where I Wanted to Go2025/01/31

My hectic days due to the mini moving from Sapporo are finally (hopefully) been over, I have had my 18-year-old mamachari fully serviced, and there is no snow or slippery roads here. It's time to go where I have been missing.
                 Lunch set (with orange juice), 690 yen
Domdom Humberger is by no means gourmet burger, but once I found that this chain doesn't have brunch in Hokkaido, I started to miss it. 
                        Coffee 400 yen (no refill available)
A cafe on the roof garden of a local bank's employee training centre (although I have closed my account with the bank in question). It's so nice to have a piping-hot coffee in the fresh, crisp air. Perhaps due to a newly opened cafe nearby, this place was not so crowded, which was also nice for me. There were a few of obachans enjoying their afternoon coffee like me. 

Today’s Treat2024/03/06


Soft ice cream and coffee. 260 yen in total at a local McDonald's

Today I came up with an idea that at McDonald's I could get a coffee and an ice cream at the same time for much less than what I would pay for a corn ice cream at 31.

The result was very satisfying. I was able to enjoy the ice cream to the very end without the ice-cream headache. 
I wonder why I hadn't thought of this before.

Today's Eating Out2024/02/28


A corn dog and boiled egg onigiri at Family Mart. 
The guiltiest and junkiest lunch I have indulged so far this year... 

A Pleasant Surprise2024/01/15


Today's snack was a doughnut, 110 yen, and canned coffee, 110 yen, at a local library. This humble snack turned out to be my first pleasant surprise in 2024.

Our local library has several vending machines, including one for snacks from Family Mart. I chose this doughnut by chance, without expectation, and was pleasantly shocked to find that it was exactly what I had been looking for all these years.

Its leavening agent is baking powder, not yeast. As a result, its texture is fluffy rather than chewy. Its texture is most, with some crunchy sugar mixed in - just like I used to have between films at a local cinema in my childhood.  And its price is 110 yen!  

Like the cream of corn-flavored snack I became obsessed with few years ago, Family Mart sometimes introduces a truly irresistible snack. I now hope that the convenience store will stock this product forever, or at least for the rest of my lifetime. 

Christmas Cake 20232023/12/25


As-you-like Victoria sponge cake.
Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 egg yoke
80g granulated sugar
1tabespoon tepid water to mix 
100g cake flour
40g butter

Serve with some strawberry jam and whipped cream.


I know this is not a "proper" Victoria sponge cake in many ways, but I believe my lighter version would be the same once it gets in my stomach. 
To be honest I couldn't be brave enough to follow the classic BBC recipe, which calls for 200 grams of butter and sugar...

No Frills, Ultrra Practical Lunch2023/12/05


At the age of 50+++, I came up with an idea that Kaiten sushi restaurants could be a clean and wallet-friendly spot to have a snack. 

At Genkai-Maru sushi restaurant, three plates of sushi, natto-maki, inari, egg, and shrimp set, and beef gunkan was 448 yen, enough to fuel me for an eight-kirometer bike ride home.  Tea was free, of course. 
In terms of hygiene, each chef (still) wore a mask and gloves. There were partitions between seats around the counter, and most of the diners (I guess most of them were locals) came alone for a quick lunch.  No one was chatting excitedly or raising their voices when ordering. You can order from a tablet in front of you. Very hygienic.

I think this place is worth considering if you don't need a romantic aspect to your meal and are in a hurry.

Muffin, Again2023/12/05

The poisonous muffin, called "death muffin," incident is still being hotly discussed online and reading about it made me crave a good muffin again. 
This is City Bakery's luxury (by my standards) muffin at 320yen! I was so surprised by the price that I automatically asked for an extra bag to break it in half and take the rest home. 
 The taste was...very unusual, to be couterous. At least not my type. The price (coffee is 420 yen), the dark lighting and the taste of the product (coffee was nice, but not piping hot)...in many ways I don't seem to be the kind of customer this bakery would expect.