Anna N

So to make damn sure that resistance is futile, two of my friends, @Kerry Beal and @patris conspired to make sure I received this: I don’t trust myself to open it.

I know, I know I’m trying to sneak a non-food item in here. But how could I not share this little motorbike with its Timex clock with you? @Kerry Beal spotted both the plate and the motorbike in a thrift store today before our lunch. The bike will be a gift for my number two son. The plate will appear elsewhere with food on it. (I am getting closer and closer to @liuzhou‘s teardrop plate which I have already confessed to coveting.)

@Kerry Bealand I returned to Celadon House today since we were in the vicinity and knew we had enjoyed our meals there previously. We started with ginger tea for Kerry and a glass of water for me. I regret that there are no photographs, not that you don’t know what these two things look like, but the water glass was very attractive. I meant to share it. Spicy calamari with their very addictive vinegar-based dip. Four Season Beans. Twice cooked green beans with ground pork and chilies. For me this was a to-die-for dish. Garlic Mushroom Gambas. Button mushrooms and Spanish onions with garlic and chilies. There is no way that you can prepare mushrooms that I won’t like them but this might be my new favourite. Coconut chicken and rice for the table. The dishes at this restaurant are unique. None of them come from the freezer and none of them are reheated in the microwave. It is a nice change from some of the Asian restaurants where every dish tastes the same no matter which restaurant you choose. We were able to look back at the meals that we had posted from Celadon House and choose dishes we had never tasted before. Another reason to love this forum.

Lest you think I have posted this not only in the wrong topic but perhaps even in the wrong forum.... When Kerry goes away and visits an expo/food show/airport lounge, she grabs some pens for me. I think she outdid herself this time. Before anyone gets their knickers in a knot, she had already made the rounds and this was what she called her “pen round”. She was quite open about it to the booth attendants and they willingly handed over pens! I think I’m good for a while — especially since I have just rediscovered my fountain pens! No worries. I will make sure some of them find a home where they will be welcomed. (It might be stretching it just a little to say they are food related but each one of them promotes a food product being exhibited at the trade show of the PMCA.)😋

Toys toys toys!

Thank you. I believe I did make Blondies and got into trouble with @Kerry Beal! I think they veered away from her definition of Blondies.😂 That’s the way I remember it anyway. The chocolate chip butterscotch bars went over well: But I had no doubt. They were so sweet they made my teeth ache, even the teeth that my denturist made.

And then of course there was Jack Benny.

Your lunch looks quite delicious. I’m sure whatever they were serving couldn’t hold a candle to this.

Yup. Just one and you will have met your sugar requirements for the remainder of 2019. Here you go.

Chocolate chip and butterscotch bars.

You put us all to shame.

I can imagine them being completely lethal on their own without the chocolate. I will resist. I will resist.

OK now I need another explanation, please. Are the noodles made from snails? Maybe I just need another cup of coffee.

That is an amazing undertaking and must require some serious organizational skills. It appears that all the dishes are brought to the table at the same time. Am I interpreting that properly?

Oh no! I was not aware of that.

“Maggie Calabash and Derek Smith may have met online, but their love story really began in the kitchen.” They are both in their mid 70s, met online, but neither had mentioned anything of their culinary background. It’s a heartwarming story and it’s food related. Here.

Somebody is going to be thrilled with such a one-of-a-kind bunny! I bet when he’s auctioned he raises a bazillion dollars!

Certainly this one is not the size of an egg plant but is probably a little bigger than a teacup. As I said my brain is not working so well tonight. Must be all that sake. It is approximately 9 cm in diameter and 9 cm in depth.

Thanks I think I knew this but my brain shut down tonight so I really appreciate you jumping in and explaining it so well.

@Smithy Does this help?

@Smithy That is a noodle strainer. I have never thought that it would be used to hang on the side of a pan but I suppose if you had the right pan.... Someone with more knowledge of Japanese kitchenware will surely jump in here and fill in the blanks. It is quite small, perhaps the size of a Japanese tea cup. While shopping in this Japanese dollar store I got the sense that I had entered the world of lilliputians. It wasn’t “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”, but honey, I shrunk all the kitchenware. So much seemed to have been miniaturized. Yes the item you think is a grilling gizmo is for serving cold noodles. If you do a search on ‘zaru’ you will see that they are normally round rather than square. I fancied a square one.

Thank you. The one that you think is a tray with gripper is a zaru. It is meant for serving cold noodles. Traditionally they are made of wicker but this one is a little more sanitary and easier to clean as it is plastic. Eventually I might like a traditional one. This one will serve well for now. The white tray has a stainless steel rack in it and is used, or will be used, to drain breaded food before and after deep frying it. I have larger ones that would serve the purpose but I’m taken with this one. I think if you click on the website you will see photographs of the store which is why I didn’t bother taking them. Here you go.

Yes. It is for when you wish to have your leeks sliced in carefully measured and consistent centimetres. I don’t often fuss quite that much but every once in a while I find myself wishing that I had something to guide me. I probably should just get a life. Thanks. I couldn’t resist the word play.

Today, @Kerry Beal and I headed out to North York in search of a Japanese dollar store, Oomomo. Since it was on the way past Goûter, member @Alleguede‘s lovely Patisserie, and since we knew it was his birthday today, we stopped in with our best wishes. I left with one of his incredible kouign amanns. Sorry, I should have taken a photograph but where it is now would belong in a medical text, not here. We found the Japanese dollar store and I have posted about it and its own newly created topic. But after out wander through this Crystal Palace-sized emporium we were surely ready for some sustenance. Within a three minute walk of the store, Memories of Japan , called out as having possibilities. It might better have been named Faded Memories of Japan since in certain ways it was hardly reminiscent of Japan. And yet we enjoyed our food. The first clue that perhaps we were not in the most capableof hands was noted by Kerry. Our server, though pleasant enough, found it challenging when we didn’t order by number as it were. I don’t know about you but number 10 and number 19 don’t sound nearly as appetizing as Beef Sashimi and Mixed Tempura. Ultimately ordering by number seemed likely to be the most efficient way to make sure that our order was transmitted to the kitchen correctly. I am sure there is a perfectly valid reason for the numbering of dishes on the menu, I just think the staff should also know the dishes by name. But that’s just being ornery I guess. Once again we decided to share a few appetizers. Tea for Kerry, as usual. Sake for me. Beef sashimi. And this is where you know that their memories of Japan are rather badly faded. The beef was tender and its accompanying sauce tasty but the beef rests on a bed of thickly sliced onion. In the dimly lit restaurant, I thought it was a bed of iceberg lettuce. Not until I took rather a generous portion did I discover it was onion. I am quite a fan of onion but I do think it should’ve been finely chopped and treated so that some of the sulphurous notes were muted. Mixed tempura in the foreground and pork tonkatsu in the rear. The fried calamari was very tender but again the presentation is very un-Japanese. All in all it was a pleasant lunch and we did get to do some people watching.

We have a topic devoted to 100 yen stores, and one devoted to dollar store shopping. I don’t have a yen to my name and not much of a yen to acquire any. And dollar store shopping while exceedingly interesting, pales in comparison to shopping in a Japanese dollar store. Hence this new topic. Today @Kerry Beal and I ventured out to North York to find Oomomo. Here is my haul (well at least the food related stuff). I could explain everything but I think it’s much more fun if I leave things alone. Lots of you will know what each of these things is and for those who don’t, feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer. I have to say this place was enormous. We only skimmed the very surface of it. By the time I got to the really interesting merchandise, the tableware, my feeble body was begging for mercy. We shall return as someone else once said.