4/6/14

At Coffee House The Cafe

Over there, where the sunlight shines through the trees from Yamashita park,
is the ever graceful restaurant.
This restaurant, which is located on 1F of the Hotel New Grand, symbolizes Yokohama.

It's official name is Coffee House The Cafe.
Even though the name has Coffee House in it, it is still a restaurant.
It was established in1927, and still has an air of the nostalgic mood from those days.


Sometimes when it's quiet inside the building,
you hear the steam whistle from Yokohama harbor which stretches out before your eyes.
It's easy to fall into the illusion that this place is the real Yokohama, more so than the actual place itself.
This restaurant is a place where you can soak up the deep atmosphere of what makes Yokohama special.


There are three famous menu items in this restaurant.
They are the Seafood doria, spaghetti Neapolitan, pudding a la mode.
All three are original dishes.
The restaurant has laid down the foundations of western cuisine in Japan.

[Seafood doria]
This is a dish that was made for overseas customers with poor health, and is gentle on delicate throats.
It was created by the restaurant's first master chef, Mr. Saly Wiel from Switzerland.
It is overflowing with large scallops and shrimps...


[Spaghetti Neapolitan]
A dish that was created by Mr. Shigetada Irie, the restaurant's second general chef.
After seeing Americans adding salt, pepper, and tomato ketchup to spaghetti,
he added his own touch and this dish was born.
Nowadays you can eat spaghetti neapolitan all over Japan.
You can bet it's thanks to this dish!!!
Tomato sauce added to pasta al dente, with the added combination of pastrami hams and mushrooms.
A most elegant and gentle flavor!!


[Recommended menu]
The standard salad is a model example of how a salad should be.....
I always order this salada, and it never ceases to be fresh and delicious!!
The cucumbers are especially outstanding!!
It is served with a traditional French style dressing.


The Cafe serves KIRIN's Premium beer Brown meister.
It has a strong flavor, and a fragrant aroma.
A beer that matches the restaurant's atmosphere perfectly.


The 2F of the restaurant has been turned into a hall with the concept of the restaurant's European taste.
It's majestic appearance represents the Classic hotel that is present in Japan today......
 



4/4/14

The cherry blossoms

In Japan it is the best time of the year when the scenery is full of cherry blossoms.
The Japanese people have special feelings towards the cherry blossoms,
they are called SA-KU-RA in Japanese.


In the spring when they are in full bloom, many people, friends, families,
and even colleagues have parties outside under the trees.
Even at night, viewing spots are crowded with people enjoying the blossoms,
which are illuminated with lights and lanterns.


The life of cherry blossoms is very short.
After they hit their peak of beauty, the petals start falling.
It is said that the Japanese view of life and death is similiar to that of the short life of the cherry blossoms.



3/30/14

Cheers with takikomi gohan & Asahi SUPER "DRY" beer!

Yesterday was a regular holiday....
I eat out for lunch on most holidays, but my wife usually cooks dinner for me.

So, I can enjoy her homemade dish only on these holidays.
I guess it's better to let her cook for me at least once a week,
otherwise her laziness would get worse.
And she is getting older,
so this is for the purpose of,
well, preventing dementia! (.....POW!)

No, seriously, I'm doing this for you...


So yesterday, we had a Nabe soup dish.

"Is this Mashroom Nabe?" I asked her.

Because, the pot was stuffed with enoki mashrooms.

- What? Oh, I see.
- You wanna tell me just shut up and don't disturb you while you are cooking.
- Okay, okay...

So I cleared out of her fortress (kitchen).


Then I started eating rolled eggs and sashimi, drinking beer, alone.
Most of the sashimi ended up in our cats' stomach, though.


By the way, are you picky about takikomi gohan?
I'm pretty picky!
In my case, the rice should be a little bit hard-cooked, and the taste thick.
I've been giving her good advice so that she will be a great cook of takikomi gohan.
I've been working really hard on this for a long time. Yes, it's true.

The hard work seems to have paid off,
and we are going to start our new restaurant of takikomi gohan next year.... No, I'm just kidding. Sorry.


Anyway, I had a good relaxing time with my best friend--SUPER "DRY" beer--last night!


But, why do modern rice cooker have so many parts?
It reminds me of one of those TRANSFORMERS robots.
It takes so much time to wash all of these parts!

Yes, it was me who did the dishes last night, as always.....


3/27/14

BLUE BLUE YOKOHAMA with DOPPO beer

BLUE BLUE YOKOHAMA is located at the foot of Yokohama harbor : Oosanbashi.
It is a clothing store with a wonderful atmosphere, very much in keeping with the port city.



The building has a historical atmosphere that is very lovely, and beside it,
on the side that looks out to the area with red bricks is a little cafe that I sometimes go to.

The distance to the cafe from my home is perfect for a walk,
and it is a great cafe to relax in while taking in the view of the sea of Yokohama.
Behind this cafe is the central area of Yokohama where buildings like
the Yokohama prefectural office line the streets
- it is also an area that was the scene of the westernization movement
so you can feel Yokohama's uniquely deep historical atmosphere there.
Also, in very close proximity is a place where you will have a sweeping view of
the sea of Yokohama and the Red Brick Warehouse.
It is perhaps the perfect place for a date.


Now, this cafe serves DOPPO beer,
and drinking it is one of my great pleasures.


Have you heard of DOPPO beer?
It is a craft beer from Okayama prefecture in Japan, and it is truly delicious!!!
When I looked up DOPPO beer on the inter net,
I was amazed by the wide variety they offered but the DOPPO beer
I usually order is a type of beer called Duenkel,
it has a dark brown color, and it is a beer characterized by a sweet,
fragrant flavor of malt with a rich taste.


I have some work to do at home, so unfortunately I will only have 2 DOPPO beers today.
It will be getting warmer soon, so I shall stop by again on one of my walks soon.



3/25/14

3 bottles × 365 × 25 years = 9.5t

From the conclusion,
the kind of post like today's has absolutely no meaning,
and it has no use knowing those figures.

I'm not especially trying to reflect on it too much,
and I don't want a thank-you note from Asahi Beer. (Or maybe I do!)
If I attempt to replace it with numbers and make it clear,
there's no doubt that my wife will be really annoyed......

However, as one that calls myself Beer Fantasia,
I had the feeling that I should grasp these kind of figures,
so I tried to do some calculations :
approximately how many bottles of Asahi Super Dry Beer had I drunk up until now?
※These approximations are on the very conservative side, of course.

・Three bottles of AsahiI Super Dry Beer / day x 365 = 1,095 bottles / year.

・1,095 bottles x 25years = 27,375 bottles!!! ← I'm so shocked, here!

Umm... Let's stop these intangible calculations.......

・27,375 bottles x 250JPY (this should be the average unit price in the last 25 years) = 6,843,750JPY!!!!!

N... no way.......... (sweat drop)

I could buy a car............

As I mentioned above, those figures are a conservative estimate,
and on top of that it's just the amount of bottles that I drank at home......

Ahh... it's terrifying.........


Huh? By the way, how much would that be if I calculated the amount???

・27,375 bottles × 350ml = 9,581,250ml!!!!!
(If I want to make it into 1ℓ measurement, all I have to do is divide it by 1000!)

・9,581,250 ÷ 1,000 = 9,581ℓ!!!!!!!!

Calculating the weight...... it's about......... 9.5t !!!!!!!!!!!! (OMG!!!)

A...Am I the only one who heard a scream just now?