adventures | kimberly ah

Jul 28 2014

adventures, Forest Park, Oak Park, some stuff about me

Japanese Class

On a complete whim, I signed up for a beginner Japanese class this fall. I’m taking it at the Oak Park River Forest High School through Triton College’s adult continuing education program.

As an adult, I feel like a total language dummy. I confidently took four years of French in high school…I was pretty good. There were only two of us in French 4 (Stacey D & me!) and I could converse and write well. I had a French pen pal, too. We lost touch in college, unfortunately, and by then I was writing her in English anyway because I stupidly did not take French in college. (Regrets…I have a few.)

But when it comes to Japanese, I’m convinced I will never learn. Someone said I’d probably know the most in our class, but I seriously doubt it. Naoto has tried to teach me phrases and either I cannot pronounce them correctly to save my life OR I forget them within moments of learning. Maybe I’m too old…or maybe (hopefully!) I just need a structured class to help make things stick.

So I dug out my old (children’s) Japanese vocabulary book for the occasion. I’ve had it for years, long before I even traveled to Japan. I think the next logical step is to make some flashcards.

Whether I catch on or not, I’m really excited to take the class. It was only $140 and it goes from the end of August through the middle of November, and it will be a good opportunity for me to meet some new people and to hopefully learn some basics for our trip next spring.

I’m really hoping we can devote a whole session to donut flavors and ordering at Mister Donut, but maybe that’s wishful thinking?

Tagged adventures, books, forest park, I *heart* Japan, Japan

Jul 25 2014

6 Comments

adventures, Naoberly's Noodle Tour, what's for dinner

Naoberly’s Noodle Tour: Ramen Misoya

Tuesday definitely wasn’t ramen weather–it was humid and in the nineties, but that didn’t stop us from visiting our favorite lunch spot out by Mitsuwa, Ramen Misoya. Misoya is a Japanese chain that is fairly new–only a year old–to Chicagoland. We’ve eaten there a few times and although I’m not always the biggest ramen eater, I absolutely love this place. The funny thing is, Misoya took over the space of one of our old favorites, Tori Shin, a Japanese izakaya that was run by the husband of a woman I used to work with. The place looks almost the same as it did in the old days, but instead of a sushi counter, there is a tiny kitchen with boiling pots of noodles and delicious broth. The restaurant is pretty small and rumor has it that there is sometimes a line to get inside, especially for weekend dinners.

If you are looking for sushi, teriyaki chicken or green tea ice cream, this is not the place. There are very little offerings outside of ramen, but that’s a good thing because the chefs are working on making bowl after bowl of tasty ramen. They have it perfected.

The ramen noodles, handmade at the California location, are firm and thick and they hold up well in the broth. Misoya offers three options of broth for their ramen and then loads of options of meats and vegetables to have with the noodles. The three broth options are pork based broths with different types of miso mixed in. They are described by the regions of their origins:

The Kyoto-style is made with shiro miso and is light and fruity.

The Nagoya-style is made with mame miso, which is aged and is dark and slightly bitter.

And, my favorite, the Hokkaido-style is made with kome miso and it is full bodied and oh so delicious. I order the Hokkaido-style Kome Miso Cha-shu (pictured above). In the bowl, swimming with the noodles are marinated bamboo chutes, fried potatoes, scallions, corn, bean sprouts, sweet ground pork and to top it all off, three slabs of marinated grilled pork. I am not a big pork eater, but I have to say, this stuff is amazing. The charred flavor really adds a fantastic smoky taste to the ramen. Next time I’m going to get the same thing, but add a soft boiled egg just to be adventurous. Naoto always tries something new. This time he got a special tonkotsu (pork bone marrow) ramen with clams. It included a lot of the same toppings as my bowl, but his had a soft boiled egg, fish cake and nori (seaweed) as well. He loved it.

Ramen is super salty, so thankfully the staff is attentive to the water glasses. Oh, and just like izakaya in Japan, the entire Misoya staff stops to greet you when you arrive and to thank you when you leave…I love this place!

Misoya is located in a tiny strip mall at 1584 S Busse Road (Busse and Dempster) in Mt. Prospect. It’s only a little over a mile from Mitsuwa, making it the perfect dinner spot after you shop!

Tagged adventures, food, Japan

Jul 24 2014

Day Off At Mitsuwa

On Tuesday Naoto took a rare weekday off. And miraculously, it coincided with my own day off. (That never happens.) We decided to head out to Mitsuwa because we hadn’t been there since February and we were out of our usual Japanese staples like Calpico, somen noodles and wasabi. Naoto treats Mitsuwa shopping trips like Christmas, so it seemed like the right way to pass the time on his day off. It’s lovely being married to someone who gets joy out of the simple parts of life, even if that means you might have to wait for him to read the labels of alllllll the soy sauce bottles in the aisle.

Our first stop is always the Kinokuniya Bookstore. Kinokuniya has a huge selection of Japanese pens and other stationery items. The selection on the stationery changes pretty often, but the pen selection is pretty stable. If you like pens with finer points (0.5, 0.4, 0.38) this is THE place to go in Chicagoland. They also have every color of ink in the rainbow and a large selection of mechanical pencils as well. There is also a small section with craft supplies like sumie brushes, origami papers, rubber stamps and ink pads. Remember when I talked about furu pote? Well, Rebecca from Hugs are Fun mentioned that Gabutto Burger in the Mitsuwa food court offered seasonings for their fries. Sure enough…there they were! We ordered a small fry and kind of went crazy with the seasonings. This is wasabi, nacho cheese and garlic butter. We liked the garlic butter the best. The wasabi was a little disappointing because it wasn’t very strong. We also added ranch dressing to the mix as we ate more. The other choices were original spice, corn soup, sour cream & onion and curry & cheese flavors. It was fun to enjoy furu pote here in the US and I think this might be my new second stop every Mitsuwa trip from now on. (It might be a toss up between furu pote and green tea soft serve from ReLeaf Cafe.)

After the fries, we filled our shopping cart with all of our usuals. Naoto gets natto (fermented soybeans) and other perishables. I mainly get snacks, beverages and bread from the Hippo Bread store. (It’s just plain white bread but the texture is lighter and better than American white bread.) This time we found fresh lychees and I wanted to try a sparkling sake from the refrigerated section. Luckily we came prepared with our cooler. We always bring our little cooler to Mitsuwa. In the fish section, you can fill a bag or two of ice to keep your perishables cold during the drive home. We always run a few errands and go out to lunch or dinner while we are out by Mitsuwa so this extra convenience allows us to buy cold things without worrying about them going bad.

After Mitsuwa, we went out to lunch at Ramen Misoya. Stay tuned for a post about that on Friday!

Mitsuwa is located at 100 E. Algonquin Road in Arlington Heights, IL.

Tagged adventures, food, Japan, shopping

Jul 18 2014

Greer Goods

I was really excited to learn that the Midwest Buddhist Temple was in the same neighborhood as everyone’s favorite stationery shop, Greer. I’ve been trying not to buy stationery, especially since I still have a ton of stuff to use up from my last trip to Japan, but a trip to Greer is always good for the soul. And, after being sick and shut in for a week, my soul needed some stationery. (How’s that for excuses?)The City of Industry envelope pin was a must-have. I’ve worn it almost every day since Saturday, sporting my stationery love on my sweater. (I’m on my way to having my own “letter sweater“!) The Secret Garden postcard book was too good to pass up! The postcard book is a companion to the Secret Garden coloring book by Johanna Basford. The coloring book and the postcard book are filled with detailed drawings of gardens and flowers and birds and butterflies just waiting to be colored in. (That link is from the artist’s blog and includes so many great pictures of the coloring book.) I think I might color in some postcards and send others blank so my friends can decorate a card for themselves. And finally, a YAY! ring. Made by Plastique and Paper Trail, the ring is a rubber stamp…because you never know when you need to stamp a little YAY on something. Greer has several of these stamps to choose from, including their own exclusive “THX” stamp. I tend to overuse YAY! so it just seemed like the right purchase for me.

Those were my purchases…chosen with restraint. I will be going back for some new paper-y goodness at Greer. But for now, I just need to get back into letter writing so I can use up some of my stationery hoard.

Tagged adventures, mail art, office supplies, rubber stamp, shopping

Jul 16 2014

1 Comment

adventures, celebrations

Obon Festival

On Saturday night, Naoto, Karen and I went to the Midwest Buddhist Temple to experience the Obon Festival. Obon is a Buddhist tradition of honoring and celebrating the dead. According to Naoto, it is the “period of time we believe the spirit of the dead come home.” In Japan, people return home to clean and pray at the graves of their ancestors.

The festival includes folk dances that celebrate and welcome the spirits. Each region in Japan has its own style of dance and music. The dances are repetitive…like line dancing (for lack of a better example) and the dancers circle around a stage where a drummer pounds a giant drum. Some dances include props like fans, towels or wooden clackers and everyone participates to welcome back the dead.

Unfortunately for us, the rain forced the Obon inside so we weren’t able to experience the beautiful dances under the light of the lanterns. Instead we met inside the temple…slightly less scenic but the dances and the music were still a great experience.

The Obon announcer shared the regions in Japan where each dance originated and it was interesting to learn a little bit about how the culture of the region influenced each dance. The Midwest Buddhist Temple offers Obon lessons leading up to the festival so members can learn all of the different dances. I didn’t know this, so we were observers…next year I would like to go for at least one lesson so we can participate. It felt a little weird to just watch, as most people–men, women, young and old–were dancing throughout the night. Some people, especially the older ladies, were very skilled at the dances, and other people were a little bit rusty, but it didn’t matter…only that you were dancing a celebrating your loved ones. It all felt really laid back and festive…a nice way to connect with each other and with those who have passed.

Tagged adventures, celebrations, Japan

Jun 24 2014

3 Comments

adventures

Canada Does It Better

Naoto recently came home from a trip including a layover in Canada. He messaged me to ask if there was anything I wanted from the Calgary airport. My heart went all aflutter and I quickly messaged back “POTATO CHIPS!!!”

It all might sound weird since we have so many flavors of potato chips here in the States, but Canada really does it better when it comes to tasty chips. I requested my three Canadian favorites–dill pickle, ketchup and all dressed–with hopes that Naoto could at least find one. Well, he found all three!!

We can find dill potato chips pretty easily in the U.S. but dill pickle remains elusive. There is a huge difference in flavor as the dill tastes like dill and cream (kind of like sour cream and onion, except with dill) as opposed to tasting like the pickle in the Canadian version.

And ketchup potato chips can be found here in the U.S. too, but it’s not as good as the Canadian ketchup. While I despise ketchup in its gloppy, red, squeezed-from-the-bottle form (french fry dip, burger topping, egg accent…yuck!), I love the potato chip flavoring. It’s kind of sweet and tangy and salty.

And last but not least, all dressed, which are the most difficult to find here at home. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what the taste reminds me of…kind of a mishmash of flavors including salt and vinegar, ketchup, sour cream and onion. Crazy good!

It’s going to be such a treat to tear into these later today.

Not as much as a treat of having Naoto home again though.

Tagged adventures, food

Jun 13 2014

Thrifted Treasures

A few weeks ago, I met my parents in Peru, Illinois (almost the halfway point between our houses) for some shopping. We always go to the thrift stores around there to see what we can find and I had a jackpot day at Lily Pads. The Story of a Cigarette coloring book was my favorite find…actually my mom found it and thought it was funny. I was slightly disappointed (but also relieved) that it wasn’t a promotional coloring book put out by the tobacco industry. Instead, it is an anti-smoking campaign put out by the American Cancer Society. It is in really good shape, just a little discoloration on a few of the pages and some staple rust in the center…not bad for a dollar, right? And another purchase that might seem weird to some, but feels perfect to me, I got these Hank’s Bar coasters for twenty cents. I bought them mainly for inspiration since I really do want to create some Hasegawa Happy Hour coasters for us. I’m going to add one to my coaster collection for now and keep working on ideas for my own.

Have you found anything good at the thrift stores lately? What constitutes a “jackpot day” for you?

Tagged adventures, shopping, thrifting, vintage

Jun 03 2014

6 Comments

adventures, celebrations, cocktails, some stuff about me

Our 8th Anniversary

Yesterday Naoto and I celebrated eight years together. We both had the day off, so the morning involved a whole lot of relaxing, gift exchanges and, of course, coffee.It was rainy, but we sat out on the balcony to eat breakfast and exchange gifts. According to the Anniversary Gifts by Year (which we have been following all along), the eighth anniversary gifts are pottery (traditional) and linens (modern). I got Naoto a fancy new alarm clock that will hopefully wake him up with light and bird tweets. Not a theme gift, but he is a serial snooze pusher and I’m hoping this alarm clock helps make mornings a little bit easier for all of us. And, for the “pottery” theme, I bought him a cat spoon rest from Chicago’s Circa Ceramics. It will add the perfect amount of whimsey and usefulness to our kitchen counter. Naoto got me a new juicer (the kind I used at North Shore’s cocktail class) and this amazing vintage table runner. It’s currently residing on our dining room table. I’m in love with it. Once the rain stopped, we headed into the city for no real reason. On the way, we decided to go to Little Goat Diner for lunch. You can see our entirely healthy meal above…we had to push back our dinner reservations because we were so full. (Oh, and that’s a Ol’ Blue cocktail above: bourbon, blueberry jam, benedictine and lime…go get it before they change the menu!) Oh, and there was pie…because well, chocolate cookie crust with sea salt caramel and caramelized bananas…how could we not?It was a teeny bit warm, but it really was a perfect day in Chicago. We walked along Michigan Avenue and lingered along the river.

Before dinner, we headed to the garden to check out our plants. (More on that later this week.) We had a late dinner at Golden Steer, our tradition since we moved to Forest Park in 2010. As usual it did not disappoint. For the first time in the history of our relationship, Naoto could not finish all of his steak and we both ended up bringing something home. During dinner, we wrote our 2014 Summer Manifesto–simple but spectacular. (I’ll share tomorrow!)

And with that, eight years are in the books…

Tagged adventures, celebrations, cocktails, forest park

May 20 2014

5 Comments

adventures, Japan 2014, My Love Affair with Tokyo

Shabu-Shabu

Please note that this post and this website has no affiliation with Hot Pots Biz.
Shabu Shabu One of the many things I wanted to eat in Japan this time around was shabu-shabu. Shabu-shabu is a meal of thinly sliced beef that is cooked in water at the table. We’d eaten it at Naoto’s colleague’s house a long time ago and it’s fun and tasty so it’s been on my Tokyo wish list to try the real deal.

We found a shabu-shabu restaurant in Oka-san’s (Naoto’s mom’s) neighborhood and popped in for lunch one afternoon. It was a long lunch, but everything was presented so beautifully that it was nice to take some time to savor the presentation, the food and the company. While we enjoyed tiny dishes of salads and appetizer bites, our server brought out a big heavy pot of water seasoned with citrus and turned on the burner. Once the water was boiling, she brought out a tray of thinly sliced beef and a basket of vegetables. The vegetables are pictured above through the steam of the water. We had cabbage, mushrooms, seaweed, scallions, carrots, tofu and bean sprouts. Have you ever seen such a romantic basket of vegetables?

The beef is sliced so thinly it is almost see-through, allowing it to cook quickly in the hot water. You pick up a slice with chopsticks and put it in the water (still holding on!) Once you’ve swished it into a figure eight, the beef is cooked. Swish, swish…that’s all it takes. To me, the best part is the dipping sauces–a thick sesame sauce and a ponzu (citrus) sauce–for the meat and vegetables. The ponzu sauce is so tangy and a perfect match with the savory beef!

Most of the vegetables took a little bit longer to cook, so we left them in the water while we swished the beef and ate them with the sauces in between bites.

Once all of the beef and vegetables were eaten, the server brought out another dish of thin glass noodles to cook in the shabu shabu broth. I ate those noodles with the ponzu sauce as well. And, even though our meal was enormous, I couldn’t resist sakura ice cream for dessert. It was vacation after all.

Tagged adventures, food, I *heart* Japan, Japan

May 16 2014

5 Comments

adventures, coffee talk, Japan 2014, My Love Affair with Tokyo, Office Supplies, snail mail, Tea

Scenes From Bunbougu Cafe

Oh Bunbougu Cafe! Please expand to my community!

I know, I know…it wouldn’t be the same. I wish more people in the US would embrace the marriage of cafes and stationery shops.

I spent a lot of time at Bunbougu during our vacation. In addition to spending my birthday there, we went back again and again for coffees and shopping. My favorite thing (other than my birthday dinner) was the snack you see above. I ordered a set that included a pot of tea and three tiny sweets. As you can imagine, I was blown away by the tiny office supply-shaped cookies. I ordered the strawberry matcha poundcake, the hazelnut ginger pencil cookies and the yuzu pepper key cookies. Everything was so flavorful and delicious–the keys were so peppery that my mouth was burning (in the best way possible!) There were other options on the menu (including a coconut flavored triangle and protractor) and you can see them here.All of Bunbougu Cafe’s menus are hand drawn (by one of their own workers) with gorgeous colored pencil illustrations of their food and cocktails. One of my favorite things to order was the caramel tea latte, a milky black tea with a hint of caramel-y sweetness. I’m working on perfecting my own at home since it will be awhile before I can drink one at Bunbougu again! If you received a postcard from me in Japan, most likely it was written at Misdo or Bunbougu…it’s the perfect place for mail! Bunbougu offers loads of unique stationery, desk items, pens and pencils, washi tape, office supplies… Many things are made in Japan and most of their offerings are from small makers and businesses. I saw many familiar American makers’ products too. I ended up buying two more silver boxes, pencils and washi tape.

But my favorite “purchase” was my new membership at the Bunbougu Cafe. For ¥700, I now have my own membership card and a key to the stationery drawers at Bunbougu! Now each time I go, I can show off my key or my membership card and get into special events (if they ever occur during our visits) and unlock the stationery drawers at the cafe. I already left my business card in one and sifted through the pretty papers and pens…apparently too busy enjoying things to take a picture (sorry!)See you soon, Bunbougu Cafe!