Reiko

Ankake Yakisoba & First Bread Baked in My New Kitchen

Because the Ankake Yakisoba (crispy noodles with thick vegetable sauce) I had at the food court the other day was so terrible that I decided to make it myself.

A good thing about cooking at home is that I can choose what vegetables to use.

For the sauce I added this “Chuka (Chinese cuisine)” bouillon I had bought at the vegan store, Karuna.

It really made a difference by creating umami.

These small packets are easy to use.

I was happy with how it turned out.

My craving was finally satisfied.

I was feeling a bit ambitious today and decided to bake bread for the first time in my new kitchen.

(We are still waiting for our dining table. So we are using the cardboard box for now.)

I used my oven for the first time to bake bread.

I had to bake a bit longer than usual, but they turned out pretty good.

Next time I will probably preheat the oven longer (maybe for 15 minutes or so).

Although we had freshly baked bread, we were out of vegan butter, so we walked to Kikuya, which we were just informed was selling vegan butter.

It’s plant-based butter, made of soy cream.

It has nice texture.

The flavor is on the lighter side.

I enjoyed the buttered bun with the cereal “coffee” which has recently become one of my favorite hot beverages.

We walked through the Shikenmichi area, a historic merchant district, when we went to get the butter.

It has so much character, and we really enjoy strolling here.

There was a cool-looking coffee shop.

It looked like a secret spot, but apparently not so secret because it was full and we couldn’t get in.

I found this flower at the local grocery store.

The yellow flower looked like the full moon, and I immediately liked it.

It’s perfect in the vase I got from my parents’ house.

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October 21, 2025

by : Reiko Japan Travel

Tokoname – Ceramic Town

Tokoname is a southern town in Aichi, located on the western coast of the Chita peninsula.

It’s known as a ceramic town.

It has been on my list for some time, and finally the weather cooperated yesterday so we decided to go.

I grew up in Aichi but never visited Tokoname, and I was excited.

It takes only 30 minutes by the Meitetsu express train from Nagoya Station to get to Tokoname.

We got there a little before noon, and we were ready for lunch.

I had done a little research beforehand, and we headed straight to the restaurant that I had selected.

Like so many other restaurants/cafes in this town, this one was housed in a renovated old building.

They did a good job.

It’s functional, but they left the charming character.

They serve two lunch sets.

Neither is vegan.

One is the sushi set; they use fish freshly caught locally, serve it over sushi rice, and fish it off with a lot of Shiso chiffonade.

The sushi set includes soup, braised beans and vegetables, roasted seaweed sheet (locally made), green tea, and a dessert.

The other choice is the Hayashi rice set: rice with rich dark stew; salad, water, green tea, and a dessert.

Everything was delicious.

I really liked their using local ingredients and locally created ceramics.

Looking at beautifully prepared food served in one-of-the-kind plates and bowls was so enjoyable.

Look at this chopstick rest!

Attention to detail was amazing.

For the dessert we could choose either a Japanese sweets or a Western sweets, and we both requested the Japanese one.

We assumed that we would get the same thing, so we were pleasantly surprised when these lovely pieces were presented.

Their cafe (sweets) menu was tempting, and I almost thought about stopping by later again for a snack.

After lunch, we started following the Pottery Footpath to explore the town.

It turned out to be a beautiful sunny day.

The town looked great, and we had to stop at every corner because we wanted to take pictures.

Everything was so photogenic.

At one point, it was getting hot, and my husband stopped for a mango soft-serve (we didn’t ask, but probably not vegan).

I was hoping to find some dishes, as I do need a couple of soup bowls and dessert plates.

There were a few shops that were selling the style of dishes I like (modern, simple), but many shops’ focus seemed to be more traditional type of ceramics.

I didn’t buy any dishes, but I still enjoyed looking at all the shops.

If you are interested in more modern style dishes, check out ni:no (the photo above) and MADOYAMA (the top photo).

Their ceramic history is witnessed everywhere.

This kiln was built in 1958 and used to make bottles for Shochu (Japanese distilled spirit) and jars for pickles.

When I did my research in advance, I didn’t find any vegan restaurants.

But during our walk we saw this sign, advertising the vegan plate.

Looks like it’s served at Imawo (cafe/shop) (Japanese).

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October 18, 2025

by : Reiko Nagoya Restaurants

Vegan Gourmet Festival – Nagoya

I forgot to post this, but we went to our first vegan festival in Japan last Sunday.

We had no idea how busy it would be.

We got there a little after noon.

There were a few items sold out, and a few popular vendors had a short line, but the crowd was very manageable, which made our experience enjoyeable.

The food selection was wide and interesting.

The curried granola was absolutely delicious.

I’m thinking about borrowing the idea and making something similar myself.

Some vendors were local, and others seemed from out-of-prefecture.

We were so hungry when we got there, and our first food, Kuruma-bu Katsu Burger with Nanban sauce (sweet-sour sauce and mayo), tasted so good!

I liked the ingredient list, too.

We were supposed to continue with a few more savory dishes for our lunch, but we got detoured (lol) and got this beautiful Strawberry Croissant Roll, stuffed with vanilla cream and fresh strawberries.

Very tasty!

Apparently it was prepared ahead of the time, and it tasted good, but I bet it would taste amazing if it were fresh.

After our sweets craving was satisfied, we resumed our savory-food-search and found something interesting.

“Ganmo Burger”.

It’s a rice patty sandwiched between two Ganmodoki (Japanese fried tofu patties).

Very unique.

There were several flavor options, and we decided to get the curry one (below, left).

There was a lot going on!

The curry sauce was flavorful.

The rice patty was made with rice and some other grains.

There were a lot of vegetable and seaweed pieces in the ganmodoki.

We also found a few slices of lotus root, which gave a nice texture.

And the addition of seedy mustard was fantastic.

I’m glad we tried it because 1) it was delicious and 2) I have no idea when I can find a ganmodoki burger next time.

After the two burgers we were full.

But it was still fun to continue to check out all the vendors, including some corporate vendors that were displaying their vegan products; they were handing out samples and it was nice to try them.

I had no idea Kewpie (one of the most popular mayo brands in Japan) now makes plant-based mayo.

The festival took place at Tsuruma Park, which I hadn’t visited for a long time and forgot how nice it was.

We got home with things we bought and some samples.

(We tried the Vege Meat Sauce the other night with spaghetti, and it was delicious. This is a Karuna product just like the Mapo tofu sauce.)

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October 15, 2025

by : Reiko Drinks, Sweets

Non-Caffeinated Cereal “Coffee” & Butter Kinako Toast

My body does not like caffeine very much, and a few years ago I started to gradually get rid of caffeinated beverages from my drink options.

I was never a big coffee drinker to begin with, but once in a while with a certain dessert I want to have a cup of coffee.

I heard about non-caffeinated “coffee” made of dandelion.

I was intrigued by that, but I never had a chance to find one.

So when I saw this at the vegan specialty shop, Karuna, a few weeks ago, I grabbed it without hesitation.

By the way the illustration on the label is so cute!

The ingredients are listed as organic barley, organic rye, organic chicory, and organic dandelion.

It’s made in Poland.

It has a wonderful sweet smell, reminding me of dates or dark brown sugar.

The taste?

Very good!!

It’s not exactly coffee, but it has a rich roasted flavor and is very satisfying.

I really liked it.

For snack I made a butter kinako (roasted soy bean powder) toast, and the cereal coffee was perfect with it.

I also tasted great when a little oat milk was added.

Yesterday my husband and I went fall-winter clothes shopping because most of our clothes we brought from Bangkok were summer clothes.

I usually cannot find anything when I go clothes-shopping; when I’m not looking, I tend to find clothes I like!.

But yesterday it turned out to be a successful trip!

We both found a lot of clothes we liked.

(I even found a pair of shoes, which I needed because I only brought one pair from Bangkok.)

One disappointing part of this trip was my lunch.

I had Ankake Yakisoba (fried noodles with thick vegetable sauce) at the food court, and it was terrible.

The noodle was a wrong kind (too thick for the dish), and the sauce was flavorless and too oily. 🙁

Now I crave for Ankake Yakisoba, a good one.

I may have to go grocery shopping tomorrow so that I can make it myself.

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October 15, 2025

by : Reiko Nagoya Restaurants

Saizen Chuka Anzu

I get craving for Chinese food once in a while.

For some reason, it seems harder to find Chinese restaurants that offer vegan dishes.

So when I found this place online, I got excited.

It’s not a vegan restaurant, but I’ve read somewhere they offer vegan dishes.

This was actually our second time to visit this restaurant.

First time we went, it was closed because the chef happened to be teaching at some beauty school (or something like that).

This time I called ahead to make sure they were open.

Once we got there, there was a little surprise.

They only offer two dishes for lunch.

One is Yurinchi (deep-fried chicken with scallion sweet and sour sauce), and the other is the same but a vegan version.

The dish comes with rice, soup, soy milk coconut pudding, and tea.

1200 yen.

We were hoping to have a few more options, but we were already there, so we decided to try the vegan Yurinchi.

The restaurant is cozy.

It made me feel like I time-traveled to the Showa-era (lol).

On the wall, I found some information that shows they offer course meals; reservation is required.

The “veggie course” ￥6500 includes soup, deep-fried dish, two other appetizer dishes, Chinese risotto, dessert, and Chinese tea.

It says this veggie course does not include “fish or meat”, but it does not say anything about eggs or dairy.

On their regular menu I found on their website shows that there are several dishes they can make vegan.

Apparently they charge extra 200 yen for veganized version, but the original price is not listed. 🙁

Anyway, this was the lunch we had.

The “chicken” was made of soy meat, and it was well-prepared.

The soy meat had good texture, and it was tasty.

I liked the soy milk coconut pudding, too.

Next time I want to visit for dinner so that I can try some other dishes.

Here is a link to their website (Japanese).

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October 14, 2025

by : Reiko Other

Karuna: Vegan Specialty Shop

Initially I found this shop online.

They had a lot of interesting vegan food, and when I was about to click on the “purchase” button, I noticed that they had an actual store in Nagoya.

So I emptied my cart and made a plan to visit the store the next day.

It was easy to get there by the subway.

It’s not a big store, but it’s packed with interesting items.

One of the things that pleasantly surprised me was that there were a lot of their own brand’s food.

They even had Karuna brand’s pre-cooked frozen food.

There were certain things I wanted to get, but I came home with all of those, plus so much more (lol)!

One of the reasons I wanted to go to the store was this vegan butter.

I saw it on their online shop and I liked its ingredients.

I’ve never seen this brand before in Minnesota or in Bangkok.

It’s from Denmark.

This time we bought the “spreadable” version; there is the regular version, too.

We really liked it.

Very good texture and taste.

We also came home with this vegan mapo tofu sauce.

It’s the Karuna brand’s.

I really like that only Japanese soybeans are used and there is no artificial flavoring, thickening agent, or coloring.

How to prepare it?

Super easy.

You pour the sauce in a pot, heat it up, and add tofu.

The mapo tofu was delicious!

The flavor was surprisingly complex, and it tasted like something served at a restaurant.

I will definitely buy it again.

There are still a lot of food we bought from the shop but haven’t tried yet.

So I will report back to you on those, too.

You can visit the Karuna online shop from here.

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October 9, 2025

by : Reiko Breakfast

New Life in Japan & Autumn Pancakes

Hello.

I’m back.

While I was absent from this blog, a lot of things happened in my life.

After spending a year in Bangkok, we decided to move to Japan.

I initially left Japan over 20 years ago, and I never thought I would come back.

But well, “never say never”, right?

I felt it was the right time to come home, and I actually got excited about starting a new chapter in Japan.

This time, with my husband.

How did he feel about moving to Japan?

Well, he always expressed interest in living in Japan, and once I became ready, things moved very fast.

(The photo above is from an Kinosaki Onsen ryokan during our trip in April (before our move).)

We initially stayed at my parents’ house (and it made our transition so easy!!).

We really enjoyed quality time with them, but we were out of their place a few weeks later because we were able to find an apartment (more quickly than anticipated).

We were lucky that we were able to find an apartment we really liked!

We downsized big time when we left Minnesota, and we didn’t really add much possession in Bangkok.

So, we moved to our new apartment with a few suitcases each (lol).

In Bangkok most apartments came furnished, but that’s not the case in Japan, and there are a lot of things needed to start life.

We’ve been busy shopping every day for everything, from furniture to a toilet brush.

I felt a bit overwhelmed at times, but mostly I was excited about being able to choose what suited our taste for each room, especially putting together the kitchen.

My new cutting board (photo above) is made of Hinoki wood and it smells amazing.

But my favorite thing about this is that it stands!

I think it looks adorable, but it’s also sanitary.

For the pan and the pot, I decided to get the same brand, FIKA, I was using in Bangkok because I liked them so much.

I was happy that I could get them here in Japan, too.

It’s been about two weeks since we moved in, and our apartment is slowly becoming a comfortable place, although some major furniture pieces, such as the dining table, is still missing, and I’m happy that I can now have some of my routine back like having Natto rice for breakfast.

It’s has been also fun to try high quality Japanese food products, like this Daitoku soy sauce.

We also enjoyed some sweets on the Tsukimi (moon viewing) night a few days ago, and I’m hoping to celebrate more cultural events in the future.

Yesterday was the first day I felt I was finally ready to take some photos of food I cooked in our new apartment.

I didn’t have a turner yet, so I used chopsticks to flip the pancakes (lol).

I called them “Autumn Pancakes”, because they were served with two seasonal ingredients, chestnut and pumpkin seeds.

They were finished off with coffee syrup.

Oh, by the way, I found a wonderful vegan specialty shop in Nagoya.

I will make a separate post about that.

But I will say the vegan butter I found at the shop is now our favorite butter (and used on these pancakes, too)!

When I moved to Minnesota from Japan, I realized how much I appreciated the spring season after long winter.

When I moved to Bangkok from Minnesota, I realized how much I appreciated having warm weather all year around.

Now I’m back in Japan, and I realize how much I appreciate how beautifully the seasons change.

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October 8, 2025

by : Reiko Breakfast, Sweets

Mango Cinnamon Rolls

It’s been a while since last time I made a blog post.

We’ve been eating out more often lately, which means I’m not cooking much.

I do have a lot of pictures from restaurants, so I’m hoping to post them soon before I accidentally delete them.

I did make these cinnamon rolls not too long ago.

I had craving for something sweet, but still something that I could eat for breakfast without too much guilt (lol).

For these cinnamon rolls I used this dried mango.

This Doy Kahm brand’s dried fruit series is very popular in Thailand, and it’s often chosen as a souvenior by many tourists.

It’s tasty, and I often just eat it as is for a snack.

I cut it into small pieces.

Surprisingly (or not surprisingly) the mango goes well with cinnamon.

Just out of the oven.

I could eat them without icing and be happy, but I know my husband has to have icing on his cinnamon rolls.

I added some mango pieces on top too,

We enjoyed them with a cup of tea and coffee.

Looking at these pictures do make me want to bake again.

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July 18, 2025

by : Reiko Noodles/Pasta

Crispy Tofu King Mushroom Spaghetti with Cheese Sauce

Yesterday’s lunch.

Crispy tofu and king mushroom are some of my go-to ingredients when I make a pasta dish.

I cook the tofu in the oven and sauté the mushroom in the pan.

I make this vegan cheese sauce so many times that I no longer measure all the ingredients.

So it tastes slightly different every time, but this batch turned out really good!

I was happy, but I also regretted that I didn’t remember exactly how I made it.

My favorite red sauce we find in Bangkok so far is Agnesi, whereas my husband likes this one.

It’s Heinz, but as the label suggests, it’s a bit spicy.

Carrots the Vegan Bisto is one of my favorite vegan restaurants in Bangkok.

Sadly, they just recently announced that they were going to close their dining space at the end of this month (they will continue to offer delivery), and I was really bummed.

In my opinion, they serve one of the best vegan foods in Bangkok, and I don’t know why they didn’t have the support they needed to keep their current space open especially when their dining space is so beautiful!

I guess I should be still grateful that we can continue to order their food.

By the way, they make not only good food but also good dessert.

Their tiramisu was always my favorite, butt this apple crumble cheesecake was also delicious.