This shot was from my cellphone camera, even I don't bring my camera with me I still have back-up :-) "The Daiso" is the 100 yen store here in Japan. This is like a 99cents store in US. I really like shopping here coz there are plenty of good stuff for kids and even for moms like me and even for dads. From snack food, toys, kitchen ware, hardware, electronics and cellphone accesories to school supplies. Almost every week we are here to shop.
I always go to this vegetable store to buy cheaper vegetables like carrots, raddish, cucumber, spinach, cabbage, lettuce, potatoes, etc. but until now I don't know what the name of this store is (????) ; I just call it "vegetable store" or the company parking store hahaha lol. It says on their sign board (first picture) "only company parking" but actually customers can park on their parking lot, right in front of the store.
I was surprised when they are selling this 1 bundle of raddish for 100 yen I think it has 8 raddish in it, so it's like $1, sooooo cheap. Maybe I should start looking for a raddish recipe so I can buy this bunch of raddish just for a 100 yen. I know Japanese and Korean they are making kimchee out of raddish. Hmmm maybe I should try raddish kimchee too.
By the way, aside from vegetables they are also selling, fruits and some dried fish, canned goods and snack food.
Note:
I guess the meaning of their sign "Only company parking" is "for customers parking only" hahaha I just figured out today while writing this blog.
When we went to Salmon Festival in Oirase we stopped by one food stall that was selling mochi and we saw the old lady and the man were pounding the grinded sweet rice so I took pictures of them from pounding, kneading and cutting of mochi. I missed the mixing of sweet ricce and its ingredients. This is the traditional way of making mochi. I bought 3 bowls of mochi. One small bowl is 300 yen and it has only 3 pieces of mochi on it. The mochi is not sweet unlike the commercially made mochi which has sugar in it and sometimes it comes in different colors like pink, light green and light yellow. They have 3 different types of sauce for mochi. Sorry but I forgot to take pictures of them since I was so excited to taste the mochi. One was with sesame seed black in color (eewww I didn't try that one), one was powdery green and tastes like peanut butter and looks like wasabe and the last is mashed soy beans maroon in color. I'm not sure the name of that beans :-) maybe it's kidney beans but tiny
By the way, mochi is made of sweet rice, sugar and coconut milk. I know how to make mochi, I learned it from my co-worker when I used to work in Honolulu, Hawaii. Mochi is very popular in Hawaii, aside from local Hawaiians, Hawaii is mostly dominated by Japanese people second is Filipinos ( I think) :-)
Ohhh I love mochi!!!
By the way, I searched the meaning of mochi from wikipedia and this is their definition:
Mochi (Japanese: 餅; Chinese: 麻糬) is a Japanese and Chinese rice cake made of glutinous rice pounded into paste and molded into shape. In Japan it is traditionally made in a ceremony called mochitsuki. While also eaten year-round, mochi is a traditional food for the Japanese New Year and is commonly sold and eaten during that time.
Mochi is similar to the Chinese rice cake nian gao; however, mochi is shaped from cooked glutinous rice right after it is pounded, whereas nian gao is steamed directly to its final form from a batter made of uncooked glutinous rice flour.
In the Philippines, it is called palitao in Tagalog and is coated with sesame seeds and grated coconut.
Directions: (sorry I don't know how to get here using toll road)
