First proper home cooking in a while — nikujaga with spring onions and new potatoes. This time I actually simmered it down properly, and the flavor proved it.

Back home in Nagoya, a long-overdue bowl of Sugakiya ramen. Everyone says chicken wings and miso nikomi udon, but this 290-yen bowl is the real Nagoya specialty.

Impulse-bought a pour-over coffee set at Tokyu Hands because instant wasn’t cutting it. The aroma is better — now to avoid the three-day dropout.

Beaujolais Nouveau season again — glass bottle, not the bargain plastic. Plus a new Walkman from camera points, leaving my iPod nano in the dust.

I got a random craving for gyoza and picked some up from Gyoza no Ohsho. If you go at mealtimes, even takeout for pan-fried gyoza involves a 30-minute wait.

Got the Beaujolais Nouveau. But — disaster — I don’t have a corkscrew. (Embarrassing.

Had some free time so I tried drawing something. Mikan-chan from “Atashinchi.

TV gave me an irresistible urge, so I made enormous stuffed cabbage rolls from scratch — each one packed with a hamburger patty’s worth of meat, simmered for over an hour.

Work has been so busy that I hadn’t really cooked for myself at all… Today I rolled up my sleeves (sort of) and picked up some vegetables to cook.

Doyo no Ushi eel day, single-living edition: one eel equals one serving. Plus the shocking discovery that the supermarket one station over sells the same eel for ¥600 less.

Writing this on August 3… Quite a gap since the last post. And the photo itself is from July 13.

It was cold today so I made hot pot! Simmered carrot, napa cabbage, garlic chives, green onion, tofu, enoki mushrooms, and pork in a kombu and bonito broth.

Simmered kabocha squash: fresh from the pot the sake came on strong, but chilled overnight the flavor balanced beautifully. Same dish, surprisingly different.

An 8 km autumn ride from Kamata to Kawasaki, noticing how Tokyo’s sidewalks are full of people in a way Nagoya never is — then home to attempt nikujaga.

Komeda’s new beef stew, tested via staff meal: good beef, irresistible melted cheese — but two slices of French bread isn’t enough, and ¥880 is steep.

Today I used the cleaning supplies I bought yesterday and washed the car.

Actually, I was starting to get a bit tired of oolong tea, so I stopped drinking it for about a week to prevent that.

Two more oolong teas, another missed penalty kick — now on my second lap around China at Shanghai. Also overfilled the tank at a self-serve station for the first time in two years.