Milky!

Millinophile brought these home from the grocery store yesterday. "Milky" is a pretty accurate description, since they're little vaguely vanilla taffy things. Chickadee and Millinophile both thought they were pretty good.

Mugwort Steamed Bun

Millinophile and Chickadee decided to try this green mugwort bun from a local bakery. Millinophile did not particularly like it, but Chickadee thought it was tasty! It reminded her of a spiced cake, though it doesn't really taste the same.

Yokohama Chinatown

 This isn't actually in Chinatown. We pass this house on stilts on our way to church every Sunday.

 Yokohama Marine Tower. We didn't go inside, but we did sit in the nearby park and eat pastries.

 One of Chinatown's smaller gates. The bigger, fancier gates were all being renovated. Yokohama Chinatown is the largest Chinatown in the world. It was really busy when we were there. 

 The Kwan Tai temple, dedicated to the Chinese Imperial General Kwan Tai.

 Where else can you get a whole duck for $30?

 These and other similar tiles lined much of the sidewalk.

 The Mazu Miao temple, dedicated to the Chinese sea goddess Mazu. This is the largest temple in Yokohama Chinatown.

Leaving Chinatown.

Chickadee and Millinophile weren't very impressed with Yokohama Chinatown. Sure, it was big, but it felt very tourist-y, and all of the shops and restaurants seemed to carry the same overpriced things.

Matcha Mochi

 This is a ball of mochi filled with matcha ice cream.

It's utterly delicious (at least Chickadee thinks so. Millinophile is inclined to complain that it's too bitter). 

Banana Chips

These are banana flavored potato chips. They were not good. They tasted very banana-y, but they had a bitter aftertaste that was unpleasant.

Salt & Fruit

Millinophile decided to try this out of a vending machine. He thought it was actually rather good, but Chickadee was not a fan. It was very sweet and fruity, with a salty aftertaste.

Transportation Festival

This past weekend, Millinophile and Chickadee headed over to the annual Yokosuka Transportation Festival.

 The first stop: cotton candy for Millinophile (note how it's been spun onto chopsticks).

 There were all kinds of vehicles there. People were standing in line so that their child could dress up as the operator of the vehicle (e.g. bus driver, firefighter, animal control person, motorcycle rider, etc.).

 This was the most popular attraction. The kids (with a parent) could operate a real digger. They were scooping things out of the pool and placing them on the mat. The pool was filled with little plastic balls and toys. The kids got to keep any of the toys they scooped out.

A cool phone booth Millinophile saw on the way to the park.

Grape Jelly in a Can

While walking around Kurihama Flower Park, Millinophile developed a substantial thirst. So, we headed to the vending machines to see what they offered.

Millinophile chose this, which ended up being a grape jelly-type drink. It reminded Chickadee of really watery jello (she was not a fan). Millinophile decided he quite liked (probably due to the high sugar content).

Yokosuka Curry Festival

Yokosuka, the self-proclaimed "Curry Capital" of Japan, hosts a curry festival conveniently located right across from the Navy Base. This year, 10,000 people were expected to attend the 2 day event. Millinophile and Chickadee decided to join the throngs of curry fans and headed toward Mikasa Park

 Walking towards the park.

Japanese battleship Mikasa. If you look closely, you can see a bunch of Japanese sailors on the deck.

Some mascots, possibly of Yokosuka. Or curry. Or something else.
Edit: the blue one is a mascot of Japanese-American friendship.

 

 Millinophile and Chickadee tried two types of curry. Japanese curry is not like Indian or Thai curry, so it's a bit hard to describe what they tasted like. The lighter one was a little bit sweet, with a strong curry powder taste. The darker one was spicier and a bit more gelatinous.

The (wooden) disposable spoons fascinated Millinophile.

One tent had this interesting display of model Japanese ships.

Japanese Harry Potter wants you to drink his "dry" beer.

 Heading home. That's Millinophile's workplace on top of the hill.

Strawberry Chocolate

 

Strawberry chocolates from Meiji, the premier chocolate company in Japan.

 

The jelly inside these truffles is SOUR. 

Bento Box Dinner

We found a grocery store with tons of different Bento boxes. Millinophile had this one (note: the pink stuff is not ginger, but some other pickled vegetable).

Lotus root salad (it was tasty).

THE BEST STRAWBERRIES EVER. Seriously, they were delicious.

Frapanese Pastries

Japan has a thriving "frapanese" baking industry.  Millinophile and Chickadee have tried some rather interesting pastries since arriving in Yokosuka.

This croissant has mayonnaise and corn on it. Sounds gross, right (it kinda was)? Japanese people seem to love mayo. One of the most popular pizzas at Japanese Domino's is topped with tuna, corn, and mayo. We probably won't be trying it.

This one is a seasonal sakura pastry, filled with sakura-flavored white bean paste and topped with a pickled sakura bud.

This one was one of our favorites.  Chickadee chose it because it was so square.

It was filled with red bean paste.

This Mt. Fuji-esque pastry was filled with honeydew-flavored cream.  It was interesting, but not something Chickadee is in any hurry to try again.

 This one was actually pretty normal: a sugar-crusted bun. I'm not sure why we took a picture of it.

This one was soft and doughy and filled with something green.

This is a narwhal horn! Just kidding, it's a chocolate-filled cornucopia pastry.

This tasted like an English muffin/crumpet studded with sweet beans. It was surprisingly delicious.

Pascha in Yokohama

We've been going to a lovely parish in Yokohama (here). The priest, matushka, and several of the parishioners speak good English, and everyone is very friendly. Two other families from the Naval Base also attend.

The church's exterior. Our service started at 9 a.m., hence the sunlight.

ハリストス復活! (Harisutosu fukkatsu!) 実に復活! (Jitsu ni fukkatsu!)

 So many kulichi!

A pretty Pascha basket.

 Handing out the red eggs.

 Well, mostly red eggs. Millinophile's has a Russian folk tale instead. After the service finished, the parish had a celebratory meal with tons of traditional Japanese food (sushi, yakitori, steamed edamame, seaweed rice crackers, spaghetti salad, and other dishes). It was lots of fun!

Millinophile: This iced tea tastes really bitter.

Chickadee: Yeah, it really does. Actually, it tastes almost like...coffee! It's iced cafe americano.

 We saw some pretty flowers on the walk from church to the train station. 

 People around here have really nice gardens around their homes instead of lawns.

It's hard to see, but the white tulips have pink stripes.

Wait, I thought poppies were illegal in Japan...

All the photos in this post were taken with Millinophile's new phone. It has a 16MP camera. A little better than the 5MP on the 7 year old camera we've been using.