The hills are alive with the sound of Japantown

I know that title makes no sense, but it's just one of those looney weeks. Let me start with yesterday...

Apparently my desk likes to eat keys. That's what I realized when I got to my door. Ooops. Luckily someone within walking distance has a spare set and I just so happened to have friend's spare keys in my purse. Go figure. Crisis averted!

Since I wasn't getting a run in, I figured I'd walk home instead of taking the bus...even though I know there are several mountains between my house and friend's house. I took a little detour thinking I was being slick and avoiding my 3 inclines (you like how I've just claimed them?). Nono. I ended up with this in front of me

and this to the left of me

UHHH. I probably would have turned around if I was running, but since I wasn't, I opted for the stairs. They just seemed a little friendlier...you know, for a mid-hill rest. haha.

I originally planned on a hot date with the DMV today so I could 'officially' become a California resident, but I missed the whole 'you need to bring your social security card with you' thing. For real? O well. Looks like I have a project for next Friday.

Instead of wasting away indoors, I opted to take a leisurely walk to Japantown. I had heard about Japantown from a couple bloggers, friends and tour books and had to see it for myself.

Equipped with an apple for snacking, I strolled down Union Street and popped into a couple of the shops I've run and ridden by so many times before. I also made an extended pitstop at the Lululemon :[ What? I needed a new warm running top! Lucky for me they had one on sale :)

I walked out with the Half Moon Jacket in all black (thought I'd post the lighter color so you could see the deets) and it's SUPER comfy and I hope it will be a good alternate to my favorite PRR pullover so I'm not all stankalicious on runs. A little nervous about the whole hood thing, but I'm sure it'll be fine. I'm sure I'll love having it after a run. Brrr.

I also tried on a couple of capris for fun. I looooved the way the Run:Zoom Crop fit

Unfortunately they didn't have my size in all black, so I took it as a sign we weren't meant to be. I even checked online...double sign. I was a little concerned about the puffiness/extra material in the thigh area, but when I put them on, they fit PERFECTLY. Genius. Waistband didn't pinch and the rear...not too shabby ;p I tried the purple ones on and thought they were really cute, but I knew I wouldn't wear them as much as a black pair. You should check them out!

I hung a left onto Fillmore from Union and woah. Howdy hills. Sorry to be such a baby about these hills. It's not like I didn't know they existed, but I'm from the land of the fairly flat. I'm never prepared for a random mountain when I turn a corner! One of these days I will learn. I will learn what's flat and what's not and how to get around the mountains...I promise :)

My walk down Fillmore didn't involve much shopping/browsing since there were a lot of cafes, furniture and fancy shops (no, I don't really rock the fancy designer-y shops). I did stop to take a photo of a fun restaurant

I stopped for a long time until I could get it right too haha. I don't know what I like so much about this...I think it's the colors and the rough, yet clean look? Mreh? That shadow is a building so I wonder if I could get a better shot earlier in the day. Yes, mega nerd alert!!

Eventually I found myself in Japantown *aaaaaahhhh!*

It was a little cloudy out so I wasn't exactly in a photo snapping mood, plus I was on a mission to find the Nijiya Market. I loved the Japanese market in Bethesda so I knew I had to find a replacement out here. What better place to look than Japantown. Duh!

I wandered into the Nihonmachi Shopping Center from Post Street and was a little overwhelmed by all the shops, cafes and o yeah, the giant Sanrio store. No joke. I mean, it IS Japantown...

I couldn't find the Nijiya Market and was starting to get really frustrated. I walked all around and even followed the mall map! I was about to give up when I saw this little nugget:

Ichiban Kan...Different Things. Dude, the sign just said Different Things. You know I had to walk in.

Apparently it's like a dollar store of Japanese goodies? I immediately headed to the wall of snackies, sauces and condiments just in case this whole mission to the market failed. I quickly browsed the other aisles and found some fun kitchen gadgets, ceramics and toiletries. SO random! I only walked out with a couple items :)

I wandered back into the mall to see if I missed a giant market sign and eventually came to this lovely corridor

It was between the mall and the Hotel Kabuki and I loved the colors and the lighting! I just had to take a picture. Have you noticed a little more zing in my photos lately? Well, aside from the iPhone photos. We've got Jamie to thank for that since he equipped me with a new camera upon his return :) Photos are now brought to you by this little guy:

Hooray! I'd love more than anything to transition into the world of SLR cameras, but I don't think I'm quite ready for the financial or physical responsibility. One day...one day. In the meantime, this puppy has a ton of great functions for me to play with. Hopefully I'll get some good shots this weekend - cross your fingers for sun!

I eventually found the Nijiya Market and it was totally worth getting lost and frustrated. OMG. I walked in and had no idea what to do with myself! They had a pretty large refrigerated section of pre-made foods (side dishes, seaweed salad, bento boxes, rice bowls, sushi, dumplings, you name it!), a massive drink section (alcoholic and non), and decent sized meat and produce sections. Holy potatoes. I need to go back. Again, I was good and only bought what I knew I needed in the short term. *sigh* Don't you worry, I'm dragging Jamie there over Labor Day weekend. I'm sure we'll get into some trouble.

Want to see what I came home with?

Plus my Soba Bento dinner and some seaweed salad for tomorrow

All for the low price of $21 (that's from both markets)! Not bad! The shirataki noodles alone were much cheaper at the Japanese market than at Real Foods and I was so happy to see the brand of sesame oil I'm used to using (yeah, I'm picky about that). The green lunch bag (that definitely says 'lunchtime will make everyone happy') was $1.50 and is a great size for sammiches and snacks or a medium sized tupperware. Plus it's cute :)

My bento wasn't terrible. The inarizushi and futomaki were good (I think it's pretty hard to mess those up unless the rice is bad), but the soba was a little mooshy for my taste. Also, the checkout lady asked if I wanted chopsticks and I said yes. No chopsticks in the bag. Soba noodles are so not the same with a fork. Nope :(

So yeah, that was my day of wandering! I'm off to guzzle some water and sleep so I'm ready for my quickie 7 miler with the running group tomorrow morning. Will report back soon! Nitey :)

Time to chillax

I've been a bit of a stress ball lately and I'm realizing it's about time I took some time to chill out and detach from things. I spent a couple hours getting checked out by a doc and while I walked out with a clean bill of health, I decided I needed to start learning how to leave work at work and stop taking on so much at once. Easier said than done.

First thing I did when I got home? Made myself a large, beautiful, well-balanced meal.

I was so worked up today that I only had a banana and some Cheerios around 3pm, post doc visit. I figured I earned some quality kitchen time and a pretty meal :) Do you cook to de-stress?

I had one fairly large piece of salmon defrosting from yesterday, plus I had an urge to make a mustard sauce. Salmon + mustard = yum! Did I mention I also stashed a lonely sweet potato in my grocery basket this weekend? I think sweet potatoes go wonderfully with mustard. Wait, who am I kidding...I think everything goes great with mustard haha.

To start things off, I troasted some diced sweet potatoes. Kept them simple and only sprayed them with some olive oil.

Why did I troast? Because there's no reason to use the whole oven for just one sweet potato! These babies troasted for about 25 minutes at 400 degrees.

While those were cooking, I got started on the spinach and TJ's Harvest Grain Blend. All together, I think this meal took about 45 minutes to make? A glorious and relaxing 45 minutes :) The most stressful part was trying to cut the Harvest Grain Blend proportions in half. Who has a 5/8 measuring cup?? Thanks, Google for informing me 5/8 c equals 10 tablespoons!

Sweet Potato Grains

10 tbsp Trader Joe's Harvest Grain Blend

1 tbsp butter

1 c chicken broth

1/2 onion, diced

1/8 tsp allspice

pinch salt

1 sweet potato, diced and roasted

Heat butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Saute onion, allspice and salt until onion is softened. Add grains and stir for a minute or so until coated. Pour in chicken broth and stir in sweet potatoes. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Oniony Spinach

1/2 onion, thinly sliced

1 tsp olive oil

1 tbsp chicken broth

3 c baby spinach

Heat olive oil in a pan over medium high heat. Saute onion until it starts to brown. Add spinach and broth. Stir and cover for 1 minute. Uncover and cook until spinach is wilted.

Sweet Whole Grain Mustard Sauce

3 tbsp whole grain mustard

1 1/2 tsp greek yogurt

3/4 tsp milk

1/2 tsp mirin

1 tbsp butter

1/2 tsp maple syrup

Melt butter in a small saucepan. Whisk in mustard, yogurt, mirin and maple syrup. Add milk slowly until desired consistency. Continue whisking over heat for 1-2 minutes.

Take all those elements and combine them with a simply pan seared salmon fillet and you've got quite a meal!

The sweet potatoes went wonderfully with the grains. They added a nice flavor and texture - not too mushy either! I was worried since a few pieces weren't totally troasted, but those 10 minutes in the broth made them perfectly soft. The mustard was EXACTLY what I was looking for with the salmon and potatoes :) What are your favorite ingredient combos?