Dinner at Bistro Ryu's, Yurakucho

After our hunt for ajisai, we went for dinner at Bistro Ryu's, near Yurakucho station~

Website: http://r.gnavi.co.jp/g463500/

Some cocktails that were recommended to YH on her previous trip here and they were good.

Parmesan cheese blocks!!!

Raw veg for the......

....Bagna càuda, which was super good!!! I can't compare it with anything else as it was my first time but it was awesome!

Crazy ppl like us ordered 20 pieces of wings~!

Pork sausage with an amazing mash!

Funghi pizza!

A group pic~

heehee, it looked like Mish drank a lot but actually she only drank 1 1/2 glass of cocktail.

Overall the good here is good and I really like the atmosphere of the restaurant. It is only too bad that they are closing soon.

森の幼稚園 鳥取

I was watching Abema news when they featured this kindergarten whereby kids spend their time outdoors all year round. The nature is their classroom!

I found this really interesting because I've never seen anything like this before. Hence, I googled it up and found the a website of the school.

For those who believe that nature is the best teacher and that rather than focusing on academic, a young child should be given the opportunity to discover and explore things on their own in order to develop their own skills, interests and survival skills.....this is an amazing place to send your child to. That is of course, if you live in Japan!

Website: http://furinrin.com/

Indian food

Dinner with colleague at this place called Delhi Dhaba

Our orders....this is hers with 2 pieces of roti, chicken tandoori and 3 different curries.

Meanwhile, mine was nan with samosa and 2 different curries.

The taste was just so-so..... 

I still prefer the taste from back home.

Eating Japan - Snack series 3

1. Kagome

Pitaya and banana smoothie (L) and tropical fruits (R)

I always enjoy Kagome's fruit drinks. They're not too sweet and because they're a blend of many different fruits and vegetables, I like to think that they are healthy. 

Compared to the tropical fruits one, he smoothie version was really nice especially when cold. I like the flavour and thicker consistency. 

2. Glico Almond

Almond coated chocolate that's further coated with cocoa powder! Yummy~ so good that I finished this in one setting.

3. Mixed nuts with anchovies

This makes for a really good snack especially when watching youtube videos.

4. Gifts from colleague

Kanten powder to make kanten jelly (L) and Madeleine (R)

I was really happy to receive the kanten powder as I had been looking for them at the local supermarket. So far I've made azuki kanten a few times and they've been well received by my colleagues.

5. Bourbon Caramel flavour

Always enjoy Bourbon cookies and was extremely to find a caramel flavoured one~!

6. Cute little panda cake from Don Quijote by colleague

7. Mentai ring~!!!

<3 Love this so much that I buy one almost every 2 weeks!

8. Calbee sea urchin calbonara flavour

Packed with umami and surprisingly a good combination~!!! Plus these are thick cut chips~!!! 

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She’s had her heart broken, yet she’s not afraid to love; what she is afraid of is wasting any more years of her life loving and supporting a man just to, in the end, have her heart broken and find herself having to start all over again.

Bunkyo Ajisai Matsuri (Hydrangea Festival)

Back in June, we went to the Bunkyo Ajisai Matsuri (Hydrangea Festival).

Address: 5-31-26 Hakusan Bunkyo-ku, Hakusan Jinja Shrine

It was summer and the weather was super hot but the shrine was filled with people!!!

Look at all the beautiful colours~

So glad we made the trip. This was the first time I received wet tissue. Usually you get tissue packets in Tokyo but that day I got wet tissue and I couldn't be happier!

Then sampat ppl like me didn't go prepared with an umbrella or anything at all~

Apparently, you can pray for good health for your teeth here~

It was hot and we were sweaty!

After Hakusan, we wanted to go for another ajisai festival in Asakusa area but we couldn't find it and thus ended up having ice cream instead.

We went to Nanaya in Asakusa, which collaborated with Suzukien, a green tea shop in Asakusa, to produce 7 different levels of matcha.

Website: http://www.tocha.co.jp/

As we were there on a weekend, there were many people. Surprisingly, most were japanese. We didn't even get to queue directly in front of the shop. We were led to an empty shop lot where there were at least 20-30 ppl before us. There were seats, fans and cold water there of us. So it wasn't too bad. 

We gave our name to the person in charge there, who would call us up to pass us these Gelato pass when it's our turn to go and queue up in front of the shop!

We all picked 2 flavours each, with one being the no.7 level match ice cream!

I picked a black sesame ice cream to go with my green tea ice cream and they were both super delicious. Though the no.7 match ice cream wasn't as strong or bitter as I expected it to be. I guess it would be nice to order all 7 and compare them side by side.

Yakiniku at home~

Yakiniki is pretty expensive in Tokyo and is much cheaper to prepare at home.

Colleague and I went shopping for meat at Niku no hanamasa in Ikebukuro which supposedly sells meat at a cheaper price. We got these 2 beautiful meat platter - pork neck and beef ue barakarubi (back ribs).

 

Misuji (blade roast or shoulder) which was like the most expensive one that we got! But look at the marbling of the fat~

So here's our yakiniku set up at her place~ we got veg, onion, kimchi, sauces and drinks!

Actually, the meat were good on their own even without any seasonings, especially the Misuji which makes sense because it was the most expensive one. It does take a long time to cook on the grill and literally melts in your mouth!!! The other 2 cuts were delicious too as they had so much fat in them. When you grill them, the fat melts onto the onion and caramelises it! 

A bit too much food for the 2 of us, but we finished everything! Hope to do it again soon~!!!

Home-made laksa shabu-shabu

When my colleague told me that she wanted to have Malaysian laksa, I never imagined it to be this!

I actually googled on where I could find restaurants that served curry laksa in Tokyo.

Meanwhile, she was talking about having shabu-shabu using a curry laksa soup base!!!

We tried searching for Malaysian curry but couldn't find any so we bought Thai red curry instead and made this soup stock for our shabu-shabu~!!!

hahaha.....crab sticks, kinako, enoki, abura age, chikuwa, veg, pork platter and beef platter! Yes, we bought a little too much for 2 people. While I thought that the soup tasted slightly weird and in no way similar to curry laksa, it still tasted ok!

Eating Japan -Ice cream series 4

1. Haagen Dazs Honey & Milk

This is probably my least favourite flavour from them. The ice cream was ok thanks to the swirls of honey in it but other than that I didn't really enjoy the taste.

2. Pablo yam cheesecake ice cream

One of the best cheese flavoured ice cream I've had!!! You can distinctively taste the yam and the cheese. Plus that cookie base was just lovely~ Thanks to this ice cream, I'm tempted to try the real cheesecake version!

3. Chateraise strawberry milk ice cream bar

While you can really taste the strawberry in this, I prefer the icy kind over the creamy kind. But overall, it was a delicious bar.

新宿さぼてん (Saboten)

Had dinner with K san at Saboten on the 8th floor of Keio, Shinjuku (新宿さぼてん 新宿京王店)

Website: http://www.ghf.co.jp/saboten/

Oh how I've missed this - deep fried pork!!!!!

Here, they let you grind your own sesame seeds~ and there's also unlimited refill of shredded cabbages!

Here's my tonkatsu set, complete with miso soup, tartar sauce, pickles, tonkatsu sauce, rice and dorayaki!

The tonkatsu here is crunchy on the outside and juicy on the inside~!! They're not stingy with their cabbages as they place a huge bowl right in front of you! Plus I love how they let us grind our own sesame seeds!

Eating Japan - Snack series 2

I was looking back at the pictures that I took when I first came and realised that I ate sooo many snacks!!!

1. Meiji kuchidoke premium 

This is the best pudding ever!!! Just as the name suggests, it just melts away in your mouth. It's soft and smooth.....and the flavour of the sauce is just spot on!

2. Meito pumpkin pudding

Good value as it comes in a pack of 3. While it's not as soft as Meiji's, I really enjoyed the pumpkin flavour.

3. Tohato Caramel corn

Nothing can ever go wrong with this snack~

4. Meito Vitamin C throat candy

Love hard candies~!

5. Daiso kuchidoke matcha

While I feel that the texture could have been better and made to feel more like nama choco, the flavour is not too bad.

6. Meito custard pudding

This was good too, but compared to the pumpkin one, I prefer the pumpkin one as it taste different from other normal custard puddings.

7. Calpis hotto lemon

Can't wait for this to back on in stored during winter time....

8. Minute Maid Hachimitsu Yuzu

Always appreciate a bottle of hot drink during winter time. Got this courtesy of S when he dropped by to help me move my luggages.

 

9. Meiji super big pudding with their new sauce

As weird as it might sound, but I really like this with my toasts in the morning for breakfast! heehee....

10. Koikeya Norishio potato chips

A standard flavour that can never go wrong. I bought these because who doesn't love potatoes from Hokkaido?

11. Koikeya Rich Konsome potato chips

I actually prefer this one to the norishio~

12. Sugimotoya Yasashii Yuzu Gummy

I got this from daiso. While you can taste the yuzu, I didn't really enjoy the texture of this gummy. But I do appreciate the fact that they individually packed the gummy which is rare for gummies.

13. Calbee nori & mentaiko

I love this....super flavourful~!!

14. Morinaga Yakipurin

I enjoyed this baked pudding. Something different from the usual and delicious too.

15. Fujiya Home Pie

This was surprisingly really good! If  you love pie crusts, you will love this~! Each pack comes with 2 pieces. Super convenient to be kept in your bag for a quick snack.

16. Meiji takenoko dark chocolate

This actually came in a huge bag containing little bags of takekono and kinoko in dark chocolate. Absolutely love this snack, especially this takenoko one!!!

17. AEON thick cut chips in Konsome flavour

This is good and tastes similar to the Calbee one except that this is the crinkle cut version.

18. ITOEN pomegranate and plant placenta mix

Bought this drink to try because I've never tried plant placenta before and I'm just curious on how this drink will taste like.

19. Power Balance in Black Cacao

These are really delicious and good when your busy and needed to eat something to boost your energy. Love the crunchy bits on top.

20. Yakult

Always enjoy a bottle of Yakult!

21. Tarami mixed fruit jelly

Fruits are sooo expensive here. When I feel like having fruits, especially those that are not in season, I will buy one of these fruit jellies because you get real fruit in them!

Peach, mandarin oranges and pineapple~

22. Calpis gummy

These have fillings in them. I prefer normal gummies without fillings in them.

23. Sanko Yuki no Yado Rice crackers

I really like this brand. I've bought this so many times now. Highly recommend this!

I guess I like them because of these white stuffs on the senbei