Stay home period

Staying home had me starting to grow some edible plants at home.

When it was first announced that we will go into the state of emergency, food was gone from the supermarket shelves. Mainly, bread, instant noodles and fresh produce. 

Even when the stocks came back, there are still sections which were empty for weeks such as butter and cake flour. One reason is because kids were away from school and parents had been stocking up on these items for baking activities at home.

We did furasato nozei, and our items arrived during this time too.

This here is the Kobe beef for suiyaki. Sooo much fat in each piece and each piece is huge! Might not look like a lot here but this is totally enough for 2 person.

I also started buying groceries online. One reason was because it was hard to get groceries as fresh produce was missing for some time and queues were long when I am able to go on a weekend. So it was just easier to pay for a subscription to a company that will deliver groceries to you at a fixed time each week.

While the service wasn't very user friendly, as you are not allowed to pick which day of the week you want it to be delivered or the time. So it is tough when you are not home. Also you need to plan about 3 weeks in advanced as that was when you need to cancel your delivery. You get to pick your items a week before, but to stop or resume the service, you need to do it 3 weeks earlier. 

I was home for about 3 months, literally just at home as I didn't step out for anything. As work was also busy at that time, I didn't feel to bad to be staying in. Also, J was there to help when we needed to bring out the trash or buy things from outside. Looking back, I am still surprised that I was able to do what I did but at that time, I was really hoping that we could all stay home to bring down the numbers quickly. 

Day out to see sakura and Sky

Early in the morning before our meeting with Sky, we went to Shinjuku Gyoen to catch sakura.

It was my first time there to see sakura and it was really nice!

After that, we went to Kyobashi for mushroom ramen, which I haven't had in a long time!

Grabbed brunch with Sky there as she was stuck in Japan due to several flight cancellations after attending her brother's graduation.

A crazy pic in the middle of Ginza in a still pretty busy Ginza at that time.

Thanks Sky for helping us take this lovely pic.

After walking around for a bit, we head to Muji Cafe for more chit chat.

It was nice catching up with Sky and in Japan!

 

Sakadadokorohanatare (魚処はなたれ 横浜ランドマーク店)

We had been visiting  Yokohama 2 weeks in a row to inquire about Wedding Photography.

Never knew that they could be so expensive. It costs a few thousand ringgit (not yen) to just rent a dress. And of course, everything else is charged separately. 

It is also crazy that reservations are usually made 6-12 months or more in advanced. If you want to do an outdoor shoot at a garden for example, you need to make a reservation too and some places charge for it too.

Despite the high charges, the pictures will take at least 2 months to be ready and printed. Also, photos are in hard copy only, and we need to pay extra for soft copy version and even that is not inclusive of all the photos. Not sure if this level of speed is common but I am assuming that the charges are the same in other countries too.

One day, after inquiring, we grabbed lunch at Sakadadokorohanatare (魚処はなたれ 横浜ランドマーク店).

Food here was good and the portion is huge!

The other week, we grabbed brunch at the Hong Kong styled Cafe in Landmark City which serves wonton mee and egg tart.

At home, I was finally able to harvest the little baby leaves that I was growing. My first harvest....Lol

 

Day out with YH

Lunch at SCHMATZ Kyobashi (シュマッツ・ビア・ダイニング 京橋) with YH. I ordered the roast pork and sausage lunch plate, which costs 1,20 yen.

Website: https://www.schmatz.jp/locations/schmatz-kyobashi#menu

The pork was delicious, especially with the mashed potatoes.

The lunch set came with rice/ bread and tea/ coffee.

After shopping around a bit, we decided to grab tea at TANAGOKORO TEAROOM again. We fell in love with this place since the first time we visited here together.

This time I ordered an additional charcoal pound cake to pair with my tea. And as usual, the tea came with a bowl of tea snacks. I was delighted to find that it was a completely different assortment this time.

While the yuzu scone was delicious, my favourite is the spicy ginger jelly. I wish that they will sell their tea snacks.

Look at the beautiful flower left in the tea pot. I highly recommend this place if you want to go to a quiet place to enjoy tea and read a book. 

Tokyo Dòujiāng Life (東京豆漿生活)

It is 8 am in the morning and we are already out, for soymilk!

We arrived before 9am at Tokyo Dòujiāng Life (東京豆漿生活) and there is already a long queue outside.

Website: http://tokyomamehana.com/

We took a number and waited opposite the shop with all the other people who were waiting to enter. It was super cold that day and it was windy, which was why I was all covered up.

As it got too cold, we decided to warm up at a nearby cafe, if we could find one.

It was good that they had an electronic system, so we can actually walk off and come back.

I was super happy to be finally be in the queue right in front of the store, that we took a picture.

Inside the very packed store. Probably not a good move as it was March 2020 and COVID-19 cases were slowly increasing in Tokyo.

There was only 1 last fried fritter left and it was not even noon yet!

Here is the little menu board.

I ordered the hot black sesame soy milk while J got the normal soy milk.

We also ordered some extra baked pastries to go along with the soy milk.

They were all soo good. The baked pastries were flaky and fragrant. The fillings were also really good. We had one with meat in it and it was mind blowing. I wanted to pack some home, but I do not want to get back into the queue.

I will definitely want to revisit when things calm down a bit.

Kyotofu Fujino Restaurant at JR Kyoto Isetan (京豆富 不二乃（京とうふ藤野）JR京都伊勢丹店)

After checking out of the hotel, we head to Kyoto Station for our last lunch at Kyoto for this trip.

For lunch, we decided on Kyotofu Fujino Restaurant at JR Kyoto Isetan (京豆富 不二乃（京とうふ藤野）JR京都伊勢丹店), which was located on the top floor of the building, with a nice view of the city.

Website: https://www.kyotofu.co.jp/shoplist/isetan/isetan-menu

We could also spot our hotel from where we were seated.

We ordered a tofu lunch course (2,200 yen) which came with all you can eat tofu.

First up was soy milk.

Then we we were served a variety of appetisers which were all items made from tofu, e.g. different kinds of tofu and bean curd. While I am not a fan of tofu, it was nice to experience the different kinds of soy made food items in this meal.

The while bowl on the right is a bowl of freshly made tofu, which is refillable if required. The tofu itself is tasteless, except for the mild soy flavour. So you have to add togarashi and soy sauce to it. But it is warm and nice, somehow like a comfort food. As it is tofu, you cannot eat a lot of it because it fills you up quickly.

Dessert was also tofu based. The green tea one is so good. I really enjoyed the cheese flavour with the cookie base that has black sesame in it. The black sesame added a nice aroma to the cheesecake.

We had some time to kill before our train ride, so we looked around for a bit and found Malaysian dessert being sold at Seijo Ishi.

This here is "bubur chacha" which is a Malay dessert with pearled sago, sweet potatoes, yams, bananas and coconut milk.

 

This here is made into a pudding version, which you have to mix well before consuming.

Not sure how it will taste as I did not buy one.

 

麺匠 たか松 本店 (Noodle Takumi Takamatsu Main Store)

For our last dinner in Kyoto, we took a bus to near Karasuma station and then walked to 麺匠 たか松 本店 (Noodle Takumi Takamatsu Main Store). I noticed that this area of the town has a young crowd . I think on my next trip, I would like to revisit to explore this area more.

J ordered the miso ramen (780 yen) with the broiled duck meat bowl (390 yen).

Meanwhile, I had the tsukemen with the chicken and fish based soup broth (870 yen). I am usually not a fan of tsukemen because of the thick noodles, but the noodles here are thinner. Also, one thing I do not like is that soup gets cold quickly, due to the cold noodles. This place here has a microwave and you can request for your bowl of soup to be reheated half-way through the meal. :D

I also ordered extra toppings for 280 yen, which came with chicken, char siew, bamboo shoots, egg and leeks.

It was a filling and satisfying early dinner.

After that, we walked to LIBERTÉ PÂTISSERIE BOULANGERIE (リベルテ・パティスリー・ブーランジェリー 京都), with hopes to get dessert but many of the cakes were already sold out.

So I bought some macarons from Pâtisserie S Salon (パティスリーS サロン) instead.

After that, we took the bus back to Kyoto station and managed to catch the illumination, as it was starting to turn dark.