International Flavor

On Saturday night, I had Indian food after work. It was delish.

On Sunday, I made some Thai curry.

On Monday, we went to Yokohama's Chinatown for dim sum. Ordered a ton of things because it was set price all-you-can-eat. So much food. Perhaps unwisely, got bubble tea almost immediately after we left, and after finishing that, felt crazy full. We decided to walk it off and head over to the Minato Mirai area. Notice the blue sky in the picture of the ship. Notice the scary sky in the picture with the buildings and ferris wheel. About five seconds after taking those pictures, it started sprinkling a little. Less than ten minutes later and we'd been forced to purchase umbrellas and were caught in this crazy huge downpour. Got totally drenched. Hung out at Starbucks for a long while and dried off a little, then went shopping (I got a super on sale sweater at Gap - ¥1900 down from ¥8800). When we came out of the mall, there was a rainbow. It was lovely!

Saw a couple great things while shopping. Popples and Angelina Ballerina bento boxes! They were not cheap, but I'm kind of sad I didn't buy them now. I should be able to find them again easily enough, but still. Popples! Angelina Ballerina! My '80s childhood is all over the place here; there is way too much nostalgia everywhere just begging me to buy it. Popples merchandise is pretty common, but it was my first time seeing Angelina Ballerina. It made me happy.

After Yokohama, we headed back Tokyo-way and went to Naka-Meguro for Mexican food. Got cheese enchiladas, which were better than I expected. However, the rice and beans that came with them left a lot to be desired. They had, like, literally no flavor. I tried mixing a bunch of salsa into them, but it was like their lack of flavor sucked all the flavor out of that too because it did not help at all. My mojito was A+ though.

よさこい 光が丘

There was a festival this weekend in Hikarigaoka! I went for a while today and enjoyed it. There were a lot of different dance groups and food vendors. I had matcha ice cream, bubble tea and duk (Korean mochi; not sure what the dish I had was really called, but it had kimchi and was pleasantly spicy). It was all delish.

Took a break in the middle (we got hot) and went shopping down the street from the park. Got a yukata (next time I go to a festival, I can be more appropriately dressed...if I can figure out how to wear it right), popsicle molds, and shorts with some truly awesome words on them. As follows:

Healthy Wonderful Life
It assists in comfortable life...
Shines vividly finitely
energetic and youthful
It seems to be me and it enjoys doing sports
since 1975

Awesome. And they were super on sale (¥792)!

Returned to the festival for food (duk time) and watched the dancing until we got too tired.

It was nice!

Enjoy the pictures of Japanese-style snack food (above) and assorted food vendors, crowds and dancers (below). And enjoy the video of one of the dance groups! Unfortunately some dudes were in front of me, so you have to see some big heads a few times, but it's mostly okay!






There. Three posts in one night. Does that make up a little for not updating for a month?

Takao-san, Take Two

Oops, no updating in a while (except for that little one I just did). I didn't realize it had been quite so long - sorry! I've been busy! But at the same time, not busy with anything really interesting enough to post about. Or it's, like, work-related, so I don't want to. I will make more of an effort in future, even if I haven't done anything interesting.

Anyway, yesterday I hiked Takao-san again. Different trail than before which was much less steep than the one we took last time (we came down that one though) and also had more nature. It was lovely. Made it to the top this time, huzzah! It was gross and hot and humid for a while, but once we got higher, it cooled off a lot and was way less humid. And it was, like, really nice to breathe fresh air. First time I've felt comfortable outside since, like, May. GLORIOUS.

Got hot again on the way down though and felt super gross by the time I got home. Felt much better after a coolish shower.

First picture is of the view from the top. The next four are random nature, a flower, that weird geta thing again (more shoes than last time!), and some tiny crabs (for eating!).




On our way home, we got off at Takahatafudo and went to the temple there. Please enjoy pictures of a statue of some random dude, some people doing karate and a Buddhist graveyard.

It occurs to me that I have posted a lot of pictures of places I've gone. Lots of nature and shrines and temples! And, like, it's not that they don't give you an accurate picture of Japan - they're certainly a very important part of the culture here - but they maybe don't give an accurate picture of my life in Tokyo (I mean, although I might like to go to temples and shrines and mountains every day, mostly I go to, like, malls and restaurants and the grocery store). I will endeavor to take pictures of things I see more often (and my apartment, I know, I know - I need to clean).

One more post coming tonight!

5 Things I Love This Week

1. Matcha doughnuts from Mister Donut. I love Mister Donut anyway (I know, I'm so not into doughnuts at home, but they're DELISH here), but the matcha flavor just takes it to another level.
2. Unagi. Well, I love unagi all the time, but it's the season for it or something because all of a sudden there are unagi dishes everywhere. NOM NOM NOM.
3. Nagase Tomoya. Okay, I love him all the time too because he is super hot, but he has a new drama that I was watching a couple nights ago, and it was cracktastic and entertaining. And, you know, he was super hot.
4. Air conditioning. Oh, AC, I would be nothing without you.
5. Pringles XTREME! Balsamic Vinegar Taste! I picked them up because they looked weird, but not so weird that I wouldn't be willing to try them. They're really good! Balsamic vinegary!