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[akkerina]

Fancy Chocolate

Gerbs got me an early birthday present (two are missing because we each ate one).

He also put a pot of Lantana right outside my window.

Lovely.

[akkerina]

Kawagoe Sweets

Gerbs went to Kawagoe and brought home some sweets: sweet-potato flavored cream puff; red bean paste & mochi in thin wafer; and red bean paste sandwiched between pancakes. The cream puff was our favorite.

[akkerina]

Miso Ramen

At Hanagiryu Ramen. A bowl of ramen is 500 yen on the 22nd of each month. The broth was very thick and savoury. It would be really nice on a cold winter day.

[akkerina]

Strawberries!!!

From Gerbs' garden.

[akkerina]

Ristorante Al Faro

The pork was questionable, but the rest was good. Operated by a health insurance company. 2000 yen for a member, 3000 yen for non-member.

Now off to a theatre to see Dune!

[akkerina]

Flowers

45 min walk from our apartment. I did not eat these flowers.

[akkerina]

Hello Vietnam

Beef pho! Both broth and noodles were good. The ball thingy had lots of spices and was yummy. In Edogawa ward.

[akkerina]

Cheap White Wine

Tasted like cheap white wine. After we hiked to Mt. Ougi and Mt. Momokura in Yamanashi prefecture.

Earlier in the day, we had strawberry mochi.

And saw a strange bridge (one of the three strange bridges of Japan).

[akkerina]

Tulips at Netherlands Embassy

I was finally able to obtain tickets after two years of failed attempts. Here we go.

Lunch at a members-only bar, which is open to non-members during lunch.

The salad had too much onion... The pasta was good. The lunch set with coffee was 1800 yen. Given the location (near Roppongi), it's understandable, but we agreed that 1200 yen is the appropriate price.

Refer to Gerbs' post for cherry blossoms because the pictures I took were not great.

[akkerina]

Riesling

Rudolf Muller from Mosel Valley in Germany, 2022. It's been a while since we had riesling the last time. Not too sweet, but the crispness is compromised. Gerbs like it the first day. Had the cheap white wine taste the second day. I think we can find a better one.

[akkerina]

Danapani Curry

Went to Asaka Military Station that was open to the public for the day for a cherry blossom viewing (the cherry was not in bloom yet due to unusual cold weather).

Before going there, we had lunch at a Indian/Nepali restaurant, Nadapani. Nada means food, and Pani means water. I had tomato & eggplant curry and mutton curry. They were good. Beware: their little hot (2/5 on their spiciness scale) is plenty hot. We tried guava lassi, which had only a subtle guava flavor.

[akkerina]

Gunma Trip

We went to Gunma to see a big Kannon (some sort of god/goddess whose relation to Buddha is yet to be investigated).

Our first stop was a Japanese confectionery shop. We had strawberry mochi. The strawberry was very sweet and juicy.

Then headed to Daruma Temple (again, I'm not sure which religious faction they belong to or what their superpowers are).

We had packed lunch at the big Kannon, then went to see more Kannon in a cave. This one was actually cool. The project is run by just one dude, and he himself dug the cave along with others.

The dinner was pasta with soup. There was a long line when we got to the restaurant a little before 6pm. I think it was worth the wait. The pasta was so hot that I burned my mouth, and the portion was large. I enjoyed my shrimp spaghetti in tomato & cream sauce.

[akkerina]

Japanese Confectionery

Warabi mochi: soft mochi covered with sweet soy bean powder. Gerbs' souvenir. It was super soft.

Kogane imo: sweet-potato shaped white bean paste with egg york mixed in (you don't taste the egg). Seasoned with cinnamon. It was okay.

[akkerina]

Mikamoyama Trip

We went to Tochigi to see Katakuri blossom.

We started our day at a bakery famous for its Sakura ampan topped with pickled Sakura petals. Unfortunately, it was closed. Hmmmm, I was planning to get some bread for lunch.

Lunch was pasta at a cafe inside a park. It was surprisingly good. Spaghetti coated in herb and oil topped with veggies cooked in tomato sauce. Gerbs had lemon grass ice cream.

As we were leaving the park, we stopped at a souvenir shop, and found ampan!! It was wrapped in a Sakura leaf and smelled nice.

Then a new ginger museum happened, but I'm not sharing a photo with you. If you are interested, ask us in person.

Dinner at a deli. It was good.

[akkerina]

Cruise Seminar

We went to a cruise ship travel seminar to see if it's something we wanna do. The conclusion: it doesn't provide us enough time to explore at each port. It could be fun when we are in our 60s.

To make the most out of our day trip to Tokyo, we stopped at one of the three traditional taiyaki places: Wakaba in Yotsuya. The waffle was super thin and the red bean paste had just the right sweetness.

Lunch at Barababao, an Italian place. The pasta itself was good, but the sauce was questionable (I forgot to take a picture of the pasta). Our pasta was served 5 minutes apart, and as I was still working on my pasta, coffee and dessert were shoved into the table.

We went to Akihabara to look for a car toy for our nephew. And had beer and hamburger in Kanda. I had blueberry Weiss, which turned out to be a sour beer... The cabbage salad with cumin was good.

All in all, it was a good day.

[akkerina]

Makuhari Brewery

Stopped by at a brewery in Chiba after Nokogiriyama (refer to japanesepenguin's post).

Hoppy, which is good, but it kinda exaggerates the lack of depth. Okay beer and okay food.

[akkerina]

Kanagawa Beer Trip

You've gotta work to get beer. We hiked to Makuyama, whose trail stars at a park that is famous for plum blossom. I didn't take any pictures, so refer to Gerbs' post.

First stop: Odawara Garage Brewing.

We had Yuzu IPA and brown ale. The Yuzu IPA was drinkable, but was too bitter. The brown ale tasted like natto (fermented soybeans). The fact that this place has 4.6 stars on Google reviews makes me worry about the future of craft beer in Japan.

Second stop: Chigasaki Beer.

IPA, Weisen, and black beer tasted like what they are supposed to taste like. Given that they just opened last year, they may be playing it safe? Nothing outstanding, but this gives us hope.

Third stop: well, there was no third stop. I insisted on seeing the plum blossom and we ran out of time. We might do proper craft beer hopping some other time.