Caesar Salad
First of October, 2024
I got this at a local pub while on a date with my partner! I checked out the menu before we came and this grabbed my attention from the get-go... for the price, it was such a good portion size and incredibly filling! It definitely was worth every single bite.
I had it with a glass of apple cider, and my partner had porkbelly! He even let me try some, and it was really good. I'm not usually a huge fan of pork, but I would probably get a plate of this were I to come again. The desserts here also sounded very tasty, but we had no time and didn't really want anything sweet afterwards so we skipped out on it. Oh well, maybe another time! Like last time, we watched a movie together... except this time, it was that minecraft parkour civilisation one. Unfortunately, it's peak media, but you should probably read 1984 first. We've been sending each other memes about it ever since. Good times.
Protein waffles
Thirtieth of September, 2024
I used
this recipe to make myself some delicious protein waffles for breakfast one morning, since I have a ridiculously large sweet tooth and a
lot of vanilla protein powder sitting around. They turned out ridiculously well, but I did have an incident where the first one I made overflowed out of my waffle maker and spilled all over the counter, with the remaining batter sticking to the waffle maker itself... my partner had come over to visit, so he very kindly helped me clean it all up and laughed it off with me. The following ones turned out better, but a lot of the batter got wasted due to the incident, so I only ended up with two complete ones when I reasonably could've had around five or six from the batch I'd made. I want to make them again so bad, they were so good!!
Thanks to the first-try disaster, I got to share little bits of it with my family as they popped in and out while getting ready for work. It got the seal of approval from everyone, thankfully! With the two successful ones, I topped them with greek yoghurt and frozen berries, and shared them with my partner before we went to go watch some Vinland Saga for a while. A good day, if I do say so myself!
Lamb Rack
Twenty-Fifth of September, 2024
Another thing I had while on a date! I honestly wasn't super impressed with this one based on the size for what it cost... I'm lucky I managed to get it half-price due to a discount I had on hand, but otherwise, it wasn't worth what I would've paid at all... nevertheless, I did somewhat enjoy it due to the experience, and the fact I got to reminisce all about our time abroad with my partner!
Afterwards, the two of us walked back home and grabbed some snacks from the supermarket. We actually watched one of my favourite films, From Up on Poppy Hill! I haven't seen that one since I was a little girl... I just love the whole style of the film and the Latin Quarter restoration arc so much. It's making me wanna watch more Ghibli films, to be honest...
Breakfast Croissant
Twelfth of September, 2024
I had this breakfast croissant at a local cafe not too far from where my partner works. I find croissants a tad difficult to eat due to their flakiness, but the bacon and egg inside of it was very nice! He actually paid for my meal even though I was more than prepared to cover myself, and for that I'm eternally grateful. He had the salmon bagel and a cup of lemon tea, which got his seal of approval. If the weather is cold enough next time we go, I'll surely grab a cup of it myself!
Afterwards, the two of us went back to his work and I was allowed to hang out in the backroom for a while. We mostly just reminisced on our time in Japan and showed each other some more photos. Overall, it was a very successful day and it gave me a great deal of strength and energy to get through Karate! I'm looking forward to more lunch dates like this...
Caesar Salad
Twenty-fifth of July, 2024
Featuring my beloved
Hanamaruobake plushie, whom I bought at the Harajuku Sanrio store! I love that you can make him hold things with his little handsies hehe.
This was the first meal I had back in the country after being gone for a year. Given that this is in New Zealand, it was kinda spenny. But honestly? Worth every single cent I paid. I'm a sucker for a good Caesar Salad, and something about it hit after having to push around 60kg of lugguage between the domestic and international terminals at Auckland Airport. I haven't had a salad I enjoyed this much since my local salad bar closed down a couple years back.
While I was eating this, I actually called my friend to let him know I landed safely! I also tried the infamous sugar-free green V which he consistently recommended. Ever since then, I have unfortunately been addicted to them.
Onion Soup
Twenty-first of July, 2024
For someone who lived in Japan for a year, I sure as hell never went to Saizeria until my literal last week in the country. Actually criminal, given just how cheap and good it is— I genuinely regret not going sooner! During what was supposed to be my final hours in Aichi prefecture, I went to our local one with some friends after we saw just how packed Hamazushi was.
My friend Ruby, debatably the #1 Saizeria fan I know, highly recommended the Onion Soup they had on offer. Obviously, I had to try it! Myself and one of my friends both got it, and I gotta say... it lives up to the hype. It was so good, in fact, that I stopped to take a picture of my Kazuki nui (lovingly nicknamed chibizuki-chan and admired by many, if you must know) with it. Peak soup. Love me a good soup.
This was also the first time I tried プリン, funnily enough. I had already ordered a cake for dessert, but then I saw that they had it, and chucked it on the order form as well after my friend let me try some of his. Not my proudest moment, but whatever, it was more than worth trying! I didn't get a photo of it, though.
Shima Enaga Pan
Nineteenth of July, 2024
While I was in Tokyo for the SideM live, my friend found these at a small bakery in Sakae station. Me, being the Shima Enaga enjoyer I am, damn near flipped— I actually thought these were plushies at first, until he explained they were chocolate-flavoured bread buns decorated to look like little birds!
The day the two of us went to Sakae to pick up new suitcases, we stopped by this place and got one each! And unironically, these were delicious. Admittedly, I felt pretty bad for eating such a cute little birdie... it was a very enjoyable little treat, though! After this, we visited a local temple and continued on with our mission.
Overall, our day was pretty successful! Both my friend and I managed to pick out a nice pair which could get our stuff safely back to New Zealand. Though, this all happened on the same day as that major Cloudflare outage... We stopped for a drink somewhere and I couldn't use my card to pay, so he ultimately had to cover me for today with the stuff I needed. Luckily, my bank was back up and running within 24 hours, so I was able to pay him back no problem! He truly saved my behind there, though. Bless him.
Banana Granola & Matcha Frappe
Fourteenth of July, 2024
My go-to combo whenever I went to a Staba! I took the photo on the left in one of the locations in Tokyo's Marunouchi area the morning before the second day of SideM 9th live. I first got this combo at the Otsuka Atre location near Ikebukuro... to this day, I think that's my favourite location in the region due to the view of the Sakura tram! That, and Asakusa's Kaminarimon-mae location. Both were pretty good for sitting down in and listening to my audiobooks/admiring my surroundings.
At this point, I was carting all my bags around with me since I had checked out of my hotel. I couldn't find a coin locker inside the station, unfortunately! However, sitting down gave me a good chance to set up my new Kingblade penlight for the concert, and regain some energy after walking maybe three laps around Tokyo station. Don't worry, I managed to find a coin locker inside the gates for the Keio line, which is the line I was taking over to Makuhari!
Because of this stop, I ended up getting to Makuhari kind of late... mostly because I went to a shrine a few stops over to pray, as well as collect a goshuin and omamori for yet another prefecture I'd visited. It was ridiculously hot this day, too. I was once more praying for them to never do another concert in Summer again... until, during the concert, they announced that the final leg of 10th live would be held in Summer of next year in Yokohama. Here's hoping I have the money and mental fortutude to make it there and meet up with my Producer pals once again!
Ramen
Thirteenth of May, 2024
I went here with my friend during our trip to Kobe! The both of us were pretty hungry after travelling from Nara, so we stopped at a chain Ramen store in Sannomiya for lunch before we went to a few shrines. For the price (less than 1000 yen), this bowl was insanely large and honestly... pretty damn good. Not the best Ramen I've had in my life (my friend and I both preferred our local Umaya while we still lived in Nagoya), but a very solid and filling option!
After this, we climbed all the way up Kitano-cho to visit Kitano Tenman Shrine, one of my favourite places in the entire country. It... probably wasn't the brightest idea to eat such a huge bowl of Ramen right before making such a steep climb, but we managed to survive and witness the wonderful view all the way out to the ocean within a good amount of time! This was around the same time my friend started collecting goshuin as well, so he managed to get one from here and shouted me an omamori.
Almond & Cream Croissant
Fourth of April, 2024
From a bakery in Arakawa's
Yanaka Ginza! I went here when I stopped in Nippori for various touristy activities while waiting for the Butai I was going to watch. It was pretty good, actually, even if the French people I know would absolutely have a fit about seeing it because it's "not a real croissant"!
The weather in Tokyo that day was a little dreary and still a tad cold, but I had a pretty good time. I managed to do around thirty-thousand steps while travelling around and visiting a variety of shrines and temples, as well as nice shopping streets.
The butai I went to see, Vazzrock the Stage episode 4: Kimi to Boku no Neko Note, was very fun! I went to the dance live version of it, so I got to see some wonderful choreo. Afterwards, I stopped for some Tonkatsu and went to Shinjuku to wait for my bus. Some friends back in Nagoya were out for the night for drinks, which I unfortunately missed out on. Though, I spent a lot of time talking to someone who has since become one of my closest friends while in the Kabukicho Doutor. I was confronted with some revelations, and since then, I feel like I've grown as a person.
