Afternoon Tea in London (Four Seasons)

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This is an afternoon tea that I did last summer when I was in London. Still haven’t gotten around to posting anything from the my London Trip (last June!).

I would absolutely love to live London! It’s the mecca of high tea! It was a major dilemma to decide which two afternoon tea venues I would do there. So many to choose from! As part of my Four Seasons Afternoon Tea project, I had to go to the Four Seasons hotel in London. A perfect venue for a mini reunion! I was in London to meet my best friend and her fiance, plus catch up with Bex and Jess (whom I knew my days living in Fukushima back when I was a JET). It was pretty awesome that we were all going to be there in the one city at the same time.

The Four Seasons Hotels always have impeccable taste in decor and matching tableware etc.

From 4 Seasons London – afternoon tea

Champagne all round to start of the festivities:

From 4 Seasons London – afternoon tea

I should probably add, that I only had about 2 days in London and I crammed two afternoon teas in one day! So actually, before attending this afternoon tea, I had come straight from another one beforehand. Ugh, what a glutton.

Lovely tableware – plates, cup saucers, timer sets (for optimal tea brewing).

From 4 Seasons London – afternoon tea

There were two afternoon tea options here. Decisions, decisions. They had the traditional classic “English afternoon tea” as well as a “Gourmet Italian dolce vite afternoon tea”. Talk about torn.

I am a massive fan of Italian food, so the Italian set it was. Between the six of us, I think we ended up 3 Italian sets and 3 English sets, that way we could try both and share.

From 4 Seasons London – afternoon tea
From 4 Seasons London – afternoon tea
From 4 Seasons London – afternoon tea

Yay. Reunion time:

From 4 Seasons London – afternoon tea

The Italian-themed afternoon tea set did not disappoint. The savoury morsels were to die for. Way better than cucumber sandwiches.

From 4 Seasons London – afternoon tea

The desserts on the Italian set were also the better option. The two side by side (Italian desserts on the left, English desserts on the right):

From 4 Seasons London – afternoon tea

English desserts:

From 4 Seasons London – afternoon tea

Italian treats:

From 4 Seasons London – afternoon tea

Yum:

From 4 Seasons London – afternoon tea

Only the English afternoon set came with scones though.

From 4 Seasons London – afternoon tea

I thought the food in the Italian afternoon tea set was amazing. Would definitely opt for that again.

Plenty of pots of tea:

From 4 Seasons London – afternoon tea

Service here was also great. They each gave us a little souvenir of some chocolate tea leaves which I took all the way back to Japan with me. They also gave us a Four Seasons pen. The afternoon tea here is a solid choice venue.

Friends and tea – nothing could be better:

From 4 Seasons London – afternoon tea

Shiga Kogen: Snow and Beer

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So it’s been a while since my last post here.
I’ve been busy and sick. When I haven’t been busy, I’ve been sick. One of the things I hate about living in Tokyo is hayfever. The pollen levels in this city is ridiculous. Never got hayfever ever, until I started living in Tokyo. It totally whips my arse. I started some different hayfever medication which my body didn’t like and ended up with diarrhea and just general not feeling well, on top of the itchy eyes, sneezing, running nose etc, and feeling so damn tired.

I recovered in about week, which was perfect timing because I had snowboarding plans. Spent the weekend at Shiga Kogen. Unfortunately, the snow conditions weren’t so great, especially being so late in the season. I’m such a powder snob! I’ve been spoilt by living in Niseko.

There wasn’t a lot of snow, and what there was, was icy and hard. We did find some patches of slushier artificial snow though. I only did a half day of snowboarding. Still had hayfever in the snow!

Shiga Kogen is a massive ski resort made up of a few mountains that are spread apart. You need to take the free shuttle to get around.

A bus full of snowboarders:

From Shiga Kogen

Shiga Kogen is up high. You’re at quite an elevation. Scenic views too.

From Shiga Kogen
From Shiga Kogen

Where’s all the snow?

From Shiga Kogen
From Shiga Kogen
From Shiga Kogen
From Shiga Kogen
From Shiga Kogen

I like this photo I took of the chairlift silhouette:

From Shiga Kogen
From Shiga Kogen
From Shiga Kogen
From Shiga Kogen

Lake:

From Shiga Kogen

And the day was topped off by a craft beer fest.
Here’s the local drop:

From Shiga Kogen

Got another snowboarding weekend planned for this weekend too. Although I dubious about the snow. Off to Nozawa Onsen, so at least the onsens will be enjoyable.

Bloomin’ Tulips

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Move over cherryblossoms, bring on the tulips.
I think tulips would have to be my favourite flowers. Yep, way better than roses any day.

Went for a gourmet spring picnic with some friends over the weekend, back to Showa Kinen Park for the tulip festival. It’s such a great park. You might recall I went there last autumn to see the autumn gingko leaves. Was nice to go this time around in the spring. It’s supposed to really nice when all the cherryblossoms are in full bloom too, but this year the cherryblossom season happened really early and they were all over by the end of March. Instead, all the tulips were out. So colourful, so pretty, so many people. That’s Japan for you.

Gave the old camera a bit of a workout.

This is how your picnic, gourmet-style:

From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic

Ahh, spring love:

From Showa Kinen picnic

Oh, this park bench must be mine:

From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic

A spectacular tulip garden spread:

From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic

Don’t you just want to bury yourself in a bed of tulips.

From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic

Aah so many tulips.

IVIV: Afternoon Tea at 165 – KL

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A few months back I was in KL for a couple of days, and of course, I managed to squeeze in an afternoon tea or two. My high tea project needs its own passport, me thinks.
I spent months trying to narrow down the 2-3 venues I would partake in tea at. Kuala Lumpur has a bountiful selection of venues where you can do afternoon tea. Malaysia is a food mecca after all.

The best afternoon tea I did in Kuala Lumpur was at the InterContinental Hotel – at their lobby lounge called IVIV (in Roman numerals) or 165 (numeric).

From Afternoon tea at 165, KL

Why 165, you ask? It’s the number of the hotel’s address.

From Afternoon tea at 165, KL
From Afternoon tea at 165, KL
From Afternoon tea at 165, KL
From Afternoon tea at 165, KL

I pretty much had the lobby lounge to myself, being the lady of leisure that I am, I settled in for the afternoon at a table for one.

Two afternoon teas on affair – which one to choose?

The Malaysian version:

From Afternoon tea at 165, KL

or go traditional:

From Afternoon tea at 165, KL

Traditional it was. They had me at lemon meringue pie!

The presentation of the afternoon tea is awesome. I like new and interesting ways of presenting afternoon tea.
I was particularly taken with these stands.

From Afternoon tea at 165, KL

Little shelves of yummy treats:

From Afternoon tea at 165, KL
From Afternoon tea at 165, KL
From Afternoon tea at 165, KL
From Afternoon tea at 165, KL
From Afternoon tea at 165, KL
From Afternoon tea at 165, KL

All the components here were really tasty. Every. Single. One.

From Afternoon tea at 165, KL
From Afternoon tea at 165, KL
From Afternoon tea at 165, KL
From Afternoon tea at 165, KL
From Afternoon tea at 165, KL

And the lemon meringue pie was what I was hanging out for. Not as great as I thought it was going to be, but I’ll take what I can get.

From Afternoon tea at 165, KL

A little too meringue heavy for my liking:

From Afternoon tea at 165, KL

Scones with strawberry jam and cream – at last.

From Afternoon tea at 165, KL
From Afternoon tea at 165, KL

And a pot of tea to top it all off.

From Afternoon tea at 165, KL

Bookshelf Cafe

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Found a great little book cafe today, aptly named “Bookshelf Cafe”. I trekked (ie trained) across to the other side of town for a swim. Need to get back into the swimming training with summer and ows season approaching. Have found a nice pool to train in, but it’s a little bit further than I’d like. I wanted to find cafes in the area for a post-swim lunch, and came up with the Bookshelf Cafe.

It’s a great little place. On the one hand, I want them to get a lot of publicity, but on the other hand, I want to keep it a secret.

It’s a cafe that encourages two of my favourite things: books (reading) and eating.

From Bookshelf Cafe

And it’s a new-style book cafe in that it’s totally with the times and supports the digital age of reading – they encourage iPads (so much so, that iPads are free for customers to use).

When I arrived, I had the whole cafe to myself. It was totally deserted.

From Bookshelf Cafe
From Bookshelf Cafe
From Bookshelf Cafe

The cafe is awesome for the following reasons:
– it’s quiet and cozy
– they have free iPads you can use!!!! There are 12 iPads available to customers and they’re FREE!
– they let you use laptops, iPads etc and are happy for you to plug in your device. There are dedicated tables that come with power plug outlets (like the study tables you find in libraries) so you can type away on your i-gadget for as long as you like
– free wifi!!!

It’s one of those cafes where you can read, study or write/type your next upcoming novel and you can while away as much time as you like without that feeling that you’re taking up space. And to top if off, they even had the Amelie soundtrack playing in the background (Amelie being one of my favourite movies).

They have a food menu (meals and desserts etc) too and serve coffees, teas and even alcohol (including Hitach no nest – a craft beer). Perfect reading or study cafe in Tokyo. Kicks arse over Starbucks anyday. Very chilled laidback cafe. I will admit, the food was not the most gourmet (I had the taco rice) I’ve ever had, but I think it’s perfectly fine if you go for a coffee and cake. And not so expensive either. For less than 1,100yen I had a cafe latte and a lunch meal. (Free wifi and iPad usage available too).

From Bookshelf Cafe

It was a shame that it was so deserted. Another 3 customers came in whilst I was there though.

Cute clock (the cat’s tail swings as the seconds hand):

From Bookshelf Cafe

What a gem of a place! Now don’t tell anyone.

Bookshelf Cafe website.
Hamacho
Closed Sundays

Tokyo Marathon 2013

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I attended the Tokyo Marathon yet again as a spectator. I missed out on the lottery to actually run it. I swear, I am not going to leave Japan until I get to run/walk/crawl the Tokyo Marathon, goddamn it! Instead, it’s now tradition to go out and watch it, mostly to check out all the crazy costumes that people wear.

This time we staked out a spot at Asakusabashi and walked alongside the route all the way to Ginza (about 5km).

The goal this year was to just take photos of all the interesting costumes, because you know, running a marathon in 5 degrees celcius is not hard enough!

I present the fancy dress parade that is the Tokyo Marathon:

Super Mario:

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

Salaryman (man in suit):

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

Short Panda:

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

Tall Panda:

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

Someone from The Flintstones??:

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

Don’t know what this dude is meant to be:

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

Where’s Wally! (Super cool. And he wasn’t the only Wally. I saw a few people dressed as Wally). I am impressed they wore jeans as well! Must be some serious chafing.

From Tokyo Marathon 2013
From Tokyo Marathon 2013

Eggplant:

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

Tiger suit (and a spectator giving out chocolates. I happened to be standing next to the woman, so lots of runners were swooping in):

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

Another costume:

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

Beer head:

From Tokyo Marathon 2013
From Tokyo Marathon 2013

A banana:

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

Santa Claus:

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

And the perennial favourite: Jesus Christ!
Even more hardcore than ever. This year he was half naked!

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

Carrying a cross:

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

And he was BARE FOOTED! For the whole marathon. And carrying a cross. And wearing nothing but a nappy (in 5 degrees celcius!)

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

Jesus, on the way back:

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

Jesus has run in the marathon for the last few years. I’m not sure if it’s the same dude.
Here is Jesus back in 2011. A lot less hardcore back then. Fully clothed and had shoes.

From Tokyo Marathon 2011

This Gladiator dude gave JC a run for his money in the costume department:

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

That can’t be comfortable:

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

Saw Gladiator again about 6km later. Bet he’s regretting the costume now.

From Tokyo Marathon 2013
From Tokyo Marathon 2013

I mean, wearing a costume is one thing, but having a prop is another – a cross, a shield etc.

A toy dog on a leash, say what?!

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

A handbag:

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

More costumes:

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

For the love of god, how you can run 42km in a frog costume:

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

A deflated Michael Jackson. That ain’t no moonwalk!

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

Love the couple/pair costumes! Ketchup and mustard!

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

A freaky clown:

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

A different Where’s Wally dude. Again, in jeans! It made me wonder if a whole group of Where’s Wally all started together at the start line, but then all went off at their own pace once the race started.

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

I saw one Japanese dude who had a sign on him that said “konkatsu-chuu”. It means looking for a girlfriend/wife! Can’t remember if the sign had his number on it or not. But a great way to tell the world you’re single AND available!

Saw sooo many more costumes! But hard to capture them all. I’ve decided that if I have the pleasure (or pain) of getting in, I am totally going to wear a costume. And boy, do I have a doozy of a costume planned!!!

Some more pics of Tokyo Marathon 2013:

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

Spectators line the streets:

From Tokyo Marathon 2013
From Tokyo Marathon 2013

Runners in action:

From Tokyo Marathon 2013
From Tokyo Marathon 2013
From Tokyo Marathon 2013
From Tokyo Marathon 2013
From Tokyo Marathon 2013
From Tokyo Marathon 2013

Drink station:

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

Towards Sky Tree:

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

Running back into Ginza:

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

The sweeper bus:

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

Pounding the pavement:

From Tokyo Marathon 2013

Congrats to everyone who finished, especially those who wore costumes! You provide great entertainment and inspiration to us spectators.

Sydney Pool Crawl: ABC Pool

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After walking across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, I then walked around Circular Quay and past the Opera House and through the outskirts of the Royal Botanical Gardens.

From Sydney Botanical Gardens
From Sydney Botanical Gardens
From Sydney Botanical Gardens
From Sydney Botanical Gardens
From Sydney Botanical Gardens
From Sydney Botanical Gardens
From Sydney Botanical Gardens

Aussies in their natural habitat, bumming around:

From Sydney Botanical Gardens
From Sydney Botanical Gardens
From Sydney Botanical Gardens

Mrs Macquarie’s Chair:

From Sydney Botanical Gardens

Wolloomoolloo (did I spell that right?):

From Sydney Botanical Gardens
From Sydney Botanical Gardens

Destination: Pool number 2 – the Andrew “Boy” Charlton Pool.

From Sydney Botanical Gardens
From ABC pool

Another glorious outdoor 50m pool (part chlorinated/part salt water), mostly dedicated to lap swimmers, too!

From ABC pool
From ABC pool
From ABC pool
From ABC pool
From ABC pool
From ABC pool

That was a solid workout of a day.
1km swim, 5km walk, another 1km swim and more walking. I had another pool on my pool crawl, but alas, I a had plans that afternoon so had to end the day short. Only 2 pools, so not much of a pool crawl. Will need do the other two pools when I’m next in Sydney (September — probably not the best swimming weather though – it will be winter in the Southern Hemisphere).

A Sydney pool crawl is definitely a cool way to see the main sights of Sydney and get in a bit of fitness. Learn from my mistakes – don’t spend the day walking around in thongs (flip flops). Joggers are a better option. As are shorts (and not a summer dress). And rinse off all the salt after each swim to avoid chafing.

Last Saturday. This Saturday.

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Last Saturday – Book Club.
I love reading, but don’t read as often as I’d like. I am attempting to read more this year. My friends and I have started up our book club – an excuse to meet up once a month over wine and do a book swap and talk about, you guessed it, books!

Here is what I gained for the month of February:

From Saturday random

This Saturday (ie today) – an attempt an apartment-hunting. I went to check out the part of town where I want to move to. I’ve got it in my head that I’ve already picked out the area. Thing is, I’ve never actually been there. I thought I should go check out the area today. Didn’t actually see any apartments per se, because I didn’t make an appointment to see a real estate agent, but wanted to suss out the area anyway. Walked the pants off Tokyo.
Took the train back in towards home…thought I would get off a few stations earlier and walk some more. Was just randomly walking around parts of Tokyo that I’m not too familiar with. Lo and behind, came across this gem of a humble abode – complete with suspicious dude out the front.

From Saturday random
From Saturday random

He was just standing there. Perhaps a security detail? Even though I was clearly taking photos, he still didn’t budge out of the way. Random house. Fancy living there!

Shirako* (one Michelin star)

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Racked up another Michelin star to my eats tally. This time a one Michelin star in the Shonan area. In the onsen town of Yugawara, a short walk from the station, in a non-descript building, you’ll find Shirako. The menu doesn’t have a lot of variety. I think there’s only about 6 dishes that you can choose from, at lunch time anyway. But what they do do, is good. Come here for the food. Not for the service though. And there is only thing you need to order – the kinmedai fish dish. Absolutely delish. We tried to order 4 of them (one each), but alas they only serve a limited amount a day, so we could only order 2 and we’d share it, and ordered another dish to share. We got the sashimi platter. It was pretty good but not the best sushi I’ve ever had, but a good assortment of sashimi though.

From Shirako michelin
From Shirako michelin
From Shirako michelin

Was not a fan of the side dishes:

From Shirako michelin

And the lunch sets also come with rice and soup.

The kinmedai fish (金目の姿煮定食) is where it’s at. It takes 40minutes to prepare. But so worth it. They bake it in this amazing marinade stew and it’s so amazingly meaty. I would come back here just for this dish. Was totally bummed that we had to share the fish between two. I so wanted a whole one to myself!

From Shirako michelin
From Shirako michelin
From Shirako michelin
From Shirako michelin

A job well done!

From Shirako michelin
From Shirako michelin

Very, very reasonable prices too. 3500yen for a one-star Michelin meal.

You wouldn’t think it would be Michelin starred.

From Shirako michelin

Website here. (Open for lunch and dinner)

February Long Weekend: Yugawara Onsen

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Every weekend should be a long weekend. Makes the working week so much more bearable.
Last weekend was one such long weekend and a friend’s birthday so it was a perfect excuse for an onsen weekend with friends at Yugawara onsen (only 1.5 hours away from Tokyo).

This is how you ride the train in style – with champagne in hand:

From Yugawara onsen
From Yugawara onsen

We stayed at a really nice ryokan. I thought these silhouettes were cool.

From Yugawara onsen
From Yugawara onsen

Some gourmet food:

Sashimi and edible flowers:

From Yugawara onsen

Appetisers – had romanesca for the first time. Romanesca is basically the lovechild of broccoli and cauliflower.

From Yugawara onsen
From Yugawara onsen
From Yugawara onsen
From Yugawara onsen
From Yugawara onsen
From Yugawara onsen

Yugawara onsen:

From Yugawara onsen

It was a leisurely weekend of food, champagne and onsens. And we spent two nights there, which was rather indulgent of us. I have to make the most of long weekends this year (have very little annual leave up my sleeve).

Giant amao strawberries:

From Yugawara onsen
From Yugawara onsen
From Yugawara onsen