Swimmer’s block

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I hadn’t swum in over week, which is a little bit of a record for me, because I always swim at least, at a minimum – once a week. Today, after doing a 2km swim this morning, I remembered why I had taken a break from swimming….shoulder pain.

In just a few weeks, I will be swimming around Turkey – a 30-35km swim over 6 days. On average swimming 5-6km a day. I should be training more, me thinks. But with all the swimming I had been doing over the summer, my upper shoulders and upper back/neck are getting sore. Subconsciously I had stopped swimming for about 10 days to give my shoulders a break. I’ve also taken up jogging as well, which meant that I had swapped the pool for the treadmill. I am actually getting into the jogging a bit now … even bought myself new jogging shoes! I’m in need of swimming motivation considering I had slacked off a bit. I’m also getting worried about the swimtrek. I feel underprepared to swim that much, day in, day out. The thought of sore shoulders and back is a little unnerving. Swimming laps in a pool also gets a little boring.

Last night I came across an awesome blog of a gal who a few months back did a swimtrek. Hers wasn’t so much a holiday as it was a swim bootcamp. She had signed up for the Gozo (Malta swimtrek) – this swimtrek is a swim camp used mainly by those who want to swim the English Channel. It’s a full-on long distance ows swim camp, working up to a 6-hour swim. (My limit is 2-hours). It’s a really interesting read of the training and mental endurance of open water swimming training in cold water (15 degrees). I highly recommend reading her three entries on her swimtrek. Start reading from here. And work your way to post 3 of her Malta swimtrek. Her last post is the most inspiring and motivating. Her blog gets brownie points because she makes reference to Haruki Murakami. It was a re-quote from someone else, but I’m pretty sure that Murakami said that in this book, “What I talk about when I talk about running”. (Murakami is a prolific marathoner). One of the quotes that always stuck out in that book for me was: “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional”. (I think it was also a re-quote from someone else as well). But after reading that book – that quote always stuck in my mind. I think I should re-read that book. Good motivation for mental endurance and perserverance, especially since I’m also hoping to get accepted into the Tokyo Marathon. It was a good insight into what I can expect…although not as full on as that. It will be a similar routine. Up early, breakfast and then hitting the water everyday, swim for a couple of hours, lunch, swim a few more km’s, dinner, a couple of sessions on technique and swim analysis, and then sleep. Thankfully, it’s also a holiday, and not a race, and not a swim bootcamp, so hopefully it will be a little more leisurely.

After reading that last night, I thought it was time for me to HTFU. So even though I desperately wanted to sleep in longer this morning, I changed into my cossies, got onto the train, jumped into the pool and swam 2km. The first 1km was easy enough. Felt good to be back in the water especially having not swum for a while. Between 1-1.5km my shoulders started to get sore. My lower neck, upper back and shoulders are getting really tight and sore though. It doesn’t help that I sit in front of a computer all day at work either. I think I’m gonna need some deep tissue massaging. In my last ows race (the 4.5km one) I remember my arms being incredibly sore, especially around the 3km mark. To the point where I could barely get the, out of the water and they were just pretty much skimming the top of the water, floundering. Should I be pumping iron? Do I have weak arms? I think sore shoulders and arms is normal? The recommended swimming training program provided by Swimtrek seems pretty relaxed to me. Maybe, I am swimming too much. When you also eat as much as I do, there’s no such thing as “swimming too much”. I went back over the swimming training program – which spans 3 months in the lead up to the actual swim.

I leave in 3 weeks, and I feel as though I haven’t done enough training, despite being on track with the program. I barely swim 5km a week, let alone 5km a day for a whole week! They recommend a certain distance per week = target km. I have then recorded my actual distance swum for that week.

Month 1/July

Week 1: Target: 1km Actual: 10km (includes 3km OWS race, plus additional training km’s)

Week 2: Target: 1.5km Actual: 10.6 km (This was the week I competed in the 4.5km ows race, plus additional training km’s)

Week 3: Target: 2km Actual: 1.5km (this was my recovery week after two back to back weekends of ows races)

Week 4: Target: 2km Actual: 1km

Week 5: No target. Actual: 1.7km

Month 2/August

Week 1: Target: 2.5km Actual: 4.1km

Week 2: Target: 3km Actual: 5km

Week 3: Target: 3.5km Actual: 3km (did more cross training instead of swimming – 3 jogging sessions)

Week 4: Target: 4km Actual: 3.5km (lazy week. No jogging either)

Month 1/September

Week 1: Target: 4km Actual: 1km swim (but 3 jogging sessions)

Week 2: in progress Target: 5km Actual (so far): 2km ….but the week ain’t over yet.

Here’s what I need to cover over the next 2-3 weeks…

Week 3: Target: 5km

Week 4: Target: 3km Moral of the story. No pain. No gain. And must find good masseur.  I also need to fit in another open water swim session (instead of laps in a chlorine box), so I signed up for another race (my last one for the summer) which is in a week and a half away, and I’ve not done much training for it. It’s a 3.84km open water swim race. If you’re thinking 3.84km is a weird distance, it’s because I will be swimming the length of a bay somewhere in Chiba prefecture, and apparently that’s how long the bay is.

Conrad Tokyo Afternoon Tea: French fizz and mini morsels

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If you want to attract ladies to an event, I have two words that will do the trick: “Unlimited champagne”. Well, make that three words: “Unlimited sparkling wine” – coz let’s face it, it did not come specifically from the Champagne region. The folks at the Conrad Hotel, Tokyo, know how to get bums on seats at their Twenty-Eight Bar and Lounge. If the 2 x Michelin star Gordan Ramsay restaurants at the Conrad Hotel (part of the Hilton chain) aren’t enough to attract people, then their Afternoon Tea set with 2 hours of unlimited french fizz/champers/”I can’t believe it’s not champagne”/sparkling wine, certainly will. I had no trouble recruiting fellow tea lovers for September’s Champagne Afternoon tea – 8 people in attendance!

So Sunday afternoon was spent at the Conrad Hotel at their Bar and Lounge – called “Twenty Eight”. And guess what level it’s on? If you guessed level 28, you’d be right! I had originally wanted to do this venue back in August on the weekend that I went to Bvlgari, but they were booked out, hence I arranged to go to Bvlgari instead. So I booked a month in advance for this one. The Afternoon Tea is called “American Classic” and the food was amazing! So darn cute. Everything was mini. And nothing is cooler than miniature food…except for giant oversized food. And to top it off, for a limited time there is a champagne offer which half of us took up on – 2 hours of unlimited Chandon to accompany the afternoon tea. Yes, please! I’m going to launch straight into the food. Another venue that does a modern take on afternoon tea – they’ve done away with the three-tiered platters here. Instead, mini food is presented on a flat glass platter. And the mini food was soooo cute. We oohed and aahed over it. You’d have thought it was a baby shower. No one ate for a good 15 minutes as we happily admired the food and snapped away. Each platter held two servings. I’ve heard of super size me…but this was super shrink me.

From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo

How cute and awesome is mini food. There’s not enough mini food in this world, I say. Proof that good things come in small packages.

From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo

Savouries, sweets and scones all on the one tray, so beautifully presented. Talk about so much fun with food.

From Conrad Tokyo

I’m rather obsessed with this mini food.

From Conrad Tokyo

Food for little people = fun.

From Conrad Tokyo

Can. Not. Get. Enough. Photos. Of. This.

From Conrad Tokyo

We were in for a fun afternoon. Mini morsels of delectable food, washed down with unlimited glasses of Champers!

From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo

The way to a woman’s heart (or at least mine) is champagne and cute mini food (or giant food). And the food not only looked good but was pretty darn delicious too! It was so hard to pick and choose what to eat first and save for last. My ritual is to eat the savouries first – of which there were three on this occasion. This was the walnut bread with Iberico ham scented with truffles. OMG. So tasty. Love nuts. Love bread. Does that make me carb crazy. And Iberico ham is a really famous, amazing, tasty ham. And it did not disappoint. Sooo good. This was definitely one of my favourites.

From Conrad Tokyo

I think the highlight of the day was the mini burger (slider for you American readers). Mini burgers are so the food of du jour. We were all rather besotted with this burger. It was a perfect miniature burger. God bless burgerlings.

From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo

I couldn’t resist doing a cheesy burger pose! (Clearly, I have no shame.) What can I say, I’m lovin’ it. This is one very happy meal.

From Conrad Tokyo

And inside was juicy. Mini sliders have a tendency to be on the drier side but this surprisingly juicy and not dry. It also had a tasty harisa aioli for extra flavour. The burger was another winner.

From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo

Yum. Yum. It was interesting to see what everyone was saving for last. Someone was clearly saving the mini burger for the end. The last burger standing:

From Conrad Tokyo

Next I had the brie cheese on cranberry bread sandwich. I thought that I would love this, but I didn’t.

From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo

I then moved onto the sweets next. There were a lot of desserts in this afternoon tea, and normally it’s my least-favourite tier. But everything on this plate was awesome and I loved the desserts portion of this particular afternoon tea. Desserts were their forte here. And I appreciate that it took skills to make everything in miniature. There was a lime marshmallow which was very limey – nice and tart, yet sweet and marshmallowy too.

From Conrad Tokyo

This was followed by more miniature food – a tiny devil’s chocolate fudge cake.

From Conrad Tokyo

And then a miniature cupcake. This was really yummy. A pistachio and cherry cupcake. Cupcakes are pretty small to begin with but this about a quarter of a size of a full cupcake.

From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo

It was sad to see the platters dwindle down as the mini morsels were slowly picked off and devoured.

From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo

Getting smaller…

From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo

So next I tried the New York cheesecake. Personally, I’m not a huge cheesecake fan in general. The only cheesecake I really love is my mum’s cheesecake which she always makes for birthdays and special occasions. It’s a favourite at family and relo gatherings. Anyway, this was the cheesecake – still good nevertheless.

From Conrad Tokyo

Now normally I always…always save the scones for last. I never deviate from this ritual. But I did on this occasion. There were two scones – a plain one and a mango and coconut scone. It was a face-off between the lemon meringue pie or the scones. The lemon meringue pie won! Yes, lemon meringue pie was on offer. Awesome. Especially since just a couple of weekends ago I had been in pursuit of lemon meringue pie. And the only thing better than lemon meringue pie is MINI lemon meringue pie!

From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo

So I broke with tradition and ate the scones next. I just can’t get decent scones in Japan. They are dry, hard, American ‘biscuits’. I preferred the plain one over the mango and coconut one.

From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo

And then down to the last lemon pie standing:

From Conrad Tokyo

I had saved it for last. And it was pretty divine, and so cute to look at!

From Conrad Tokyo

Check out the detail to the mini meringue peaks.

From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo

It was yummy. It was actually way better than the other lemon pie that I had bought. There was such a tiny layer of the lemon curd, but it was so incredibly tarty and awesome. The only downside was the pastry on this pie. It was too flakey. It had been made with puff pastry rather than being a shortcrust pie pastry. Still bliss.

From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo

And then the whole platter was empty. What a sad moment.

From Conrad Tokyo

You might recall that I’ve mentioned before in other tea reviews that it would be nice if they gave us fresh plates. Essentially we are eating savoury foods, scones, and desserts all off the same plate. Today was a prime example of needing fresh plates. Here’s what happens when you eat randomly (this is why I save the scones for last). Someone had obviously saved the mini hamburger for last but was left with a jam-smeared plate. Any afternoon tea venue that offers fresh plates will definitely earn brownie points with me, so as to AVOID the below travesty:

From Conrad Tokyo

I really enjoyed the afternoon tea arrangement here – glass platters of mini food. I noticed that for other guests there in groups of twos – had different glass platters – they were glass platters that were in a staircase arrangement. I was a little jealous of their servingware. Super cool. I zoomed in a random person’s afternoon tea set. You can kind of see in this photo, what I mean:

From Conrad Tokyo

Here are some photos of the Twenty Eight Bar and Lounge. Plenty of natural light streaming in from the tall glass windows.

From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo

Seats by the window only seat two people, but there are great water views over Tokyo Bay.

From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo

It was a lovely afternoon tea enjoyed with a great bunch of friends, including a couple of newbies to high tea. Eight has been my record number of attendees in Tokyo. Our little high tea societea obligatory group shot:

From Conrad Tokyo

I highly rate the food here. Service was only a ok. Views are nice too – over the water. The French fizz offer – always a welcome bonus. Oh, I nearly forgot to talk about the tea. Only three teas are on offer here – Assam, Darjeeling and Ceylon. Nothing special. But for those who declined the champagne option, they went through a couple of pots of tea. Everyone chooses a tea and then you need to stick to it. No tea sampling here. Also coffee on offer as well. Once you’ve selected your tea for the afternoon – it’s as much tea as you like (unlimited refills). I went with the ceylon tea. I’m a little ashamed to say that I did not even drink a whole cup of tea. Was too busy drinking the french fizz!!! The Afternoon Tea – American Classic – was really good here. I thoroughly enjoyed the food.

From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo

The Afternoon Tea set on its own (food platter plus tea/coffee) is 3950yen (tax included). For the 2 hour free-flowing sparkling wine offer in conjunction with the Afternoon Tea set is 6000yen. Pretty good value, I say. For an extra 2000yen you can easily down 5-6 glasses of Chandon comfortably. More, if you’re really keen to get bang for your buck. (NB: That the sparkling wine offer is only valid at certain times of the year. Check with the hotel. It ends at the end of September…which is why we went when we did). The afternoon tea here is like the amuse bouche version of afternoon tea – and my bouche was amused. Touché mon amie.

From Conrad Tokyo

I liked that you can totally relax here and take your time. There is no ushering you out the door in a hurry. Afternoon tea is on offer from 2:30pm, so we booked for right on that time. I was running late, so we probably didn’t start until about 3pm. The unlimited sparkling wine is valid for two hours, and then after that you can stay and continue to have as much tea as you like. Most people left at about 6pm, but I stayed back with a couple of the other girls, and we probably didn’t leave until about 7-7.30pm. It got dark, so I was able to take some night shots of the Lounge in Bar mode.

From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo

Night view:

From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo

I do love a champagne afternoon tea.

From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo

The Conrad Hotel is a very nice hotel. Modern and contemporary design. I liked it.

From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo
From Conrad Tokyo

I won’t be doing another afternoon tea for a little while now, which is why I indulged up (not that I need an excuse). For a least another 4-6 weeks. No more teas in September because the next few weekends are taken up with a run race, an ows race and little long weekend trip. And then off overseas for two weeks. The Conrad Hotel, Tokyo is located at Shiodome/Shinbashi area near HamaRikyu Japanese Gardens. From the subway you’ll need to alight at Shiodome station. The hotel is connected to the Shiodome exit. Shiodome station is the most convenient access. If coming by JR, alight at Shinbashi station. I got lost coming from this station. And it took me over 15 minutes to get there, although it should have taken way less than that. It can be a little confusing…so allow a little extra time. Hotel website, afternoon tea menu, info etc can be found here.

Shinbashi by night: Shades of grey

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Yesterday, I did another high tea…but that will be a post for later on this week. Too many photos to sort through at the moment. But after leaving the hotel last night, I walked through the Shinbashi area on my own and did a mini photowalk through the area. It was around 7.30pm and I took some cool dramatic night shots. The weather was kinda crazy over the weekend. We got the fringes of a typhoon so we would get bursts of strong rain and wind, and then fine again. The clouds were pretty cool on this night. The nightsky, clouds and a lot of the tall buildings provided an opportune moment to work on some night shots with the SLR. Lots of shades of grey and night lights. It’s nice change from the macro close-up colourful food photos that will follow later on this week. Here are a fistful of photos of Shinbashi by night. A pair of escalators:

From Shinbashi by night
From Shinbashi by night
From Shinbashi by night
From Shinbashi by night
From Shinbashi by night
From Shinbashi by night
From Shinbashi by night

There are some really interesting skyrise buildings in the Shinbashi district.

From Shinbashi by night

I really like the next photo that I took:

From Shinbashi by night
From Shinbashi by night

 

I wish I could have made the ‘red light’ of the cones pop more in this next photo:

From Shinbashi by night

Building cluster:

From Shinbashi by night

Looking up:

From Shinbashi by night

This next shot is cool. It’s kinda futuristic looking. Tokyo is a city of neon and bright lights, but in Shinbashi, I was able to portray a darker, edgier side to the city.

From Shinbashi by night

I like the composition of this next shot, but I have digitally edited the exposure and contrast of this photo.

From Shinbashi by night
From Shinbashi by night

This was another cool building in Shinbashi….but again, I have edited the next couple of photos, but still the composition is interesting.

From Shinbashi by night
From Shinbashi by night
From Shinbashi by night

This last shot is one of my favourite photos of the night. My symmetry was just a tad unbalanced, and not as perfect as I would have liked it. Again composition was good but I have digitally enhanced the exposure and highlights. As I walked up the stairs and onto the train platform there was a man facing one way and a woman facing the other way – both waiting for their trains. It was kinda cool. It’s a shame the woman has a little less presence in comparison to the man. But it captures so many things. Two people. Opposite directions. Waiting. On their way somewhere.

From Shinbashi by night

And if I could pick a soundtrack song for today’s photo post it would be this song: “Mad World” – by Gary Jules (a cover from the original by Tears for Fears – popularized by the film “Donnie Darko”)

August by numbers

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August. 31 days. 31 blog posts. … Sorry about that. I should have warned you. That’ll teach ya to sign up to my RSS feed!

From August 2011

My challenge/project for the month was to write a blog entry everyday for a whole month. Success! What a mammoth effort! And time consuming too. Don’t think I’ll be doing that again in a hurry. It was a good opportunity though to finally getting around to doing a backlog of posts.

August by numbers: 31 days. 31 blog posts.

23 days worked.

16km swum (training). 25km jogged/walked (training).

1 marathon application entered.

1 high tea.

0 ows races. (Sadly no ows races competed in this month. The only two races on this month were in Shiga and Hyogo prefectures. Way too far to get to. But I have signed up for another long swim race in September and even a short run race too).

A quick setsuden update. July’s electricity bill was 2360yen – without using the a/c at all. Totally switched to an electric fan and was using it liberally as well (it was on for about 12 hours a day). Compared to last year’s July bill where I used the a/c liberally, my bill was 3,853yen.

From August 2011

During August, it got ridiculously hot, so I took to turning on the a/c for a few hours a day, as well as liberally using the fan. So my electricity bill went up a little. This month’s bill was 2689yen with using the a/c sparingly. A huge difference from last year’s August bill where I was using the a/c on overtime. Last year’s August bill was 5,657yen! Safe to say, August is the hottest month of the year.

From August 2011

My setsuden project was successful too. By switching over to an electric fan instead of using the a/c – really does make a difference! Up to 50% reduction in electricity bill. That’s impressive. But I will admit, sometimes a fan ain’t enough on a 35 degree day! But we didn’t suffer any brownouts because, collectively, Japan was able to reduce electricity consumption over the summer. Every business over the summer had to cut electricity consumption by 15% from last year by government order. That regulation will end on Sep 22.

Glad that August is no over. Way too much blogging! Now I can have my life back! And back to my sporadic blogging whenever I feel like it. September is gonna be a very busy month! Have heaps of stuff planned. So there will still be plenty of my alventures to read about. I’ve got to live in order to blog it about it, I suppose.

Passport to the future

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Where have you been and where are you going? One of my most precious possessions is my passport. Travel is not so much a right, as it is a privilege. Most of us are fortunate enough to have travelled abroad at some point in our lives. These days it’s almost a rite of passage, but there are plenty of people who don’t even own a passport! This year, I had to renew my passport and get a new one. Firstly, because it was full! And secondly, because it expires this year. So I got it renewed a couple of months ago at the embassy here. I got one of those shiny new e-passports. An ordinary passport lasts for 10 years, and it occurred to me that my old passport was a memento, a record of all the places that I’ve been to over the last decade from age 20 to age 30. I thought it was really cool that my passport timing coincided right on with each new decade of my age. Same goes for my new (current) passport. It will expire in the year that I turn 40 (that’s a scary number!). My new and old passport:

From Passport

So my old beloved passport is a thumbprint of how I spent my 20s.

From Passport

Over the last 10 years I have accumulated lots of stamps and visas (mostly a gazillion entries and re-entries in and out of Japan).

From Passport
From Passport
From Passport
From Passport
From Passport

Here is map which highlights all the countries that I’ve been to:
visited 19 states (8.44%)
Create your own visited map of The World or Free iphone travel guide Those countries would be Australia, Fiji, NZ, Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, France, Germany, Netherlands, England, Ireland, USA, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, 19 countries visited in 10 years. Not a bad effort (I thought I had done more), but still not enough, I say. I haven’t included stopover countries where I didn’t leave the airport. If I did, I would also include the UAE and Malaysia. My passport also includes a Russian visa (but I never made it to Russia even though I got a tourist visa). I haven’t included my upcoming Turkey trip because that’ll go in my new passport! There are soooo many more countries that I am dying to go to!!! Travel is my life, my 生きがい, my raison d’etre. I’ve not done any of South America, and I want to do way more of Europe! Here’s what my bucketlist of countries to visit looks like (they’re highlighted in red):
Create your own visited map of The World

Yep, I wanna go everywhere! Okay, I’ll be a bit more realistic then. Now that I have a brand new passport which will see me through my 30s, here is a list of countries that I would to like visit before my 40th birthday and upon the expiry of this new passport. So this bucketlist will cover the next 10 years. Ideally I’d like to do more, but this is a bit more realistic:

visited 35 states (15.5%)
Create your own visited map of The World

Hmmm, I just realised that was 35 countries! Maybe not that realistic after all! Me thinks I might have to live in a winnebago (coolest word ever, along with ‘haberdashery’) and eat catfood for the rest of my life to support this habit! Check back in, in 10 years and see how I’ve done. I’ll then make a bucketlist for the next decade. You can play with the interactive map and create your own travel bucketlist here or here. I used the first site, because I can embed into this blog. Fun, right!

So back to my original question: Where have you been and where are you going?

NACT: Sunday Impressions

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I had a really awesome Sunday in Tokyo today. I ventured out to to my first proper art gallery experience in a really long time and have discovered my new favourite place in Tokyo. And that would be the National Art Centre, Tokyo (NACT) in Midtown (Roppongi). My manager at work had told me about it as a really good place to go to eat (he is also a huge foodie. We often exchange dining recommendations). In addition to there being a huge art gallery space, there is also a nice French restaurant. I went there with a friend today who is a huge fan of the place and goes there every year. The building itself was impressive. I loved the architecture and building design. I took my SLR camera and took a ridiculous number of photographs. Here are lots of photos that I took from the outside of the building. It’s made all of glass and is curved and wavy.

From NACT
From NACT
From NACT
From NACT
From NACT
From NACT

Super cool, right. So in love with this building. And I hadn’t even walked in yet. Right in the entrance, I looked up and took this shot.

From NACT

So the whole point of my trip to the National Art Centre was to check out an exhibition that was on: The Washington National Gallery (Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC). Exhibition Entry: 1500yen.

From NACT

There were A LOT of people inside the gallery. I walked through the four exhibition areas and checked out the art…just looking. I don’t know much anything about art. Just that I know what I like when I see it. I’m more a modern contemporary art fan (my favourite art museum would be the Pompidou in Paris). It was an impressive collection of works from the likes of Manet, Monet, Cezanne, Renoir, Van Gogh and a handful of other artists. I was really taken with the two pieces by Georges Seurat, in particular “Seascape at Port-en-Bessin, Normandy”. His brush technique is super cool. His brushstrokes are super fine, almost like a dot mosaic. It was pretty mesmerizing. Once I had seen the exhibition, I then just walked around the gallery and took photos of the building interior. It was so fascinating. I probably spent more time taking photos than time actually spent looking at the exhibition. The building is just so darn cool and modern. It’s glass and open spaces, and there is a huge inverted cone, atop of which is the third floor restaurant. I highly recommend visiting the National Art Centre, even if you’re not going to see an exhibition. All the open spaces, the gift shops, and eateries are free. Only an entry fee is required to see an actual running exhibition. Here are a score or two of photos I took just wandering around inside the Centre experimenting with light and angles on my camera. As you can see, lots of people were also spending their Sunday here.

From NACT
From NACT
From NACT
From NACT
From NACT

Up on the higher levels, I got some more cool photos.

From NACT
From NACT

Arial view

From NACT
From NACT
From NACT
From NACT
From NACT
From NACT
From NACT
From NACT
From NACT

The restaurants here are also super cool, atop of the two inverted cones. There’s a tea cafe on the second floor. I love how they are built up high in a round shape.

From NACT
From NACT
From NACT

How cool is this:

From NACT
From NACT
From NACT
From NACT

We had lunch on the third floor French Brasserie: Paul Bocuse le musee. Paul Bocuse is a famous chef considered the Godfather of french cuisine. He has a bunch of restaurants around Japan. The one at the NACT is pretty cool and I was so excited to eat there. The restaurant is atop of the main inverted cone, and again, is built in a round shape.

From NACT
From NACT
From NACT
From NACT
From NACT
From NACT
From NACT
From NACT
From NACT

Clearly, I couldn’t get enough photos of this place! Truly fascinating.

From NACT
From NACT

I’ll have more photos (including the food ones in a separate forthcoming blog entry). After a long leisurely late lunch, we ventured down onto the basement level where there is the really cool souvenir gift store which sells all things arty, creative and cool. Great spot for interesting, unique gifts. It was almost a museum in itself. So many creative and funny products and a great variety of stuff. The store was a lot of fun. In addition to the tea salon cafe, and the french brasserie, there’s a cafeteria on the basement level, and a casual refreshments cafe on the ground floor. There’s also an art library as well. We also got a bit of peak into the calligraphy exhibition as well. There are three gallery levels with changing exhibits. The National Art Centre is also one of the trio of museums in the Roppongi Art Triangle – the Mori Art musuem, the Suntory Art Musuem and the NACT. Ticket stubs to one will also get you a small discount into the others. By the time I left the Art Centre after having spent about 6 hours there (looking, dining, browsing, taking photos) which was about 6pm, it was dusk and I took some more final photos of the building exterior. Too cool for words.

From NACT
From NACT
From NACT
From NACT
From NACT
From NACT
From NACT
From NACT
From NACT
From NACT

NACT website. Public spaces are free. Ticket prices will vary depending on exhibition.

 

The Ritz on the House: World of Tea in Tokyo

memoirsofaleishaLeave a comment

It brings me great joy and pleasure to write today’s blog post. Today’s write-up is a labour of love. So, you know how I have this rather humble blog of mine, and you know how much I love high teas (well, tea and food in general) … well, I have had the rather extreme good fortune of partaking in the World of Tea experience at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Tokyo as an invited guest! You might recall that back in May to usher in my (30th! Gasp!) birthday, I had a rather tiny soiree (with some fellow gastronomes) at one of the creme de la creme extravagant high tea experiences at the Ritz Carlton in Tokyo – the highest place to do High Tea in Tokyo (on level 45).

Correct me if I am wrong, but I do believe it may also be the highest place to do Afternoon Tea in the World! So after writing that particular blog post and review of the High Tea at the Ritz, the Executive Assistant Manager of Food and Beverage who oversees the dining establishments at the Ritz in Tokyo read my blog, and got in touch with me. I had no idea why he wanted to get in contact with me. So naturally, my imagination went wild. Perhaps a job offer as a food photographer (one can dream), or perhaps he wanted to give me a tea warmer (which I had raved about). As it turned out, much to my delight, he was extending an invitation to me (along with Tami and Kaori) to attend as special guests to the World of Tea experience! Wow. Talk about incredibly amazing.

A free afternoon tea at the Ritz! Now there’s seven words that I like very much. He also wrote me some kind words about that blog post: I quote: “Dear Aleisha, Greetings from The Ritz-Carlton! I have read your blog regarding the High Afternoon Tea experience at our Lobby Lounge. Thank you very much for your honest description of the time spent with us. I enjoyed your subtle sense of humour as well as your attention to details while creating the blog.” —- I was extremely flattered. He had me at: “I have read your blog”. (I don’t think many people I meet could say that to me! My blog has a very small readership.) I won’t get too carried away on this point…must bring myself down a notch. They probably have Google Alerts set-up everytime the word “Tokyo Ritz” appears on the internet. He then went on to say in the email: “Your tea time story brought so much joy to our Lobby Lounge Team! Therefore I would be more than honored if you accept my invitation for our World of Tea. Please feel free to ask your two friends Tami and Kaori to come as well. This is our Lobby Lounge monthly special event in which we partner with different tea company every time in order to create unique and memorable moments for our guests.”

Wow. How exciting. And how unbelievable! This stuff only happens in the movies! This was better than winning the lottery! And then my alarm went off…and this was all just a dream. No, just kidding!!! Seriously all of this happened!!!!

The World of Tea experience happens at the Ritz hotel for three days exclusively every month. Each month they feature different tea suppliers/brands and offer a customized afternoon tea menu (usually based on a theme) with an assortment of tea pairings from that particular tea supplier. In the past they have had Taylors of Harrogate, and Leafull, to name just a couple. Even though I was invited back in May, I decided to take up the offer this month. August’s World Of Tea Experience was presented by Lupicia (a well known tea brand) with the theme being ‘Ryou’ meaning ‘Cool’ – ideal for summer with a focus on iced-tea blends. With a couple of month’s notice, my friends and I had arranged time off from work to partake in this World of Tea experience at the Ritz as special guests. The Ritz on the House!

From World of Tea: The Ritz

Upon arrival, I simply said my name and was ushered immediately to our seats (by the window, I might add). Window seating – always a plus! Me: “Hi. My name is Aleisha.” Them: “Right this way”. (So this is how the other half live! I could get used to this.) We got lovely window seating with great views over Tokyo (it helps to be on the 45th floor).

From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz

We sat and perused the World of Tea special menu (which I took home as a keepsake. Might have to frame it or laminate or something).

From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz

The table was exquisitely set up.

From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz

There was a tea course which involved samples of six different teas (all from Lupicia)! What I loved about it, was that each tea was served in a different tea cup/beverage vessel! The Welcome Tea was an Oolong tea served in a champagne glass. (This was a chilled tea). I was half-expecting this to taste sweet.

From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz

Mustn’t forget the bird’s eye view of the tea. Look at the clarity of the tea.

From World of Tea: The Ritz

The First Tea was Sencha (a deep-steamed green tea) served in a chawan which I forgot to take a photo of! My only saving grace is that you can see the cup that it was served in, in this photo. It’s the little Japanese cup to the right of the photo (with the little lid on it).

From World of Tea: The Ritz

The Second Tea was a Bocha (a roasted tea) served in a really cool cup and saucer. The saucer was hollowed out to fit the cup perfectly (ぴったり). No mixing and matching cups and saucers with this one! We checked the bottom of the cup and saw that it was made by Lupicia, so me thinks, you can probably purchase them from a Lupicia store.

From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz

The ‘Tea for Break” – the ‘intermission tea’ was Gyokuro – another iced-tea. They alternated between hot teas and iced-teas. It was served in a little egg-cup-like shot glass.

From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz

The Third Tea was a Japanese black tea (hot).

From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz

And the Encore Tea (I love how they called it an ‘Encore’ tea!) was a matcha tea (a traditional rich Japanese green tea) which was chilled and served on the rocks (i.e. with ice).

From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz

An interesting selection of Japanese teas both chilled (perfect for summer) as well as hot teas. All the teas presented on this occasion are all from with Japan. The tea menu came with a description blurb of each tea which was very thoughtful. The teas are served as progression throughout the meal, and not served all at once.

From World of Tea: The Ritz

If any of these teas take your fancy then check out Lupicia in Australia, Japan, the US. Don’t you just love how that an anagram for ‘tea’ is ‘eat’ (and ‘ate’) which brings me nicely to the part where we talk about the food (transition…subtle). There was an entree of cutlass fish which I think was part of the savoury tier.

From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz

The flavour was a little too subtle for my liking. It could have done with a bit more flavour. Time for the piece de resistance. The magnum opus. The three tiers of epicuriosity.

From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz

Here was the savoury tier which included some delicious sushi! This platter was so visually appealing. Fresh and vibrant colours. Even the photos look edible!

From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz

First, you must eat with your eyes, as beautifully captured on my SLR Nikon D5000 (you’re welcome). Hence, an overload of photos. The sweets tier:

From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz

And then the scones, with the beautifully quinelled (curled scoop) of cream:

From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz

And lest we forget the jam and preserve condiments.

From World of Tea: The Ritz

Once the tiered platter is brought out, no one is allowed to eat until I’ve taken no less than 200 photos of it, which takes a good 10-15 minutes. Then we’re allowed to eat. (I apologize to anyone who eats with me.) My ritual then is to bring each food portion down onto my serving plate, followed by another photo session, but at least this time I’m not preventing other people from eating. I always start with the savoury plate. Such clean presentation. Such awesome food photography skills (I am typing this one-handed whilst I toot my own horn with the other) 🙂

From World of Tea: The Ritz

How skillful was this corn shinjo. The outer layer of the corn kernels have been delicately placed around the seafood cake to make it look like a slice of corn cob! Food art.

From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz

The food menu was very Japanese-influenced. Sushi, sweet potatoes, rice noodles (which just quietly, something was amiss with).

From World of Tea: The Ritz

I love the clarity of the rice granules in this next shot:

From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz

Following the savoury treats is the sweet delights. Remember: Savour then Devour.

From World of Tea: The Ritz

I arrange each onto my plate, like so:

From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz

Same plate, different angles!

From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz

This was the rose flavoured white peach tartlet which was delicious.

From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz

There was also a yuzu chocolate macaroon. Love chocolate. Love yuzu. I couldn’t get enough photos of this! I am rather obsessed with looking at macaroons. I could look at them all day and take photos of them all day. I like looking at them more than I like eating them. I’m actually not a huge fan of them…still eat them nevertheless. (Just thought of an awesome idea. I am going to change my computer screen wallpaper at work to a macaroon display). Look here and here (two Google image searches, different spelling – ‘macaroons’ and ‘macrons’.) I took about thirty photos of this macaroon. I will spare you all thirty. Here are just a handful.

From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz

The art of restraint is one I have not yet mastered when it comes to food. I always save the scones for last.

From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz

Keeping in mind that the theme of this tea was ‘Cool’ – it was only fitting that the menu was fresh, vibrant, light, colourful, refreshing and very さっぱりした。 I found that the assortment of Japanese teas was very cleansing. And to prove that I am not being paid or ‘influenced’ by the Ritz to write a glowing review – I will say the following that could have been enhanced: – more staff, faster service (this was mentioned in my first review of the Ritz). – fresh plates to be brought out for each tier. Now, I don’t know of any hotel or tea venue that does this. But I think this would be a really nice touch and I would commend any hotel that does this. At every afternoon/high tea that I’ve done, you have only one small serving plate that you use as you work your way through the three tiers. It would be preferable to have fresh plates so that after I’ve eaten my savoury morsels, I am then not eating off the same plate that has cakes on it next. Not necessary. But nice. I think such a gesture would make a five-star place stand out from the rest of the pack. Relaxing, eating, drinking – no better way to spend a Friday afternoon, courtesy of the Ritz.

From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz

Three very lucky gals enjoying a World of Tea right here in Tokyo!

From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz

Live pianist as well to provide some ambient sounds.

From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz

Halfway during our afternoon tea, the manager who had extended the invitation to us, came over to introduce himself. It was lovely to meet him in person. Each month they try to do outdo themselves coming up with better and more creative World of Tea experiences from all across the globe. And various tea suppliers/tea brands are coming on board to showcase their tea line. I’m sure there is something to suit every taste. You should keep an eye on their events calendar to find out which ones pique your interest. Afternoon Tea at the Ritz is very popular and they have carved themselves a nice little niche in this market. They offer a regular afternoon tea which can be enjoyed on weekends. They also have the more extravagant Ritz high tea (which I indulged in for my birthday). There’s also the monthly World of Tea experience which changes every month. They also have a children’s Teddy Bear afternoon tea just for the kiddies! What’s more, is that you can also do a Ladies Afternoon Tea luncheon (more a lunch than an afternoon tea.) Check their calendar for specials. Current offer is: 4th lady is free in a group of 4, that is, four for the price of three.) I am fan of the artworks which adorn the Lobby Lounge inside the Ritz hotel. I have since discovered that the artist is Sam Francis. (You’re welcome). The World of Tea experience is generally held once a month over three consecutive days on the last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of the month (best to check via their website for dates etc). Each month has a different theme, presented by a different tea supplier with a totally different menu. Teas from all around the world are presented. So you won’t expect the same thing twice. You can, however, guarantee that it will be creative and unique. Given that they’re on a weekday, it’s not something that I would normally be able to experience. Having worked overtime during this week doing additional computer training at work, I was able to take a few hours off work to attend this tea (in lieu of overtime pay). Judging by the crowd in the Lobby Lounge, it seems that this is quite popular amongst ladies of leisure. So this is how the other half live. I even saw one lady partaking in afternoon tea on her own. Kudos to her (*virtual high five* – *tap chest twice peace sign*). One of my other friends told me that she did afternoon tea alone when she was in the UK where at the Jane Austin teahouse you can order the Mr Darcy afternoon tea set. (Me squealing with joy on the inside). ‘Awe’ and then ‘some’. That just went straight onto my bucketlist!

From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz
From World of Tea: The Ritz

Housewives with wealthy husbands that can afford to do tea on a weekday (as you do), whilst the rest of us peasants have to work for a living. Where do I find me one of these rich husbands so I can do tea at the Ritz on a weekday every month?! World of Tea experience costs 6000yen per person. I am extremely grateful to have been able to partake in this courtesy of The Ritz. Thank you to Mr Cernia and his team at the Lobby Lounge at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, Tokyo for the generosity shown to myself and two friends. We truly appreciate it. It was a wonderful, unforgettable experience! As a collector of memories and experiences…this one rates up there! Disclaimer: This review (as with all my reviews) are simply in my humble opinion, and are written purely as a hobby. I am not a professional food critic or writer (although am happy to do so if you have an offer!). I don’t recommend that you just start a blog just to get yourself a free meal. I write and blog about food and High Teas in particular purely as a hobby without any intention of profiting from it. For me, I am passionate about tea, about food, about food photography and Japan (hence this High Tea Project). Keep in mind that I have done over 16 high teas in Tokyo alone (over a period of 18 months), and over 20 high teas combined around the world, and this was the first time I have ever been given such a “gift”. My High Tea Project takes a toll on the wallet and the waistline. Yes, it’s a health hazard. It is just a hobby. But a hobby that I love. I have also reviewed well over 200 dining establishments throughout Japan on this blog and this is the first time I have ever “gained” something from it. Also be mindful of the fact that I also first went to the Ritz for afternoon tea on my own dime. You can read about that here. So this particular occasion was a fortuitous blessing and certainly not an expectation (although happy to take any offers if other 5-star hotels would like to follow suit!). Warning: Shameless spruiking/plugging. As an amateur food photographer, I would love to take photos of your food. Food is the only currency required. That’s right, no cash, just food, for my services. If you would like to enjoy High Tea at the Ritz check out their website. The hotel is located in Midtown (Roppongi). Complete photo album slideshow (this was the culled version and it has 132 photos. The full album contained 168 photos and that was after I trashed all the dud shots. This blog post has taken me over 3 hours to put together with text, images and links. It’s 4.30pm on Saturday arvo and I’m still in my PJs!) More photos of the Ritz can be found in my other post. Please feel free to leave a comment!

 

Tokyo Brunch: Sujis

memoirsofaleishaLeave a comment

Hooray for Friday. This week has flown. Last brunch review for this week is of Suji’s in Azabu Juban. This was the first place I ever did brunch at in Tokyo and my least favourite. Yet it seems popular amongst Tokyoites with differing tastebuds. Considering I’ve had way better brunch at other places, I probably wouldn’t recommend this place. It’s not that it was absolutely terrible, I’ve just had better. At the time (July 2010), it was the first time I had brunch in Tokyo so, of course, I went the traditional hot breakfast. Toast, eggs, bacon, potatoes and pancakes – a good combination of breakfast favourites. I think I ordered the best thing on the menu.

From Sujis brunch

Someone else ordered the eggs benedict (I think Beacon’s does the best).

From Sujis brunch

I really liked the egg yolk and egg white salt and pepper shaker.

From Sujis brunch

And pancakes are also on offer, which did not look at all appealing to me. Something like this would be the last thing I would want to stomach. Way too much blueberry concoction on top.

From Sujis brunch
From Sujis brunch

Suji website here. Tabelog entry here. It surprisingly gets a high rating over there.

Tokyo Brunch: Roti

memoirsofaleishaLeave a comment

I was just thinking to myself yesterday how I could really go for some crumpets with maple syrup. Yum. Sadly, I don’t think crumpets exist outside of Australia (and NZ) and the UK. Today’s brunch review is of the time I went to Roti in Roppongi. Brunch here was really good. I had arranged for a brunch course party plan for our group when we went here back around October 2010. We got an array of different dishes for a brunch banquet – a sit-down shared platter-style brunch. Food here was amazing quality and super tasty. They brought out a few plates of each item to share. First up, was the platter of Mediterranean mezze plate- pita bread, hummus dip, chargrilled vegetables.

From Roti brunch

Followed up by some popcorn garlic mushrooms with a dipping sauce.

From Roti brunch
From Roti brunch

There were also the onion rings.

From Roti brunch
From Roti brunch

And one of the most amazing salads I have ever eaten – the stilton, apple and pecan salad. This salad was amazing – apples, grapes, shredded beat, and stilton cheese. And the dressing was lovely.

From Roti brunch
From Roti brunch
From Roti brunch

I was rather besotted with the salad. So light, yet so flavoursome. There was also then platters of pancakes.

From Roti brunch

In addition to all the above starter shared dishes, everyone could then choose their brunch main dish. I went with the crab cakes.

From Roti brunch

But you could have gone this option – egg and salmon bagel.

From Roti brunch
From Roti brunch

Or the omelette.

From Roti brunch

Or a club sandwich.

From Roti brunch

Plus more options from their brunch menu. Tea and coffee also included.

From Roti brunch

This was quite the brunch feast.

From Roti brunch

This brunch course was about 4000yen per person which was really good value for all the food we got. And it was good quality food as well. I had negotiated a personalised brunch course with the chef here, so that we would get a choice of 3 entrees, a salad, a brunch main of our choosing, plus tea and coffee. Really good value, because a brunch main and a drink would have cost you about 2000-2500yen alone if you go here for brunch. 40buks for a lot of tasty food was well worth it. Roti is one of the better places for brunch for Tokyo (although maybe just a tad more expensive than some of the other places I’ve been to brunch. But I think it’s worth it.) Indoor and outdoor seating available. A nice place to while away some time on the weekend.

From Roti brunch
From Roti brunch
From Roti brunch
From Roti brunch

Like most other places in Tokyo, brunch here is only available on weekends and public holidays. You can view the menus here and/or contact them on their website to discuss a menu that suits you. They also do catering. Tabelog entry here.

Tokyo Brunch: 57

memoirsofaleishaLeave a comment

[Note: This restaurant has closed down since this review]

Another brunch review. The venue: 57 (Fifty-Seven) in Roppongi. According to their website, it is so named after 57th Street in New York city where east Manhattan meets with west Manhattan. 57 in Tokyo however is a NY-style chophouse, grill, bar lounge and restaurant. It seemed more like a nightspot to me, so it felt a little weird to be there in broad daylight for a weekend brunch. Brunch here is only offered on weekends, and we pretty much had the place to ourselves, although it seemed to draw a later crowd for lunchgoers. (I went back in December of last year.) Can’t say it was the best brunch to date (but not the worst either. Only one other place takes that wooden spoon) but still pleasant enough and they do a traditional hot breakfast which is always a bonus. I naturally ordered me the NYC Full Classic Breakfast of bacon, sausages, toast, mushrooms and grilled tomato.

From 57 Brunch
From 57 Brunch

I wasn’t the only one either. Make that four NYC classic breakfasts.

From 57 Brunch
From 57 Brunch

And no, that wasn’t the only thing on the menu. Their brunch offerings include french toast, eggs benedict, grilled salmon and scrambled eggs, steak and eggs, and apparently it ain’t a NY brunch with lox and bagels. There’s also fruit and yoghurt as well (but why would you go out to have that?) Here’s what the grilled salmon and scrambled eggs looked like:

From 57 Brunch

And the French Toast (which looked rather a little too eggy):

From 57 Brunch
From 57 Brunch

Brunch mains are all very reasonable around 1500yen. But the drinks will set you back a little. A pot of tea is 600yen (almost half the cost of your main dish, when all it is is hot water and a few leaves). Tea is overpriced everywhere you go.

From 57 Brunch

Here are some interior shots:

From 57 Brunch
From 57 Brunch
From 57 Brunch

Brunch may not be their strong point here. Perhaps dinner might be better here. It’s definitely a popular spot for drinks of a night. Fifty Seven website (Menu, location and info can all be found on their website – in English and Japanese). They get a 3.10 out of 5 over at Tabelog.