At one of our recent visits to Takumi, Marco and I ordered a dish of takoyaki. I’ve never had it before, while Marco did have some in one of his earlier trips to Japan. Takoyaki is made with wheat-based flour and small pieces of octopus (English Wikipedia).
It was softer than I expected (perhaps due to the amount of takoyaki sauce on top). The sauce is descended from Worcestershire sauce which the British brought to Japan in the 1800s. There’s also a bit of Japanese mayonnaise, the orange color on top.
It was tasty and hit the spot. You couldn’t really taste the octopus, if you’re wondering. The sauce was a bit overpowering in that regard. Marco and I will probably order it again the next time we are there.
Last month, Marco and I celebrated our anniversary by going out to eat at Mad’Ras, an Indian restaurant. It was our first time. When we first arrived we were one of the first guests, although every table had a ‘reserved’ card on it and it was packed by the time we left. If you go, definitely make a reservation ahead of time. Perhaps it was also because the weather was outstanding that day. One of those ‘last gasp of summer days’ when it is suddenly warmer than it has been in the last few weeks.
This was the first thing we received (on the house). I enjoyed the presentation of the rolled up cracker/wafer. It came with red onions as well as three sauces (sweet, minty and spicy). As usual, Marco and I both gravitated towards the minty and spicy ones.
We then had a set of appetizers. Next to the sauces you have fried onions (I forget the name. I don’t think it was onion bhaji, but if it wasn’t, it was quite similar). Below that you have two samosas. Did I mention I love samosas? Although we mostly paired it with the mint sauce from the initial appetizer. On the right we had the star of the evening – tandoori prawns. Zó lekker! Definitely order those if you go.
For our main, we split a mutton curry with some naan and rice (below).
At that point we were full, in a nice way. It was great food and we will definitely go back again.
Of course, even when you’re full (ish), you can always make room for ice cream. We stopped at Piet for some ice cream. I had a scoop of lime, ginger and mint and Marco had two scoops (tahini and sticky rice). They were all awesome but Marco said the sticky rice was a bit subtle. I liked mine a lot, but it was quite intense so I found myself stealing a bit from Marco’s ice cream to counteract the flavor. I would order it again, though. Just maybe with a second scoop of something else…
All in all, I can definitely recommend Mad’Ras. (Although I will also recommend Himalayan restaurant as well. The owner is great and we definitely don’t visit enough.)
One last blog post to talk about the awesomeness that was Tokyo (until we get back to Japan again next year!)
I ended my last blog with a picture of Yanaka cemetery. We were actually walking through the cemetery to get from the shopping street Yanaka Ginza to Ueno park. Our goal was to visit the Tokyo National Museum. When we got to the park we noticed there was a food festival going on outside, so we stopped there to have a quick bite to eat. It was great food, including a large piece of flattened chicken. If a random travel group on Facebook is to be believed, it is Taiwanese style chicken like this very random link. We also had very long fries, in the style of raspatat (Dutch Wikipedia link).
The museum was quite nice to walk through, and there was plenty of English to read. But one will stick out to me the most is the awesome cloud cover when we left. It was around 17:15 so everything was starting to get dark as well.
Check out another photo of the clouds, overlooking the park fountain:
The next day, we visited Yokohama, the second largest city after Tokyo, and only about 45 minutes away from Tokyo by train. Admittedly, we stayed around the bay and Chinatown, only doing the touristy things.
The boat on the left was some sort of restaurant or similar, as people kept coming and going. On the right you have the Osanbashi Pier Building, which looks absolutely gorgeous at night. You can walk on the roof and everything – check out the photos on Google Maps. Unfortunately we did not go this time.
Here is another boat in the area, the Nippon Maru. It was previously a training vessel that now serves as a museum.
Behind the ship on the right you can also make out the ferris wheel from the theme park Yokohama Cosmo World.
In the last few days some highlights include visiting Shinjuku Gyoen, a park:
It includes a Japanese-style garden, an English-style garden and a French-style garden. It was a gorgeous day, as you can see in the photo above.
We also visited the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (see the link for an image of the building). It has two towers, each with a free observation deck. You just have to wait in line for a few minutes to take the elevator up. And of course, it is free but they have a cafe and a great souvenir shop, so they do make some income that way.
Here is a look at Tokyo from one of the many windows. Every view was the same, in that the city stretched as far as the eye could see.
Here’s a look at some of the souvenirs we purchased (although maybe not everything is there). For instance, I bought my two textbooks for my next Japanese class at the Japanese bookstore Kinokuniya, just to say I could…
From left to right:
the drawing of the guy is from the anime Death Note which Marco and I are currently watching on Netflix
a dog holding a cup of matcha tea – so cute!
ablue penguin, the mascot of Don Quijote, a discount store
in front of the penguin you have a see-through stand from the Pensta store (on that is the Suica card‘s penguin mascot)
in front of that you have a Suica chocolates box. It’s also the perfect size to hold Suica cards when not in use…
To the right of that you have a few items Marc purchased from the Tokyo National Museum
In front of them you have a blue Shinkansen train – my first gashapon purchase
to the right of that you have another see through souvenir (the one on the blue string) from the Pensta store
In the far back you have a black and yellow journal (with the sort of butterfly motif)
In front of that you have a porcelain cat, purchased at the government building
Next to that you have a fox, dog and a purple and blue gummy bear, all gashapons
thanks to Roger for financing my third gashapon attempt for gummy bear, as the first two weren’t a color I liked as much (yellow)
behind the gummy bear is a box, a small do-it-yourself My Neighbor Totoro paper decoration
lying flat in front is a souvenir from the Atago Shrine (with the stairs to success)
And finally, two of the four earring sets I purchased:
The top blue ones are little blue folding fans. I found them at the government building – it was a nice place to get souvenirs and I loved wearing them to work.
Below those were some spectacular earrings from Ayano Fukumura in Yokohama. They create unique jewelry based on art pieces and similar. The earrings I purchased were inspired by Monet’s “Woman with a Parasol”. Unbelievably gorgeous…! The photo above does not do them enough justice.
I also got to practice a bit of basic Japanese, asking if it was okay to take a few pictures. After that, I definitely needed to walk away before I broke the bank!
I have almost forgotten how warm Tokyo was, after a particularly windy day today (17C/60F with wind gusts up to 80kph/43mph). Though there was only one moment walking home where I felt I was walking backwards rather than forwards due to the wind.
Here are some more photos from the recent Tokyo trip. First off, the night we did the Sumida river walk. It was definitely one of the highlights for me. It was pretty, the weather was a bit cooler, etc.
You can watch a six minute time lapse of the area turning from day to night on YouTube. Before we walked along the river (and crossed over it), we went to the Asahi beer hall for dinner. In the photo above, that is the building on the left with the yellow “ball”. If you watch the linked video, it’s the black building with the flame/torch on top. (Yes, I know, it looks like something else.) The taller building to the left in the video is the Asahi headquarters. The beer and food was good there, but it was easily beaten by Yona Yona Beer Works in Shinjuku, which I will probably share photos of in a later post.
After the river walk, we walked to Senso-ji temple. Marco and Roger have of course been there before but never at night. It was gorgeous.
All of the stores that lead up to the temple were closed because we visited at night, but that was fine. It was nice to walk around when it was quieter. Unfortunately that did mean Roger and Marco did not get their melon pan ice cream this trip (Google Maps link to Asakusa Kagetu) because the store is only open during the day.
The next day we visited Atago shrine which is well known for its “stairs to success”.
Respect to the couple who went up the middle of the stairs, not by the railing. However, Marco explained that the edges of the stairs were quite worn down since everyone went there, so the middle was actually the easier. Marco and Roger previously went up these steps in January, but this time we were smart and took the elevator up and down to get to the shrine at the top. (Shoutout to the Japanese couple who saw us when we were at the top, peering over the edge. They warned us in their best English that there was an elevator we could use instead.)
Marco, Roger and I just got back from a vacation in Tokyo. The trip was about 11 days long. It was my first time, while Marco and Roger have visited Japan a few times already.
We had some good fun, we saw som good sights, and we baked in the sun like it was an easy bake oven. It was quite warm – all of the days we were there were 34-36C (94-96F), except for one which was a maximum of 32C (92F). I knew the summer would be warm, but not this warm with the humidity. But we chose the dates because they were the best deal, knowing that summer would be warm.
Anyway, here are some random photos. First off, we have a cleaning robot in Family Mart, one of the convenience store chains in Japan. It was like a roomba at the bottom with a bucket of merchandise placed on top and a tablet to show off its cute “face”. It really was cute and I think all of us said “Awww….” when we saw it.
The store is also well-known for the melody that plays when you step into the store. You can listen to the 7 second melody on YouTube. It reminds me of an old Nintendo game. I didn’t get into purchasing random ice cream as much as Marco and Roger did, but I did really enjoy purchasing some cold tea. My favorite was Oi Ocha’s dark green tea, although I don’t remember the version I had having added vitamin C. But there was definitely something nice about just jumping into any convenience store (of which there is one on every corner in Tokyo) and getting a bottle.
Then we have one of the two large trees by the Meiji shrine (the shrine is to the right of the right, at the top of the small set of steps):
The tree was impressive — especially with how well it was manicured.
As you can see, a lot of people had UV umbrellas for the sun (myself included, although I mostly used it in open spaces and not crowded streets like this). The street itself was small, but Roger was able to score a few gashapon items here.
Before we left Harajuko we also went to Harakado, a new building which opened up in Tokyo last year. Here’s a look at Harakado at Japan-guide.com – it is quite an impressive building. The name is also a bit of a pun since “kado” means corner, and it sits at the corner of the intersection.
Here is a photo taken from Harakado of the building on the other side of the intersection, diagonally:
Also, since I somehow haven’t posted a picture of food yet, here is one of the ramen dishes I had:
It was at a ramen restaurant (Mensouge 6 Gyoenten) in Shinjuku. This was tsukumen ramen, where the noodles are dipped into the broth separately. Interestingly we ended up having ramen three times in two days – I believe it was lunch, dinner and dinner, maybe? Roger was happy with the last one, when we went to Tokyo Station and set our sights on finding the ramen hall in Tokyo Station. We had lunch at one of the restaurants (I believe it was Oreshiki Jun) and Roger ordered teriyaki chashu. He was thrilled with his choice and let Marco and I try a bit of it.
I’ll try to post a few more pictures later in the week.
“Itadakimasu” (いただきます) is said before eating, meaning “I humbly receive” or “I gratefully partake”. It’s a way of expressing gratitude for the meal, acknowledging everyone involved in its preparation, from the ingredients to the cooks.
Marco and I took a short trip to London last week with the Eurostar train, from Thursday morning through Sunday evening. I’m a big fan of the Eurostar train (formerly Thalys) as it only takes about 3 and a half hours and you arrive in the city centre at the St. Pancras station. Of course, we had to get to Rotterdam first and if you are traveling to London you have to be at the station an hour before your train departs so you can clear security and immigration. So it is more like 4 and a half or 5 hours in total in the end. However, if you’re staying in the EU, like Paris, you only need to arrive about 15-20 minutes before your train leaves.
We lucked out – the weather was definitely on our side. It was about 26C/78F on the day we arrived, with the weather slowly getting colder each day we were there. We only wore a jacket on our last day. The only rain we had was a meager drizzle for two seconds while we exited the hotel and entered the cafe next door for coffee.
One of the days we went to the Design museum to see the Tim Burton exhibition:
The exhibition takes about an hour and is five large rooms. There’s plenty to see in those rooms, though. Note that it is only around until May 26, though it will probably move to a different city later in the year. You can read more about it at the official website.
After the Design museum we took a stroll through Holland Park. Inside the park you have the Dutch gardens:
It was full of absolutely gorgeous flowers. The proof is above!
And also a few statues, strategically placed.
After that we visited the Kyoto garden, also in Holland Park. It was created for the 1992 Japan festival in London.
There was a marble slab of a bridge going across part of the pond which you could walk across, allowing you to get pictures up close.
It was a peaceful place, and gorgeous in the beautiful weather we had.
All in all it was a lovely long weekend, although it is definitely nice to be lazier this weekend!
Yesterday was International Women’s Day. While I was at the hairdresser one of the workers passed out roses to all the women working there and getting their hair done. I’m not really a flower person – neither Marco or I have a green thumb between us – but I wasn’t about to say no to a rose. Except for the miniature thorns on the side. Ouch.
After my hair appointment I went to Kelly’s expat store to pick up some very important supplies, including cinnamon raisin bagels and Rold Gold pretzels. (The pretzels are a newer offering at Kelly’s but one I appreciate. They are usually my go-to snack when visiting the US.) After making my purchase, the cashier asked if I wanted a flower. I was amused, but said yes, since it would make for a funny story on the way home. I chose a pretty pink flower to go with the rose I already had.
When I got home I told Marco about the two flowers I received, why and where. I mentioned that I had to take out my contacts but after that I would try to find something to put them in, since we don’t have vases lying around (anymore).
When I came back I noticed Marco had found the perfect vase for me:
Asahi is easily one of my favorite beers, so it was a logical choice for us.
Bonus picture – here’s what we had with the beer last Friday:
To celebrate the weekend, Marco made marinated salmon with pandan rice and sugar snaps on the side. There’s also some pickled ginger hiding in the back. It was delicious, and the beer paired well with it.
Marco and I just got back from a trip to London for a week. We had a blast! While I visited London back in 2010, that was only for a day and a half so I didn’t remember much.
Here are some of the photos I took over the last week:
Above: a display at the British Museum. As you can tell, I am a fan of blue things.
Above: Westminster Abbey
Trafalgar square includes an area with four lions. You can read more about the square and lions at visitlondon.com. I took this photo because I was way too amused by the warning in the foreground…
Above: Big Ben. I am charmed by the statue in front.
Above: London Eye ferris wheel, from a distance. Apparently it takes 30 minutes for one full revolution.
All in all, it was a lovely trip. And I didn’t even show any of the awesome food we ate…
Yesterday was our 10 year anniversary. Sometimes we go for a swanky hotel, like the executive suite in Amersfoort, or the awesome views from the nhow hotel in Rotterdam, or the Kurhaus hotel in nearby Scheveningen during corona. This time I went with a nice restaurant since we already have vacation plans later in the year.
I booked a reservation at Blue Blood in The Hague as a surprise for Marco (he didn’t know where we were going until we were there). The restaurant offers “a mash-up of the Peruvian and Japanese cuisine”. I had read good things about both the food and service at this restaurant and they did not disappoint. When booking the reservation I was asked if this was for a special occasion. I of course clicked on anniversary. When we arrived we saw they had given us a table in the corner next to the canal, with rose petals on the table and a glass of cava (on the house) to toast the occasion.
I knew in advance that I wanted the tasting menu. It started off with oysters. The first oyster I have had in my life. It did not disappoint!
The sauce was yuzu sauce, which gave it a lovely sour taste, with Peruvian corn and lots of other goodies inside.
Another plus point: as each course arrived the staff took the time to explain what each component was, what the ingredients were and why it was on the menu. Unfortunately my memory isn’t good enough to remember most of it, but it was lovely to hear what the inspiration was behind everything.
Life in the Hague 