Joël Durand, "Liegeois" Mania - Marron & Thyme -

I got the ticket for joining the tasting event "Liegeois(parfait) Mania" in Sep and Oct again. 

SEPTEMBER

The new taste of  Liegeois in September was Marron, and I could have it at the event. Since last time event, they have started collecting money for the drinks, and I paid 1000 yen before the event. This was the one thing changed from last time, and the drink we could have was limited. We could order only three drinks from the menu they prepared.

  

The event started from 7:30pm and the staff brought the new Liegeois to our table. The image of the new one is sunset

Later they served the small foods for the guests.(I don't remember what they were...the taste was good :p)  

It was announced that they just started selling the birthday cake and they served the small portion of the cake for us, too. It is the lavender schiffon cake covered by the whipped cream

OCTOBER

 Next month(November), the new taste will be Thyme. I usually don't use it when I cook, because I am not fan of Thyme... When I got the invitation email from the shop, I was a little bit hesitate to apply for it. Anyway, I asked my friend whether she wants to try it or not, and her answer was "YES!". Thanks to my friend, the Liegeois was really good, and it places in the top 3 that I had in the past.

They served the fresh mint and thyme tea while they were explaining us the new Liegeois.

Can you see the flower? The smell wafted in the air. I felt I smelled it somewhere, but I could not remember it where it was... It didn't taste much, but it made me relax with the smell. 

As usual, they prepared the small food, too. Salmon was covered by the cabbage. Thyme was also used in it.

"Ta Dah~! "

The cake looks like was the thyme hotcake(pancake). We needed to remove the chocolate from the cake first, and then pour the syrup into the little valley of the cake. The syrup was also made by some herbs. The cake soaked it, and the taste was much better than I ate cake only.

Bubby's

Bubby's is from tribecca, NYC and there are thier restaurants in Japan, too.

I haven't been to this restaurant either in NYC and Japan yet.

NYC fair "New York Week" was held in Mastuya Ginza department store from 10/9 - 10/15. I didn't know the fair when I went for shopping, and I saw many pies in the showcase. It looked all good. I got the apple pie and New York cheesecake for myself :P 

The taste was quite normal... Because I do bake apple pies and New York Cheesecake at home, so I thought it's nothing special... maybe. But it's good if I just want to eat one piece of apple pie or cheesecake. One thing I surprised the Japanese price was less expensive than US. :O 

Apple Pie with Vanilla Ice creaam. Great Combo!

Liegeois "Almond & Pistachio"

The humidity and hotness in this summer made me sick... It was the hottest summer known for yeards. I remembered I can have the perfait(Liegeois) at Joel Durand for free(please see the story "Joël Durand, "Liegeois" Mania"), and it was closed to the expiration date.I had to use it for cooling down my body before it expires. My favorite Liegeois flavor is lemon, but it was sold out the day I was there... Instead of the lemon, I had the "Almond & Pistachio Liegeois" which I haven't had it yet.

The size of every liegeois is big, but I always eat it up quickly. The size of almond & pistach looked the same as others, but it was not...It was much bigger than others. I was too full to eat the dinner, and I could not have it...

I want to try other flavors next time I visit there. :)

(The story was written in September.)

Afternoon Tea at Chinzansou (Hotel)

A month ago, I had the afternoon tea at CHINZANSOU (椿山荘）hotel with my friend.

Pagoda room where we had the tea is located on 12th floor and it's actually the room that is renovated for the limited afternoon tea customers. You don't see the sign anywhere when you go up to the 12th floor. The staff starts calling your name at 2:30pm.(The time I booked the afternoon tea was 2:30pm)

 

Everybody can have the afternoon tea there, but the number of people are limited. Only 5 or 6 gourps were there when we had the tea this time. If you want to have tea there, you need to make the reservation in advance.

The afternoon tea we had this time was called " Summer Afternoon Tea." You can enjoy many different kinds of tea they have during your stay. Unfortunately, the time you can stay there is 2 hours, so you need to drink very fast if you want to try many kinds of tea :)

SUMMER AFTERNOON TEA

Tropical Fruites Sandwich
Tuna Ciabatta Sandwich

Coconut Chiken Sandwich

Tortilla Roll with Shrimp and Mango

Scones(Pinapple, Tomato and Plain)

Balinese Taiwan Red Rice Mousse

Fruit Yogurt Flavored Semifreddo

Fromage Blanc with Papaya Cateau

"Miserable" Almond Dacquoise Layered with Pineapple Buttercream

The hotel owns very nice Japanese garden. We could have the tea with the nice view from the window. After we left the Pagoda room, we walked in the garden a little bit. It's worth to walk there, it's very nice!

Three-Story Pagoda "Entsukatu"

Entsukaku was registered as a “tangible cultural property” of Japan.

Fujiko F. Fujio 80th Anniversary Exhibition

Tokyo Tower celebrated the 80th anniversary of Fujiko F. Fujiso with the special light up for four days from 7/18.

 

The exhibition “Fujiko F. Fujio 80th Anniversary Exhibition” (creator of Doraemon) was also started from 7/19 at Tokyo Tower. I believe there is no people who doesn't know Doraemon in Japan. Doraemon is one of the most famous animation character in Japan. The exhibition will continue to 10/6/2013.

On Friday night after work,  my friend and I went to see the exhibition.The time we got there was around 700PM and didn't see much people there. First, the staff told us to take the elevator to the top floor.

Just got off the elevator, life sized Doraemon figures welcome us. Each of them holds a different secret gadget which he always pulls out from his four dimensional pocket.

"ANKI PAN"                          "TAKEKOPUTA"

"Anki Pan" is one of the gadget what I wanted the most in my childhood. This is the fantastic gadget you can remember every word written on a slice of bread in a second right after you eat it. I never thought how many slices I had to eat, but I always thought about it before the exam.

"Takekoputa" is the flying gadget, and you can put it on your head when you want to fly. This is one of the most famous gadget, and you can see it many times in its manga, animation and movies.

It's cute to see them from behind.

It was prohibited to take a picture inside the exhibition such as original drawing. Down to the fourth floor, there is a another entrance for the exhibition. Once we got inside, the staff announced us the SF movie will start soon. Well, SF is not the abbreviation of Science Fiction…it is the abbreviation of “Sukoshi Fushigi,” that means a little bit mysterious(maybe). 

SF theater is one of the main attractions which is the first indoor 4D projection mapping in Japan. I felt like I was in the Doraemon's world for a while, but it made me dizzy a little bit at the same time.

There is another fun attraction, and it is called "NARIKIRI Chara Hiroba" where is the only place we are allowed to take a picture inside the exhibition. There are some imitated manga scene from Fujiko F. Fujio's manga, and we can be the hero or sub character. If you knows his manga well, it must be really fun. We were so much excited and got tired after we took the pictures... 

We were planning to go up to the Tokyo Tower after we see the exhibition, but we spent about 2 hours there and got exhausted... I will see the night view from the Tokyo Tower next time I visit there.

There is a souvenir shop and we got Doraemon's favorite "Dorayaki."

Gigantic Garlic

I love cooking and I use garlic a lot. I usually buy a domestic one at a supermarket, but it's sort of expensive. I think the average price of one domestic garlic is 200-300 JPY($2~$3).

I asked my father to grow it in his small farm last year. Last month I was back to my parents house, and my father brought the garlic which he harvested from the ground.

My jaw dropped on the floor when I saw its size. It's amazingly big! I've never seen this size of garlic before. He said "I told you it is gigantic garlice many times." Yes, I remember he explained me the size when I asked him why he only planted 7 garlic seedlings even I told him I love garlic. I felt I would eat them up soon... but the size of each clove is pretty similar to the normal size of garlic. Now I understand why he thought 7 could be enough... 

Can you see how big it is?

The first cook was the garlic chips for my dinner. It was really fresh, mild and sweet.

FRIJOLES BURRITOS & TACOS

My friend asked me to have a branch last Sat, and I requested her to take me to the Mexican restaurant. Once she told me there is a good Mexican restaurant in Azabujuban, and I remembered it.

I love Mexican food, especially burritos and fajitas. The very first time I ate burritos was in LA, and I could not eat refried beans at all. I don’t think we have similar dishes in Japan. I don’t know whether it was the reason, and I felt it looks like puke (Sorry…) But once I ate it, I am addicted to it. While I was living in US, I often had the Mexican foods, and I miss them so much.

In Tokyo, we do have Mexican restaurants, but I never seen the fast food style of  Mexican restaurant. “Taco Bell”, “Del Taco” and “El Pollo Loco” were used have their restaurants in Japan(long time ago), but they were all closed. I think Mexican foods didn't favored in Japan.

"FRIJOLES" is the name of the restaurant we had the branch on Sat. I was thinking to have Chicken Burrito before I saw the Carnitas Burrito which my friend ordered. The shop staff saw me and told me they can make half & half (Chicken and Carnitas) if I can not decide the meat.

Here is my Burrito. I got the half chicken and half carnitas with callantro-lime rice, pinto beans, salsa, cheese, sour cream, lettuce and guacamole. The size of the burrito was pretty big... but I ate them all at there while I was chatting with my friend :P. 

Now I know where it is, and it is not far from my office and my apt. I will get it whenever I want to eat a good burrito.