Day trip to Kyoto

My best friend lives in Shiga where is located next to Kyoto. I usually see her if we both go back to our home town at the same time. Once I visited her to Shiga right after she got married and moved to there, but it was almost 10 years ago… Suddenly I felt like I wanted to go somewhere, and I went to Kyoto. Luckily, she was free the day I went there and we could spend the whole day together. I left my place at 6:00am and took the 7:30am flight to Itami airport.From the Itami airport to Kyoto, I took a non-stop bus which takes me to Kyoto directly. The bus was arrived at the Kyoto station before the time we expected to meet. I found my friend and her baby boy "Haruto" around 10:00am.First we stopped by TOFU store "三田久" for buying a Ama-Yuba(Tofu skin curd). It was 5 mins from Kyoto station on foot.

I wanted to visit a few temples this time, and we went to Nishi Honganji first.Unfortunately, the weather was not good all day long, and it was raining a little bit when we got there. I wanted to see all buildings, but we went inside the main building and stay there instead.

Shoin(書院）

I don't know this building...but it seems it was used for the reception room when guests visited the temple.

Karamon gate(National Treasue of Japan)

The gate is pretty big. The little boy in the middle is "Haruto." You can guess the size of the gate if you compare with Haruto. 

 After we left the temple, we headed to the cafe "La Voiture" where is famous for Tart Tatin(French upside-down apple tart). On the way to there, we found the traditional Japanese confectionary shop "Kameya Yosinaga(亀屋良長）near the bus station. I wanted to buy something Kyoto as a souvenior, and I got some Japanese sweets there.  

 The cafe is very close to the Shrine "Heian gingu." We didn't have a time to see inside, and  I just took a photo when I passed by.

Right after we paased by the shirne, the weather was suddenly changed... The sky turned black and it started raining, and it got worse and worse even we haven't reached to the cafe :( We all wet head to toes in a few min while we were running to the cafe. I supposed to buy the tart and leave the cafe, but we decided to stay the cafe until the weather gets better. We wanted to stay there until the rain stopped, but it never stopped after we entered the cafe.

The tart tatin was really good! The cafe seems very popular, and many people were kept coming and waited for the seats while we were eating.

We also went to Kagizen Yoshifusa(鍵善良房) that my another friend recommended me to eat at Kyoto. I ordered the Kuzukiri(葛切り）which is the most popular menu as my friend recommendation.

The container is very Japanese :) 

Kuzukiri is a Japanese traditional sweets and it has no taste. It dipped in the syrup and eat.

I got souvenir for my father there :)

I only could stay in Kyoto for about 7 hours this time, but I had really nice time with my best friend. I should visit there in another season again!

Good Bye Joël Durand, "Liegeois"

My favorite chocolate shop "Joël Durand" was closed on December 23rd. It was suddenly announced...There must be something reasons...

I enjoyed last Liegeois twice before it closed. My favorite flavor was "Clove & Lemon" and I had it a week before its closing. Everytime I ate it, I felt like it takes me to Summer France with one bite of it. 

I don't know customers know closing or not, there were no empty seat while I was eating it.

The day before the store closed, I went there with my friend again. My last Liegeois was Almond & Pistachio. I realized the Macaron was on top instead of a chocolate they used to have.  

The store stuff told me two new shops will open next year, and one shop will have smilar parfait on a menu. I want to try it at the new shop when it opens.

Christmas Cookies

My friend got me the royal icing cookies! I bake cookies and do icing, so I know it takes a lots of time for the icing if it's a complex pattern. They're too lovely to eat. I'll keep them for a while.  

Ladies Champagne Social

"The Champagne Bar" at ANA Intercontinental Tokyo, Akasaka
They have the plan "Ladies Champagne Social" only for woman . Their home page introduced the plan as "The Champagne Bar is pleased to introduce an added food menu to its popular Ladies’ Champagne Social plan. To accompany the free-flowing champagne, guests can now choose one of three food menus: class, trendy or elegance."

After work, seven of my co-workers joined this ladies night and enjoyed champagne and the foods for two hours with chatting.

As they explained in their website, they have three choices of food menues. 

When I see the menu, the dessert "Pistachio Cream Brulee with Almond Croquant"got my attention.

I had "The champagne elegance" because of the dessert :)

Top of the plate was "Vegi sandwich" (Roasted tomate, mashroom, rocket salad with pesto genovese)

Second plate was "Sauted foie gras on toasted apricot bread with balsamic vinegar and blueberry"

It was very samll...but it was REALLY SO GOOD! I don't remember how many times I said "so good" while I was eating... I wish I could have it more...

The dessart was "Pistachio Cream Brulee with Almond Croquant"

Two other foods' plates "The champagne class" and "The champagne trendy" are like above.

My last two drinks were champagne cacktails, "Mango Passion" and "???"(I don't remember the name...it could be somthing Blue Hawaii.) I usually don't drink, but the night I probably drunk 6 glasses of bubbles. :)

I can't stop thinking about the sauted foie gras...I already decided to go back there next month again! 

Fresh Cheese in Tallinn, Estonia

In September, I traveled to Tallinn, Estonia while I was staying Helsinki during my summer vacation. The restaurant "Olde Hansa" is the only place I had the meal in Tallinn, and it seems it is the popular place for the tourist because of the Medieval-themed restaurant. I ordred the "Thick Meat Soup" and it came with the bread and fresh cheese. The cheese was really good, and I just remembered the taste couple weeks ago. Since then, I felt like I wanted to eat that cheese again.
Of course, I can't go to Tallinn just for the cheese. I decided to make it at home, and I found the recipe which looks simillar I had it at the restaurant. 

Here is the homemade cheese I made. It was really soft and creamy right after it was made. It smells more milk than the cheese I buy at a store. It was really good, but the taste and texture were different from the one I had in the restaurant. Next time I will try to make it again with a heavy cream.  

I couldn't wait to eat it until next morning, and I had it after the dinner... one bite:P  

This is the last weekend branch and I had it with the scrambled egg. It was nice!

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!