One month late

Happy 2019! A very belated greeting, as the title suggests... I failed to keep my goal of posting here at least once a month in 2018 and definitely already failed at it in the new year, since there's none in January. Nonetheless, February will be off to a great start!

Above: how the desk looked like end of last year. First thing this morning when I woke up I cleaned my area and threw out a huge bag of stuff. To make space for new and better things you really cannot hesitate to let go. While I believe I'm fairly organised at work I'm not as tidy as I'd like to be for my personal space. Time check, 10:41PM, desktop is still looking as good as *new* (50% less things than the picture!!). 

Even though I can't believe we're already into the second month of 2019, 2018 felt pretty long now that I'm looking back at what I've been up to in the past year. But I'm not complaining if time slows down; I'm realising the importance of "living in the moment" increasingly with each day. In January I was a nervous wreck, though now I see that I haven't lost anything but instead learnt and gained so much. I am so so blessed to be receiving encouragement from friends and strangers at a time when I needed it most... people who see my worth when I couldn't. Gives me so much more to keep going.

Digressed! I hope everyone had a wonderful start to the year so far. If you're in your lows and feel that you're losing strength, remember: it's the time when you'll have the most to gain. Fighting!

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CRISP PEACH COBBLER RECIPE

Recipe from here
Ingredients:
6 large yellow peaches, cut into eighths
zest & juice from 1 lemon

113g unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/3 cup self-rising flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup rolled oats
2/3 cup whole milk

1/4 cup granulated sugar
cold water

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 190ºC. Grease a baking dish (2 inches depth).
2. Cream butter and sugar together.
3. Add in oats, flour and salt and mix until just incorporated.
4. Mix in milk, until well combined.
5. Place cut peaches into baking dish, then zest and juice 1 lemon over. Gently toss peaches to coat evenly. Lightly spread the batter evenly over the top of the peaches.
6. Scatter the 1/4 cup of sugar on the batter and generously spritz the sugar-covered surface with cold water.
7. Bake for 45 minutes, et voilà!

Serve warm with good quality vanilla ice cream for the perfect summer dessert.

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MEMOIR: JAPAN ― KAWAGUCHIKO

First glimpse of Fuji-san!

The evasive beauty.

 Shibazakura Festival / moss phlox

Fuji-san is a different kind of beauty from what I've seen before 

and seeing it in person was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me.

Like a scene I've dreamt of.

Broiled trout at the festival site.

 Found a cute coffee truck enroute to the lake.

Lake Kawaguchi

VISIT:

Shibazakura Festival ― This annual moss phlox festival take place in April - May, but dates will change depending on blooming date, check their site to be sure! There are many food stalls at the festival site and the houtou I had there was so comforting to eat. Mount Fuji also looked extra surreal amidst the background of all the moss and trees.

Lake Kawaguchi ― If you bother to walk long and far you can probably get a good view of Fuji-san (again, on good days) but we didn't. Nonetheless, I think it's a place I can stay at the home day, just staring at the light reflecting off the water. 

Plot your day trip to Hakone/Fuji areas better by checking the Fuji webcams so that you'll be catching Fuji-san in its full glory, instead of feeling disappointed after making a long journey there and seeing only gloomy clouds:

Fuji Five Lakes: http://www.fujigoko.tv/english/

Hakone: http://www.hakone.or.jp/en/web-camera/camera_window5.html

This obviously means that you cannot book any tours or tickets in advance. If you do, it's really by luck! The weather is super unpredictable; it can be super sunny one day and rainy the entire of the day after. Our itinerary for Tokyo was quite flexible so what I did was to check the webcam for the five lakes in the morning and we went to Kawaguchiko on the day that Mount Fuji was clear. After not seeing the magnificent beauty in Hakone, I really couldn't afford to waste this trip!

That said, Mount Fuji's visibility is still pretty hard to predict throughout the day. Many times when I looked at the webcam (I know, I was obsessed!), it was visible in the morning and couldn't be seen by noon. So do check the weather forecast and go on an absolute clear, sunny day, without a hint of rain! 

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MEMOIR: JAPAN — TOKYO

Aoyama Flower Market

Shozo Coffee Store

Qu'il Fait Bon

Café Kitsuné

Vintage Qoo

Maisen 

Luke's Lobster

Flamingo Vintage

Tokyo Disneyland

Tokyo Milk Cheese Factory's soft serve

Tsukiji Market

 Enthusiastic vendors

Roasted sweet potatoes truck — sweetest I've ever had.

Ginza

Shake Shack

 Meiji Jingu

Harajuku

Uoriki Sushi

The chef made mini sushi for us! How precious 😭

Shibuya Crossing

apartment x hood

 Shin Udon — best udon of my life

Tokyo Tower

 Kabukicho

 Kaikaya By The Sea — ended off the trip with a great meal.

Great food, lively interior, friendly people, and a cute menu to boot. 

VISIT:

Omotesando — LOVE this hood. So many cute shops, and potential boutiques to shop at. Also, endless cafes and food options! We spent an entire day here.

Tokyo Disneyland — Especially if you love slow rides. Also, yummy food for a theme park, and super cute packaging for their merchandise. I've never seen people shopping so crazily at theme park stores. 

Tsukiji Fish Market — Get the grilled scallops topped with uni, unagi on sticks, mochis and daifukus! 

Ginza — For departmental stores and luxury brands. Sadly I fell sick on the day we were supposed to go back so I wasn't able to discover more about Ginza. But I know it has great potential!

Meiji Jingu — Try coming on weekends to catch a wedding in procession at the shrine. Don't forget to get your fortune read!

Harajuku — Shopping! Crêpe stores! And wacky street styles. 

Shibuya — Again, shopping (but how's that surprising for Tokyo?). Hachiko statue. And experience the madness of the crossing intersection yourself. 

Tokyo Tower/Skytree — For city views. We went to Tokyo Tower cause we fancied a closer view of the city. But apparently from Skytree you would be able to see Tokyo Tower!

Kabukicho — This is the red light district, so don't be alarmed to see the sex shops and people soliciting on the street. The neon lights and Godzilla head are real cute though. Also, there's Ichiran and Don Quijote here. 

EAT:

Afuri Ramen, several locations — Citrusy yuzu soup base. 

Aoyama Flower Market Tea House, 5 Choma-1-2 Minamiaoyama, Minato-ku — If there's one in Singapore I'll be broke faster than I could say "flowers". 

Dominique Ansel, Omotesando & Ginza — Cronuts, cookie shot, and more. 

Kaikaya By The Sea, 23-7 Maruyama-cho, Shibuya-ku — Fusion of asian and western seafood cuisine. We had the 8-course meal (3500yen per pax before tax) and every dish was delectable and value for money. Throughout the meal I was just thinking, how can every dish be so good? Also, super love the lively vibe and friendly staffs here. Reservations required!

Luke's Lobster, several locations including Omotesando — Chilled lobster chunks sandwiched between a toasted buttery bun. So dang good.

Maisen, 4 Chome-8-5 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku — Tonkatsu.

Pablo, several locations — Because it's cheaper there. A good snack anytime anywhere. 

Shake Shack, several locations — And now I totally get the hype. Best. Burger. Of. My. Life. And I don't even eat burgers!

Shin Udon, 2 Chome-20-16 Yoyogi, Shibuya-ku — Luckily for us this was just downstairs from our apartment, because this is the best udon of my life. Yes I had a lot of best meals in Japan. But I love udon and I've never had udon like that. Think a soft boiled egg + salt + pepper atop freshly made udon with tempura at the side. The udon was so smooth and springy! So good we went back twice (for the rest, thrice, cause I was sick at home one day). Drooling right now. Note that you will have to wait in line for quite awhile though, because the shop can only accommodate 14 people at a time. 

Tokyo Milk Cheese Factory, several locations — Their milky soft serve is so good, better than Cremia IMO.

Uoriki Sushi, 2 Chome-24-1 Shibuya — A very small sushi bar located in Tokyu Departmental Store. The sushi chefs definitely looked like masters with years of experience and you'd enjoy watching them making the sushi at the counter seat. One of them even made mini sushi for me, because I obviously love taking pictures. 😊

Qu'il Fait Bon, 3 Chome-18-5 Minamiaoyama, Minato-ku — This is on my list for Kyoto, but we found one in Tokyo right opposite Shozo Coffee, and this was where we had our tarts because we didn't have time in Kyoto. What luck!

DRINK: 

Shozo Coffee Store, 3-13 Minamiaoyama, Minato-ku — A rustic coffee shop by the road, how cute is that?

SHOP:

ABC Mart, many locations throughout Japan — Sneakers.

Amore Vintage 5-39-2 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku — Vintage Chanel everything.

Flamingo Vintage, several stores — Had good finds here!

Isetan Departmental Store, 3 Chome-14-1 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku — Stockist of international designers + shopping for souvenir snacks.

Kiddy Land, 6-1-9 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku — How did 6 adults spend so much money in Kiddy Land? Don't ask. 

Matsumoto Kiyoshi, many stores — Drugstore.

Opening Ceremony, 5-7-1 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku

Stylenanda, 1-6-9 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku

Takashimaya Departmental Store — Souvenir snacks. 

Vintage Qoo, 4-11-15 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku — Vintage luxury. Was so surprised to find that Chanel star-studded sunnies on the tray! Really love the selection here, just dreaming of the day that I'll be able to afford them, haha!

(Sadly I fell sick on the day that I'm supposed to do all the shopping so that's all for my list. 🤦🏻‍♀️)

BUY:

Calbee+, several locations — Jagabee, and other potato snacks. Get the takoyaki-flavoured Jagariko!

Jaga Pokkuru, from ANA duty-free shop.

Press Butter Sand, JR Tokyo Station (it's inside the ticketing area!) — Cream and caramel sandwiched between two shortbread cookies. I know it's already a yes. Can I also add that the packaging is super win? Whoever created this cookie is surely some design geek. 

Nissin Ippudo Instant Ramen Noodles, from convenience stores — Tastes almost like the real thing!

Tokyo Banana — I really mean the other products such as the langue de chat sandwich cookies or matcha cake. 

Royce Nama Chocolate, from ANA duty-free shop — Cause it's so much cheaper here.

Shiroi Koibito, from ANA duty-free shop — Somehow no other langue de chat sandwich cookies can beat this. 

Yoku Moku — Rolled up langue de chat. Like loveletters but better. 

Lululun Face Masks, from drugstores.

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