Aloha Hawaii

Aloha in Hawaiian means hello and good bye. But before I get to my last day in Hawaii, I want to share a few food things. 

Like this super cute honu green turtle melon bread filled with azuki bean paste. I found him at Nijiya Market and I suspect he originated from Watanabe Bakery. So cute and delicious! He even had a little tail. Stopping in at Nijiya was worth it.

I did find saimin noodles at the convention. Something I noticed about a lot of the food was much of it was salty. Maybe because of the heat it is a way to replace salt in the body?

I know sandwiches aren't that exciting. But I just had to compare Hawaii's version of egg salad with Japan's. I found these in a shop at the first floor of the hotel. They were actually pretty good. Sometimes I go with this for breakfast since it's easier. 

Fresh fruit! Cantaloupe, grapes and pineapple. I may have found this at the Ala Moana Center, a large shopping mall next to the hotel. I spent a little time looking around there. Since most of the restaurants were American chain places, I opted out of that. I finally found a food court that had places that locals recommended. One place had a good Caesar salad that I enjoyed for lunch one day.

 Also in the mall I found Honolulu Cookie Company. Yes I gave into temptation.

The cute pineapple shortbread cookies are not easy to resist. Some have dried fruit in the center. 

My favorites were the chocolate dipped cookies. Such temptation.

I also stopped at LUSH at the mall. Where I discovered they had a number of the Harajuku bath bombs. I bought a couple more including the butterfly.

Just a photo of the moon the night before I left. My room did have a decent view. 

And a pretty sky the next morning as I headed to the airport.

Time for lunch so I stopped at Makai Plantation.

Gave myself a bit of a treat with unagi nigiri which was delicious.

And I indulged in their ahi poké. It was just as good as the first time I ate it. No Blue Hawaiian this time. I was being good.  

And finally on my plane and headed back to the Mainland. One last look at the blues and greens of the Islands. 

 Waikiki Beach and beyond. 

 Diamond Head and beautiful water.

 Remembering I drove all the way along this south coast.

The Koko Crater area. It's so beautiful when you get away from all the concrete buildings and such. 

Aloha Hawaii. 

And back to Portland International Airport and the jellyfish case. 

Before I left I couldn't help but indulge in a couple purchases. 

Seriously, anyone who likes cookies would find it hard to pass this up. 

Along with a bag of Mongoose Kona coffee. This smelled so good. And the taste was wonderful.

So that's the last of my Hawaii blog posts. Thanks for sticking with me if you read all of them. Next up is a return to Tokyo. Because it's difficult for me to stay away.

Retracing My Steps in Shinjuku

Nine years ago I made my first visit to Shinjuku. I've been there a few times since then. And of course I was going to go back this trip. What I didn't know is I would end up going back more than once. To start with, here is a bit of color I saw that morning, near where I was staying in Ikebukuro.

What was interesting is I ended up retracing where I went nine years ago. Much has changed but this MOS Burger is still there. (that isn't me in the window, I don't have a reflection, lol)

I still wonder, do people eat this pizza burger?

Since I ate there nine years ago, I figured it would be good to do the same this trip. This MOS Burger is so busy they give pagers to let you know when your food is ready.

Predictable me ordering something like I did nine years ago.

That shrimp burger. Lemony good.

And their fries and onion rings.

This MOS Burger is across from my first stop. Closet Child Shinjuku. A very busy store but I didn't find anything I wanted. Still, it is a place to go for fun Japanese fashion at a good price.

And like that trip in 2010, I headed to MaruiOne Annex. Except it's not in the same building now. And the shop I visited then no longer exists. But there is KERA Shop, which lucky for us, still sells Moi-même-Moitié fashion.

And one of the items I purchased that day. The new Moi-même-Moitié tea cup and saucer. I couldn't resist trying it out while still in Japan. A spot of tea with the caramel and nut Tokyo Tulip Rose. This was a very nice moment.

Ikebukuro at Night Again

This was my third time staying in Ikebukuro. Each time I explore a little more. Ikebukuro really becomes alive at night.

There is still a lot that I have not seen on the east side. But I did check out a few more places. Back to Sunshine 60-dori area, which really seems to be where more young people spend time at night now.

With all the people around, street busking must do well. It was enjoyable to hear this man play. There was another young enthusiastic man who had set up playing his guitar and singing. It was interesting to see the faces of the young women watching him. I would not be surprised if one day he becomes well known.

The dining streets in that area. I walked through here last time. I do need to figure out where I would like to eat there. It is an interesting place.

Try finding decent sushi at this price here in the US.

There are other statues around Ikebukuro Station besides owls. One can't miss this calisthenic couple in the middle of Meiji-dori. 

It is also impossible to miss SEIBU Department Store. It runs along one side of Ikebukuro Station, along with the PARCO Department Store.

The reason I didn't stop at a restaurant there was because my goal was shopping. I finally made it to Closet Child. The Ikebukuro store has clothing along with a music section. I picked up this little CD for a few yen. That was nice.

This time I visited the kitchen floor of Tokyu Hands. Besides music being a theme of my trip, these ring molds I bought so I can make Japanese pancakes were a sign of what was to come.

On my way back to my hotel, I wandered into SEIBU's lower level. Many larger Japanese department stores dedicate their lower levels to food vendors. The term used is "Food Hall", but many are much nicer than just a hall. Glass counters with sales people often offering samples of delicacies from all over Japan. And in SEIBU, there is also a KitKat Chocolatory booth.

I've tried a number of Japanese KitKats over the years. The ones that got my attention this time were ones that the focus was on the cacao used to make the chocolate. I do like sweet and bitter, so the Sublime was perfect for that. The one above it is Sublime Raw. They cook the chocolate at a lower temperature to bring out more of the cacao beans natural flavor. It was also very nice, with a slight "green" taste.

I found the Hojicha-Roasted Tea KitKats at a konbini. This was more like their flavored KitKats. It wasn't too bad, and did have a slight bitter flavor to represent the tea.

My other purchase at the Chocolatory was a box of their Sublime Volcanic KitKats.

KitKat uses chocolate from South Pacific tropical islands. Yellow is cacao from Papua New Guinea, orange is from the Philippines, and green is from Vanuatu. For people who like good chocolate, these are worth trying. There were differences between the three. I had not planned to buy KitKats on this trip, but I'm glad I did get these and the Sublime chocolates.

But the best thing that I found in SEIBU was something I had hoped to enjoy. When I walked in, I saw a line. Lines are a thing in Japan, don't be surprised if you want to get something or go into a restaurant and there is a line for waiting. This time, it was for these, Tokyo Tulip Rose.

They are the creation of Chef Masahito Kanai, who studied in Paris and brought his pastry skills back to Japan. He has a number of different delicacies, but most were sold out. Lucky for me, they still had their little Tulip Roses.

The Tulip Roses are made of delicate cookies filled with a creamy center. The amount of flavor in each one is astounding. The pink ones are strawberry and raspberry for a sweet and sour burst of flavor. It surprised me and I really liked this one.

The yellow Tulip Roses are passion fruit and mango. Again with the delicious flavor. The third Tulip Rose is caramel and nuts and they did taste just like that. I enjoyed these so much that I wanted to get more. Sadly I didn't. I hope I can enjoy them again one day.