A Day When Nothing Extraordinary Happened

There was a day when the weather was very hot and humid. Not feeling 100% I decided to just stay in Ikebukuro and do a little shopping.

Pretty much this post is just to document I did go to MOS Burger near Sunshine Dori and ate a shrimp burger and their delicious onion rings with an ice tea.

Ikebukuro proof is the owls.

While not all bought on this day, I did stop in at Tomads which had the Herb time bath salts. The lavender and eucalyptus one is really nice. The others I bought at Tokyu Hands in Ikebukuro.

The other good place to shop this trip was Uniqlo because they had nice long t-shirts and t-shirt dresses in solid colors.

Since this post is so short, I'll share a few food items. Of course I visited Midori Sushi in Ikebukuro Station.

Really good chirashi. Midori Sushi has delicious ikura.

Caesar salad from 7-Eleven! Yes I was surprised that they have expanded their salad selection. Probably the nicest caesar salad I've had in Japan with romaine lettuce and I could taste garlic in the dressing.

Something I received when I was shopping at SEIBU's food hall. I had to wait till I got home to try this dip style Nescafé coffee. Now I want more. Why can't we buy it here?

I'm not sure what day I received my Moi-même-Moitié order. There is a bit of a story to this. Part of this order was for items I bought back in April. But the US Post Office failed to deliver them to me, instead sending them back to Japan. There was no reason for them doing that, my address was correct. They still have not responded to my request to be reimbursed for the shipping.

By the time the items made it back to Japan, I had made a second order of the yukata and accessories. So Wunderwelt and Moi-même-Moitié were really great in combining both orders and sending me everything to my hotel in Tokyo. I am very grateful they did this.

As for the yukata, obi, lace tabi socks and obi bands? They are all very pretty. The tabi socks are very soft and I'm so happy to have the candelstick lace bands.

My first order was to replace my lost Jewelry Roses print fan. Sadly they no longer have these, so I went with the Cross fan.

One other item I received with my yukata order was the Pass Case with Strap. This was so helpful! Unless a person has actually been in Ikebukuro Station, you don't know how chaotic it is. Having my train pass right there and not having to worry about dropping it was a big help.

Like my last trip, there was an evening run to Closet Child in Harajuku. This little Moi-même-Moitié gargoyle had been there for some time so I decided to give it a new home. It was also my dinner companion one evening during my trip.

The real reason for the run was this. A vintage Moi-même-Moitié Coffin Blue Ring. Something I had wanted for a long time but was unsure because I wanted one that would fit my finger. So it was really nice to be able to try it on before buying. And yes, it does fit perfectly.

It's a Food Trip in Tokyo

I mentioned a couple of things I ate in Tokyo, including that fun meal at the Vampire Cafe. Here's a few other things. Seasonal label of Oi Ocha Green Tea. I buy Oi Ocha in the US too. Making sure I was hydrated in that hot weather was important. Glad I did well with that. 

Only bag of Calbee chips I bought, near the start of my trip. Forerunner of the "everything is lemon flavor" of that time of the year. These actually were good. 

I did get some things from Boulangere Asanoya, including those cute little pies. This was their lemon bread, which was also good. 

I found Halloween KitKats at the local konbini! Since I had not tried pudding KitKats before, I went for it.

Cute little packaging. The flavor wasn't bad, but the chestnut KitKats were better.

My one super overly sweet treat. Konbini chocolate crepe. Fresh crepes at stands are better but this was okay. 

Mostly I ate this. Salads, along with nigiri sushi. I think my sushi craving was because I needed salt and protein, but didn't want heavy food. It's great that many konbini have decent sushi for not a lot of money. 

 A few things that made it home with me. Barely. Curry from both Hiroshima TAU and Marui One Annex Shinjuku. More of that Hiroshima lemon and orange flavored black tea, along with a lemon jam and lemon juice. They didn't have the setouchi lemon juice that I usually get.

 As for the curry, the one on the left was from Hiroshima TAU. Hiroshima oysters and seasoned with Hiroshima brand Lemosco, a lemon hot sauce, this was one hot curry. I was a little disappointed that there weren't more oysters. I ended up saving part of this and reheating it with shrimp the next day. 

The other was Tochigi Prefecture Lemon Milk Curry from Marui One Annex regional antenna shop. It's on the first floor and they always have interesting food from all over Japan. It's a good place to get stuff to take home for gifts. I was a little hesitant about this since it said it was a milk curry, but it was actually good! Chicken with a nice balance of lemon. I'd eat this again if I can find it. But it's difficult because the US prevents imports of curry with meat in it, unless there is major testing first. 

And sake from Hiroshima TAU. It's a nice sake shop on the second floor. I bought that sake I like along with a bottle of something a little special. 

From Sempuku Brewery in Hiroshima, this is another of their sake for the anime movie "In this Corner of the World". It's their Chisaku Momiji ginjo sake made with maple yeast. It was a lovely sake, very nice smooth flavor.

Besides food, I did get a couple of concert related items. This Közi photobook was available at the Deep Sanctuary VI MALICE MIZER 25th Anniversary Event. I picked it up for someone but of course I flipped through it. Really nice art photography of the musician and artist Közi. I recommend it for his fans. 

It came with a post card of Közi so now I have a set of him with Mana. Sadly no Yu~ki post card was available. So I don't have a complete set of MALICE MIZER members. 

Since the MALICE MIZER shirts were not available at the show, and the ones I ordered are suppose to ship very soon (yeah having to pay shipping for something which should have been at the concert, not the best thing), I ended up getting one of the new Moi dix Mois dolman shirts. Pardon the not so lovely hotel room bathroom door.

It's bigger and lighter weight than the other dolman shirts that I have. It's good for hot weather wearing. 

I wasn't planning on buying a tote bag, but the blue of the new Moi dix Mois tote was really appealing to me. It ended up being a good thing, made it easier to carry stuff after I fell at the concert. It's bigger than my other snap Moi dix Mois tote, so that is also nice. And there are the picks I bought at ESP Museum. The new Közi and Mana MALICE MIZER picks created for the 25th Anniversary. I bought extra so I could add them to my Moi dix Mois key chain, which now has four different Mana picks.

So that is probably it for my recent trip posts. However there are a few related things I want to write about. Including the new MALICE MIZER costumes and maybe a translation or two. So that may happen very soon.

Calbee Chip Crunch Time

 So one of the fun things I did while in Japan was eating different limited Calbee potato chips. Calbee is known for creating all kinds of variations. I thought I would only find a couple varieties at the local konbini. Little did I know... So one of the first kinds I saw was this Mentaiko Pizza, 明太子ピザ. That's right, cod roe pizza chips.

I wasn't sure what to expect. Though might be really salty. Well no large chunks of mentaiko on the chips. These weren't too bad and were not too salty. Can't say I would have bought more though.

So if I could try those why not also attempt the pepperoni pizza chips.

Bigger bits of cheese on this. Definitely had a pepperoni pizza flavor. Which was a little overwhelming for their light chips.

Also with the pizza chips I'm guessing you could get pizza chip socks, ties and underwear. And who hasn't wanted to curl up in a pizza chip pillow?

Not sure if this guy is suppose to be Italian or a blond version of John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever.

Timing for this chicken wings was pretty funny. A friend online was asking why did she buy frozen buffalo wings (chicken wings). Seems they were pretty bad.

Calbee's take on chicken wings fared better.

This was an odd combination. Cheese and Edamame. 

I couldn't taste much edamame flavor. Mostly what was like a white mild cheddar. 

Something different. Calbee Takumi Ebisen from the Tau Hiroshima store.

Each chip individually packaged. Definitely an omiyage gift thing.

How they appear inside. Something special for shrimp chip lovers.

I knew I might regret this purchase. Because it was mega garlic. You have to really love garlic to enjoy these. Garlic to the point of being spicy hot. Good thing I wasn't going anywhere after these.

And my favorite. Not sure what all is on these but I know there is anchovies and garlic. Much more subdued than the mega garlic chips. Really good and I wish stores outside of Japan carried these.

I've said before I rarely eat potato chips but Calbee is the exception. Usually I try a bag or two while in Japan but this time I seemed to luck out with the different flavors. Right after this they announced they had to cut back on some of their different chips. So it was fun to try some while they were available.

Tokyo Food

Probably better to title this "A Sampling of Tokyo Konbini Food". While I didn't eat every meal from a konbini, I did take advantage of the variety of fresh food you can get at them. Like this teriyaki chicken I ate the first night. Always good to know the words "atatame masu ka?" which is what the employees will ask wanting to know if you want them to warm your food.

Being in Japan in March means it's time for sakura themed everything. This little crepe was one of the first things I bought at 7-Eleven.

This was like a dorayaki filled with "fluffy mochi" or so the wrapper said. Hidden inside was a bit of whipped cream and anko red bean paste I think. It was actually pretty good.

I went looking for almonds and found these on sale. Also pretty good. I know we can get Lotte Almonds here, not sure about the crisp part. I did find non-chocolate almonds later.

That sakura theme? It's on everything. Including this rather sweet sake. I did try it, not something I would drink again. Definitely a marketing for sakura watching parties. Personally if it's sparkling I would rather have champagne.

Sorry my photos aren't better lit. Result of having windows of another building just yards away from mine. I don't think I opened the drapes the whole time I was there. Thus lack of light for photos. At least this sushi roll was better than the photo. Cucumber and surimi with a mustard mayo seasoning. Not my usual choice for sushi but I wanted to try something different.

Back to the sakura theme and my little dessert that night. This was more like a short bread cookie with a salt pickled sakura bud. Definitely different.

I don't know why I decided to try different sake this trip but it helped that konbini have a variety of small bottles to chose from. I think this is the same maker as the big US brewer Takera. Who are also responsible for that Mio sake. This however was not brewed in the US.

Glad I had an excuse to try the Yamazaki strawberry cake. Also nice my room had a fridge to keep the second piece cold for another day.

Because there was a birthday so why not enjoy a little something for it. Pretty delicious.

And a french cruller donut for breakfast in between concerts. For those who can't decide if they want chocolate or not. (I swear I bought this before someone else posted a photo of a french cruller donut at that time).

This Hatsukuru Yamada Nishiki sake was my favorite along with that great one from Hiroshima. The glass is one of the things that made it home with me.

 This Tamano Hikari sake was nice too.

I looked for chocolates that I can't find in the US. Choices were a bit limited in the konbini. I did find these Fujiya brand Look chocolates. Unusual flavors plus a lot of packaging.

Last are a couple of pastries I didn't get at a konbini but at La Boulangerie Quignon at Tachikawa Station. Which leads to my next set of posts.

Pretty nice baked goods for my last day and of course there's that sakura blossom on the scone.