Japan 2012 - Part 8 (Tokyo)

It was a rainy day when we hopped on the train to Shibuya. And the moment we got off the train the heavens opened above us, but thankfully not for long!



Just outside Shibuya station is a statue of Hachiko, the loyal dog. I liked him.



Just past Hachiko is the famous Shibuya crossing, which was awash with a sea of umbrellas due to the weather. We spent some time poking around and looking in the super cute department store Tokyu Hands, where I bought an awesome battery operated chasey toy for the cats.



We had lunch at the amazing Vegan Healing cafe, which I now read is closed. Sadness! I loved this place. I had the felafel plate, which was amazing. Delicious felafel balls with sesame and tomato sauces, salad with a sweet dressing and pickles. I love Japanese pickles!



I tried a piece of chocolate and coconut cake for dessert, which was lovely. Also some chai, which had a funny consistency.

After lunch we walked around and found a lovely little ceramics museum - I love ceramics. And poked around some shops a bit more, there is so much fun stuff to see in Japan. I also visited Lush and bought some hand cream, I still have the pot with its Japanese writing on it. I will not be exchanging that for a free face mask!



Shibuya at night was all lit up! I picked out dinner restaurant, a place called Vege Cafe, after Chelsea's rave review. She even very nicely emailed me a map! But it downloaded a bit funny on my phone and I ended up getting us really lost, but eventually I worked out the issue with the map and we made it there!



While not entirely vegan, there are a lot of vegan options. It also has a salad bar, and we were starving, so we started with some salad while waiting for the rest of our food to come out.








We had: Chips with pumpkin dip and salsa, Tempura with tomato chili sauce, bread, Stuffed pumpkin (hold the cheese) and Braised shimeji mushrooms in foil. Finished off with some chai. It was a pretty delicious meal! Afterwards we headed back to the hotel for the hotel.


The next morning we took the subway to Asakusa to visit the famous Asakusa Shrine and Sensoji Temple. It was a beautiful day, so was absolutely packed! There is a street heading up to the shrine that is lines with all sort of little stalls, and it is quite a pretty, festive atmosphere. After visiting here we stopped by the nearby Edo-Shitamachi Tradition Museum, which is well worth a look in if you are interested in traditional crafts. Also don't forget to keep a look out for the famous Golden Poo on top of a building down by the river. You'll know it when you see it!



I couldn't visit Tokyo without visiting Kappabashi Dogugai, or Kitchen Street. This street is packed full of all sorts of kitchenwares. From baking shops to cutlery, bowls, furniture, kettles, bulk food... everything you could ever think of! There are also many shops selling plastic food for display. I considered getting a little something, but it is so pricey! There is a whole different district a bit out of Tokyo where plastic food is made!



We caught the Himiko Water Bus from Asakusa to Odaiba. The water bus, as you can see, if largely enclosed in glass so you get great views. Thankfully it does not have glass floors! Today was going to be light on the food options for me, so I had packed a whole stack of snack bars!





Odaiba is an artifical island. Apparently it used to be used for defense but now it has all sorts of huge shopping centres and theme park type things there. We wandered into Venus Fort, which as you can see from the top picture was not your average shopping centre. It had a lot of clothes shops and what not there, but it also had awesome shops like Sylvanian Families and also a Kawaii Paradise arcade downstairs. We also wandered into the Toyota exhibition hall which had some pretty cool prototypes and interactive games.



After that it was a train ride across the famous Rainbow Bridge, then we transferred onto the Subway to go to Ginza. Ginza also lights up at night. It is strange how advertising ends up kind of looking really pretty! There are also several gorgeous stationary stores in Ginza. For dinner we went to Ain Soph, a vegan restaurant.







I ordered the Everything Course, because why wouldn't you? It started with some fancy tea, then there was a spring vegetable salad (served in a tall glass) and some soup. This was followed by a plate with a selection of offerings - wraps, quiche and nuggets. Then a dessert selection and chai to finish it off. It was a beautiful meal!



My mum ordered the Mushroom Hayashi Rice, which she enjoyed. Then it was back to the hotel.

Japan 2012 - Part 7 (Kyoto to Tokyo)

I really need to get a move on and finish blogging my Japan trip, so then I can blog last year's trip to the US! In exciting news, I will be leaving for the US again in three weeks time! So I will have even more travel posts to blog! Considering this is not actually a travel blog, I promise I will eventually get back to cookbooks! But there is just so much wonderful food out there in the world that needs to be eaten!

Thank you for your kind words and thoughts regarding Possum. It means so much to our family.

Our final day in Kyoto dawned, and I has a banana, some packaged sweet potato and some strawberry soy milk for breakfast before heading back to Toji to check out the monthly market. It was huge, full of lots and lots of stalls. If you see something you like there, buy it when you see it, because you will never find your way back to the stall! I am still so sad that I never found the kitty-themed stall again.



I picked up some fried sweet potato chips, thanks to my mum's help to discover what sort of oil they were using. I was expecting a salty snack, but they were actually coated in sugar. Which was OK, but strange.




I stopped by Kyoto Tower for some panoramic views, which included a cheesy tourist photo that I seem to have misplaced, so sadly I cannot share that with you. But Francesca the travel cat will model the tower for you.




Then it was onto the famous Shinkansen (bullet train) to travel to Tokyo. Top tip - the bullet train is not very friendly to people who have huge suitcases, like me. But thankfully we managed to find a space for them! I had a stash of snacks for the trip. The highlight was passing Mt Fuji on a beautiful, clear day so we could see the famous peak.



Our hotel was right next to Tokyo Station. We were both exhausted, so we ordered an early room service dinner. The hotel was super helpful with my vegan needs. I had Wok-Seared Tofu and Spring Vegetables with Soy Sauce and rice, which may not sound too exciting but was like heaven.



The next day, after a morning snack of rice bread, chive pate, fruit and chocolate soy milk, we headed on the subway to Omote Sando and took a walk around the shops. Best shop by far was Kiddy Land! Full of all your favourite characters, this is definitely not just for kids. Miffy!!





We met up with my mum's friend Miranda, who very kindly took us for lunch at Brown Rice Cafe. We ordered lunch sets, which you can see were full of so many delicious things. And I finished up with a sweet little Tofu Tart for dessert. Miranda walked us to the Tokyo store of Natural House, where I stocked up on some more essentials, including more rice bread, a mini-loaf of rye, pate and fruit.




After saying goodbye to Miranda, mum and I walked down to Meiji Shrine and wandered around the shrine and the beautiful gardens, where there is a very famous well. I also left left an 'ema', a small wooden wishing plaque on the tree there.





We caught a train back to the hotel for a break, then headed out for dinner. T's Tantan is a vegan ramen shop that is inside Tokyo Station. You need to buy a Platform Ticket to get there, but that is only 130 yen, plus there are heaps of really fun shops inside the station! But this trip was for eating. Mum ordered the Smile Curry, but I could not go past the Shoyu Ramen with Soy Meat (and a healthy dose of white peper). This was so good, so warming, so delicious. If you go there, order this!



On the way back through the station we found Brown Rice Deli, a mini-version of Brown Rice Cafe that sells ready to go food. I picked up this inari for an after dinner snack. Then it was back to the hotel and fast asleep!

Possum, a farewell

Five weeks ago tomorrow (Saturday), our beloved family cat Possum was injured. His injuries were so severe that surgery was not a realistic option, and we made the painful decision to help him go in peace.




Possum was nineteen years old, he had been in my family for almost two thirds of my life. He had stage three renal disease, arthritis and was going a bit batty, as old cats tend to do. But he still had a gleam in his eye and could frisk up the stairs like a kitten if he wished to. He had a firmly established routine in his life (he liked his routine), and ruled over the house with a quiet dignity. He was a gentleman.



Possum came into our family in November 1994 as a tiny little kitten. For my high school years, the two of us were very close. After I moved away for university, and eventually came back nine years later with three cats (something he dealt with with great tolerance), he very much became my parent's boy. However he still saved some moment for me. I treasure all these moments.



Unlike the long, painful ordeal with Gizmo, Possum's departure was sudden and unexpected (though in the immortal words of Tara Maclay from Buffy... It's always sudden...). We were all so used to working within his routine, and to having his quiet presence nearby. Adjusting to a two cat household with Dim Sim and Sahara.



Goodbye good boy, handsome boy. Thank you for nineteen years. I hope you are frolicking freely, and eating all the prawns and kangaroo you want.

Japan 2012 - Part 7 (Hikone and Kyoto)

Happy New Year! It's well beyond the new year now (I'll share some food from that time in a later post), so let's get back to Japan!




While perusing some food shops earlier in the trip I had found this vacuum packed pumpkin which I had with some rice and a side of fruit (from my mother's breakfast). The pumpkin ended up being sweet, which was quite odd!

I was heading out on my own today for a train trip to Hikone so I could see one of the original castles of Japan in all its glory! I managed to get on the right train and get off at the right stop. And thankfully there was a very helpful English speaking person at the information office who gave me a great map to point me in the way of the castle and also let me know there was a festival on in the town that day!



On the way to the castle was a roundabout with a famous statue - and also a figure of the little Hikone mascot, named Hikonyan. More on mascots later!



At the castle I bought a '1000 Yen Set', which gave me access to the Castle Museum (which was really interesting and had a lovely place for tea). The castle itself was lovely to behold, though you can see from the inside the Japanese style of castle is very different to the European style! Also it had these ridiculous almost vertical staircases. So steep! I am terrified of heights and when I had to descend it was slow and very scary. But worth it!



After the castle I walked down a steep hill to the gardens, which were lovely and also afforded some very pretty views of the castle as well.



After the castle I walked down Castle Road (finding an adorable cat themed shop on the way - I bought some ridiculously cute little rice bowls!) and found this festival. It was the Hikone Mascot Festival! I am still not sure what it was all about, but it seemed to be different Mascots from all over Japan who had little tourism or information stalls selling all sorts of different things. And they all had people dressed up as adorable mascots! I have know idea which mascot this is, but it is a kitty! There were a couple of kitty mascots. So much fun!

I made my way back to the station and caught the train back to Kyoto, snacking on a fruit and nut bar I had brought from home. Once back in Kyoto I had a rest at the hotel, and had some 7-11 inigiri and edamame for lunch before heading out again.



What sort of vegan would I be if I didn't visit the temple called Tofukuji? I caught a train to Tofukuji station, but then got a little lost. However some helpful people assisted me with directions. Tofukuji is the site of some very famous gardens, some of which you can see above. It is a very beautiful place.



I took a taxi to my next stop (I was tired), the incredible Inari Shrine. Fushimi Inari Shrine has entire pathways made up of tori gates that wind up a mountain, and it is full of beautiful stone fox statues. It is pretty amazing.



As I was walking up, a man was trotting up the hill with a backpack full of cat food. Several cats were around, very timid, but they came running out to greet him. I would have hugged him if I could.



After my shrine experience I caught a train back to the hotel for a shower (it was a long day) and then the subway out to dinner. I finally made it to Hale! Hale has a strict no photo policy, but I did take some notes as to what I ate.

When I first sat down I was brought some cucumber spears with some sort of miso garlic dressing. I ordered the Hale Dinner Set for 2400 Yen, determined to eat as much as I could! It started with 'Kyoto Hattori's Delicious Chilled Tofu', which was indeed delicious, creamy and lightly salted. Then came 'Two Types Kyoto Seasonal Vegetable Dish'. One of the types was eggplant, capiscum and carrot ribbons with seaweed, and the other was some sort of carrot noodle in a sesame dressing. Following this was a bamboo steamer full of organic veggetables - lotus, pumpkin, okra, mushroom, daikon, carrot, potato, onion turnip, edamame and some soft green thing. This came with three dippers - salt, soy and sweet miso. 'Today's Fried Tofu and Fried Gluten Meat' was always going to be popular! Fried tofu, lotus balls, root, gluteny blobs, chilli, yuba crisp, leaves and cucumber and bean sprouts with dressing, Japanese mustard and chestnut. Yum!. But my favourite may have been the 'Yuba and Mushrooms Rice Bowl', enoki mushrooms and shreds of yuba over brown rice. This was also served with tea. Drink wise I also had a homemade grapefruit ginger ale, which is a must buy drink if you are at Hale! In fact, Hale is a much eat at place if you are at Kyoto! It did look like one thing contained something fishy, however the English menu is very clear as to what is what.



One thing Hale didn't have was dessert, so I popped back in to Matsunotoko for some Deep Fried Yatsu Hashi with Ice Cream and Green Tea.



On my way back to the hotel wandering through Nishiki I came across this lovely shop cat who was very giving with her affection. A lovely end to a mammoth day!