Tag Archive for 'chocolate'

For Love of Chocolate

Published on February 14, 2011 in Family, Japan and Parenting. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and that means chocolate is out in stores all around Japan. This is the time of year where girls (in Japan) go crazy buying chocolate for the men in their lives, and crazy is an understatement. We, of course, have seem to have made it an annual tradition to join in the craziness with a trip to the Takashimaya department store in Yokohama to see the expensive chocolates and try the free samples.

Since Friday was off, we actually headed out that day. It turned out to be the coldest day of the year here, with snow actually falling from the sky. It was almost (but not quite) enough to keep us from our day in Yokohama. When we got there, it was surprisingly not ridiculously busy – only stupidly crazy busy.

We checked around and found a lot of good chocolate. Layla was in super-excited mode as she has a bit of a sweet tooth and loves eating stuff off sticks (toothpicks, in this case). I think we checked out every booth. There was some really cool looking chocolates in some of them, but the prices were enough to scare any sane person away. I’m sure they still sold a bunch this weekend.


Chocolate shaped like crepes!

After battling the insanity, and even taking part of it as Tamie bought a few things, we went shopping for a bit and then for lunch at a small cafe. Chelsea’s Cafe has a decent clubhouse sandwich, for anyone in the neighbourhood looking for such a place. I only mention this because I’m always looking for such a place but never remember them when we find one. Decent sandwich shops in Japan are few and far between.

On the way home, we jumped on a crowded train. We were standing near the door and as we pulled into a station, I noticed two seats open up. We headed over to grab them and some dude from the other door quickly swooped in and took one just as Layla and Tamie were about to sit down. He must have been so tired from moving so fast that he then proceeded to “fall asleep”, not noticing the 3 year old kid wondering why some guy took her seat. Layla eventually sat ON Tamie, crowding the exhausted man. Two stations later he got off.


Doesn’t he look tired?

Saturday we headed to Isehara for a chocolate party that Tamie, Layla and Hamster had been planning. Everyone pitched in and bought some chocolates for all to share… it was ridiculous. And fantastic. Everyone indulged, including Tamie’s parents, but no one could compete with our little 3 year old. Layla out-ate everyone, sampling chocolates from every box before making second and third rounds to the boxes she liked.


Chocolate Party! In full swing!

It was a great time, but not one I think we’ll repeat for a while. We took home more chocolate than I know what to do with, although I’m sure none of it will go to waste… like I said, Layla’s got a bit of a sweet tooth… and as surprising as it might be to some, so do I… I’m sure we’ll find some way to dispose of it. =)

Finally Spring is Here… At Least For Now.

Published on March 15, 2010 in weekend. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

Finally, after many days of rain, snow, sleet and just plain coldness, the spring season seems to be upon us. This weekend was especially nice, with the sun beaming down from above, warming our hearts and our homes. For the first time in a long time, we had the windows open and the fresh air blowing through. It was nice.

Saturday, we did nothing more than some brief shopping and a bit of relaxing outside sipping on frappuccinos and coffee at our local Starbucks as we people watched and ate lunch.

Sunday (March 14) is White Day, and although it sounds like a day that celebrates guys like me it, unfortunately, is not. White Day is the chocolate-company sponsored sister holiday to Valentine’s Day here… On Valentine’s Day, women are obligated to buy every man they know some form of chocolate, much to the chocolate companies’ delight. On White Day, it’s the opposite obligation — men buy for women. So, I had to pick up chocolates for all the ladies in my life, at least in Japan (sorry Mom :P ).

Saturday night, ie. White Day’s Eve, Layla was eager to crack open the chocolate we bought. Not one to say no to such a cute kid, we cracked open Tamie and Layla’s chocolates after the nice dinner Tamie prepared. Tamie was anxious to try the chocolate we got her, but so was Layla. A cat fight nearly broke out as they argued over who would get which chocolate. Luckily, Layla and her mom were able to work it out and eventually shared it all. Even with me, the white guy! =)

After the dessert was done and put away, play doe was remembered (we’d just bought it at the dollar store earlier in the day). Layla was eager to play with it, and I brought it out while Tamie played games on her phone… the seemingly disinterested Mom eventually came over and after numerous claims of not being creative and not knowing how to use play doe, she ended up creating many things – from cakes to frogs to airplanes! She put my sad little multi-colored duck to shame… Layla, too, was good a master at the play does… I guess I’ll practice when they’re in bed.

Sunday was another nice day. I’m not sure how the morning was as we didn’t wake up until after noon. We had a nice pancake breakfast/lunch/afternoon tea around 2, before heading out. We were going to go the park, but before going I needed to stop and get some pictures for my passport application. It was only supposed to take 15 minutes, but seemed to take a lot longer… here’s hoping the pictures are “good enough” for the strict passport regulations.

At the park, we bubbled, we snacked, we balled, we slid, and jumped… at least Layla did all that… Tamie and I each did some subset of those. By 17:30, the sun was setting and we headed down to Vina Walk for some dinner at a decent fish Izekaya (Japanese bar/restaurant). The special tonight was whale, and Layla loved it… but only after we told her it was dolphin. What a kid.

After supper, Tamie went grocery shopping and I took Layla to get dessert – ice cream at the Baskin Robbins. She ate all her food so she deserved it. She even tells her toys now that if they want dessert they have to eat all their food. It’s so cute. It’s not so cute when she tells me the same thing. =)

Pictures? Got plenty… Check them out:

Mom and Daughter
Last Week – Posers 		Starbucks Pictures
Saturday 		Park Pictures
Sunday

More Chocolate. This Time, With Beef.

Published on February 11, 2010 in weekend. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Today was a national holiday – I’m not sure which one and the internet is telling me it is National Foundation Day… so your guess is as good as mine. =) What this means is we got the day off work! Hello, 3 day week… followed by a 1 day week. At least, that’s how I’m looking at it.

We ended up going back to Yokohama to hit up Takashimaya, the department store that we were too late to visit on the weekend. Of course it being a few days from Valentine’s Day, the chocolate fairs were in full force and the battling ladies were vicious. I had to carry Layla just so she wouldn’t be trampled! After checking out a few of the stands, sampling a few wares and seeing a lot of the same things we saw a few days ago, Layla said in no uncertain terms she was hungry.

Luckily, in Japan food is never far away. The department store has a floor dedicated to restaurants and, fortuitously, we were on it. We headed over to see what there was and find something to eat. There was plenty of choice, from Italian to Chinese to Japanese. We passed by a sukiyaki shop as we looked around and for whatever reason, Layla got it in her head that that’s what she wanted. Who am I to argue with her? We looked at everything else, even the steak place offering up Kobe beef, but in the end Layla won out… to the victor goes the spoils, and sukiyaki was the prize.

Once we were at our seats we were given menus and some time to make up our minds… tough choice – did we want meat, cheap meat, or expensive meat? We went with meat. And a beer.

The waitress quickly brought us our food and drinks and surprisingly, prepared our meal for us. She beat our egg, cooked our meat and vegetables, served us and even cleaned up our mess afterwards. One thing this country does right is service — she even offered to blow on it when it was too hot for Layla! Okay, she didn’t do that, but the rest of it she happily did. Can you believe we don’t even tip after that great service?

After eating, we did a bit of shopping before heading back home. A quick stop at the grocery store to buy dinner for the 1 day work-week and then we were home and putting the kid to bed.

All in all, a great way to spend a rainy day.

Gallery found here:

Click me for the gallery
Click Here.

Yokohama Chocolate Paradise

Published on February 7, 2010 in weekend. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Every year on Valentine’s Day in this country, women all over buy (or make) boxes of chocolate for the men in their lives… not just their husbands or sweethearts, ALL the men, including friends and co-workers. One direct side effect of this is the chocolate fairs that pop up in every department store where women go to battle with each other in searching for the best chocolates. It’s so crazy that chocolate companies are complaining this year because Valentine’s Day falls on a Sunday, they are worried about a significant drop in sales since women don’t have co-workers to buy for. In any case, there are still a ton of girls out there duking it out for the champion chocolate and we went out to taste the carnage.

We headed to Yokohama to have dinner at a hotel offering a buffet that included a chocolate waterfall for Layla to experience. Before heading up to the restaurant though, we stopped off at the chocolate paradise to check out what chocolates were out this year. Luckily we’re a bit early in the season that the elbows weren’t so pointy and the shoppers not so vicious. Even still, at first, Layla was a bit nervous with all the people dashing about… but after getting a sample or two and realizing there was free chocolate on toothpicks to be had, Layla quickly ignored the crowd, instead focusing her attention on the ladies behind the counters. I can safely say her eyesight is 20/20 or better — she can spot a sample tray from 100 meters!

There were all kinds of chocolate to be had in all different shapes and colours. Chocolate carved as animals and flowers was quite popular, as was chocolate in various spacy colours. The most interesting things we saw and tried was chocolate-covered caviar. Luckily, it tasted like chocolate to me. Layla was getting right into it though – she tried some with rum, some with champagne, and even one piece with ginger in it. Regardless of what it was, she seemed to enjoy it, always wanting more.

After getting our fill of chocolate samplers, we headed up to the restaurant for dinner. Who says dessert always comes after the meal? The buffet was pretty standard fair, but it was the first time Layla really understood what a buffet meant. It wasn’t until we were eating dessert and she stole my ice cream that she figured it out… I kept taking little bits of ice cream until she finally got mad at me, so I said fine and went and got another one. The wheels were just turning when I came back to the table with a fresh cup of ice cream… it didn’t take long before she got up to get her own fresh one. Smart kid, that one.

When dinner was finished, Layla got it in her head that she wanted new shoes. We’d promised her some in the hospital and for whatever reason she remembered… so we went down to where there were kid’s shoes for sale — unfortunately, it was right beside the Disney store. Shoes were quickly forgotten as the kid found something more interesting to shop for. Right beside the Disney store was the toy department, so needless to say, shoes were not bought… at least, not Layla’s shoes.

Tamie, inspired and anxious to buy shoes, figured that if Layla wasn’t getting a pair someone ought to… and that someone was her. We went to the ladies’ shoes floor (yes, it’s an entire floor devoted to shoes) and spent a lot of time looking at rows upon rows of shoes. I kept Layla entertained (or more precisely, my camera did) while Tamie kept herself entertained. Check out the pics she took in the gallery.

Two pairs of shoes bought, and we were done. The stores closing was a good sign that we should head home, so we headed to the train and came back home.

Next week is Valentine’s Day and we’ll be out again at another chocolate fair, I’m sure. I need to make sure Tamie gets some good chocolate for the favourite men in her life. ;)


Yokohama Chocolate Fair
Click here for pictures.