As promised, a link to the pictures from sushi Sunday.
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Tag Archive for 'valentines day'
Saturday, we had a doctor’s appointment to ensure Layla’s health. She’d been coughing and sniffling all week and we were concerned that she was having a recurrence of her asthma attack, but luckily the doc said she was fine. Except for the extra medication we have to give her. We went for a nice breakfast after the appointment and then headed back home where I napped with Layla while Tamie went out for a massage. Tamie was meeting some friends for a girls’ night out that night, so I spent the evening with Layla. We visited the pet shop to see the dogs (they have a saint bernard puppy there now – only $2500!) and went to the kids’ floor in the department store so she could flirt with boys and play with toys… All in all, it was a good night for everyone, although Tamie might have had a bit of a headache the next morning 
Yesterday was Valentine’s Day and the custom here is for women to give chocolates to the men. So I had to meet as many girls’ as I could — we actually spent the day at Tamie’s folks’ place, heading over there in the afternoon to have a nice sushi dinner. We’d been planning on buying them sushi to thank them for the time they spent with Layla while she was in the hospital and the schedules all finally worked out. Nothing better than sushi, beer and chocolate! The perfect Valentine’s Day, I’d say.
Pictures of the weekend here:
Saturday
Sunday… TBD.
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 Here.
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.
Click here for pictures.