Saturday, November 22, 2014
Did we discover a cat cafe?
We saw this sign in Shinjuku. We should investigate this. I think it's a cafe where you pay to play with cats. My friend told me she went to a place like this when she was in Japan, and my mom saw one featured on a Sunday morning talk show. Themed restaurants are popular in Tokyo. My only concern is how the cats are cared for after business hours. They help the business make a profit, so they are being commodified. Making animals into commodities typically runs against vegan values, but I'd love to play with kitties since we are pet-free in our apartment.
Vegan Yogurt in Japan
The dude is a big yogurt eater. Finding dairy yogurt is so easy. However, for me, finding vegan yogurt has been tricky. After some Google-ing, I found a blog post stating Lima Macrobiotic cafe/grocery carries soy yogurt. I went to Shinjuku on a quest! The cashier told me that the plain yogurt in the square container is vegan, but the flavored ones in round containers have gelatin. They also had vegan ice cream (the rice milk ice cream we've tried before) and sorbet!
Friday, November 21, 2014
Tim Burton Exhibit
I went to the Tim Burton exhibit at the Mori Art Museum in Roppongi Hills. The dude was at work, so I went during the day by myself. I saw another Tim Burton exhibit in LA several years ago. I like the way he mixes darker themes with his signature quirky style. It was so crowded! I thought I'd avoid a crowd by going mid-afternoon on a weekday, but nope! You can't take any photos inside the exhibit, but I saw a couple dressed in steampunk style. (Steampunk is the concept of today's technology being run on steam power, so the clothing is inspired by the early 18th century.) I'm pretty sure one of the people was a woman with a fake mustache. #onlyinjapan
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Tsukiji Market - Ginza, Tokyo, Japan
We recently had dinner with an acquaintance from Houston. Her friends told us that we could find dried beans at the Tsukiji Market in Ginza. That was why we went to Ginza. There were a couple booths marked on the market map as selling dried beans, grains, etc. We found one of those booths was open for business. We bought white beans, red kidney beans, and chickpeas. A can of beans is almost $3 here, so buying these dried beans should save us half. I tried to cook the white beans in my Crockpot, but it doesn't heat up here. The electrical currents are different here, but I will use the stovetop method to cook the beans. The market mostly sells fish, but there is a wholesale fruit/veg area during the week. The wholesale areas are closed on Sundays, so we missed out on the wholesale fruit/veg area.
Starbucks Friend Date
The dude has friends from work, so he recently introduced me to them. One of them is married, and his wife is also not currently working. We met up for Starbucks. The Starbucks by the Otemasando shopping area has a rooftop terrace. We walked around the area, including down a street with independent shops. Then, we went to the Ginza area on the train. She showed me the Target equivalent and helped me find a toaster at an electronics store. She bought a heated blanket for her house, so she needed to go to the electronics store too. It worked out quite well! Hopefully we can hang out once a week or so. It would be nice to have a friend! :)
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Sights from Our Walks
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Buddhist Temple in Ginza
We spend our weekends exploring. Last weekend, we went to Ginza. We saw some tents set up in the distance, so we walked over to check it out. A food truck festival was taking place outside a Buddhist temple. We went inside the temple, as it was open and a greeter told us that we could take photos. The level of detail in the edging was incredible. It was gorgeous in there. I'm glad we took this little detour.
10 Course Vegan Dinner at Bon
Yes, we had a 10 course vegan dinner at Bon. We walked from Ueno Park to Bon. The restaurant requires reservations. You get your own little room! I forgot to take a photograph of the 2nd course. Boo.
1st course - salty tea and sugar cube
2nd course - gluten shaped like a scallop, fried rice, potatoes, a peanut-like lake plant, and gingko leaf
3rd course - buckwheat and mushroom soup with smoked tofu (my favorite item!)
4th course - buckwheat, mushroom and mountain potato, turnip sushi over rice, agared soybean milk with winter vegetables, baked tofu, brown curry in Chinese style, baked tofu, mountain plants with miso, lotus root and fried millet, ginger shoot, maple leaves (inedible), and cognac potato starch squares
5th course - soup with gravy-like broth
6th course - rice and tofu fried ball, maitaki mushrooms, and gravy
7th course - yam, gluten, and miso baked on leaf, topped with a fried soba noodle
8th course - tempura! yam, tofu, lotus root, leaf, and a noodle fan
9th course - soup, rice topped with green tea, and pickled veggies
10th course - fresh fruit, agared soymilk
2nd course - gluten shaped like a scallop, fried rice, potatoes, a peanut-like lake plant, and gingko leaf
3rd course - buckwheat and mushroom soup with smoked tofu (my favorite item!)
4th course - buckwheat, mushroom and mountain potato, turnip sushi over rice, agared soybean milk with winter vegetables, baked tofu, brown curry in Chinese style, baked tofu, mountain plants with miso, lotus root and fried millet, ginger shoot, maple leaves (inedible), and cognac potato starch squares
5th course - soup with gravy-like broth
6th course - rice and tofu fried ball, maitaki mushrooms, and gravy
7th course - yam, gluten, and miso baked on leaf, topped with a fried soba noodle
8th course - tempura! yam, tofu, lotus root, leaf, and a noodle fan
9th course - soup, rice topped with green tea, and pickled veggies
10th course - fresh fruit, agared soymilk
Monday, November 17, 2014
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Veggie Burgers in Tokyo
We are veggie burger addicts. The dude loves to make a bean and sweet potato recipe at home. We've been sampling some veggie burgers around town. We tried the burger at Hannada Rosso. The texture was great, but we wanted more fries. They also serve vegan desserts, so we got the daily special of peach sorbet. The sorbet was very icy. The Cori truck had a veggie burger as its special last week too. The soy nuggets kept slipping out of the bun, but the fries were well salted with big crystals of salt. I'm a sucker for salt crystals, so that made up for the super messy burger.
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Tokyo National Museum
We went to the Tokyo National Museum. The property has 5 buildings - 4 museums and a research building. We went through the main building and the building attached to it. The main building housed Japanese art throughout the various eras (check it out here), but the attached building housed a special exhibit (check it out here). We paid extra to see the special exhibit of National Treasures of Japan. We did not walk through the museum housing art from all of Asia or the other building on the property. The regular tickets are only $5, so we will go back another day for the galleries we missed.
Friday, November 14, 2014
VEGAN PANCAKES at Ain Soph - Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
A friend recently tagged me on a blogger's post on facebook. The blogger is on vacation in Asia. When she was in Japan, she posted a photo of vegan pancakes. Based on her other photos, she was in the Roppongi and Shinjuku areas. We're in Shibuya, which is fairly close to those areas. With some internet sleuthing, we discovered the vegan pancakes are at a restaurant called Ain Soph in Shinjuku. We went there for dinner one night. The pancakes are on the dessert menu, rightly so because they are very rich. We took a little bag of donuts to go.
Ueno Park
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