Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Sister Visit

I'm terribly late writing about this, but a couple months ago my sister came out to visit (for the fourth time!) for her spring break. It was her shortest trip by far, but still lots of fun.

We discovered that the Yokohama Ramen museum now has two shops that offer gluten free ramen, so we made a point of going out there to binge on ramen. (She enjoyed both, but says that Muku Zweite is better than Komurasaki if you have to choose one or the other.)

In other food adventures we went to Enoshima, an island a little over an hour from Tokyo, and during a picnic a hawk stole her entire lunch! Luckily we were able to find more gluten free food (and ice cream) relatively quickly.

The cherry blossoms were supposed to be opening during her visit, but they were very slow this year. We got a few sightings in, but nothing nearing peak blooms. In spite of that we still did lots of other fun things like seeing a Yayoi Kusama show, finding a baby mango (the size of an egg) at a gift fruit store, and just generally enjoying each other's company.

Gluten Free Ramen

The Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum - so much more crowded than a few years ago!

Mini Mango!

The Yayoi Kusama Show
She's so werid, but I LOVE her

Sister Love

Travel themed chu-hais

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

The Time Is Flying

It's hard to believe it's already the middle of May. Somehow I completely missed writing about the sakura this year, and my sister visiting during her spring break. The cold weather has left, and warm sunny days are coming back, at least for a little while. Rainy season only about three weeks away!

But in the meantime I've been enjoying as much time as I can outdoors. I bought a picnic blanket, and have already put it to use a number of times. A few weeks ago Raku and I went on an overnight to Yokohama, just for an adventure. And while we didn't go anywhere for Golden Week, John and I made a point of going somewhere fun everyday so that it actually felt like a vacation.

Cherry blossoms with a friend
It's the best time of year

Yokohama

The flowers were fantastic

And so was the company!

Cherry Pie Frappuccino - surprisingly delicious

Apple galette for Raku's birthday
Pretty enough for a restaurant, but made by Raku

Coffee Set at the Hotel Chinzanso