Saturday Walk and Birthday Dinner

Chie and I went for a walk. We strolled up to Daikanyama for some window-shopping. At a point we did some real shopping too, we bought two stools and a blanket from Klippan. The stools had a green seat with a lamb on it, which sound kind of childish but they were pretty nice. On our way home we passed… My building 🙂


Oops!!!

In the evening we met with Mina-sensei and Tomoko-san. It was Mina-sensei’s birthday. We went to Bistro Mikami, which is about 50 meters from home. But that is not why we go there. The food is great, and so it was tonight as well. And the dessert? Superb. I had two helpings of fresh strawberries and whipped cream. Simple but delicious.


Birthday girl .)

Happy Birthday Chie

“Happy birthday Chie!” was one of my first words to Chie this morning. Kind of good choice of words since it was her birthday 😉 We celebrated it by going to the Peninsula gym as yesterday, enjoying the steam room and the different showers. We also did some shopping for Chie.

At 3 pm we had afternoon tea at the Peninsula. Tea served in silver tea pots and with silver spoons. Three plates of sandwiches, scones, and cakes. We drank two pots of tea each and ate all the plates bare. It took us 1.5 hours of talking, enjoying the live piano music and, of course, the tea and the food. Afterwards we were both very full and satisfied:-)



After tea and some shopping at Drawers we went back to our room to relax. We made another visit to the spa for steam room and showers. In the evening we were so relaxed and still hungry so we did not want to leave the room. We celebrated Chie’s birthday with Champagne (I had strawberries) and a small dinner (Caesar salad and onion grating soup) in the room.



Happy Birthday Chie!

Birthday

My mother had her 60th birthday today, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! It was a bonus that we could celebrate it with her on our vacation trip to Europe. Since it was her birthday she could decide what to do and she wanted us all to go to Högbo Bruk. So we all went there, Robert riding with Chie and me in our rented Volvo S80 D5.

Once there we walked around in the quite nice weather. To Ulf’s delight they had a Hot Rod show there as well, though the rest of us walked around checking the handicraft and shops. We had a short stop at the glass designer as well, but he recently had a break in so there were almost no glass on display. And our timing was bad so we could not watch him make glass either 🙁 We had to sit down and rest after that surprise 😉

Once rested we continued to Björk & Berries, a Swedish brand that makes soap, lotion and the likes out of Swedish berries and flowers. All things are picked locally around Högbo and Gästrikland. Then it is shipped to France where it is made into perfume oils, and ends up in New York where the perfumer is mixing it into what becomes the flavors of the soaps and lotions in the shop. The soap and lotions are manufactured in Gothenburg.

After lunch at the Högbo Brukshotell we returned back to mo mother’s place in Valbo. There we prepared for dinner. My aunt and her husband were going to visit to celebrate my mother’s birthday. It was nice seeing them again after quite a while, unfortunately I missed one of my cuisines that had returned to Stockholm with her twin daughters just a few days before we came to Valbo.

She got many birthday gifts from all of us. And was quite happy for them 🙂

RNJ @ Yoshiman

Rode my bike to Ginza after office today. There I met Chie, Mash-san, Black Panther-san and a newcomer. In other words… Raider Nation Japan (RNJ). We talked, ate, and celebrated my birthday. The 25th 😉



I left before the others since I had to ride my bike home and I did not want to be too tired doing that. I found my way pretty OK all the way through Roppongi. Then I took off towards Hiroo which was a little bit too earlier than planned and I had to improvise the last few kilometers. But I knew the general direction and I was back home within 35 minutes from leaving Yoshiman. Swoooooopsch!!!

Kan

Kan is a Japanese contemporary restaurant. The food is based in Japanese traditional food but with a modern twist. And it was here that Chie and I spent our dinner tonight.

Although we ate too much, as we always do at Kan, the food you have here still don’t make you feel stuffed. You just get that feeling of having had just enough of everything.

I even had desert. Hojicha (roasted green tea) ice cream on top of a bed of anko (red bean paste), and edamame (soy bean) pudding with caramel sauce. There is only one word for it… Yummy!