45.5...the best kind of energy boost

Maybe it was because i saw Miwa's post yesterday, or maybe it was because i was craving pancakes (i always am...), i was so lucky when my childhood friend suddenly invited me out for pancakes today. I had a four hour class in the afternoon and only half of my reading assignments done, but how could i say no? I hadn't been able to see her properly in a while, and i had so many things i wanted to hear about from her, so it was a lovely catch-up brunch before i dashed off to school. Lovely company + good food has always been the most simple equation to instant happiness in my life.

At Latte Graphic in Japan

31...sleeping like a log

i've been so behind on updating this but it's because i've been a lump in my bed for the past few days with a stomach virus so everyone out there: Please be careful of what you touch, eat and breathe because these nasty little buggers are a literally a big pain in the butt! But enough of that, i meant to come up with 10 things to do until Christmas but aiaiai, like every year it's already almost here and i'm not even done with buying presents yet (our tree is quite sad this year since we failed to find the star that's supposed to go on the top...).
One thing that happened after my previous post was that i aged a year. But just as Jenny says in 'An Education' (and one of my favourite lines + if you haven't seen the movie, sorry for the spoiler) "i feel old. But not very wise". So if anything, i'll be spending my free time during this winter vacation reading and well, okay who am i kidding, watching tv shows and movies to entertain my brain and humour myself (i'm currently stuck on 'Community' which my love told me was good - she's right most if not all the time!). Happy holidays everyone!

30...into my tummy

Things have been slow here with all the cleaning up that was needed to be done, but now my sister's here, things should get more hectic so before i get caught up in that all, i just wanted to post the food ver. of my 'looking back on 2013' series.
Warning before you scroll ahead - don't look at this with an empty stomach!

1. A whiff of coffee beans

i'm not particularly fond of coffee in the sense that i need to drink it every morning to feel 'awake',

but i do enjoy the bitter taste now and then, especially when i'm reading a book.

(it makes me feel like i'm travelling and stopping by a cafe somewhere)

↑ This coffee was from '24/7 Coffee & Roaster' in Shibuya (only, it's not open 24/7), 

and as most coffee stores in Japan, they had delicious looking pancakes on their menu as well. 

↑ Aren't these lovely?

This is a place in Akishima in Tokyo called 'Chet', which a darling friend took me to

because she's friends with the owner and many of his usual customers. 

It was lovely sipping coffee, listening to Chet Baker and looking at her wonderful artwork.

2. Lunches or dinners (or even inbetween)

For those who are frequent visitors of Omotesando in Tokyo, 'Bills' is probably one place they've all been to.
And have lined up and waited at least 20 minutes to get into. And goodness this restaurant (that's on the top floor of the Tokyu Plaza) was worth the wait. The Australian based (i'm not sure about this, but the chef is apparently Australian) cuisine is delicious, and hard to find anywhere else.
↓ The rasberry and strawberry frappe is something i would especially recommend.

I think i should through 'eggs n things' in here too since they were definitely worth the wait too.

Now, this is something that i would say was the best of this category this year.

In Kyoto, there is a restaurant that combined Japanese ramen (noodles) with Italian sauces,

and aiaiai, i could go to Kyoto just to eat this again.

There were several イタ麺 itamen restaurants in Kyoto, but 'Policromo' was a neat, quiet place

away from the city center, where you can go by taking the bus to kamigamo shrine.

i love food in general and could eat or talk about it all day,

and of course, i enjoy eating Japanese food too. Soba and sashimi are two of my favourites!

 There was a lot of pizza during this year too. Mostly mozzarella. 

 Another yummy shot from when i was in Kyoto:

This karaage/fried chicken was so good - i think these kind of side 'common' food that you don't see

at restaurants are the best kind of food out there. It's practical, inexpensive, yet delicious. 

(This one was from a tiny karaage stall outside Yasaka jinjya)

3. Time for something sweet

i always do but i think i ate a lot of pancakes this year. Part of this is because of the growing

amount of pancake related cafes in Japan  - wherever you go, there seems to always be at least

one cafe/restaurant that has 'must-try' pancakes.

↑ This was in a small Hawaiian themed cafe in Yokosuka, 

but sadly i've forgotten what it was called...all i remember is the richness of that berry topping...

↓ Panda danish treats! at Ueno station.

To add on to the pancakes, there were quite a few donuts too...

plain ones:

funny little ones with bears:

...and ones with Hello Kitty ribbons.

↑ These peko-chan treats were so fluffy and sweet (both in appearance + taste)

↑ Yuba (Tofu) flavoured ice-cream in Kyoto!

i tried it half expecting it was going to be quite blergh, but it turned out

to be one of the most tasteful ice-creams i've eaten.

Looking back at all these photos, i realise how lucky this stomach of mines been. But as good as food out there is, food at home is quite irreplaceable too.

28...siblings

   One week from now, my sister will be coming home from Thailand, probably with a suitcase full of worn out clothes and with sun-kissed skin. It's only been around 3~4 months since she left but it's nice to think she'll be back for the holidays before flying out to explore more about the world.
   Now i'm sure many people with siblings will agree that the cliché setting of siblings who are nothing alike is actually very real - its quite possible that there are more people who are alike you and are completely unrelated. This is the case for my sister and i, and i think it's possible that i've become even like her from fear of becoming another version of her otherwise. But we still have our moments, kinda like Winona Ryder and Christina Ricci from Mermaids.
   As for some of the strange things we like to do together, there's pretending to host a tv cooking program while baking yummy goodies, pretending to be radio djs while waiting in the car, and driving while fighting late at night. Though i love goofing around with my friends, my sister and i goof off at a whole different level of insanity. It wouldn't be a wonder if we scared the people around us. Well let's see what this time round will bring.

And what good food we'll go hunt down. 

☺

22...good food

i've always thought that being a food critique would be a fascinating job, not to mention a extremely satisfying one as well. So when i was eating this particularly delicious panini today (shrimp with mozzarella cheese, tomato and spinach) at Cafe 506 i was daydreaming about being one while writing an article about the panini in my head.
If you've ever played 'Order up!!' on your phone or iPod, you'll know the annoying food critique who resembles someone from a Tim Burton movie that comes along during the game to rate your restaurant sometimes - that's who i want to be. The only problem here is that i love food too much that it's going to be pretty darn hard to rate things; i would probably end up being deemed 'unreliable' since i give all the places i go 4 or 5 stars. But still, i can dream.

Darn it, i keep looking at the photo thinking 'Yum'.

19...traditions

i'm sure that each person/family has some sort of annual tradition (whether or not its recognised to be one) but at my house, it's today, the Beaujolais Nouveau day where we always go buy the one by George Duboeuf. We tend to simply just drink it while eating dinner, but this year, since half the family was away, my mother and i went out to buy different types of cheese to 'celebrate' today. And goodness it was good this year - thank you George!
Even if its just buying wine, i like the fact that we don't skip out on doing it every year - its kinda like new years or christmas, it makes me feel 'ah a year's gone by'.