Redtonic's Blog: chinese food

sexta-feira, 28 de agosto de 2015

Japan 2015 Lolita Day

Hello everyone, how are you doing?

As only some of you know, I have been quite sick. I have been in and out of doctor's offices and taking a ton of tests to try and feel well again.

I was in Japan for three weeks recently, we arrived last weekend to Portugal. I was unwell for the most part of the trip and even went to see a doctor there as well. Still I managed to have a handful of nice days out of this trip and one of them was the day in which I got to see my friend liemzie again.

My husband took some outfit photos before we got to the meeting point and I really like them, they remind me of Momoko living in the japanese countryside haha. I am almost 100% sure there's not even a single lolita in that small town.

The pieces I am wearing were all gotten during the trip because I did not take anything lolita with me. Fortunately this dress does not need a petticoat! I did feel the lack of accessories but it wasn't too terrible wearing this outfit, it was sort of light and fresh.

We had to change trains in Tennoji station and there's a Axes femme store there where i got something i will need for a future outfit. The shop girl was super nice, we always made jokes when we went there.

We also had a lovely lunch there, it was like going to an upscale posh restaurant, the food was incredible and it was like 10 euros a person. It was cheap. I love eating in Japan, high quality for affordable prices. I have never had a terrible meal in Japan.

After that we went to Osaka station to meet my friend. I was a bit early but so was she! Great timing.
Since I have no clue on what to do when i'm in Japan, she, again, decided on what we could do.
We visited a limited store with really nice handmade things. It was a lot of fun and i wanted it all.

It was in this lovely mall with a ton of exhibits and activities. There was a train exibition too and I got a little something there too.

Me and the lovely Liemzie with... flamingos. :P

Picking out our favorites, look how focused we are!

I liked this store a lot, i considered buying the straw hat with the black ribbon and bows....

When we got to this stall we got stopped by a bunch of older ladies who started complimenting our looks and asking us questions. It was really funny at first. They wanted to take photos with us and the artesan showed me a book she published...

... but then it came to a point where they wouldn't let us go and we got a bit bored. I even got something from the lady's stall in the end haha. look how unconfortable we both look!

After checking the pop up store out we left the mall and went to our next stop.

The Osaka (limited time only) Gudetama Coffee. How cute (and silly) is that?

Better photos on one of liemzie's fabulous blog posts.

The entrance for this café.

my husband got the matcha pudding, it looked so sad!

Liemzie still had not had lunch so she had something more nourishing.

Our table! I misbehaved and had matcha latte.

Fun facts about this place. There were only about 8 things one could pick so the choices were limited. Although Gudetama is an egg there are no egg related recipies which seems strange. The waiter did not place my cup on the individual paper in front of me. I thought it was odd but them Liemzie told me its because some people want to take them as souveniers. It sounded lovely but also silly because that means they serve no purpose.
Other than food there's merchandise on display and even statues of Gudetama around the place. The coffee will move to Tokyo next so that means all of this will be gone soon.

Hep Five has the most amazing Purikura area I had ever seen. There's a couple machines near the normal game and UFO machines but then there's a top floor that is actually exclusive to girls and or couples! So a boy cannot walk around there alone, ever!
They have costumes for rent and girls apparently come over with bags with clothes and then change clothes for purikura and then back to their normal clothes. There is an area with mirrors and beauty appliances (like hair curlers and dryers etc, not kidding!) for people to freely use to make sure they look their best.
Then there's a ridiculous amount of purikura machines of all styles! Unbelievable.

One of the purikura machine corridors.

We look so happy and silly, this is one of my favorite photos!

This machine was hilarious... it was about... being manly? I did not even understand but we ended up making a video punching a non-existant boxing bag. How silly is that?

And these were some of the costumes one could rent. They claim that one could dress in maid and lolita... so those maid outfits are both? So japanese people are confused on what lolita is too. XD

We then visited a bunch of nice stores! Most of them I never went to before!
Axes Femme, again! Liz Lisa, BABY, the stars shine bright, Ank Rouge... and some more. I saw a lot of things I wanted... shopping in Japan is so easy....

We also visited a Rilakkuma pop up store thing. You can read about it on liemzie's blog.

She got the cutest Rilakkuma ever!

And we took another silly photo, this time we couldn't do it together.

After this we finally said goodbye to Liemzie because it was getting quite late. It was so nice to see her again. It will be the last time we will be able to meet in Osaka too because she is moving back home. I am going to miss having a friend in Osaka but i'm sure we will see each other again in Europe.

When she left we went to a couple character stores where I spent more money. I mean common, look at how much fun these stores look! Look at the colors!

We finally sat down and had dinner. My husband wanted chinese and I ended up having a really yummy meal. I felt better these days, i thought i was better so I took some risks.

After that we went home, I was super tired but very happy. It was a great day, probably the best day of all the trip.

Thank you my friend!

quinta-feira, 9 de fevereiro de 2012

Japan trip - Day 15

Day 15 is a special day, one to be spent indoors usually. It is no other than new years eve day.

I woke up feeling a lot better and this only improved when mom brought us breakfast. It was something i had never eaten before, pre-made buns with my favorite sausages, lettuce, ketchup and wasabi.

Green tea cappuccino and the buns.

After cleaning the room very carefully, I usually clean the room before new year (regular and chinese as well), mom invited us to go food shopping.
We got in the car and I was very surprised to see most stores and businesses were completely closed. It felt like a ghost area.
Mom wanted to buy some special meat that is supposed to be ultra delicious. She had intended to shop at the most famous store in the region and kept saying how fabulous the meat was and how famous the store was so I was somewhat excited.
When we arrived there I could not believe my eyes! The place was completely packed! They had a parking service and the parking was a vacant lot in front of the building. I have to remind you all that this thing is in the middle of nowhere, not in the center of some amazingly famous and populated city.

Kawai meat. Look at the people waiting in line!

They also had a side stall with different products for sale but people only wanted the meat. I was getting really curious at this point.

Outside stall.

After a while mom came back carrying a bag with some meat. I wanted to take a peak but i would get my chance in the car. They even had a vending machine so we all got something for the ride.

Vending machine.

And this is the parking lot, isn't this crazy? o.o

Kawai butcher parking lot.

So finally after much anticipation i could see what was bought. It looked delicious sure but also... normal japanese meat. I suppose i know nothing about japanese cuisine and meat in general (I don't cook very often at home because i'm not that good at it, my husband is much better than I am) but it did look like teir typical style of meat that can be bough at any supermarket.

Kawai bought beef.

We also went to the supermarket to get some other necessary items and also to my favorite chinese restaurant in Oji to get a special new years eve obento box. It was huge and made me curious. They also included some sake. <3

When we got home mom wanted to show me that it was delicious so she prepared a bit of meat. It was super tender but very fatty. I remember thinking that my brother would probably want to destroy its yummyness by cutting off all the fat as he always has been doing since we were kids. I think mom would be very sad. haha not only because in her eyes this is what delicious meat means but also because this meat costs a ton a kg. I am thinking 100 euros. I'll ask and then correct this info. But anyway ridiculously expensive!

Cooked Kawai meat treat.

We had not had lunch so we ate some delicious tempura soba and salad. Yummy yum yum!

My mother in law really is a great cook!

After lunch we always watch a bit of tv and play around with the fattest and one of the cutest cats ever to set foot on eart, Mi-chan. He wasn't very cooperative so we just pet him and took a shot. He is huge, he is so huge that when we came back out two cats (who are not tat small) looked tiny! They always look tiny when we return from Japan.

Mi-chan's size when compared to a pack of smokes.

In the afternoon my mother in law always takes a nap for health related reasons so we move to the other side of the house and just chill out a bit. We take naps, we browse the internet, i chat with some of you, i post on facebook etc... and we fold clothes and do all those very interesting daily life things.
Basically on new years eve it becomes even more ridiculous since all one does is literally wait for dinner time.
That time came and we went back to the living room.
Mom had already set the table and the tv was on. Someone checked the newspaper and we could clearly see who was performing this year. (every year there are several live shows where bands and singers perform; j-pop, j-rock, traditional music, etc)
I found out that (due to the tv series on NHK having an intro song by her) that shiina ringo was performing so i was waiting for that. Mom likes her too so we both waited.

Japanese beer. This one was a gift from my husband's friend, it is made by Kanagawa university. Interesting.

Finally, shiina was on. She appeared in a very 50's looking coat with baloon sleeves, completely in crimson red. She sounded like the angel she is.

Shiina ringo performing carnation

Under the coat was this ballerina looking tutu dress, she looked stunning and was very energetic as usual.

After a couple of performances and a bit of joking around in familly the time was finally there! People usually go to temples for good luck but due to my mother in laws health we can't go so we watch on tv instead.
After hitting the bells people are allowed in the temples and they are packed. It was very interesting to see that a foreign couple was among the ones that got to the temple first. Let me remind you that it was freezing cold.

People entering the temple for good luck.

It was finally time to dig in! I could finally see what was in the obento!

Chinese food obento for new year. A bit of everything

Level 2 of the obento

Level 3 - nobody ate the pidan eggs XD

New Year's Eve table view, very colorful a lot of fun!

And that was my day, after that we just went to bed and fell asleep once more. Not a very interesting day to read about but i really enjoyed myself.

Anyway because clearly that's what some people want to hear about, i'll leave you with photos of the things I got during my Tokyo trip. I got less prints than I wanted but that got to second plan when i found my all time dream bag. Expensive but i was happy and i actually used it there already. Haven't used it ever since which is sad, though. Anyway enjoy.