Japan 2016 - Travelling, Aoyama Flower Market and Izakaya

Hi everyone!

It's taken me a while, but I'm here with photos and videos from my Japan trip! Most of these are from my Snapchat, as I thought it would be a good idea for my followers to see what I was getting up to. I'd also like to point out that there are some days when I didn't take any photos (stupidly) or took photos/videos on my Snapchat and forgot to save them!

If you've followed my blog for a while, you'll know that the last time I visited Japan was 2010, so this trip was very long awaited and highly anticipated! The time went so quickly from actually booking it all to then getting on the plane! (6 months-ish)

I was only going to be in Japan for a really short time (5 days, eep!) so I wasn't really able to see and do all of the things I wanted to do, but I managed to have a wonderful time, nonetheless.

So I flew on a Monday, meaning that my holiday didn't technically start until Tuesday.

Just some casual Airport wear - all black everything and brand new, white Adidas trainers!

So on my day of arrival, I had a minor hiccup which left me feeling incredibly stressed for a good solid hour, and ended up in a rushed video call to my parents at 7AM UK time... Not so great. 

After I managed to smooth things over, I ended up sleeping for most of the day because I was so tired. I really don't understand how people can sleep on planes. It's impossible! Next time, I definitely need to drink, or take sleeping tablets and see if it works! I decided to get up and get myself ready, and went out for a few hours in the evening.

I hadn't worn make-up in a few days, so it felt great to slap some on. I headed out to Shibuya, and my main mission was to buy hair straighteners, as my own UK ones wouldn't have worked well with the voltage in Japan. I managed to pick up a ridiculously cheap pair for about Y1200 which sorted me out while I was away. I also picked up a few other small things, like Instax Polaroid film (it's disgustingly expensive over here) and other bits.

I wandered around Donki and completely forgot that Japan has all of these crazy props and accessories for Fancy Dress! I ended up bringing the Squid hat back for a friend.

I ended my evening with some drinks and snacks in one of the Hub branches. They have a few of these dotted around, and they're supposedly the "best" British Pubs in Japan. I had also forgotten that in Japan, you can still smoke inside, so it was weird at first, being asked where I wanted to sit!

The next day, I had arranged to meet with a couple of friends. I had a semi-decent amount of sleep and was excited to get ready and get out into Tokyo properly again!

One of two days that I didn't wear all black! The striped top is actually a body, it's super cute. The weather was cold in Tokyo, but the sun shone so brightly, and it was lovely and warm when you stood still! My scarf is actually a cape, but I like to roll it up and wear it as a huge scarf. It's ridiculously cosy and is great if you're just looking for something to throw on over an outfit, and you can double it up again later when you wish! Excellent.

I met with my friend Mami and we had some lunch. These photos were taken by her, as my phone had died and was sitting in the Softbank shop to charge..(The first of many times this was to happen....) I first met Mami back in 2010, when I was booked in to perform at the very first Hyper Japan event. She's a hair and make-up artist, and has introduced me to some amazing people over the years! She works with a lot of famous magazine models, as well as DJs and also does regular bookings for weddings etc. We went for Okonomiyaki in Shibuya, in a great place tucked right around the back. It was so delicious, there's a reason it's one of my favourite foods!

After lunch, we walked through Center-Gai and she wanted to go inside this small pet shop. If you've been to Japan before, you'll know that these are often dotted around. It's actually kind of sad to see them, as the animals are often very small and young, and I don't know if they come from the best of places or how they are really treated when not completely on show for all to see... 

We walked through to Harajuku and Omotesando and found this great store called Rainbow Spectrum, and of course, I had to take a contrasting photo outside! How cool, with the rainbow!

Inside, they sold so many things in so many bright colours! We found some drawing pads in the store where people had been testing out the pens and crayons that were being sold. We opened one book and found my husband drawn inside! (For those who have followed this blog for a long time, you'll know that me and Mike got "married" in Disneyland back in 2013 - and to those who didn't, now you know, aha!)

We wandered around Harajuku and went to a placed called Aoyama Flower Market Tea House . It was amazing! It's a flower shop that has a small cafe hidden inside a conservatory at the back of the shop. As soon as we walked in, the wonderful smell of flowers hit us, as well as the beautiful decor and merchandising! I'm not a huge tea drinker, I mainly survive on Coffee, but I picked a Vanilla Tea. I think Mami chose a Rose Tea. It was served on this cute little tray, with a small flower in a glass.

Some (bad) shots of the inside of the conservatory. You could also choose to have light cakes and snacks inside, but I think just the Tea was perfect! My Mom would be in heaven coming here!

The displays were incredible, and were all blocked in colour, which made it look so beautiful. As Valentines Day was coming the weekend after, they had made some Valentines displays too. Holidays such as this are normally displayed in various cute ways all around Japan! It's so different to London, I think I prefer it!

An awful photo of me inside the shop, uploaded for your viewing pleasure.

It was getting dark outside, and I needed to make my way to meet some other friends, so we headed out to catch the train. On the way, we bumped into some people dressed up as Setsubun spirits. I didn't have the chance to go to a Temple for Setsubun on my first day, as I was asleep! I'd like to try this some time in the future!

I said goodbye to Mami and headed over to meet my friend Hiromi, and her girlfriend Miku for some dinner. We headed to an Izakaya in Shinbashi.

You may recognise Hiromi as "Hiromin" from egg magazine/Happie Nuts magazine.

We've been good friends since 2010, so it was great to meet with her on this trip! I also met with Miku, who was super cute and so friendly! We went to an Izakaya for drinks and food, and then went to an arcade to take Purikura and play some games.

Hiromi found a wig near the Purikura and put it on, making her look so different!

Sadly, I didn't save any of my Snapchat story from this day :( But I did take one video on my phone!

 

That's all for now. I'll upload the rest of my trip soon!

combined

Hello everyone!

How are you doing? Well, I must say that the weather over here in crappy UK has been really great the last 2 days! And tomorrow it's set to be really good too! Don't know if this will continue into the weekend and cross over into next week (highly doubtable) so I've been enjoying it while I can :)

On Tuesday I went to sign the contract, and I'm now officially moving in with Adam! It's really exciting that it's finally done! I've been slowly moving my stuff over when I make trips back and forth to my house; it will be weird because I'm still going to call where my parents live "my" house; and then my Dad is going to help me with bigger stuff such as my bed and other bigger items. Luckily, I don't have to bring any storage-type stuff with me as we have built in wardrobes, not huge ones, but it means we don't have to worry about where to put a wardrobe!

Wednesday we went shopping to Ikea with Perry. It was fun, but difficult at first to figure out which one to go to! Back home, we would just go to the Croydon Ikea, as it's a short drive and my parents can obviously drive, but here in North London there are two Ikea's and none of us can drive, and they're both just over an hour away by public transport! We decided to go to the one in Edmonton/Tottenham as it seemed closer, and the one in Wembley proved a little bit confusing to get to from where we are. Also, the Edmonton/Tottenham one is supposedly bigger? But I can't compare as I don't know! Either way, it was fun! And was so addictive, especially the big baskets and sections at the end bit just before you get to the "self-service" where they have random household stuff and you like, just want to buy it, but you shouldn't because it's random and you don't really need it! Ohh, I love Ikea :D

We ended up buying a desk, a coffee table and two small chests of drawers - one each! Also bought some other homey stuff too such as wardrobe organisers and organiser tray things for cupboards that I can put underwear/socks in ;D So basically, we're nearly there in making the room more, roomy and ours!

In the evening, me and Adam went for dinner at The Old White Lion in East Finchley. As you can see from the website, it's gorgeous! It's a kind of, modern pub? Lol, I don't really know how to describe it! All the furniture is odd, plus the tables, so nothing is the same, and it's really cool! The food is really good too, which is obviously another reason for going! We had Calamari with Lime Mayo for starter and handmade Beef Burgers (with like, an INCH or more thick of meat!) with thin flat chips. They do the magical sought after chips I adore....Sweet Potato Chips!!!!! but only on selected dishes :( Ahh, I love those kind of chips, ever since having them in Finland! (As some of you may remember me talking about here)

I did take pics of our dinner, but the flash makes the food look disgusting haha so im not going to post them, sorry!

Speak soon!

Review and How-To: Torokeru Curry Mix

Hi guys! I have a tasty thing here for you...I hope you enjoy it!

This is a review and "how-to" of とろけるカレー(Torokeru Curry). It's a sauce mix that you can make Japanese Curry with! Torokeru is made by S&B, the same company that makes ゴールデンカレー(Golden Curry), which I know many people have already tried, including me, and it's really delicious! You can buy both of these kinds (as well as many more) of curry mix in a "small" size; serves 5 people and contains one block of curry mix; and a "jumbo" size; pack of 2 blocks of curry mix, which would technically serve 10 people, or make your 5 person curry very thick! A mistake I made the first time I tried Golden curry >.<. The curry mixes also have different "spice ratings" going from mild to hot.

I bought the "small" mild mix, as I was only feeding myself, my boyfriend and Rosie and my boyrfiend doesn't really like spicy food. We also set a little aside for Perry, but I think he only dipped his finger in to taste instead of actually eating the leftover lol! Now, onto the rest!

Front and back of the box; the instructions are in English and Japanese.

Step one: Cut up your vegetables and meat of choice, and throw them into a pan with some oil.

Carrot and Potato

Chicken

Let's cooking!

Step two: The instructions say to add onions and cook until they have turned brown, but I HATE onions (lol) so I cooked everything until the chicken was cooked all the way through.

Step three: Add water and bring it to the boil. Reduce the heat and and leave to cook until the vegetables are completely done; basically, until they're soft and not very hard! The potato should go soft pretty quickly but the carrot may take a little longer until it's soft and not so al-dente!

When everything had finished cooking in the water

Step four: Remove the pan from the heat and break the curry mix into 5 cubes. Add this into the pot and str until everything has completely melted. Simmer for 5 minutes and you're done!

Curry finished!

You're now ready to serve your curry! Like any curry, you serve it with rice, so at some point while your curry is still in the making, you can start to cook your rice, or if you don't fancy cooking rice from scratch, you can always get the microwaveable stuff and stick it on just before you plate up. I personally prefer cooking from scratch as it tastes better! I used short grain rice for my curry, as it's sticky and kind of glutinous, which I love!

The rice I used; "Koshi hikari". This cost me £1.20 from Japan Centre on a promotion they were having

Done!

The finished product!

OVERALL RESULT; Torokeru Mild Curry Mix, Small size (Serves 5)
PRICE/VALUE FOR MONEY: ★★★★★
This cost me £1.66 at the Japan Centre and for a small box that feeds up to 5 people, i'm very impressed. The jumbo box costs £2.92 and works out cheaper than buying 2 small boxes

EASE OF USE: ★★★★★The curry mix is super easy to use, and I can't fault it's simple instructions at all! This is definitely great for cooks of all levels, especially beginners, and does what it says on the box, so there's no stress or worry about possibly getting things wrong

TASTE: ★★★★★
DELICIOUS! This curry tastes so good! I can't totally remember the taste of Golden Curry, but this one definitely tastes fabulous. It really tastes like it could be a homemade curry by a little Japanese woman somewhere! Hands down, really tasty!

I hope this was somewhat enjoyable for you guys to read, and hopefully informative too for all the chefs out there! You must give this stuff a try, you will definitely be happily satisfied!