Old and New Pepsi!

I kept an old Pepsi Pink in my fridge since like... I don't even know when. It was okay.

And yesterday I found Salty Watermelon Pepsi!

"Salty" drinks in the summer don't actually taste salty, but they contain more sodium to replace the salt you lose when you sweat in the disgusting Japan summer heat.

Salty Watermelon Pepsi had a weak melon flavor and was forgettable. I took a few sips and sort of gave up on it.

Blue Hawaii is still the best weird Pepsi I've had, and that was four long years ago! Get it together, Pepsi. Geez.

Conversations with My Students: Last Class Shenannigans

This past week was my last with the kids on my own. I thought I'd do something a little special for my two oldest girls, namely spending 100 yen on a stupid candy and make it with them in class.

I thought I'd have to do a repeat of a previous candy, but I lucked out at the supermarket with this super kakko ii looking Nazo Nazo Neru Neru! You get two flavors and mix it to create a third one. Added sprinkle bonus for teh lulz.

I like that he's saying YOISHO!

We had fun for like 10 minutes and they ate it all. Uhn, on the right, said, "I DON'T LIKE BANANA OR MELON SODA," but she still ate all of it.

I'll miss these two. Not in a OMG CRYING SO SAD way, but they're funny and well-adjusted young ladies that I know won't fail at life. I hope my replacement will have fun with them.

Miss/Won't Miss #5

Things I'll Miss About Japan #5: The Broad Spectrum of Acceptable Toppings

In general, food in Japan is amazing. Sometimes the amazing food gets topped with what seem like random other things to foreign people. Corn, mayonnaise, miso, and cheese all seem to make their way into normal things and make them... Japanese-y.

Eggs get thrown into just about everything. Raw and whisked, soft-boiled, hard-boiled, patty-shaped and slipping out of your burger. Something makes Japanese eggs so magical that I've yet to get sick from eating an under-cooked one.

Pizza is often strange. I don't know if he was trolling me, but my dear Twitter friend Chef once mentioned he couldn't imagine pizza without tuna and mayonnaise. Marissa and I got adventurous one weekend and ordered a pizza from Domino's with as many non-traditional toppings as we could handle. Apologies to Chef, tuna and mayo did not make the cut.

The DVDs came out or something.

Chunks of butter are also completely normal toppings or sides. Butter ramen is fairly common and I even had an egg and butter gyuudon a few days ago. It was delicious and probably took a whole 15 minutes off my lifespan. This butter came already in the gyudon, but there was a button on the shop's vending machine that had extra butter for 50 yen.

Butter AND an under-cooked egg!

Things I Won't Miss About Japan #5: The Exclusion of Ketchup as an Acceptable Topping

What did ketchup ever do to Japanese people? Every time I've ever asked for more than one ketchup tray at McDonald's or some other restaurant where the ketchup isn't self-serve, the employees look at me like I'm insane. They won't even give you more than one at Mos Burger!

Public food enemy #1

My boyfriend explained to me that ketchup is seen as a fatty food, and it doesn't help that the gaijin love it. YOU KNOW HOW MANY MORE CALORIES ARE IN THAT BOTTLE OF KEWPIE??? Mayonnaise is traditionally made from oil and eggs, at least ketchup has some tomatoes going on in there.

GW 2012: Alice in Wonderland Fantasy Dining

My dear friend Marissa was an English major in college, so she's very well-read and knows all sorts of literary things that I never will. I have an epic to-be-read list of books that always gets longer and she's already conquered at the majority of the classics on that list. I feel like a doofus around her sometimes because it takes me effing FOREVER to finish a book, but it's nice to be able to ask her if I should read something and getting a firm yes or no in response. And then an extensive list of reasons why.

Anyway, she likes Alice in Wonderland. I forget at the moment if she liked the book or not, but it's one of her favorite things evarrrrr. She heard about the Alice in Wonderland cafe in Ginza and has been trying to get us to go since... last summer? We never got around to it until the end of our work holiday.

Similar to the chain that owns the Mysterious space-themed bar and The Lock-Up, the owners of this restaurant have a bunch of themed restaurants in Ginza. When they say "fantasy dining," they mean it.

The elevator opens up to a small reception area with scrolls and playing cards on the walls. The Disney version is pretty much the only version that exists in Japan, so all the waitresses were dressed up like characters from the cartoon. The music in the restaurant was an eclectic mix of foreign language Disney songs, Beauty and the Beast in French FTW, and music from less famous soundtracks like the original Parent Trap film from the 60's.

We were led to our table in a nice secluded booth with pink and purple striped walls and blue couches. Basically, we ate inside the Cheshire Cat.

I felt like this restaurant was very well decorated and thought out. It bordered on cheesy without crossing the line into looking overdone. Around the corner from our booth was an open dining area that looked AWESOME.

Flash

No flash

Tabletop~

A tea party in a tea cup??? Why it's mad!

Our menu was a cube with a diorama scene and a clock that didn't work. Details around the table, like the playing card coaster and Alice call button, were nice touches.

Okay yeah enough ambiance, let's get to the food!!! Every guest to the restaurant has to order a drink and a food item, and the total for our meal came out to about 3000yen per person.

It's a caterpillar roll!

We always get fries.

Some sort of croissant shrimp thing in Cheshire Cat form. DELICIOUS.

Clock margarita pizza.

Salmon in white cream sauce.

Dessert trio with the Caterpillar, Cheshire Cat, and Mad Hatter.

I thoroughly enjoyed my experience in this fantasy dining establishment. We got there early on a weekday, like half an hour after they opened, so we didn't need a reservation but this place fills up fast. By the time we left around 7:20pm, most of the tables around us had been seated.

This chain also owns a vampire cafe but... lol vampires.

GW 2012: Sensoji and the Most Delicious Melon-pan EVER

I took Ma and Pa to my favorite temple in Tokyo, Senso-ji! I'm not sure why this is my favorite temple, it's certainly a pain to get to and it's always freaking crowded. I do have a lot of good memories here from my days as a student, including eating fugu for the first time. Fugu's not that great, don't waste your money.

It was a little busy.

'Sup, Sky Tree.

I came here maybe a month ago with my buddies and we saw lots of people in line for this shop selling melon pan. It was way at the back near the main building of the temple and you wouldn't find it if you weren't wandering around or purposely looking for it. I'm always a bit skeptical of Japanese people waiting in lines, they'll stand politely in lines for all sorts of crazy things that aren't worth waiting for, but DAMN that melon-pan was amazing! I made it a point to make my mom stand in line for a loaf haha.

They also sell soft cream.

Ma enjoyed the chocolate and milk flavor.

The shop is near these two.

ASK FOR THIS STUFF WARM OMG. It's light and fluffy and just sweet enough asldkmf ;asl I NEVER RAVE ABOUT BREAD LIKE THIS. I want a loaf RIGHT NOW.

We did the usual temple things of lighting incense, washing hands at the fountain thing with the cups on sticks, bought some fortunes. All three of us managed to pull bad fortunes, but I was somewhat contented with the fact that they were all different bad fortunes and not the same stuff printed for different numbers. Mine notably stated that I would not advance forward in my current state and that I must return to my homeland where I will not meet any crisis. WELL, you can bet your bottom I tied that to the blessed wires to send up to the gods so I can get a better fortune next time.

Ma also finally got a baked potato with butter, since she always drools over the ones I post here, and I got more meat on a stick! HUZZAH!