Lunching Out

On most weekdays I bring in deli (or convenience store ^^) lunches to work and eat at my desk while either working, wordpressing, facebooking, etc.  I know, it’s not sexy, but there is only so much time in a day.

However, this past week, I had a couple of perfect opportunities to lunch out and choose the venues.

On Wednesday:-

Hard to tell but this is at a Chinese restaurant and I’m sure it’s a very Japanized kind of dish as the Chinese do not eat anything raw, even vegetables.

On Friday:-

Have been wanting to visit this resto for ages.

Waited for our guests and table at this bar next to the entrance. Beautiful Arne Jacobsen furniture.

My lunch called STEAMED BARLEY RISOTTO: A healthy risotto with cream and KOBU stock with cashew nuts and mushrooms. YES.

Jade Garden

Aquavit

Turkish Wine

Hadn’t been to a Turkish restaurant in a while.  Love their food and maybe some of the wine. ^^

Alaturca

Hilary Kole @ Blue Note Tokyo

I have seen Hilary Kole perform many a times at the Cotton Club in Marunouchi, Tokyo since 2009 but this was her debut appearance at the Blue Note Tokyo.  Both clubs are managed by the same people and some artists play both clubs on any one visit but Blue Note is the bigger club and it was nice to hear her in a bigger room and in our office neighborhood as well.

She played four sets over two nights. I went to the first set on Tuesday, June 26.

A Girls’ Night Out

This past Monday was a gathering of “girls” from the office.  The “girls'” age range from being in the 20’s to 40’s but we all work together in the same department in the same office with the exception of one “girl” who is based in Osaka as a counterpart of some of us in Tokyo.

I got to pick where to go and I chose a restaurant located at “T-Site” in Daikanyama which turned out to be a great choice.  I for one loved the food and the atmosphere, the food actually being better than what is served at its somewhat more pricey sister restaurant Beacon.  I also chose this resto over others for the big round table that could seat seven instead of a number of squarish, rectangular-shaped tables put together which happens to be more of the norm in Tokyo where space is scarce and rather expensive.

Anyway, we should do this more often. 😀

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Ivy Place

Sunday Cooking Time

I am so not a big fan of anything sour – things that to me seem too vinaigrette-y or acid-y in general but that’s what I tried tonight including cooking with celery, an ingredient that I never liked growing up but that I have by now sort of overcome.  Yes, about time…

My salad ingredients including hijiki which I have never dealt with.

Yes, the hijiki requires some “dealing with”.

The other dish I was cooking with this beautiful squid sashimi.

This is actually quite fancy cooking squid that is meant to be eaten as sashimi – raw.

The chili really worked in the squid dish. Hot!! The hijiki salad needed a little more kick but with the lemon there was enough “sour”!

Both of the dishes come from a book by Yoko Arimoto.