Life in Japan

Monday we ended up going to Providence to get Kristina’s friend, Rachel, at the airport.  We visited a cupcake shop in Federal Hill called Nancy’s Fancies.  We tried three cupcakes and they were all great.  (Lemon Meringue, Boston Creme Pie, and Coconut Dream…the Chocolate/Chocolate with oreo crumbs and a gummy worm, AKA Dirty, was for Rachel).  Nancy’s is unique in that they fill and ice the cupcakes while you watch.  This made them taste especially fresh, no dry frosting here.  Kristina thinks they win the taste test for homemade goodness.

Yesterday we made our way to Boston’s North End to try Lulu’s cupcakes.  Lulu’s was not open and there was not even a sign posting their hours.  We opted instead for treats at Modern Pastry instead.  We shared a delicious Raspberry Twist and a Cannoli.   

In Kingston, on the way to Cape Cod, we saw the Sugar Plum Bakery and stopped to check out their cupcakes.  We tried Cannoli and Peanut Butter Chocolate.  These were yummy, too.  Total sugar overload!

Today we went to Sweet  at Harvard Square.  This is the place to go if you want “posh” cupcakes.  We were a bit cupcaked out so we chose two of their mini cupcakes, carrot and red velvet.  When I say posh think carrot cupcake topped with a sliver of edible gold leaf!  Their cupcakes were beautiful and also very tasty.

So in the global search…I don’t even know who would win!

The search continues…I am in London and have had the opportunity to try two of the local cupcake bakeries.  Saturday we all headed down to South Kensington to go to the Science Museum.  We got off the tube at Gloucester Road to eat lunch.  We ended up at Byron’s a new hamburger restaurant in London.  After some yummy burgers and fries we walked along Cromwell Road.  Just before we got to the Science Museum Maddie noticed a new exhibit, The Butterfly Garden, and decided she wanted to go there.  We saw some beautiful butterflies and played on a cool playground.  Here are some photos from the garden and playground.  Izzie is a big kid trapped in a tiny body.

We decided to skip the Science Museum and the crowds and headed over to the Hummingbird Bakery on Old Brompton Road.  Cupcakes are not their only speciality;  they have beautiful cakes, muffins, brownies and other treats.  The Hummingbird Bakery is owned by a graduate of the American School in London.  He grew to love American style sweets while he attended school there (must be all those American mums baking for bake sales and school parties).  We chose 6 cupcakes to take home, two red velvet, two different chocolate, one vanilla and carrot cake.  Hummingird Bakery really knows how to make cupcakes.  See photos below:

Today after we got Maddie from school we drove to Primrose Hill and went to the Primrose Bakery for cupcakes.  It’s a cute little retro-style shop and has some treats besides cupcakes, but cupcakes dominate the selection.  Ally and I chose lime coconut, Maddie got chocolate and Izzie got a mini- chocolate cupcake.  The cupcakes were good but not fabulous like the ones we had on Saturday.  The frosting was dry.  We tried to decide if they had been baked fresh today or if they were left from yesterday.  Izzie did enjoy hers. 

The winner in my global search so far is Hummingbird Bakery.  Stay tuned for the Boston results coming soon.

So do you remember that song from the Mr Roger’s show?  It was definitely not a favorite show of mine.  I preferred Sesame Street or Reading Rainbow.  That aside here is the reason for the title of this post.

Sometimes, I wonder what people who have never been to Japan imagine when I make a comment about my house, my church, the grocery store or my neighborhood.  I decided to take you on a tour to see the things I see everyday.  Now that seminary is over I have my favorite part of the day to myself.  Seminary conditioned me to wake up at five and I am still doing it.  Tokyo at 5:00am is a wonderful place to be.

First, my house, well it isn’t exactly a house, it’s an apartment.  I like where I live.  I live on the third floor of this building. You will notice in the following pictures that Tokyo does not have underground utilities, thus the power lines in all the pictures.

When I look out my living room window I can see the Angel Moroni on the Tokyo Temple.  I like being able to walk to the temple in five minutes and I am blessed to be able to spend time there each week.

This is an interesting view of the temple.  One day while walking home from the station I looked up and saw this.  While standing on a certain corner, about two blocks from the temple, it appears that the Angel Moroni is part of Mori Tower in Roppongi Hills. 

We don’t have a car in Tokyo so we take public transportation when something is not in walking distance.  This means we ride the metro, JR trains, buses, or take a taxi.  My favorite is bus or taxi, but I actually use these the least.  Here is a view of inside the train station.

Platform at my neighborhood metro station

There are all kinds of shops nearby.  I can walk to a little shopping street just 7 minutes from my house.  This is where my bank, drugstore, stationery shop, restaurants and chopstick shop are.

Hiroo Nakamise

There are several grocery stores nearby.  The one I go to the most is National Azabu.  It caters to foreigners and has food from all over the world.  They have excellent and expensive fish and produce.  It is a tiny store with just 5 aisles. Most of the food in Japan is expensive.  The other store I like is a Japanese grocery store about 15 minutes away in the other direction, Peacock.  They have great store brands of instant miso soup and Japanese crackers. They also have a good selection of Japanese sweets.  I bought the little pink pancakes wrapped in leaves here (see my Hina Matsuri post).

National Azabu Supermarket

Peacock

The next pictures views on my street and the Tokyo Lawn Tennis Club just half a block away.

My street

Tokyo Lawn Tennis Club

Tucked back in off the main street just two doors down is Azabu High School.  This high school is the top all boys high school in Tokyo.  Boys attending this school have uniforms-black neru collar jacket with gold buttons and black slacks.  It is rare to see them wear them unless something special is happening.  On a daily basis they wear jeans and t-shirts.  All of the students pass by our building several times each day as they go between the school and the metro station and the convenience store on the corner.

Arisugawa Koen