Trip to Japan

If you are wondering whether this blog is dying, it is not.

There were times when I was baking things I had baked before, so I did not want to blog about them again.

Then there are times when I am fulfilling orders and I do not want to blog about them here, since I am toying with the idea of having a separate blog for it. I do already have a website though, which, hey, has been up and running for about close to 6 months now! If you do not already know about it, it's alright. I hope to announce it here in due time.

About 2 weeks ago, I was in Tokyo to catch the cherry blossoms. It was my first trip to Japan and I really had a good time. Honestly, Japan isn't quite at the top of my to-go list, but my husband and me went anyway.

Other than the weather which was colder than expected, everything was very pleasant. I think it is quite difficult for things to get unpleasant in a place where people are very considerate and polite. Sometimes I feel the things they do are actually being very natural and humane, simple things like not dirtying public places and wearing a mask when you are unwell. Natural behaviour. That quite makes the rest of the world seem rather unnatural and inhumane comparatively.

Ever since I stopped working a few months ago, my interest in handbags, clothes and cosmetics have dropped to an all-time low. So, going to shopping areas like Ginza and Shibuya was alright, but I did not find anything to buy. Instead I found myself only looking out for household and baking stuff.

Other than soaking in the nice scenery, I enjoyed rummaging through supermarket basements to seek out cheap and good bento sets. I love their sushi, sashimi, pork bone broth ramen, cakes and pastries. Probably things that we can also get in Singapore too, but the quality is different and MOST importantly, service level is so much higher there it makes me feel embarrassed to even mention about our service standards back here.

Since it was cherry blossom period, there are many things associated with the sakura. Pastries, cakes, tea, clothing...everything! How could I miss them out? Everytime we go to basements of department stores (which are usually supermarket and food halls), my eyes would be glued to the food displays of delicately decorated cakes and pastries, wrapped in beautiful boxes and papers. Even when I'm back home, I like to stop by shops to look at their food displays. Being there was simply overwhelming. If I weren't in a tour group, I could have spent more than half my whole stay at supermarket alone.

When I was reluctantly back, I was stuffing myself silly with foodstuff we brought back....sakura cakes, mochi, Tokyo bananas (which I had before, but this time, I bought the chocolate flavour!) and ramen.

Since it was sakura period, how could I not get anything associated with it? I bought some sakura shaped silicone muffin cups. I'm not a fan of using silicone cups usually, but they are sakura ones, so yes I gotta have them.

I made my usual butter muffins in these nice little cups while wearing my new japanese apron. How could they taste bad when I was smiling from ear to ear while baking? Everytime I look at them now brings back fresh memories of the good times I had.