SimSir Turkish Kebab Truck

The last time when hubby and I hung out with friends, we were told briefly about a kebab truck somewhere on the West entrance of the Yokohama Station. Yada yada, it all went into one ear and out the other, you know how things are after some liquor. Then I went shopping at Daiei, and lo-and-behold there it was, the Simsir Turkish Kebab Truck, parking right outside the building!

Actually, I walked right past it before realizing what I had walked by, then literally did a double take and turned back. The guy manning the truck saw me, laughed, told his friend something in Turkish, then laughed some more, probably because my eyes went all goggly looking at the menu and I was drooling. Whatever. hubby and I would really love ourselves some kebab, but I wasn't sure it was going to be good or terrible, so I was cautious and bought 2 chicken kebab with spicy sauce. They also had the original mild sauce and the garlic mustard yogurt sauce, but you know me I love spice so it's got to be the spicy sauce.

Mix beef and chicken kebab with spicy sauce.

So I brought my discovery home and presented it to hubby, whereupon he tore the bag opened and shoved one kebab into his mouth and swallowed it whole before announcing we were going right back out there for some more kebabs for dinner. We were starved for non-Japanese food, you see. Don't get me wrong, we love Japanese food and it's awesomeness. But after months of nothing but Japanese food, even awesomeness can get sickening.

Anyway, we did venture back out, this time getting ourselves the mix beef and chicken kebab still with spicy sauce because the chicken kebab tasted like spicy chicken soft taco, yummy, but not very kebab-ish. The mix beef and chicken kebab was much much more flavorful and totally hit the spot for us. It was so much fun, sitting in a corner on the street wolfing down kebabs and drinking apple juice from a vending machine nearby. Oh Japan how we love thee...

Hubby eating kebab like there's no tomorrow.

FANCL Cheek Color Part III

I walk by a FANCL boutique at the Yokohama Station all the time, and after a while, I couldn't resist and finally came in to take a look. Of course, I wouldn't leave empty handed and left with the FANCL Cheek Color in #11 Rose Pink.

The cheek color comes in its usual clear plastic case, which I fine very convenient to slip into my miniature makeup bag that came with the Clinique Superbalm Moisturizing Gloss "The Kissers" gift set. Now that I no longer drive and have to walk everywhere, carrying a huge handbag around with a big and heavy bag inside stuffed full of makeup just doesn't seem like a practical thing to do.

As with other FANCL blushes, this #11 Rose Pink is very sheer, probably because I swirl all 5 bars of colors together instead of just swiping the 3 darkest color bars and use the other 2 bars as intended highlighters. I like my makeup sheer anyway, and I find that blending all 5 bars together will give me just enough color to not look washed out in the gray of fall. That said, for those who like their blushes pigmented, this one will not do at all. Even if I were to concentrate my brush on the 3 darkest color bars, I think the blush won't get that much more pigmented, unfortunately.

See my previous posts:

- FANCL Cheek Color

- FANCL Cheek Color Part II

Birthday Cake from Patisserie Chou Chou

Hubby had a bday week full of parties with different groups of friends (Ko-cho, Garlic Jo's, and Shichirin Yakiniku AnAn). But this is a small celebration at home with just the two of us and a cake from the neighborhood Patisserie Chou Chou.

There's actually a funny story with this cake. Hubby went to order a cake for his bday, because I don't speak Japanese, of course.

The conversation went something like this:

- Patissier: What should we put on this cake?

- Hubby: Happy birthday.

- Patissier: What is the name of the person?

- Hubby: E. (and proceeded to spell it for the guy)

- Patissier: And what is your name?

- Hubby: Umm...uhh...C. (he gave his surname instead because he was too embarrassed to reveal he's the E. buying himself a bday cake ^.^)

Yes, the cake was itty bitty, but it was heavenly. I had 2 small slices and hubby inhaled the rest. And he doesn't even like sweets!!!

Shichirin Yakiniku AnAn

Shichirin Yakiniku AnAn is an awesome yakiniku restaurant where you can eat your fill and won't have to pay an arm and a leg for your feast. Did I mention food is grotesquely expensive here in Japan? At another gathering for hubby's bday we stuffed ourselves with delicious Korean BBQ among other things, everyone drank to their heart's desire, and each only paid 2,000yen for the damage! How utterly incredible is that?

Hubby, G., and G. having a blast.

What's more shocking, as hubby and I later learned, is that AnAn is actually a freakin' chain restaurant!!! None of us would have ever guessed that because the branch we went to was pretty well hidden in a basement with only 6-7 tables. It totally looked like a mom-n-pop restaurant we all were fooled. Heck, chain or not, I'm going back there, like, this weekend! Craving me some yakiniku and kimchee right now...

Taiyaki Part II

This time with Apple Cheese Cream filling, a new fall flavor that will only be available for a limited time.

Good lord it's delicious! The taiyaki is perfectly crispy on the outside and the cheese cream filling inside is warm with bits of apple, not too sweet and not too heavy, almost custard like. It reminds me of an apple cream cheese danish freshly out of the oven. Gosh writing this post makes me hungry...

See my previous Taiyaki post.

Dishes from the 100yen Stores!

Remember I said I love za Daiso (and the likes of Japanese $1 stores)? Well, this is why! Each of these adorable bowls and small plates costs me a mere 100yen (about $1.20 now given the terrible exchange rates) and is made in Japan, no less!

Yep, you can definitely expect me to haul these home with each of my trip ^.^ I have to have something to remember Japan fondly with. Plus I will have an excuse to make even more trips to the local 100yen store. What? Of course I need new bowls and dishes...after bringing these home, that is :P

Garlic Jo's

Garlic Jo's is located in Queens Square, Minato Mirai, and the restaurant is dedicated to garlic, as in every dish is centered around garlic! N. and M. had been here before and they told me it was unique, so we decided to go there for another bday lunch for hubby. My sister came along too, since she was in town for the day.

We had the 7 course meal which includes the following dishes plus a few more, though they were served in different order than the pictures below.

- Garlic fried rice: this was good, then again it's really hard to mess up fried rice so I'm not giving them any credits here :P

- Garlic soup: sounds garlic-y? That's because it was very garlic-y! The soup itself was okay, but the overwhelming garlic didn't do it for me.

- Garlic steak: I must admit this one surprised me. I didn't think much of it until I took a bite and wow, the beef was so tender it melted in my mouth.

- Sour garlic octopus: this was served as the appetizer. It was surprisingly good even though I'm not really an octopus fan.

Not pictured were the Garlic Pizza, which was really delicious because it was thin and crunchy with just the right amount of garlic and mozzarella, Salad with Garlic Chips, which was okay, and Garlic Pasta, which was good, only by then we were all too garlic-ed out to fully enjoy it. Oh well, at least we left the place feeling stuffed!!!

The bday party, with my sister taking the picture.

Maquillage Eye Color & Eye Color N

I really really like Maquillage Eye Colors for their silky soft textures and nice color range and over time have collected quite a few of them.

Maquillage Eye Colors: these come in really nice and sturdy clear sliding cases, but unfortunately they have been discontinued and replaced the Eye Colors N below.

- BR771: shimmer, medium intensity, a nice roasted brown that's redder in the pan. On my skin, it's more of a neutral chocolate brown. I like the color, but on my eyes it's a tad too light to be used as a liner, but at the same time it's too dark to be used as a crease color. I occasionally line my eyes with this color anyway to go to work, precisely because it's too light and doesn't make my eyes look too harsh or stand out too much but has enough color to make me look more polished.

Tops Chocolate Cake

Tops is a well known chain cake shop with branches in major stations all over Japan, and if it wasn't for my friend N., hubby and I wouldn't have tried their cakes given the gazillion other cake shops around for us to choose from. I'm glad we got to try Tops' cakes though. They were good. The cake itself needed to be just a tad more moist, but the icing was very creamy and satisfying. I hear their cheesecakes are quite something too. Will have to try one soon!

This is supposedly a chocolate cake, though it was actually a vanilla cake with chocolate icing. Yummy all the same. Yeah, I think hubby and I can definitely survive Japan :P

***Picture from Tops & Saxon Co.

Dove Hand Care Wash

These Dove Hand Care Wash were on sale for 98yen each at my local drug store so I grab a bag to try.

I honestly didn't expect much given the runny and super drying properties of Japanese hand soaps (ahem Naive Peach Hand Soap!) in general. But this one pleasantly surprised me! Its consistency was thicker and it felt more like the liquid hand wash at home in the states. It smelled really nice, very similar to the Dove Beauty Moisture Body Wash, and best of all it didn't dry out my hands at all! I am definitely buying more of this, only I wish they have more variety of scents because this original one is all they have out there :(