one of the first things i did in tokyo was to eat a caramel tart at rose bakery. it was a really good idea. the space was gorgeous too. a few photos below!
there is a nice selection of salads for lunch, and an amazing baked goods section.
the tart, which was all custardy caramel goodness inside.
a few more shots of the space.
rose bakery is at the top of the ginza location of dover street market, which also links via a sky walkway to uniqlo across the street.
so, tokyo. i'd been a couple times before but the last time was about 20 years ago. aside from that, my knowledge of tokyo began and ended with narita airport, a frequent layover on my way to taiwan. basically, i knew nothing about tokyo except for what everyone was telling me, which was mostly stuff about how amazing and interesting and exciting it was. my impressions: i loved that every train/subway station has a totally clean and very usable bathroom. we all know the value of a clean public toilet. that's an important part of enjoying one's vacation, don't you think? that alone made it a pretty cool place. anyway, onwards. another great thing about toyko was yoyogi village. it's an interesting spot right outside the jr yoyogi station, an entire complex of galleries, restaurants, cafes, and businesses all within a park-like atmosphere. the plant life was really impressive - there were all kinds of plants from different regions, and they were labeled with information and their country of origin. we went on a sleepy, rainy weekday, so it wasn't too crowded, but there were a few people in each cafe hanging out or working on their laptops.
we wandered around a bit, checking out the restaurants and stores and popped into pour-kur, the bakery on the premises.
a travel agency called love, peace, travel sits at the top of the stairs.
all the stores and restaurants are in double-stacked shipping containers that have been painted white, with walkways connecting them on the second floor.
one mile wear by urban research is the only clothing shop in the village (that i could see). it carries "pre-organic" (??) clothing in minimalist styles. like all the other stores we went into on our trip, it was beautifully designed.
the walkway to one mile wear.
a corner of the shop.
code kurkku, the restaurant/event space collaboration between that is the mainstay of yoyogi village. it's described as "kyoto-italian," but we didn't have a chance to try it out since we were stuffed from all the other things we'd already eaten that day. next time.
kurkku cafe is upstairs, an offshoot of code kurkku.
the path leading to code kurkku.
lush greenery on the first level.
the view from the street.
a map of the village can be seen here. it's a nice spot to spend the afternoon! next up...rose bakery.
we were in napa last weekend, celebrating the marriage of our friends kari and joseph.
vows were exchanged in the apple orchard at the carneros inn, which i am pretty sure wins the competition for most gorgeous wedding venue ever.
every detail was lovely, but the company (not pictured!) was the best part. we caught up with old friends and made some new ones too.
the day after, we all reconvened at the napa general store for brunch. to get to the tables, we walked through this jasmine archway. it smelled really good.
even though they live just two blocks away from us, i'm glad we had to go all the way to napa to see kari and joseph get married. i didn't want to leave. congrats, you two! #kariandjoeyforeverever
a trip to taiwan isn't complete without a visit to eslite. i usually manage to leave the building with all kinds of stationery and japanese magazines that i didn't know i needed. hhh can't walk away without dozens of tiny notebooks. (this is my go-to store, in taichung.) eslite was founded in 1989, and has since become one of taiwan's most recognizable brands. in the last several years, it's expanded from a bookstore to much more, including department stores, art movie houses, performance venues and even a hotel. (and a friend just told me that they also have a thriving business in high-end commercial kitchens). last year, it launched eslite spectrum at the songshan cultural park in taipei. songshan cultural park is another one of these former SOE conversions, like huashan 1914 creative park. when we visited one weekend in december, the space was packed.
as we walked up from the street, the hotel was the first thing to catch my eye. i totally want to stay here next time we go to taipei.
eslite spectrum is a design-focused department store. there is also the requisite food court in the basement, as well as whole floors devoted to local taiwanese-made goods ranging from textiles to housewares to teas and tasty local edibles.
a coffee shop on the ground floor.
designed home goods - mostly imported on the ground level.
love these vases - look like muuto?
matte black coffee pots.
matching cappucino mugs.
there is a lot to take in, including this random collection of taiwanese hipsters strumming away on one of the upper floors. i am not totally sure if this is a shop, performance art, or what.
it's an ethnographic glimpse into the life of taiwanese twenty-somethings! one of the hipsters glared at me as i took the photo.
there were a lot of japanese and european goods, including furniture, clothing, and more designed household objects.
a living room in the middle of the shop floor.
japanese wrapping cloths.
takezasado textiles.
fog linen work, one of my favorite brands.
a simple japanese enamel and wood lunch box.
a section called the "expo" featured loads of taiwan-made and -designed goods. there were some really nice teas and cakes here for sale too.
so cute! it says "full."
indigo-dyed cloth fashioned into coasters, pencil cases, laptop bags, placemats.
we wrapped up the visit with a coffee stop in the basement food court. good times.
a precarious mug. nice looking but not terribly practical.
hhh couldn't figure out how to set his mug back into the saucer afterwards.
lucky for me, hhh's parents love to eat as much as we do. they are also weirdly knowledgeable about all the best restaurants, so when they suggested that we go to shi-yang culture restaurant during our last trip to taiwan, we didn't say no. the tea house and restaurant are deep in the mountains (or maybe it just felt like that because the car had to scrape alongside jungle-y brambles to reach our destination). as we approached, we saw a man at the road's fork, who gestured for us to wait while another car edged up the tiny path.
we made it to the pebbled lot, and then ventured the rest of the way on foot. in taiwan, nature is overwhelming and unkempt - anything will grow, anywhere, all the time. (and it doesn't just go for flora but fauna too, especially the tiny pest varieties...i will forever be scarred by the flying cockroaches of my childhood.) it's hard to imagine the amount of effort that must go into landscaping maintenance in taiwanese cities to keep the greenery from conquering every unpaved surface. at shi-yang, though, the wildness is allowed, and the buildings co-exist peacefully with plant life. although the restaurant has only been at this location a couple of years, it looks as if it's been here for decades. (a consequence of taiwan's aggressive humidity: anything manmade starts to show age the minute it goes up.)
the wooden walkway along the event space.
the food was delicious and creative, and the space was gorgeously simple. it made me think that maybe mountain life wouldn't be so bad. there are several wooden structures on both sides of a bubbling mountain brook (so idyllic!), and a bridge that spanned the water. all the rooms are lined with tatami mats and set with low tables. there is one large building that looked as if it could host parties, which also housed a plum blossom arrangement that i desperately wished was in my apartment.
i mean, look at that. i bet you wish you owned it too.
another angle of the same lovely arrangement.
it's definitely worth going at least half an hour before your reservation (which you will need in order to eat) so you can walk the grounds. i obsessively took photos of all the plants i dreamed about putting in my yard, even though i had no way of then figuring out what they were at the time. good thing i just discovered this amazing app called garden compass, which will identify plants for you via email. from the description in itunes, it actually sounds like a real live plant expert looks at the photo and writes you back. you get 20 IDs a month - not just of plants but also plant diseases (so if your houseplant seems to be floundering, you can ask the app what ails it!). i already tried it out with two plant IDs, and so far so good.
i would die to get a fern that big to grow in my yard. but somehow i don't think this guy would enjoy northeastern winters very much...
anyway, it was super exciting to discover this spot. i get the feeling it's pretty special. now you should go, and then tell me how you like it. xoxo
