Hiroshima City

Hiroshima city was pure bustle this past weekend with the baseball game and Toukasan festival drawing people in from all over the prefecture.  City buzz is always fun, but it meant too few street fashion pictures for me.  Crowds of red and white clad supporters and pretty girls (and boys) wearing their traditional yukatas hid most of the the trendy and the crazy. We did however enjoy a copious amount of food (again!). We started with Okonomiyake (Hiroshima’s famous dish) and moved on to Molly’s med for shwarmas and falafels. We also managed to escape to Chanoma, a restaurant layed completely with mattresses! It has a fabulously relaxed atmosphere, great loungy music and cute cocktails to boot. Does it sound strange that places like this make me really glad I’m staying in Japan for another year? On Sunday we enjoyed a light snack at Zucchini and a bit of browsing at Zara, before getting on the reality train that very abruptly sent me back into a new work week…

Thanks to Marty for the first pic, and Emily for the second and third xox

Where am I?

If you want to be greeted by name, and enjoy some ridiculously fantastic pizza, then make your way to Fandangos, the cutest little Italian restaurant in Onomichi, Hiroshima. I was sitting there on Friday night for Gillian’s belated birthday celebrations when I had one of those mind vs. location moments. It didn’t feel like I was in Japan at all, I really could have been in any country at that very moment. I was eating perfectly prepared Italian pizza and enjoying the company of nine different nationalities: Irish, Japanese, Australian, Canadian, British, New Zealand(er?), Jamaican, American and South African! I’m really grateful for those little escapist moments, when I can just relax and enjoy good food and catch ups with good friends.
PS. I’m donning a little second hand granny dress that I managed to shorten and then squeeze into my suitcase from home. And thanks to Emily for being my personal paparazzi when I need an outfit shot! I’ll link to her beautiful blog as soon as she starts one 😉 PSS. Apparently smiling and keeping my eyes open is some sort of impossibility… I’ll be waking up an extra half an hour earlier every morning just to practise (not!).    

It was a very happy birthday indeed

Icecream cake, Chocolate cake, tiramisu and Konbini cheese cake …have a cake hangover today to say the least! Saturday was filled with fabric shopping, vintage rummaging and calls from home. After wondering the spring chilled streets until the early, early morning we finally found refuge at a cosy tapas and wine bar where the owner tempted us with onion tart and an oozing raclette.  I’m glad my friends here are as obsessed with food as I am, because Sunday’s brunch at a bistro café and a peruse around Anderson’s bakery made me a very happy birthday girl indeed.