Taking a break with my baby steps to learning Nihon-go.Ā Here’s some of our pictures from our prenup last spring by our friend Gali Montalbo.
And oh, do watch out when you drop by Lonely Planet and National Geographic’s stock photos. You just might come across Gali’s name on one of the photos š
I was ready not to incorporate the First Dance tradition, concerned as I was that Atsushi might be very conscious about it, considering that this was literally his first dance, ever. But Hubby knows this is part of tradition hence he was bent on training his body for it – by doing some nightly exercises. š Thank you Hubby! As for me, it’s been almost a decade since I last danced. With that, we really do need a dance instructor to choreograph our dance for us.
Mitzi was recommended by Erika (of Detalye).Ā And i’d say easily Mitzi is one of theĀ BEST suppliers we had. She’s one bundle of positive energy from the moment we met her up to when we had to say goodbye after our last practice. Totally she was one supplier you can hang around with to help remove your stress. She was the one who went to ourĀ hotel rooms for the practices (we had two sessions the week before our wedding). She even brought with her a CD with a couple or so of our songs in it! Girlscout! By the way, her thoughtfulness worked for us because Hubby and I was only relying on youtube for the our first dance song, Grow Old With Me (Mary Chapin Carpenter’s version)
MitziĀ was really patient with me and Atsushi. She was very forgiving with our missteps yet was quick to point out what needs to be improved. She was also quick with her compliments, especially with how Atsushi was very serious in mastering the steps. On our last practice (the Wednesday before our Saturday wedding), Mitzi told us to try to practice by ourselves in the next couple of days. Hubby and I did try but the hotel room we transferred to was just so crowded what with all the luggages hence difficult for us to practice. We had, however, a good “ballroom” as we practiced our steps (sans the hands) in NAIA I arrivals area as we waited for the arrivals of Atsushi’s family. Hehe! š
Our dance wasn’t so bad, I think.
despite the bustle, I still have quite a train on my back. Kudos to Hubby for not tripping over it
Thank you Mitzi!
Supplier: Mitzi
Rating: 5/5
Contact details: +639196278077
Thanks to Abe Umali for the pictures taken during our dance.
Idea: Erika of Detalye Weddings and Events
Execution: by Atsushi and Marjorie š Doing it together was so much fun! It was one of my favorite evenings on our last week before the wedding. It was good to have our good laughs offset the scary atmosphere of Prince Plaza Hotel II where we stayed for 3 nights. (Segue, on Prince Plaza Hotel II: I am sensitive to “presence” of those not human. At one point, Hubby asked me, “Can you feel the ghost? Even I can feel the ghost”.Ā That’s howĀ eerie the place was. One good advantage of the place though isĀ its convenience being just right in front of Greenbelt IV.)
Materials: bought by Erika’s team in Divisoria
So proud with our finished products!Ā Ready for handingĀ over to Macy of K by Cunanan to adorn our napkins.
Hubby made me extremely happy on my birthday with how he prepared for it – gave me a bouquet of flowers &Ā Godiva chocolates, went to shopping with me and had dinner at a posh French-Japanese fusion restaurant (the kind that takes off your coat off you and puts it back on after your dinner). And now that it’s his turn, I wanted to make it extra special as well.
First off, a meal on a very good resto would be nice. I had in mind Quintessence – a Michelin 3-star-rated French resto in Tokyo. But their phone isĀ likeĀ forever busy! After more than an hour of trying, I tried to call their other number – the one designated for confirmation of bookings. And, well, naturally, I was told they don’t accept bookings made through that number. It has to be the other number. But she did cater to my request though – to inquire if they still have a table available for lunch on May 21st. After some checking, the reply: their Saturday lunch is fully booked till July! OMG. I tried 3-star Joel Robuchon (only La Table and Atelier, both 2 stars,Ā serves lunch) and as expected, they’re also fully booked already. I checked out the Tokyo Michelin list; not all in the list is open for lunch. It has to be lunch for two reasons: one, these Michelin rated restos are so expensive, I can only swallow the price for lunch and second, lunch is most convenient for the sched of activities I had in mind for Atsushi’s birthday.
Anyways, after a number of calls, I was able to book for Modern Japanese Esaki. See our review for Esaki on my goodfood blog.
Birthday boy in Esaki.
The Aoyama district has a lot of interesting architecture, both traditional and modern. But we just have to stop at this non-negotiable:
hubby in his favorite place - the bookstore
Anyways, second stop for the day – RikugienĀ via Komagome Station.
It’s a rich park, if I may judge by how the whole park is walled.
We’re on the brink of the start of summer hence the place was all lush green. Would love to return here on different seasons.
The boon of these goens are the teahouses that sometimes offer pseudo tea ceremonies or even just plainly sell traditional green tea andĀ sweets. This was one of my main reason for bringing Atsushi here actually – for us to share this tea break.
The other was just for us to simply share a peacefulĀ walk along the greeneries. And have a healthy talk and discussion, besides. I love those walks. š
And of course, we just have to have a traditional picture.
Next stop was back in Yokohama – watch Pirates of the Carribean on the uber posh Colette Mare.Colette MareĀ has to be posh and really comfortable so that their tickets of 2000yen each is justified. Pirates was cool! Just the right movie for a birthday celebration. Hubby wanted to watch Black Swan as well but knowing how distrubed I was when I watched it, it just wasn’t a birthday sort of movie hence we decided to watch it the following day instead.
By the way, Hubby and I are aiming to have our house smell as good as Colette Mare does. Goodluck!
My birthday present. It’s just a few hundred yen I know. But I figure I ought to start replacing Hubby’s plants that I killed by not watering them more often. Apparently, the water vapor in the air can’t keep them alive. I was so positive the water vapor theory would work. š
And to cap the day off, we toasted Hubby’s birthday with the champagne that Maha gave us as her wedding/housewarming gift to us. I love Moet and Chandon! Glad it was with a chill box that we can re-use for later! We don’t have champagne/wine glasses at home yet so we used the mugs that the Hamakawa-sans gave away for their wedding. Tee-hee!
We also finished off the other red wine bottle that Maha brought during our housewarming. End result, I was blabbering coƱotic English the rest of the night. š
Happy Birthday A!
Tucked on an unassuming sidestreet in Aoyama, Esaki’s basement location makes the restaurantĀ a hard-yet-good-find. And with Esaki being on its second year on the Michelin 3 stars list, it sure is one good, if not great, find!
The chef and his apprentice.Ā Oh how I envy the apprentice! I wonder what it takes to be one.
We had our reservation for lunch. Esaki has only one 6-course menu for lunch and it was at 5250yen – which I think makes Esaki the most affordable among the Michelin Tokyo 3 stars list, at least for lunch (dinner menu is around ~20k or more). Their ume shu is certainly not cheap though, at 1000yen a glass. In other restaurants, normal price of ume shu is at 200~500yen.
the brown-sugar one (darker) that Hubby ordered tasted better albeit it was stronger
As a support to the nationwide, if not worldwide, campaign toĀ help Tohoku recoverĀ fast, Esaki used ingredients taken from the quake-hit regions.
First off, Sazae and Asparagus inĀ sazae liver sauce. Sazae, a turban shellfish (that looked more like a snail) harvested in Chiba,Ā tasted mushroom-like and a bit tough forĀ a shellfish. The asparagus, which was from Hokkaido, was so tender yet crisp. The sazae liver sauceĀ has a really curious alternating taste – bitter, salty, sweet. It was so delectable though that you’d find yourself spooning the sauce when you’ve already eaten the meat and veggies.Ā
Mushroom and veggies. The mushroom came from Fukushima. I love the yam sauce with the mushroom.Ā It was slimy yes, with just a very slight hint of saltiness. The one in the apex of the triangle has a sesame and peanut sauce. It actually remindsĀ me of the peanut sauce in the Filipino Kare-kare. The beans on the other hand means to off-set the taste of the two, I think, with it being almost bland – no flavor whatsoever.
Sashimi. Thin, almost translucent slices of hirame. Very fresh, very nice.
Now this one’s my favoriteĀ among the entrĆ©e. Salmon with black rice. This kind of salmon matures during autumn. So when this kind is harvested at this season when they’re still adolescents, it makes for a creamier meatĀ that’s almost boneless (I certainly didn’t see nor felt any bone on the one served me). The salmon was fried perfectly, no fishy taste and smell at all in that I even ate the skin when normally I always keep the skin at the side of my plate, uneaten. The black rice was curiously crunchy and sticky. Fatsia sprout (taranome) tempura was also added in. The whole lot is sprinkled with salt that was extracted from the bottom of a hot spring. Very very nice.
True to the Japanese custom, rice was served last. We had Takikomi Gohan (boiled, flavored rice) with Miso soup. The boiled rice was seasoned and cooked with the cabbage from Miura Peninsula. Even though meatless, the rice was so flavorful in itself. The miso soup served was one of the most unique miso soup I had ever tasted. The button mushroom was made more slimy and flavorful by the natto added to the soup. Yep it has got that distinctly natto taste – similar to soybean yet more stronger.
The rice and miso were great combi with the houji-cha or roasted wheat tea.
Now, for dessert! We were served a bowl with a lid that would make you think that whatever is inside is something hot. Hence I had some difficulty connecting it with the fact that it was now time for dessert.
When we opened it, we got this. Suggestive of a tomato sauce.
But once we took a spoonful of the rich redness – ahhhh, it was heaven. It-was-just-so-goodĀ that each sipĀ was almost orgasmic. So goood. Ahhh, so good. Yep, it’s so good you just can’t stop exclaiming so with every spoonful. As Hubby said, it was the best dessert he has ever had in his entire life so far (glad to have had made the breakthrough on his birthday š ). Puree of Amaou Strawberry from Fukuoka with a teeny weeny scoop of sherbet.
My dessert went great with the herb tea.
Ahhhh…good food!!!!
By the way, Esaki’s toilet is so pretty and clean I can stay in it and while the day away. š
An interesting fact: With 14 restaurants having Michelin 3-stars rate, Tokyo still tops Paris this year, making Tokyo still the center of the gastronomical world. Very interesting. And exciting, especially if you’re living in the area.
Address: Hills aoyama B1, 3-39-9 Jingu-mae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Telephone: 03.3408.5056
Home Page: http://www.aoyamaesaki.net (In Japanese)
I think a lot of people would agree with me when I say that when it comes to packaging, food presentation, food decoration et al, the Japanese is the leader of the pack. The amount of detail they exert on every packaging is nothing short of amazing. Me and my friends usually say sometimes (when for the nth time we were amazed with the packaging), “the Japanese really think of everything!”. And even for simple household stuff, the packaging can be quite a pleasant surprise sometimes.
Take for oneĀ the common salt. I still wasn’t able to buy us a cute (yes, it has to be cute) containers for the kitchen and yet I have to buy salt already. No worries, the salt already comes in a good packaging, that’s good enough for display.
Pull the tab. It says “akekuchi” meaning, opening point.
Pry open using a fingernail.
And voila! Salt can now go out the chute. So handy.
Dandy.