Mother's Day in Tokyo

I realized I haven't blogged all month but that's because we've been in Japan. It usually takes me a week of recovery when we return home and we returned on the 24th so I'm actually ahead of schedule! There is hardly any spare time on trips like this so I wasn't going to stress out and try to keep up on my blogging. It's so much easier to do it once I'm home. Now that I'm all caught up and rested I'm going to start off with my very special Mother's Day in Tokyo.  We spent two days in Tokyo which is an hour train ride from Nick and Sachiyo's house in Yokosuka.  We stayed overnight at a hotel in the Shimbashi/Shiodome area of Tokyo so we could maximize our time.  Nick timed our trip in Tokyo so the second day would be Mother's Day and he had three special places he wanted to take me.  The first place was called Nicolai Bergmann Flowers and Design.

I think the reason Nick thought of taking us here was because it had a Scandinavian atmosphere and they served Smørrebrød, the Danish sandwiches we ate in Copenhagen that Nick remembered I raved about - here. This was actually a florist shop with a cafe but it also has a rather large International School of Floristry and the flowers here were amazing. Nick bought one of these baskets of dried flowers for Sachiyo's Mother's Day gift.

They had both dried and fresh flowers of every shape, color and size.

These boxes of dried flowers seemed to be their signature gift item. The color arrangements were breathtaking, just gorgeous.

They change their outdoor arrangement based on the season or holiday and here's what it looked like for Mother's Day.

 

We arrived right when they opened at 10:00 a.m. because Nick figured it would be busy for Mother's Day but it wasn't too bad. The cafe area was small, though, so we were glad we arrived early. We took the subway here - the Harajuku area of Tokyo - that we visited last year. This is where there are a lot of fashionable shops and European type cafes like this one.  There aren't skyscrapers here but instead lots of tree-lined streets and very pleasant for strolling.

It's an expensive area, known as the playground of Tokyo's wealthiest citizens and fashionable young people but as tourist, we enjoy coming here to see things that are the "best in the world". 

I think Nicolai Bergmann Flowers must be in that category and I'm glad Nick brought us here. Even the tables here were decorated with flowers underneath the glass tabletop to keep with the florist theme.

We ordered two of the Smørrebrød which were a chicken salad and lox and cream cheese, both delicious with condiments that were very complimentary to the flavors.

They came with a delightfully fresh green salad that added to the array of colors that surrounded us. Everything was so beautiful, we were hesitant to eat it. You just wanted to sit there and take it all in. 

I did buy one souvenir I saw here and it was these elegant coffee cups they served our coffee in. 

They are glass but there is an insulated layer between the outside glass and the inside coffee that keeps the coffee hot yet it's transparent and you don't feel the heat when holding them. They were really quite beautiful and we've used them here at home already and love them. 

We also ordered a few pastry items to go with our meal, one was like a coffeecake and the other was a cinnamon roll. Then Nick gave me my Mother's Day card and a gift of flowering tea that I had bought on our first trip to Japan in 2014 and loved it. He remembered and now I have a new supply, so thoughtful of him. The desserts were yummy and satisfied our dessert sweet tooth. 

We really did not need dessert, however, because the next two places Nick took us were the ultimate dessert places. Next stop - Bubo of Barcelona.  Nick said they're suppose to have the best chocolate cake in the world. 

Since we were in Tokyo, might as well take advantage of things known to be best in the world, right?

I think this chocolate cake was the best in the world.

On top was a chocolate macoron, then chocolate glacage or frosting, then chocolate mousse, then a vanilla flavored sponge cake, then a crispy crepe and the bottom was olive oil sponge cake. 

We had to order another one because these cakes were so amazing so we ordered a white chocolate lemon cake. I think I died and went to heaven.

This cake had a slice of white chocolate on top and some mango and passion fruit. The inside layers were white chocolate mousse, lemon cream and lemon flavored sponge cake.  

I'm not sure which one I liked the best. They were both so decadent.  What a special Mother's Day I was having.💖

But we weren't done.  Right across the street was the third place that Nick wanted to take me.  It was Dominique Ansel Bakery.  

Dominique Ansel is a French-born pastry chef who opened his first famous bakery in New York in 2011. He has since opened bakeries in London, Los Angeles and Tokyo.

In April 2017, he was named the World's Best Pastry Chef by the World's 50 Best Restaurants awards, making him the youngest and only U.S.-based chef to be awarded the honor. He is known for his unique creations such as the Cronut, Cookie Shots, and Frozen S'mores. We bought cronuts, his signature creation, which are a cross between a croissant and a donut.  They change the flavor each month and this month the flavor was Amanatsu Orange Jam with Pistachio Ganache and Orange Sugar.  

We ate them for breakfast the next morning and they tasted like lemon meringue pie. They were so rich we each only ate 1/4 of the cronut. Have you ever had a cronut?

Here is what the cookie shots look like.

It's a cookie cup that they fill with milk when you order one. The milk is organic and infused with vanilla beans for 24 hours. We were too full from all our previous treats to order one but maybe next time...When in Tokyo, you must pace yourself. The frozen s'mores sound pretty interesting, too. The rest of the day we walked off our calories by visiting the Asakusa district or Old Tokyo. We also went here last year but it is the spiritual heart of Tokyo so it's a good place to visit.

The impressive Kaminari-mon Gate (Lighting Gate) is here and then you stroll along the store-lined Nakamise before arriving at the main hall. 

The Senso-ji Buddist temple is also here that we visited last year and you see lots of people wearing traditional kimonos who may be attending a ceremony here.

Since this area is known as Old Tokyo, you see lots of the old traditional Japan, like rickshas.

We continued our sightseeing by heading to Ginza to do some shopping. We have visited the Ginza district each of our three trips to Tokyo so I guess you could say we like Ginza. Ginza means old wealth in Japanese. It was Tokyo's first Western-style shopping district and is still where the old money shops. I like to say it's the Rodeo Drive of Japan only 10 times larger.  The first time we visited here, Bruce got a replacement band for his Breitling watch at a Breitling store in Ginza.  It was real high class, to say the least. 

Last year, we ate a Michelin star rated restaurant called Imafuku and had real Kobe beef. We like living the high life...

Our second night in Tokyo last year, we ate at a Singaporean restaurant in Ginza that was one of our most entertaining evenings.

Needless to say, we really like Ginza. This year, we went shopping at one of our favorite stores in Japan called Tokyu Hands or Ginza Hands, as it's called in Ginza. This is a one-stop shop-type store that is chock full of products unique to Japan such as high-quality and high functional living ware.  We just love this store and shop here each time we come to Japan.  This year, we were here on a Sunday and they closed the main boulevard to cars and opened it up for pedestrians only which made our visit even more pleasant as we strolled Ginza.  

We strolled pass the famous Kabukiza.

This is Tokyo's main venue for kabuki. Kabuki is the classical Japanese dance-drama which can be translated as "the art of singing and dancing".  It dates back to the 17th century and is known for its drama and elaborate make-up worn by the performers. 

And that is my Mother's Day in Tokyo that will definitely go down as one of the most cosmopolitan Mother's Day I've had. There is nothing that can match gallivanting around the biggest city in the world and sampling some of the best cuisine you can get. After shopping, we headed home to Yokosuka and we all went out to dinner for Mother's Day at Nick and Sachiyo's favorite restaurant on the beach. And once again, our attention turned to the star of our trip; not me on this Mother's Day, but on our beautiful, fun-filled granddaughter. This is what it's all about.