One thing we loved in Japan was the milk bread toast we had for breakfast. I attempted to replicate it at home.  I need to find a shokupan so I can actually get a full square loaf of bread. My bread was a little too small to hold the egg. Wish I had thought of this before we left Japan. I'm not sure how they manage to cook it through without burning. We'll have to figure that out. I also regret not buying matcha in Japan. Thankfully I found some at an Asian market. I also had to watch a bunch of videos to figure out how to make matcha. Once you figure it out, it's pretty easy.  I cleared the rink and resurfaced it for one more weekend out on the backyard rink. The ice wasn't perfect, but it was just fun to be out there with Theo. Meanwhile, Meadow and I walked over to our local thrift store.  Meadow found herself a cute hat.  Too bad these weren't in my size.  I've been eyeing a pair of those for years. Once in awhile Theo remembers he has toys. But he'd ra...

     

After being away even for one night it felt strange to be back in the busy city. We arrived at  the end of the line for the Tobu Nikko line,  Asakusa Station .  Then we had to walk over to the Asakusa Line which took us most of the way to our aparthotel in Asakusabashi. It may sound confusing, but Google Maps never lead us astray. We made it onto the A line train for a short ride to  Asakusabashi. The kids look pooped. Eventually we followed the road next to the Chuo Sobu Line. Restaurants and cafes are tucked into many of the railways. A clever way to bring some life to what would otherwise be a desolate space. Our last stay was at the MONday Apart. The Asakusabashi Akihabara location. We were starting to get used to slipper life. In Japan you separate your trash into burnable trash and plastic garbage. We decided to get dinner nearby at Pizzeria Buono Buono, but when we arrived there was a note on the door that they were out of pizza dough for the night. ...

We had originally planned on taking the bullet train down from Tokyo to Kyoto for a day or two. While being epically fast, it was a bit spendy for the four of us.  After talking to Brooke's coworker we settled on a two day trip to Nikko and its World Heritage Sites to break up our week in Tokyo. This turned out to be an amazing decision. The town is teaming with beauty from ancient shrines to epic waterfalls and some of the best meals we had on our trip. Kyoto didn't seem all that appealing to me when I started researching which location to go to. I too am glad we chose to head north to Nikko.  When we booked our Tobu Nikko Spacia X tickets I upgraded to the premium seats thinking that we'd be sitting facing one another. Instead we ended up with 4 individual seats, two in the first two rows and two in the last two rows. It turned out just fine with the kids sitting in front of us in two groups. Meadow and I were seated at the front of the car. Once in awhile we'd pas...