of weekend randomness :)

i've been looking forward for this weekend mainly to sleep in and to catch up on sleep but i ended up waking up early to get to mitsuwa, the japanese grocery store with christina. it was a whole lot of food galore which made the trip even better. to top it off, the weather was so warm and sunny and it just made me so happy. thought i might share some pictures of cute things that i bought! :)

but first...

my lunch at mitsuwa:

udon with shrimp and vegetable tempura on the side :) i prefer it on the side cos i don't really fancy my tempura stuff becoming soggy from the soup. but i have to say some of the tempura wasn't as crispy as it should. overall, it was not bad. my friend ordered tonkatsu and that was good and crispy. (sorry forgot about taking the photo. was too hungry and kinda was too immersed in my food)

i've always wanted my own chawanmushi cups ever since i made chawanmushi for project food blog round two last year. and i found these and i thought they looked awesome :) <3

i love this plate. it's just so pretty. i think it'd be perfect as a serving plate whenever i decide to make japanese food ;)

the next thing is probably the cutest thing i bought today.

don't you wish you had one? haha. the cat is uber cute! it's perfect to serve the desserts on which i bought from the bakery in mitsuwa called pastry house hippo (hehe cute name too, huh?).

one of it being mochi! :) and it has sweet surprise on the inside.

yup, a whole strawberry on the inside. mad <3. this was uber tasty with the soft, and sticky glutinous rice shell encasing the sweet red bean paste that mellowed the slight tartness of the strawberry. it's called ichigo daifuku and because of the strawberry, it's usually eaten in spring time. such a great start to spring! (or at least i am hoping it would be spring now in chi-town!) :)

christina and i both oooh-ed when we noticed this other pastry.

looks like an apple doesn't it?! :) we were thinking that these really looked like apples and what's great is that on the inside, there are chopped apples and custard and bread was soft which makes this pastry pretty awesome. so good :)

what makes this dessert even better is that since this ringo dessert (ringo is apple for japanese) is the bakery's best seller, all proceeds will go to #prayforjapan fund. so you can enjoy the dessert and do good at the same time. double awesome :)

such a great way to spend the weekend. on top of that i think i've stocked up enough food that would last me for a while. but i am very much excited when i found one of my favorite food items from mitsuwa

saba shioyaki aka salted grilled mackeral. so delicious that i bought two just for myself :) gotta love those leftovers.

anywho, have a great weekend ahead!

disclaimer this is written based on my personal experience and opinion. experiences and taste buds may vary for others.