Tokyo

For our summer holiday we flew to Japan for 10 days to visit Baba.  

As usual we stayed a couple of nights in Tokyo.   We met up with Kyo chan for a Jojo-lunch at Rika's favorite yaki-niku restaurant Jojo-en in Hatsudai.   There are many yaki-niku restaurants in Hong Kong but we haven't found any that are anywhere as good.

The view from Jojo-en in Opera City.  The square beige buildings are the Hyatt Regency Shinjuku where we stayed.

Hannah was able to visit her old playgrounds at Shinjuku central park.

A highlight for Hannah was visiting the Harry Potter Exhibition at Roppongi Hills.

This exhibition of costumes and props was very impressive and a lot more interesting than I expected, and gave a good sense of the design and artistry that went into making the world of Harry Potter come alive in the films.    (Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take any photos).

But the exhibition shop at the end was even more impressive, with a veritable Daigon Alley of merchandising.    Two large rooms with a scrum of kids choosing scarfs, mugs, books, photos clothes, wands, chocolate frogs, jellybeans, etc.  Reproduction broomsticks flying off the shelves.

Harry Potter glasses and wand set

Ron Weasley chopsticks.

Hannah bought me a Gryffandor tie to wear to work ('old school tie' is still important in the City).    And after a 30min stand-off we limited Hannah to one wand, some cards and a pack of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.

Then we metup with old friends from Hannah's school,  Rin-chan and Lila, and of course Rinchan-mama and Lila-mama

Lila drew this cute note for Hannah and Rinchan.

Ocean Park

We enjoyed Ocean Park so much we decided to visit again take advantage of my holiday and one of our few remaining weekends living nearby.

Ocean Park  'Old Hong Kong'.

This visit we took the cable car to the other half of the park which is perched on a peninsular between Deepwater Bay and Aberdeen and has most of the rides.   Hannah was too short for most of the rides but she did get to go on one of the roller-coasters.

View across Deepwater Bay with Parkview on the horizon.

Video: ocean park

La nourriture pour chat

Minimi's vet  recently advised us to give him more 'wet food' to ensure that he doesn't get dehydrated as older cats are prone to.

So we have switched from 'Whiskas' to 'MonPetit' by the Japanese company Purina.    The expensive little sachets contain fish or meat in tasty sauces using recipes from Georges Auguste Escoffier's classic 'Le Guide Culinaire Pour Les Chattes'.

To say Minimi is delighted by his new diet would be an understatement.   He has becomes obsessed by food and much more assertive in demanding it.  He  taps me on the arm from 6:30 am to try to speed up breakfast, and starts asking for more food about 10 minutes after being fed.     When I come home he always tries to tell me how Rika forgot to feed him all day and that he is almost fainting with starvation.

Minimi also wants us to buy the legendary 'Miaou' by Paul Bocuse ("the brand french cats ask for by name") but unfortunately Fusion doesn't stock it. 

Video:   

Bouillabaisse de crevettes et thon
Saute de blanchaille et thon, sauce vénitienne

Blanquette de poulet et carorotte, sauce suprême
Fricassee de poulet et thon sauce nantua

Homard thermidor  (not shown)
Chateaubriand, sauce bernaise


Escoffier's cat