xiao long pao

Do you know how to eat a xiao long pao?

Well, usually i just pop itinto my mouth for that hot burst of soup.

Sometimes i break it in the spoon first so i get to enjoy the pleasure of watching the soup fill the spoon.

Today, we finally got to try the Din Tai Fung at the Takashimaya in Tachikawa.

And there was instructions of how to enjoy the xiaolongbao.

Truly so Japanese to have instructions.

We shared a lunch set of prawn noodles and xiao long bao

shumai
and another set of assorted xiaolong bao set which had 3 variations, 2 of each.

Regular, hotate (scallop), and kani miso (crab inerts)

i kind of like the kani miso. really rich tasting like uni (sea urchin). and so japanese. nice twist to the xiaolongbao.

Dinner was

oyako don (chicken and egg don)

green capsicums and potatoes nimono

For the first time, i simmered the capsicums whole, what i have always wanted to try doing after a few cook shows introduced how yummy they are eaten whole. I managed to get these small capsicums from the garden next door. A whole large bag for 100yen. (wheee~) Just nice for this experiment.

A little bitter, but the flavour of the capsicum was deeper.

Kids will probably not take this dish.

Ahhhh... the friday is all nice and friday-iy again after i was done with my visa renewal at the alien office.

I tried a different office today, located nearer to our place. We weren't aware of this branch until H made his passport at the main immigration office and i noticed a sign of another office that pointed in another direction. And when we checked online, ah, there is another office for aliens in tachikawa too! why not? it is much nearer than shinagawa!

i happily thought. wow, this would be great, only a few train stops away from our place, and in the shopping centre building linked to the train station. i don't have to take a bus like at shinagawa. i can go shopping after that! =)

well, turned out, we HAD to take a bus.

And to somewhere so rural-like.

pass the army training grounds, pass the remote driving school and many old-fashioned shops.

and walk on a long stretch of rough road before we reached the old building.

phooooo-

already, i hate the label "alien" or "gaijin which means outside people".

then i totally dislike these immigration places because it is always crowded and some culture are not aware of this thing called being in a queue, and privacy when you are filling out forms (aka not peeking at others jotting down personal info).

Why then do the offices have to be in such odd locations?

Oh well, when will i stop being called an alien? which is my real home?

the lunch at din tai fung made the day a little less depressing, and the company of J lightened things up a little i guess.