Annoying Alliterative Appetite

5/2-

The idea of doing anything seriously touristy or requiring much effort never even entered my mind today, so I looked at a map and saw that the East Imperial Palace Garden was nearby.  My guidebook confirmed that I wouldn't have to do much besides walk around and told me that it was free, so I set off.  They were very nice and it was a lovely bit of green.  I planned on reading The Shadow of the Wind , which I'd brought with me, but after reading the prologue- or was it actually the first chapter?  Who knows?  Oh well- I realized that this was going to be a really good book that should be savored and that I didn't really feel like reading right then anyway.  I'd save it for the flight to Taipei.

I walked over to Marunouchi Brick Square, the food area Saveur had recommended, and immediately was pulled into the La Boutique de Joel Robuchon.  I bought a gorgeous "Religeuse Chocolat" a large cream puff topped with a profiterole with a very thick chocolate  cream/pudding inside the cream puffs, covered in a dark chocolate ganache, topped with two discs of carmelized chopped nuts I couldn't quite identify; walnuts or pecans, and a sprinkling of gold leaf.  It was a wonderful treat and quite reasonable for how good it was- around $5.  I wandered around the corner and saw a long line outside one store, Echire.  The plaza had a very strong Parisian influence so the name didn't surprise me, but the product did: butter.

Completely random sidenote- the square also had a strong Boston influence in the form of its fauna and masses of red brick/ architectural type.  I thought this was quite strange as the Japanese have an obvious (and one sided) love affair with French culture, but nowhere else did I see a strong, particular American region/city influence.

But I'd better get back to the bountiful bevy of brunettes bartering for butter.  Sorry, that was a bit much, but I couldn't stop myself.  Alliteration: I am an absolute addict.  There really were quite a few people waiting to go into the roped off butter store, and since I'm in Japan, they did all have dark hair.  Like in Singapore when I waited because I had the time and wanted to know if it was really worth waiting for, I got in line here.

Besides selling butter, they also had a small bakery inside.  Unfortunately they were all out of croissants for the day, so I got a rectangular Madeleine and a large pat (30 grams) of demi-sel butter.  You may be wondering why I bought butter and what the fresh hell I thought I was going to do with it, but here's the thing: I really like butter.  I don't know as much about it as I'd really like to, but I do like tasting it, using it in unholy amounts, and I've even made my own (which was good, better than the regular kind you'd get at the grocery store, but not as good as I'd expected).

So I bought it just to taste it, basically, with bread.  But now I want to start alliterating again and you don't deserve that.  I didn't know where I'd get the bread, but I knew I wanted good bread, not packaged white crap.  And I was still sitting right next to the Robuchon cafe which had just put out a bunch more bread products, so I bought a croissant to eat my butter with.  Croissants, of course, already have a devilish amount of butter layered into their soft sheets, but I always like it better with butter (stop me!  It's a disease!) especially when cut open lengthwise, toasted and then with butter on top, which somehow never seems too buttery, but just buttery enough. 

This croissant however, was already too buttery to put anymore on, so I just had to eat it plain.  It was great, but this meant that I was just randomly carrying around a bunch of butter since I was now full, and had to bread (to butter it on, upside down or right side up).

Butter in bag, bag in hand, croissant in mouth, I got on the loop line which circles Tokyo.  My guide book had suggested it as a good way to get a feel of the city as it was cheap and mostly above-ground.  Part of it was quite interesting, but much of it just snaked past gray buildings.  However, it also went to the station I'd decided I had the energy to go to; Harajuku, to go to Baird Brewing Co., the microbrewery bar Food & Wind recommended, as today was obviously a fine food and drink day.  To see the whole city, I ended up doing a 1.5 loop around the city which took about 1.5 hours but again, why not, I had the time. 

Wandering through this part of Harajuku was a bit more interesting, but still uninspiring, as most of it was the fleetingly trendy childish, typical "Japan-Harajuku" look, with lots of cartoon/ manga images.  I found the bar easily, thanks to their websites excellent directions, and entered.

They didn't have a sampler (which I LOVE for drink tasting) but you could buy their beer in very small (I think less than half-pint) glasses so I could try several different beers without getting sloshed.  They also had overpriced, overthought and underwhelming bar snacks, one of which I ordered (chicken and blue cheese deep friend egg rolls) since I hadn't had a proper dinner, just good food previously.  They also had great T-shirts, one of which I almost bought for my Stepdad, but they were expensive for what they were, so I refrained.

I wish I could describe the beer as well as I would like to, or even tell you the names of all the different ones I tried, but I can't remember them.  In anticipation of this, I had cleverly taken a photograph of the menu with all the beer descriptions.  Stupidly, I hadn't written this or downloaded those pictures before I lost my camera.

What I do remember is that the beers were all excellently made and more bitter than I really like (as many well-crafted beers are).  I also tried one beer that was memorably called Black Sails.  While drinking, I remembered how just how much I enjoy beer and that I really do love beer tasting and microbreweries.  I'd really like to learn more about them.  To this goal, I flipped through a book they had at the bar, showing and describing the World's Greatest Beers.  Neither Oranjeboom, one of my favorite mass produced beers, nor McMenamins Raspberry Ruby, my favorite microbrew, were listed, but I did write down the names of a few other raspberry beers that I wanted to try in the future (as much as I like beer, I like it in a very girly way, preferring very light, slightly sweet beers with fruit flavors).  They also had a free magazine aptly called The Japan Beer Times, the first edition, which was all about beer, especially microbreweries, though they don't seem to like to use that term, in Japan.  Obviously there's a microbrewery revolution in the U.S. but I had no idea they were also having a quiet one in Japan, so it was very interesting to read.

Slurring my way back to the hostel, I got out my netbook and started writing, as I seem most inclined to write when drunk (I also think that the readable bits are some of the most interesting and creative writings I do).  I sat on the Cafe porch and started talking to the group of three French guys at another table.  This turned into a very long conversation in French and I didn't do as badly as I might've expected, given my distaste for Frenchness and how long it has been since I last spoke it.  One of the guys told me he wished his English was as good as my French, which I thought was quite a nice compliment. 

I was working on a Cherry Blossom Suntory beer I'd bought at 7-11 (I'd bought some special pack of two beers for cheap, and very oddly, they'd given me a free orange juice with it,) when Marybeth came back.  I asked her if she wanted to go out and she said no but that we should just hang out at the hostel.  So we went and bought a flask of vodka and a Coke Light and just chatted with each other and two other English guys she'd met previously.  It was nothing special, but a relaxing, enjoyable evening.

For the past two nights, I'd stayed at the Sakura Hotel in Jimbocho, which was were I was drinking.  It was a decent place in a good area so I'd wanted to stay longer but they hadn't had any beds available that night, so I'd made up my mind to sleep in either a capsule hotel, a love motel or an internet cafe.  Each of those options were very "Japanese" experiences I wanted to try and both the love motel and an internet cafe would be cheaper if I checked in after 11 at night which was why I was hanging out at the Cafe at the hostel.  Marybeth went to bed at around 1 a.m.  I stayed up for another hour writing and then decided that it would be dangerous and bothersome to walk around somewhere trying to find an internet cafe/love motel/capsule hotel that would take women (the large majority, like 95%+ don't).

At some point, I went downstairs where the dorm rooms and bathroom were.  I had my purse and my backpack, everything I own (well, that I have on me) with me.  I don't remember making this decision, but I decided to sleep in the shower.  It locked from the inside and was a bit larger than a bathtub, split down the middle- half of it for the shower itself and half for a changing part outside it, separated by an accordian glass door.  I locked myself inside with my belongings and slept for about seven hours.  I think my body is just adapting to insane and horrible sleeping conditions because it didn't seem that bad, and, it was free.