Pride Day

Embarrassing to say but I've also never really been to Pride Day in SF. Yes I'm embarrassed. But I never had the chance before 21 (the funnest part about Pride Day is the drinking) and was gone throughout my 20s. So what a better way to celebrate it fully! We started the day by watching the parade, headed for a few pre-drinks at Dolores Park, brunch at a popular venue, and then ended with some dancing/drinking bash! This is the way to celebrate people of all gender, sexual orientation, marriage, love, and body types.

Perfect day to drink outdoors :)

Brunching at Foreign Cinema! Love this place

Ready for partying part II!

The 22,000km Trip (32) Tokyo: Nezu Musum

Nezu Museum is one of those tiny gallery-type museums so it's quite small and not as flashy as the other metropolitan museums. But it's well liked by locals for 2 reasons 1) They have small but interesting exhibits here and there (They had an exhibit on the history of Buddhism when I was there) 2) The inner garden & cafe is gorgeous, especially during spring and autumn. Unfortunately it was still cold in Japan when I was there but many women come to this museum in kimono specifically to look at the garden and have tea in the cafe. If you want to get away from the business of the city, I highly recommend it!

The 22,000km Trip (31) Tokyo: Toast Brunch and Shrine Amongst Skyscrapers

The unique thing about Japan via other Asian countries is that we're not really a "breakfast" bunch. If you go to China or Thailand, you see porridge shops or street stands swarmed with people, waiting to have a bite before going to work or school. Japan for some reason, there is none of that. That is not to say we don't eat breakfast. In fact, we eat quite a lot, and considered one of the most important family meals of the day (especially as dads are at work until late and don't come back after the kids are asleep) but we tend to eat at home. I still have fond memories growing up and surrounding a table to eat a whole course of food (rice, soup, fish, pickles, fresh seafood, salad, simmer vegetables) before going to school. However, with recent times things are changing. There's special breakfast menus at fastfood restaurants and Seven Eleven sells coffee and pastries. Brunch is becoming big too, copying SATC and other American shows. When I told my friend where I was staying in Tokyo, he recommended me a good... toast shop. A place known for toast? Now this was a first. I had to check it out.

The "toast store" is more known for its coffee is in a modern office building in Toranomon. According to the many reviews I've read, they're traditional European style coffee is well-loved by coffee-connoisseurs and hard-to-please coffee lovers. They're also known for serving special toast with fermented butter. Sounds fancy huh?

Toranomon Koffee

And voila! The infamous toast which comes in an artistic box

The butter is what I've been missing.. European style butter! Ever since I moved to Europe, I don't think I can no longer eat butter other than French ones. It's so much flavorful.. I can understand French cuisine takes such pride and uses a whole lot of butter. Paula Dean... your sticks of butter recipe do no good! It's slightly salty, slightly creamy, and you can even smell the aroma.

After a nice little brunch (I love having brunch amidst of salarymen and women busy looking through their schedules... ah yes student life) I decided to take a stroll to the infamous Miseki Shrine nearby. It's quite amazing that this shrine is atop a steep hill surrounded by nothing but skyscrapers. It's not wonder that this shrine has been sacred grounds to wish for good business and promotions for centuries! It's a great little hidden gem in the smack middle of a business district.

Picked out one of those fortune telling sticks...I got "middle luck" which is rather good.. but really? I'm still in pain here