Strange Drinks and Coincidences

Hello all! Did you miss us? I know it's been about a week since I last posted. Wondering what we've been up to these past seven days? Well I'm here to tell you! Again, it's going to get split up into two posts, but there will be lots of pictures, so you'll enjoy it.

First up, have you been at all curious about what I've been drinking here in Japan? No? Well you're in luck, because I'm going to tell you!




First up: Lipton's "Tea au Lait Chocolat." What is it? Basically chocolate milk tea. It sounded interesting, so I thought I'd give it a shot. What does it taste like? Well, it's kind of similar to chocolate milk, but with a hint of tea. It's not bad, but not something I'd drink all the time. I'd buy it again, though.





Next up: Nestle's "Maple Milk Tea." What is it? ...Exactly what it sounds like--milk tea with maple syrup. It also sounded pretty crazy, and yet I bought a carton of it anyway. What does it taste like? Sweet. Very sweet. Like maple and milk, with that hint of tea. I think it's too sweet for me, and I probably wouldn't buy it again.


Not pictured: Calpis Water. What is it? It comes in a regular sized plastic bottle and the contents are white. I've had peach Calpis before, which was good, so I figured it was high time I try the regular kind. What does it taste like? Orange soda, but without the fizz. There is a "Calpis Soda," so I'm assuming that's pretty much exactly like orange soda. Why is it white? I have no idea.


Last Friday evening, we decided to head to Ikebukuro to do a little shopping. Courtney came with us because she wanted to go to Tokyu Hands and buy a bag. But she had to leave early to go clean her apartment for a guest who was coming later. We ended up not buying anything... except food. So we went to El Torito, which was obviously the most Japanese place we could find.





Cinnamon got a quesadilla! You could tell that from the picture, right? Looks very quesadilla-ish. 


Japan has no idea what a quesadilla is.


Case in point, my (blurry) "clubhouse quesadilla."





Again, looks like a quesadilla, right? That was the first thing that came to mind, yes? Grilled chicken, tomato, bacon, lettuce and avocado all rolled up and served with guacamole and about two teaspoons of sour cream? Correct or not, they were still tasty. (Please ignore the weird face I'm making).


Saturday and Sunday, we spent our weekend at Harajuku LaForet Museum, seeing...





*pnish* Room Vol. 7! Yes, despite its name, the "museum" is actually a small theater space on the 6th floor of the LaForet building (which is basically like a mall). Friday, we met up with Courtney and her friend Meg and went to see the show together. Afterward, we went to T.G.I. Friday's for dinner before heading home.


Saturday, we were up early-ish to see the show three more times. Meg had to leave after the noon show to get back to Shiga, where she lives, so after a quick lunch at Lotteria, we parted ways with her. ...And fully enjoyed the 3:00 show. After that, we went to Starbucks and Courtney and I both got the new, seasonal "sakura" frappuccino. It was pretty tasty~ Then, it was back for the final show at 6pm. What do we have to show for it (aside various goods that none of you would care about), you ask?





Chocolates from each of the members, of course! After each show, there was a little handshake event, where before leaving the lobby, you got to shake the guys' hands, and one member (a different one each show) would hand you a piece of chocolate. Lots of fun~


Once the show was over for good, we decided to go back to El Torito, because that's what Courtney was in the mood for, and we didn't have any objections to going again. ...So we went off to Ikebukuro. ...And the waitress clearly did not like Cinnamon, seeing as she apparently chose not to hear Cinnamon's order and didn't bring her the chicken tacos she had been hoping for. She also didn't bring Courtney her extra tortillas, so we think she just had it out for all of us. Nevertheless, we have decided not to eat there anymore. Crappy service.


Monday, we decided to go to Korakuen, as there was a running store there that Cinnamon wanted to go to. We went there last time (to the garden we took about 5,000,000 pictures at) and it was a pretty interesting place. So off we went. We got a late start, so it was probably close to 5, 5:30 when we got there. Compared to last time, when there was a baseball game going on at the Tokyo Dome, there weren't many people around.





However, there was this--the worst named amusement park ride aimed at kids ever. It looked pretty similar to a Tilt-a-Whirl, so I really don't know where they came up with the name "Kids Hacker." Better ask marketing about that.


We walked around for a bit and passed some sort of event that was going on downstairs. However, we couldn't see much of it without stopping, so we just walked on, headed to the running store. 




With that out of the way, we came back and walked around LaQua (surprisingly pronounced "la koo-wa") for a while. But we knew something was going to be happening soon at the event area, so we went back over there to check it out.


And it turned out to be a red carpet event for the Percy Jackson and the Olympians movie. We got to see the movie's title character actor, Logan Lerman, and the director, Chris Columbus, walk down the red carpet. It literally lasted all of maybe 10 seconds, but it was kind of neat to stumble across something so seemingly random at a place like that. 


We were going to go get something to eat afterward, but literally as soon as we started walking away from the event, I started getting a migraine, so we just went home, where I proceeded to feel like death warmed over for about the next four hours. Luckily, that terror finally ended, and I was okay to go the next day. But that's a story for another time...