Eggs Benedict

To answer Jonathan - no, no Kobe beef yet. Although I did read a review of The Oak Door (Grand Hyatt) which raved about the beef (not he article that I have linked to). We've been to the Oak Door before, but Kobe Beef tends to be expensive - up to USD 130 for a main course. That is stretching things just a little!

Yesterday we had brunch at Roti - an American contemporary restaurant. They had Eggs Benedict on the menu, so of course this completed my decision-making. Sonia had the soup, which turned out to be Mexican Black Bean with Chorizo. A little heavy for first thing in the morning, but nice and spicy.

The Eggs Benedict looked nice as it came out. However it was let down by the yolks, which had been cooked just a little too much and were no longer runny. Other than that, it was good - the English muffin was fresh, the ham was good, and the hollandaise was fine if nothing exceptional. We were sitting outside, as Tokyo was experiencing one of the warmer spring days. Coffee was well done. And so to the scores:

• Eggs - 6/10 - over cooked the yolks.
• Bread - 8/10 - English muffin toasted nicely.
• Hollandaise - 8/10 - could have used a little more, but otherwise good.
• Coffee - 8/10.
• Ambience - 8/10 - nice sitting outside, although it could quickly fill up with too many ankle-biters.
• Total - 38/50.

Not a bad showing really.

Hong Kong and Earthquakes

Well, I guess a few things have happened in the couple of weeks since the last entry.

Sonia and I spent last weekend in HK. It's been "Golden Week" in Japan, and this means many people take a few days off, turning two public holiday days into a holiday week. Sonia and I travelled to HK on Friday (Sonia from Bangkok, me from Tokyo), and back on Wednesday. We didn't really have anything specific to do there, more just a chance to get away from the usual places. And an opportunity to catch up with friends and to go back to a favourite restaurant. It was a fairly uneventful trip.

Nothing much to report other than that we stayed at the same hotel that we stayed in when we first arrived. We ended up cooking there a couple of nights (mini-kitchen in the room) after having eaten out at lunch time. Still trying to be good and not put on weight!

Managed to make it back to the church we went to when we were living there. They have two weeks before they move into a new building. Up to now the services have been in various parts of the Hong Kong Exhibition Centre. With the new building, it's a dedicated facility. However, it does mean that each service will be split over two auditoriums on two floors. The music will be live in each auditorium (separate bands on each floor), but one of the places will have the speaker via a big screen showing live video.

We ended up the weekend getting back onto separate flights - one to Bangkok and one to Tokyo.

The second thing that is news is the earthquake in Tokyo earlier this week. I was woken up at 1:45am, not knowing why I woke up or realising what was happening. Then I saw the doors swinging on their hinges and the curtains swinging to and fro. The earthquake went on for a while, and at one point the ironing board fell over onto the floor - it was leaning on the wall behind a door. Eventually I started to wonder whether I should be getting out of bed - although what I was planning to do being the 26th floor, I am not sure!

Having lived in Wellington, I thought that I was used to earthquakes. And in the past 9 months that I've been in Tokyo, I've been through a few more. This must have been the biggest one I have been through - 6.7 on the scale.

Can someone please tell Kyla that she should be putting something on the blog - to keep everyone up to date with what is happening.

News

Well, two pieces of news this week.

On Sunday, I teamed up with a friend from HK (who is in the process of moving to Tokyo) to hire motorbikes for the day. We rode down to Mt Fuji and around the side of the mountain. It takes about 1.5 hours to get there, riding along motorway (Tomei) most of the way. The countryside around Mt Fuji is wonderful when contrasted with the sprawling metropolis that is Tokyo. Then we rode back to Tokyo along another expressway (Chuo).

While at Fuji-san (as the mountain is referred to), we visited one of the lakes. Only to witness an amazing boat with a swan neck at the front - towering maybe two stories above the boat's roof! The boat takes people for rides around the lake. Only in Japan...

I rode a Z750 - not a bad bike at all. Pictures here. David (the friend from HK) hired a Yamaha MT-01. This was after initially booking a BMZ K1200R. Then changing his mind when he realised that it might be too big, given that he had not ridden for around 10 years. We were in Mt Fuji and had stopped at a Yamaha dealer to look at bikes when the guy at the dealer told David that his bike was a 1700 cc bike. We did not really believe this. The following day we looked it up on the internet to find that it was true. So after aiming for a smaller bike, David ended up renting a bike with a motor the size of a car! Still, it was fun to ride albeit a little on the heavy side.

Second piece of news. Last night I moved to a one-bedroom apartment instead of the studio that we've been staying in. Too many trips carting trolley-loads of stuff from one apartment to the other (in the same serviced apartment block). I will get organised with a few pictures at some point.

Tomorrow morning it is off to the airport to catch a plane to HK for the long weekend. Sonia arrives later tomorrow night. That's all for now.