Around Town

Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden

June 6, 2015 Caitlyn1 Comment

I’ve been meaning to post this since last weekend, but, forgive me…I’ve been exhausted. I mean, EXHAUSTED. I couldn’t figure out why and then I checked under my eyelids and realized they are super white. DUH! Get more iron Ms. Caitlyn! Phew. Anyway, here’s hoping to a more productive week now that we’ve got that business figured out. And here’s to the pretty garden we visited last weekend! We had a super random but yummy picnic of sausage, mandarin orange jello, canned salmon, cheese and olives, and cheese bagels. I tried some banana milk and Chad had coconut milk. Not necessarily the healthiest, but it got us through the walk ahead!
The banana milk tasted like banana Laffy Taffy’s. Not bad, but Chad helped me finish it.
After relaxing for a bit, we headed to the Greenhouse. There were some pretty neat things growing inside, including banana trees, cacao trees, and coffee trees (none of which I got a good photo of, unfortunately!).
After we finished our little tour of the greenhouse, we headed out to explore the garden.
Have you ever heard of aerial roots? We were really excited to see some for the first time in person!
We had relaxing time exploring this highly rated garden. Hope you enjoyed a glimpse through this post!

xxCaitlyn

Around Town

Around Town: Paul (a bakery)

January 17, 2015January 17, 2015 CaitlynLeave a comment

Last weekend Chad and I stumbled across a bakery/cafe called Paul in Shinjuku, and from the amazing smell permeating the air alone, I knew I would have to visit soon. Fortunately, “soon” came this afternoon. We were trying to decide where to go for a walk, and I asked, “How about we walk to that bakery with that giant heart thing?”

These sandwiches looked just like the ones we had in France…

The massive heart “thing” (a palmier) I had my eyes on last weekend can be seen above on the bottom shelf! Drooling yet?

I loved the look of this bakery, both outside and in. Gorgeous glass windows showcased bread and a few pastries to view from outside, and the glass cases inside tempted us with everything else. Additionally, the ceiling was made of really pretty wood, there were simple prints throughout the bakery, and very subtle splashes of soft color.

After arriving home for the day, I researched a little bit about Paul and found out that it is a chain that started in France. The corporate history is kind of neat, and there’s other information on the international site if you’re interested, too.Chad and I decided to split a raspberry frangipane tartlet, and it was quite lovely.

The balance of the almond crust with the creamy cheesecake-like filling and the juiciness of the raspberries made for a delightful afternoon dessert. We decided to get the chocolate covered palmier to go for tea time later. Apparently, palmiers are made with puff pastry in a similar way to croissants, but without yeast. You know how much I love a good croissant, but I also really appreciate the light, flaky, crunchy texture of a good palmier. And now, rather than referring to them as heart-things, I will remember the actual pastry name!