回家的感觉 @ Katasumi Koohii 一隅珈琲

Had my afternoon tea at Katasumi Koohii (一隅珈琲) situated within Grassroots Book Room (草根书室) since returning from my solo Tokyo trip. 
Going to Katasumi Koohii cafe gave me 回家的感觉. I found out by accident a while back that the owners are Taiwanese too, like my mother. No wonder. :) 
The cafe doesn't have an expansive menu but it didn't matter to me. The owners' 诚意 more than make up for the menu. I enjoyed the pairing of my Red Ruby black tea with the Salted Caramel roll cake which is soft, fragrant and not overly sweet. I enjoyed the quiet ambience of the cafe which is perfect for doing a bit of reading and/or doing a bit of work.    

Salted Caramel roll cake and Red Ruby black tea

Penang Trip 2018: Day 4

It was an free and easy day for us. No schedule and no plans to follow, just went with the flow. 
Lazed around and watched tv in the room after breakfast haha. 

Fruits and Nuts Granola

We took a Grab to Lebuh Pantai (Beach Street) just after noon to browse around the area. We didn't intentionally look for Penang Street Art as we saw them back in 2014. 

I had dessert at China House, one of the famous cafes in Penang.

The highlight of China House - the bakery table with 30 different cakes available daily

I went for dinner alone while Marieann napped. I went to Lebuh Presgrave hawker centre, just a street away from our hotel. It was my best hour ever for the trip haha. I had Hokkien Prawn Mee and Ais Kacang. Yum!

The famous 888 Hokkien Prawn Mee 

I also saw 2 kittens and a cat on the way to and back from the hawker centre and played with them for a while before going back to the hotel. 

An unexpected late night entertainment happened around 1120pm. There was a fireworks display which we could view through one of the small windows. Not sure what the occasion was.

Tonight's turn-down service snack -peanut brittle

Cafe in Goblin

I saw this cafe and didn't even realise the significance even with the poster of Goblin out in front of the cafe. Only when I sent the pics to Juliane because I thought she would like the cute stuff at the counter and she told me. Then I realised hahaha.

Curbside Lunch

I had lunch at Curbside, a cafe opened by my former student, Sam Koh. I haven't been here for a while as I became busier due to increase in workload and responsibility. There has been a change of menu.

I really enjoyed the Grilled chicken with rice and salad. It gave me the much needed energy to conduct two high stakes interviews for my project, right after lunch. :) 

Anything Odd?

Can you see anything odd? My girl said I was evil. Haha :D

Japan Trip 2016: Day 6 Part 1 7 Dec 2016 Wed - Shirohige's Cream Puff Factory (白髭のシュークリーム工房)

Today, we took things slow and relaxed. We went to three places related to each other, kind of. :) Weather forecast was a cloudy day but no rain. Good enough for us.

The first stop of our relaxing day is Totoro Cafe (actual name: Shirohige's Cream Puff Factory/ 白髭のシュークリーム工房). We took a Odakyu Line train from Shinjuku Station to Setagaya-Daita Station. The cafe was quite easy to locate and it was in a nice, quiet neighbourhood. 

We arrived at the cafe around 11am and were very lucky to get the third last table in the cafe (on the second level). The cafe is quite small with about 8-9 tables, mainly two-seaters. If you want to try the cream puffs, I would suggest going early. We tried the seasonal limited edition Totoro cream puffs: Chestnut and Raspberry & Cream Cheese. Both Juliane and I couldn't bear to eat our Totoros. In the end, I ate mine from behind by turning its face away from me and Juliane removed the eyes and nose to make it faceless before eating hers. Hahaha. The cream puffs were absolutely delicious. The cream was not too rich but full of flavour (I could taste the chestnut for mine and the raspberry for Juliane's) and puff was crispy. 

Chestnut (chocolate leaf) and Raspberry & Cream (white hat)

ABSOULTELY DELCIOUS!! 

After our late morning tea, we went to the shop (first level) and bought some cookies as souvenirs. It is such a nice shop. We wish we could buy everything there! :P You could also buy the Totoro cream puffs from the shop as take-away. If you want to have the cream puff at the cafe, you will need to order a drink each. I don't mind coming back here again in summer to see what sort of seasonal editions they have! 

Happy!

**I hope Singaporeans would observe courtesy and be quiet when looking for the cafe. On our return to the station, we met a group of Singaporeans and they were really loud, "This way, this way!", "It's there! See?!". Yes, they are Singaporeans because I can recognise the accent. There is absolutely NO NEED to shout! Please observe your manners when in another country.**

Grassroots Book Room & Open Book Cafe

I visited Grassroots Book Room, thanks to a visiting professor. :) A former colleague brought the visiting professor, Prof Chou to the bookstore and I was invited along.
I really like Grassroots Book Room because it reminds me of Taiwanese bookshops. It sells mainly Chinese books but there are English books too. :) The books are really interesting and colourful and the displays are most charming and attractive.

It also has a cafe hidden at the back of the book shop, Open Book Cafe. It sells coffee and tea, cakes, pastries and bread, all hand-made by the cafe owner! It is a really quaint and cosy place to relax in, great place to have a cup of tea, a piece of cake/ tart and read a book. :)