Afternoon, eastern Jersey.

Been to Jersey today on business. On the way back couldn’t miss the chance of having late lunch / early supper at my favorite place nearby – Mitsuwa.

Miso ramen and ikura rice for noms.

Photo “Everydations”.

Everydations – a notion that I came up with to underline, photos of mine that don’t really fall under any feasible categories, random stuff so do speak.

Earlier that week was on Manhattan to get some art supplies in china town around Canal street, back streets around this area drastically differ from what an outsider may think of shiny and sparkling city of glass and concrete.

Pre-Christmas loot.

HLJ – Hobby Link Japan, that is. One of my favorite online anime-related merchandise store had a Pre-Christmas sale and free shipping offer, certainly I could not miss on this one. It’s a pity that there weren’t any interesting figures on sale, but instead I got few other goodies to fill my shelves with.

Tank’s favorite supply depot.

For quite some time I wanted to do a write up about my favorite Japanese super market that we have near by. There are 3 Japanese market places that I know of. 2 of them are on Manhattan, and going there is a pain in the neck. There is no parking there at all, and dragging all the purchases on the train is not a very good option either. So I go to Mitsuwa Marketplace.

It is not exactly around the corner, though. About 35-40 minutes driving cross Manhattan and you are in New Jersey, another 10 minutes north and I’m in the town of Edgewater, New Jersey, parked in front of Mitsuwa.

Mitsuwa Marketplace

Went shopping today for some tasty stuffs at Mitsuwa marketplace. First stop at food cort for a lunch.
Udon nooddles are delicious indeed.

Seven Eleven is crazy with Domo-kun

Out here in New York going to a local 7-11 store I couldn’t help myself noticing a bunch of Domo-kun related merchandise.
Domo-kun is a mascot of major broadcasting corporation in Japan – NHK Corp. Pleasure to see it being adopted on our grounds. Way to go 7-11!

I just love 7-11 coffee “Fusion brand” most of all, usually grab 24oz. and after gulping it all start feeling much, much better. For a caffeine junkie I am. More and more I start enjoying their sandwiches and hod dogs as well, hadn’t had a bad experience with them so far, my digestive system remains full and in good health every time.

What you can say about 7-11 stores you’ve been to?

IKEA of Brooklyn или Биточки по-Шведски

Вот уж не знаю почему меня потянуло писать на английском? Честно сказать заметил такую неприятную тенденцию: чем лучше я пишу на английском – тем хуже я пишу на русском. Суровая проза жизни, знаете ли…
И вот сегодняшний пост о поездке в Икею написал на своем T-Mobile G1  сидя в баре:

Friday, the most anticipated beginning of a long “Labor Day” weekend. All over sudden decided to clean up the room a bit, barely started tidying, I thought about rearranging the place all together – for the most part getting rid of the stuff in the far corner, right next to a Cisco lab rack. Actually just moving the stuff from place to place is always an option but I decided to do it right. So, shortly i was on my way to IKEA with a list in my hand.
IKEA of Brooklyn opened its doors just recently, that was my second trip there. For the most part the whole stock is just a bunch of flimsy rubbish, but there are few cute and quite handy items.

IKEA’s food court on the other hand is quite good. That was my first stop upon arrival. Previously, I was already acquainted with Swedish interpretation of a hot dog – a bit salty, but ridiculously cheap – at ¢50 for a pop and surprisingly tasty.
Today I just had to taste so called Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes, green salad with Italian dressing, a slice of Swedish almond cake, lemonade and a coffee which was astonishingly tasty. Seriously, my expectations of a food court coffee were no more than of a local groceries’ and theirs is absolutely crappy. Another pleasant surprise was almond cake, highly recommend, it’s absolutely and utterly addictive. Their brand name lemonade – nothing special, whatsoever I didn’t finish even a third of it.
Now to the shopping. Each and everyone, that had been to IKEA once, knows that its floor plan arrangement is like no other. You can’t really grab what you need and swiftly head to the register, no your path curves through whole exhibition floor, certainly, there are shortcuts, but they don’t help much. So just briefly looking through the selection of all shapes and sizes of furniture, accessories and knick-knacks, it took me whopping 2 hours to leave this pandemonium of Swedish coziness buying a bunch of scented candles, a shelf and a vase, still questioning myself why the hell I need a vase? Not forgetting frozen yogurt, a hot dog and 2 cinnamon buns for the afternoon tea.