Last week we went to Fuglen, a newly opened Norwegian owned cafe in Shibuya. The coffee was far better than the standard coffee you would usually get served in Tokyo (roasted and imported from Norway!), and the mood of the place was really Scandinavian. At night this cafe turns into a hip and wonderful cocktail bar. Absolutely recommended! For access, you can check the map below.

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I went to the Tachikawa hanabi yesterday, and the fireworks were just beautiful. Too many pictures to put them all full-size in a post, so here is a gallery as well. Fireworks is really hard to take pictures of without a tripod, but I enjoyed the show none the less.

Shinjuku will always be my favorite part of Tokyo. Anything and everything you need can be found in this part of the city. If you only have a day or two in Tokyo, Shinjuku will not let you down.

Those of you who have been following me for a while, know that I am not a big fan of cooking. I love eating, but making the food has never really been my thing. However – I have no idea why, but Italian food always seems more simple for me to cook than any other kind of food, so here are pictures of a dinner I made recently. Everything is super simple. Fried eggplant (with olive oil, salt and pepper) + asparagus and parmesan cheese. Super simple caprese salad, no explanation needed, and a fresh salad with arugula, pine seeds, parmesan cheese and vinaigrette. I need to remind myself that cooking doesn’t need to be complicated. Back to basics!

「Hacienda del Cielo」と言う代官山にあるメキシコ レストランに行った。料理は美味しい、そんなに高くないし、とてもよかったよ！リンクはここ。// We went to Hacienda del Cielo, a super nice and not too too expensive Mexican restaurant in Daikanyama. Recommended! Here is the link!

タコス大好き！！！寿司も！// I love tacos. And sushi.

そうして、新宿にある店、「Journal Standard」にも行った。とても大きくて安いハンバーガーだった。// We also went to the Journal Standard store in Shinjuku, and at a really large and cheap hamburger.

And it was super nice! She has a really nice blog as well, you can visit it here. And I finally got to take purikura pictures for the first time in a long time. It is kind of a guilty pleasure for me, as I rarely visit Harajuku, and even more rarely actually step into the purikura-machines.

In other news it totally cooled down and it is not half as hot as it was earlier this week. In fact, the weather feels more like April/May now than July, but I figure it is nice to get a small break from the incredibly hot Japanese summer weather. Apart from hanging out with Emelie, all I have done this week is work, play scrabble (I actually won one time!), gone for little walks and eaten lots of food. I like calm days and routine. Another thing that I never thought I would like is to get up earlier in the morning, but right now I am loving an hour or two in front of the computer with coffee and Japanese renshuu before I start my day for real.

And I removed the sidebar from my blog. I am not sure how I feel about it. Yay? Nay? Should I bring it back?

Finally! After an insanely long time without having a photography portfolio, I finally made one and updated the content. You can click the picture or click here to see it. It is still somewhat in the works, I need to add an about-page, a couple of more pictures here and there, not to mention cut a couple of pictures from some of the sets, but right now I am just really pleased and super happy to have something up and running. I forgot how hard it is to work with your own pictures putting a portfolio together, I have spent the last days killing my darlings over and over. Hope you enjoy it!

I tend to get strange food cravings in the summer, and this is one of my favorite treats; quail egg yolk and flying fish roe. Mmmm…

This is my absolute favorite snack. Korean seaweed! It is different from traditional Japanese seaweed, the Korean seaweed is usually thinner and more crisp. They are perfect as a snack, they taste better than regular potato chips, and lo and behold, only 25 kcal per pack! Go to your local Asian supermarket and stock up on this deliciousness!

Quite a while ago I embarked on a project to put together some IKEA furniture to clean up the bookshelf we have upstairs, and lo and behold – it actually worked! I always feel like we have too little storage space in Japan, but at least now all the papers and books are somewhat hidden. It looks a bit cleaner with the white doors and baskets, no?