Winter Nikkō – Day 2

♥ Merry Christmas ♥

Happy holidays and hope this photo is Christmas-sy enough. 😀

I’m going to continue Day 2 of my Nikkō trip. No worries, it’s not going to be as long as Day 1. 😉

Winter Nikkō – Day 1

(It’s going to be a long long post!)

I’m back from my short trip to Nikkō and am recharged for the rest of the year (well, not much days left though). 😀 Although it was just a night’s stay, we managed to visit all the places we wanted to go within the 2 days there. 🙂

So I was planning to visit Nikkō city during the autumn season but it was difficult getting an accommodation so I had no choice but to postpone the trip to mid-December. Well.. the suggested dates of our trip coincides with our monthsary so we decided to go with the plan. 😀

Christmas Illumination in Tokyo

Hello my friends, I’m sure you know Christmas is coming when you see the streets light up with colorful illuminations. 😉

In Japan, the illumination spots competition can be quite intense. Business/Office area such as Marunouchi has collaboration with Disney. Buildings in that area has different Disney theme set up. From Frozen (the trend here is just crazy) to Tangled to Alice in Wonderland and last but not least, Mickey & friends. 🙂

Every year, the streets of Marunouchi will be lighted up with countless LED lights. For this year, the theme color is Champagne Gold.

GLORIOUS GORGEOUS GOLD. ♥

I was intending to visit this area but it seems kinda inconvenient for us so we went to somewhere else instead.

So other than office areas, shopping centers, even riverside walkways are joining in the illumination event.

Yes, yes. The blue photo you see on the top of this post?

Yes, we went to that illumination spot instead. 😀 This spot (Meguro river) is located near Naka-Meguro station and it’s the first time Meguro river is doing illumination light up event. We went on the first day (23rd Nov) of the light up and as expected, the crowds were crowding around the river sidewalks.

Thank goodness we went early (at 5pm)! The crowds continued to flow in when we finished enjoying the illumination. :O

This shot was taken on one of the many bridges in Meguro river.

Almost every bridges were filled with people. I had to squeeze myself into the crowd to get a shot and then squeeze myself out asap. Whereas there’ll be inconsiderate Japanese ladies (and couples too) hogging the whole area for their selfie. Tsk tsk tsk.
And because of the human traffic congestion at the bridges, the organisers had to cancel the illumination light up on one of the weekend as it was disrupting the traffic. 😦

This was a shot of the illumination while on our way back to the station.

I like the idea of how the organizer used LED lights to hang on the trees, and reflection of the lights from the river forms a mysterious blue cave. 🙂

If you’re in Tokyo, do give this place and Marunouchi area a visit. I’d also recommend Roppongi area as well because you get to see Tokyo’s landmark – Tokyo Tower amidst the illuminated walkways. 😉

Will be going on a short onsen trip to Nikko tomorrow. So looking forward to all the world heritage places and onsen and yummy Japanese food. 😀

Happy weekends people! ♥

Recipe: Choco Banana Tofu Muffins

Hi friends! 🙂
It’s December already! *wow* all I can say is that I’m loving this festive season.. ♥

Y-chan has company dinner tonight so I’m going to have dinner alone. 😦

*BUT*

I told myself it’s alright because we’re going to attend a Singaporeans year-end party tomorrow organised by the Singapore embassy.

YAY! to satay. YAY! to laksa. YAY! to Singapore’s local food. 😀

Ok, I was surfing the Japanese recipe site “Cookpad” yesterday and came across this tofu muffins recipe and decided to try it out (with a lil’ twist).

Ingredients (makes 4 muffins):
● 100g of silken tofu
● 35g cooking oil (or olive oil)
● 40g sugar
● 1 ripe banana

☆ 80g plain flour
☆ 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
☆ 8g cocoa powder

20g of dark chocolate (chopped into small pieces)

Steps:
1. In a blender, add in ● and blend till the mixture is smooth.
2. Sift ☆ together. (Dry mixture)
3. In a bowl, pour in mixture from step. 1 and then add in the dry mixture. Mix well.
4. Add in the chopped chocolates and keep some for toppings.
5. Pour mixture into muffin cups and topped off with the leftover chocolates.
6. In a 170°C Pre-heated oven, bake for 28 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and allow it to cool down before serving.

As I did not use silken tofu during this batch, the tofu taste remains a bit in the muffins.

Have you realised that I didn’t use egg in the recipe? 🙂
So if you’re looking for egg-free muffins, try this out!

Have a good weekends! ♥