Friday, June 24, 2011

What the heck, Tokyo?!

     This time last week, it was relatively pleasant weather, cloudy and cool, with a decent breeze. It was so atypical for late June that we all had somehow fooled ourselves into thinking that this summer might be mercifully short, or at least not so scorching hot.
     Then, since this Tuesday, the weather has been something like this:

That's like 95 F, ya'll.


     And the humidity is almost 80% at night, AND Tokyo's summer sun rises at... wait for it... 4:30 AM. AWESOME. So by the time we wake up to get ready for work not only is it super bright in our bathroom (thought not in the main room, thankfully) it has been baking in direct sunlight for almost 2 hours. Lovely.
     Thankfully, Tokyo has been rolling out some delectable summertime treats. I have pledged to drink only water at home/work (with the occasional soda or Arizona Raspberry tea at home, can't help it, it's my crack) instead of lemon tea/flavored drinks. So I've picked two indulgences to enjoy this summer.
    
The Lemon Zest Sorbet is probably the best lemon sorbet I've ever had, and I've had my fair share!

     The first is Ciao Bella ice-cream/sorbet. I believe it's actually from the States, and can be found at a number of retailers such as Whole Foods. It's made with all-natural ingredients; the lemon sorbet, for example is made from Sicilian lemons and sweetened with natural cane. Here in Tokyo Ciao Bella can be found in random convenience stores or supermarkets, though the only appealing flavor IMHO is the lemon sorbet (TO DIE FOR). All the other cool flavors have not made it over here yet and we just have blah vanilla and chocolate varieties, but I'm hoping as summer drones on we'll get a better selection. I'd love to try the mint chip, and the pistachio!
     And on the coffee front, it's getting much too hot for my usual vanilla cappuccino, and on top of the weather Starbucks Japan has randomly stopped putting out cinnamon shakers for customers to use. What's the point of getting a vanilla cappuccino if I can't spice it up with some cinnamon? Arrrgh. Luckily this week Starbucks rolled out a new variety of their cheaper convenience-store coffee drinks, the caramel macchiato.
Yeah, took this with my MacBook Photo Booth. Don't try to read the lettering, your brain'll explode.
     It actually does taste like an iced caramel macchiato, or a caramel frappuccino, without the icky ice chunk effect, and since it's for the Japanese market, it's not super sweet. At only $2 a pop, I'm a fan! That is until they decided to pull it off the shelves; these drinks are usually limited edition so I'm going to enjoy them as much as I can before they disappear!
     Summer in Tokyo is always hellish, but I'm comforted by the fact that I'll be outta here soon after it. Anyways, I hope to have another OOTD post by Monday, depending on if I can muster up the will to actually wear something relatively decent rather than just wear whatever makes me sweat the least!

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