Life of an ALT: What I Eat In A Week

For a week, I decided to take a picture of (almost) everything I ate!

As I mentioned from my daily routine post back in 2019, I have quite a busy schedule – this has actually increased over the past 18 months – so I prefer quick meals that take little-to-no preparation after work, or I stop at the conbini on my way home.

It is of course more cost-effective to cook more, however this currently suits my lifestyle in Japan.

As I’ve previously mentioned, living a short walk to the downtown area I enjoy eating out at the weekend – but as we all ride Japan’s fourth wave of the ‘rona, I’m still trying to stay home as much as possible and have been ordering in instead.

Also notably, 99% of the time I don’t eat breakfast during weekdays.
I know this is really bad and breakfast is so important, but when I have a 5:30am alarm I’d prefer to trade this in for an extra half an hour in bed.

I usually just have a cup of drip coffee with soy milk, then drink a huge flask of English Breakfast tea in between classes at the school.

I also opt-in for school lunch – it’s usually pretty great and is very reasonable at only ¥270 (around £1.75). You can see my posts about Japanese school lunch here.

So here we go…

Monday

BREAKFAST:
Coffee with soy milk.

LUNCH:
Soup with veggies and pasta shells, currypan and a custard pudding. (¥270)

DINNER:
Mondays are really stressful at work so I stopped at the conbini on my way home.
Pasta salad with proscuitto, tomatoes and cheese (¥496), karragebo (¥180), rice in tofu (¥213) and kimchi (¥110).

DESSERT:
Two kiwi fruits. (Discounted from the supermarket ¥100)

Tuesday

BREAKFAST:
Coffee with milk.

LUNCH:
Soup with veggies and bean sprouts, two spring rolls and minted pickles. (¥270)
(We also had rice but I took mine home as I don’t like to eat a lot of carbs if I have afternoon classes as it brings my energy down.)

DINNER:
Aubergines and mushrooms in a sticky Korean-style sauce, the rice from school lunch, miso soup with tofu and the rest of the kimchi.

DESSERT:
Discounted fruit salad from the supermarket. (¥250)

SNACKS:
Cheese puffs. (¥180)

Wednesday

BREAKFAST:
Coffee with milk and a potato croquette (¥120) as I waited at the bus stop.

LUNCH:
Creamy soup with mushrooms and pasta, chicken karaage, bread with chocolate sauce. (¥270)

DINNER:
Spaghetti with mentaigo (cod roe) sauce

DESSERT:
Daim bar (thanks, mam!)

SNACKS:
Edamame

Thursday

BREAKFAST:
Coffee with soy milk.

LUNCH:
Creamy soup with pasta and sweetcorn, fried fish, cabbage. (There was also bread but I didn’t eat it) (¥270)

DINNER:
I went to KappaSushi for dinner. 7 plates of sushi and a beer. (¥1300)

SNACKS:
Cornetto-like ice cream. (Multipack – 5 for ¥350)

Friday

BREAKFAST:
English breakfast tea with soy milk.

LUNCH:
Special bento for the school sports day. (¥800)

DINNER:
Cheese and ham baguette sandwich (¥300) and pizza crisps (¥130).

DESSERT:
Coconut Pocky. (¥150)

SNACKS:
Vanilla mochi ice cream. (¥200)

Saturday

BREAKFAST:
Coffee with soy milk, greek-style yoghurt with granola and honey.

LUNCH:
Okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake made with cabbage), the rest of the mushrooms and fried aubergine.

DINNER:
I ordered a personal-size Dominos pizza and potato wedges. (¥1600)

SNACKS:
Another Daim bar! (Thanks again, mam!)

Sunday

BREAKFAST:
I ordered a McDonalds breakfast – sausage egg McMuffin, two hashbrows and an iced latte. (¥960)

LUNCH:
Japanese-style curry (¥250, but I already had the sauce in my cupboard) and rice with the rest of the edamame.

DINNER:
None. I wasn’t hungry for dinner as my breakfast and lunch were pretty heavy so I just snacked in the evening…

SNACKS:
Cheese crisps (¥120), Black Thunder chocolate (my favourite Japanese chocolate!!) (¥100)

I actually enjoyed doing this and want to do something similar in the future!

~ Carla

Marie Antoinette’s Afternoon Tea in Tokyo

As Tokyo is once again in a state of emergency (despite the Olympics being mere weeks away…), here in Hamamatsu I’m reminiscing about my favourite city in the world and how eager I am to go back when it’s safer.

Looking through pictures on my phone, I totally forgot to post about the incredible afternoon tea I had late last year at the Tokyo Grand Hyatt with my friend Farrah.

While the spring Marie Anotinette theme (Marie Antoinette’s Sweet Haute Couture) had a very pastel, sweet aesthetic – this event was called The Queen’s Masquerade, which was more alluring with a sort-of spooky opulence; lots of blacks, pinks, purples and gold – perfect for Halloween!

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Unintentionally twinning in black and white! (A bit of a rarity for me!)

While special events are usually served buffet-style, due to the pandemic nearly everything was table service.

Anything you did have to get yourself had a strict queuing system. If you wanted to take photos of the settings (I mean, who wouldnt???) we were called up table by table.

It ran like clockwork and all the waiting staff were so amazing under such difficult circumstances.

Two Hama girls living their best lives.

Of course afterwards, there was purikura to be had:

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  Shout-out for our bestie!

It was such a special day, and I’m dying to go back and experience some of their other themed events.

Howay man Tokyo, sort yer shit out.

~ Carla

Bite-Sized Japanter #20: The 5pm Chime

In most Japanese towns and cities, you can hear a gentle sound and a short announcement around 5pm. This is known as the 五時のチャイム or “5pm Chime.”

This is used for two reasons: as a daily check to ensure the speakers are working correctly in case of emergencies, and also giving children a gentle nudge that it’s time to make their way home before it gets dark.

A lot of areas play Yuyake Koyake, a popular children’s folk song, or Goin’ Home (best known in the UK for being on the Hovis advert in the 70s), but in my neighbourhood they simply play the Westminster Chimes:

Kids are not supposed to be out at all after 10pm – but that doesn’t deter some of the more rebellious teenagers in Hamamatsu, who hang around conbinis in the evening in their “LA-style” streetwear, eating ice cream cones and thinking they’re solid. (The Lawson next to Shin-Hamamatsu station seems to be the place to be.)

They’d get eaten alive in Hebburn.

~ Carla