dessert viking at Hotel Okura

I promised my 3 students (all sisters) to go with them to the annual March strawberry fair...the ultimate dessert extravaganza! Last year I missed going there and was incredibly disappointed to find out it is a 'once a year' event. What better fun than to go with kids? They eat without guilt, look so happy and 'in the moment' and are not complaining about ruining their diet, like adult women would normally do.

Rain came down in buckets on Friday morning, making things look glum...however, by noon light clouds settled in and soon enough the sun even peaked through! How lucky - we all went by bike to Hotel Okura to satiate our starving sweet tooth! What a delight: tables filled with cream puff servers, crepes Suzette station, fresh pancake station, ice cream, chocolates, cookies, and more!!! More than 20 kinds of sweets, and not your average cheap birthday cake or Christmas cake kind...I mean high quality ones like almond powder cake tarts, cassis mousse (picture), creme brulee, cheesecake (unbaked and baked type), and more. Heaven! Lucky, in very Japanese form, the portions were deliberately small, allowing people to try some of everything!!!

At 20 dollars for adults and 10 dollars for junior high school students, it was still worth it. Though I must say...junior high school students can eat WAY more than the average adult going to such a buffet. And I also recall when I was a junior high school or high school student, my cousin Michelle and I got kicked out of an Italian buffet restaurant in Taiwan, because were eating too much and they claimed 'tea time' was about to begin. I was on my 11th plate and in the middle of desserts...and had room for much much more! Ha ha, I recall staying deliberately longer because they had pestered us so much to get out.

The girls had fun and really enjoyed the part afterwards: shopping around Tsukuba Centre. It was funny to see the girls get so excited in the stationary shop or other places. It reminded me of how great the little things are. Though children are poorer, it just means they can enjoy things 'that' much more because they appreciate it! That is one of the many reasons why I would rather not be filthy rich one day.