end of an era

my birthday was a couple of days ago, and provided me with an excuse to check out the delectable goodies from local pastry shops. i couldn't decide on one special yummy thing, so i bought several mini yummies instead. i still find it rather odd to be out of my twenties; it's always felt like such a momentous era in one's life.

another year bites the dust

i love birthdays; especially when it's my own. i think the major allure of celebrating birthdays is the dessert, and presents. mmm, cake. i'm good with cupcakes as well, or ice cream cake, or many other desserts for that matter.

last year i was in kyoto, japan, for my birthday. i miss japan. so, for my birthday this year i received various green teas (ocha) from ippodo. i actually ordered a tea from each category, rather without realizing it. from gyokuro, the karigane (stems) ocha, from sencha, hosen ocha (a very good one i've had before), from matcha, an autumnal tsukikage ocha, and in the bancha, wakayanagi ocha (typically, i drink genmaicha, but i decided to try this instead). i've tried other companies ocha, but i've found ippodo to be the highest quality, reasonably priced, and as i've visited uji (where much of the matcha is grown), i enjoy drinking tea from that region.