Ben there, done that

Ben & Jerry's always brings back happy memories in Tokyo.

During summer time, Mark and I would walk down Omotesando and pass by the Ben & Jerry's store along the main road. We'd go inside and order a few scoops to nosh on while traversing the road from end to end.

Each time I did it, Mark would try different flavours while I'd stick with my usual Cherry Garcia.

Last Saturday, on my birthday, Mark went back to our Ben & Jerry's days by sending me a few pints of the ice cream to make our celebration cooler. Which it definitely did.

He said he tried looking for my usual Cherry Garcia, but it wasn't available. So, he sent a gamut of flavours, including my other fave - Phish Food!

Trust Mark to make my birthday both sweeter and cooler.

MmmmmMagnolia!

When Mark told me that the famous NYC bakery - Magnolia - opened in Tokyo, I knew it was one of the places we had to go to.

So, on a cool and sunny Wednesday afternoon, we found ourselves in Omotesando to enjoy their signature cupcakes and cakes.

Red velvet cupcake is one of their specialties. But instead of going for the cupcake, we went big time and ordered the red velvet cake. Since we also wanted to sample their cupcakes, we got the caramel one, too.

The caramel cupcake was sublime! It had the right combination of density and fluff, plus there were chewy bits that added a layer of texture. The red velvet cake was just okay. I missed the cream cheese flavor in their icing.

There were 2 other cakes that we wanted to try but weren't able to. That's okay. I'm sure this won't be the last we'll see of Magnolia Bakery.