Saturday, March 31, 2007

Rainy days, sunny days

The weather is so changeable lately. Some days feel like early summer but other days like the end of winter.

But truly it is spring so the trees are blooming. Please enjoy the sights from my garden. The big tree with white blooms is a magnolia and the pink blosooms are apricot.
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A new restaurant

A new Italian restaurant opened two weeks ago in Tsukuba. New restaurants open (and close!) all of the time, but this one is really worth visiting.




Trattoria e Pizzeria Amici (トラットリア・ピッシェリア・アミーチ)can be found at 286-1 Teshirogi, Tsukuba. Phone 029-852-5885. It is between Umi-to-shima Okinawan restaurant and Hotel Suwa, on the west part of Doho Park Street. If you want to go please make a reservation because every time I drive past the carpark is 'choc-a-block'!

It opened on March 12th and I've been twice. Once for "White Day" dinner, and once again for lunch two days ago. Um, yes that means I've been twice in two weeks. My husband and I decided we REALLY like the food!

Dinner was a little expensive but the taste was great - it seems they use the best authentic Italian products. For dinner we had a simple pizza with rocket (herb) and prosciutto raw ham. The proscuitto was of the best quality and so delicious - no wonder the prices are a little expensive. At lunch we each tried a different pizza: mine was with tomato sauce and oregano, and my husband's was four kinds of cheese. They were both wonderful, too.

The pictures are of the first course at lunch and the lunch pizza. The dessert is one you can only get at night. It is called a 'baba' and is kind of like a cake that is soaked in liqueur. It was the first time for me to find it in Japan.

By the way, the coffee is nice too. Oh, and the whole restaurant is non-smoking. All in all, it's a great place for eating out.