english-speaking dentist in tokyo

Whew. It's all a little confusing, but a few of the embassies have lists of English-speaking dentists:

The American Embassy's list (longest list)
The British Embassy's list (in between in both formatting and length, but clearly notes when dentist accepts National Health Insurance)
The Australian Embassy's list (nicest formatting, shortest list)

Interestingly, all lists are different. You'd think they'd pool knowledge or something.

Cavalieri has a brilliant chef

CAVALIERI, a cafe in 幡ヶ谷 (Hatagaya) on the 京王新線 (Keio New Line), has great food. Saturday I tried the caesar salad for the first time. Delicious! I've already been hooked on their gnocchi and the desserts, but yum, I'll have to get the salads more ofen.

東京都渋谷区幡ヶ谷2-6-7 - MAP -
03-3320-7587
月～土 12:00～27:00 日・祝 12:00～24:00
無休?

One blogger posted about the cafe. The owner also appears to have a blog.


zukotto, my favorite dessert.

tech: oracle joins

Here's a good snippet on table joins using Oracle SQL.

mini review: Water in Lip Hokkaido limited edition lip balm by Shiseido

Summary: Not bad, but not moisturizing enough to buy again.

Pros: SPF15, easily available, cheap at 3g for about 300 yen or so. Pleasant light fragrance and faintly sweet. Stick balm format and attractive snowflake packaging.

Cons: So-so moisturizing. Not bad, but perhaps Vaseline would be a little more long lasting.

A few more mini reviews are here.

scones vs. biscuits vs. cookies

I was researching crumpets and scones and was amused by this section in Wikipedia regarding scones:

British scones closely resemble a North American biscuit (many recipes are actually identical) — itself not to be confused with the English biscuit, which equates to the American cookie. In the United States, there is a growing tendency to refer to sweet variations as "scones" (perhaps under influence from espresso bars, where they are popular fare), while those eaten as part of savoury meals are known as "biscuits". American "scones" are often baked to a dry and somewhat crumbly texture, and are typically large and rectangular; more like a cross between a cookie and a muffin than a biscuit. In Canada, both tend to be called "biscuits" or "tea biscuits".

Confusing much? Worse than soccer vs. football.

Anyway, British crumpets are the best. English muffins come in second. American scones are usually too hard and dry.

shibanuma awazuke soy sauce

Do they sell this soy sauce in the U.S.? It's great stuff, but I don't know if they export it.

If you visit japan...

Be sure to try Haagen-Dazs's Tiramisu ice cream. Excellent stuff.