Interlude: Shengri dangao

I’m not done with covering my trip to Japan, but I just wanted to throw in a timely bit. As I’ve mentioned before, in our office, birthdays mean cake, and yesterday was my turn. And it wasn’t just me. It turns out that CZ (whom I’ve mentioned before – she was at the Go! Team show) has the exact same shengri (birthday) as I do. Double dangao (cake)! As an odd coincidence, our Chinese teacher's son also shares this birthday.
It came sealed in a box. The name of the bakery is Waffleboys. It had a layer of cherry filling and a chocolate whip cream kind of frosting. Yum.
After work, JW and TG took me to dinner (thanks, guys!). I picked a neighborhood place I’ve been curious about for a while. It’s called Alfa, and it’s kind of an East-West fusion cuisine. They’ve got a very nicely decorated covered semi-outdoor seating area with a burbling water feature and a palm tree motif. Both food and drinks were excellent – it’s definitely on The List.