Chocoliday.

Another Valentine's has come and gone and I'm left alone yet again. Ahhh, Boo F'n Hoo! Actually for some odd reason, I have enjoyed today more than most previous VDs. I was wandering downtown yesterday and came across a huge poster on the side of the Mitsukoshi building offering a サロンデュチョコラ "Salon du Chocolat".

I had some time to kill, so embarked up the 7 floors to see what's up. First I came across an Art Gallery displaying some paintings that I thought were quite ugly and thus right up my alley. The painter is レオナール・フジタ "Leonard Fujita" and he paints these portraits of little kids with screwed up faces. Sweet!

Then I hit the fair! Booth upon booth of extremely expensive chocolates in various shapes and sizes and swarming around them like wasps were a multitude of Salary-women. Not a single guy was to be seen amongst the crowd. I have once again been drawn into the collective. Since I don't really have anyone to whom I could present a present, I was hoping to just snap a few discreet photos and hightail it out of there, but then my eye caught a cute bunny. Foi d'Amour/Boys graced the box and inscribed upon it is "A cute rabbit is bringing you good fortune and happiness...", and this purple box just happens to be called, "Michael", so I grabbed a box. I just checked the expiry, 12/04/30 and since we've gone from Rabbit to Dragon now, I wonder if this is last year's lot!!

I have a couple of gal-pals with birthdays this week, so I ventured deeper into the hive. I was in the midst of purchasing this cute box when I sliced my thumb open with the flyer that I'd snagged upon entry. I fumbled for some change with my non-bleeding appendages and the clerks noticed my plight and gave me a tissue and a Band-Aid. What service! This box will go to my friend Michiko, provided there's no blood on it.

After tending to my wound, I espied some animal chocolates from the Zoology Collection and while they were wrapping a chocolate frog, I snapped a few photos from within the display. They're all individually wrapped, so I only took the liberty of photographing the Lion.

Not sure to whom this'll go but I love the box.

That was it for the fair, but if you hit the Conbini, you can always land a few goodies. With a couple of KitKats, I got this file folder. The Strawberry Tarte is quite good.

And a couple of bars will land you one of these mini-makeup kit bags or a mini file-folder.

Finally, to round off today's tribute to chocoholics everywhere, are the comestibles that I received today from my students. Some fine Belgian bits and a few Lady Godiva!