Pictured above is the typical fried egg breakfast I cook myself on weekends, either Saturday or Sunday morning (I often prepare French toasts on the other day). Not the healthiest of meals, absolutely, but it sure tastes good — and it’s pretty much the only real breakfasts I eat all week, with my regular morning food intake taken up by a small cup of yogurt.

I’m also the person who cooks most meals at home — my wife, although not a bad cook, doesn’t tend to do it much — and it often ends up being very simple things, or things that I’m just used to making. That’s going to change.

Although I should have kept this for a New Year’s resolution, I want to start being more creative in the kitchen — and by creative, I simply mean preparing and eating a wider variety of meals. And I’d like them to taste better too.

If you have good yet not overly complex (especially in terms of required ingredients) recipes to suggest — or websites/apps — please do so. I’ll be digging out a few cook books I’ve collected over the years — dusting them off, as they’ve barely been used — and I’ve got the Epicurious app downloaded, as well as the Real Simple Recipes: No Time to Cook? app (from which I’ve already picked out stuff).

Here’s to a better diet, and a happy kitchen life.

I’d just like to take the opportunity to congratulate Tokyo Art Beat on its 7th anniversary, which was celebrated in style last night with a terrific event at Dictionary Club in Shibuya. I’ve been one of the biggest cheerleaders of TAB since its start — I’d rather not remember what it was like trying to find info in English on art/design events before its existence — and I’m so happy that not only is it still going, but that it seems to be in great shape. So again, congratulations to the TAB crew, as well as to the AQ crew for all its tech and production support.

Pictured above, a mini burrito from Libre at the party — it was really good, and so I definitely recommend you go check out the proper Libre shop in Aoyama. And I must say that the Dictionary Club is a really nice event space, and I’m hoping I’ll get to see more stuff there.

I’ve often described how I enjoy drinking beers while out and about — street beers, yo — and since the closure of the Minami-Ikebukuro Park a few years ago, my main outlet in the ‘Bukes has been Ikebukuro West Gate Park. It’s more of a gathering place than a park, but it’s fun in part because of the “characters” it tends to attract. The routine is usually just to grab a few brews at the nearby combini (Sankusu, if you must know), but the other night my hometown friend Julie — in town for a month on a visit — invited me for a degustation in the park. When I met up with her, I was greeted with a Seibu department store bag filled with a few selections from the Ibaraki-brewed Hitachino Nest Beer. It was a great time, and I’m always a proponent of mixing high class (the beers) with low class (the spot) — and the cups we were drinking from were purchased at a nearby 100 yen shop.

The photo above of me was taken by Julie, and the rest, by me, cover our selections, and the park itself. The beers themselves were pretty much all great, except for the “Ginger Ale” brew, which was a bit rough (and 8%) — it’s worth noting that it’s also the only with a silly label, featuring some sort of crazy mascot.

Let me say something about burritos. Having grown up in Eastern Canada, I did NOT have access to any quality Mexican food — or basically ANY Mexican food — and it was only after I left my hometown that it was introduced to a few restaurants (of the chain variety). Now I’m not trying to say that whatever it is I get here in Tokyo compares to anything from the Americas, but a few years ago I developed a rather strong love affair with the chimichanga at Junkadelic in Nakameguro, and today I was just reminded of my love for the burrito after a lunch with my buddy CheapD at Frijoles in Azabu-Juban. The place also gets extra stars for their chips and guacamole (both made on the premises), and the availability of root beer (oh yes, root beer).

I’ve been hearing good things about the burritos at the fairly recently opened LIBRE shop in Aoyama — mostly from my friend Ryan, who usually picks one up on his way to my place for our Friday game nights — and I think I’m going to have to partake in one of those as soon as I can.

I need more burritos in my life.

Patrick Macias — editor-in-chief of Otaku USA magazine, among MANY other things — has been in town for the past couple weeks, and he dropped by my neck of the woods the other day for a bit of Ikebukuro flavor. I wanted to start with some tonkatsu spaghetti at Nobu but it was unfortunately closed, so we ended up getting tonkotsu ramen at Ippudo. That done, it was time for a few beers out on the street, and since Patrick requested a good place for people watching, we of course had to go and hang out at Ikebukuro West Gate Park.

If you’re not familiar with Ikebukuro — which you shouldn’t really be — in past decades it has had a reputation as one of the “rougher” parts of town, and although that has changed a lot in the past decade, the west side of the station remains the more, ahem, raw part of town. So hanging out at the park — a park with barely any trees mind you — we were treated to a lively show, including the Tron light cycle dude you can barely see in the video above, shot with my iPhone 4 (might be better to watch a larger version here).

As I was tweeting that night, the guy was amazing, making rounds around the park, occasionally stopping to “service” his blue-lit bike, walking around with quite the swagger. Also, he was wearing a full-body workman’s uniform, and his facial expressions as he rode close to us were priceless. Oh, an the lights, they automatically light up as he starts going, powered by motion. Here’s hoping he’s there again the next time I’m in the area.

And we’re off: The SNOW Magazine Cafe is now go at Cafe Pause, and runs until August 30. I just posted something on SNOW Magazine that details everything you can expect to find there. Sure, there’s all the magazine stuff (33 titles as part of the main exhibition, and then a large selection of zines, as well as special displays for Knee High Media and OK Fred), but I’m also pretty happy with what we (me and the staff at the cafe) came up with for the special menu. You will find the SNOW LASSI (Peach Lassi, 600 yen), the SNOW COCKTAIL (Malibu Rum and Milk, 700 yen), and the SNOW PUDDING (Annin Tofu and Tapioca, 500 yen).

The important thing to note is that the opening party is Monday night (August 2), from 19:00. There will be a short PauseTalk session at 20:00, but the event is definitely open to everyone, and so please join us even if you would normally not attend PauseTalk. Entry is free, and we’ll have a 500 yen drink menu, with all the event menu items available at that price as well.

I may not have talked about it a lot here on the blog, but I’ve certainly tweeted a bunch over the years my love for tonkatsu spaghetti, which I get at this great little pasta joint in Ikebukuro (not far from Cafe Pause) called Nobu. I like it so much I’ve even added the place to the next editions of The Rough Guide to Tokyo and Japan.

Here’s beautiful shot of the meal in question, taken the other day by Hiyoko Imai — a fellow GOOD person.

I have a new piece up on CNNGo, covering the “performance art” izakaya Kagaya in Shimbashi. Big thanks to my Rough Guides colleague Simon Richmond for introducing me to the spot — we had a great night of eating and drinking there a month back, which some of you may remember as a string of tweets I did.

The new issue of Paper Sky (31) is a special one, marking a major renewal for the magazine. The most obvious change is the cover design, but you’ll find English content creeping back into the magazine as well — for now, mostly with intro paragraphs to each article, but Cameron Allan McKean‘s article on sento bathing in Tokyo is published entirely in English.

The Paper Sky website is also about to get a major revamp, and is set to launch within a week or two. The new site will now have a strong English component, of which I’ll be a contributor (but more on that once the site launches).

The other day I had the great pleasure of finally meeting the magazine’s founder, Lucas Badtke-Berkow, who also founded the original — and truly great — TOKION. Seems like this should have happened ages ago, and it was great to have a nice long chat with Lucas about where Knee High Media has been, where it’s heading, and on the state of print media in general. After checking out the KHM office in Shibuya, we ended up getting coffee at this amazing little retro cafe nearby, which I hate that I can’t remember the name (but I’ll be going there again).

Above, the label for Lucas’ new Luke’s Carrots line of organic products — I had a taste of the carrot jam, which was delicious. You can currently buy it at the weekend farmer’s market in front of the UN University in Aoyama, where he and his wife are manning a booth this month. Next weekend they’ll also be offering free rides on some very cool bicycles, as part of the new Paper Sky Bicycle Club.

Update: The cafe’s name is Aoyama Ichibankan, and here’s a map that shows the location. Make sure to get the honey toast!

Spotted by Matt Alt in Akihabara: a sign for a bar, using a very recognizable casing.

Interesting edition of Monocle‘s “Monocolumn” on the state of chocolate in Japan. I barely eat chocolate, but I sure love me some Kit Kat. Unfortunately, my fave chocolate treat, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, remains unavailable here.

Patrick Macias checks out Japan’s four big burger chains, and lives to tell the tale on CNNGo.

Rather nice looking Starbucks in Kamakura, “designed to resemble a wooden Japanese-style home.” Via PSFK.

Ajinomoto celebrates its 100th anniversary with a bottle redesign, courtesy of Marc Newson. Via Designboom.

Spotted at the Freshness Burger near the KDa office in Ebisu.