had it not been for our appointment/errand we had to go into manhattan for today, we'd have stuck around a cool a/c'ed coffee shop in the neighborhood ducking the crazy heat yet again. but somehow riding our bikes in the shadows of the building made the excursion surprisingly pleasant and not heat-strokey. we stopped for some coffee (and to cool off) at la colombe then headed out to get some cold noodles at menkuitei - m got his usual hiyashi chuka and i wanted to try something new, so got ten-zaru ramen (cold ramen with dipping tsuyu sauce with a side of tempura). i was imagining something that looked a bit more like this but the tempura BRICKS came out to our surprise, and luckily it was really tasty! although i could've just been fine with one of them. hiyashi chuka there, just as tried and true as it has been for the last 9 years we've been coming here, was delicious. and their tsuyu for my zaru ramen was also super refreshing, even with the tempura dunking in and out of it.

then later at night, to cool off, we went for a walk to escape the heat trap of our apartment, and ended up with a popsicle in my hand and later pizzas in our faces at il porto. we'd forgotten how delicious their pizza was - luigi's makes excellent pizza but il porto seems to be at yet another level above - super tart tomato sauce and creamy, homemade cheese. mmmm~~~~!!!