Guess what?
I took a trip to Miyagi prefecture, Japan, the other day.
I stayed in Sendai, or 仙台, and I visited Matsushima, 松島, and other places as well.
Both Sendai and Matsushima are located in Miyagi.
I wrote last year in this blog post that my honey's mother was born in Matsushima, Sendai, but I made a mistake. She was born in Matsushima, not Sendai. I do apologize. Well, Miyagi has Matsushima Town as well as Sendai City, and Matsushima is not part of Sendai. My hon's mother has already passed away. I hope she watches over us.
Well, my darling himself was born in Shiogama City, Miyagi.
Shiogama's Seawood Salt.
It has seven flavors. I chose these three, and two of them are for my hon and one for myself. I should have bought more. My sweetheart likes green, and there's a green basil one.
"Sendai Tanabata Festival" is held in Sendai, Miyagi, from August 6 till 8 every year.
I saw a lot of beautiful and colorful Tanabata decorations in Sendai called 吹き流し, Fukinagashi. There were everywhere.
There were much more. Some other ones will appear later.
Well, as some of you remember, I made Tanabata decorations like Fukinagasi last year; "When You Wish Upon A Star."
They were made of Origami and were much smaller than these Sendai's ones, of course.
Also, I went to areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, you know.
Well, there are many things I'd like to refer to. I'll definitely write about the trip again as soon as possible. It'd be a series or something since I can't write about all at one time.
Before that, I'd like to say "Happy Birthday" to Tully's Coffee. They marked 21th Anniversary on August 7, 2018. 
Congratulations.
I had this pancake in Eggs 'n Things Sendai.
Also, I came by three Tully's Coffee shops while staying in Sendai, and I went to one of them every day during my stay there.
They are Tohoku-limited Tumbler and Tully's Card of Tully's Coffee. They're so beautiful, right? I got these for my darling and the same ones for myself.
I'm using the tumbler as a vase.
Though it doesn't look a sunflower, it is a sunflower, actually. It's a Tohoku double-flowered sunflower.
There's also a Tohoku-limited Mini Teddy whose subtitle or something is "6 Kinds of Fruits." Tohoku has 6 prefectures including Miyagi, so that's why its name has the number 6.
Tohoku-limited Tully's Card was released last summer when they were doing "Gradation of Tohoku" for a limited time. I wanted to have their Tohoku-limited food and beverage items including Tohoku Apple Waffle and Tohoku La France & Apple Sandwiches, but I couldn't make it.
But finally, I got Tohoku-limited goods of Tully's Coffee. 'I'm so happy.
One of my dreams did come true. Dreams do come true sometimes.
I hear many Tully's Coffee stores in Tohoku region don't have Tohou-limited Tully's Card anymore since it was released last year and was so popular. I got two thanks to fellows of Tully's Coffee Comucity S-PAL location. Also, I do appreciate Tully's Customer Service Center. Thank you very much.
Itoen, a parent company of Tully's Coffee, displayed these gorgeous and big Tanabata decorations in Sendai Station.
Though a lot of Tanabata decorations were displayed in Sendai, I found that not many companies could put their decorations in Sendai Station.
When I arrived at Sendai Station, the first Tanabata decorations I saw were these two company's ones. They really stood out.
Even though Itoen had great Tanabata decorations in the station, Tully's Coffee didn't have any Fukinagashi. I was so sad. I think they should. I heard they hadn't displayed last year, either, though I'm not sure they've never ever had their Fukinagashi before.
There are several main streets full of Tanabata decorations while Sendai Tanaba Festival is held every year, and Tully's Coffee has a store located in one of these streets ... I wonder which I should use, located in or on. Anyway, not all, but many of the stores on the streets displayed their Fukinagashi near their own shops. I found other cafes on these streets had their Tanaba decorations like these;
Excelsior Cafe's
Starbacks'
Ueshima Coffee's
To be honest, I thought Starbacks' ones were cool. Though they didn't put their brand name or logo on their Tanabata decorations, I thought those were theirs because their shop was near there and colorful Frappucino shapes were on the decorations.
I like purple and stars, you know.
It says, "ALOHA."
Well, to be honest, when I first saw these Tanabata decorations made by Eggs 'n Things Sendai, I thought, "Wow, they are too simple and plain except the word ALOHA. Why didn't they add Hibiscus or something?"
But a female Ohana who took this photo told me it had taken them a looooong time to make these tanabata decorations and that the skyblue and white parts implied Hawaii's blue ocean. So, I was very sorry that I thought their decorations were so simple. How about this? Maybe they would add Plumerias next year.
She also told me she had not started working at Eggs 'n Things yet when last year's Tanabata Festival was held, so she actually didn't know what kind of decorations Ohana made last year for the event, but that she heard they had used Hibiscus then. She said they'd used Ohana's Aloha shirts with Hibiscus patterns, I guess? I remember I saw them on their official facebook page last year, but I forgot what they were like.
It's "Summer Fruits Pancake," this summer's pancake of Eggs 'n Things in Japan, and will be available until September 2.
It tasted great. It was refreshing and wasn't heavy. I had never thought Melons go very well with pancakes. I wonder why watermelons haven't appeared on summer pancakes. Is it difficult? At least several cafes have offered watermelon beverages or are offering them right now 
Did you notice something? This one's whipped cream is smaller than their usual one so its fruits look more beautiful, one of Ohana said. We call staff members of Eggs 'n Things "Ohana". "Ohana" is a Hawaiian word, and it means "Family".
I'm not sure though. I asked Ohana to put their whipped cream in a way it didn't cover over the message. So, maybe that was why they made it smaller? Or do all locations do the same thing about this seasonal one?
Anyway, I think that may be a good idea in many aspects. I'd say some people order pancakes but can't eat their generous whipped cream while others even don't order pancakes at Eggs 'n Things because especially its whipped cream seems too heavy to eat up. I think you should try this one.
Also, Eggs 'n Things offers pancakes without whipped cream as well, so check them out.
Still, I love their generous whipped cream.
By the way, male Ohana there told me they are making a great great effort to offer Sendai-limited Zunda Pancakes again. I heard many customers get dissappointed when they find Zunda Pancakes is not served anymore and ask them to restart the pancakes again. I totally agree with them. They should start again. May their dream come true. It is also one of my dreams.
To be honest, I'd always wanted to have their Zunda Pancakes. Almost all locations of Eggs 'n Things in Japan including Sendai stopped store-limited menus this year, you know, and I'm still very sad.
Anyway, they should make it happen. Miyagi is the birthplace of the owner, you know. I'm not sure whether my hon likes Zunda or not, though, haha. Anyway, good luck and go for it. I hope Zunda Pancakes are available in Eggs 'n Things Sendai the next time I visit Sendai.
Also, another female Ohana there told me that a lot of local people, not tourists like me, used to have their Zunda Pancakes and they had became regular customers. She said these customers had come again and again to have Zunda pancakes. She also told me their Zunda Pancakes had appeared on local TV. Is that so?
Well, I had lots of Zunda items such as Zunda Parfait and Zunda Mochi while I was in Miyagi. My favorite ones were Zunda Parfait and Shake.
It's "Three Colors Mochi" offered by a traditional Mochi store in Sendai.
This one can be purchased at their online store. This item seems to have lots of flavors.
I had this Zunda Parfait at Sendai International Hotel though I stayed at The Westin Sendai. Both are almost across from each other.
This parfait was not only beautiful but delicious. To tell the truth, I just felt their vanilla ice cream under Zunda one ruined Zunda ice cream's great taste somehow, unfortunately. They may have been using rich expensive vanilla ice cream, but it wasn't for their Zunda, I'd say. I think they should use another vanilla ice cream that goes better with their great Zunda, Zunda ice cream and other elements. Still, I thought the parfait was really good.
This was also tasty. I really liked it. Though I had it while I was in Matsushima, this one seems available in Sendai Station, too.
This wasn't to my taste, though this one also seems popular.
Oh, I'm sure some wonder what Zunda is ... Zunda is especially known as Zunda Mochi and is very famous as Miyagi's local food. Zunda Mochi is rice cake served with sweetened mashed edamae. They say it was named by Date Masamune, a famous regional ruler.
If you don't know Date Masamune, one of the Hello Kitty items and Rilakkuma one wear a war helmet with a crescent moon, huh? They were deigned after him. Well, local Hello Kitty again.
Some felt, "Not again,"huh?
Well, I didn't like Rilakkuma at all, but I came to like it because of Itoen. Also, I lost interest in Hello Kitty as I get older, but I got three Hello Kitty charms somehow, haha. Oh, Hiraizumi is located in Tohoku region, but it's not in Miyagi, but Iwate prefecture, actually.
After all, Miyagi is a special place for my hon, and Miyagi-limited goods like these look very attractive to me.