In November, when everyone was still planning his or her Thanksgiving trip, I was already thinking about Christmas. And for this holiday season, I have a craving for Christmas cake.
Christmas cake brings back the wonderful memories from childhood. During the Christmas season, I would see some festive, pretty Christmas cakes whenever I walked by the bakeries.
However, since Christmas cakes are uncommon in the US, I can only find a substitute — a fancy, delicious cake. I have always wanted to try the Mont Blanc, a dessert that is very popular in Japan. However, finding the Mont Blanc here is too difficult, so I go with my second best option, which in my opinion is the dome from Cocola.
Before I went to Cocola, I had already done my homework and decided that I would also try the Napoleon or the opera besides the dome. (Photos below from the official Cocola site.)



The Napoleon has always reminded me of a story. A girl loves a pastry chef, and she makes him teach her how to make the Napoleon. He hesitates because it is hard for the beginners. However, it is exactly the reason why she picks the Napoleon; making the Napoleon is time-consuming, and she simply wants to spend more time with him. And, it turns out that it is her birthday.
Once upon a time, we were young, simple and naive. Now, because of the old past hurts, we are too afraid to make yet another mistake. But someday, we may be able to let go of the emotional burden and love as if we have nothing to lose.
When I went to Cocola today, they had neither the Napoleon nor the opera. Therefore, I just bought the dome. (Pardon me for the bad cut. The inside could have looked nicer. But I had already run the knife under hot water and dried it before the cut.)

Life is full of imperfections. Certain things may never change regardless of how hard we try. Should I view it as “only having the dome” or “already having the dome?” I am not entirely sure, but maybe it does not matter since the outcome is beyond my control.
However, when the banana chocolate mousse melted in my mouth, I was happy that at least I had made an effort to look for what I wanted. No regrets. And that, perhaps, was more important than the result.


A friend shared with me some miniature (about 1cm in diameter) candies that her friend brought from Italy. I did not recognize them at first. However, once I had one, I immediately remembered that I had eaten it before. In fact, I liked it enough that I had tried looking for them, even though my attempt was futile.
And my friend gave me a lot more candies after knowing that I liked them. Now you see why my armor can be so colorful and beautiful.