not so lovely

I was browsing through a catalog produced by Felissimo called Haco. They offer a lot: "fashion, zakka, beauty, food, book, cd, etc." Instead of ordering though, you subscribe. What I think is the most important and interesting part is that they pick the color and sometimes the design of whatever you subscribe to. They feature what could possibly end up on your doorstep but unless you subscribe for as many months as there are options you might not get "the one" you want. They are a few singular items, like those scissors I just mentioned, but for the most part what you would receive is a surprise. Plus, you have to wait 3-4 weeks for it to arrive.

Potentially this could be good for some people like the girl obsessed with pink in the picture. But what if some yucky brown color really doesn't look so great on you? And, come on, a blue top and a pink skirt?

Until recently I thought it was a stupid idea but then I was thinking it would be kind of fun. Then I talked it over with Jun.

J: I don't think it's such a good idea ... blah, blah, blah, ... pisses me off that they say they are confident that you'll like their style ... it's none of their business ... blah, blah, blah ... so-called designers ... mumble, grumble ... (incoherent Japanese).

Me: (Thinking to myself: Where did this nasty independent streak come from?) OK, OK, I won't order (subscribe to) anything.

choki choki (snip snip)

Why use kitchen scissors with only two blades when you can have a pair, I mean a set, with five blades on each side? The catalog seems to think that they would be handy for cutting nori (dried seaweed) and nira (Chinese chives). However, you can easily find nori precut into a variety of shapes and sizes and is chopping up some nira that difficult?


So, one of the following must be true:

-Usefulness of said product is greater than the agony of it's clean up.
-Novelty of owning the new gadget is greater than the agony of it's clean up.

Unfortunately I don't think these kitchen scissors will complete my life like my T-Fal pan, (bacon), garlic presser, and blender have.

Let's Cooking!

Can you imagine having slices of ham for ears? How about rolled up bacon? We won't even get into the sausages. Then there's the new character that just came out. She has meatballs. Before you think this is just a typical post about those zany things Japanese people do, hear me out.

On a shopping trip you can hear a cacophony of food commercials pouring out of small stereos placed strategically throughout the store. One for fish here, one for mushrooms over there. The one for fish I disliked enough to forget and I actually like the mushroom song. Then I heard the one for an array of pork products. It has some rhythm and the voices are high enough to create that musical itch. It plays on and on in a loop. It's so annoying it's cute. So cute it's annoying. OK, OK, I'll buy some bacon! It burns! Make it stop! I've tried many things to get it out of my head. (The power of Christ compels you!) Eventually I ended up searching for it on the Internet. Guess what? There is also an exercise routine to go along with it. Check it out for yourself. I am going to go buy some bacon.

http://www.nipponham.co.jp/hamrins/cm/tvcm.html

hungry monkeys eat bananas

Last night we went to Gyu-kaku. One of those places where they give you a plate of meat and you grill it yourself. For dessert Jun tried the "yaki banana". "Yaki" means that it is supposed to be grilled because otherwise it would just be a wannabe banana split. Well I thought that it was grilled but apparently it wasn't grilled enough for Jun and he asked the waiter if they had forgotten to grill it.







Reminds me of this mini game on PSP. You have to cook up things for monkeys like banana soup and yes, "yaki banana". Only their orders, which are in Japanese, start fading away. More and more monkeys arrive and they demand more and more bananas. Then you start mixing up the orders and start serving the wrong banana dishes. The monkeys start screeching and leave and before you know it the game is over.

new shoes

When I got married it was at a shrine and I wore a wedding dress. In June my brother-in-law will be getting married at a wedding chapel and as one of the family members I will be wearing a formal kimono. This is one of the few oportunities I will have to wear such a formal kimono. So even though I am a little nervous about being wrapped up in this, literally, I am eager to do this. Luckily my mother-in-law sent me a nice new pair of zori. Not only do they fit but they have a little sparkle to them. I can use them after the wedding ceremony too. Well, I better get busy. Only three months left to break them in.

(Passed)

Last December I took lowest level (level 4) of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. It was cold and rainy. I was wondering why I had decided to pay money to take a test. I was using it for motivation but did I really study that much more? Yesterday I found out that I passed and I've never been so happy to pass a test. The highlight was my listening score, 94 points out of a hundred. So what now? Upward and onward I say. I never really looked at grammar before the test so I could study that and find out what's so special about all those particles. There are always thousands more kanji to learn. And, of course, I will keep listening.