February countdown...chill and mellow

i know february is only consisting of 28 days but it sure feels like my days are passing quite "organized" and "filled" with a good amount of some control and peace of mind. I know i appreciate this now that i have some time to breath rather than living each day like a zonbie and having the hours go by. 24hours was not even enough to recover from my hell....but i know there are way more difficult things in life and i know i cant be such a baby about life. Shit, TOUGHT IT UP. ok, im pumped for the morning. haaa.

its sunday morning and .....its cold. still cold. i wanna go to LA like RITE NOWWWW.
im here using the computer at my parents' house since i went to the airport last nite to get my dad. He came back from PV. so jealous. but it was good to see him. its been about 3 months. But he looks real happy when i saw my parents sitting in the kitchen and sorta having tea. i think my dad's personality and his honesty (towards life) is such a wonderful quality. his life has no shame or guilt as for his motto : (easily said than done) "dont do anything you hate to being done on yourself to others. ~treat others the way you want to be treated~". i already went along with the "treat other...." motto myself ever since i was 15-years old and stuff but he said dont try to cheat thru life since in the end you may feel guilty or empty. true....i think the most simplest things are those we keep forgetting and not being able to fulfill. like just being honest with everything and staying grounded.


there are these crazy recipes i found online in Japan where you use the RICE COOKER and you can bake cakes and even cook like rost pork/marinaided seafood/ steamed braised veggeis/etc and the list goes on...but i was alone here at the house and was feeling like i had some left over flour and such. so i did a lil "new type" of baking the other day. Last month when i was here, i made a GREEN TEA CAKE. i cant believe that i was ever going to be using the rice cooker to bake something when i dont even cook rice (and i dont own one myself). Coming from my experience of strictly keeping my baking standards "by scratch" this was sorta like a "wow, interesting" moment.
id really wanted to show all this to Becky - theres more to appreciate in a rice cooker than its true task. hahaha.

greeeeeeeeeeeeen teaaaaa.

this is the second time i tried a differet type.

*** its prolly hard to imagine this is made with tofu. and also cooked in the rice cooker. surprise surprise!!!

the weather is going nuts...having the warm days once in a while(still breezy and cold tho) and we had thunder and rain just 3 nites ago.

after Friday the 13th comes the love mode....

Happy Valentine's Day!
at least this year i got to give a valentine's in Japan...heh heh. well i only got to GIVE a valentines since Justin and I went out for lunch. We got to walk around the nice lil area in Tokyo like a little cute down-home mom&pop shops and we practiced speaking in Japanese to one another. haaaa, he is working so hard. I need to just "handle it" and prove them wrong. yea!

okidoki.

wishing you all a wonderful loving day.
its actually was super warm here in japan. It was soo nice and sunny. it went up to about 17 C degrees(which is about 60 degree F). i know it sounds cold still compared to back home but for the daily winter-weather we have been experiencing, it was like SPRING. i got to hang out with my mentor/role model, Ms. Keiko Takahashi-bucho and it was a nice day to just relax. I got to go for a walk with her doggies and had a pleasant day full of motivating talks.

this was a lil Valentine's treat i received - Cafe Au Lait Mochi DAIFUKU. it was great!!!!!!!!!!

lifes been allrite. Just miss back home. Got some things on mind to keep me going tho. I think im doing quite allrite.

****mini event ****
there was this one thing that was quite joyous - i was looking forward to trying this "limited seasonal edition" of Japanese Sweet dumpling bun thingie I found. It was KINAKO (soy bean powdered) MOCHI inside. So i went into the convenient store excited to try out the bun, then I find out that they didnt have one ready in the steamer. The clerk guy told me it would take up to 40 min if he was going to go get it heated up.....but then he suggested perhaps he can just simply microwave for a quicker solution yet for a poorer version of it(but still allright). so i was like "hell...ill get the jist of it...so SURE." As i waited for my dumpling to get heated, i smelt something burning and i bet he burnt the mochi that was inside....and it was taking bit of a longer time than say 3 min. Then the clerk guy said that he's not confident on how he made it so he gave me 1 FREE one that was still frozen - in case i want to try making one on my own. So i was quite surprised that he gave me 2 for the price of just 1, yet still a bit unsure about getting 2 since i just wanted to try 1 to get the appreciation of this item. So i go home and feeling that the clerk ruined the dumpling...it was very hard and already rock solid...aaaaahaaa....then i open the bag and i see 2 of them inside....!!! so i got 3 all together for only 90 cents!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! aww, i was pleased with the kind gesture but man....3??? (i know Becky always told me i got free coffees and stuff from places we always went, huh? haha)


but good thing he SERIOUSLY ruined 2 of them - all burnt and hard and not edible at all - so i ate 1 that i tried to steam it up on my own with some of my own improvised steaming method.

yay, the mochi was soooooft. hooray.
what a event. haa.

**this is the oooold KABUKI THEATRE in Ginza, Tokyp and its been here for years and years. its a historical building which still has Kabuki performances. Im planning to go catch a show soon since its something ive always wanted to see what its like.

...aaah, i like walking in the rain.....

wow, already February....!

Cheers to my pals, its already the second month of 2009. its kinda nice that my days are passing quite fast and my time to go back and visit LA is gonna be here in no time.
Its been cold and we had crazy rain the last 2 days, so i was stuck inside.....aaa. but the temperature here is about 45degrees...and this is considered warm. INSANITY.... but i love the rain....i love the smell of rain and just the calming sound......

so things been going pretty mellow for me. Im back at my parents' house for the weekend to take care of the taxes and things for the employment funds so free internet!

I was so happy i got a chance to chat with Beck online the other morning, and Marc was online too! yay! She got my roses for her Engagement party and she just sent me the photos and said the sweetest things. i miss her, and i miss home.....I CANT WAIT FOR MARC AND BECK's WEDDINGGGGGG. hee hee.

allrity, January was neat. Had things filling up in my calendar so i got to do more stuff on my "agenda list" and cross them off.
*Tokyo Dome Quilt Show - I found my piece being sewen together with the billions that were sent in from all over Japan. The show was insane....so many ppl and maaan-o-man. but it was a nice accomplished feeling. Mine was in the 40th tapestry out of the 76.
-- this is wear baseball games are held....but the people....aaaa.

-- theres my name!

this year's title "Wish upon a star..." I wished for happiness from the luck I may receive from the 4-leaf clover. =)

*NEZU to TAIYAKI walking tour - So they have this "Taiyaki"s thats like Japanese sweet dumpling sorta thing that has the red bean paste inside, but it is in a shape of a fish. 'TAI' is the word for Red Snapper, and this was soo goood and yummy during the cold chilly weather. Mom has been raving about how she would like to go and get one herself someday, so i asked her if she wanted to make it happen and "just go". it was probably the best one ive ever had out of all other Taiyakis, and it was worth the calories. haa. saw the nice shrine there too.

--Here he is, the Taiyaki- fishy. this one had the nice crispy yet chewy pancake-waffle like outside.....mmmm.

there were billions of these....neat.

*Met up with AKI - I have not seen her forever also, but we finally got the chance to meet up. It was a rainy day so we decided to go meet up at this super huge brand new shopping mall.......the Mall was INSANELY HUGE but it was cool to see BURGER KING and Krispy Kreme inside. Many of the malls nowadays in japan are totally trying to recreate the American-style malls. So most of the store names are written in English yet they dont make sense. some things should just stay normal, maybe trying a bit too much. So AKI is also getting married this July and her wedding is in Sept 2010!!! I kinda want to wear a Kimono to her wedding....she sorta asked me to. haaa. who knows. exciting. Cant believe after all these years, we found each other in Japan (she used to live in PV until Miralets, 7th grade) . Despite the long break in between the years we can still meet up and catch up. thats great.

*Brent was in Japan - saw him only enough time to give him a hug and see him off to the airport. but still, it was nice since i have not seen this guy in like 4,5 years!!! wow. but he was staying with Justin and thats awesome how they are still such tight friends till this way. good times.....aww Peninsula Alums woo hoo.

days been like that.....yup, trying to figure out my plans for the future, and seeing where i can "go" in life. Im taking my time to regenerate and recharge myself right now. I guess thats a good way to put it.

Year 2009 is the wedding year, and then i can really settle for a job afterwards. For now, i just need this peace of mind.

a chillin view of the 5PM scenery...when i went for about a 2 hour walk in the city's side streets.

this is neat....a place in Tokyo which one strip of the street is all "business signs, equipments, tools, etc"