神田巡り

day tour with my brother's professor (why they are so tight, that's another story). all i have to say is that he is a character of his own. i have never met anyone like him. he didn't say where we were going, just told us where/when to meet and told us NOT to eat anything to prepare for this "adventure". little did i know, he was going to take us to three restaurants one after another (this is only for lunch) and four temples/shrines all in different locations....

dish #1: soba with sesame dip

dish #2: soba in curry flavored soup

dish #3: soba with normal soysauce dip

dish #4: goose cooked at the right softness

every restaurant had an atmosphere of its own

dish #5: cream anmitsu

dish #6: fried red bean cake (not a red bean fan but this was really good)

dish #7: green tea shaved ice with red bean on bottom

temple #1 

temple #2 

temple #3 

temple #4

all the food, all the walking. good thing i had a spare of flip flops in my bag. the smartest decision of the day. and it was indeed one good day. kanda city is the place to go for any foreigners who want to experience a bit of japanese history.

See

when you've had enough of something and you feel like every part of your body is going against you, just look up. it takes one blink and you may just see a whole new world.

(@ropponggi mori art museum)

Is That Her Cooking?!

so many of you know i am not very fond of cooking. if there was a list of chores, cooking would be last. yes, i would rather clean the toilet, wash the dishes, do laundry. i would rather make myself sweaty and gross cleaning, wiping, mopping, vacuuming the house.

there is one thing i always appreciate about japan. that is, japan makes me naturally health conscious. the easy access to fresh fruits and vegetables at cheap prices, the small aesthetically beautiful dishes in restaurants, abundant seafood fresh off the boat, clean water, fresh air, litter-free city, nature walk paths (though not so much in tokyo), stylishly dressed people roaming around the streets... all of these become detox factors for me when im here. and naturally i am motivated to cook for myself, eat all three meals properly everyday and take in all the necessary nutrients to maintain good skin, healthy mind and disease-free body (i sound like an aging person).

lunch lunch

fermented beans with sour plum (left): my go-to food for healthy skin!

spare ribs with LOTS of veggies

this is obviously for my brother, not me...

with veggie makes anything edible

yeah, not much variation in dishwares...

 japan likes to incorporate a lot of european feel even in the midst of a bustling city

Tokyo 101

my days in tokyo have been great. its been about four days but i already feel like ive been here much longer. the thing about me is that wherever i am, i can convince myself to like the city so much as to even consider working and living. but now i am simply enjoying this free time. i am never bored. i call it carefree. so when i felt carefree at 3pm today, i decided to change to my new pair of jeans pants leggings (its really not that complicated), matched it with my complimentary orange shirt and carried my rather hot pink messenger bag and rode aimlessly around the neighborhood with my brother's bicycle listening to my ipod. caught myself in a middle of a parade, had no idea what was going on but snapped a picture of the scene regardless. suddenly felt motivated to cook so went around searching for cheap fresh veggies and unfortunately some meat due to satisfy my brother's cravings as well. made some curry using a saucepan, watched some hilarious japanese shows and at midnight decided to go for a walk with my dear brother talking about some funny incident that happened at his workplace. only our laughter echoed through the dark empty streets. eventually stopped by a convenience store, bought some drinks and walked back home.

did i plan the day? no. did i expect to do all this today? no. did i have fun? yes. i wake up only to hope that when i go to sleep i am satisfied for that day. there's no point worrying about tomorrow. that is something you can worry about when you wake up. though in my case, all that worry is usually gone by the time i wake up from a good night sleep. and i sleep like a rock... 

lunch: earl grey tea flavored bread + veggies

simple but good

feeding my brother before he heads for work. what a nice sister... 

steps involved in making curry: PUT LOTS OF VEGGIES (can you spot how many kind?)

let the veggies simmer in soup water

the final product

view from my brother's apartment

sayonara and oyasumi

Lost in Translation

its times like these when i think english may be the furthest language for japanese people. sure, the japanese part makes absolute sense, the english part makes me wonder if that person was trying to crack a joke or was seriously trying to convey the consequences of cigarette littering. but what makes this whole sign an absolute failure is that even the diagram makes no sense...

sorry my two recent posts are related to smoking. SMOKING KILLS! just putting the word out there