Sunday, February 27, 2005

the first step...

ahhh... I love sunday dinner. So quiet, refined, relaxing. Not in my house. It's lovely, though - more of a laugh-fest. This is how part of the conversation went:

Mom, I think I should start drinking martinis.

me: really, why?

Well, I like cocktail onions, and that's the first step.

me: I see...

I then commented that I should change the name of my blog to "life with Sam", since most of what I write is about Sam - who then pointedly commented "yeah, because you're too old and boring to write about".

I think I need a martini.

Friday, February 25, 2005

tricksy, tricksy

Well, after the first "official" day of spring on Thursday (when the winds switch from icy to warm here in Tokyo), I feel a bit betrayed to wake up to snow this morning. I think it has something to do with coming from British Columbia - I really do think of February as "spring". It isn't really, not any where else in Canada, or anywhere in Japan, either - apparently.

Sam seems to be over the snow thing as well. It seems that twice in a winter is plenty for him - although maybe it would be better appreciated if this weren't already a day off for him (what's the point of snow if you don't get a snow day?). He was up at 5:30 this morning anyway, he has a buddy sleeping over and they clearly don't want to waste any time sleeping when they could be wreaking havoc.

I'm starting to think I've been here too long, as the funky fashions here are starting to appeal to me. I no longer stare into the shop windows with incredulity (well, ok, I do sometimes). I have switched to occasional admiration - which may be the first step to finding things wearable. Or perhaps it just means that my ability to view fashion as art is becoming better developed. I'm still not walking pigeon-toed or wearing really pointy shoes, so I haven't yet been assimilated. But resistance may, in fact, be futile.

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Varentine's Day

Well, I did manage to get Steve a treat for Valentine's day - a nice box of Romeo y Julietas (cuban cigars). Since he's gotten all in shape and stuff, it didn't seem right to buy him a box of chocolates. So I went for the lungs instead.

In Japan - for those of you reading from afar - on Valentine's day, men get the goodies from the women, and then a month later, on "White Day", the men return the favour. Kind of sweet, except that the goodies you give are referred to as "giri choco", or obligation chocolates. I don't know if you give them because you are obliged to, or if once you give them the receiver is obliged to do something for you...

I did get treats from some of the students at the high school - my teaching monday fell on Feb 14th, so I got to try lots of homemade treats, and got a couple of bags of goodies, which I shared with Sam. Except that one of the chocolates was chili flavoured and REALLY spicy. If only I could remember which student gave that to me... I'd give her black licorice, that's what I'd do. Not a treat to most Japanese at all - our Japanese homestay students used to make the most amazing faces when they tried it. Lucky for her, I can't remember a thing, as usual.

Monday, February 14, 2005

chocolate on my mind

Chocolate
White chocolate
Lemon Cheesecake
Green Tea
Passionfruit

all Kit-Kat flavours you can buy in Japan. Why haven't I branched out?

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

you load 15 tonnes...

wow...

It's our 15th wedding anniversary today. And Groundhog Day. As Steve so romantically points out, we could have been married to five different people for 3 years each so far. But I can't think of anyone else I'd want to be married to. Except Johnny Depp. And probably 3 years with him would be plenty.

We celebrated with a lovely dinner of chicken tacos and Veuve Clicquot. Yum...