Oh god. I went to Jam Rock Jamaican Cafe & Restaurant with Marc the other week and I thought I was going to burst. Admittedly, I haven’t tasted Jamaican food before but I know tasty when I taste it — and this was tasty. We treated ourselves with a little bit of everything from the menu and gorged.
Autumn reminds me of school, school supplies, and apples. Most notable of the three, apples. Using my tiny toaster oven, I indulged in a little Autumn favourite of mine, the Apple Crisp.
The AllRecipes page I linked to above is the best version of apple crisp I have ever made and tasted. It’s simple and the crumbly topping is soooooooooooo good. Not convinced yet? Read this: Soooooooooooo good. Try it, love it.
Here’s one more being showcased by my little Lego Artist.
I love McDonalds. I do. May be it’s because I grew up with it as a treat to eat with my family, but I still have many positive opinions of McDonalds. That is not to say I eat there for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but I enjoy going to the McDonalds in my neighbourhood almost every day to read a book: it’s more of a cafe. I sit down on their comfortable leather seats with a mocha and read. It’s cheaper than Starbucks and has a small separate area with mood lighting and jazz.
I know.
Not at all what you would expect from a McDonalds.
Anyway, September is “Moon-Viewing” season. Most people enjoy watching the full moon with rabbit-shaped sweets or mochi, but for me I go to McDonalds and try their September specialty, the “tsukimi” burger. More or less, it’s a hamburger with special sauce, bacon, and a full egg to resemble the full moon. Awesome.
Yes, more posts about food.
Back in elementary school, do you remember the popularity of dolphins? Many girls would buy those cheap metallic dolphin charms leaping over some semi-precious stone, reading Island of the Blue Dolphin was huge, everyone watched Free Willy, Flipper, and anything else to do with the mammal – it was a craze that irritated the hell out me because flocks of gaggling girls would insist how cute the bottle-squished face of a dolphin was much more adorable than, let’s say, a baby. I guess you can say that I have nothing against dolphins, but the culture that surrounded it made me hate them.
Dolphin lovers are right up there on my list of people to avoid after people who believe the power of power stones and racists.
Now, I have more reason to hate dolphins. They make a terrible steak.
I totally think I'm cool.
Obviously, I am not being elegant in this picture.
One of my new year’s resolutions this year — besides the usual fitness goals, Japanese study goals, and the money-saving goals – was to attempt regular updates on my blog and Youtube channel. Now that I am on spring vacation until the new school year starts, I will attempt again to make more regular posts. No promises.
Despite the tragedies up north, I am still enjoying the simple pleasures my area has to offer. I am very lucky to be living where I am. The only unfortunate circumstances I have to deal with are bread shortages (due to crazy hoarders) and scheduled blackouts — which was not really unfortunate because it was spent in a candle-lit room with Marc and we took pictures.*
*Not those kinds of pictures, you perverts. I was learning about “depth of field” and “apertures” and other words that makes me sound like I know camera-related things.
What was I writing about again? Oh right, simple pleasures like fire engine red strawberries.
A train ride to Nirayama and a 15 minute walk later, 1200Y will get you a small plastic tray with condensed milk and 30 minutes in a strawberry heaven greenhouse to eat as many strawberries as you can.
I spent my 30 minutes in a small humid, plastic wrapped greenhouse, walking along straight rows and rows and rows of fresh benihoppe strawberries, searching for a bigger strawberry than the previous one eaten, dodging squealing kids and their red stained hands, and eating a ridiculous amount of strawberries and almost dying when they told me that I could not get a refill on my condensed milk. I am convinced this is the reason to why Strawberry Shortcake is a little fatty.
I had breakfast (SERIOUSLY, WHAT WAS I THINKING??) so I only ate 47 strawberries. I think I could have eaten more. Well, watch me gorge and forgive me for the shaggy hair:
ALSO, donate to any charity that is currently preparing aid boxes to bring to the Tohoku area. ALSO ALSO, the University of Alberta, MY university, made this video to encourage Japan. I am pretty proud to be a University of Alberta alumni.
Yuka and I are trying to be cute. AAAaaand, I don't know if we succeeded.
Remember that small post I did about how some shifty tall lanky Japanese man had mistaken me for some naive high school student and had tried to convince me to go to some place in Tokyo on January 10th for some sort of audition? Remember how I was pretty certain that I was being recruited to be part of a porno movie and will probably end up dead?
I am glad to report that I am NOT dead (yay!) and I am not Japan-famous either (boo!).
In other sweet news, I usually cannot swallow Hello Kitty but this chocolate-filled Hello Kitty shaped mochi will be my only exception.
Hello Kitty AND mochi? Seriously — how Japanese can you get?
Or … how I gained 10 lbs in 18 minutes. Oh, poor me and my First World problems.
A local ALT named Vanessa had this terrible brilliant idea of tackling the biggest parfait at Cat’s Cafe. It began as a small group of five who then turned into a bigger group of thirteen. We split into two groups and I was put into the smaller group of 6, Team Tiger. Watch us annihilate the 6L glass bucket of whipped cream, ice cream, cake bits, fruit, cornflakes and pudding goodness.
… in the first 30 minutes of the movie, wearing heinous clothes and about 15lbs heavier than the latter half.
Half of me wants to deny the existence of my shabby, somewhat, nerdy self; my shabby self just wants to sit back, relax with a cake, girly movies, and action video games and mock the metaphysical breakdown of that “shiny” half as it becomes consumed with its own dark self-perpetuated shortcomings. Love run-ons? I do. Shut up.
I present to you in all my nerdy glory, the hoodie. I love you Japan Consumerism.
And a quick video showcasing okonomiyaki while I was in Osaka. A bit of a continuation from my last post and more reasons to why I am gaining weight here.
First of all, let me say that I have been spoilt by Fuji. I see the majestic icon if Japan every morning and now its interminable presence is all but commonplace for me. When people around me became excited that the recent weather has caused the top of Fuji to look just like a Hokusai woodblock print, I paused to appreciate the view and then went on to more important things … like watching Sailor Moon Sailor Stars. (Because, you know, one can never get old of a classic like Sailor Moon. And for those who are Usagi x Mamoru fans, we can’t be friends. EVER. I’m all for Usagi X Seiya – shut up! (S)he is a much better choice that brainwash-easy-much victim of a destined loser boyfriend of hers.) I hope this explains the opening of my video a bit better. Other than that, it is a bit of pure random.
Second of all, I gained about 10lbs since coming to Japan and the following video is evidence of my eating habits.
1) See food
2) Eat food
3) Repeat Step 1 and 2 in every bakery, cafe, and food market that crosses your path.
Third of all, you can also go back a bit to the rest of the Osaka Backlogs and take a look at my friend Nadia making a fool of herself by recreating the Osaka Bang! and the time she looked completely dumbstruck by the Turkish ice cream vendor in Dotombori. Love her~!
Fourth of all, I hate lists.
Those who live within their means suffer from a lack of imagination-Oscar Wilde
Right. I must be the most highly imaginative person I know.
So after being thrown around to and fro from attraction to store to Starbucks to store to photo booths to store to attraction from various friends, old and new, I may have over spent my budget by around $300. I am almost ashamed to admit how much the original budget was. Let’s just say it was a lot.
It was my birthday on November 10th and I had noticed that in the past few months, I had gone from being the young, fun, vivacious me and into a drab, dull, dreadfully dreary thrown-away lone Morning Musume member among the world of AKB 48s. Savage, I know.
(You don’t get my reference? Well, Morning Musume was THE 20-30 member girl band of young kittens, but after a decade they became cats so the entertainment industry basically ignored them and opted for the new 48 member girl band, AKB 48. Get it now? Good.)
Feeling out of place and not myself, the best quick solution is this: Barbara or Osaka. The best thing is, Barbara is currently living in Osaka so I paid my JR ticket and I stormed into Osaka in black knee high leather boots with heels.
Oh — and for any of you who are about to say, “But OO is cheaper” or “Why not use XX”? Get the frack off my blog. It was my birthday and it’s the one day of the year I can turn a deaf ear to you “save junkies”. I’m taking the N700 shinkansen.
So back to Barbara. Barbara is my sassy Canadian friend. She does not put up with shit, she tells it like it is, and yet she can squeal about Sailor Moon like the best of us. Did I forget to mention that she’s super smart, working on her second Masters degree, taught herself Japanese and won a scholarship that allows her to study in Osaka University? Why this girl is still single without every Japanophile crawling at her feet and at her mercy is beyond me. Then again, she may have threatened them.
Or she may have punched them in the balls.
Some of you may be oh-humming the idea of Osaka. You can also get the frack off my blog because, clearly, we will never be friends on this basis alone. I lived in Osaka for a semester back in 2007. The next few following posts will not be showcasing the Osaka castle, Dotonburi, Umeda, etc., even though they will be there. Osaka is about an attitude and if I am anything, I am an attitude. Oh, and nonfat lattés. Oh, and food.
I think I also failed to mention that my friend Nadia. She and her friend Charmie both met up with me in Osaka. These girls are superwomen in their own right. They are geek chic — complete gamer girls with gaming degrees from Vancouver Film School — whose dual cuteness attracts entire swarms of hosts and bartenders with bar tabs and scandals that follow.
Anyway, here’s a small video showcasing my friend Nadia. I hope this post served as an appetizer because this post is just the tip of the iceberg.
