Taknoko Time!

my cousin that lives in the countryside of kyoto went digging for baby bamboo on the mountain in his backyard. his mom sent some of them to us city folk. good thing mom was here cuz i wouldn't know what to do with that. check out the size of this baby:

first you boil it:

then you peel it:

see: you don't actually get to eat that much of it:

it's still pretty big though:

mom chops them up:

and slow cooks it in the pot:

tasty stuff! but there was SO much of it that i was sick of it after eating it for several days . . .

Game Night

our take on family game night. we made a big mexican feast and drank and played games all night. Jenga was a favorite but there was everything from poker to go fish.

2010: The Year of Correspondence

i have heaps and heaps of stationary. most people will usually get a birthday card, and postcards during the spring/summer and year end from me. i like sending them. i've even started sending one a week to select peeps who don't easily get annoyed with me.

it saddens me to see that real mail, snail mail if you will, has gone the way of the dinosaurs. i like to see people's penmanship, judge their grasp of grammar and syntax, check if they use words with correct connotation, etc. electronic communication has a severe lack of responsibility. i don't check my spelling, i rarely capitalize anything , and i often don't make sense. <-- it's like me talking! that's why i don't like it. the edited version of me is much better, and in a real letter, the best version of me is on paper.

i know i suck at text messages and emails. i often don't reply unless there are very specific questions that request a response. when i had a commute to work, i spent the time on the train replying to all my messages but now, for some reason, i just don't. So don't take it personally if i don't reply to your emails and messages. Send me your address so i can put a postcard in the mail for you!

it's Tanuki Time!

heard there were a lot of tanukis out in Mashiko, a small town in Tochigi, so i enlisted the help of my mom and uncle to go pick one out for my sister's birthday. i think my uncle had regrets about volunterring as soon as we got on the train. as you can see, he's having none of it.



boy's day carp:


i expected a lot more tanukis but apparently is just a small cluster of shops out there that sell tanukis. they don't even make them! i'm told that over 90% of all tanukis sold in Japan are from a small kansai town called Shigaraki. but there were quite a few tanuki paraphrenelia here:








and super big ones:



and stoned ones:




this is the chagama bunbuku tanuki that i got for my sister:


mom tries out the local dango:


and we have a fancy local lunch:



and even a few cherry blossoms to boot!

Early Birthday

Thanks to my sister, B-I-L, and parental units, i am currently the coolest kid on the planet! No ipad yet in Japan but here i am, rockin' mine on the yamanote line! i KNOW you're jeals!

Great dates with very cute boys

little mason


Sacha giving me a new hairdo


and another little cutie we met in the park

Lists Lists Lists

I find myself making a lot of lists in my head recently. J went through a period where he was actually writing them down. Not being as committed to the process as he is, i am usually satisfied having them just roll around in my head . . . until this breaking news publication!

things i don't do in japan as much as you'd think i would:
karaoke
eat sushi
shop at the depachika
ride crowded trains
bow

guys i find cute and endearing that apparently no one i know does:
peter krause
tatsuya yamaguchi
joseph gordon levitt
josh charles
mikey chow <-- and no, it's not just his arms H

things that i can't seem to wrap my head around:
glee
robert pattinson
foamy coffee drinks containing no less than 9 syllables in the name
dax shepard
blood sausage and head cheese
twitter/facespace
craig t. nelson's hair (or lack thereof)
anything jersey shore related
lace
hibiscus rosehip tea
the weird green jackets that golfers win
decorative plates

my favorite $10 words:
picayune
exiguous
obsequious
calamity
obfuscatory
estimable
disheveled
cognoscenti

J called it, "doorknobs and sleighbells and schnizels and noodles" and here are a few of my favorite things:
lotion tissues
toe rings
my camera
memory foam
sammiches
fail blog
Jon Stewart
postcards
addidas
fridge magnets

i like my job but sometimes i wish i were a:
coroner
viticulturalist
photographer
baker or cook
movie location scout
photojournalist
owner of a flower shop
foot model
writer
food critic
martha stewart
scrivener


more lists possibly to come . . .