morning
Saturday Night, Alive!
It’s a 3-day weekend! What better way to celebrate this greatness than to go to the heart of Japan’s entertainment district and just drink our brains out.
So when Saturday was nearing it’s end, we met up with a close friend who was more at home at Roppongi than we will ever be, and he lead us deep into the neon-lighted streets, steering clear away from the retching people every other block.
He told us we should eat something. Something heavy, greasy, and fatty. Something to line our stomachs with. So we climbed some really steep yet lushly carpeted stairs up into the 3 1/2 floor of a narrow building. It was a Kebab Shop! We ordered a Kebab rice bowl, a Kebab pita bread sandwich, and a Kebab burrito. What? You think you could order anything other than that? It was delicious by the way. Will definitely go back… If we can ever find it again.
We then went out on our way to the legendary drink-all-you-can bar when our friend suddenly disappeared from our sight for a few moments, leaving us panicky and seriously considering going back to that cozy Starbucks we passed by a while ago. Then we heard a familiar shout “Guys! Over here!” from a small doorway that leads down to a basement door. “And bring out your IDs and money! Come on!”
See that neon green light? We went down there… somewhere…
We showed the nice lady that we’re not underage, as if our faces weren’t proof enough, gave her some 1000 Yen bills, and she slapped on us some rainbow colored paper-wristbands. Wish I took a photo of that, but I had no time; loud music and booze was waiting downstairs.
When we went down, what surprised us was not the decor, which is a bit tacky (but what do I know about bars and pubs anyway?) it was how few the people were. I think there were only half a dozen guys there and a couple of girls. And that’s counting the waitress.
Well no matter. We came here not to socialize, but to fill our throats with liquor!
And fill it we did! Man, the list of all the stuff they have was just amazing. I’ve had my fair share of drink-all-you-can restos, and their Drinks Menu is top notch.
We started off with the typical man-beer: Heinekens, Budweisers, and what have you. Then we tried some cocktails like Salty Dog and Moscow Mule. After that, things got a little fuzzy…
I think things started getting crazy when we began to meet all those nice gentlemen… Mr. Johnny Walker, Chivas Regal, Sir Jack Daniel, and I just can’t remember much after that.
Hm.
I just woke up and it was Sunday. I was at home.
Where’s my pants?
Gloomy Friday
The moment I burst out of the door to shout “TGIF!!” it rained.
Well it was just a drizzle, but still enough to make you wear a raincoat. Darn it. I was so looking forward to riding my bike under a bright blue sky, singing happy songs, and scaring bystanders on my way to the station. And my raincoat is moldy too, ugh.
So I dropped by the local convenience store to pick up some pick-me-up to perk meself up.
Then I found this milk coffee with maple! Woah, a new flavor!
I plugged my ears with a medley of great nostalgic 80’s and 90’s rock ballads, drank my creamy caffeine, and enjoyed the light drizzle on my way to school.
Oh to Hear Them Sing
I witnessed something special today. At first I was surprised when right after the usual morning meeting, all the teachers suddenly suited up and swiftly poured out of the faculty room. Okay, what’s happening now?
I cleared my desk of all the newsletters, messages and notice sheets accumulated while I was away and tried to catch up with the fleeting wave of black suits briskly rushing down the hall. They were going to the gym.
Ah, a morning assembly then… on a Thursday? I wonder what this is all about? Then I saw a pile of students coming out onto the stage.
Sad piano music wafted through the gymnasium and two students came up to the front and gave a speech. Wait, is that a student playing the piano? Wow, she’s good. Then the next pair came up and gave another speech while a different piece of music was played by another student. This went on until the whole group has finished their piece.
I asked the teacher beside me what this is all about, and I was told that the students are presenting to the whole school the music piece their class have been practicing to sing for the Chorus Contest. Each class has chosen a song and practiced it, and today there will be a meeting to decide which one they’ll do for the citywide contest as one whole choral group.
One of the surprising things was the fact that each class actually has a designated piano player. Wow. Back when I was still in school, it’s rare to see a piano player in our whole year level, let alone in our class. But to think that in Japan, it’s fairly common to have one or two (maybe more!) students who plays an instrument per classroom! Very well, too at that. Just wow.
The teacher then told me that our school has a reputation of being one of the top contenders in the chorus contest. Well, I’m not surprised. I’ve heard them sing their school anthem before, and they actually had the boys and the girls sing in different parts with their tenor, sopranos, and all that.
I remember as a kid we’d be told to just “sing out as loud as possible“, but here it’s “as beautiful and harmonic as possible.” Now I’ve been a judge at the English Speech Contest, and all of us ALTs had a rough time. They were all good! I can’t imagine just how much better this city’s students will be with music.
I thought it was really nice when the principal spoke to the whole assembly afterwards, telling the students that even though they have their eyes on that trophy and being the champion for this year’s Chorus Contest, it should not be their goal. That winning is not the only thing to strive for. That being able to sing together as an embodiment and representative of the school, blending their voices to become one, and expressing the emotion of the song from their hearts to the audience, is the most important thing this contest.
I agree.
Man, I can’t wait to hear them sing.
To Work a Hulk’s Throw Away
I miss waking up at 7:45 and still arrive at school on time for the 8:15 meeting. Last year I went to a school less than just 5 minutes away. I lived a procrastinator’s dream for two years… and then I moved to a new school that’s 2 hours away. Not counting the 20-minute walk from the station.
*le extreme sigh*
Well that was my situation until a couple of months ago. I talked with my girl and we’ve decided that I can’t continue waking up at 4:30 in the morning everyday for a year. Sleeping before 10 PM is already a problem for me, but waking up before sunrise is just torture for a lazy bum like me.
So now we live an hour away from my school, still far but at least my travel time’s cut in half! I wanted to move much much closer, as in right next to the school’s entrance gate, but I have to consider my girl’s workplace too. We settled for a city that’s right in the cozy center of where I work and where she works. Yeah, we both travel an hour to work now.
It has it’s advantages. I get to read again.
*This was taken inside Starbucks, but you get the idea*
I bought a Kindle 4 I think a year ago, and I can’t let go of the computer long enough to actually use the thing. Now that I’m forced to sit in a train for hours everyday, I can catch up with my favorite authors and enjoy travelling to all sorts of advenures again.
I think I still have my Nintendo DS somewhere, I could some gaming time too hehe
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PS: Darn you Starbucks for tricking us! We bought a Chicken Pita Bread sandwich yesterday and it was all lettuce!! Argh. There was just a tiny sliver of chicken meat inside and not even a drop of mayo! To think we paid almost 500 Yen for that!
The Tower of Shrimp Patties
Last night, while I was unlocking my bike on our way home, this HUGE poster was just screaming for attention in front of me. So I gave it a glance… or two… or three… until it escalated into a full-blown stare.
“Hey umm, what IS that? ” I asked my girl who was busy rummaging around her bag for her bike’s keys. “It looks like a very tall burger. Is that croquette? Hey it’s just 500 Yen, wanna get one?”
And we did. The amazing thing is, it looked exactly how it did on the poster. WOAH. Is this a joke? How the heck could anyone even eat this thing? I looked around and apparently, a lot of people were also mesmerized with the promise of owning a tower of crunchiness. They were dismantling it.
After a minute of unabashed admiration *Instagram that joint!* I tried one patty, bit into it, and discovered it was made of shrimp. Nice! Something I’m allergic to! Well no matter, I have some meds with me anyway. My girl and I took one bread slice and a shrimp patty each and munched away. I dunno if it’s because we were hungry, but it was just so delicious. The moist bun topped with a steaming hot shrimp filet and the creamy mayo with the lettuce…
*smacks lips* That was good. Now what to do with the remaining three patties? I think I’ve reached my shrimp-eating limit for tonight. I am allergic to it you know. So we wrapped them up and went home.
Good thing too! Because this morning, when we opened the fridge, three lone sausages and eggs welcomed us. We took the shrimp patties, toasted them in the oven till they were hot and crispy again, softly boiled the eggs, and popped some juicy sausages, and Saturday morning breakfast has never been more special!
Ohayou gozaimasu Japan! Thank you for making extremely weird food promotions haha
To Finally Have Time For Myself :)
At last. The weekend. After a couple of weeks of probably one of the busiest moments of my life (besides changing apartments, those days are incomparable to anything really), I finally have a slow and relaxing weekend at home.
Things started getting hectic when I found that I won’t be able to continue my current work and that I have to find a new one… fast. Fortunately I did, and with a great offer and ultra-competitive salary. Unfortunately it would mean that four hours of my life each day would be spent inside the train. Oh well, with what they’re paying me, I’d gladly sit for another hour or more haha
Anyway, enough of work-talk. I plan to spend today and tomorrow as NORMAL as possible. Normal. Meaning that I want to do the same routines I’ve been doing before my comfortable life turned upside down. And what better way to get back up to a cozy pace by starting the Saturday with a heavy plate of such a hearty breakfast that I just zoned everything out and immersed myself to the food.
There were plump sunny eggs, thick slices of ham, a bowl of simmered sweet vegetables, and a healthy serving of brown rice. All thanks to my super girl for preparing and cooking everything 😉
After the meal, we patted our stomachs and realized that we’re not finished yet. So we fished those stale donuts from the fridge, wrapped it in foil, and blasted it in the oven until they steamed and puffed themselves up so moist and hot, you can actually feel like they were freshly made!
*burp*
Okay, now what to do with the rest of the weekend…
Tasty, Heavy, and Ready: Boxed Lunches!
We have an early train to catch up this morning. No time to cook at all. So what I did was drop by one of the big supermarkets in our area last night to grab something ready-to-eat and what I found were these temptingly delicious boxes of food all with 20% OFF SALE stickers on them! Lucky!
I didn’t even had time to pick, I just grabbed the nearest and most eye-catching bunch of them all and rushed to the cashier. Good thing my parents cooked another of my favorites at home for dinner last night, or I would’ve eaten these right on the spot the moment I got back home haha
First things first, fill our stomach with hot and heavy food, hop on the morning train, and onwards to another weekend adventure! Be back tomorrow with lots of photos and stories to tell I’m sure!
Thus Spring Began at Home
Found a curious little surprise one cold morning while we were preparing to make breakfast: a garlic has started to sprout.
I usually frown at wasted ingredients, but seeing this healthy bulb that was apparently teeming with life, burst and reach out towards the sunlit windows of our kitchen gave me such a huge dose of the happiness juice that for some reason, I just can’t bring myself to throw it out.
A vibrant herald of the coming Spring. Hehe, mebbe I should plant the cloves somewhere and watch it grow.
My Childhood Breakfast Once Again
I remember back when I was still living with my parents, I’d have no trouble waking up every morning because all sorts of delicious aromas would waft into my room and I’d know that there’s a great morning waiting for me downstairs.
So it didn’t take me long to decide what to serve my parents now that it’s our turn to serve them breakfast. They brought with them cans of our favorite brand of corned beef, so we cooked up a family favorite: Tortang Corned Beef!
In the Philippines, ‘torta’ refers to a kind of omelette made with eggs, ground meat and sometimes, minced onion and potato. A frittata if you will. And as usual, my girl was in charge of preparation while I took care of the cooking.
The onions were caramelized in a hot pan of oil to bring out their natural sweetness, while the diced potatoes were lightly salted and placed in a bowl to be heated till it’s soft. It’s supposed to be fried together with the onions, but we wanted to avoid it being mushed and sticking to the pan so… microwave it is hehe
The corned beef is already cooked and ready to be eaten right out of the can, so all we did was stir it around a bit together with the cooked veggies and it’s done.
Actually it can be eaten then and there, all that’s needed is a bit of vinegar, then you pile it on top of white rice, and it’s a great meal on its own. But we’re making a different dish today, so maybe it’ll be a recipe for another morning 🙂
The delicious mixture then goes into a bowl of scrambled eggs, then you cook it just like how you cook pancakes, one full ladle at a time. Wait till it gets crisp and brown on one side, then you flip it and do the same on the other.
No question about it, of course you have to eat it with steamed rice. The sight of a table laden with these fried babies and lots of fluffy white rice would make any morning so bright, you just have to close your eyes as you savor each bite…
Have a great Saturday morning everyone!
Chocolates? For ME??
I’m still not used to Japan’s way of celebrating Valentine’s Day. Here, it’s the girls who give chocolates to the boys. So imagine my surprise when I woke up to this…
Feminists will have a field day with this custom, but us guys don’t mind hehe.
But don’t worry, there’s a day in March when it’s our turn to repay the chocolates received today. They call it ‘White Day’ and it’s the day the girls look forward to.
Thank you Rose, Happy Valentine’s day 🙂
Bispektəkəld 