dakulaon na maray!

There is "kalamansi" in Japan, mind you! My partner just brought home these organically-grown monsters. Para silang mga dalandan! I will try one of these tomorrow, tignan nga natin kung talagang kalamansi ito?! I think one fruit can make a glass of kalamansi juice!

Thai Manaco Fan

Found this while looking for something else,
I think I did this one at work as a part-time
english conversation teacher. There were times
when we have a lull, no "lessons" so we sit
in our cubicles, waiting.

Some of my favorite websites...

designboom
banksy- www.banksy.co.uk/ - cut and paste on your browser
tarako fightaaa!
tumami
this one I avoid really, you will know why

galing sa antik kong blog...

My first cartoons posted on the web, here. Hayy, high school days!

Lutong Bahay

This is the avocado, tomato, mozzarella, broccoli sprouts, eringi combo...
Main dish is pasta peperoncino with eggplant, bacon, grilled pepper and basil.
Chilled Perrier with lime, and a Pinot Noir to drink.

My CANOLAAA!

One suggestion from the avocado forum was to use Canola Oil. I said, no canola bebe just olive. But wait, I do have this oil I got from my quirky boss, and after googling for canola images, I think I HAVE CANOLA!

hahaha, I could read " abura, healthy risetta" as the Japanese label says, but I have no idea what "canola" is in Nihonggo. wakaranai dayo!

mamamammayyyy CANOLA!

Avocado and many things

This was born out of a collective on the avocado on my Ygroup.
I am making some kind of appetizer from the stuff that you see.

Balsamic vinegar is the "secret" ingredient here perhaps, there's this
interesting TINGI stall in this mall that happens to be a couple of hundred steps
away from my flat. Good balsamico will make anything a treat!

Goro-goro

My partner and I declared Saturday as our official "goro-goro" day.
That means in Tagalog, "nagpapain-in sa kama".

But look at the visuals, "nagpapain-in sa kama" - we are staring blankly at space right? gawain ko yan ha! Then I think and I have been told that "goro-goro" describes the sound and motion you make while rolling in your futon.

It makes sense, try rolling something on your "banig".... gorrro- gorrrro...

Trainspotted -1

Mabuhay Dr. Holmes!

So I'd like to know where, you got the notion
Said I'd like to know where, you got the notion...
ROCK THE BOAT!
http://www.margaritaholmes.com

Sprouts

'Sakit ng lalamunan at panga ko!

7pm na, late ang lola!
"Live To Tell" nga ba kinanta nya dito?
These people paid US$430.00 a ticket. Miss ko yung Farrah Fawcett hair ni Madonna!

Uwian na!

Tulog na tayo...

Overrrrrr....

It is 20:27 as of writing, still at m desk. This is the overtime season, and I wish that I had paid OT, then I would be raking it in. Alas, this is not the norm in Japan. The only reward you get is "karoshi".

Confessions Tour

Roll on Wednesday! I'm going to Madonna's concert with friends!

Si Maria!

Nihonshu is really easy to drink, especially if it is a good one. I don't get that buzz after a beer; instead, it works its way through out the drinking session, until you stand up for the toilet. Worse if you were sitting Japanese-izakaya style, all that 15% proof blood alcohol rush in to fill up your once-compressed veins, and the table too low to prop you up, leaving you with no alternative but to grab the nearest mop of hair! Gomen ne...

Rice lang yan... as my friend Maria would say!

Komix naman

Cans

I just can't stand listening to music with earphones/buds, just can't get enough bass! So after breaking my buta-bank, I finally bought a pair of headphones that has great, deep bass.
They also look cool!

Unagi!

SARAP! This was one good unagi, the "tare" (sauce) and "sansho" were also top-rate!
The unagi season is at it's end though.
Next on the menu for autumn, is sanma,
which is usually grilled.

There is this place I frequently go to for lunch, the menu has 6 all-year-round dishes:
(rice set includes a bowl of miso shiro, tsukemono (Japanese pickles), all you can eat "tarako" (cod roe), more tsukemono and "moyashi" - that's "toge" for us, Pinoys)
a. Grilled salmon and rice set - my fave
b .Grilled "hoke" (Atka mackarel, popular in Hokkaido)
and rice set
c .Grilled "saba" (mackarel) and rice set
d. Saba in miso and rice set
e. Maguro-don - sashimi natto rice topping
f. Maguro-natto and rice set - another favorite,
it's served with 1 fresh egg that you break and stir then pour
a bit on your steaming rice, then you stir your
maguro (raw chunks of tuna) and natto with tare and
a dash of wasabi and put a dollop of it on your rice,
then... the challenge is to eat this with chopsticks!
Ittadakimasu!

Bye bye tuna!

It has been noted that several species of tuna are overfished. I rarely eat meat, so take out the tuna in the picture, I still have radish, shiso leaves, and garnishing to complement my dinner of tofu and nihonshou.

More of my Kansai trip

Ryoanji Temple


































From Osaka to Kyoto it only takes 40 mins. by regular train. There are remarkable contrasts between these 2 cities. Kyoto pulls you back to the time of samurai, Osaka is definitely Bladerunner City.
I have been to Kyoto before and this is my second trip, and my second visit to Ryoanji Temple. I am still enthralled by the rock garden, and by Kyoto in general. It was my first time to see Maiko (apprentice geisha), 2 of them crossing the same street I was on, me going the opposite way, and another one in a cafe with a patron.

Spot the Maiko!

























Restaurants along the river were really pricey, but we were lucky to find one that has "happy hour".

Shinkansen and Eki ben

This is the Nozomi Shinkansen. A shinkansen pulling up to a station does not sound like an ordinary train that goes gadan-gadan, instead, all you will hear is a high-pitched whine and it just goes slowly and quietly to a stop. Very other-worldly for me.





Inside the Nozomi. It runs at 300 km/h (186 mph); strangely, there are no seatbelts at all! Trains jump off their tracks right? There is one cabin attendant, usually female and she sells drinks and snacks
during the trip. The train goes so fast, you tend to gaze really at the farthest distance you eyes can focus at. Your ears go pop as you speed through a tunnel, since the cabin is pressurized. Windows are double-glazed like in airplanes. When 2 bullet trains pass each other at running speed, you hear a whomp at the same time feel a nudge and a see a blur zip by your window. Whomp, nudge, ZIP! Yes, that was a train.

Eki-ben! (Station bento) Our dinner, on the left a boxed gyudon bento that is self-heating, just pull that string before opening the box then you'd hear a hiss, in a couple of seconds,
you have a nice, steaming beef bowl!
The right one is a conventional bento, ooh loove that big umeboshi! Itadakimasu!

Namba, Osaka

The Church of Light

I was in Kansai 2 weeks ago and it was a good opportunity to visit one of Ando Tadao's masterpieces. I guess architects and artists outnumber the faithful here when it comes to attendance. Here are facts about the Church.

"Ber" na!

Heto nanaman tayo, tag-lamig na ulit!
Nevertheless, there are 2 concerts I am looking forward to, Blondie , with Polysics
to open for them at Shibuya, supa-dupa COOL; aaaaannnd, Madonna on the 20th at Tokyo Dome!

Bago natapos ang Agosto

Missed my stop, a station away last Wednesday. I was so into this book, Out by Natsuo Kirino that I did not hear my stop being called out. What made me look up was the sense that there were only a few people left in the car! Go see for yourself what this book is all about.

Thursday afternoon at the office was just like any other until the whole city shook. It felt like there was this huuuge monster running just slightly underground and the ridges on it's back happened to ram the foundations and first floor of our office! We are on the ground floor and the jolt was quite strong enough you could hear a BANG! as everything is displaced for a split second. I forgot that it was a day away from the Great Kanto Earthquake, 1923.