Wordless Wednesday - Chilly Elephant

"Happy Valentine,s Day"

I'm trying to convince U to celebrate Valentines Day (or, according to my local grocery store Valentine,s Day) a la Canadienne instead of in the Japanese fashion (ie a romantic day for the two of a instead of a day for me to give him chocolate and then wait a month, have him forget to give me return chocolates on "White Day" until I reminded him and dragged him out shopping). And then I went all good Japanese girlfriend on him and spent most of yesterday evening pre-making breakfast...

Bright red chocolate chocolate chunk creampan.

Super yummy if a tad labour intensive for a Monday evening. I'm going to try my hand at a cheesecake for desert tonight, and the smart man offered to take me out for dinner!

Things I love Thursday

- my advisor (two years after I graduated he still is my advisor)
- drinking with my advisor (his favourite pastime)
- our favourite neighbourhood izakaya (seeing a theme here? U and I took my advisor out for drinks last night and had a great time, except for the part where U mistakenly attempted to keep up wih my advisor and collapsed when we got home, falling asleep repeatedly in the middle of a conversation, while brushing his teeth, and while insisting to me he was NOT falling asleep... I eventually gave up on him and went to bed, only to have him wake me up when he crawled into bed at 4 am... so "drinking with U" is definitely not on my list!!)

Wordless Wednesday - Comfort Food

With the weather being so miserable lately I've been craving comfort food... baked mac 'n cheese was on the menu the other night.

Mythical beings

Commuting by train at peak times can bring out the worst in people. Stuff too many exhausted bodies into a train car like sardines, and then add I heavy bags (being carried and bumping into others) and maybe even wet umbrellas... and well you have a mixture for unpleasantness.

The weather this morning (I brought a lunch and have no intention of going outside to check that if it is still the case) was ugly - a cold grey sky issuing a steady stream of icy rain, with a nasty wind to beat the cold into you.

I settled into my seat on the train as it filled up, and drifted of to sleep. I was jostled awake a stop or so later when the woman beside me got up and all but crawled across three laps to give her seat up to a woman standing at the end of the row, a woman with the pink "I'm growing a baby inside me" tag on her bag. The woman who stood up then spent the next hour being jostled by the other commuters as the train slowly made its way to Tokyo. The pregnant woman who sat down spent the next hour jostling me, the salaryman sitting on her other side, and the young guy standing in front of her as she fell asleep and almost fell out of her seat.

As the train continued somebody decided it would be a good idea to open a window. Not only did that send blasts of cold air around the car, but the kid beside me and I started getting rained on! Neither of us could reach the window, but one of the standing salarymen noticed our distress and leaned over and past a couple of indifferent commuters to wrench the window closed.

I bowed and thanked him and fell back asleep with a smile on my face. Yes, Sarah, nice commuters do exist!

Things I Love Thursday

- ham and real Dutch Gouda cheese sandwiches on homemade grainy seedy bread
- joking with my coworkers
- building friendly international professional contacts
- chocolate covered raspberries
- walks in the park on sunny cold days

Tokyo Dome Illumination