Wednesday, January 25, 2012

A Cup Full of Decaf, Please!

I have been off the wagon with caffeine for a few months. And, being a big coffee lover that I am, it's been quite hard, especially right around 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Too hard, in fact, ever since I retired and moved, staying home dillydallying all day long. Have manipulated myself with a very strong cup of pearl barley tea (aka Job's tears). Which tastes fine, or actually very nice and pleasing and I give it a whole credit, but only as tea. Super strong tea could never replace a cup of dark java, just like a bucket full of yogurt is never gonna get anywhere near a spoonful of Hagendaz.

The lamest thing is, decaf coffee beans ain't easy to find in supermarkets in Japan, if at all possible, so I went back to my macrobiotics days -yes, I was a vegan for about half year two years ago, and searched on line and came across this.

Jones decaf coffee:
Tried and tested, I declare it's as good as weak regular coffee. So I make mine very strong, and all is good. My afternoons are saved. Phew.

Until next time,

Sak

Monday, January 23, 2012

A Pink Pretty Present

T is the best! Knows me too well. Bought me a bouquet of early-spring tulips last Sunday.


Hmmm. The livingroom looks really lovely. Being given flowers make me happy to have been born a woman. Thank you, T!

Until next time,

Sak

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Sweet, Soft and Scrumptious

OK, OK. I admit. My blog has been full of food-related posts of late like never before. Inevitably I have been pigging out, but hey, I don't deny myself the pleasure of divine moments of small, delicious luxuries. So why shouldn't I share with the world what I savor that makes me so darn happy?

And today, I am proudly presenting to you the flan from Enfance, a small, quaint bakery that I came across when I was out for a walk the other day.




Its taste? T ate up his share while I shut off my cybershot, let me just tell you that.


Very creamy and rich in taste, yet so light on tongue.

Apparently you can order their goodies and ship within Japan, so I'm gonna link their homepage here for Japanese readers with sweet tooth. --> Enfance

Until next time,


Sak

Friday, January 20, 2012

Magazine Debut!

Guess what, I'm in February Nikkei Woman!! in a "What Working Women Do in their Free Time" section. If you happen to be in Japan this month and find yourself roaming around a book store by any chance, please take a moment to find me on page 46.


Nikkei Woman is usually stacked up in business mag section, not women's fashion shelf.



All the more reason for me to rev on drawing and writing.

Until next time,

Sak

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Love from Canada

I was losing marbles when I opened the parcel that was delivered today. My beloved family in British Columbia has sent me a can full of baked Christmas goodies!

Peanut brittle, Nanaimo bar, Butter pecans, and English short bread, all packed in a can of happiness.


NEVER had I imagined that eating my favorite Christmas sweets a la Monica and John would be possible right here in Japan. Thank you, thank you, thank you soooooooo much Mon, John, and Hannah Banana!

Until next time,

Sak

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Seafood Fiesta!

I love my new city!!!

I mean, for dinner like this, who in the world wouldn't?








I was especially in love with the abalone.

Until next time,

Sak

Friday, January 13, 2012

List of 10 -What I Mean to Do This Year

I was reading my last year's new year's post, What I Want to Do This Year, and I was dumbfounded at just how stupidly vague I was. I mean, read the list!

1) Read more
2) Overthink less
3) Stop more (at STOP signs)
4) Bitch less
5) Learn more
6) Risk less
7) Earn more
8) Buy less
9) Save more
10) Own less

There is only one out of the ten that I can honestly say I have done the last year, and it's 3) Stop more (at STOP signs). Am I proud of it? ...Not so much, really. What the hell was I thinking making that list?

So I'm gonna make one this year so that I can look back in a year and be proud to have done it all. And I'm gonna cut the obscurity altogether (what the hell does overthink less mean? like I'm going through a puberty?) and I'm going very, very specific.

So hear goes.

1) read a book a week
2) do not cause a traffic accident of any kind, deadly or otherwise
3) make a new friend
4) buy one fashion item, get rid of another
5) visit Ise Shrine
6) make something new in kitchen
7) go for a walk 5 times a week for 30 minutes or more
8) take TOEIC
9) find a job
10) save a million yen

How's that for being specific, huh?

Good luck me!

Until next time,

Sak

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Happy New Year!

World? Hey, is it really you? Oh thank God! I finally got myself wired at new flat, and can't be more stoked. How detached from you have I been feeling for the last two weeks or so without the internet?!

I thought I had overcome my early addiction with the cyber world long ago, but the silence therapy nearly killed me this time. A week or two without the internet is no problem had I been on a vacation. Having the whole 3-bedroom apartment to myself for 10 hours a day for two weeks without one is HELL! It doesn't help when one is not very into TV, too, like myself. And it's bloody cold outside and it's not like I have the nerve to go on a joy stride and explore the new city I live in.

Yes, I do live in a new city. A city that I mean to blog about in good time -hopefully, but so far as I can tell, it's just an ordinary city that's like thousands of others in Japan. It's neither super exciting nor dull. It has what it should as a civilization of the modern day. It neither lacks nor overloads. But let me, as I said, blog about the place a little more in detail as I get myself more familiar with it.

Anyhow, I just thought I should let the world know first and foremost that I am back and I am happy.

Until next time,

Sak