Frozen noms: Char sao bao!

It is one of those days where I feel like having a quick dinner instead of cooking from scratch. I had a look in my fridge and saw that there is a pack of frozen char sao bao (barbecued pork buns), hereinafter referred to as "CSB", that I had bought earlier this week. 

I moved to Nagoya from Tokyo five years ago and have been living in Kasugai city since then. AEON mall is my usual go-to for grocery shopping as its supermarket offers a pretty comprehensive selection of ingredients and there is a also an adjacent outlet that sells imported foodstuff. Although I was never a fan of frozen food as it was never a mainstay in my mother's kitchen. However, there was a "World Dining" section that caught my eye and I decided to have a closer look. Basically as the name of the section suggests it offers popular frozen dishes from different countries. I am a huge fan of CSBs and meatbuns in Japan don't really suit my palate hence I was delighted by the find. The CSBs are a product of Taiwan.

Apparently today is a good day to try them out.

You get a pair of CSBs in the pack which can be steamed or re-heated in a microwave oven.

Of course I'd go for steaming. Hahaha. Once in the steamer it is a 17 minute wait.

I knew that these buns won't taste like the authentic once the moment I took the lid off the steamer. The smell of the buns suggest that the filling has been tweaked to be more agreeable to the local palate. 

The skin has the texture of a chinese meat bun and has a good consistency for frozen food. The filling is typical of a CSB filling but somehow has a "Japanese" taste to it. For BND5.50 they were pretty good and were just the right portion for one person. On my next trip to the supermarket I'll get a pack for H and see what he thinks of them.

To my beautiful you

Yesterday was a very painful day for me. I had to make a very difficult but necessary decision. Even in my quiet time I thought of you constantly.

But today is a new day. As I look upon the skies I am reminded of someone: the warm, bright, open and beautiful you that captivated and still continues to captivate my heart.

I miss you dearly.

More importantly, I hope you are well.

Happy birthday to my dearest Sai Mui

Sai Mui, it just occurred to me as I started writing this post that this year marks the second decade of our friendship. 20 years. That's about a quarter of one's average lifespan and that's how long we've been in each others' lives.

We first met in university but didn't start becoming close until our second year. You exposed me to the world of clubbing and we sure had lots of fun. I remember how you got me on the "consumption initiation programme" after showing your displeasure to my Ribena habit. Hahaha. That programme turned out to be a real eye opener, didn't it? When push comes to shove, you were the only one that could handle and tame me. I remember those instances fondly. In our uni years we went through a multitude of life events and good or bad they brought us ever closer together. We had a bond, a bond that continues to strengthen and deepen to this day. 

After graduation we went had to go our separate ways. I tried my best to stay in my second home but being stateless and the profession that I am in it was an insurmountable challenge. I returned to my country of birth and began my practice there eventually. But I was eager to stay close to you in anyway I can. Thank to budget airlines like AirAsia I was able to see you once a month or every other month. It certainly didn't help with my savings but I never regretted any of those trips. You had your own place and we'd hang out with the others for tea or a meal and then go back to spend time with each other talking about all sorts of stuff. I love how we could be so open and comfortable with each other. Over time you went on to excel in your practice and became your own boss. I, on the other hand, decided to leave everything behind and start anew in another country, for something called aikido.

I want you to know that I am very proud of what you have achieved thus far and I know there will be more to come. I also want to tell you how lucky I am to have a friend like you; loving, supportive and never judgmental. You've helped me through some very difficult times and held me together where I would have otherwise fallen.

Most of all, I could not be more thrilled to see you finding you partner in life, who will be there for you for the rest of your life. Now that there is someone to take care of you, 我就放心了.

Happy birthday my dearest friend. May you continue to be the wonderful person that you are and I wish for all things good in your life. As we both cross the half way mark of our lives, let us make true our plans to celebrate it together. 

I love you.

I'm back

Looks like I took a long break but I want you to know that I am still alive and training somewhere in the Land of the Rising Sun. It has been an eventful 2 years and you tend to get busy when starting life from zero. Anyway, it's good to be back and hopefully I still have what it takes to write posts that make sense. Hahahaha.

お休み〜

Spring 2013

It is my second spring in Japan. I look forward to this season very much; the cool weather, the beginning of another season and sakura viewing. To be honest, I haven't been to many places for sakura viewing and this time around I went to Ueno park again to take pictures of the sakura. The pictures turned out to be satisfactory but I did not have a close up shot that I was happy with.

Last week, however, when a classmate of mine decided to view Mt Fuji, I came across a sakura tree not far from Fujisan station. It was very windy that day and I had my camera with me. I thought to myself, the winds are too strong and I cannot possibly take pictures of that beautiful tree. As I was approaching the tree however, the winds died down, as if saying to me "go ahead, snap away". The skies were so blue that day and it provided a great contrast to the soft pink blossoms. 

I wish my family was here to view the sakura with me. We could just sit under the trees, drink, eat and be merry. I miss them.

School starts tomorrow!

The textbooks materials used in 2012

Time sure passes by when you are having fun. But somehow this school holiday feels longer than the last few. I think it was because Hombu Dojo was closed after Christmas and did not reopen for training until 6th January 2013. Sure I had things to do to keep me occupied but I would rather go back to training than to stop training for so long. Actually it was also because I wasn't training much in the last 2 months of the year due to preparation for JLPT and end of term exams. But anyway I think the senseis and everyone at Honbu Dojo deserve a good break from a year of hard work. I appreciate the fact that their work, unlike most of ours, are very physically demanding. 

I woke up today from a dream where a teacher from school informed me that I was one of the 4 students who failed the end of term exams. Upon hearing the news I went and sat in a corner, stunned and speechless whilst the others carry on with the lesson. I will find out if it is true soon enough.

The house is now quiet due to the return of a very chirpy housemate to her home country. I will miss the times I had with her but she has a family to return to and one year away from them is long enough. But the thought of school starting once again tomorrow really excites me. Back to the routine of school and training. Yaaay! I have also some other plans in store for this year and I hope to make this a year an even more fulfilling one. For a better tomorrow everyone!

Happy New Year 2013

It seems like yesterday that I came to Japan to live my dream of doing a one year stint in Japan to train in aikido and to learn the Japanese language. In the last few days of 2012 I recalled that I could barely speak any Japanese and was having a hard time going about with my daily life because there was not much allowance for communication to be done in English. And of course the cold. Now I could carry on simple social conversation and is more or less used to the weather here. But I still cannot believe that I made it here and completed a year.

Admittedly, I like the life here and can't get enough of it. So what do I do? I decided that I will stay here for another year! Hahaha. the first year has been pretty free and easy for me. I did not have a part time job and only spent my time studying and training (well most of the time). This year I would like to look for a part time job to gain some working experience here and also to earn some extra pocket money. I would like to do some office work but I know that my Japanese language skills are still wanting so I will be practical about it. There is one thing I would like to try out which is to work in a bakery. Baking has been a hobby of mine since a long time ago and I would like to have a chance to learn more.

For the new year I bought a tenegui that bears the twelve animal zodiac signs. February 10th will usher in the year of the Snake and I hope that it will be a great year for all!

The "full marks" breakfast

The day has come. After 11 months of studies I am going to sit for my first Japanese Language Proficiency Test. During the course of my revision the feeling that I should have taken the N3 test instead of N2 grew stronger and stronger. I am here now so that is moot. Anyway I got up early to make the "full marks" breakfast. My mother used to make this breakfast whenever my brothers and I are sitting for our school exams. She would cook one sausage and 2 sunny side up eggs and arranged them in to look like "100". It is her way of wishing us all the best in our exams. It is only now that I appreciate the thought that care and concern that she has in everything that has to do with us. 

After the very inspiring breakfast, I made my way to the test venue which is at Meijiro University.

I made it there in good time and was slightly taken aback by the number of N2 candidates. The doors opened at 12:00hrs. The test voucher states that the grammar and kanji section test starts at 12:30hrs and ends at 14:30hrs. What perplexed me was that the giving our of the question and answer sheets as well and identification procedure only commenced after 12:30hrs. We only started answering the questions 20 minutes later which I felt was time lost for us. Then I remembered that on the question sheet it was stated that we have 105 minutes to answer the questions. Hahaha. The test voucher should have been more specific, I think!

The instructions were given out no less than 3 times for the benefit of late comers. What got my attention was the part on rule violation. Depending on the severity of the violation you may be issued a yellow card of red card. The invigilator raised the cards as she was explaining the rules and it made her look like a football referee. By the way, at least 2 persons were handed the yellow card by the end of the test.

I came out of the test feeling forlorn; I generally understood the contents of the questions but it was not clear enough to give a confident answer. In other words, I am almost there but still not there. I know that by July next year I will be more than ready to take the test again. Hahahaha!

I am glad I took the test and that it is over. It had it degree of difficulty and my vocabulary was not extensive enough to equip myself to deal with the questions and that is something I will work harder upon from now on. Relieved and wanting to wind down, a few of us met up for dinner.

 お疲れ様でした！Yet more brain cells were sacrificed today in the name of progress so cheers to that!

On the eve

 One more day before the exams! It is another cold day and I really did not feel like leaving the apartment. But the environment at home is not very conducive so I made my way to the nearby cafe. Looking the at lighting that has been put up to greet the festive season and receiving a motivational message from a friend it brought a smile to my face. 

My revision was slightly distracted due to some necessary family chatting. Finally I took out a past paper to get accustomed to the test format. A little bit late I know but that was the last thing on my mind really. I was finished with the listening part quite some time ago as I really have rather bad listening skills. Overall I could understand the passages and answer the questions but it is the grammar that stumps me. Also if the sentence is exclusively hiragana it actually slows my reading reading pace considerably. My performance was mediocre. Bottom line is, just do it tomorrow and wait for the results. 

We came home to a very nice dinner. Spare rib soup!

As the weather gets cold soups warms the body and the heart. After dinner we decided to just relax and prepare the necessary for tomorrow's exam. For example…

After familiarizing myself with the examination venue and the instruction given on the ID pamphlet I am off to a nice warm shower and some music! 

Have a great Sunday!

An eventful day

A sense of hopefulness is growing inside me. Revision is drawing to an end and it is 2 more days before the "big" day. The more I revise the more I lose data. I am not really making sense, am I?

Tired out from the recent constant use of my diminishing brain power, I overslept only to wake up near noon. Luckily I remembered that today is the deadline to settle my insurance issues, I quickly made my way to the City Office. Although it was lunchtime my matter was settled within a matter of minutes and soon I was on my way to school. 

As usual on abstinence Friday I had a nice soba set lunch (which was very filling by the way) before heading for class. Class seats were switched as they do once a fortnight and I am glad that I do not have to sit right in front. On Fridays we get to watch a video with some Q&A before proceeding to grammar and kanji lessons.

The video we watched today was an interesting one. It was the story of a man who was punished by being set back in time whenever he fails to do a gratuitous deed when the situation arises. He wakes up on that particular day at 10:00hrs with a detailed plan to prepare for his girlfriend's birthday. He boards the bus and fails to give up his seat to an elderly lady. He wakes up and it is 10:00hrs on the same day. It happened a few times before he realized what was going on. Dreading to be sent back in time he helps out anyone who is in trouble. In the end his could not carry out his itinerary and also ended up losing his girlfriend to another man. From then one he continues to carry out gratuitous deeds and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize several years later. Unfortunately at the prize giving ceremony he accidentally stepped on someone's foot and ended up being set back in time! Although it was a fictional story the presentation was funny nevertheless. That was the fun part of class today.

It was my turn to buy groceries today and I felt like cooking something more special to take myself out of this sense of hopelessness temporarily before being sucked into it again during revision. I am not too happy with the arrangement but I will just have to leave it for another time. I enjoyed the cooking process as everything was cooked from scratch, including the sauce and dressing.

After dinner it was time to head to the cafe and get on with my revision. To my pleasant surprise I bumped into Ueshiba sensei and had a small chat with him. He very nicely wished me all the best for my coming exams. Smile. After revision I went for a walk with my flatmate and took some pictures of the neighbourhood.

Unfortunately the Christmas lightings had been switched off by the time I came back from my evening walk thus cutting short my clicking time. Awwww. I will have plenty of time after my exams. Hehehe.

I don't think I will be able to sleep anytime soon tonight so I might as well do another round of revision.

Twas a good day.