A Case of the Februarys

This month. Man, oh man. Is there anyone out there who loves February? The Christmas and New Year’s high is gone; we’ve stopped going to the gym and given up on nicotine patches and regular bedtimes. Valentine’s Day brings either anxiety or bitterness, sometimes both. Though the winter solstice is past, why is February the darkest month? February sucks.

I’ve had a bad case of the Februarys as I do every year. I caught a wicked cold, stopped cooking, skipped taiko and aikido (see “wicked cold”), started watching really awful TV shows online, and gave up on living in anything but squalor. Speaking of terrible TV, if you ever think to yourself, “I wonder what the Brits have done with the legend of Robin Hood lately?” I urge you to squash that thought like a bug. It’s horrifically bad.

Last Sunday I got a boost. Continue reading

Over the New Year (and an elephant question)

In that long week of no computer whilst you pined for an update, here’s what happened on my side.

Christmas. It was surprisingly busy; I partied like a fiend. Which is to say that I ate out a lot with many of the same people. Look, I have friends on Christmas Eve.

Admittedly, most of this dinner was about Kim-Chi’s new haircut. We have the same hairdresser, hence this picture. See how I’m smizing so hard?

I finished the fruits on my mural with crayon. Why had I ever thought that using Posca paint pens was the best way to go? Done learned my lesson. Now all that remains is to turn these random circles into a fruit tree. I might break out my old calligraphy brush for this job.

My chopstick light fixture was coming apart because I kept hitting it with things. I figured it was high time I redid it, and maybe made it look less cock-a-hoop. Geometry or a degree in architecture might have really shortened this process, because it took me four hours and a lot of Christmas music to figure out that I would never be able to remake the bird nest structure with the giant fluorescent bulbs in the way. I settled for a more modern Japanese aesthetic. Materials: Kitchen paper, hot glue, chopsticks. Continue reading

Gingerbread: Revenge

“Revenge” is a borrowed word in Japanese, one that I occasionally hear in class. If a student answers a question incorrectly but retries later in the class, s/he will often raise a hand with a declaration of “Ree-BEN-gee!” Were I to give them a more accurate translation of the sentiment, all my students would be shouting, “For my honor! Redemption!” I wrote earlier about my troubles with gingerbread. The mere thought of that day can make my blood boil with the fires of righteous indignation. As you may remember I ended that blog entry with a declaration of war. Or just one to make real gingerbread houses. Same thing. Either way, with Christmas right around the corner the time for my revenge drew nigh. Continue reading

Yuzu Mint Tea

I get a lot of visitors to my apartment. Sometimes I invite them, sometimes it’s just that I live on the first floor and just am easy to reach. Living alone usually means a bare fridge, so I often am without cold drinks to offer the people sitting on my couch. Ah, you just walked for 20 minutes under the cruel sun? Tap water. No ice. Here you are.

Continue reading

Kiwi Infused Vodka

I purchased a huge bottle of vodka sometime a year ago in order to make a penne pasta recipe. Boy, did I feel like a lush strolling through the grocery store without anything else in my hand, waving to students and their parents as though to prove my shopping choices were not indicative of my lifestyle. The pasta was a hit with my two guests that evening, but was a pain to make. I cooked with the vodka only a couple of times after that and tried it out as a cleaning product once. Continue reading

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...