Naga san

The strawberry excursion is on this coming Sat. Though I am not participating, I went to help Naga and Futawatari san in some preparation. Had a nice chat with them too. Naga san shared some of her experiences. She had taken French cooking and bread making courses during her younger days. But gave it up all together as her DH could not appreciate what she had made. Both of them felt that pastry course would be a wiser choice than French cooking course.

If I can cope, I would like to attend both Japanese language courses and pastry courses. Timing is critical. It is not easy to cope with family and interests.

On my way back home, I made a detour to Suga's cafe. Pretty successful though she was not around. I had left a message indicating my presence. Would drop by again in future when chance allows.

I called Joanne. She did not clear her JLPT level 1 test and is shelving plans for the match-making session too. She will be packing her bags and leaving for Taiwan on 20 Mar 2005. Hope to see her again before she leaves and who knows when we will see each other again.

DH did work till 3am. I accompanied him as usual.

SG trip's reflections

I met 2 people whom I had longed to meet. Nhi ha and Meiling. We also met Henning, Meiling's husband.

We managed to eat Ah Hui's prawn noodles and Jalan Besar's turtle soup too. Ah Hoi Seafood introduced by in-laws was a great choice too.

We are very satisfied with this trip. DH's family is still the same but mine is more dynamic as both siblings are working and not so stable in their job choice.

During my swim today, I decided on some financial matters. It has to be done that way for parents' own good. The details that I had seen on my mobile gave me a strong instinct on what to do.

I have to take care of myself as what June had mentioned. You will be left in a lurch if you give everything away.

Decided to brush up on my Japanese.

New discovery

June wanted to splurge on cosmetics again so I went along to chit chat with her. I did get an eyeliner since my existing one is drying up. Accompanied to get some daily necesscities in Sugamo and then deciding on the cafe for coffee was quite a challenge :-)
I introduced the restaurant that we had gone with Daphne but she doubted the standard of coffee there despite a nomihodai if you ordered desert. Well, so I counter-suggested the cafe near her place which we had been eyeing for quite sometime but had never get to step in there. This, she accepted.
The new discovery was here. The lady owner of the shop is an American who seems to speak Japanese only. Guess she must be here for decades. Her son is helping her to mend her cake cafe. I sounded her on the choice of pastry school and she offered me a new choice. She emphasized that I can learn how to make delicious cake anywhere but the new thinking embraced by different schools made a difference. Profound? What new way of thinking? Does she mean the design of the cakes? The methods by which the cakes are made?
I want to know the answer so I did some research after I had came back. I quite like the place based on webpage. I had made an appointment to be there tomorrow to see the place and teaching methods.
DH was so sweet to buy me very lovely chocolates as Valentine's Day gift :-)They came in a purple box with two porcelain heart-shaped containers with silver ribbons and golden spoons.

Mt Fuji patchwork completed!

I am so glad that I had completed the Mount Fuji patchwork in one afternoon. It's so cold today that I just stayed at home watching DVDs and doing patchwork.

I had called Rasmane last weekend and discovered that he had quitted his job in Kyoto. He is still looking for another job.

I bought quite a few Japanese books to practise my level 1 as I plan to take the test this year. Ting Ting and Janice passed theirs well. Nicholas failed his level 2 though. I have not heard from Joanne yet.

I had gone swimming yesterday afternoon. Had go moku soba in our favourite soba shop. Realised that the soba in go moku soba is actually ramen and not real soba! Made a mistake. Will not order this in future!

Know my thoughts are scattered now, just need to pen it out. DH is coming back late as usual.

We are so close to going home soon.

Pastry class

I had gone for a trial pastry lesson and experienced awesome baking time with 2 Japanese ladies, a great baker and his son, Richard. I like it very much and would like to join the class. I would need to practise on my own besides baking in the studio. Practice session is charged at 4000 yen per session which is reasonable. I cannot forget the wonderful experience yet. We baked 2 items and practised for one of them.

Sakurahorikiri

My visit to Sakurahoriki in Asakusabashi was fruitful. I bought a lot of handicraft pieces to create! I am so excited about making all of them. They even gave me some free gifts. Though I could not meet Wee Wee, New Zealander Melissa met up with me in Tokyo Dome for the delicious ramen as she is going back to NZ next week. I am glad this time I chose according to what I want, she took my advice and we enjoyed our ramen very much. I had also bought bottles of rinse, massage oil, onsen liquid soap from House of Rose. The best part was when I came back I received great news from DH about his work.

Attending pastry trial lesson tomorrow in Roppongi. Too bad June is not joining me. Cooking char siew using Lee Kum Kee's sauce tonight.

My Day

I walked to the Akatsuka swimming pool and before I reached it, I went to the library near it. It was my first time there. There were lots of children books, manga and cook books but no Nihongo Journal. I did my usual 1 hour swim and headed for CO-OP. Managed to get some good buys like the tako, vegs and buns.

DH was late tonight as he had a candidate to interview again. In fact, it will be so for the rest of the week. He hopes to clear some cases before SG trip which is good.

I planned to buy handicraft materials in Asakusabashi tomorrow. I need to do a gift for DH's boss when we attend his house invitation on 12 Feb. I hope to buy cosmetics as well from Komagome. Thought that Fish would be putting up in Asakusa so can meet her since nearby but too bad she changed her lodging place to somewhere near Shibuya which is far for me. So, not meeting her this round.