random

pizza face



pancake face

merry christmas!

okay, so technically it's the day after but i'm up late and it still feels like christmas to me (whatever that means).

today was a pretty laid back day. mom and i had kotteri ramen at tenkaippin for lunch and shabu shabu at home for dinner. then we had this for dessert. she got it as an xmas gift/omiyage. sweet potato tarts! yay! it's really too bad it only came in a box of eight.



i didn't really get any gifts. just the usual bit of cash and a ton of snacks from my mom. we aren't too big on christmas. i'm really excited about new years, though. ozoni and toshikoshi soba and osechi and all the rest. in case you didn't know, new years is a pretty big deal in asian cultures, particularly in japanese. each food has some spiritual or cultural representation (e.g. toshikoshi soba are usually longer buckwheat noodles that represent long life). i don't know if mom is making it this year or if we're opting to just buy it. i might have to call around just in case.

anyway. the REAL reason for this post is because this past may my brother turned 20. we went out to dinner with him and his friend (sean) stubbs. my digital camera still worked then and i took a short 9sec video clip of stubbs eating corn on the cob. i promised craig i'd mix the video for him. here it is nearly seven months later! to the tune "sexy boy" by air. it's not as funny if you don't know him, but still pretty damn hilarious and ridiculous.

i'm trying

i'm trying to save money. i really want to start traveling. even if this means putting off school a semester or not going out as much.. it's something i need to do. i'm 22 and getting older with each passing day and sooner or later i'll be 30 and wanting to settle down and what not. time is running out, slowly but surely, and i acknowledge it.

plans: mainland this summer? maybe japan? europe in the winter.

i'm trying to lose weight. five pounds to be exact. i'm at 112 pounds and it makes me sick, haha. i know that anyone reading this will tell me i'm too skinny to begin with but i'm incredibly dissatisfied. so i'm eating healthier. i'm eating more frequently and smaller portions. i'm trying to exercise. i'm not starving, no worries. i'm using this website as a means of advice.

plans: five pounds by janurary. ten by june.

i'm trying to read more. i feel like i'm so disconnected with 21st century authors. i'm trying to read more non-fiction, like autobiographies and poli-sci books. trying to broaden my horizons but it's intimidating when you don't know where to begin. i've been using the NY times as a resource but god... i feel like 90% of the reviews are on memoirs and i don't want to hear about some nobody's sad and sappy life.

plans: two books by janurary.

i'm trying to cook more. this was, incidentally, a totally food-focused blog. i've strayed because i'm eating out a lot more purely out of laziness. i feel like that's why i feel like i've gained so much weight lately because i have little control over what i'm putting in my food.

plans: cook at home at least four days of the week.

anyway. juvana made this ceramic hand thing doing what she calls my "signature pose." i broke a finger off--need to glue it back on! and this is my favorite starbucks card of all time. he's a snowman holding a coffee mug! i don't know why i am so attached. p.s. new cardigan from aeropostale!



oh, and since no one visits me at work, this is what i look like with my santa hat on! huzzah!



it's almost christmas :)

food pix spam

so after having a smartphone for over a month i finally set up my email services. initially it's been annoying as 90% of the emails i get to my gmail account are web exclusive sales newsletters, so having to delete them manually off my phone has been a pain. the bright side and real reason i set it up was because now i have the ability to email all the photos i take and post them here! yay!

over the last few weeks i've been eating at home a lot. mostly because i've been home a lot working on papers and i've been trying to save money.



bento. grilled salmon, rice + chirimen sansho/wakame, bell pepper and corn, fish cake, grape tomatoes and lettuce, and kiriboshi daikon!



sukiyaki in the comfort of my own home!

thanksgiving isn't a really big deal in my family. culturally speaking, i suppose that makes sense. my dad would always prepare the traditional thanksgiving meal (although on occations he'd make a ham instead of turkey, but that's a story for another time) but my mom would always be utterly disgusted. i realize now that it's not so much the food itself that she hated, but the idea of eating so excessively. she doesn't appreciate or understand gluttony and thus hates this holiday.

we made it a point to spend some kind of quality time together. we ate at zippys before i had to go to work.



my oxtail soup.




mom and her turkey. not so appetizing. tastes just like how it looks.



i went to tsunamis on friday for my coworker's birthday party. i forgot what it was like to be in a really azn room. the last time i've been to a place like this was back in 2007 when i went to xylohs with a friend of mine on a near weekly basis. anyway, tsunamis brought back a lot of those memories of feeling out of place but i totally embraced it. the food was miraculous. in this photo i'm eating their pork cutlet. it had a horseradish mayo dipping sauce which was nice but unusual. i also had some of the poke which was delicious, and my friends were saying the hamburger was really good. they need a better beer selection.

i've been on a real downtempo fix which is weird because a) i kind of really hate DJs b) i hate the repetitiveness. but i discovered jon kennedy and my opinion has been transformed.



there's a few other artists i've been listening to a lot of as of late. thanks, last.fm.