Sunday, June 10, 2012

Dreaming of Japan

I was considering going to Japan in July, on my miles, just for a short week or so. The idea popped into my head in bed last night, and I got so excited about the whole idea that I couldn’t sleep and had to get out of bed to explore whether it were possible or not.

It is possible, although now it has become a toss-up between going to Japan and using the miles to redeem a one-way flight to London, from which I can fly to Belfast after a short stopover. The latter will result in savings of about 1K, even including the cost of London-Belfast via Aer Lingus, while the former will mean about 1.5K in expenditure.

At the moment, the latter option is winning. It has been 6 years since I was last in London, and I do miss it very much. It would mean meeting up with a different group of people, and getting reacquainted with a city that has undergone much change in the years that I was away.

At the same time, I was very much looking forward to Japan again. It would have meant touching base with some people whom I’d spent a lot of time with in my two years there, and I had already planned out all the people and places I would go – Momodani, Sakuya, BOE, the new Osaka station, my hairdresser, the ballet studio, etc. I would have enjoyed the time that I had planned to spend sitting in Marylebone, enjoying the soup bowl-sized coffee and cake, reading the Japanese book on the homeless that I haven’t touched in the longest time. I was looking forward to speaking Japanese again, just being in that country, in the city that was home.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

This Weekend

It’s so obvious that I have little incentive or reason to keep up a blog.

For a recipe to make ice cream sauces such as sea salt honey caramel and red wine chocolate sauce, see here.

Yesterday, I learnt that pu-er tea is best drunk from a bowl or a flat receptacle, rather than a tiny chinese tea cup. Also, due to its acidity, it would be better to drink it after lunch to prevent flatulence. Pu-er tea is also very good for weight-loss when combined with regular exercise.

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Yuzu tea with seafood senbei

Today, I received the results for my RAD Grade 8 Exam. I missed getting a higher grade by just 4 percentage points (or 3 actual points), so that’s the bummer. Otherwise I’m okay with my grades, given that I knew I didn’t perform my best on the exam day itself. However, I’m not sure why my teacher thinks that my grades are good “for a first-timer” (which I’m actually not, since I took Grades 3 and 4 as a kid) – why should first-timers do any worse than more experienced girls in an exam?

Oh well.

 
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