more sweets!

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Marjorie

Found a new Kitkat flavour! So cute! I think it can actually be a wedding favor especially for those who have a Sakura theme.

The taste? Love it – this coming from a maccha lover. There’s a hint of something mixed in though that I can’t quite put a finger on what flavour it is similar with. Nonetheless, it’s still very good.

This one was today’s office omiyage from Saudi Arabia.

And. Thankful for bonuses and tax refunds. Would hopefully buy the Laura Ashley curtains I’ve been having a crush on. 🙂

presents and mails

Posted on December 20, 2011 by Marjorie

Monday.
People in the office are so well travelled. Ask them if they’ve been to Europe and you’re sure the answer would be that they’ve been to at least two countries at the other side of the globe. Hence, considering the tradition of bringing home presents/omiyage/pasalubong, there were times in the office when we’d have a motley of chocolates on our desk – like the day I had on my desk a chocolate from Russia, a Ghirardelli bar from California (this one’s a favorite together with Lindt and Godiva and Royce!!) and another piece of chocolate from UK. Sometimes we loose track already who gave the presents as sometimes, our secretary would make the rounds and hand us the chocolates by just saying (sweetly) where they came from.

Today, our “ration” is quite a number as well. (I wasn’t able to take a photo of the flat slab of chocolate from UK though).
This one’s a traditional Japanese sugar candy (I don’t know from what prefecture!). It reminded me of meringue only it’s creamier, and finer and, because I chose the green color, has the teeny weeny hint of green tea (matcha). Ain’t the design pretty?

Durian merlion from Singapore. Gah, I miss the prawn rolls (and the chicken rice and the chili king crab and the eat-all-you-can shrimps).

Now, we have a secretary who absolutely loves Disneyland so much that she’ll hand us her omiyage from Disneyland on a Friday or Wednesday making me feel sometimes like I’m time warped (I smile and nod at her as I deeply try to recall if it had been a holiday the day before). Yes, she takes a leave to go to Disneyland. This time, she got us this. Be magical! (Dear Disney, you never fail to remind me to dream ☺)

The pink Mickey I had before this was cuter (our secretary gave me two of this, yehey).

Sweet tooth is happy.

Monday and Tuesday, fruitful days at the office. Thankful. And finally, our wedding album is ready for shipping. Yey! 🙂

typhoon Sendong

Posted on December 18, 2011 by Marjorie

I believe I have to take a pause for this and ask for your help. The image of this photo, shared by blogger and twitter Mindanaoan, of a father cradling his muddied, dead daughter just gripped my heart last night that it was a wonder I was able to sleep at all.

I grew up in Davao and as far back as I remember, we haven’t experienced such strong a typhoon in our area. We’ve always had this thought that our mountains will shelter us from the typhoon. It could be that the people were thinking of this same thought hence they were fully unprepared with nature’s onslaught.

At the time of writing, more than 520 people are confirmed dead. Hubby said, it gave him the same creeps and goosebumps he felt back in March after the big Tohoku earthquake when we lay scared in bed (scared because of the continuous aftershock tremors) whilst listening to the radio broadcast about 700 bodies being washed to the shore akin to driftwood except that they led lives before and loved and laughed and cried and had dreams.

For parties who are interested to help the victims of typhoon Sendong in Mindanao and make donations, please visit the following links:

Donate to Red Cross Phillipines now

Donate to World Vision org now

And as pointed out by Mindanaoan, to those who intend to donate instant noodles and similar instant food, please try to give something else that doesn’t require much water. Water is terribly precious in the affected area now.

something to be thankful for – weekend edition

Posted on December 18, 2011 by Marjorie

Friday. Thankful to have had survived a difficult deadline. There were only two of us left in our project at 8pm aside from our manager. To cap the workweek, our manager urged us for a drink. Hubs was still at work, so I decided to say yes and have some bonding time with teammate and boss while waiting for hubs. The small party proved to be quite enjoyable as we discussed about some social and political issues. After finishing off each of our pint of beer and a bottle of wine, hubs was still at work. Hence I waited for him in one of our favorite yakitori restaurants. My boss was really true to his word – we just had drinks. We had some knickknack and pika-pika and utsumame yes. But I was still hungry. Hence I ate at the yakitori shop. And yes, yakitori is my favorite Japanese food. It’s just so addictive!! It was already 12 when hubs arrived but I was still very thankful even because as late as it may seem, it still wasn’t late for us to share some laughter. The restaurant practically echoed our laughter. Happy.

Saturday. Thankful to have a husband who is excited to cook for me. We were shopping for our grocery supplies for the week and before I knew it, hubs was buying ingredients for a Hokkaido stew. He even walked so fast on our way home, excited as he is to get started with the cooking. 🙂 Sweet.

Sunday. Finally, was able to mail off our christmas cards and packages to friends. We are yet to send the nengajo though. But at least was able to achieve a feat today.

And here’s a bonus. Was walking my way home today when I came across a happy site. Ten years back, seeing Christmas lights in front of a Japanese home is VERY rare. Recently though, more and more people seem to have caught up with the Christmas spirit. These little Santas climbing their way up the veranda is just so cute!!! Can you see the third Santa at the top of the ladder? 😀

One week to go till Christmas!

city/country mugs

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Marjorie

I’m not really a mug collector. I’m a doll collector so I usually buy the traditional dolls in the city/country I visit.

But it brought a smile to my face when I realised that my desk mugs incidentally have the mark of the country where they were bought.

The one from Korea was given by our friend Gali though; who, together with Russell shot our Spring prenup.. I didn’t buy a mug when we visited Korea (yes I bought a doll haha) but I remember how each day, during our week-long stay there, we’d cap the day with a mug of coffee/matcha latte at Starbucks. Memories. 🙂

And oh, another happy note. We finally ordered from Amazon the two books I talked about in my previous post. Yey!

what I want to read over the holidays

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Marjorie

Been really busy lately that we are sooo looking forward to the coming holidays. Although actually I don’t daydream or plan much of the holidays yet because of the deliverables at work. I ain’t complaining though because as always, work has been very interesting (and challenging).

But one thing I do look forward to over the holidays though, aside from spending time with the family of course, is to catch up with my reading. Been very busy lately hence I only get to read about 5 pages of “The Art of War” while riding the train; ours is only a short 15 min ride, that’s why. And, well, if truth be told, I really hadn’t been that inspired to read lately. I borrowed 3 books from the library, but I haven’t read it past 3 chapters. Not up to reading much, and I think it could be because I really haven’t gotten over Ishiguro’s “Never Let Me Go” yet. Ever since finishing that book, no other book I have gotten my hands on recently ever caught my interest (except for 1Q84. Murakami’s 1Q84 is still not opened as I don’t have time to read at home since we usually get home around 11pm or beyond). And I must admit, up to now, I am still so much taken by Ishiguro’s book; I can still feel the heartache. And deep inside, I truly wish the book’s premise isn’t really happening or will not happen, ever.

So with the holidays coming up so fast (Dear Holidays, I want you to come fast, but please not so fast. Let me finish all my deliverables on schedule. And Atsushi’s too), I want to erase the lingering melancholic feeling from “Never Let Me Go”. After all, it is the holidays and the holidays are meant for fun and joyful feelings. Thus I started hunting for feel-good good reads that is in sync with the Holiday cheer. Indeed, it is true, search and you shall find. Not long after I started the search, I chanced upon this book in one of Hubs’ favorite bookstores. This is one of my favorite childhood movies. But I never knew it was originally from a book. I should have known better. Perfect for the holidays, isn’t it? It has high ratings in Amazon and Goodreads as well so I know my time won’t be wasted.

There is one book however that I really really want to read. This book has been dubbed the BEST in 2011 and has the highest rating among the books I’ve read so far.

Can’t wait to order in amazon.

As for something to be happy today. Realised that slowly, I’m seeing more of one of my personal goals. Happy. Thankful. Inspired.

On Chocolate Hill

A chocolatey journey, with Yui!

Monthly Archives: December 2011