While Hubs bought his “daily goods” in the nearby Japanese Bookstore, I’m enjoying my book as well, with a nice view.
a Royal Park cake
The P&ID section of our team was awarded by the Project team as People of the Month last month and got some cash gift. Wanting to share their gift with the entire (insert project name) Process team, they bought a cake from Royal Park Hotel confectionery for everyone on the team. Knowing how expensive Royal Park Hotel is, I know this cake is expensive. Alas though, it’s very SINFUL for me – one because of the RICH cream filling and second because of the peanuts on it (which may cause allergy for baby later on). But, I have to show solidarity with the team so I ate my share as well (hehehe excuses). My progress is good so far this week with regards weight gain control and it’s only once in a blue moon that I consume peanut so I’m hoping it will not harm baby (since books say only “excessive consumption”).
In the background is my 15year old calculator which I really consider a treasure. Teehee. 😀
on feminism and being a super woman
Atsushi’s mom, Okasan, visited us over the weekend, till Tuesday. Okasan is amazing as always with her energy and her cheerful countenance. What was remarkable with this visit was that because she extended her visit till Tuesday, we got the rare chance to have a good, healthy, full breakfast before going to work. And when we got back from work, we arrived at our home that was filled with the good smell of home cooking.
And so of course I am left to pondering how I’d fare as a mom-wife with a very demanding career.
I think of how Okasan prepared the breakfast table for us, and I imagine (and know) that she has done so, everyday, for her family for several decades already just before going to work albeit she’s blessed with a work that has a flexible schedule.
I think of serving breakfast for my husband and baby before going to work and then later on serve dinner after office and I realise how dearly I want to be able to do just that.
Now, some obtuse feminist might say “that’s not only what women are made for! Why can’t the husband do the serving/cooking?! Women shouldn’t be stereotyped as the ones who SHOULD wake up earlier so as to be able to cook for the family”.
But I don’t go with that kind of stereotype “feminism”. I rather strongly agree with Amanda Palmer’s definition on what a true feminist is: to do whatever she wants (click here for the very sensible article).
And I say, I want to cook for my husband and baby, take care of them, be the best wife-mom and have an amazing career on top of it.
How to do it though is another matter that has to be dissected. One main problem probably is that I am an insomniac. I have such a terrible insomnia that most of times, on the average, I only am able to sleep two hours after I went to bed. So if I had a long day at work, I’d only get to sleep at 2am or so. End result, I make up for the lack of sleep by waking up late just in time to get to office on time. No time to prepare breakfast at all.
Another main reason probably is that I’ve been doing this late-night-late-morning routine for 16 years now, ever since I left home for University. Sixteen years of habit that has to be undone.
However, as has been often said which we’ve already proven quite a number of times, it only takes 21 days to kickstart a habit. Throw in 30 days, if you want, for good measure. And so here’s to hoping that I’d get to start and end and keep going that planned 30-day habit of serving breakfast for my family especially now that soon we’ll have a little one who’s dependent on us for her survival.
Hmmm. Come to think of it. I can use those insomnia evenings to prepare breakfast.
As for the evenings and dinner, with the kind of environment we have at the office wherein we have to put in long hours to keep abreast, ofttimes I’m either already too tired to prepare a meal or it’s already very late that eating out is the better option.
So how to go about this evening dilemma? One could be to apply that don’t-work-for-more-than-40-hours-a-week-for-a-more-efficient-you philosophy. Although from experience, it’s hard to apply this at the office.
So what to do? The only option I can think of now is akin to what I usually do when deadlines are all stacked up: just do it. Quit thinking and fretting about it. JUST DO IT. And do your best while you’re at it.
For the mean time, I will just have to raise the white flag and give up the part about being a super wife at home and clean/cook always. With pregnancy and a demanding full time work, I think I already have more than enough on my plate. I guess for now I just have to make up to Hubs by being sweeter. 😀
green thumb hubby
I just can’t get enough of melons recently. Thankfully hubs is all too patient to buy even when it’s heavy to carry along with the other groceries.
Little did I know, Hubs planted the melon seeds we had last Saturday. There was still nothing on the pot this morning. But lo and behold after 12 hours!
Hubs is just amazing with plants! I forgot already if we had honeydew or the cantaloupe variety last weekend. Curious and excited!
Cicada in Hiroo
I could easily call this Mediterranean restaurant an old favourite. Their menu is one that would make you come back again and again and again. And well, the fact that it’s a place were i’ve had wonderful memories of get togethers with friends add to the place’ charm.
Honestly, I’m craving for Cicada’s dishes today so much so that I asked Hubs we eat there with Okasan next week when she comes to visit us. I-CAN’T-WAIT. For now and the next few days, I’ll just daydream of these:
Grilled flat bread that goes great with salted olive oil. It’s “bottomless” or for okawari at only 500yen (without tax).
They offer a selection of olive oils – Greek, French, Californian, Italian.
For their Tapaz, these are our absolute favourites:
Spicy Moroccan Crab Cakes
Roasted Calamari stuffed with Prosciutto
For the main entree, Pan-roasted scallops with farro and maitake risotto
Drool. Six sleeps away.
Diaper talk: Combi’s Sangenic and garbage collection
Garbage segregation is strictly implemented here in Japan. Every household has a copy of the daily garbage pickup schedule – what type of garbage gets picked up at certain days and at what time. And if you’re a delinquent and your combustible garbage is with PET bottles, trust that the garbage dudes definitely won’t pick it up.
The schedule differs with every area. in ours, burnables/decomposing garbage and plastic wrappers/cellophane/styro and similar stuff gets collected twice a week at Mondays and Fridays (albeit burnables should be in a different garbage bag as the plastics). PET bottles are on Tuesdays, big boxes and old magazines/books (should be neatly tied and bundled together) every second Saturday of the month, und so weiter. And oh, it’s required that you use see-through garbage bags, well, sometimes, it’s out of courtesy as well.
During winter, spring and fall, the decomposing garbage getting holed up inside your house is just fine. The cold ambient arrests the bacteria that would otherwise cause foul odour. It’s a different matter though during summer when it’s hot and decomposing garbage could fester fast. Thankfully, we don’t cook much nowadays, especially during the workweek so it’s not torture at all.
However, I can just imagine how used baby diapers would reek after four days of being held up in the garbage can. Or rather, I really don’t want to imagine at all.
Hence, I am convinced that this special diaper trash can made by Combi is really a boon for parents in properly disposing their baby’s poop.
The “contraption” is actually a bit complicated when we tried to check it out – Mayumi and Hubs had quite a good laugh about it as we explored how it is used. But basically, it uses a disk of partitioned cellophane. When you throw away the used diaper inside, the opened partitioned cellophane will “candy-wrap” the diaper as it goes to the bottom, leaving a newly opened cellophane gaping wide open to receive yet another used diaper.
Supposedly, the “candy wrapping” and good trash can seal can eliminate the odour seeping out of the trash can. Hopefully. Let’s see how it is in a few months’ time or should I say, next summer.