Good Lunch

Ahhhhh... I just finished my lunch:

hamburger meat with onions
basil sausages
nanking pumpkin
okra
spinach
pickled/salted chinese cabbage
salad
natto
miso soup
camembert cheese Mmmm mm mmmmm mmmm mmmmmmmmmm

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Continually Amazed & Delighted

It never ceases to amaze and delight me...

The variety of edible fungi in Japan takes mushrooms to an entirely new level of culinary ... fungigasmic heights!

From left front, clockwise we have:

Enoki

Eringi

Bunashimeji

Maitake

Shiitake

And there are several other varieties as well that were not in the supermarket today such as: Matsutake (quite expensive)
Regular Mushrooms (brown and white)
Shimeji

And others, whose names I cannot recall.

They are all delicious, even the variety that go all slimy and goopy when you cook them so it is a pleasure to do my weekly shopping and stock up for my meals!

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A Real Burger, A Real Carbover

After arriving at Mayu's and enjoying giving/receiving those wonderful Canadian hugs we headed off to her work. The trip took about 45minutes with the traffic (it took her 15 this morning with no traffic). We set an appointment at 18:15 for her and 18:30 for me. Mayu wanted korean scrub called aka-suri and I had a balinese aroma massage. I chose the black pepper oil as the aroma. The bath was amazingly crowded with little kids running willy-nilly. That was one thing people didn't have to deal with at Relaim in Fukui as kids are not allowed. The bath was fine and the massage went well. As I only got a couple hours of sleep the massage knocked me out.

I went back to the bath and washed off the oil. No matter what carrier oil is chosen, and we have tested this with a lot of different kinds, if I leave it on as most do, I get itchy.

We went out for dinner on the way home rather than cook at home and decided to dine at a gourmet hamburger restaurant. I chose the biggest burger they had and added avocado to it. It cost about USD $20. Don't go flipping out now as this was not a McD burger... Even the bread was good stuff and I ate it. Thus the title: Carbover. Mayu and I were so dehydrated from the bread and this morning we both had cottonmouth. She even noted last night that whenever she goes out for dinner with her boyfriend she gets dehydrated dry mouth... and realized that it's because he is a reg-carber like the majority of people around the globe, and she eats the same as he when out with him. Her body has adjusted to lower-carbs so the dose of high-carb dinner once a week with him does her in. And she realized that is what it was that caused it every time they went out to eat.

We came home, unloaded the stuff, had coffee and went to bed.

Mayu works today so we got up at 6am. I put my futon etc. away and then had breakfast. Mayu boiled some eggs for her obento today and I had two along with salad, some ham, cottage cheese, natto, and boiled vegetables in a broth she had made yesterday before I got there.

We shared some more of those wonderful Canadian hugs that are famous around the Multiverse (or at least in New Jersey, New York, Miami, North Dakota, Kansas, Texas, Arizona, California, Japan, Italy, etc.) and parted ways. Mayu drove off to work and I walked to the station in the fresh, brisk morning air.

I'm at the Shinjuku Segafredo I took Paula (and Stefnee?) to when they visited me. It's my favourite one so far and I have been coming here for years. The reason why I am not rushing home is because I want to go to Zara and look again at a pair of shoes I have tried on four times now just to see if #5 is the turning point. And most retail stores do not open until 10 or 11am. But that is OK because I have my kindle and am reading a very bizarre classic (again) that many of you may have read in your schooldaze as I did: "The Trial".

Well, a group of elderly people just sat down nest to me... about 10 of them... and all of a sudden I am enveloped by "old person air"... So I shall end this thumb typing on my keitai and I wish you a wonderful weekend.

I love you!

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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SaturDay in the Park

Hi

I just got on the train to visit Mayu. The gym last night was extra hard and took longer than usual. But it felt good to push my body hard. I knew I was in trouble when I was so exhausted at the finish that I was able to count to 10 during meditating without going away. I had a long shower, then a late night 693katsu and got home after 11pm. Sometimes when I push that hard although my body is dead my brain wont stop. And last night was one of those nights. I tried to go to bed about 1:30 but my mind kept me up late. I think I finally fell asleep some time after 3am.

Of course I happily awoke with a hangover but rather than getting up I stayed in bed and drifted for a while.

Finally I got up and did a load of laundry, had a late breakfast, took the sheets off the bed and washed them all, too (second load), vacuumed the house, had coffee, cleaned the kitchen, checked the net and got ready to leave. This past Monday I found a library card IN THE PARK but couldnt take it to the police box until just now. I filled out some forms and then finally was just able to catch this train (walking) about 14:30 so all is running smoothly.

This afternoon Mayu and I will visit the spa at which she works as she can give me a free pass to enter. She wants to try the aka-suri.
I'm going to stay at her place tonight and have dinner there. Maybe we will watch a movie.

I have to change trains at Kudanshita to get to Takadanobaba so I guess I should finish here for now.

Have a great weekend.

I love you! Cam

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Fishing for Compliments

Tadaima!
I got back home about 10:30 last night, unpacked, had a shower, enjoyed The Best Coffee in the Multiverse, brushed my teef and had a good long sleep. This morning I got up a little late this morning (about 9am... flying in cramped quarters always makes me rather tired and sore the next day) and set to work on doing my things. Breakfast was delicious and consisted of a three egg omelette smothered in parmesan cheese, several slices of ham, some steamed vegetables, water, and another steaming cup of The Best Coffee in the Multiverse.
After that I got to doing things. So far I've finished laundry, vacuuming, cleaning the toilet and the genkan, cooking, doing dishes, wiping down the kitchen, ironing my shirts, putting away the laundry that I did before heading to Sapporo and a few other things. Then I went grocery shopping and checked out three supermarkets in the area to see which offered the best prices on foodstuffs. It turned out to be Summit, so I did my grocery shopping there, and headed home. Let me tell you just a little bit about my trip to Summit this morning:
The supermarket is split into two floors, with the registers (tills) on the main floor. Usually people head up the escalator to the second floor, get their stuff they need there, head down to the first floor, purchase more, make their payment, collect their points and head on home. On the second floor is the produce section, along with several other sections. Right next to the produce section, where they have TEN VARIETIES OF DELICIOUSLY FRESH MUSHROOMS, is the FRESH FISH section. This is where they cut, prepare and package the RAW FISH for consumption as sushi, sashimi, and more. Of course there is other seafoods such as scallops, squid, octopus, eel, shrimp, blowfish, sea urchin which we also eat raw (and cooked) and more. I must admit that I am quite glad I headed to Summit today because what I was able to enjoy was a very simple, but nice display of a 45kg maguro (tuna) head, that you can see below. I couldn't resist taking this photo.
For some strange reason at that particular moment I happened to just randomly think of my English friend "NiceButDim" (on Multiply) who is an absolute lover of FRESH FISH, especially RAW! It made me smile knowing I could do something nice for him by sharing this photo with everyone on my blogs.
So NBD, my friend, this photo is for you!
I love you!
Cam
P.S. Now it's time for lunch. I still have some accounting to do, and some other work. Then I'm going to meet Megumi outside somewhere and let her enjoy a steaming mug of The Best Coffee in the Multiverse while sharing my Sapporo adventure with her. I'm looking forward to it.

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Sayonara Sapporo!

I'm back in Tokyo, safe and sound but feeling a bit ill ... a lot ill from lack of food. It always happens with flying no matter how well I try to plan it or what I bring... the timing is such that the time between big meals is simply too large and snacks dont to the trick. It's nothing new but still it is not pleasant feeling "so hungry I could puke". So I got off the bus at Ichinoe Stn which is three subway stations from home and instead of going home directly I came to Saizeriya for dinner.

Today's accomplishments were the Sapporo Clock Tower which was built 128 years ago and still keeps perfect time. Then it was off to a seafood restaurant to enjoy the famous ricebowl dish of tons of fish eggs, sea urchin, sashimi and more on a big bowl of vinegar rice (reduced to a teeny bit of rice just for me).

I went back to the hotel and when I came out of the subway there was a snow flurry going on! The train to the airport was delayed about 30 minutes to the wind (Tokyo would have been gridlocked and shut down in such flurries). The plane was also delayed and it took us some time to taxi on the runway. But we made it.

So now it is time to eat, head home, shower and go to bed. Thanks for coming along and see you next time.

I love you!

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American Cafe Dining

Mmmmmmmm....

The hotdog and hamburger and pizza and all you can drink espresso, cafe latte, cappuccino hit the spot.

Sapporo is a nice place.

Cam

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Ski Dow Memory Lane

I just wanted to add this photo to my blogs for those of you who remember skiing at an early age before the advent of safety bindings, ski brakes and more.

These skiis and other wooden ones are on one of the walls in the lobby... they are quite old.

The amazing thing is not their age but rather the fact that I grew up skiing on a pair of the very same skiis as these! Same bindings, colour... everything.

What a ski down memory lane!

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Warren Buffet Porkgasm

You might think I'm going to talk about wealthy people after reading the title of this blog... but this isn't about that.

There is a town in Manitoba called Warren, MB ... but this isn't about that either.

What it IS about is ... BACON!!!!!

Yes, food! A smorgasbord of unique and tasty delicacies all served up in a pleasant and alluring buffet-style for breakfast.

One of the highlights of this trip for me is the breakfast buffet... I just knew there would be mountains of crispy available for the taking. And take I did! It was delicous.

Of course on top of that I enjoyed a huge variety of unique vegetable dishes (names elude me in my satiated euphoric ecstasy) with seafoods and hard breads, sausages, fish, mushrooms and more... I had four or five vegetable dishes, a three-egg omelette, mini-baguette with lavender butter (and two other butters) made in Hokkaido... There was the euro-balkan-style yogurt to which I included swiss muesli and even a dish of stroll-down-memory-lane bread pudding as a pleasant surprise. The coffee was quite delicious especially with real fresh cream. think I had six or seven cups (not NA-size mugcups mind you) and floated out quite nicely!

Guess what? I get to repeat it all again tomorrow! Yummy bacon!

I love you!

Cam

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Sapporo Weekend

Ahhhhh.... having a great seafood dinner in a small izakaya up here in Sapporo. The sashimi, grilled fish, shiitake mushrooms... everything is delicious (compared to Tokyo food but not as good as Fukui food). It is snowing outside but as the humidity is even lower than Tokyo iut feels pleasantly fresh. Tomorrow Im going into the city center and spend the day walking around. I hope the temperatures stay low as the forecast is for rain. And then tomorrow night it's back to the hotel for a prebooked 90 minute aroma massage (@ about $85 with no tip) in the evening followed by some relaxing onsen bathing and soaking.

It sure is nice to get away from The Tokyo Hustle... I'll be back Sunday evening and going out with Megumi on Monday if the weather is good. I offered her "Coffee in the Park" so that should be enjoyable. Ahhhhh... it's a good long weekend.

I love you!

Cam

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Goodbye Hello

It is a grey, overcast day here in Kobuchizawa; the kind of day where a blue-eyed fellow might feel the need for sunglasses just to take the edge off the squint. The kafun or cedar pollen seems not as bad today as my eyes are not itchy. But we aren't out of the water yet for I do sence a touch of stuffiness that has come upon me since arriving.

I am just over halfway through the 14th Cadfael medieval crime story... it is the last book I have. I don't know how many more there actually are but I presume I shall be saying a prayer for our good monk Cadfael on the train ride home tonight as I close the book on this chapter of his life and ponder the next series of about 25 books that have also been in my collection since about 1991...

Dragon Ball!

The first one had me laughing at the stupid antics so much even though I could not read it at that time that I decided to collect a bunch and keep them for the future, when I could read them.

And guess what?

The future is NOW!

I love you!

Cam

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Just Say, No 2 Mac!

I just wanted to briefly write and let my Sister, The Fire Goddess, know that I wasn't able to feed my McHunger today in such a way as I usually do on Mondays, heading out to Kobuchizawa. For you see, I left later than usual today, missed the 11:55 train (as the doors were closing) that would get me to Shinjuku at 12:34, allowing me the time to go to McDonalds and get my two DQPW/C and a small coffee for JPY 1100, then walk back to the station and settle in. The next train left at 12:02 but it stops at a station along the way for five minutes to let an express pass by, getting me to Shinjuku at 12:46 which is just enough time to walk to the JR Stn platforms and get on the train but not enough to go to McDs, stand in line and order. So today I am McMeatless (and hungry for protein...)

I love you!

Cam

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