getting Japanized: Ikebana

Finally! After weeks of getting nicked from the cyberworld, our modem started flashing its red and green lights once again. Been offline for three weeks I think but it felt like 3 decades! This, my friend was only one of the aftermaths of moving from one house to another. Oh yes! We are finally settled in our new abode. Not quite though coz our bedroom (read: b-e-d-r-o-o-m! we have one now, unlike the studio type where my hubby and I lived for 4 months) is still jammed with partly opened boxes, trashed canisters, soiled mattresses etcetera etcetera..but it is still a bedroom! Its really a relief to have one.

Now I only have to post what I should have bloged decades ago-- my own ikebana experiment.






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“Ikebana” or the Japanese art of flower arrangement translates to embody heaven, earth and man through the linear and coordinated assembly of all the materials being used. In the olden days ikebana are mainly taught to women who are about to get married. Now however, it is practiced at the convenience of anyone. Ahem! Fortunately for me, a friend received sayonara bouquets from his colleagues. Needless to say, I bargained to salvage his wilting petaled glories (because of lack of water supply). Though I think my creation were more western than local (im Japan based at the moment), my inspiration all stemmed from ikebana books I borrowed from Tsukuba public library. I figured that since I am here, I might as well learn its culture, afterall its omoshiroi! (interesting)

Oh bento!

Few days ago i started sporting a more "eye-ppetizing" packed lunch for me and my husband. I was like my students (aged 3-5) who proudly beamed after each craft project that was finished. But after browsing through bento blogsites, i now feel so juvenile. I have to wake up one hour earlier than I usually do just to do all these, so I guess it will just be the effort that will count. I dont want to accept that the first batch of my products sucked. *sigh* . but now I feel that they do.. waaaahhhhh!! on a positive thought, I still would like to try.. again.

The Celestine Prophecy

Synopsis
The Celestine Prophecy renders the adventure and/or misadventure of the nameless american lead character where he unconsciously volunteered himself to be involved in a search for the manuscript. The manuscripts were the scrolls that dates back to 600 BC was said to contain predictions that can change human transformation dramatically towards the last decade of the 20th century. The predictions in turn were written through nine insights. Each insight was obtained by those searching for it after a plethoric understanding of every coincidence in their lives. For most part of the story, understanding is parallel to being visually literate where one can actually see with their naked eye the amount and shade of energy being emitted by interacting living beings. Therefore through this energy can they decide whether they will head on to a journey towards finding the succeeding insight or otherwise. The twists that constitute to the so called adventure were the brimming conspiracy of the Peruvian government and Catholic Church to banish all the circulating copies of the manuscript and to discredit those who speak about it. Towards the end, the anonymous American lead found his way through the nine insights yet managed to go back to his country alive to search for a trailing hint about the 10th insight.

Lost thunder

I don’t really know where to start with this review. It was easier to go light on the synopsis, but to declare antipathy to the near death experiences of the main character makes my keyboard go out of board! First of, the book may sit atop a bestsellers list in its own blissful time..but I really think it’s a futile attempt to visually define what exists within the spaces of interacting life forms! Not to name its main character and give a meek background of him being American carrying a credit card only adds up to its sinking plot. James Redfield also attempted to merge the conflicting bodies of science and spirituality. The point from where scientists expend their energy to make plants healthy reminded me of how my mama or lolo used to talk to their orchids and expect more blooms. The syndication of church and government is expected when its authority will be threatened to go under boiling waters. But to hoard photocopied sheets and merely detain manuscript believers doesn’t quite coincide with sending troops to kill people for the same end point. The series of events should have created a flow, I think it was a coincidence that it didn’t! (harhar) While the author struggle to sustain the climax of the series of events, he failed to sustain consistency and flow which dulls the story. I can only credit the book through the good image it created of the scenery of Peru-- which makes me crave to visit machu pichu! I know this is one lousy review, but who can blame me..ive read a one lousy book! and i think im not the only one who still wonder why this book made it to the big screen.. help yourselves!

TAGGED! ... better late than never!

there maybe a lengthy time lapse when kathy tagged me.. so here it is!

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Turn to page 123.
3. Mark the fifth sentence. Pick up the next three sentences and post.
4. Acknowledge the book and the author.
5. Tag 3 people in turn.

and within my reach is... (grab the topmost book sitting on my table)..errhhmm... so i leaf through page 123 and this is what the fifth sentence said..

..Cook 2 red bell peppers, cut into strips. Add to eggplants. In the same pan, cook 2 small sliced zucchini.

there! the lines belonged to the directions of how to cook sauteed vegetable and mozzarella sandwich. the book is a compilation of Easy Everyday Meals from the best of Good Housekeeping. there is no author but an editorial staff that I might as well name a few. EIC- Cris Abiva, Art Director- Cheryl Baldovino-Reyes , Photographer- Rene Mejia. There are over 100+ recipes that come in handy each time I need to exercise FIFO (first-in-first-out) in our ref. I guess that is one challenge of being a wife or a mom, you have to do variation of good food at the most economical price! by the way, this book comes with a picture per recipe, just what I need!

i dont have much on my list to tag.. im left with yunis and joy.. you're next!

Belated BIRTHDAY post.

I am a walking paradox. Born under the sign of water, I can’t even tweak my arms and stretch a decent freestyle. Well.. at least I can float! Harhar! So I figured, I will never ever receive a boat on my birthday (dream on girl!) haha! Lucky for me, as a birthday treat, husband gave me a new baby that goes by the came of Carrie, which pronounced itself on the world of arts through the immortalization of Herb (wink). Thankiieee!!!

Belated Happy V Day!

Its the V day! whilst Japanese girls maybe hovering for last minute chocolate wrapping to give to their boyfriends, me and my husband maintained our conventional valentines day celebration where men favored the ladies with flattering sweet nothings. Yesterday i got a bunch of overwhelming pink roses while I prepared chinese dinner for us. Although it doesnt quite match the celeb we had for the previous years we still enjoyed snuggling while watching Friends, afterall its our first V day as husband and wife!

Chinese on a budget..
Since I remain under the unemployed bracket, I have to make do of what we have inside the fridge. I was able to knock down a bit of luck by putting together random stuff to come up with chao fan rice and a dimsum!

directions for chao fan rice:

I used cooked rice, shredded cabbage, cubed chicken tonkatsu, minced garlic and onion, 2 beaten eggs, worshestershire sauce, paprika, salt and pepper to taste. Put everything in a nonstick pan, mix well and season to taste.

The shomai dimsum and peppered chicken were bought cooked from dayztown and kasumi hurrah!

Shame guard temporarily off. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I snore. Apparently, it caused my husband to shove me every few hours which drag us both to lack of sleep which is already two days in a row. And it drags me further to being a cranky irritable kettle pot that would snap at my husband because I haven’t slept for more than two hours when he hadn’t had any. A day ago, I justified my snoring as a cause of exhaustion. This morning, I have a lousy excuse of blaming it to staying up late to study hiragana (?) Err.. duh! For consolation, it doesn’t happen everyday (whew!) so we are now theorizing on what may have caused it.

1st theory. Bed position. This can be easily ruled out since I changed position each time he woke me.

2nd theory. Bad cold or allergic rhinitis. I haven’t had this for a long time. But it did return when I got here in Japan.

So with lazy eyes and fingers I googled “snoring” and this is what I’ve found.

The physiology behind snoring starts when a sleeper progress from shallow sleep to deep sleep where the muscles in the roof of the mouth, tongue and throat relax. If the tissues in the throat relax enough, they vibrate and may partially obstruct the airway. And the more narrowed, the more forceful the airflow becomes the more forceful the vibration hence the louder the sound it makes. Dr. Woodson from Medical College of Wisconsin said that when it happens the brain has to respond by waking up, which last milliseconds to a few seconds so people don’t remember it. The waking up is to reestablish breathing, and because of this and breaking up of sleep, they never get into the deeper levels of sleep they need to be rested and therefore are tired during the day.

Research named the causes of snoring and/or sleep apnea as: nasal congestion, anatomical deformities, obesity, asthma, hidden food allergy (according to John Kernohan, Director of the York Nutritional Laboratories in Hollywood, Florida)

Other contributing factors are mouth anatomy, alcohol consumption, airway obstruction or apnea.

for more readings you can check http://www.helpguide.org/life/snoring.htm