Here I come, land of the rising sun

[Kasai Rinkai Park, Tokyo]

You have no idea how surreal it felt standing here among all these people. I just felt like I was in a movie or something. This is a tween dream come true. I guess fulfilling this dream 17 years later is timely since I know several people who live here now and my pocket digs in a little bit further for some retail therapy.

Touched down Thursday p.m. in Tokyo and now spending the long weekend in Matsuyama 松山, the main city in Shikoku island. This is a small city backed by mountains and lined by the Setonai sea, so it's very beautiful. It reminded me of a smaller version of San Francisco. Open freeways, lotsa space, lotsa green, the mountains and the water. A very kawai girl I knew from my college days in Michigan, Reiko Watanuki, offered to take me to her hometown. We boarded the plane from Haneda-Tokyo airport this p.m.

The Japanese are very hospitable people. Extremely polite and considerate (no blabbing obnoxiously on cellphones in the metro). I was treated by the Watanukis to a feast fit for a king -- 8 exquisite courses and cold sake to smooth them down. Tomorrow Reiko's dad is gonna be our designated driver and tour guide. Despite the language barrier we had a good time. We were all laughing all the time. Otosan and okasan were able to communicate with me with the survival japanese I taught myself as a tween. It all worked out with the few phrases of english, french and spanish Mr Watanuki learned from pop songs from the 70s!!

More stories and pictures to follow but meanwhile, check out my friend Alan's photostream on flickr. You'll see he really has an eye for things. Well, considering him being stage manager for Cirque and having a gorgeous star artiste as a girlfriend ;)

Photo credit: ampontour

Marmalada de piña casera

[Homemade pineapple marmalade]

What do you do with fresh pineapples if you've some time to kill, some patience to spare, some really fresh fruit at hand, and some craving for good homemade marmalade that's not overly sweetened?

Well, one fine afternoon I had all elements of this combination and set off to work. It required cutting up the flesh of the fruit, and lotsa simmering and stirring on the stove. I don't remember how long it took but it was in the ballpark of an hour and a half to two hours, until the fruit mash is nice and soft and the juice is all reduced.

The fun part is adding just that tiny bit of sugar to taste and some lemon juice. I think I added that two tablespoon left of store-bought pineapple jam that I had, to add that little bit of gelatine consistancy. Don't know if it made any difference... but I added anyways. The end result of all that hard work was so worth it. Pure fruit that goes great on toast and Wasa crisps. If you get creative, it could garnish your dishes too, like a chutney of sorts.

One last note, I certainly had fun taking those shots. Experimental for me working with a manual SLR camera.

Cancion de la piña

I'm in-right

out-right

up-right

down-right

~ happy in my heart ~