最近。。。

Here’s what I’ve been doing lately. Let’s start from this evening and go backwards, shall we?

Today was Thanksgiving. I know it’s a U.S. holiday… but it’s my favorite. All the good food and family you get at Christmas, minus all the pressure of gifts. Seriously. If Christmas could be more like thanksgiving, it might be my favorite holiday, but there’s just something about Thanksgiving that I just can’t get over. I love it so. I attempted to make a thanksgiving dinner here in my leopalace. Here are the results:

Clockwise from the top: Coco Rose wine from Coco winery,  green beans sautéed in olive oil & garlic, black pepper chicken, cinnamon & sugar apples (which also go well with ice cream), and last but not least, mashed potatoes.
To say the least, I will have enough leftovers to last me for a couple of days.

fantastic. I was super pleased with the results.

This is how I made the apples. Butter, sugar, cinnamon and a pinch of black pepper. I wish I could have made a flaky crust for them, but alas, no oven in the leopalace.

I’m stoked for my leftovers tomorrow :D

Monday was “Labor Thanksgiving Day” here in Japan. Despite the word “thanksgiving” in the translation of this holiday, it bears no relation to American Thanksgiving. It’s more like labor day, if anything. The kids had a little ceremony at school to say thank you to the local police, crossing guards, and ladies who make the school lunch. In addition to the day off, that was how it was celebrated.

Due to an unusually warm and sunny November day, I spent my Monday in the park near the river with some cool people.

  swings & see-saw.

then it was my turn…despite my prowess at ballet at a very young age, I no longer possess a good sense of balance.

Sunday night I went to a swanky party at a private club owned by the wealthiest fellow this side of the Watarase River. I didn’t get many good photos, but it was still a good time.

  About two weeks ago we went to this little Korean place and had some great food and watched a very entertaining Korean drama.

And it seems like forever ago, but I visited the National Art Center to see the exhibition of the Hapsburg treasures. I really only went to see the Spanish artists (Goya, Velazquez, El Greco) You can shove all the rococo bullshit. They had 2 Rembrandt pieces on display as well, which was a nice surprise. In conclusion, besides the Coco wine festival and studying for JLPT, I haven’t been up to much else. So… that’s all the news fit for print.
Until next time.