baby star

Apparently this is one of the top 10 snacks (or you could call it junk food!) in Japan.

Translated into "English", it's called Baby Star. You can read a bit more about the snack by a Japanese snack reviewer here!

Anyways, I've started stashing snacks in my food larder for 2 reasons :
1) When I get hungry in the middle of the night and need something light to stop the growling (there's no mamak!)
2) In case some natural disaster happens and I need food (well, I also have instant rice, instant noodles, instant porridge)

Found these fascinating coz they come in a variety of flavours, and look quite cute actually. From the top (left to right) : yakisoba, chicken ramen, delicious salty ramen, and miso ramen.

They are actually dried ramen in mini sizes.

Maybe Baby Star to the Japanese is what Mamee is to us. Cheap, quite tasty, temporarily filling, but not healthy! >.<

the rain that brought memories

The smell of rain reminds me of home. My olfactory sense maps the smell of a rainy day to the tropics, and in that sense, the scent of South East Asia.

There is a certain feeling of moist in countries where humidity levels are high, which could be a good or bad thing. So when it had rained the whole day Wednesday, I could feel it on my skin. It was quite a nostalgic feeling.

I didn't realise until I felt a little homesick!

As I enjoyed the humidity, I could almost imagine frogs croaking. Just as it would after a heavy rain.

Here, it wasn't a tropical thunderstorm, but relatively light rain throughout the day. The train windows got fogged up, which doesn't happen too often.

I walked off thanking God for the rain. It's true that the sense of smell is tied to memories.

chinese chives

I tend to buy "new ingredients" time to time. Just to play around with variety in food, and also to learn how to cook different dishes.

One ingredient that I avoid like the plague is "ku chai", also known as chinese chives. Never found them fascinating, because they are quite tasteless and don't seem to have any nutritional value. Used to think chives were like onions and garlic.

That was until I started cooking myself, and realised what difference onions and garlic make to a dish! Onions for subtle sweetness, and garlic when fried for added flavour and the benefit of warding off the cold.

But chives?? I have not figured out why we eat chives, other than the fact that they add colour to an otherwise plain looking dish. So I decided to buy a bunch of chives early this month.

It was so much that I could cook 3 dishes (and more actually!)

The first is chijimi, or some might call it Korean pancake. Started raving about this when I had a really good one in an izakaya in Tokyo. Hyun also made it in one of my home parties, so I figured I could make it myself too.

My personal favourite of a savoury seafood pancake, this can be an appetiser too. Goes well with a sour-salty-spicy sauce (preferably with Korean chili paste, soy sauce and vinegar).

The week after, I decided to make something my mum would cook when she's busy but need a balanced meal - omelette with vege. Her usual ingredient would be onions actually but I figured chives might be a good alternative too. Very simple dish and can be yummy with hot steaming rice.

And another week after, I tried chapjae, another Korean dish. (I'm beginning to think that Koreans love chives!) For some strange reason I found a new like with Korean food since coming to Japan. Never liked it before, perhaps the ones I had in Malaysia don't taste so good! Maybe there's many Korean restaurants, dishes and food packages that it's relatively easy to survive on Korean food.

Chapjae is a stir fried glass noodle dish with strips of beef, carrot and mushrooms. Cooked this with sesame oil and garlic, another 2 essential ingredients in Korean dishes.

Quite happy with my chinese chives experiment, though it took me a whole month to finish a bunch of it. The dishes above were all first attempts. I think I'll attempt chives again... probably next year!

kobe earthquake

We are okay here in Kobe.

The dawn earthquake woke me up unexpectedly. I was quite annoyed being awoken at that hour, especially when I was trying to catch up with sleep.

As I opened my eyes, it was still dark but I could make out that the bed was shaking. It was not as bad as the Niigata quake because there was not much noise.

Telling myself it was just a dream, I made myself go back to sleep hoping it was all just a dream. Soon enough the shaking stopped.

I only realised it was an actual earthquake when I checked the news the next morning. >.<

birthday and white day

The birthday celebration continued next day with the KBF grrls. Since it was getting slightly warmer, I was happy to shed the thick layers and eskimo-down-jacket and went for something lighter.

Erike had invited us to this Iranian restaurant near Toa Road. Apparently it was owned by a church member, an Iranian who married a Japanese. Have not seen them in church because they were busy running the business and having to take care of the kids themselves.

Erike and I have just started Bible Study with the 2 of us since we live quite close to each other. Since she had invited Akari and Jamie, we decided to do the BS together with them too. So after a warm Middle Eastern meal, we studied Ephesians 3 together.

They had lovely gifts too! A Naomi Tozaki pouch from Erike, which was very timely since my cosmetic pouch was getting spotty (mouldy might sound too gross! But it's something I've had for many years in Malaysia), a pack of Celestial Tea from Jamie (didn't know this brand has sooo many flavours!) and a very delicate Quatre Saisons flower vase from Akari (so delicate and petite I thought it was a tea strainer at first lol).

I felt truly blessed to be able to celebrate my first birthday in Kobe with thoughtful colleagues and friends.

To add to the cherry blossom festivities, Ms Barbie sent some gifts few days in advance too. It was a package of grrly sakura themed gifts, thought it was delivered to a wrong address at first! Apparently due to a typo, the package was delivered to my neighbour on the same floor. The delivery guy was surprised it was rejected, so decided to call the sender, and after some quick clarification, it arrived correctly the next day.

Bet that neighbour must be a Japanese. Thankful that he/she was honest! Maybe in Malaysia, it would be gone, disappeared! No one would know the better, especially if it's meant to be a surprise delivery.

After a busy birthday weekened, and following that a week of hectic workshops, I decided to pamper myself with some relaxing tea. Strawberries are in season now, so what better way to have this African rooibos, strawberry and vanilla flavoured tea than with fresh strawberries.

Oh, just to cap off the month of March, we had the White Day on 14 March. Just a month before, Valentine's Day is celebrated, but quite differently from the rest of the world. In Japan (and Korea too!), you will see scores of ladies in chocolate and gift stores buying for the men, and the men would reciprocate one month later.

This has become so commercialised, that everyone buys for everyone. In my department, the grrls forked out JPY1,000 each to buy chocolates for the guy colleagues. It's more of a gesture than actual emotional feelings usually associated with Valentine's Day. Since the guys outnumber grrls, we bought many various types of little candy, snacks and chocs and wrapped them up together. (I never got to see how this was "celebrated" as I was away in Amsterdam)

The next month, the guy colleagues bought chocolates for us. March 14 is called White Day, also celebrated in both Japan and Korea. I was delighted to find this on my table when I returned to my desk (I was also away for workshops when this happened!) Not only did we get a collective gift from all the guys, but some of the managers also bought additional candies for us.

spring party cum birthday celebration

I had in mind to invite the ladies on our team over for a little housewarming party. My place is so tiny I have to be mindful not only what furniture I buy, but also the number of people who can visit me.

The initial idea was mooted sometime last year when I had gotten most of the basic furniture. Still, I felt relieved a suitable schedule could not be fixed - I still didn't have a proper table for eating, and had my stacks of boxes taking up space.

So we postponed it to this year, with the tentative date early March. I had quietly hoped they would forget about it, because I still did not have my coffee table, and the boxes are still there. With all the travels, I did not have the time to catch up with these.

In the end, I decided to organise it anyway. I called it my belated housewarming, beginning of spring, and birthday party, all rolled into one!

I decided to introduce some Malaysian dishes. Made this Nyonya vegetarian curry, which turned out surprisingly nice! My first time making it, so was pleased with it. Well, not too difficult I suppose with the instant mix - just need to add the ladies fingers, brinjal, tomato, cabbage, fried bean curd and potatoes.

I also made my specialty grilled chicken wings with the oven (forgot to take picture!), and also some bulls-eye with soy sauce onion gravy. It doesn't look quite like the one I usually eat back in Malaysia, but no one will know anyway >.<

They presented me a bouquet of flowers! How lovely, they thought I love colours, so chose something really bright and cheery. I still have it on my study table, though most have wilted. The carnations surprisingly have lasted well after 3 weeks! The first week was pleasant as I came home to a naturally scented room.

They also bought a birthday cake - really delicious. Was layered with plenty of cocoa powder that we ended up coughing with the first few bites!

Since I didn't have a table, they were okay with eating on the floor. We called it Japanese style! I said it's like having an indoor picnic. We ate these with rice, salad and some naan too. I'm glad they enjoyed the food.

Some gifts - Waka said she was having too much fun shopping for various little gifts for me. It's interesting what people think you like just by observing you - and they express that through gifts.

The Japanese usually start a meal/party with drinks. And I meant the alcoholic kind. We finished the white and cherry blossom even before the dinner. The pink one had real cherry blossoms floating in it - I got to eat both of them! They got me the Tiger beer, thinking I must be missing something close to home >.<

I have yet to drink it - I don't even have a bottle opener!

unbelievable nippon p3

The Japanese are known to be sensitive to the needs of others, and to put group harmony above everything else. They go to great lengths to please the customer.

It is common to see in (the nicer) restaurants, baskets at the side, for customers to put their bags. This will never work in Malaysia because it's like an invitation for thieves to help themselves to your personal belongings.

However, because most Japanese do not have cars, and travel around on public transportation, many times they have to carry all their belongings with them. So it's a great relief to have these baskets since you can't hold everything on your lap, or on the table.

This underground restaurant that I have been visiting even have a linen storage holder beneath the chairs for additional space.

These are some of the things that give you a pleasant experience. You'd be most inclined to think that with all these cute convenient things, they would be creative people too.

So I was a little taken aback to find that it is not the case in traditional Japanese environment.

I was still working at the corridor after the conference call with Australia had ended. Since I had my earphones on, I decided to turn on some jazz music. There's something about Parisian cafe jazz where words don't matter, the music itself helps to drown out the chatter in the office, and allows you to focus on your work.

When one of my colleagues came out, saw me on earphones, asked if he was interrupting me. I told him it was okay, it was just music. He was so surprised that he asked if I was not working. I bet he must have thought I purposely went out to the corridor to listen to music.

I still can't believe I had to explain to him that I was listening to music while working. In his broken English, he continued expressing his surprise. In my broken Japanese, I asked him what was wrong with listening to music while working.

This went on back and forth for awhile with our broken languages not too different from chicken-and-duck talk, until another colleague dropped by. She was also surprised at first, but when hearing me explain that music helped me concentrate better, eventually agreed with me. She then started questioning the reason why I should not listen to music while at work.

In the end, she was on "my side". And still, I find it unbelievable that this concept of listening to music while working seems so alien.

I had to refrain myself from asking them if there was a policy on listening to music at work! Now, that is not a route I have time to go down to. I already have a list of reasons why I have a right to listen to music while at work (I'm not disturbing anyone, I'm still responsive to emails and anyone who would like to chat with me, I'm still able to produce work, and be more productive, etc, etc, etc...)

I hope I don't get a heart attack one of these days...

Maybe I just need to look at more Hello Kitty and the stress would go away...

unbelievable nippon p2

Last Monday, I had decided to go into the office a bit later. The previous week had been really intense for the team with long discussions and workshops that went over the initial schedule. Needless to say, it had been a mentally, physically and a rather emotionally tiring week. Lots of effort had been put into the project, and last week was one milestone we were able to go through.

Even the weekend was not enough to recuperate. So it was with much hesitance that I woke up Monday morning. I had in mind to run some errands too, plus there were a few late evening calls I had to take. So it made sense to go in a bit later.

In principal I had already gotten approval from my boss about me managing my own working hours. Dealing with various regions concurrently means we'd have 7am calls with US, 11pm calls with the UK and many others in between.

I don't think the rest of the IT dept is aware what kind of work we do, so they tend to be surprised when I go in late. They are so punctual that most come in before 9am. On the days when I have my early morning calls or the night before for late night calls, I would go in a bit later.

However, because Kansai people are more straightforward with their comments compared to Tokyo-ites, I have managed to get some direct feedback more easily here. Like when I came in during lunch time Monday, one of the IT managers asked if I was late.

I had to explain to him about the work I did, and the hours it entailed. Now, I personally don't think I need to explain my flexi working hours to everyone who gives me a look for coming "late", or even making a comment about my "tardiness".

In Malaysia, people would think that you're trying to boast about your work, but here, there is a common perception that work starts and ends at a certain time, and you are supposed to be where you are for work. which is your designated seating place.

If flexi hours are alien to them, imagine the work-from-home concept. No wonder I'm taking more tea these days. This pack of calming tea from Ms Barbie has been most helpful on occasions like this!