at the Tokyo Sea Life Park

Last Saturday was a fun weekend for me and a friend with the fishes of the Kasai Rinkai Suizokuen . It was my first time to see a shark and a penguin and many other interesting marine animals. The park was a huge place filled wall to wall with every sort of sea-related creature. Had a great time as I was shutter happy once again.


Went there right before lunch hour so by the time we arrived at this "tuna theater", a super wide wall of an aquarium set in front of an amphitheater-like seating area, I was already hungry and actually couldn't help but wonder how wonderful a meal the heavyweight fishes would make.

More pictures here.

hello oven toaster

Took home an oven toaster yesterday. Got it from a colleague who was moving away after staying in Japan for two years. It can't fit in my tiny kitchen anymore so I just placed it on the floor in the bedroom/dining area. But that's not really a problem because now I've got a new oven toaster. Whee!

dinner for one

This was last night's dinner--cold zaru, er, plate (no zaru in the house!) soba with lots of nori and lettuce salad with egg. Then I just added the leftover fish from lunch. It was pretty much a repeat of yesterday's breakfast, except for the fish. But it was one meal I won't mind having again. It was goood. :)

new favorite jdorama

Just finished watching Densha Otoko (Train Man). Really enjoyed this series. It was very funny, especially the alternate ending/special episode. Easily one of my favorites now. Another special episode might be coming in September this year... I can't wait! ^^

Official site (in Japanese)
English info

mystery balls for dessert

I had these for dessert this evening. I bought them from the supermarket on my way home without knowing what they were. The glossy balls looked intruiging and I felt like going on a food adventure.

Now, I've eaten all of them already, but I still don't know what they are. I've tried translating the label but all I got was that they were some kind of pastry. And from the ingredients, they're made of flour. They're very good though--loved them! They turned out to be sticky flour balls covered with a really sweet paste. They're a bit too sweet so I scraped off some of the sticky covering. But how addicting these balls were! I ate them while watching magnificent Argentina demolish Serbia and Montenegro. The game's decided now and the balls are all gone.

Eat out pics

Top to bottom:
1. Me at the kekkon omedetou (contrats-to-the-newly-weds) party last Friday in Nagayama.
2. Astra people and significant others at the same party.
3. The pinoys having okonomiyaki or Japanese style pancake (taken on May 27).

new experiences

Monday to Wednesday I attended a seminar in Hachidoki, around 1.5 hours away by train from my place. I got to experience new things, like getting pushed and squeezed during morning rush hour in the express train on the way to the big (huge) train station in Shinjuku. The mass of people during rush hour is incredible. In every train stop, people just keep on coming in and when it seems the train car couldn't take any more passengers, somebody from the outside pushes the people by the door to get everybody to fit inside.

Trying out monja was another new experience for me. On Tuesday, Souma-san treated M and I to drinks, monja, okonomiyaki, and yakisoba in Hachidoki, where there was a street filled with monja restaurants. What is monja? I don't know exactly. It's a gooey mix of different ingredients for you to cook (or you can have the waiter cook it in front of you) on a big hot plate which takes up most of your table. What was in our monja? I recognized tentacles, so there was probably octopus. And I guess there were some vegetables in there too. It tasted okay. But I guess it's not food to make one satisfied, but more of food for group discussions, because everybody gets to share the one big liquid "pie", and you can only get a tiny quantity at a time. Also, you can only scrape off bits from the edges, because the pie is hot and still mostly liquid except at the edges, and you are only given a tiny (super mini) spatula for your spoon. It allowed plenty of time for talking.

The okonomiyaki was good. And I was able to flip it successfully (whew). I also got to try jasmine tea. It's better than oolong tea, but it's more expensive.