Why going down the stairs last Sunday was again making me squirm with the pain coming from my quads

Nekko peak from somewhere near Mt. Azumaya's summit, originally uploaded by jemione.

They always hit the quads the hardest! Anyway, it was because I climbed Mt. Azumaya (Azumayasan) and Mt. Nekko (Nekkotake) last Saturday with Souma-san and friends. The mountains were located at the border of Gunma and Nagano prefectures, around three hours away by super fast (average 130kph) Toyota rental car from Tokyo. The climb was hard work, of course, taking us around six hours climbing and going down the two neighboring peaks, but it was very rewarding because of the spectacular scenery. Mt. Azumaya had a trail which was mostly open and grassy, so even from the base, looking at its big yellowish-green triangle shaped form sitting against a perfectly blue sky, the view was quite stunning already. And there were so many flowers! For Mt. Azumaya especially, it felt like climbing a huge garden.

Mt. Nekko was a little more difficult to climb because some parts were almost impassable with heavy mud, but the way down was different, so it was OK. Downwards was also very pretty. The vibrant greenery made the trail really interesting, adorning the path with different shades of green, and dotting the way with lots of orange, thanks to the flowers!

The peaks were mostly rock. And that's good because they offered unencumbered 360 degree views of the surrounding mountains and the clear sky. A famous active volcano, Mt. Aza-something, can be seen from Mt. Nekko's top.

After the climb, we had dinner at a Chinese resto and then after that was the unavoidable onsen trip. But I'm beginning to love the onsen now, so i stuck around. The place was a bit crowded, and I may have even seen a person I knew from church (weird!), but it was a huge facility, so it was fine. Aside from the hot baths, there were also different kinds of spas, the normal super hot one with the glowing rocks in the middle of the room type, and the mist spa. What was really cool was San-san was kind enough to show me around them, as I haven't tried any of them before. I went home refreshed. The pains will hit the quads the next day but I can't complain because this was one super enjoyable Saturday.

P.S. more pics to follow!

adventure in my new kitchen

the tofu added in, originally uploaded by jemione.

last saturday, i cooked tokyo-style adobo. i called it tokyo-style because all the ingredients were from here. i followed a recipe given to me by a filipino friend who loves to cook, kuya ian. i rarely cook and have never made adobo before, but decided to give it a try as some friends were staying over for dinner at my house. i think it turned out OK. But i want to try it again, adding my own tweaks next time. for now, here's version 1.

Ingredients:
1/2 kilo chicken lollipop (or desired chicken or pork part)
1 cup regular kikoman soy sauce (or other soy sauce if not avlbl)
1 cup mizukan vinegar (or other vinegar if not avlbl)
1 cup mirin (japanese sweet cooking wine; or replace with water with 2 Tablespoons sugar if not available)
1 large clove of garlic (skinned, not chopped)
1 tablespoon chopped basil
1 tablespoon whole pepper corns
5-7 pieces Laurel leaves.
5-7 small dried chili (optional)
1 block of Tofu (about 1/4 Kilo) (optional)

Directions:
Pour everything in a pan. Simmer for 1 hour. Remove chicken pieces from stew and fry. Pour back the stew on the chicken just before serving. Add garnish if desired. Serve with rice, salad, or vegetable dish.

Serves 5-6 people.

pictures here :)

how much of the philippines i have been to

not much!

My Lakbayan grade is C!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.

finally got to do my laundry last night

actually, it wasn't like there was a big mountain of clothes waiting to be washed already, but i'm a bit relieved my laundry pile got flattened last night. i just don't want any clothes piling up on me. so yeah, i'm glad i finally had some free time to do my laundry, because these past few nights (and days) were just one activity after the next.

started last friday. my office had a welcome party for our new employees. it was actually just dinner, but was filled with enough drinks and food we got to go home a little past the last train's schedule already, which was around 12:30.


me with friends from church

then on saturday, i had to get up early to attend a church mate's wedding. it was a very nice wedding. it wasn't fancy and with only the couple's closest family and friends present, was really simple, but was a beautiful wedding nonetheless. All of the music, except the exit march because the musician was suddenly nowhere to be found, were played and sang live. At the reception, which was at the church hall downstairs, there wasn't any waiters so i helped a little with the drinks preparation. the food preparation was also through the efforts of some church friends. but the food was wonderful. there weren't many dishes to choose from, but everything served was great. there were the most intricate hors d'oeuvres and an actual sushi bar, where you can pick your sushi topping and the sushi man will scoop a fistful of rice and whip up your sushi for you.


a quick pose on the dance floor

then saturday night was dancing night, my first time to go clubbing in hip roppongi. my friends and i went to a hip-hop place, so i guess that's why there were many blacks. the place got packed by around 2AM, and even around 5AM when we finally called it quits, there were still a handful of people on the dance floor. dancing was lots of fun. my feet were sore for two days after that but i guess it comes with being on the dance floor for almost five hours straight.

then sunday, i just went to bed as soon as i got home. but actually i got home around 9PM already, because the whole day i was at church. in the afternoon, i attended the singles fellowship for the first time. met lots of new people. during the rest of the day, i tried to catch some sleep, but mostly failed. so i was dead tired when i got home.

then monday. the house was kinda busy with a guest. i guess i just forgot to do my laundry.

then tuesday, the house was very busy because we had peejay's farewell party.

so finally wednesday, everything was back to normal.

red hot chili peppered

Last night's RHCP concert in Tokyo Dome was my first (and hopefully, not last) concert here in Japan. I love RHCP, so i absolutely enjoyed it! I never thought I could hear Higher Ground live with so much energy. It was my first time in Tokyo dome, and it was surprisingly huge inside (probably at least 4 Araneta Coliseums could fit in there). And it was packed, so you could only imagine the energy with everyone jumping to Can't Stop and Around the World among other songs. There were some pleasant surprises too, when Chad Smith played jazz and Flea accompanied on the trumpet; and when Flea joined in at the drum set to soup up a drum solo during Hump de Bump. The video screens and the lights were also fantastic. Rockin' night!

ghibli goodness set in my hometown

That's the anime 耳をすませば (Mimi wo sumaseba/Whisper of the Heart). I loved it! It's a sweet love story. Great artwork too, with very detailed renderings of buildings and streets. The setting was also quite interesting for me, because it was set in Tama City, and that's where I live now. The town part of the city shown in the film was in Seiseki-Sakuragaoka, and that's my town! Although there were of course a lot of differences already, because the movie is more than ten years old, it was cool to be able to identify some of the places and say that they actually looked very familiar. I can even relate to the difficulty one character was having with biking up the hills around here. And I could totally identify with the ever-present Keio train in the movie, which actually hasn't changed much.

On to the next ghibli!

the pictures from the latest weekend that I had to blog about...

Yesterday, I uploaded the shots that I took from the mountain climbing trip. I'm still fixing the pictures from the jazz event. Earlier today, Ish-chan sent me a link with the pictures from JR's birthday dinner.

I'm thinking of buying a new lens for my D50. Because I'm only using a 50 mm, sometimes it's really frustrating to not be able to get the wide shot or the close-up shot that I want. So, I'm considering getting the 18-200 VR Nikkor. It's gonna leave a big dent in my wallet, though. That's why I'm still kinda hesitant. But I'm very tempted. Like last weekend, there were so many times I wished I had a more flexible lens!