daily stuff

I know these days must be krazy trying to get things done for the holidays, so I wanted to share with you something that happened to me yesterday...hopefully it will make you laugh or smile.

I was trying to open a can of baked beans to heat up for dinner.

It had one of those pull tab tops.

I lifted up the tab and the tab snapped off!

I took out my can opener and tried to open the can, but the can was a little dented so the can opener couldn't go all the way around.

Thinking that I had opened most of the can, I stuck a spoon in to lift up the lid.

The lid was definitely not cut all the way around because the lid lifted up a bit then sprung back down, shooting sauce up into the air.

I tried the can opener again and then the spoon, but there was more lid springing and more shooting of sauce into the air...

Finally, I got the lid to open by rocking it gingerly back and forth until the metal wore out and broke.

Whew! thought we might not be able to have this for dinner...

Did I make you smile/laugh? Hope so.

semi-funny

Semi-funny thing happened to me yesterday.

I was standing on the platform, waiting for the train to come.

There was a caucasian man standing in front of me.

As we were waiting for the train, his caucasian woman friend, came by and said "hi".

They then proceeded to chat as they waited for the train to come.

The man turns slightly around looking at me and "whispers" to his friend loud enough for me to hear...."slowly sneak in front of me"...

In actuality, letting his friend cut in front of him (and me!)

I smiled at him and said, "you can let her cut in".

This shocked him...

An Asian that spoke English...

He then turns to me and says, "Are you really "Japanese"?"

And while a few years back I probably would've been insulted by this, I found it a bit hilarious...

He then said, "where did you originally come from?"

I said, "From Hawaii".

His face relaxed and said, "ah okay, now it makes sense. I thought your pronunciation was a bit too perfect."

I said, "shh...I'm undercover"

Since moving here, I have gotten used to being seen as a Japanese national who speaks perfect English, instead of as a foreigner.

Most Japanese who meet me for the first time, often are disappointed because I do not look "foreign" enough (meaning I do not have the blonde hair and blue eyes they associate with foreigners).

I have often heard from other foreigners how they are gawked at on the trains by Japanese because they look "foreign".

But have also seen Japanese treat them more hospitably, because they do look "foreign".

I remember when we called the police to have them check on an apartment on another floor of our building because their door was ajar...the policeman asked for my name and when I said, "Kathy"...he looked puzzled and said, "is that your real name?"

Satoshi had to then explain that I was a "foreigner"...sigh.

But anyway, I digress...the train arrived and we all boarded while having a nice chuckle.

line

Ever since Satoshi changed over to the iPhone, he and I have been using an app called "LINE".

It uses very little data and you can make free calls with it to others who have the app. You can also call people who don't have the app or to people who have land lines but the call will cost a small fee.

A bad thing with this app is that if you try to call someone who uses the app but the person doesn't pick up, you can't leave a voice message for them.

A nice thing about this app is that you can also chat (text) with someone who also has the app. It is good for Satoshi and I because we are with different carriers.

In Japan, if you are not with the same carrier they charge you different rates for texting, emails and calling another carrier.

So the other day, he texts me this...

S: "Are your email address and passwords okay?"
K: "think so why?"
S: "Big hacking happened"
K: "where?" then I try calling him but he is on the train, so we end the call
S: "Is it only in Europe"
K: in Japanese "I don't know what you are talking about"
S: he calls me

Turns out he was listening to a podcast and they were talking about the time when Internet Explorer was hacked and everyone was told to change their passwords.

I told him this was quite a while back.

So, he says, "oh sorry, I thought it was happening now"

Anxiety level rose a little with that one but at least all was well...sigh.

salarymen pride

Did you know Japanese salarymen (business men) have pride? I call it "stupid pride".

They refuse to wear their coats when they go out for lunch. Hands stuck deep into their pants pockets they run across the streets to eat lunch shivering all the way, no jacket on, just their dress shirts.

When the temperature was changing between Fall and Winter, I suggested to Satoshi that he wear his coat to work.

He said, "it's too early in the season to"...um, who said?

I told him, "but if you're cold, you should wear something, otherwise you'll catch cold"

(and secretly I was also saying, "if you catch a cold then you'll give it to me....")

But nope..."stupid pride"

Right now, he wears thermals over his underwear, which tends to bunch up.

Not very nice when wearing a suit.

And then I told him about these boxers for men that have haramaki attached to them. Haramaki literally means stomach wrap.

I told him, if he got a pair he wouldn't have to wear the thermals over his underwear and it wouldn't feel so bulky under his suit.

He scoffed at me.

Still, I dragged him over the New Years break to the store and convinced him to buy a pair.

He wore it the other day and came home saying...

"Kat, this is the best thing ever!"

Guess who was laughing now...

It's Friday here, and a 3-day weekend.

I hope you enjoy your weekend.

flying tandoori

No it is not a new airlines...but I do have to tell you about the disaster(s) I had yesterday in and out of the kitchen.

It started in the morning, trying to get my toast out of the oven, I branded my finger with the element. My reflexes were not quite awake yet and I left it to sizzle a bit (Ssss)...itai (ouch, now I kind of know how those cows must feel)!

Then when I went to the market and tried to pick out a lemon, 3 of them flew off the shelf....sigh...I ended up not buying any.

And then the disaster of all disasters was trying to prepare tandoori chicken for dinner, I used this recipe. As I was measuring out the spices into a ziploc container to marinade the chicken, my unzipped jacket somehow went into the container and proceeded to drag the container off the counter. I tried to catch it, which ended up with me volleyball bumping it instead and spices flying everywhere...of course, I screamed...

I walked carefully to the bath area to brush myself off. Spices were on my sweats and house slippers....afterwards, I noticed there was also a nice "spice trail" to the bathroom...

I took out the vacuum cleaner and vacuumed everything (hopefully everything) that spilled, then I started measuring the spices again.

I guess I should be thankful it happened with only the dry spices and not with the yogurt and other wet ingredients.

After marinating the sasami (skinless chicken breasts) for about 4 hours, I baked it for 10 minutes in a 350F (180C) oven then put it under the broiler for another 17 minutes, turning once halfway.

I also made some hummus using a recipe that I had printed out from the Food Network (the recipe is no longer on their site). It was a recipe by Mina Newman, executive chef of Layla Restaurant (not sure if she or the restaurant is still there in NYC).

I toasted a handful of pine nuts, then cut up half of a carrot, cucumber, red pepper & green pepper. I added 5 or 6 teaspoons of the hummus and mixed it well.

Then I took out 1 graham pita from the freezer and toasted it. I cut it in half and filled one half with half of the hummus mixture and a sliced tandoori chicken breast.

The results...a great dinner and a nice way to end all the madness in the kitchen (for now).

guest blogging

I'm guest blogging over at La Fuji Mama's today. She's not feeling too well...to find out what this picture is about head on over to her site.

Hope you feel better soon, LFM!