I Went For A Walk Without My Camera

When Isaac gave me advice on starting a blog, alongside posting everyday, taking good pictures and making people care was the warning never to go cameraless. Today, I committed the sin.

Only 20 feet from my apartment, I saw the full-grown rice fields and took my first mental picture. In my head, I juxtaposed the long yellow strands with the tiny green shoots cheekily poking out from the murky water only two months prior. Next, I watched as a small yellow butterfly circled around a group of pink carnations and I imagined it keeping still, just long enough for my invisible camera to capture.

And though I’ve never taken an actual panoramic, I spun around slowly, then a little faster downloading the green mountains, the traditional roofed houses and the many black power-lines playing house to the village’s entire bird population. I took it all in and I saved it, for myself, on the desktop of my heart, in a private folder.

A few more steps and surprise, surprise, I was greeted by my friend. He was waiting for me outside of his house. “You late,” he said. I laughed thinking, it’s a Saturday!  “Come come.” He took me to his garden. I watched as his 78 year old hands trembled cutting the vine of a perfectly round watermelon. “This this, number one,” he said. “Camera?” he asked. “Nai, not today,” I answered.

After calling his wife to join us in the garden, he washed the watermelon, scrubbing it with a brown sponge between his tanned and wrinkled fingers. I took a quick snap of this. Staring at the frozen moment I wished to hold hands with him. He reminded me of my own grandfather and the countless times we’d sat together where I played with his smooth fingers whilst he kissed my forehead.

Now the three of us stood around an old bench, beautiful amber wood, just screaming to be photographed as a sharp dangerous-looking square blade attached to a tiny wooden handle pierced through the green melon. Ah, don’t cut yourself I thought as I inwardly videoed the “big moment”. Red. It was so red. And fresh! So fresh that the skin cracked open by itself, begging to be eaten.

I was given the first slice. He and his wife watched in anticipation. Delicious? Delicious, I proclaimed. It was. It  was the sweetest I’d ever tasted.

Let Everything Happen To You

…Beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final. (Rainer Maria Rilke)


Top to bottom: morning prayer, Anisa-style banana split with NZ honey, local organic blueberries and home-made granola with Rye bread from Olivier, morning cycle featuring sky, bento love, and last but not least, my favorite healthy noms sent to me by my dear mama.

Behind The Scenes

If you didn’t know, fruit is expensive in Japan. Like, 8-bucks-for-a-single-peach expensive. So, I may have spent my month’s grocery allowance already…And since I don’t get paid for this blog, unlike some other food-bloggers, I have had to alter my foodie-ventures. You might know (if you’re a regular follower) that I’ll be finishing up my contract in the Japanese countryside in less than 8 weeks… which means (note to self) I should be eating the things in my pantry instead of grocery shopping. So, I  raided my pantry and made  onigiri (rice balls). These specific ones are called sekihan 赤飯 which are usually white rice boiled together with red beans – though I used brown rice and too many beans (on purpose of course). They are a traditional Japanese dish and often served on special occasions throughout the year like birthdays, weddings and some holidays, such as Shichi-Go-San.

Further, I didn’t buy these flowers. I rode my bicycle at 5.30am, in the rain and picked these wild ones instead. There, I had the pleasure of receiving 3 vicious sand fly bites which have caused my ankles to become as large and round as my watermelon.

Soaking Up The Sun

before rainy season hits and all turns to sh^&

MY Kind Of ‘Food Porn’

Being a food blogger is easy: you just eat food and photograph it.

From top to bottom: my goods in my kitchen, power slaw using soft-dried blackcurrants in place of raisins, an incredible spread of home-made bread, fresh fruit (sweet lemon, strawberries and blood orange), onigiri and a simple sweet potato and black sesame seed medley, homemade green tea, the organic plate from nonocafe and last but not least, their yellow kiwi-fruit cheesecake.
On another note, Japan is still bloody cold, my parents arrive in exactly 2 weeks, 13 days, not including today (not that I’m counting) and I realized recently that my blog, much like my life, is rather jumbled and lacking one major goal (sigh). Though even so, for some reason, y’all still follow… So, arigato, arigato and chuuu xx

Please None Of This BS

All I want
is to be held
so tightly
that all the sorrow,
stress and worry
have no choice
but to exit and to flee
and please please
none of this BS
about doing this solo
tackling this, just me.

Dreaming of warm days and sakura carpets

Illustrations by the most talented individual in Japan, Mitsuie Yusaku.

 

My Japanese Winter

 

“My heart is in a constant state of thanksgiving.”
― Abdu’l-Bahá

Before the snow…don’t be fooled, still V V V cold.

Keeping warm with healthy Japanese food. This is actually a summer noodle (somen) chicken and vegetable soup prepared by my lovely friend and neighbor, Hiromi-san.

The first snow. That’s my house and car in the foreground.

Prayers under the kotatsu.

The calm before the storm (literally).

Take two.

Heater allows for smoothie-bowl breakfast obsession to continue. This one is simply 3/4 cup of yogurt blended with 2 tablespoons of freeze-dried blackcurrants and topped with banana and cereal.

This one was more sorbet than smoothie: 1 cup of frozen mango chunks blended with 1/2 cup of freeze-dried blackcurrants and 3/4 cup of coconut water finished with strawberries.

More ingredients in this one: 1 banana, a big handful of spinach, a few frozen mango chunks, 1/2 cup of soy milk and 1 strawberry, blended together and topped with QIA cereal, ViBERi blackcurrants and an additional strawb.

And for dinner? Pre-cooked edamame. These cuties are so good. They’re sold everywhere in Japan and just require you to pour hot water over them (to defrost) and they’re ready to eat!

Last but not least, a super appropriate painting in my JUNIOR high-school, to close.
And now, a warm bear hug to my new and old followers for the continuous support.
Chuu! (Japanese kiss noise).

Loneliness is packet soup

Illustration by my most talented singer/song-writer friend Mona Nourozi.

Loneliness is
packet soup
and defrosted
toast for tea
whilst savoury scents
of mamas’ cookin’
sneak in to tempt
me.

Autumn vignettes

So I watched Mistress America, the new Greta Gerwig film and this one quote really blew me away because it’s kinda, sorta, exactly how I feel at this stage:

“I think I’m sick, and I don’t know if my ailment has a name. I just am in love with everything, but can’t figure out how to make myself work in the world.”

Apparently good things take time. My vegan cheesecakes take 6 hours to set and getting to Tokyo disneyland from my house takes about 8. So, I guess that’s a fair statement. But, how long is it going to take for the right person to stumble upon my blog and make me famous? One year of blogging! One year! And does anyone (other than my mom or sister) actually read this? Sorry for the pessimism/melodramatics, I blame the weather. Actually, autumn is my favourite season and it’s especially nice here with the surrounding mountains but there’s something about fall which makes me ponder, apart from the freezing cold and the knee deep snow about to hit my village, “what’s next?”