April 19, 2014

Saturday - Warm and sunny

A pretty good day.

I got up this morning to an empty apartment again. I watched Gordon Ramsey's cooking show this morning. All I can say is "Bring back Nigel Slater!"  Ramsey wasn't terrible, it's just that he is a lot more aggressive than Nigel. 

F came home and about the time he did, I started to get very tired.  I was going to go back to bed, but decided I'd sit on the couch instead.  F was there, and so was a bunch of his crap, so I started to move it.  I picked up a couple of socks that had been on the couch for 4 or 5 days and put them on his keyboard.  He went ballistic and got angry with me.  I didn't throw them down, I very gently placed them on his computer so it wouldn't hurt anything.  I was trying to make the point that they shouldn't be on the couch.  He stormed off to the bedroom.  I decided to go back to bed too and did.  I fell asleep, but when I woke up, he was on the couch sleeping.  Crazy.

The good thing is that when he woke up, he was in a good mood again.  I made some drinks and then we decided to go out.  We made a quick detour to the Washington Hotel so I could buy a couple of things, then headed out to Mikawa.  

We arrived at the mall quite early.  We had a late lunch/early dinner of bibinba and then ice cream from Baskin Robbins.  We went along the mall to Aeon where I looked at the craft supplies and bought a small something, then came back along the mall.  F & I looked in the book store, then went to the theatre.  Tonight we saw Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and liked it.  It was quite a lot of fun, and it was nice to watch an action movie without a heavy metal soundtrack. 

After the movie we drove back to Tsuruoka.  We picked up a few things at the grocery store and then came home.  I watched a bit of TV and F set up the bread-maker.  

And that was it.  It turned out to be a good day.  Hooray.  I'm not sure what we're going to do tomorrow.  Things might change in the morning depending on the weather.  Come back tomorrow and find out.  Night!

April 18, 2014

Friday - Sunny but windy

A good day.

I got up this morning to an empty apartment.  I got up and got ready to take my shower, just as F came home from the doctor.  

I showered, had a quick breakfast and watched my telly.  I got dressed for going out at 11:30 and then at 11:45 I went out and met my friend.  We went to the new Bistrot des Points and had a lovely and slightly expensive lunch there.  We both had Shonai Pork for lunch.  We had kabocha soup first, then the pork with cabbage and potato.  We finished with dessert and coffee.  Yum.  We stayed there and chatted so long that the chef and his wife gave us refills on our drinks!  Amazing.  

After lunch we went over to Hard-Off to look at kimonos.  My friend was thinking of getting herself a kimono.  We looked at a lot of them.  Some were great, some had terrible stains or were sun-faded, but she managed to find one that was cool and in pretty good condition and not too expensive either! She found an obi that looked beautiful and matched the kimono too, so I think she did really well.  

Sadly, it was time for her to go home, so she dropped me off at home and I waved goodbye.  I went into my quiet apartment.  F was off somewhere so I texted him and then waited to hear from him while I watched the news.

He came home and wanted to go out again almost immediately.  He wanted to go to the Internet Cafe, so that's where we spent the rest of the evening.  

While I was at the Internet Cafe I did a little reading, a little crochet and a little bit of watching TV.  I found a way to watch cable so I watched part of a UK mystery.  That was cool.  

We came home before 11:30 and relaxed around the apartment.  We watched a little TV, well I did, and I had a late night snack.  

Tomorrow, I'm not completely sure what we'll get up to.  We'll probably go and see a movie in the evening, but apart from that, who knows?  Come back and see what happens.  Night. 

April 17, 2014

Thursday - Sunny

A good day.

I got up early this morning, but came through to the living room and napped on the couch!   Dear dear.  I watched my TV, ate breakfast and had a quiet day really.

In the afternoon I made a necklace.  I took part of a t-shirt and did a little cutting and presto-changeo!  A new necklace.  It looks pretty good too!  

I worked on my column today and got it written.  It isn't the usual sort of column though, but it is okay.  I'll proof it and send it off soon.  

F was home late tonight.  He called me to say he was done, but went over to his mother's for a bit.  He didn't see her though.  

When he came home, I started cooking dinner.  Tonight I made sauteed mushrooms with maiitake and ordinary mushrooms, and asparagus plus chicken saute, and my usual salad.  It took a little prep time, but came together fairly well.  Finally, everything was ready and we ate. It was pretty good!

F did the dishes afterwards and we settled in for a quiet evening.  F watched a bit of Japanese TV which I ignored, then I watched some after 11 pm.  He's gone to bed now, and I'll run off there soon.  

Tomorrow, F is off work, but I have plans.  I'm going to have lunch with a friend, and hopefully ice cream too!  After that, who knows?

Come back tomorrow and find out what I got up to!  Night. 

April 16, 2014

Wednesday - Cloudy & warm

An interesting day.

I got up this morning and took a shower, then went through to the living room and turned on the TV.  I watched TV while F went off to the dentist.  He was back really quickly!  I think he was only there for 15 minutes or something.  

He came home and I was a tad miffed as I had hoped for more time, but it was okay.  I watched my shows then we went for lunch after 12.  

I suggested going to the chicken izakaya, so that's where we went.  I had a fried chicken set meal and F had ramen in chicken broth.  I thought mine was good, F was okay with his.  We came home again and discussed my going to his doctor's appointment with him.  I did offer to go and hold his hand, but he refused at the end.  Finally, he left and I got some time alone in the apartment finally.  

F came back over an hour later with a huge bandage on his big toe.  He was barefoot too.  No socks.  I couldn't help laughing at the size of the bandage.  He didn't have any shoes that would fit over his foot, so I suggested getting a pair of sandals.  However, F decided he could make do by cutting a hole in the top of an old pair of runners.  

We vegged around the apartment for a while until it was time to think about dinner.  We went out to Jiro, our old favourite.  We had our usual dish, pork saute in garlic oil and it was good.  As we were about to leave, F said that his foot hurt in the shoe. It started out being comfortable, but didn't end that way.  I suggested trying the shoe store after all.  

We paid the restaurant, then drove over to Shoe Barn.  We looked at some sandals and then I found a pretty good pair.  They had a back strap and the parts over the foot opened and closed with velcro.  That meant that they could accommodate F's foot.  He ended up getting that pair.

We bought a few groceries and came home. F's been in a lot of pain and took some medicine.   

A while ago, he knocked over his glass which shattered all over the floor.  Sigh.  I didn't want him to try to clean it up. He had bare feet and I had visions of him getting bandaged on the other foot too.  I cleaned it up, but I did prick my thumb on a sliver of glass and it bled quite a bit.  Poor me!

F fell asleep on the couch and was out like a light for hours.  I tried to wake him up two hours ago, but he didn't.  He finally woke up and now is getting ready for bed.  

That's it for me. It was an odd day. I did get a start on my Journal column though. It's an odd one, not a review column for a change…at least for now!  Tomorrow I have the day to myself I hope, so I'll be writing and cutting up old tee-shirts if I have time.  Wish me luck!  Night.

April 15, 2014

Tuesday - Sunny then rainy

A good day.

I got up late today.  It was probably because my sleep pattern got messed up last night.  I tried to go to bed earlier, but didn't get a lot of sleep.

I did my normal morning things. I checked email, read the paper, ate breakfast, watched my telly, and had a nice time. I finished my book too.  Woot. I got dressed and then in the afternoon got on with other stuff.  I tried to update the Flash Player on my computer, but it didn't work and I seem to have lost it from my browser.  Sigh.  

In the afternoon,I had lunch. It was yummy.  I took yesterday's leftovers, chopped them up, and sauteed them, then put a lightly fried egg over them.  I should have put either some cheese or some sour cream over them, but I forgot.  Bah!

After I did dishes, I cut up another tee-shirt.  I made some dark blue tarn today.  What will I do with it eh?  I hope I figure it out too!

One thing I didn't do today was start my column. Sigh.  Must do that, must!

When F came home it was raining, but we changed and went out anyway.  We wanted to have a Hanami together, but the rain was really nasty and the park was nearly empty. Half of the stalls were either closed or closing when we got there, it was sad. We walked through the trees a bit, but it was hard to take pictures with an umbrella in one hand!

After a quick once around the park, I insisted nicely that we leave.  I was getting quite damp and I didn't want to get sick.  We went back to the car and then I suggested going to Hyakkenbori for dinner.  It was empty when we got there, so we were able to be seated right away.  It was rather nice.  I had teriyaki chicken and F had a tempura dinner.  We both enjoyed our meals, although I would have liked to have some dessert after!

F suggested that we go to Mr. Donut after our meal, so that's what we did.  We each had a doughnut and tea or coffee.  It was quite relaxing really.  

We came home afterwards and had a quiet evening in.  F is off work tomorrow so he's staying up a bit later than I'd like.  He's got a couple of appointments for himself though so he won't be underfoot all day.  

That's it for me for tonight.  I'll try to write tomorrow night.  Talk to you then I hope.  Night!

April 14, 2014

Monday - Sunny and warm

A good day.

I got up a little late this morning, but not very late!  I came through to the living room and relaxed, checked email and after a bit ate breakfast and read my papers from the weekend.

F called me at 11:30 to invite me out for lunch, just as I was going to go and have a shower.  I asked him if I could skip it, and he didn't mind.  

In the afternoon I read part of the book I'm reading (Cry Wolf) and made a t-shirt into Tarn. It worked out rather well.  

I never did go out today and I still haven't started my column. I finished up my scarf from Friday by hemming the raw edges. I cooked dinner, which for some reason got quite good reviews.  I did chicken drumsticks, salad, new potatoes and urui which is a new-to-me-as-a-cook Japanese plant.  I'm not big on adventures when it comes to them.  I did part of the dishes and then F did in the rest.  

In the evening I read a lot of my book, wrote a little email and started a tarn-bag.  I'm not sure if I like it much, but I do love the colour!

I watched Newsroom, which was great, and had a nice quiet evening.  Tomorrow I should get going on my column. I may even go out and try to get a start on it out of the apartment.  F and I might go and look at the hanami in the evening when he comes home from work.  We'll see what happens then.  

That's it for me for tonight. Oh, wait, I'll toss in a couple of pictures of my last scarf from Friday.  I really like it.  What do you think?  

Night.

Wister Fairine

April 13, 2014

Sunday - Sunny and warm

A good day!

Well, as I promised my husband, I got up early (for me) on Sunday morning. I was out of bed a bit after 10 am.  I checked email and then got dressed just before 11.  

We drove to Yuza and went to the restaurant he'd read about.  It was on the second floor, and it was nice.  We ordered a main course each, and then were free to have as much from the buffet table as we wanted.  I was really pleased that there were a good supply of vegetables there.  F and I had a really nice meal.  He had sashimi as his main dish, I had pork stew.  For some reason when he told me what it was, I heard pork cutlet!  I was surprised when it arrived, but it was fine. 

We ate lunch and then left.  We had a quick look around the shops in the area, but only bought drinks for the way back.  We detoured in Sakata for a minute, and then went to the Aeon Mall.  We hacked the hardware shop, where I was the person to get stuff.  I got new VHS tapes and 3 used DVDs.

Then, I went to the craft section of the store.  I wasn't planning to buy too much, but I ended up with a low heat glue gun, a new crochet hook, and another ball of hoooked by Zpagetti.  This one is pink with white polka dots.  

We came home and dropped off our stuff.  We spent a bit of time on our computers, then around 4:30 we headed out again.  We went to Machikine again and this time we saw The Best Offer.  It was a fabulous little thriller with Geoffrey Rush playing an art expert and auctioneer.  We both enjoyed the film so much.

After the movie, we talked about dinner.  I suggested a place, but it looked like it was closed.  Whether it was a Sunday close or a permanently close, we weren't sure.  Then, F suggested The Grand El Son.  We went there and had a really nice meal.  We had their pasta and pizza set for couples and it was very good.  We had appetizers, salad, carbonara and 4 cheese pasta.  It was all nice.

We came home via the grocery store.  I got a few things for tomorrow night, including some weird Japanese mountain vegetable.  F suggested rather strongly that I buy it.  We'll have some chicken, potatoes and this odd stuff!

We had a nice quiet evening together.  I am having a hard time believing that we didn't fight this weekend, but it is true.  

In other news, the cherry blossoms are out in the park, so I may try and run off and see them tomorrow if I have time.  I have so much to do though, and honestly, not much time to do it in, so I need to buckle down.  Until then!  That's it for me.  I have to run.  Night.