A Quiet Night at Home

I'm aware that 90 percent of my faithful readership audience is my family. That being said, for those of you aren't in that contingent, this post will be more revealing to you. For those of you that are family and know what I'm talking about... enjoy the trip down a familiar lane.

In case you didn't read yesterday's post, today was my next door neighbor's birthday. What I didn't mention is that Evan's parents happen to be in town for a couple of days this week. And last night, well, we were sitting, chatting, talking, and hanging out, and wanted to play cards.

And we didn't have any.

Yes, family, you can start breathing again. I know the shock of discovering that an Assmus is treading this earth without a pack of cards handy (not even a pinochle deck!) nearly wiped you all out, but rest easy.

We simply stated that we would pick up a deck and play cards tonight.

And that we did.

Now, I haven't ever really run across another family as skilled and adept at picking up a 6 hand, double deck game quite like we are (be it in the basement of Rockefeller Center, in a camper in the middle of the woods, or in an airport waiting for a flight). Or really one that plays pinochle as avidly as we do.

So I wasn't really surprised when their game of choice was hearts, but that was no matter. Windows taught me how to play that game a long time ago, and after a quick brain refresher, I was well on my way to winning.

For the first few hands anyway.

Apparently Evan's mom is notoriously for successfully "shooting the moon".

Which she did. And that whole winning thing.

Nonetheless, one of my favorite nights here at E-village thus far has been playing cards with my best friend's fam, much as I would my own.

I think deep down I really am just a card game away from joining a retirement home.

Now if only I could find a foursome who know how to play pinochle or wanna learn.

Because I always run into problems like "Do I have to follow suit and beat it?" and "Do I have to play a heart or is that just a trump game rule?" when I play other games. And my pinochle itch needs a scratchin'.

So, until I'm sitting at my grandparent's house in a few months' time, I'll keep my thousand aces in my dreams.

And play a game of hearts.

A Quickfire Cake

I don't know if any of you watch Top Chef like I do. Religiously that is.

I don't really consider myself much of a foodie. I mean, Bree, SPD, and other close friends of mine are, but I just really like food. I don't really care how expensive or gourmet it is, as long as it tastes delicious and feels really good in my tummy. That goes from McDonald's to fresh conger eel or the kobe beef skewers I've had here. I love any new and exciting combination that will make my mouth happy.

However, I can't lie, I simply adore Top Chef. I look forward to it each week, and I think that has something to do with the inspiration/art/competition mumbo-jumbo that is each week's episode. Seriously, I think it's incredible what these people can whip up (pun intended) in a super limited amount of time usually within some sort of time constraint and theme. It's like 24 hour musicals on crack.

It usually ends up inspiring me to try new combinations in the kitchen, and I often surprise myself with my ratio of success!

Like yesterday, when I decided to make fresh cornbread from scratch to go with my can of chili. Yes, that seems a bit odd, but a $3 can of chili seemed really pain-free and easy and I love baking more than 4 hours of simmering. But, as I heated it up, the chili was not quite as saucy as I would have liked, so I threw in a little pasta sauce I had sitting in the fridge, added a bit more salt, pepper, and garlic, and voila! We are talking a winter feast to die for...

All because those Bravo peeps made me less afraid to take a risk!

But the real coup de grace, was tonight. See, it's my best bud Evan's birthday today (Thursday), and we were all chilling up in Nikki's room, blissfully chatting away munching on Sloppy Joe's. But then... we realized Evan's birthday was rapidly approaching and we had nothing with which to celebrate and/or surprise him.

So, brilliant rockstars that we are, Nikki starts rummaging through her kitchen and decides (with 15 minutes till midnight), that we are gonna whip up a graham cracker frosting cake that will be to die for.

And the QUICKFIRE was ON!

Next thing I know, we're googling for quick frosting recipes, freaking out that she doesn't have any powdered sugar, and re-googling for something else that will work.

We stumble upon a 7 minute egg white recipe (she has a mixer) and get to work, only to realize too late that we were supposed to beat the egg whites separately....

So with 8 minutes to spare, we start over, I'm boiling sugar water as fast as I can on the stove and shouting at the pan, whilst Nikki is separating egg whites and beating them with the mixer waiting for my simple syrup to congeal.

With one minute left to midnight, my syrup has boiled, but sadly not quite string-ified, and we are mixing it all together.

With 15 seconds left the 8 other people in the room start the countdown and we are plating meringue/frosting mash-up "Glee" style onto cinnamon graham crackers hoping our concoction will suffice.

At at the stroke of Tokyo midnight, as the singing of "Happy Birthday" begins, I shout "Utensils down, Hands up!" (Padma would be so proud) to officially finish our quickfire.

Now, I don't think we would have won any competition with our final product, but I'm darn sure we got an A for effort.

And that my friends, is how I made a quickfire birthday cake for my friend Evan. HAPPY BIRTHDAY NEIGHBOR!

Far From Home

Today felt like Christmas. Like a REAL Christmas.

It's probably because I got to wake up and stay at home next to the Christmas tree for several hours drinking a mimosa and a Blendy whilst Skype-ing with my family on the computer. I mean, THAT feels like Christmas. Family and chilling out at home. Oh, and that whole opening presents thing.

And then I joined several of my castmates for an afternoon showing of "Avatar" in 3-D, and that felt like my first Christmas away from home (in Hilton Head seeing "Sweeney Todd") as well as that random one in Houston when the Buehner's and sis and I went to see "Ocean's Eleven"... or Twelve. I'm not really sure.

And then I came home and cleaned my room and decorated and ate leftovers and just enjoyed being at home for Christmas. And then Evan and I watched "The Road Warrior" which I later found out was actually Mad Max 2. Which fits, since during the movie I thought, "this guy Max seems pretty mad. I wonder if they realized that makes him sound like Mad Max". HA!

So yeah. Today felt like Christmas. I was surrounded by family and a great friend, and I got to relax and celebrate and enjoy the day and the sunshine.

And well, then there's that whole Avatar thing.

A movie, that, I don't think I could have been so deeply affected by, were I not living in a foreign country and trying to live amongst and understand the native people. Who, like the movie characters, speak English almost as well as their native language.

The movie affirmed for me how precious it is for us to understand each other, and how important it is to be in tune with nature. I was telling Evan after the movie that I sometimes just have to escape and go hiking and find myself breathing again in a forest, and that people don't always understand that.

So yeah. It's a great film, and I believe it's message is topical and pertinent and crucial in today's society.

Now if only I could have an extra day off EVERY week...

Oh, and sadly, but much to my expectations, walking through Ikspiari today I saw that Japan truly does make Christmas disappear instantaneously December 26th. Not a decoration, light, sign, or greeting of glad tidings was anywhere in sight. Even the brilliant Christmas tree was merely a hollow steel shell waiting for its full breakdown.

So, in response, I think my Christmas tree in my room might hang around a bit longer than usual. Why not? Those lights are wonderfully ambient.

And my nephew wiggles his butt like Donald Duck when he walks.

Now THAT's Christmas!

Story Time

"Souvenir!" the Japanese man said. "Souvenir for you!"

In reply, I stood there perplexed but decided to hold out my palm and the 60 yen in it anway.

And the Japanese man dropped two little seed pods in my palm on his way out of the park.

Whilst Evan and I stood there dumbfounded.

Actually, I think I shriek-laughed a few seconds later and the Japanese man may have turned back to look at me frozen there in shock and delight.

So I literally didn't MOVE and made Evan get my camera out my bag and take a picture. And here it is for your delight.

I FINALLY had my first random act of bizarre kindness from a Japanese person that everyone else seems to have on a regular basis. Seriously, a man just walked up to me, said "Souvenir" and dumped some seed pods into my hand. Like I had ANY CLUE what he was doing or why he was doing it.

I think the only thing more bizarre than that today was when we stopped outside the ATM before jumping on the train at the station. This man just kind of came up right beside me, stared, and was like, "Hello."

Naturally, my first instinct was that a fan was stalking me (they do that here), because, in the very strange Japanese way, he sidled right up beside me and then stopped and stared at my face.

Of course, it took me a moment to realize that this was not a crazy man, but one of our stage supervisors from work. Now basically that means when I see this man, he's in a suit and tie at my stage and he's usually delivering some sort of information (aka bad news). So I was not quite expecting this man in a baseball cap, sunglasses, and jeans to be my supervisor coming up to me at the ATM. And I certainly wasn't expecting to meet his stunning (and awkward in that first-time-meeting-you Japanese way) wife.

And I REALLY wasn't expecting to talk to them about our day, and figure out halfway through the conversation that my supervisor's wife actually speaks far more English than he does and that she would be acting as translator. Nor was I expecting a "Why are you going there?" filled with scorn and derision when I mentioned we'd be heading to Shinjuku Gyo-en for the day.

So I explained that we would be seeing the chrysanthemums that are on display in early November, and boy did chrysanthemums we see!

The park not only has beautifully landscaped flower beds, but it also had a beautiful Japanese garden with traditional teahouses and this, the Kyu-Goryo-Tei (Taiwan Pavilion).

And in an area usually "Not Open to the Public" (as listed on our map) they had a treasure trove of flowers on display. (Boy, I am glad we used our BGP and didn't listen to the map, since we were absolutely allowed to walk through the exhibit).

There also happens to be a beautiful French formal garden with long lanes of deciduous and rose beds. We took in the smell and the sight instead of taking pictures, but all it really made me long for was a Paris vacation and my mother's rosebed back on Everett Street.

There also is an "English Landscape Garden" which really cracks me up because the "landscaping" means basically that it is a giant open lawn with some trees on the side. And somebody got paid to "landscape" that. HA!

We did see some really giant Chestnut and Maple trees, but of course, my picture here won't quite do justice to their size and grandeur.

And that, my friends was how I had a lovely and most random day in Shinjuku, even if I woke up on the wrong side of the bed and couldn't quite be bothered about much of anything today.

In the end, I did manage to figure out that the seed pods had a little significance in that the giant ravens all over the park were eating them for the lunch. Which means that little Japanese man's souvenirs were actually a raven's lunch. Which I now have.

But hey. Who'd really turn down a free souvenir?