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Posted by: kirin on Mar 23rd, 2012 | Filed under: Daily Life, Pi-chan
I love my dog like my own child or my best friend.
You may not believe it but I wish to spend my free time with Pi-chan as much as I can. I never thought I would love my dog this much…maybe too much. ^ ^;;
I used to love going out very often, eating out, shopping, meeting up with friends outside for a coffee and etc. But look at my life now. I wish to stay at home with Pi-chan and play or nap with her instead of going out. Even if I go out, I always think if she is doing well and I try to come back as soon as possible.
As a result, my life has become something very quiet, plain and simple. I stopped eating out and cook every meal to eat at home as often as I can. What a change! I don’t know if every dog owner is going to be like that…but I can’t believe a dog (Pi-chan) can change me so much!! I’m not bored with such a quiet life. Whenever I feel sad or upset, I think of the time with Pi-chan and I will be healed with peace and tranquility.
Sometimes Pi-chan makes me laugh unexpectedly. The mess on the couch was somewhat convenient to her. She placed herself on such a small space that was made by the messy blanket by chance.
There should be many more comfortable places in the house, but she liked this tiny space then. Such small things make me smile and laugh.
I enjoyed myself taking her pictures from various angles. I feel that I become a child again when I’m playing with Pi-chan.
I hope she also had a lot of fun with me. I have many friends but she has only me and my husband. I can live till 80 something or more if everything goes well, but dog’s life is much shorter than humans. I truly wish her to fulfill her life as a dog while she is with us. Maybe I feel way too much for her, which she may not even realize. haha! Somehow I can’t stop that. I kept many kind of pets, especially when I was a kid. But I never felt so much for any of those pets. Pi-chan is very very so very special to me. I don’t know why. Maybe we have some connection from former life. Oh I (I think most of Japanese people too) believe in incarnation, by the way. I don’t know if it is taboo to talk about such in western culture, though…:p
I found a Tofu vendor, strolling about my neighbor today. I can immediately tell them from the sound they are making. I’ll show you the image video. When you hear this tone in Japan, that means a Tofu vendor is somewhere around.
Laundry pole vendors. (I wouldn’t recommend you should buy poles from them. They repeat “2 poles for 1000yen” but they are in poor quality. Good ones cost way too much. )
Ramen vendors.
These music (?) never changes no matter how many years pass by. I feel these all familiar from my childhood. I think it’s the same no matter which area in Japan we live in.
Going back to the original topic, I found it interesting to check out the Tofu vendor. I’m not a big fan of Tofu myself, and I don’t usually buy quality Tofu from these people or at special Tofu shops, but I end up with getting ordinary ones from supermarkets.
Yes, I brought my camera with me because I thought I could blog about it, especially for some people who love Tofu! It was however a bit embarrassing to ask the vendor if I can take pictures for my friends. :p But he was kind enough to tell me that nowadays foreign people are sometimes more serious learning how to make Tofu, Soba or Ramen. So it’s not like an out-of-the-blue kind of story that foreigners are interested in getting apprenticed to a Tofu maker to be independent Tofu maker/vendor. I see!
I didn’t notice this difference until he told me but it’s true we used to bring a pot or bowl to buy Tofu from them. At that time, Tofu was not packed. It was simply in the water and the vendor cut it and we received it in a pot or a bowl. I remember I had to run up to the vendor with a bowl in my arm when I was little. (I helped shopping Tofu for my mom. ^ ^) Since some time ago, every Tofu must be packed for hygiene reasons, according to him.
Also, it was not only Tofu he carried but also some Tofu related products such as soy milk cake, Yuba (soy milk skin), Okara (Tofu refuse), and some pre-fixed food and frozen food made from those.
The vendor is focused on sales but his friend eventually got involved in production, he continued. His friend has to wake up at 3 in the morning to start making Tofu. It requires a lot of work to get soy milk from soy beans, however, the price of Tofu doesn’t allow his friend to hire employees. “It’s a tough job and it’s not easy! People prefer cheap Tofu from supermarkets. Tofu vendors like us are decreasing…” he said.
I purchased Tofu hamburg, deep-fried bean curd and a Tofu dressing from him and paid 1050yen. I already had a Tofu at home, so maybe I could try their quality Tofu next time.
The other day, my husband and I had Ramen before we went to a Crystal Bowls healing session at a shrine. We were the first customers there because we entered right after they opened at 11 in the morning.
My husband selected a set of ramen, rice and boiled gyoza (dumpling), while I ordered salt flavored ramen. Both of us got a bonus Ajitama (half-boiled egg seasoned with soy sauce and dashi) because we had Gurunavi coupon. ^ ^ As is usual with some Ramen restaurants, Oomori (large portion) is the same price as regular portion. This doesn’t make me happy if I am alone, but I ordered Oomori because my husband could help me finish it. ^ ^;
I liked these bite-sized boiled gyoza that came with my husband’s ramen set.
I’ve never tasted chicken char siu before. (Char siu is a Chinese-styled barbecued pork. It’s usually pork.) Compared with pork, chicken smells less and it was less oily. But hmm…I think I’ll prefer pork char siu. The soup was also less oily, which was my taste. To be exact, I felt dashi taken from fish in the soup. I think that Japanese taste makes ramen less oily. I don’t like ramen soup with too much oil.
The noodle was thick and straight (not frizzed or curly). I personally prefer thin frizzed noodles but I thought the noodle was matching with the soup. The mianma (the brown one in the picture, which is actually Chinese bamboo shoot sliced and seasoned) was yummy. Ajitama was so delicious by the way. I liked their ramen. ^ ^
The Crystal Bowls music live or a healing session was held in this shrine. I’m not sure if I should call it a concert or a session or a workshop. It was the first time for us to listen to Jun Makino’s performing live Crystal Bowls. I quite liked his CD book.
We were allowed to lie down on the tatami and many people naturally fell asleep, thanks to the healing sounds. However, tatami floor was too hard for my body shape and I felt quite uncomfortable with my back and it was also cold in spite of the air-cons’ being fully operated. I fell asleep while I was sitting before I knew…
Jun Makino’s Crystal Bowls are not just white. Crystal Bowls sounds are considered effective for healing and good for health. I expected I’d love the live music much more than the CD, but my honest thought is that I’m quite OK with CD music to which I can listen from home. Home is the most relaxing place to me. I don’t like to sit or lie on a tatami floor.
Well, I was supposed to write two different posts categorized two different categories, but this time I made it one. Sorry if it was confusing to you. It’s just another daily life of mine from Tokyo! Hope you had a nice weekend!