TGIW!

Another busy week (half-week) at work just whizzed past, thankfully... And I'm trying to enjoy every moment of my precious weekend... Thru no conscious effort of my own, this year has seen me engaging in more people-oriented activities on weekends... catching up with ppl and other wholesome activities that are not shopping :P This afternoon I also managed to catch my idol Jamie whip up some really yummy-looking yet healthy salads. J-- he actually tried to concoct his own yuzu salad dressing while preparing this salad with tuna sashimi hee...

I know this is really kinda late, but here's the last instalment of my winter adventures in Japan (Just some random pics this time round... mainly of food :P)

A teddy bear cafe just outside our Takayama ryokan... We had a late breakfast there. Three teddy towels for three of us :)
We chose a seat near all the teddies... And freely arranged them to join our meal ha. (Only for pics lah, not the whole meal...)

The matcha green tea latte I ordered came with a tiny bowl of biscuits... One of them's in the shape of a teddy bear!
An okonomiyaki place in Kyoto, Gion district (the geisha district). This eatery was really kinda weird/bit sleazy... Well, you can dine with these life-sized mannequins... And 'admire' the bordering-on-porn drawings on the noticeboards...

Yummy caramelized sweet potato from supermarket!!! Very delicious... but had really sticky teeth after that :(

My convenience store purchases... I love the convenience stores in Japan. There's a staggering variety of lovely-looking drinks/snacks/ice-cream to choose from. Above: Milk pudding and instant matcha latte (the one with hearts on the packaging comes with two tiny kit kats too) I love matcha... Why they dun sell in 7-Eleven here...

A huge snow rabbit to end off the series of Japan posts.... ;)

My "triad chief" director

Ha, I finally managed to upload this photo... Of my dept director dressed up as Chinese "lao3 da4"... Hehe, I loved the birdcage. Think he also felt very pleased dressed up like this for the night :)

Happy Chinese New Year!

It's rare that I actually get some 'peace and quiet' to myself on a Chinese New Year's eve, but it's nice to have this little window of personal time to laze around and reflect a little...

These days, Chinese New Year really isn't very meaningful for me. This year, I'm just thankful to be able to enjoy a (much-deserved!) long weekend break. Though it's THE TIME to get-together and catch up with relatives, I really dun fancy having routine reunion dinners with aunties/uncles/cousins (on dad's side) whose 'affairs' I only hear about occasionally when parents engage in dinnertime/bedtime gossip... Aiyah i probably shouldn't be such a cynic but deep down it bothers me quite a bit why all of us continue the yearly practice of visiting one another just for the sake of 'adhering to custom'... For example, mum complains to me XXX aunt's well-off daughters always hav this see-ppl-no-up attitude and very sian3 that we still have to visit them... Seriously, if we all dun REALLY want to do it, then why not NOT do it and like laze at home during CNY right? :P And why do ppl have to be fake and pretend to enjoy entertaining guests we do not truly welcome in our homes? Oh well, perhaps when peers start to set up own families/ have own place I'll truly have some fun visiting ppl during CNY... ;)

Oops, after much complaining, I hope I have not doused the festive mood too much! To all my dear friends out there, I sincerely wish you a good year ahead and a work-free long weekend to relax and recharge :)