Cafe Au Lait

So I signed up for the bread course. Should be fun kneading my own dough and stuff. And no Livia, I am not domesticated, it's all about eating good food! :)

Here's my Cafe Au Lait bread:


Pretty close to the pic, eh? It was so yummy.

So, my friend Amy arrived last night. We took her to the usual Yakitori place around the corner and I think we're going to the Imperial Palace gardens today.

Tonight is a big night for Kenn! Every time we go to our local bar, Propaganda, he chats with the bar help and the owner about dj-ing. They finally said yes after 3 months! Tonight he will be spinning at the bar. Pretty cool, can't believe he'll be spinning in Tokyo! Should be a good time, it's going to be a late one so not sure who's going to make it out. I think he starts at 1am. Will definitely post pics...

Black Tea Pound Cake

Picture is a little blurry because I took it with my camera phone but you get the idea. The pound cake turned out great and is delicious! Serena and I are going back for one more free trial lesson tonight to make Cafe-au-lait bread. This is what it's supposed to look like:



Let me know tomorrow if mine looks close :)
We are probably going to sign up for the bread class. It's 50% off right now and they are pretty frequent. I would like to take the cooking class too but I'll have to see if I'll be in Japan long enough for that. That one only has 2 menus in English per month so would be a 6 month committment. Take a look at what we would make in Bread Course A.

What's for lunch?

Ok, so I didn't really have the above pic for lunch today. I took it awhile ago one day when I had my camera at work. Just thought it would be interesting for people to see the kind of things I have for lunch sometimes. This was a bento box thing with shumai (dumplings), pickled veggy, and sticky rice. It was ok. Sticky rice looks kinda gross in this picture.

Tomorrow I'm going to another trial baking class with Serena. Think we're making black tea pound cake. Will be sure to take a pic! :)

Delicious

The green tea mini chiffon cake turned out great. Light and fluffy and delicious:





The class was fun too. It's all new facilities so really nice. I'm considering signing up for a course. There's a cooking course teaching Japanese home cooking that sounds interesting. Serena might be interested in joining with me so maybe we'll take a trial class first. I'm not sure how long I'll be in Japan yet either and payment required is for 6 months.

The weekend otherwise consisted of bar on Friday and dinner/bar on Saturday with Kenn's friend's friend who just moved here. Plus lots of relaxing, and we watched the entire second season of The Office that Serena leant me. What a funny show.

Here's a pic of a typical dinner we make. This one was chicken and veggies on rice using one of the many easy sauce packets available:

What I would do for...

...a slice of NY pizza right now. Boy, have I been craving it. There's ok pizza here, absolutely awful pizza, and sometimes bordering on good, but there is still nothing like NY pizza. When I tell people here this, no one seems to get it except for other New Yorkers.

Met up with Serena last night (girl I know from NY that moved here with her husband) and earlier this week I met up with my friend Amy's friend. Kenn met up with Brandon, the guy downstairs (DJ guy). It was nice to have what felt like kinda normal lives, meeting friends for dinner. Last night I even had Pino Grigio which I haven't had in ages! I visted Serena's apt and it's nice and cozy. Made me miss having a real apt, a real home where it's all your furniture and decorations and stuff.

I've said it a million times I know, but 8 months really went by fast. Don't feel ready to go home quite just yet but at the same time I miss NY. Maybe I'm due for a visit soon. Don't want to plan anything before I find out how long I'll be here though.

No big plans for the weekend. Maybe meet up with a friend of Kenn's friend that also jut moved here. Maybe get a haircut. Oh yea my coworkers invited me to a cooking class tomorrow- going to make green tea cake and other sweets- should be fun.

Happy friday and happy weekend!

I guess I'm a hypocrite

I thought I had a 9am call with a colleague in the US today (it ended up being cancelled) and was running a tad bit late. I caught myself jogging on/between the moving walkways! ugh - i am disgusted with myself....

On an opposite note, I do make myself stand patiently at the crosswalk until the street light changes despite the fact that there are NO cars in sight. I guess I am just conforming to society.

I'm pretty disappointed in myself for having been here for now 8 months and can't speak much Japanese at all. It's awful and I just can't believe I let it get this far. I can't believe how fast time went by and it just seems like the last thing I have time for is taking classes. Question is, do I start now?? I'm an embarrassment to myself, I really am.

Weekend

By the way, that last post was dated Friday because I had it in my saved drafts. I find that annoying.

Anyway, Friday night we went to the local bar where Brandon (guy in our building) dj's. Met some of his friends which was cool. Kind of a dead night though but Kenn made a new friend to hang out with (another one of the djs there). Saturday we lounged around until dinner. Sara and Lauren took us out to a mexican restaurant to celebrate our wedding. It was really good mexican for Tokyo but expensive. Sunday we went over to Tokyo Midtown again and checked out the 21_21 Design Sight which is this super cool gallery space/architecture.

Kenn and I have been killing some movies lately too (on both DVD and on TV). The Butterfly Effect, Pride & Prejudice, Hollywood Ending, Laws of Attraction (thanks Livia), 187, The Mexican, Paycheck, Producers -- all in the past week or so.

Have you googled yourself recently?

After googling the Napster guy, it got me thinking about how much information about you is randomly out there on the web. I read his website, his resume, looked at his photos on Picasa. Than I started googling people I know and it got really interesting. So interesting I have to post about it and even post some of my findings. Sorry to embarrass some of you but hey, it's public info already is it not?....hehe

First, I have never been able to find reference to myself because I have such a common name. But after trying a few different attempts, I tried "Jennifer Ng tokyo" and found a link 3 urls down to my company website where my name is listed as the Asia Pacific contact. Yay!

When you google Kenn, it links to our friend's website where he has Kenn's url listed. Second link is to some music site.

No immediate references to my brother, dad, or mom.

Ging, did you win a gift certificate to
Two Boots sometime? Wondering if that's you.

My friend Livia links to a mention on her B school's site and there's also a link to an article she was quoted in in 1998!
Check it out. Haha

Peichung has links to an announcement of his wedding and to his wife's alumni newsletters mentioning their wedding. PC, no mentions of you outside of Melissa though!

On Charles, there was a url linking to what looks like an event he attended recently related to his alma mater.

Victor has a few mentions on some of the design work he's been involved in. Was in Comm Arts. And part of the IBM Intranet team that won a 2006 Intranet Design Award. Nice Victor!

Doris, Karl, Jenn L, couldn't anything on you guys. Ok, I didn't have a chance to look up everyone I know but I think I made my point. It's a little scary what you can find on people. You can pretty much find anyone's address/phone # that's listed in the phone book.

The comment from my last post was by the guy who's blog I linked too. I'm guessing he found me using Site Meter's tool where it shows you referring link to your blog. Small world of the internet, it's really interesting to think about how this medium connects us all. To be honest, I was a little embarrassed at first that that guy read my blog post since my blog is just a silly little personal blog and he has a "real" one. ;) But I realized how really cool that really was. He found out about a former colleague, I found a cool new professional blog to read about my industry, and just the fact that another human being that I don't know was sitting somewhere in the US (Massachussetts I think) reading my blog. Something that would have baffled the mind and seemed impossible if someone told you this was reality 10 years ago....

Napster dude

So last night, our building had a wine social event thingy. Basically free wine and food and meet other ppl who happen to be staying in the building. Kenn and I were going to stop in for "one drink" but of course ended up sticking around. We met some cool people in our building including one of the cofounders of Napster. I think he was the chief architect, one of the original programmers - Jordan Ritter. He's now CTO at Columbia Music for Japan and is in Tokyo 3 weeks each month. He's only 29! Here's his pic I snagged off the web after googling him- hehe:


Anyway he and his friend/colleague were cool and we ended up going to Departure Lounge, that same place we've been on a few Thursdays. Their perks got us in free too - sweet deal. We hit up some late night ramen with one of the other ppl we met from our building. Oh man, the ramen was exceptionally good last night!!! :)

The whole napster guy thing, got me wondering about whatever happened with them, I couldn't remember. Here's a good summary I found on this guy's blog. The blog also happens to be pretty interesting for you internet peeps.

Oh that Tokyo

Yesterday I was walking to work through the building I need to go through from the subway to my office building. Inside the building, an older man who was walking toward me just spit on the floor. The perfectly clean, probably just polished, Tokyo floor! Now I mean I know it's common for older men to spit especially in Asian countries but indoors?? Gross.

Today I was riding the subway in the "Women Only" car (just happened to, my stop is not crowded). I may have mentioned it before, from 7:30am to around 9am there is one subway car that has the conductor in it, that is designated for women only. This is because men groping women on the super crowded subways is prevalent. For you new yorkers, you may think the 4/5/6 line gets bad during rush hour, you haven't seen nothin'. Anyway, it was like 8:50am and the car was pretty empty. A guy happened to get on that car and sit down, he probably didn't notice the sign or the time. The conductor guy actually came out and told him to move to another car. I just thought that was funny how so "by the rules" they are here.

Btw, there's a Cybersaver fare for $589 from JFK to Tokyo! Anyone up for a weekend trip to Tokyo?? (thanks for sending Livia):

On american air from JFK to Narita for $589 for...

Depart anytime between Wednesday, April 18, 2007, and Friday, April 20, 2007.
Return anytime between Monday, April 23, 2007, and Wednesday, April 25, 2007.
Tickets must be purchased by this Friday, April 13, 2007, 11:59 p.m. (CT).

Stolen pics

I stole some pics from Livia's photo gallery to illustrate their trip to Tokyo and the fun we had last week...

Sushi dinner at Fukusushi (this was just one course):



The 3 of us in Shibuya (they bought sneakers):



What's a visit to Tokyo without karaoke and sake of course!




Pretty cherry blossom pics I liked:

One month

April 9th. It's been exactly a month since we left for Bali. An amazing week with friends and family, then another great week and a half in Bali and Hokkaido, ending with a really fun week and a half with Charles, Doris, and Livia visiting. Now Kenn and I are left alone in Tokyo ;) Though it was all relaxing and fun, we're pretty exhausted. There is definitely something about having a routine that keeps you sane. We are pretty sad that everyone left though and we won't see family or friends from home in awhile. My friend and old coworker Amy is visiting at the end of April. After that, we have no scheduled visitors so hope ppl will get off their lazy butts and make plans. I promise, Tokyo really is a fun city to visit. :)

At least it's Spring now. It should be sunny and nice out for the next 2-3 months until it gets rainy and then super hot. Kenn and I are going to enjoy some outdoor music festivals and some day trips and weekend trips outside of Tokyo. First we must go on full detox and I have to get back to the gym.

Here's a funny blurry pic of Kenn and Doris standing still on the moving walkway:

Stay longer in Japan?

Been thinking about the possibility of staying longer in Asia. Kenn and I have talked about it a bit too. Nothing at all concrete yet just some thoughts going around depending on work need, timeline, and desire. Other parts of Asia might be interesting but I think we're pretty settled and comfortable in Tokyo. Plus we really like Tokyo/Japan. These types of life decisions are so hard. So much comes into play. I miss NY and friends and family. But they will always be there and probably the same after another 6-12 months. But I also don't want to stay too long where it affects things like what I do workwise when I get back, how it affects us financially, what about my apt?, what about Kenn's career in NY? 6 more months out of our lives really isn't that much though for a once in a lifetime experience. So much to still see, do, and explore in Tokyo, Japan, and Asia. I want to make my efforts at work here worthwhile as well and make sure I'd be leaving things on a good note. Then I see wedding invites float around and think about all the things I'm missing while we're gone. I wonder how soon friends are going to move on to having kids. I wonder when we would want to have kids. See... so much to think about...

But then I say let's wing it! Enjoy the moment, enjoy the beautiful cherry blossoms (best viewed if resize window smaller) :)

Sick of Bali posts yet?

Too bad! ;)

Gorgeous morning at the villa:


One of my favorite pics that Kenn's sister took:


Monkeys at the Uluwatu temple I wrote about:


Kenn and I watched our videos last night. My brother bought us a digital camcorder. Fun to relive it all. I need to get off this Bali high.

Woek is carrying on as usual. Livia and Doris are back from Kyoto tonight so hopefully they'll be up for some fun.

PHOTOS GALORE

Cherry blossoms in Yoyogi Park:




Wow, what an outfit:



Video: Check out this guy with his nunchucks - hilarious!

Video: Death of a fish

More Bali Pics (I sent these around to some people already):
Pics we took in Bali
Honeymoon in Nusa Dua and Hokkaido

Dreamland beach in Bali:


Livia's bf was in Bali too :)

Tokyo update & Bali details part 2

Livia and Doris explored a bit of the city yesterday and last night we went to our favorite Oudon place then to our favorite local bar Propaganda for a couple. They took off for Kyoto today.

So back to Bali-- the day after the wedding, we lounged a bit and headed to Seminyak for some exploring/shopping. We went to this place called Ku De Ta for dinner. Expensive by Bali standards but regular priced for NY/Tokyo. They had great lounge chairs that overlooked the beach and sunset. Dinner was great. Kenn and I even went back to this restaurant our last night in Bali.

On Friday most everyone left for home. The few of us remaining went to another nice local beach and into Kuta for dinner. Saturday we sadly departed the wonderful villa with promises of returning someday.

Off Kenn and I went to Nusa Dua for our honeymoon, staying at a resort hotel on the beach. The hotel was gorgeous, really nice decor. We spent the next few days laying on the beach, by the pool, snorkeling, eating at the restaurants, and getting spa treatments.

We spoiled ourselves and enjoyed every minute of it!

livia wu foo & chefengster are dorks

Dorks for commenting on my blog while in Tokyo. :)

Upon the dorks' safe arrival, we went to a delicious Tonkatsu place in Roppongi Hills for dinner. This morning we all woke up early and went to the Tsukiji fish market at 6am. The first time Kenn and I went was a little later and we saw even more action today than last time. Of course a fish market trip ends with a delciously fresh sushi breakfast. Yum! Charles left for home this morning and I forced myself to go to work, though don't feel very tired right now. Tonight we may explore the new Tokyo Midtown development and find a new cool place for dinner. It's been so fun so far having friends from home around.

Backing up to Bali, I do want to spill some more details about that trip. Here's some more info about the gorgeous private villa we stayed at:
We had the main 4 bedroom villa, it's 2 bedroom guesthouse, and 1 additional 2 bedroom villa rented out. This came with (along with amazing cliffside views of the Indian ocean and volcanoes) 2 private pools and a full villa staff. The staff cooked and cleaned every day. Meals were extra but were so cheap. On premises was a spa where as I mentioned previously you could get $20 massages or a $45 3 hour spa treatment which included foot wash, hour massage, body scrub, facial, hair wash and flower bath - heavenly!

Saturday and Sunday involved relaxing pool side, going to one of the local beaches and going into town to Kuta for shopping.

Monday evening when most of the guest had arrived, we had a pizza dinner where they cooked personal pizzas with our selected toppings in their on premises brick oven. The evening ended with a little Marco Polo in the pool! :)

Tuesday late afternoon/evening we had a tour of the Uluwatu temple where there were aggressive monkeys that if aren'tcareful would steal jewelry, hats, cameras,etc from people. Eva, one of our group got her necklace pulled off my a monkey. They were pretty scary, eerily human-like. But the tour ended with a traditional balinese dance at sunset which we enjoyed. We ended the evening with a seafood dinner on the beach. We got to select our fish, shrimp, lobsters on site.

Wednesday morning we of course woke up to full on rain. But as I mentioned it stopped in the afternoon prior to our ceremony - yay! Everything else went off without a hitch and we really had a blast. I got a little tipsy and somehow missed a step while we were taking a group picture towards the end of the night. Got a little scraped up and a bit of blood on the dress. It aint a wedding til the bride gets hurt right? hehe. The evening ended yet again with late night pool games...