Kiyomi and the Gang: January 2005

Template

=-0!!
Something is wrong with the template of my blog!!! I swear I haven't change a thing...:-(
Could anybody help me, please???
Kym.

Home is where...

Music: “Sweet Surrender”, “Diamonds & Stones” by John Denver (thanx, Victor, I like both of them!)
Mood: I don't know/What the future is holdin' in store/I don't know where I'm goin' I'm not sure where I've been (from “Sweet Surrender”)
*there’s a similar phrase in “Crystal Ball” by Tommy Shaw

Note: this post partly overlaps with my comment on Borya’s blog.

To commemorate the 60th year of Auschwitz’s liberation, more than 102 thousand names of the Dutch Jews and gypsies who were killed during WOII and have no graves, were read out. It started on the night of 22nd in Amsterdam, went on without interval, ended just before noon of 27th in the commemoration center in Westerbork, where there was a camp during the war. Dutch Jews were deported from here to concentration camps like Auschwitz.

The Dutch had “another” WOII – in the Far East. There it was the Japanese who were evil. Today there are still many issues to be solved between the 2 countries (well, better say, Japan and other countries in the area). Some of the Dutch are really “anti-Japan” and I as a Japanese have had a few very unpleasant experiences since I came here. I understand their feelings, of course, and I can’t make any excuses. I just hope that we all learn from the past, and try to make a better future.

There’s more. Besides the war history in the Far East, whale hunting is another reason of Japan’s bad reputation here. When talking about the war or whale hunting (or other negative issues about Japan), it makes me feel uncomfortable. It’s because of the facts, of course. But also, those are the moments when my feeling of “homelessness” arises. I come from Japan; I was born there and grew up too. But I don’t feel myself 100% Japanese anymore. Am I Dutch, then? Officially I’m not. Living legally here, I’m a Dutch citizen with a foreign nationality. Do I feel myself Dutch? Hmmmmmm, mostly yes – but not always. Especially when people, even those who I know for a long time, address me as a Japanese, I lose orientation and begin to wonder where I am. They don’t mean anything with that, I think, and I can’t deny that I have other background and habits and things.
Hm, okay, I’m thinking too much again, perhaps.
Kym.

Monthly eating-out/January

Music: "Re-foc" by Rodrigo y Gabriela
Mood: :-)

Good food, nice wine, pleasant chat and, most of all, bosom friends. Life is good, yes it is!

Sim's art - Chocolate mousse was here
" it was one of the best chocolate mousse"

Tuesday Blues

Music: “Transformation” by El
Mood: “Diamonds & Stones” from “Transformation”
– Some days are diamonds, some days are stones

It’s now scientifically calculated that January 24th (check here) is the worst and the most depressive, bluesy day of the year. Kind of funny, isn’t it? I didn’t notice anything worse than any other winter Monday, though. Actually, the next day (Tuesday, 25th) was much worse for me. I was very stressed because of my work, hit my head against the door (it still hurts!), milk was almost finished and just enough for one cup of cappuccino (I always take 2), not only milk but also my fridge was almost empty, a bunch of paper got stuck in the printer and took me nearly 1 hour to fix it, mobile phone connection was very bad and I missed 2 phone calls… But, OK, these are things that can happen any other day. So, in short, it was just an ordinary day of the week.

Dictionaries I used this week

After Amélie...

Music: “Hejira” by Joni Mitchell (Thanks, Paul!)
Mood: “…talk to me, talk to me…” (a phrase from a song of J. Mitchell – I don’t remember the title… Don’t know which album, either).

Saw "Un Long Dimanche de Fiançailles" tonight. OK, after Amélie, it would be a very, very big challenge for Tatou to play any other personages. But we also expect (and WANT to see) some Amélie-elements, don't we? Well, I think she did her best to be Mathilde here, and I - as an Amélie fan - am satisfied with the atmosphere of Amélie. The movie has a lot of blood and horrible scenes (Renske had to close her eyes very often, she says) because of the time in which the story goes… during WO I. I wonder how it is in the book which this film is based on. I understand that in the book there’s much more blood (yeck!) = cruelty of war. In the film it is still expressed in Jeunet’s way, very dry and – eh – “huh?” and “ah!”way. To understand and discover more of the details, I will have to go to see it once (or more) again.
Is Jeunet going to make the next Harry Potter film? I read in the paper that he had said NO, but today I heard he was going to do it. Well, I'm very curious.

I came home around 1 o’clock. It’s freezing tonight. At the very moment when I got home – I was just off of my bike – it started to snow. Brrrr. A big mug of hot chocolate was the first thing I had in my mind.

Covered with icy snow in 2 minutes...

Choice

Music: “Edge of Forever” by Lynyrd Skynyrd, “Vicious Cycle” by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Mood: “Heaven or Hell” from “Vicious Cycle”, “Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometimes” by The Korgis

Went to see a film yesterday: “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”. (Ah, that’s why, the “mood” above!) . It took me a while to understand the plot. But once I could follow what and how, I was absorbed in the story. The following question I’m asking to myself is because of this film.

I’ve been living alone (with the Gang) for 3 years now. We, my ex and I, broke up just before Christmas 2001. I was then totally lost and devastated, my whole world collapsed. Now I’m almost recovered from this breaking-up itself, but not from myself. Or I should say I haven’t got myself back yet. I was so devoted that I was, I think, 99.9% depending on “us”—no, no, actually on him. My life, happiness, joy + sorrow – everything was based on this relationship, being with him. When he was gone, so was my world with myself in it. I’ve spent nearly a half of my life with him. It’s not very easy to change the way after such a long time. Sometimes I wish that I had never met him, that I had never had this all. So, here’s my Q to myself. If I had the choice that I could have all my memories of him and us erased, would I do it? Would I choose to get rid of the memories of a half of my life? Well, probably I wouldn’t. But, honestly, I’m not 100% sure. I’m not that much recovered yet, I guess. One thing I’m sure about, btw, is: I have only one ex in my life, and that is more than enough.

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Sim, Von zou volgens mij na deze film heel anders gaan denken over Jim Carrey ;-)

After-movie talk

Nacho snack again

Music: “Jaco Pastorius” by Jaco Pastorius, “7 Deadly Zens” by Tommy Shaw
Mood: “A Place To Call My Own” (from “7 Deadly Zens”)

Here’s the promised photo of my speedy nacho snack. For the recipe, please go back to the post of Jan. 8 “Positive about myself #1”.

It’s a kind of lazy Monday today. I worked yesterday instead, did some bookkeeping and a little bit of housekeeping as well. BTW, why do we have to do so many “keepings”? Bah!

Easy, speedy, yummy nacho snack

Under the blanket

Music: "Searchin'" by Sam Yahel
Mood: "Searchin'"

The weather forecast proved right. It’s very cold today, it’s freezing outside. Sleeping under the blanket, Fox would not want to miss a sound.

Waiting for spring to come

Music: “Under the black moon” by Nancy Works On Payday
Fave tune: “Glass on the sidewalk”
Mood: Springy. Swinging on “Getting Is One Thing”

Bought a bunch of tulips yesterday. It has instantly brought spring in my room. 7 out of 10 times when I buy flowers, they are in a tone of red. This time I picked somewhat fragile-looking, small pink tulips.
This winter has been very mild until now (except for a few freezing days + nights). I saw in my neighbourhood some snowdrops already almost blooming. I hear it’s going to be a bit colder this weekend. Hope those snowdrop-flowers can survive the frost alright.

Sweet pink tulips

Power Pizza

Music: “Mantra for the American Jungle” by Bright Blue Gorilla
Mood: “Juliet’s Asleep” (lalalalala…) and “Remain Calm, Share Your Bananas”

Saw this in the paper. Hmmm, I was wondering why all the sharp dressed business people carrying the pizza box. ;-) I like the idea of “made from genuine Italian-style pizza box”.

Super Pumpkin Soup

Music: “Working For CurioCity” by Nancy Works On Payday
Mood: “CurioCity”

Cooked pumpkin+vegetable soup again. This is really super yummy!

Edit
Here's an "assembly" instruction for Yumiko and Victor. Actually, there's hardly any instruction needed.

2 (red) onions, roughly chopped
4 fat cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1 organic orange pumpkin, thoroughly washed (don't peel!) and seeded, cut into chunks
2 tbsp olive oil
2 large leeks
2 bell peppers (1 red, 1 yellow)
1 yellow or green courgette (zucchini)
200g celeriac
4 ripe (vine-) tomatoes
3 bouillon cubes
freshly ground pepper
sea salt
1 heaped tsp cayenne pepper or chili powder
2 tbsp parsley
sour cream

Heat the oil in a large soup pan, sauté the onions and garlic. Add the pumpkin. Cut the other vegetables into chunks, add to the pan and sauté. Pour over enough water (ca. 2 liter) to cover the veg., add the bouillon cubes as well. Bring to boil and cook for about 40 minutes until veg. are soft. Purée the soup. Season if needed with salt and pepper. Float 2 tbsp sour cream on top of each serving. Garnish with finely chopped parsley. Serve with crusty (sourdough) bread
Try other veg. like potatoes, carrots etc.

Buon appetito!

Main ingredients for 8 (or for me alone just enough for 3 days)

Handy woman

Finally I re-assembled my old wardrobe tonight. It took me more than 3 hours, but it's OK! Now I can put all my clothes back there, and then start with the “blue room” project. I’ve been busy with reforming my bed room for a long time, that’s why my blue room is full of stuff that actually belongs to the bedroom. Oops, I had promised myself that I would FINISH it all before Christmas… Oy, I will have to make a negative remark about me here: I’m a bit slow with this kind of thing. But I have also a positive one: I’m handy and strong. :-)
There’s one thing, btw, I’m not very certain about… I have two screws left…???

I'm a handy woman

Positive about myself #1

Music: La Semana by Ottmar Liebert + Luna Negra, Body Acoustic by Michiel Borstlap, Breakout by Papo Vazquez
Mood: “Caballada” (from La Semana)

It was a sunny but very windy day. The wind was so strong that I almost fell down from my bike several times on my way to the shopping centre (and back) near here. Walking Fox was even more difficult than usual… though it was also kinda funny to see how he shut his eyes tightly against the wind – oh, what a sweet dog! :-)

A week has already past this year, I’m still trying to make New Year’s resolutions. One thing I know – that is: think positive about myself.
So, here we go: the first positive remark about myself this year: I’m a good cook. When my friends make a compliment on my cooking, I always say that everyone can cook with a good recipe. That’s true and I still think the same way, but it doesn’t mean that I can’t. In fact, I CAN (I think).

Here’s one of my favourite quick recipes. It’s so easy + tasty, perfect as a snack to share with (unexpected) guests. I make this, however, often as a quick dinner for me, like tonight, with a big green salad. I saw this in BBC Good Food magazine a while ago. It’s so simple that I didn’t write it down – so it might be slightly different from the original. (It’s still good, though).
Oh, and, I was so hungry tonight that I forgot to take a picture of it… I’ll post it next time.

Super easy, speedy nachos
You will need: a bag of plain tortilla chips, a jar of salsa, a few spring onions (very thinly sliced) or a red onion (very finely chopped), a chunk of cheese (fontina, cheddar or any other kind, try the one you have), chili flakes (crushed), a fat clove of garlic (crushed or very finely chopped - I’m sure this was not included in the original recipe)
Note: I can’t say the exact amount of each ingredient. :-P

Tip the chips on to a baking tray, pour over the salsa and scatter over the spring onions (and the garlic if you like). Grate over the cheese. Add a pinch of the chili, then put in a very hot oven for about 5 minutes (or under a hot grill for about 3 minutes) till the cheese melts. Serve with soured cream or guacamole, if you have/like.

The quake

The quake in Asia was again such a disaster that makes us all feel so small and powerless against the furious nature. I hope the help from all over the world can reach the sufferers as soon as possible.

Saw a small article in a Dutch newspaper last week that the Earth is now turning faster since the quake in Asia. It’s so radical! Sounds like a science fiction story. I checked on the internet and found the original article of “The Independent”.

From Independent News (December 30, 2004)
The quake that set off the devastating tsunami literally shook the Earth to its core, scientists believe, accelerating its rotation and shortening days by a fraction of a second. It may be necessary to add a "leap second" in years to come in order to correct the change.
(.....)
Richard Gross, a geophysicist with Nasa's jet propulsion laboratory in California, said he believed a shift of mass towards the Earth's centre caused the planet to spin three microseconds - one millionth of a second - faster. It also caused the planet to tilt around 2.5cm on its axis.
"[The forcing of one tectonic plate beneath the edge of another] had the effect of making the Earth more compact and spinning faster," he said, saying that the changes were too slight to be detected by global positioning satellite networks.
(.....)

Happy New Year!

Good end/good start
2004 has ended. Though it was another year of survival for me, I dare say that it was the best year for me since, let me see, at least 5 years. In 2004, I had much more good and positive moments than in the past few years, and much less depressive and negative moments. I’ve never been so active in many aspects for a long time, either.
It is still a struggle to get along with the situation I’m in. It’s hard when you are lost and can’t find the way. But you have to start somewhere to get back on the trail. You might be disappointed again, because it’s not very easy to find the right direction. The only way to find out is to give it a try. I have now a feeling that I found a small space to move around, so the next step will be to walk a bit further and see if there is any trail behind the bush. If it is a wrong way, I can come back to this place, I hope, and try again. So, that is what I’m going to do in 2005. I don't have a concrete to-do-list for this year yet, I’m now working on it.

Normally I don’t care much for celebrating the New Year’s Eve. I mean, I don’t mind celebrating or not because it does not mean very much to me. For the past few years anyway, I had no reason for celebration. This year, however, it was different. I wanted to do something to mark the end of the year to remember. The best way to do it, I thought, is to spend the hours with friends. No, nothing like a big party, but just having fun with small company was my idea. Since I had enjoyed playing game so much the other day, this time I invited a few friends to a snack/drink/game evening at my place. Oh, what a great eve it was! It was the best New Year’s Eve for me since years. …Hopefully, my guests had a nice time, too.

New Year’s Eve 2004/2005 – Having fun with “present-game”: we all brought some inexpensive but nice/fun to give/get presents, and tried to get as many presents as possible by rolling dice. Here are the photos of the participants and their “booties”.

Renske is very happy with the kitchen timer and the jewel box.