A sequel to my dearly departed 8-year-old blog, Ä Canuck in Emperor Akihito's Court"(http://haruhiko.blogspot.com). Back home in Canada but still have those ties to Japan after 17 years' residency there.
Well, we finally got that snow. So we have a White December 22, but whether or not that can be extended to a White Xmas is debatable. And the stuff out there is more powdered sugar than a blanket. Weather Canada has officially said that the probabilities of getting a White Christmas in Toronto in the 21st-century is basically down to 33% compared to 66% back a few decades ago. So, may one-third of your Christmases be white.
A few days ago, I got a nice little care package from my former students Shiho and Ayumi. They even themed it for the New Year's. Included in the package was a few packets of Maru-chan Seimen; I guess they meant it to be consumed on December 31st since the tradition is to eat toshikoshi soba or noodles of any sort as a way to link (figuratively through the noodles) the Old Year with the New Year. I remember one year back in Ichikawa when I stayed there for the Holidays and I made myself some of those toshikoshi noodles with a couple of huge shrimp tempura. Ended up stuffing myself to sleep during the Kohaku Utagassen.
It'll be a quiet day today....will just be blogging throughout the afternoon and then I've got Mr. Moriya's final lesson for the year tonight. Tomorrow will herald the official start of the Holiday social calendar as I meet up with some friends for possibly some dim sum downtown.
Ah, yes, the First Day of Winter in Toronto. And indeed on schedule, it's starting to freeze and we may have about 2 cm of the white stuff by this time tomorrow. And strangely enough, we're all looking pretty hale and hearty for folks on The Last Day of Earth.
In any case, the title above doesn't refer to an Italian and Estonian crime-fighting pair. It is what I had for my food intake last Friday between the Christmas Market and "The Hobbit".
Over the past year, I'd been reading about one of Toronto's foodie fads which happened to be this barbequed pork called porcetta. Newspapers were listing restaurants which served the crackly-on-the-outside and tender-on-the-inside slab of pig, and so I was intrigued about giving it a shot myself, but didn't get the chance until I walked over to St. Lawrence Market. It's been pretty amazing over this first full year I've been back in Toronto in that I had never visited St. Lawrence in my entire life before going to Japan for nearly 2 decades, but just this past year, I've visited the market a number of times already. In any case, I decided to try out The Sausage King and ordered the Porcetta on a Bun with the works. It wasn't too crackly but then again, I had to bite through several layers of veggies so probably any sound was muffled. However, the pork was really juicy and tender and nicely spiced. The sandwich may look pretty big but I went through that sucker really quickly and if I were younger, I would've gone for another round.
Now, in between major meals, I did stop off at a Second Cup at Empress Walk since I got there a full 90 minutes before my meeting with The Anime King. Of course, being the Yuletide and all, I enjoy having my coffee, dessert and newspaper at one of the many coffee shops in T.O. Had the latte and a Linzer Cake....a somewhat dense cake with raspberry jam in there. Fit the bill quite nicely.
Met up with The Anime King and we decided to just walk up Yonge and have dinner at Ajisen. No, not the greatest ramen in ramen-happy Toronto, although it's still above the instant stuff. But this time, instead of the noodles, I went for the karaage meal. Japanese-style fried chicken was frankly a staple during my time over in the country for many, many years. Anyone's who has read my previous blog will have seen my photos of the various karaage bento and perhaps even my odes to the ultimately unhealthy but divinely delicious dinner (or lunch) option. And since I got back, I hadn't eaten a single morsel of the stuff. Talk about going cold turkey (or chicken).
Chicken is frankly my favourite meat, so I was quite happy with dinner, although the karaage wasn't exactly like its equivalent in Japan. Karaage over there is craggier and chunkier, kinda like Tommy Lee Jones' face. Last week's karaage, my long-time-no-see dinner, was more Justin Bieber....kinda like mutant chicken nuggets. However, the karaage did come with the right sauce....Japanese kewpie mayonnaise. Yep, another reason for the dietician to tsk tsk. But I was one satisfied diner on a cold night.
Been a while. I've always wanted to take a look down here, so last Friday I took the Parliament 65 bus past my old neighbourhood of nearly 40 years ago, St. James Town, and Cabbagetown. Finally, I got off at the Distillery, an area that I've heard so often about over the year I've been back in Toronto but had never visited. Much like Cherry Beach, my old images of the area consisted of deserted fields and old sugar mills. Obviously, not anymore.
The weather was frankly un-Xmas-like. Balmy for December and so of course, not a flake of snow to be seen or felt. But with the Market finishing up on the 16th, I couldn't wait for the weather to make things appropriate. And of course, being the morning, the atmosphere was that much more un-Xmas-like (Christmas markets are probably far more festive in the evening with the illumination on). Still, with a bunch of high school kids having fun, and scenes like this one to the left here, the Market did have its charm.
I also got a chance to partake in my first stollen. I'd seen a program back in Japan which featured the famous German dessert being sold at the Xmas markets over there. This one I bought was actually produced in Peterborough, but I wasn't complaining at all. I think for those folks who treat the annual fruitcake as a seasonal punchline would probably enjoy a stollen far better. The texture is between that of a cake and a bread, and it has a slight sweetness instead of the hazy booziness of a fruitcake. It'd be perfect for dunking in coffee.
I enjoyed my little stroll through the Market, but next year, I'll see if I can come during a meteorologically appropriate night, although some of the weather folks are saying that a snowless December is probably gonna be the norm in T.O.
Later in the evening, I met up with The Anime King and The Anime Bishop over at Empress Walk in North York to catch "The Hobbit". I was never all that much of a Tolkienite, but I did catch the entire trilogy of "Lord of the Rings" with MB in my Japan days and enjoyed it. But like those three movies, "The Hobbit"was one of those movies that I probably wouldn't have gone to see if I hadn't been invited. We definitely got the full effects with this movie. Peter Jackson had thrown in the 48 frames/second gimmick (not ready by any means to call it a revolution), and it was in 3D.
First off, I saw the 9-minute prelude for the next "Star Trek"movie. Yep, happily, it was much better than the similar presentation for "Tron: Legacy". Still, I'm not sure if it was a prelude or if it's something I'm gonna see as part of the main movie next May. J.J. Abrams is continuing to knock down sacred cows....hasn't killed off any other major characters yet but he's got the Enterprise going as the 23rd-century's most famous submarine. Looks like fun, although from the prelude, I wonder if this version of the franchise seems to be emulating a space-age version of "American Pie" with a less horny bunch.
As for the main feature, "The Hobbit"did its job. The 3 hours whizzed by quickly enough; never looked at my watch even once, although I think the first several minutes could've been easily cut. I guess Jackson still has that problem that he had with "King Kong"several years ago. Now, as for that 48 frames per second....well, it didn't make me nauseous at all, but it did feel like I was watching a giant video presentation of a BBC drama. And although the characters' faces didn't look exactly like moving representations of craggy topography, they took on a more detailed hue which may be potentially interesting if the gimmick is ever used in some of the legendary dramas such as the ones by Shakespeare. Still, I'd love to see Clint Eastwood or Tommy Lee Jones being filmed that way.
Still no snow out there and we're approaching the midway point of December. Would like at least a White Christmas or failing that a White Doomsday on the 22nd. The snowsweepers were probably having orgasms last Sunday when they got onto the roads to get rid of some sleet...that's how desperate it is.
Went out to the local walk-in clinic to get that free flu shot with Mom. Not a problem....just fill out a form (since it was our first time there), show the OHIP card and get the needle. We did our due diligence and waited 15 minutes just to make sure that neither of us were going to start convulsing; I felt a bit warm but nowhere near what the average mug of beer does to me. The Star was free today as well; nothing wrong with that....considering that I never got that with the far thinner "The Japan Times" back in Ichikawa.
I'll be out all day tomorrow....rather nice since I now have my work and personal life under the same roof. I'm going down to The Distillery district near Parliament and Front Sts to take a gander at this Christmas Market that's been there for the past few weeks. The event will be closing up shop on Sunday. I'd been hoping that there would be snow by now, but since that won't happen anytime in the next few days, I'm gonna head on down and take some pics. Maybe pick up a fruitcake or if I'm very lucky, a Baum Kuchen. Baum Kuchen is basically a giant iced roll cake that is far more well-known in Japan than in Canada...used to buy the convenience store version a fair bit on the way home from work.
There is a bakery right on the Ginza that I used to see during my strolls on the main street on a Sunday when it was closed off to vehicular traffic that made Baum Kuchen in the display window. Someone had the foresight and the equipment to film it above.
In any case....trailers. I'm off to see "The Hobbit" tomorrow with The Anime Court. But I've already seen a couple of trailers that will be preceding the main feature via the Net. Both movies I will be anticipating with some enthusiasm.
Of course, being a semi-retired Trekkie (i.e. I actually did get a life of sorts), I was keen on seeing what this "Star Trek: Into Darkness" was all about. The 2009 feature was a big success to the movie-viewing public at large, and more polarizing amongst the Trekkies....so I guess J.J. Abrams' take was the anti-"Star Trek V"...but I enjoyed it as being a far happier lark than the funereal final flight of "The Next Generation" crew a decade ago, even though the story of Jim Kirk's fasttrack promotion was hilarious at best. However, the trailer for the next entry with Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto looks like it's veering truly into "Dark Knight" darkness. Not sure if Benedict Cumberbatch (any distant relation to Englebert Humperdink?) is playing a souped-up Khan Noonien Singh or Gary Mitchell with a Patrick Stewart fetish, but it appears Abrams will be doing some more sacred cow slaughtering. Considering that this cast is the first "Star Trek" crew that has never come up from television and that most likely they probably won't wanna do 6 films, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the beloved characters get phasered out (et tu, Pavel Andreivich?). There are swan-diving starships but didn't see any space scenes in this trailer. Maybe they've still yet to be fashioned out in post or Abrams is holding his cards close to his chest. Apparently, tomorrow before "The Hobbit", there will be a 9-minute prelude concerning this movie. Just hope that it's not like the thing that came out for "Tron: Legacy" a couple of years ago.
Then, there is "Man of Steel" under Chris Nolan's aegis. Several years back, I'd seen "Superman Returns" with Brandon Routh, and felt underwhelmed although a bit of that nervous rationalization crept in just like when it had when I finished seeing "The Phantom Menace" (that was....kinda good, wasn't it? Well....wasn't it?). It looks like Nolan and Zack Snyder may be taking a few pages out of "The Dark Knight" playbook here as well. Certainly, having Kevin Costner's Jonathan Kent answer of "Maybe" to young Clark's"Should I have let them die?" has got me intrigued. And then there is the poster of Superman being led away in handcuffs with a military squad surrounding him. The marketing folks are working this, people. I also read that the John Williams' theme will not be back, but then again, I think the producers are going for a completely clean break from their predecessors.
Not a huge Tolkien fan, although I did see all of the original trilogy for "Lord of the Rings". Case in point, the only thing that got my blood even remotely racing was reading that Sylvester McCoy (the 7th Doctor Who) was in "The Hobbit".
Well, it's the 12th day of the 12th month of the 12th year of the 21st century. This will be the last time for numerical alliteration for me at least in my lifetime....unless immortality is discovered sometime in the next 50 years.
It's been a bit of a slog over the past few days. Nothing but translation which means I've been pretty much tied to my chair and desk for many hours a day since Monday. Not too bad, but I'm happy that I'll get a chance to get out tomorrow and Friday. I've gotta get some Christmas stuff done over the next couple of days....plus get a flu shot nearby.
Had lunch at the neighbourhood Pizza Hut yesterday since my parents were out all day. Quite a few more customers in there than usual, but that just meant that the place was one-third full. Perhaps the nights are brimming with pizza lovers, but I can't honestly believe how long this branch has stayed open with the seeming emptiness of the place. They had their buffet on so I was able to have my 6 slices of various types of pizza, plus a couple of runs to the salad bar for salad, pasta and garlic bread. Believe me, I am semi-retired now when it comes to engorging. It's one of the things I'm grateful for since returning to Canada last year since except for one particular franchise, none of the big pizza chains in Japan have sit-down restaurants; it's all delivery there. That one lone franchise is a domestic deal named Pizza Salvatore, and it's an expensive one....$35 for a medium pizza! Quality fare, though.
Speaking about Japan, the other shoe finally dropped across the Japan Sea. North Korea finally fired off that missile yesterday to much fanfare and celebration in the Hermit Kingdom of Kim Jong Un. CNN reported that the missile flew over Okinawa but Japan didn't fire a shot. NHK told a somewhat different story by showing that the missile actually went due south...perhaps shaving over the very southernmost little island in the Ryukyus. If we're to follow NHK's report, then Taiwan or The Phillipines had more of an issue to shake their fists than Japan did.
That tunnel collapsing in Yamanashi Prefecture got me thinking about the state of Toronto's Gardiner Expressway. Today, the news outlets here have been talking about the report that the decrepit highway may be in even worse shape than was previously thought. I'm just wondering when we're gonna get that CP24 Breaking News of cars falling through the pavement.
And I hear that Mayor Rob Ford has cancelled his annual New Year's Levee at City Hall. Gee, I wonder why....
Well, I guess Toronto is getting its 15 minutes in the spotlight this week with Darwin the IKEA monkey on his odyssey in the parking lot and the famous store. I don't think I've seen that many YouTube videos on a particular simian uploaded within a 24-hour period. And it was the IKEA that my family got their furniture from last year. At least he was dressed like a proper Torontonian. And he now has fame, comfort and proper care. Can't say that about the owner....he's lost his monkey, $240 and perhaps some pride although his name hasn't been released...yet.
My day yesterday was far more mundane. Just had the family outing at a nearby Kelsey's with only a brief but intense sleeting outside the only exciting event of the day. Mind you, trying to drive home in that sort of weather had its own uninvited excitement.
Japan has undergone a few trials and tribulations this past week, and none of them have had anything to do with the upcoming election. There was the tragedy of some concrete roof panels in a tunnel in Yamanashi Prefecture collapsing on top of some cars, killing nine. Then, there was the sudden passing of kabuki master Kanzaburo Nakamura XVIII, and finally that Shindo 5(M 7.3) tremor which kicked the country in the shins on Friday. I took a look at the quake map....almost the whole of Honshu was slathered in Shindo 4s and 5s with the epicentre in the same area where the March 11 quake struck. Can only imagine the terror that the people felt there.
My brother came by and blithely remarked that a Shindo 5 couldn't have been that strong. He must've been joking. I know what a 5+ is like....it was the same strength that hit me in the Shinjuku Starbucks when Tokyo felt the 3/11 quake. It ain't no massage, believe me. Skyscrapers were swaying like palm trees, and I ended up doing a major odyssey getting back to my apartment in Ichikawa that night.
Been a pretty quiet day. Still looks very gloomy out there....nothing Christmas-like at all in the weather department, although CTV says that snow may be on the way later today. Meteorlogically speaking, I care about the last week before Xmas. Do we get a White Christmas or not? Nowadays, it seems like a coin toss. I got another translation done in the preliminary stages yesterday. All I need to do is give it that once-over before handing it into the boss before tomorrow. And I taught Mr. Moriya tonight over Skype....seemed pretty drowsy but then again, he had just come back from a busy business trip in Fukuoka the night before.
