how long does asparagus last?

For people (like me) who don't know much about cooking related things such as food storage, there are web sites like this one, which answered my question of how long asparagus lasts in the refrigerator.

When you don't have "common sense," there's the Internet!

happy 2006 and overeating

Happy 2006! May it be a good year.

I have been overeating almost consistently since vacation started on the 28th. At least I went swimming once. I will go swimming this weekend too. It's been a little hard to eat enough vegetables too. For example, if I go to the convenience store, my eyes automatically seek out the grilled pork bento, which consists of salt, pork, and rice. Salads just look boring in comparison. And have you noticed that it's a lot of work to eat a salad? Stuffing leaves into your mouth is a very messy process. Cutting the leaves up into bite sized pieces and getting them to stay on the fork also takes time.

I went to the Buddhist temple Senso-ji in Asakusa with my friend's family for the traditional midnight visit. We actually left before midnight because the lines were crazy and it was really cold. I took lots of pictures but most of them are probably too dark.

Starbucks and other stores actually started selling their 福袋 (grab bags) at midnight. These grab bags are like mystery packages - they contain a variety of items worth more in total than the purchase price. The catch is that you don't know what is inside until you buy it. Uniqlo sells grab bags labelled by size. Prices can range from approx. $20 and upwards. Apparently there are some really expensive grab bags available at department stores. Hanshin Department store had a special 2004万円 (about $200,000) bag to celebrate the 2003 Hanshin Tigers baseball team's championship. Limited to exactly one bag, at least 100 people applied to buy it. (source: a site on grab bags)

Japanese post: new vocab

段ボール箱（だんぼーるはこ）: cardboard box

For people living in Japan who have always wondered where to buy cardboard boxes other than the handy post office, Askul sells boxes in sets of 10. They have a wide variety of sizes to choose from. I am unlikely to need 10 boxes at a time unless moving though.

christmas frenzy

In Japan, Christmas is a couple's holiday. Christmas cakes and romantic dinners. Apparently Christmas Eve is including in the festivities, so all restaurants are expected to be packed on those two days. I'm guessing that it'll be the restaurants with nice ambience that will be packed, but there will probably be some overflow into the regular places. It's probably a good day to stay home.

parched!

I've been requiring a lot of liquid lately, probably because of all the heaters running in Tokyo, including in my apt. It's cold here!

Shinjuku is pretty these days. Specifically, the area around Takashimaya Times Square (not a square as far as I can tell) has pretty holiday lights out. Apparently it is titled "Snow Cosmic Fantasy" this year.

By the way, the other day I passed a club titled "Evil Yokohama" in Yokohama. I'm not sure what clientele they're going for...

corn and chocolate

Corn and chocolate is a surprisingly tasty combination. This Hokkaido company makes a type that I like (never tried any others though). It's crispy corn covered with chocolate. I've been eying a package sitting in my office. But I'm just a visitor here so it wouldn't be very polite of me to eat it.

electronic dictionaries

My electronic dictionary has been really useful in Japan, in particular for studying. I'm too slow with regular dictionary texts, because I don't recall the ordering of the hiragana characters too well. So the electronic dictionary is perfect. I carry it arround with me all the time.