Adventures in Gastronomy

With the relocation fast approaching (just 4 more days), I’m starting to feel a bit better about the big move. We’ve essentially packed everything that needs to be packed and the movers are coming tomorrow to ship our stuff to Japan. Oddly enough, our house looks no different than it does on a normal day since we’re not moving any furniture or knick-knacks. Everything we’ve packed in boxes is located in the garage so when people come over, it looks like it’s always looked. But if you dig into the closets and cupboards you’ll notice that they are quite bare.

And thanks to a person in HR in Randy’s Tokyo office, the logistics all seem to be falling into place smoothly, too. The landlord accepted our application for the 27th floor, 1,400+ square foot apartment we wanted, our utilities have been set up for us, and the rental furniture and boxes of things we flew over with a few weeks ago will all be delivered to the apartment before we arrive.

We’ve also booked our tickets, via Air Canada (through Toronto), that appears to be the shortest possibly itinerary excluding the new direct flights from Boston to Tokyo. Plus, I’ll be coming back for the month of August so there’s no need to develop homesickness since I’ll be back in just 59 days. OOH, and as an added bonus, after this next set of flights I’ll have already reached silver status in the United Airlines frequent flyer program (which means upgrades and extra miles per flight).

So, my pessimism has returned to optimism.

At least for now. But you know how I am.

May 31st, 2012
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 1 Comment

I’ve now been in Tokyo for exactly one week (though we left Boston two days earlier for an extended layover with friends in San Francisco). For the past seven days Randy and I have kept ourselves busy registering his residency with the city hall, searching for apartments, shopping for household necessities, and looking at rental furniture options.

Busy, busy, busy.

And we found a really nice apartment on the 27th floor of a 30 story building with three bedrooms, two full bathrooms, a small gym, and unobstructed western views of the neighboring Shibakoen Park and Tokyo Tower with the skylines of the Roppongi, Kamiyacho, Shibuya, and Shinjuku neighborhoods behind it, all with a back drop of mountains (possibly Mount Fuji on a clear day). It’s spacious (1,400 square feet) and the master bathroom even has a wall of glass so while soaking in the tub (or showering) we can enjoy the lights of the city.

But here I am, one day away from flying back to Boston to settle things up and I’m getting a sense of buyer’s remorse. For a full week I’ve been in Japan excited about staying here. I would have thought that any “what am I getting myself into” thoughts would have occured upon my arrival, not upon my departure. Yet after 7 exciting days here I’m only now getting nervous, which is odd since in less than 24 hours I’ll be on my way back to Boston.

I’m a freak.

May 14th, 2012
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 1 Comment

Though not necessarily a gastronomic adventure, an adventure of another sort starts taking place in less than 24 hours.

We’re catching a flight to San Francisco tomorrow morning where we’ll spend the night with friends (with some shopping and eating thrown in for good measure) before catching a Sunday morning flight from San Francisco to Tokyo. We are scheduled to arrive in Tokyo on Monday afternoon (between 10.5 – 11 hours later…yawn).

After Randy registers with the ward office (the local city hall for the Minato-ku district of Tokyo) on Tuesday morning, we’ll go into hardcore apartment hunting mode on Wednesday through Friday. I’ve got my eyes set on a few particular buildings that I hope still have availability. My top choice has fluctuated from a building just a block or two from Randy’s office to two others buildings a bit further away, mainly because the building near his office doesn’t appear to have operable windows. The building looks to possibly be the nicest, but I’m not sure how comfortable I would be in a building where I can’t get fresh air.

What if my cooking stinks up (or smokes up) the apartment? For the record, I’m a horrible cook. It’s rare that I prepare anything on the stove that doesn’t cause our fire alarm to go off. Besides, effective this weekend the last of Japan’s nuclear reactors is going off-line as a result of the earthquake last year. That means they have 30% less power available to consumers, and a higher likelihood or rolling brown outs during the summer months. I’m not sure I can handle no ventilation at all in a city with an average high of 89 degrees and high humidity.

The other buildings offer windows that open and even have balconies. One even has a British pub on the ground floor (yay – comfort food). The other has a market across the street. Decisions, decisions.

Next weekend, we’ll take the train to Costco and IKEA to see what necessities we can pick up for the future apartment. We need to determine what items are more cost effective to ship versus purchase new, like cookware, silverware, vacuum, fans, linens…even spices and such.

Oh, and then the scary part: on Monday I’ll interview with my top choice for a Japanese Language School. Yep, I’ll be taking a course to learn Japanese while I’m there (partially to make living there more manageable, but mostly because it’s the only way I can secure a visa since the country won’t recognize me as Randy’s spouse). This does concern me, I must admit. As a kid (8th grade through 12th grade) learning a new language wasn’t difficult for me. But studies have shown that learning a new language as you get older is more difficult and that the best time is actually elementary school. Japanese is often considered the most difficult language to learn so I fear I’ve got my work cut out for me. Hell, I took French at Harvard Extension School a few years ago and found it much more difficult to grasp than I found it in 8th grade when I last took a semester of French. And the French conjugate their verbs and have similar sentence structures as we do in English.

At least I don’t think my visa is contingent upon passing.

May 4th, 2012
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: Comments Off on And the Adventure Begins

My dear readers, it looks like I’ll have some new motivation to post on here more frequently. In the next month or so Randy and I will be relocating to Japan so that Randy can take an assignment working out of his company’s Tokyo office.

It’s been a ridiculously long process in the making, with his company first proposing the assignment in early December. Nearly five months later the ball finally appears to be rolling. Yesterday, Randy received his Certificate of Eligibility, which the Japanese Immigration Office grants after reviewing his relocation package. This morning we went to the Japanese Consulate in Boston to get the visa stamp (which will be ready on Monday).

Next weekend we’re flying to Tokyo to go apartment hunting. Actually we’ll fly through San Francisco and spend a day with friends there before continuing on to Tokyo on Sunday. We’ll have just over a week there to search for apartments, with most of Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday designated as apartment hunting days.

This, more than any other part of the relocation is what excites me the most. I’ve always enjoyed checking out properties. I love change. Plus, I’m very excited to be moving back into the heart of a city again. We’ve both essentially agreed on various criteria:

Walkable to Randy’s office (for him)

Walkable to a subway station (for both of us)

1,000 square feet or more (both of us)

Two toilets and at least two bedrooms (both of us)

Air-conditioning, washer/dryer in unit (both of us)

…and my favorite part, in a high-rise (for me…though Randy is willing)

If I’m going to be in the middle of a city, I want to be able to overlook said city. And what better way than on a high floor? We’ve looked online at properties that fit that description and there are currently a number of units starting on the 11th floor and going up to the 55th floor of various buildings. The ones I’m most interested in range from the 19th through 28th floors. Plus, these are modern buildings with better seismic stability. It’s a win-win. Safety and a view!

And after nearly 5 years in suburbia, I think city living will do me some good (especially since because of Randy’s work we’re not likely to live in downtown Boston when we return.

Anyway, after we select an apartment, his company will arrange the lease for us (which takes a few weeks). They’ll then set it up for us by the time we move there (delivering furniture we will pre-select, setting up our utilities, etc…).

Once we’re there I hope to post more on here. Instead of Adventures in Gastronomy I wonder if I’ll need to rename it to Adventures in Tokyo? Or Adventures of an Expat? Or Adventures in Culture Shock? Or, considering my lack of interest in exotic foods, perhaps Adventures in Gastronomy remains the title of choice?

So…who’s up for a 14 hour flight? We want guests.

April 25th, 2012
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: Comments Off on Big Changes a’Brewing

Randy is sick of me repeating this, but it’s true. Weather-wise, this has been the best winter ever. I’ve probably said this to him at least once weekly since, oh, even before winter began (November). With rare exceptions, it’s just been sunny and 5-20 degrees warmer than normal consistently.

I’m sure we’ll suffer for it later on (rainy April? Worse, snowy April?) But I’m going to express gratitude and be thankful where it is due.

Life is good otherwise. My father is making an incredible recovery. His surgery was one month ago today. In that time, he’s showing such impressive strength and willpower. I couldn’t be more proud. At this rate, I can’t see why they’d keep him in the hospital longer than the expected release date of around March 28th.

Randy is abandoning me for Nashville to visit him brother later this week. He booked the tickets 21 days before the trip and prices were ridiculously high for going such a short distance. Frequent flyer miles were equally ridiculous. Then add in my father (who, three weeks ago was fresh out of surgery and not looking good) and it just wasn’t in the cards. I’ve looked at last minute fares on his flights but they’re even pricier now.

And tonight I’m getting together with a friend for dinner. With this weather, I may even propose that we walk instead of drive. I guess I’m just in that kind of mood.

March 13th, 2012
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 1 Comment

Any by that I mean:

Happy Veterans Day, Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Martin Luther King Day, Happy Valentine’s Day, and Happy President’s Day.

 Yikes, it really has been along time since my last post. I’ve periodically looked back at my blog in disgust over the past few months. Partially because of the lack of updates, and partially because the photo I included in my last update (in November) was of me in a hula dancer costume from Halloween. Nothing like the image of me in a coconut bra to keep readers away.

Generally, it’s been a pretty uneventful winter so far. Our trip to San Francisco was a blast. The weather cooperated and the only rainy day was the one when we were driving to Gold Country so it didn’t matter. Once we arrived there, the weather was beautiful, as was that part of the state. I could live there (it’s affordable, it’s pretty, and it’s only two hours to San Francisco…perhaps a good choice for retirement).

My holiday season was nice as well…and it was capped off with a trip to Barcelona. I managed to catch a cold prior to the trip and that morphed into a killer sinus infection while we were in Europe. I didn’t let it stop us from sight-seeing, but it was pretty damn painful. Still, I did like the city quite a bit. We ended the trip by flying to England and staying with friends for a few days. I finally got to see the English countryside (quite pretty) and got to take some over-the-counter pain-killers containing codeine that are legal there but not in the US…and that made my sinus infection a bit more manageable for the final days of the vacation. Still, it took a week of antibiotics once I returned to Boston to finally get rid of it.

Since then, this winter has been the best winter EVER for weather in Boston. Just over 7 inches of snow and it’s nearly March (and most of that snow fell in October). Temperatures mostly in the 40’s with quite a handful of days in the 50’s. AHHHHHH!

On a sad note, unfortunately, my father took a spill and broke his hip. He went in for surgery a little over a week ago and seems to be doing quite well in his recuperation at the rehab hospital. I plan to head down to the Cape again this weekend to visit him, and to celebrate his 83rd birthday.

And that’s about it for the past few months. Hopefully I’ll post again in a shorter time span with some more exciting news than I had to share for the past few months.

February 24th, 2012
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: Comments Off on Happy Holidays!

Wow – my last post was September 20th. I think this is the longest gap in blog posts in Adventures in Gastronomy history. Not a good thing.

In my defense, I have been fairly active during that lull. My aunt died shortly after that post so I hosted my parents for a few days and went to her wake and funeral. Three days later I joined Randy on a business trip to Japan. Because I was using frequent flyer miles we ended up on different flights (in both directions) so I flew out on Columbus Day and came home nine days later.

Unlike last time (when I took the shinkansen to Kyoto and Osaka) I focused my trip on the Tokyo area this time. Randy was working eveyr week day so I ended up exploring Tokyo on my own for the first four days. In addition to more temples and shrines than I can remember, I visited the Meguro Parasitological Museum…the world’s only museum dedicated to  parasites!

When the weekend came around, Randy and I continued playing tourist – visiting Ueno Park (which I saw the last time) and going to new places, like Odaibo (sp?) and the Rainbow Bridge and 30 story tall ferris wheel. And a hilarious misnamed mall called “Venus Fot”….built on the inside to look like Venice, Italy. Venus=Venice.

On Monday Randy and I ventured out of the city to the UNESCO Heritage site of Nikko. The train ride was horrible, but Nikko was great. We arrived on their annual Parade of 1,000 Samurai. Pretty cool.

Since my return, I fought jetlag for nearly 3 weeks. We also kept busy with trips in Boston (foliage, picture taking, plays, parks) and even hosted a small Halloween gathering (my first time in costume since the 1980’s when I went as a pimp with two female friends as my hookers. I can’t believe our parents allowed that.

And soon we’re off to San Francisco and Gold Country.  Should be fun. It’s been over 2 years since I’ve been to San Francisco. I wouldn’t mind skipping the Gold Country (and Randy’s wineries) for just the city – but oh well. What can you do?

November 9th, 2011
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 1 Comment

The past few weeks have been chaotic for Randy. Actually, it’s been nearly a month and a half. But there’s some major drama happening at his work that’s nearly had him flying to Taiwan at last once per week since our honeymoon. Yep, even on our honeymoon he was asked to go to Japan and/or Taiwan. Since we were already in Hawaii, it would have been easy for him to fly to Asia. Alas, he didn’t pack his passport so he would have had to fly back to Boston then backtrack again. They send somebody else instead.

Since then, every week there has been a threat…this morning after a conference call they nearly had him on a plane TODAY. Now it looks like next week or the week after.

Personally, I wish they could coordinate their disasters better so that I could plan a trip to tag along.

Otherwise, my life has been quite simple and content – just the way I like it.

I brought my mother to Mass General last week since she’s got a brain aneurysm and the doctors at Cape Cod Hospital refered her to a big-city neurosurgeon for additional evaluation. The aneurysm is apparently in some sort of cavity with less than a 5% chance of rupture. And, even if it does rupture, it would not likely damage the brain, but just bleed into the cavity putting pressure on her eyes. He said she would just need to go to the ER and they could treat it there much more safely than by doing a more risky preventive surgery.

So, it’s a relief to hear they don’t think it’s going to be a life-threatening issue.

September 20th, 2011
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: Comments Off on Exhaustion (for Randy), Relief (for me).

With decent weather predicted, Randy and I opted for a last minute trip to Provincetown for Labor Day. Sadly, it was our first (and only) trip there this year. As always, we had a great time. We made it an extended weekend by taking a vacation day on Friday and heading down to my parents’ place on Thursday after work (I kicked ass at Hands and feet, thank you very much).

On Friday, we met up with our friends, Ben and Sandy, who were renting a house in Orleans for the week. After some time at a chilly Skaket Beach, we went back and played Yahtzee (electronically, of course) after a tasty, but with slow service, Thai restaurant.

Then, on Saturday morning, we finally made it to Ptown. After lunch at the Patio Cafe with our friends we went off on our own for an afternoon at Herring Cove Beach. Following that, dinner at Cafe Heaven, then that night’s Miss Richfield 1981 show at the Paramount (front row/center!).

On Sunday we returned to Herring Cove and while heading back to town Randy spotted a fellow he went to undergraduate college with and hadn’t seen in 18 years (surprise! He’s gay). After dinner we decided to catch up with them for drinks at Joon Bar.

We had planned to go back to the beach yet again on Sunday, but instead spent the day walking up and down Commercial Street (where Randy bought various things to fit his newly svelte body: shoes, shorts, etc..). The next thing you know, it was approaching 5pm and the day was shot. Traffic looked horrible online so we popped back by my parent’s house and played Hands and Feet again (I won again…I was on a streak)!

By the time we left around 8:30pm there was no traffic at all and we made it back in record time.

All in all, a great weekend.

This past weekend we had friends over Friday night, and on Saturday went for a bike ride to Lexington Center for lunch, did required weekly shopping at Costco, and laid out on the roof deck for a few hours. At night, we saw Bridesmaids (which I enjoyed more than Randy – though he couldn’t stop laughing when they all got sick from the Brazilian food). On Sunday we went back up to the roof deck (which, radiates heat and was very warm despite high temps only in the 60’s), then went to see Contagion at the Somerville Theatre.

The movie was damn creepy…and it made me paranoid enough that I kept noticing Randy touching his face with his hands. Bad Randy. Bad, bad, Randy!

Finally, yesterday was the 10 year anniversary of 9/11. I watched a bit of the stuff on tv that morning, and DVR’d something on CBS last night (to watch later). As with most people, I remember that day quite vividly. I was in my office here at Harvard and noticed the internet was extremely slow. Shortly after that, my friend Regina called (she worked two floors below) and told me that we were under attack. It seemed too surreal, too Hollywood to be actually happening. I went downstairs and watched footage on a TV in a neighboring office. I tried calling my partner at the time, Matt, whose company was located on the 45th-50th floors of the Hancock Tower…Boston’s tallest…but kept getting directed immediately to voicemail. 

At that point – who knew how many other hijacked flights could be in the air? Besides, two of the hijacked planes came out of our city…we could only assume there were other terrorists either on the ground or in other planes. I hated the idea that Matt was up in that tower, but couldn’t reach him.

I ended up leaving work early – hearing about the plane in Pennsylvania while on the most crowded and chaotic commuter rail train I’d ever seen. It was terrifying – paranoia (and rumors) were flying around as people got updates from friends/family calling on their cell phones. Then they’d announce what they’d heard to everybody on board.  Some were even afraid the weight of the train with all those people was going to cause the bridge in Revere/Lynn to collapse.

I made it home safely, Matt showed up a few hours later (his building evacuated, but he had to stick around as the office manager). We were living in Salem at the time and walked two blocks to the harbor, sitting on Derby Wharf in creepy silence. There were no planes flying overhead, few cars, and even fewer people. It was a gorgeous day (weather wise)…how could something so horrible be happening when everything seemed so at peace?

Life returned to normal for both of us (fortunately, we didn’t know anybody affected). But as with the rest of the country, it served as a wake-up call to us. The event caused us  both to get cell phones for the first time. Never again did we want to be unreachable in the event of the unimaginable.

September 12th, 2011
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: Comments Off on A Quick Escape, then Back to Reality

I had my annual physical on Friday, and although the bloodwork hasn’t come back yet, I’ve already received some good news.

My blood pressure was quite good (110/75), despite a family history of high blood pressure (both parents and my brother have it). But even more pleasant to hear was that I’ve lost 12 pounds since last August.

WOO HOO! Granted, I’ve put a little bit of effort into that reduction by tagging along with Randy on his Weight Watchers program so it wasn’t a complete surprise.  But I was still happy to hear that it was a real loss (and not just our new scale at home being optimistically out of whack). Of course, Randy has lost over 30 pounds so my 12 pounds pales in comparison. Go Randy!

On Friday night we got together with some friends to celebrate Randy’s 40th birthday (oh oh – was the fact that he’s 40 a secret?…it was actually the 11th anniversary of Randy’s 29th birthday on Friday!). The dinner was quite tasty at Arlington’s new Persian restaurant. We got together with some other friends visiting from California on Saturday night…then we hunkered down and waited out Hurricane…err, Tropical Storm…Irene.

Our electricity flickered three times on Sunday morning but that was the extent of it. I have to admit I was rather surprised to hear about all of the power failures throughout the region based on what we experienced in Arlington. I can’t believe what’s been going on in Vermont. I guess it just goes to show that you don’t have to live along the coast to suffer the most from an ocean storm. Wow.

Anyway, I’m supposed to go to the gym tonight to work off all that extra food I ate last weekend…but if anybody can come up with a good excuse why I shouldn’t go, I’m more than happy to use it.

August 31st, 2011
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 1 Comment