a little bit of everything

i’ve been bordering on a cold for a couple weeks, late last week it settled in my throat in the form of a rather unfortunate cough. if you can ignore my “HACK HACK” every couple of minutes, i’m pretty much normal.
i’ve been drowning in orange juice, veggie soup, chamomile tea, and vitamin c supplements (cold remedy standards)
and even looked up more home remedies online and have been downing buckets of a ginger/orange peel (or as Erica puts it “voodoo”) drink. and my own personal remedy i’ve been trying to burn the germs out of me by eating salsa with everything. at the start of this thing i bought a new box of chamomile tea and it’s almost gone. that’s as long as i think i can responsibly allow myself to be in denial calling it an “almost cold”

i’m getting comfortable with the idea of over-the-counter meds, started taking some robitussin. still praying i don’t have to see a doctor. we’ll see by the end of this weekend, i guess…

i had a pretty slow week socially, not really hanging out with anyone outside of cafe hours (besides swimming at konami). i’d  lay in bed until 11am when the cafe opens, realizing i’m a lazy bum i’d quick throw on clothes/fix my hair so i can go help mika or at least sit around and chat with customers.

stuff i have been doing to occupy my down time:
-watch japnese tv, or when i’m tired of understanding every 10 words i watch mean girls on my computer
-practice calligraphy-keiko san has lent me a couple brushes, ink, and given me a bunch of examples. this week she was correcting a few of my struggled attempts and michiko san (from wednesday discussion groups) saw i was running low on paper; i just had some cheap 100 yen store back up so she ran back to her apartment (i think literally-she was gone and back in like 5 minutes) returning with a shopping bag full of paper her husband “doesn’t use anymore”. telling me i was doing her a favor since her apartment is so small, she handed me easily thousands of yen worth of paper.
-i clean my room constantly. i’m an expert mess maker, i have gift. i’ll clean my room in the morning and think i’m doing really well but without fail when i have to let someone in (usually the gas/oil meter checkers), i run in 5 steps before them and realize my room is a mess again with no time to clean up. dishes especially. i hate washing dishes.
-i compulsively organize gifts. i packed a bunch of small things from guatemala i want to give people at the end of my trip (spoiler for any japan friends reading my blog,  haha), but i have 2 irrational fears: #1 i’m going to forget someone important (so i constantly review who i have seen that day and try to make sure they are on a list somewhere and that i have something appropriate to give them). irrational fear #2. that i’m going to die in some freak accident and someone’s going to try to pack up all the junk i’ve filled the apartment with and try to ship it back to my family in MN who definitely wouldn’t want most of this stuff back. so after i figure out what i want to give to whom, i try to wrap and label it with the name of to whom it should go. always prepared.
-i cook/bake. i’ve made salsa a bunch trying to use up my hot peppers while they’re still fresh and i hand it out to anyone who will take it. today was the first time in a while that i had gone out with people, masako san invited me (hideko, terumi, and miho) over to her house and i wanted to bring something. i picked something i have a lot of right now, nutella, and started googling recipies. i found my new favorite muffin- it’s SUPER easy and WAAAAY delicious. definitely give this one a try:
http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2012/07/06/nutella-stuffed-cinnamon-sugar-muffins/
-also i’ve been looking for winter boots since im staying longer than i originally expected and i will very probably see snow before i leave, i went shopping at different recycle stores (thrift stores) with athlee last week, made my own rounds to a couple different stores, but haven’t bought any yet. i’m not shopping with great urgency at the moment. maybe in a couple weeks.

special things (beyond my usual fun schedule) that are in the works:
getting healthy (i hope)
karaoke with miho and kotoe on monday!
hotpot party at aki chan’s house thursday (may be postponed for health reasons)
moms and tots halloween party on the 23rd (i’ve got all the supplies for my costume, just have to piece it together)
dinner and onsen on the 26th with terumi, hideko and miho
orchard and onsen on the 29th with 3 moms and their kids
NOVEMBER 23 SWIM MEET

food discoveries that excite me:
i’ll repeat my muffin recipe that i found and made for the first time today. it’s that good:
http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2012/07/06/nutella-stuffed-cinnamon-sugar-muffins/
snickers bars are 3/100 Yen at the 100 yen store
corn tortillas at costco (up until now i thought there were only flour tortillas)
frozen tots from the international food store: carrot -> baked in convection microwave -> fried in some oil -> sprinkled with cajun seasoning = ALMOST as good as  blue door pub. it will at least help me get through 2.5 months without my favorite sunday night tradition.
finally i always knew there was a mixer here at the cafe but i had never bothered to dig it out until today. it’s a beautiful, giant stand mixer and it has just opened up a whole new WORLD of possible recipes knowing i don’t have to mix stuff by hand. cookies. muffins. breads. mashed potatoes. there’s so much potential!

i don’t often use fabric softener, but after discovering that the 100 yen store carries “suavitel” a mexican brand, the label still in spanish, and reading on the bottle the promise of less wrinkles, i was so sold! i thought “viva mexico!” and threw it in my basket. 100 yen store = dollar store on steroids = a wonderful land of discovery