Scenes From Japan: Ojiya (Niigata)

Ojiya is a small city (more like a town actually) in the Niigata Prefecture. In the 4 days that we've been shuttling back and forth from Nagaoka (where our hotel is located) to this place, QUIET is probably the most apt word that I can best describe the place.

If I am to preserve a scene in mind for this particular place, I will probably forever picture it this way:

Lush greenery, Very very clean air it literally smells like PINE the minute you step out of the taxi. If I could bottle the air and carry it with me, I would've.

Every morning, we leave our hotel at around 730 to catch the 740 train from Nagaoka to Ojiya. The trains are scheduled almost an hour apart so it's imperative that we get to the train station in time. Again, although the hotel that we stayed in (Hotel Mets where we paid around 6,500 Yen per night) is far from great it beats the one across us (most of our colleagues recommended New Otani) due to it's accessibility to the train station. It's actually connected to the station itself so we didn't have to rush in the mornings. I'd wake up at 6am and still take my sweet time prepping up.

In the days that we've been doing that, we've mostly riden a train full of high school students and sat with familiar faces already. It's a short train ride of about 20 minutes (3 stops from Nagaoka to Ojiya if I remember correctly). Ojiya doesn't have public transportation so we take a taxi from the station. The office is just about 5 minutes away but taxis doesn't come cheap in Japan (flag down rate is at 660 Yen) so we spend about 1,300 Yen daily per way on taxi fare.

This is the view from right across the train station. That street behind the bull fighting billboard is the way towards our office. 

Just like the train rides to Hanyu, I also enjoyed the train rides to Ojiya. They were peaceful with relaxing views of ricefields and suburban neighborhoods, kids on bikes (probably on their way to school) and even a slight glimpse of snow-capped mountains.

Sadly, I spent all most of my days holed up in this place. But I was here for work and I had to deliver what was expected of me. It is after all my pride and honor to be called to help out and I wouldn't wanna let people down.

Now that I'm searching the web on what this place has got to offer though, I feel a slight tinge of regret I didn't even dare to visit a park or a Koi place there (since Ojiya is really known for it's Kois). On our last day, we were in for an adventure because we left the office late and the ticket office was already closed when we got to the station. We almost thought we were going to have to pay gold to get home (read: several thousands of bucks for taxi fare). Good thing my companion speaks Nihongo and she was told we can still ride the train and pay when we get to our destined stop.

Bye bye, Ojiya. Till we meet again.

Friday Musings.

Photo from Pinterest

It's a Friday. Yehey!

In my head there's festive music playing, colorful and bright pompoms up in the air, cheerdance. You get my point. There's a party happening in my head already.

BUT.

I've got a million things to do before I actually call it a happy weekend. NO make it a TRILLION.

I hope your Friday is rocking. As early as Monday, I was already looking forward to this Friday and envisioning a date night with the husband. I've been bugging him to take me out drinking. I miss those one for the roads that we used to do before when we were younger and still dating.

photo from Pinterest

BUT. There are more important things to attend to now than drink. I didn't say that to make you feel guilty, if you're a working mom like me and is planning to go out drinking tonight. GO! You deserve it! You earned it! I really meant that for me. This morning while discussing plans for the day with my husband, I already decided to do what I deem is best for me. I'm lacing up for another 4-miler date run tonight.

But I might cap the night off with an episode of Grey's Anatomy and a glass of wine with the hubs (well, I know I'll end up drinking 2 glasses since he's really not fond of wine) to finally make that imaginary celebration in my head happen.

However your day turning out to be I am sincerely wishing you Happy Friday, friend!

Recipe: Egg Sandwich Spread

What's your go-to recipe when you need to instantly whip out a meal for your family?

Mine will always be my super fast and super easy Sardines Pasta. But some days, especially on weekends where we eat breakfast late (usually around brunch already) and decide to skip lunch, sandwiches are my easy go to snacks. Even if I like (or rather love) to keep stock of different kinds of spreads in our pantry, I always try to inject a little bit of homemade touch on the meals that I serve to my family during weekends (even of lazy ones).

This recipe is one of the most loved homemade spread in our household. It's very easy to make. And my 4 year old always love to help make this. On a recent playdate, we made a tub of this for our little potluck picnic. Our small sandwich container was wiped out clean so I am taking that as a compliment. We have a winning spread here. :)

Anyways, since it's school season, I'm thinking maybe you'd wanna try making this for your kids baon.

What you will need:

5 pieces large eggs, hardboiled and chopped finely
1 small red onion, finely chopped
1 sprig of parsley, finely chopped
2 packs of light mayo
1/2 tsp mustard
1/2 tsp condensed milk
salt and pepper to taste

How to do it.

1. Dump all ingredients unto a deep bowl and mix well.
2. Toast your favorite flat bread and spread away.

In the photo, I'm using a multigrain loaf bread. I think it's a good match to this spread.

This recipe by the way, yields about a pint of egg sandwich spread. It usually keeps for about a week in our fridge.But I guess, since the ingredients are very attractive to Salmonella, best to consume it within 3 days.

Hello June!

I was about to type in: JUNE is here. School season has landed. Then stopped to check my 2012 entries. I feel like I'm writing the exact same thing for my June post last year. But alas, no Hello June for 2012. Good for me.

Yes, in my part of the world, June will always be the start of school season. And of the rainy season (when I was in grade school the term was Wet season, I don't know if that remains true to this day though). 

For our little family, I don't know what June has to offer yet. I've been overly exhausted from back to back trips for work. I feel like I missed the chance to actually feel excited about the incoming school season.  That thought makes me a little sad as I've always looked forward to school season. The smell of plastic covers, notebooks, fragrant erasers, ahhh even the smell of graphite is something I've always looked forward to. (Yes, I'm really addicted to school supplies)

Before I left for my second trip to Japan, I frantically tried to complete every thing that the kid needed for the coming school year. I felt that if I joined the rush, I will just collapse in the middle of the mob (and really, that's how National Bookstore is like these days. My happy place isn't that happy right now so I'm intentionally keeping myself away from it for the next 2 weeks). 

I need to get out of this rut soon. I need to shake off this gloom or else it will totally consume me. I don't like myself so much these days. I miss sleep. I miss my lazy weekends. I miss cooking for my family. I miss my long runs. I AM MISSING A LOT OF THINGS.

(And this has got to stop, Faye)

June is going to see me finally getting back to my old self. YES. That's the primary agenda this month.Wish me luck!

p.s. Still despite feeling out of funk I'm glad that the minute I woke up, I still remembered my dear Lola Pila's birthday. Hope you're having a rocking birthday celebration up there Lola.Keep watching over us. Keep praying for our safety and good health. We Love You!

Slow Day, Friday! (And thank God, it is indeed FRIDAY!)

Finally! A work day that doesn't spell T.O.X.I.C.

By Wednesday, I thought I'd be like this come Friday:

But yesterday, I thought best to just be this way:

But I'm happy to report, it turned out to be even better. I came to work feeling like this.

I'm just really happy this week is over. I'm positive next week and the weeks after than are going to be way, way better. (No more business trips for now, please? Yes I hope so!) It's not going to be a laid back weekend for us yet. Especially with the school season officially opening next week BUT I plan to just have total, unadulterated fun weekend with my family in one way or the other.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!!!

Scenes From Japan: Day 3 - Goodbye Hanyu, Hello Sake

I'm trying to catch up with my Japan posts before I actually start a new batch of them (yes, I'm leaving for Japan again in 10 days or so). So please bear with me.

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Day 3 - April 23. 

Sad day since we're saying bye bye to Hanyu. I was starting to love that place (and how warm the people were). The other day when we were at lunch, we met a couple of Filipinos who were on training for a few months. We suddenly felt home. The factory was the smallest I've been to (in terms of headcount and yes, even area size). You would immediately feel how strict cost cutting measures were while walking through dark corridors. But I was really glad we decided to spend our first few days there. I immediately felt at ease with my 'new' role. And it didn't feel scary at all from that point. I was a little disappointed though I didn't even get to document how our day went there. I think that was probably going to be the last time I'll ever get to visit that place. We hardly left our seats at the conference room except for when we had lunch or headed out for the restrooms or grabbed coffee at the nearby vendo but I didn't feel the burden of work while I was there.  So it was a little heavy on our way back to Kumagaya today. I tried to soak in every tiny detail of the view from the train ride. I silently said my goodbyes to the rice fields, quiet neighborhoods, a few cherry blossom trees that I regretfully didn't get closer view off (it will turn out to be the only cherry blossoms that I would see in this trip), high school kids dressed just like the way you'd see in Japanese telenovelas (short skirts, pig tails, and big bags). 

Later that night we dinner with our American colleagues tonight. We came back to Wataminchi and I finally had my first taste of Sake. It was amazingly good. My glass was filled to the brim and I was a little worried they might have to carry me back to the hotel after I finish my glass but surprisingly, I didn't feel the alcohol kick till I was actually comfortably settled in my hotel room. Slept like a baby (and thinking of coming back again even for just a shot of that Sake hahaha)

Our group was little adventurous last night. They ordered raw shrimp (which was amazingly sweet), horse sashimi, and these small fish that's filled with fish eggs. They managed (or rather forcibly) to convince me to try that tiny fish. I only took the bottom half (from the mid part down to the tail) and passed the upper half to my staff who was more adventurous than me. When in Japan, know that water is not for free so we had to follow that fish experience through with a shot of Sake just to ward of the aftertaste. It wasn't actually bad. I think. Had you been on the same resto that night, you wouldn't even think it was a table filled with workaholics sitting in front of their computers day in and out. 

It was an extremely fun night. It was my team's welcome dinner for me. And it turned out to be a whole lot of fun welcome.

Hello May!

I blinked and it's now May.

Was I that busy that I didn't feel the first quarter of the year go by and now the second quarter's almost halfway through? 

In the past, my summers have always been dedicated to mother-daughter weekends but none of that is happening this year. The thought stirs the kind of emotions that is of the complicated kind. The more I think about it, the more sadder it gets though. I don't want to stay in that zone. Because I did pray for these blessings that I am currently getting. And yes, my gratitude basket is filled to the brim. I really have no right to complain.

I am now blessed to be doing what I really love to do. And that is to mentor people. I love to teach because it makes me feel like I am helping make the world a better place. Haha self-indulging, I know (bordering on gloating in fact but I have to say that so I will push myself to work harder to making that happen). I hope the people I am mentoring now is indeed learning from me. For now, every thank you that I receive is already fulfilling on its own. A sort of validation. And again, that goes into my gratitude basket.

I am blessed too to be surrounded by a solid support group. Of bosses who empower and colleagues who readily extends help despite being overwhelmed with individual tasks themselves. 

The world is still filled with goodness. 

So yes, I'm a little shaken that it's already May but I can't wait to rock the rest of this year. And in retrospect, maybe I didn't feel time move at all because everything's been rolling great since 2013 opened its doors. It's been a smooth ride for the most part (and I was expecting bumpy).

So anyway, I know I'm probably not making any sense to you. But when I spill out my thoughts like this, things start to clear out in my head and I start to make sense out of what's going on around me. And for that, I am thankful that I have this space to help me do that.

I hope May is going to be awesome for you, friends!