Entries from October 2008
I have to admit that I SUCK in cooking, because ever since I was sent to US at the age of 15, I grew up with unhealthy cafeteria meal and junk food.
But last night, while Peter was at the launch party of 20 Minuten Friday, I decided to bake Madeleine with the baking form I got from our French neighbor Sandrine. The recipe from Japanese baking book looked easy, but I struggled mixing, measuring, and pre-heating the oven in our small and vintage kitchen. Swinging my hair like a mad man, I finally managed to toss the baking form in the oven. Whew! But even before I finished wiping my sweat from who knows where, the next problem arose: the heat has to drop 20 degrees after 5 min. How can I drop 20 degrees instantly in this old oven? I opened both kitchen window and oven and let the cold air come in from outside. The temperature dropped, but the already fluffed-up dough started shrinking. Whaaaay? What is going on!? Even if I wanted to heat up the oven again, it stayed low like it had to be. So the final result was disastrous. I put too much dough in the form, so all Madeleines were tightly holding hands together and did not let go of each other. When I threw the whole Madeleine family onto a plate, I had to slice it into individual pieces. In every Japanese recipe on Internet, it says Madeleine is the easiest recipe to bake. So what am I!? Idiot?
What was supposed to be a quiet evening turned out to be an uneasy baking session full of sweat and swearing. Maybe this is exactly the reason why I could not master French.
Categories: B級グルメ
Today the first issue of 20 Minuten Friday, which Peter has been working on as an art director, was distributed in the German speaking region of Switzerland. The sister of this magazine is a free newspaper called 20 Minuten and is distributed in the morning during the weekdays. 20 Minuten Friday is distributed free every Friday afternoon, and the profits come solely from advertisement. The target audience is female btwn 20 to 30 years old, but I think Peter’s mental age and interest in fashion and gossip well suit this job beyond gender.
As you can see, he is one of the oldest and few male staff in this editorial team.
Growing up in the female dominated household and married to a macho wife, poor Peter knows the logics of women. So this is not a mere coincidence, that his debut magazine happened to be a girl’s fashion magazine. (I secretly think (now openly) that Peter wanted to be a girl, because his favorite lyrics is “if I was a rich girl…”)
The first issue is about the life of Lindsay Lohan, who I don’t particularly find interesting at all. But the layout turned out to be great, in comparison to boring and 90sh design you often find in major Swiss magazines.
Good job, P-san!! And congratulations to all of your team members!!
Categories: Uncategorized
一晩しんしんと雪は降り続け、まだ１０月なのに２月並みにバッチリ雪が積ってしまいました。もうちょっと降ったら裏山でソリ滑りが出来たのに。今日から近所に新しい
が開店しましたが、寒くて外に出る気にならずまだチェックしていません。
Categories: Switzerland
お昼頃、雪が降ってきた！！
大粒のみぞれで冷たいのなんの、、、。
ポカポカと暖かい秋が過ぎ去り、とうとう寒い冬がやってきました。
Categories: Switzerland
Peter has been working late for his first issues of 20 Minuten Friday. Last night I went to sleep before he came home. This morning, after Peter left for work, I saw a newspaper article laying over my part of the desk (we share a desk that used to be a door and was trashed on the street). I did not read the whole article, because it was long and in German, but it was about a young American photographer Alex Soth who has an exhibition in the Photography Museum in Winterthur. Peter highlighted the text that explains one of his projects “Dog Days, Bogota.” Alex Soth documented a town of Bogota in Columbia where he and his wife spent 2 months, waiting to adopt their daughter. We always wanted to document the process of adoption for our future kid, and photography would be a great way, Peter said. We have been writing our adoption diary, in which we write everything from the start of our adoption journey to volunteering in Thailand. Both of us being designers, although not writer or photographer, we feel it’s our duty to document as much as possible, from our point of view and with our creativity.
When I saw this article about Alex Soth, I was pleased to know that someone in the creative field has also been through adoption and openly shared his experience with a broad audience. We’ve been on a waiting list for 14 months by now, and every second I have spent waiting for our precious one has been a gift. I think Peter realised it as well, and this newspaper cutout was a way to communicate our thoughts in hectic daily life.
Categories: Uncategorized
October 27, 2008 · 1 Comment
It looks like it will snow on Thursday in Zürich, and on top of that, it will go into minus temperature on Friday…
Categories: Uncategorized
Last night was the 10th anniversary party of Kulturbüro in our favorite bar Helsinki. When we went there, DJ CEO Müller from Kulturbüro was just at the door and told us that there will be a tombola. What is tombola?! I never participated in tombola, but I was just excited to hear that top prizes are promising. After reading the news about the Italian guy who won 100 Million Euro in lottery, I felt fortune is with me as well. ha ha!
First, Peter drew 5 tickets for 1 CHF each, and won N.A.D.A. Then I bought 10 tickets and got a number 91!! I gave my winning ticket to the host on the stage and received 2 free entrance tickets to Urania Observatory in Zürich!! Peter has been talking about taking my parents there every time they visit us in Zürich, but we never made it. (Because my parents go to bed quite early.) Hanna told us we should not go when it’s full moon, because it’ll be too bright. Full moon just passed last week, so I can take P-san for a romantic cosmic date any time before second week of November. I actually wanted to win 200 CHF gift certificate from Migros Klubschule, so I could take Thai lessons or Tai Chi class for half the fee. Oh, well! I guess the Italian guy sucked up all the lottery luck from me.
Tombola reminded me of new year’s game party at my grand parents house in Japan. When I was little, all the relatives and family friends came to my grand parents’ house with gifts for the prize bags which my grandma sorted secretly in the attic. The party always heated up after the kids went to bed, and I heard the occasional roars of winning or losing in my sleep. Whomever won the most brought home the biggest prize bag, and I never heard my parents take any of the bags. Should I have allowed to stay awake, my family would have brought home the biggest bag every year.
After Tombola was over, CEO Müller rocked the floor with his Rap History skillz which I heard for the first time last night. It turned out to be the best mix I’ve heard after leaving NYC, and it made me miss NY a bit, like all the great ATOC parties and late night dancing in small bars.
When we came home, we realized that our clothes were stinky from smoke and I could smell alcohol from P-san’s breath. Regardless the smelly outcome, it was the best Saturday night outing in Switzerland so far, and too bad that it’s already over.
Categories: Uncategorized
Da Peter und ich ein dreisprachiges Paar sind, verteilen wir unsere Woche wie folgt:
Sonntag – Japanisch
Montag – Japanisch
Dienstag – Deutsch
Mittwoch – Deutsch
Donnerstag – Deutsch (3 Tage Deutsch, weil wir in der deutschsprachigen Schweiz wohnen)
Freitag Englisch (in Vorbereitung auf entspannendes Wochenende)
Samstag Englisch (kontinuierlich entspannendes Wochenende)
Die Ausnahme:
1) Streit
Der Sprachplan funktioniert ziemlich gut, außer wenn wir uns streiten. Dann sprechen wir auf unsere gemeinsame Sprache Englisch. Auf Japanisch kann Peter auf keinen Fall schimpfen, weil wir Japaner hoffliche Menschen sind, und daher gibt es kein rüdes Schimpfwort auf Japanisch. Andererseits ist mein Deutschwortschatz zu begrenzt, um meine Gemeinheit voll im Gang zu setzen.
2) Einkaufen
Wenn wir uns über die Preise in den Läden beschweren oder auf dem Markt im Ausland verhandeln möchten, kommt unsere Sprachkenntnis gelegen. In Asien und Amerika können wir auf Deutsch reden, da niemand es versteht. In Deutschland und der Schweiz verwenden wir in diesem Fall meistens Japanisch. Einmal haben meine Schwester und ich an der Kasse im Supermarkt in Brooklyn einen Amerikaner gesehen, der einen Berg der Gefrierkost gekauft hat. Auf Japanisch habe ich meine Schwester geflüstert, “so kann man am schnellsten dick werden.” Statt meine Schwester hat der Mann geantwortet “Na, und?”, natürlich auf Hochjapanisch. Ich war so geniert, dass ich mich schwören musste, niemals in Amerika auf Japanisch zu flüstern. Das Risiko ist hoch, weil immer mehr Amerikaner Japanisch lernen, um japanische Mangas und Videospiele verstehen zu können.
3) Familentreffen
Wenn wir unsere Familie besuchen, reden wir auf ihre Sprache. Darüber habe ich so viel zu erzahlen, als dass ich hier alles schreiben könnte. Also, dieses Thema behalte ich bis nächstes Mal. Ciao!
Categories: Sprache
Als Peter gestern morgen zur Arbeit ging, hing die rote Einkaufstasche von Dalloyau an unserer Tür. Das war das Souvenir von unseren Nachbarn, die letzte Woche in Paris waren. Ich habe oftmals über die Makronen von Dalloyau gehört, da deren Filiale in der Nähe von der Wohnung meiner Mutter in Tokio gibt. Bis Peter am Abend nach Hause kam, widerstand ich einer Versuchung, ein kleines bisschen Makrone zu schmecken. Sowohl die Packung auch der Geschmack war elegant und unvergleichbar mit Luxemburgerli von Sprüngli. Die Franzosen kennen doch die besten Süßigkeiten.
Wir haben noch dazu eine Backform von Madeleine bekommen. Ich wollte sie immer haben, und jetzt habe ich das Original aus Frankreich! Wie Sandrine mit grünem Pulvertee und Kakao ihre Madeleine gebacken hat, möchte ich auch mit verschiedenen Varianten probieren.
Bis jetzt hatten wir nie so eine tolle Nachbarschaft gehabt. Was haben wir getan, um so viele Goodies zu verdienen?
Categories: Uncategorized
Peter’s little sister Biggi and her boyfriend Mino came to visit us last weekend. Yes, it was a full house, and we had fun having Andre, Biggi and Mino all at the same time. On Saturday, after Andre went back to Karlsruhe, we took Biggi and Mino to our favorite flea market in Helvetia Platz and then to Brockiland in Schmiede Wiedikon. In the evening Biggi and I cooked Penang Curry together. Peter and I both have a vegetarian sister, so we used fried Tofu in place of meat. Although Biggi is younger than me (and still enjoying her 20s-life) she acts very mature and always encourages me. I feel very comfortable talking to her in my broken German, but I sometimes fear that I might be saying something rude due my limited knowledge of the language.
In the evening we went out to a bar, and I was surprised to see crowds of young people on the street. Zürich is indeed the largest city in Switzerland, but that’s hard to realize if you come from Tokyo.
On Sunday, we took a walk in the forest behind our apartment. Biggi and Mino could not believe that we live so close to the nature. There is a horse stable 5 minutes away from us, and after 10 min. walk you are already in the forest. Despite the negative weather forecast on Friday, the weather turned out to be great this weekend. It was a cold and rainy summer, but it’s been an unusually sunny and warm fall. After climbing up the hill, we were already sweating and taking off our jackets.
Biggi and Mino left Zürich in the early afternoon, with 2 new pairs of vintage shoes and a cool bag full of Swiss cheese.
Here are some more photos from the weekend:
Categories: Switzerland
