Gifts From Japan

Our dear friends in Tokyo sent us a box of goodies.  We love getting gifts from Japan because they are always exquisitely wrapped.  Of course, we like the contents too...he! he!

Upon opening the box, the first thing we noticed was the wonderful fragrance.  Included inside was this little bunkō--incense packet.  (Some also call it "fumikō").  This incense is not for burning.  It's enclosed with a letter or a package to give the recipient a burst of beautiful scent upon opening.

Some of the gifts were wrapped in furoshiki--wrapping cloths. One package contained assorted sembei (rice crackers).

The other pack contained karintō (a sweet, deep fried, crunchy snack)...almost like a hard doughnut!

And a packet of shrimp tsukuda-ni. It is a kind of preserved food, stewed in soy sauce and mirin (a sweet rice wine).

There was also a pack of yōkan--a firm jelly-like dessert made of agar and sweet bean paste.  This goes perfectly with Japanese green tea.  This didn't make the group picture because desire had overtaken sanity and we had already opened it! Yum! Yum!

Tonight, we will be toasting our good friends in Tokyo...and we will also be thinking what items from Nova Scotia to send them.  Any suggestions?

Boxing Day Beach

It was such a sunny day, we decided to go to the beach!  This the A. Murray Mackay Bridge on the way to Dartmouth.

Yeah, who goes to the beach in 0℃ temperatures?  

We do!  Just gotta bundle up right.

Lots of interesting rocks to see on Lawrencetown Beach.

...and we were not alone in the rock-picking department.

Thanks for the warning. We were definitely not swimming!

Bonus pic: the Halifax sky on Christmas Day!

Christmas 2012: What A Joy!

It's that time of year again.  I am not going all spiritual or philosophical about it.  Too many people pontificating about this and that already.

I am just going to bask in this fuzzy warmth with my family.  My daughter baked some chicken pie and made eggnog.  Admittedly, I made a beeline for the wine... :-)

Christmas Eve dinner together.  What a joy!

Hearing the glee of the young ones as they open their presents.  What a joy!

And that's all I'm going to say about it.  Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too.

Shop Log: Tokyo Tower?

Shop's Log.  Halifax NS.  December 21st, Saturday, 15:23.  Weather: Cloudy, 5℃.

Amidst the hubbub of Christmas shopping in the shop, my ears pricked up when I heard a customer's voice exclaim, "Wow! Tokyo Tower!"

As far as I knew, we had no product with Tokyo Tower on it so I took a quick peek at what elicited such a reaction.  A hand cream by Tokyo Milk (French Kiss No.15).

The customer was a Japanese lady.  The brand name was Tokyo Milk and there was an image of a tower on it.  I guess it was natural for her to assume it was the Tokyo Tower...instead of its far more famous cousin, Eiffel, which had served as its inspiration.

This is what Tokyo Tower looks like.  It was completed in 1958, 69 years after the Eiffel Tower.

Looking Up Downtown

I very seldom go downtown now...but there I was a couple of days ago, on "business".  Dealing with the bureaucracy is a part of life one cannot avoid.  Not everything can be done online...yet.  Anyway, I found myself looking up as I walked.  Christmas was in the air.

I love the way the winter sunlight bathes the buildings with a softer glow.

Many construction projects too.  This one should turn out nice.  They're keeping the facade of the historic edifice, building more floors on top and modernizing the interior.

This one is a view of the court yard of Province House.  If you must know, that's a memorial statue to the Second Boer War by Hamilton MacCarthy, dedicated to the Duke of Cornwall and York in 1901.

Shop Log: Lunch!

Shop's Log.  Halifax NS.  December 1st, Saturday, 13:14.  Weather: Sunny, -2℃.

It was a special treat, today's bento!  Smoked salmon and tuna mayo rolled sushi.  ...with heaps of wasabi to help me feel the love in the nose...just the way I like it. :-)  

Tai Chi!

Sometimes, a round of tai chi works just as well as a dose of Advil!

Weekend Breakfast

Breakfast on the weekends are fun! :-)

Shopkeeping And Trigonometry

Will the people who actually thought trigonometry would be useful in "real" life raise their hands?  Yep, I thought so... nobody...unless you are one of my friends who grew up to be math professors. he! he!

So last week, out of the blue, my wife asked me to solve for the length of the edge of an equilateral triangle inscribed in a circle whose diameter was 15 cm.  I was put on the spot...and I had already thrown away my trigonometry textbook of 30 years ago.  Thank goodness for Google.  he! he!  Yeah, I cheated...BUT, now I know how to do it.  Total recall!  Can't wait for my Gr. 8 daughter to get trigonometry homework now...which probably won't come for a few years more!  Anyway, I was able to give my wife the correct answer.  (...and if you must know, it is √3 * radius, which is about 13cm.)

And this was what she'd been up to....

Our new shop window display.  Hand-made with a bit of mathematical assistance from yours truly. :-)

Do you like it?

Bedford Developments

It was such a surprisingly balm autumn afternoon...17℃ and sunny in the middle of November, can you believe that?...that I took a walk around Bedford.  Bedford South to be precise.  Lots of construction going on there.

It was a boring walk.  I'll tell you why.  Strip malls.

One more planned here...

And the big sprawl anchored by Sobeys+Lawtons.

I am no urban planner and there may be sound economic reasons for this kind of development design.  But why are they building strip mall after strip mall in the area?

An homage to the automobile?  ...appropriately located near the new Larry Uteck exit off Hwy 102.

Drive-thru coffee.  Why else would you have a coffee shop in the middle of a parking lot?

Drive-thru banking...  Do people really loathe to get out of their cars that much?

You've seen one, you've seen them all.  

Definitely not made with pedestrians in mind...notwithstanding the many condominiums under construction plus residential neighbourhoods nearby.  I walked, didn't I?  But this bit of sidewalk paint tells me at least the person on foot has not been completely forgotten! :-)

Well, at least one strip mall is getting it right...in my opinion.  

Southgate Village has at least some unique restaurants. 

Something we wouldn't find in a strip mall in Truro or Amherst.  OK, granted Coffee Culture is a chain store...but this one here is the only one in Nova Scotia!

Anyway, as I've said.  I am not an urban planning expert.  But please, please... don't let the Bedford waterfront turn into another strip mall!

This blog post was supposed to just show what a beautiful day it  was today...and it turned into a little whine session! 

Sunday Bliss

Sunday was a Chinese dimsum lunch at the Canton Garden.

Our lunch companion... :-)

We walked off the calories around First Lake in Lower Sackville.

All the leaves were almost gone.

...and the mushroom grew on trees. :-)

Shop Log: Accidents Do Happen

Shop's Log.  Halifax NS.  November 8th, Thursday, 15:56.  Weather: Pouring rain, 9℃.

Two young ladies, college age perhaps, came in to browse.  One of them reached for something and knocked over something else along the way.  The dominoes fell and ended with one broken piece of pottery.

A hurried "sorry" and away they went...both running out of the door.  They didn't wait for us to say, "It's OK."  They didn't wait for us to say, "Accidents do happen."  They didn't wait for us to smile to let them know it was really OK.  We knew it wasn't on purpose.

I wish they had stayed.  They probably would have had a better night's sleep.

Selling Door-TO-Door

Popcorn anyone?

Today, I took my 11-year old son up and down our street to sell popcorn door-to-door. He did all the talking; I stayed in the background and hardly intervened  Early training for a sales job...he! he!  In fact, he was selling popcorn for Scouts Canada.  It was his first time and he was quite nervous.  We did a few dry runs at home...until he was comfortable with his sales pitch.  We also practiced how he should close the sale and how to keep accurate records.  And of course, we prepared for rejection too.  It was a good experience for him.  I bet now he understands better that selling something is not as simple as it seems.

Here are the stats for an afternoon's work.  Good job son!

Total houses visited: 48

Total orders received: 8 (16.7%)

Total rejections: 19 (39.6%)

Nobody home (or ignored): 21 (43.7%)

In case a little boy in Scouts uniform appears on your doorstep, be kind...and buy some popcorn if you like. :-)  He's not doing it for his own profit.  He's doing it so his troop can have great activities.  He is also a young man learning about the world he lives in.