Visitors

Granpa has visitors today. It's good for granma to have contact with the outside world again.

I had heard that when granma's father died, there were so many people noone else in the family knew about bringing kouden which is a little money to help with the funeral and possibly hospital related expenses. It's different for our granpa though, as he has visited funerals of all his friends, and the last few still ongoing are being taken care of at home or are in hospice. And still, we  have surprising amount of flowers being sent for granpa from the many places he has lived, and it still keeps on coming even after two months after his passing. It's great that the words are taking time to spread, as if they all came at once, our house will have no place for humans.

I miss him sometimes, especially around 2-3am when no one else is awake. I would miss him all the time if I actually felt like he is gone, but at the moment, even after 2 months, I don't feel like it. 2-3am, It's when the nocturnal creatures like granpa and myself had a midnight feast over some ginger tea and sweets. Where he will tell me bit and pieces of his days as a prisoner of war in Sobiet. About the family he lost. Something he has never talked about in daylight. In fact, after his passing, granma mentioned how I used to always spend a lot of times with granpa, and when I mentioned what we would talk about, I discovered that neither my mom, his daughter, or granma, his wife, has heard of him speak about the war.

Granpa and I got along very, very well. Granma used to laugh that the speed of time is slower around us. And that maybe we were descendants of owls. We used to have a mission of going to the supermarket that we have never been to, and getting something we haven't tried. Sometimes we would get some weird creature of the sea and wait impatiently for granma to come home from work to ask her to cook it for us. She hated that, but we were a little more curious than we were nice.

I wish he got to meet you, R.

H

Toothbrush

On the package of toothbrushes, it often says that the recommended life of one is a month, or when the brush is spead out. This might not work for people living with someone, but for me, I purchase the paste and the tooth brush together, so I will throw away an empty tube and the used brush together. I often use the old toothbrush to clean around the house before I throw it out too, like the line between tiles in the bathroom.

I have never used toothbrush till it looked used, and I have used one for good 3 months. I don't know if it was just that toothbrush being amazing, but I guess I don't brush in a way that it makes the head go pineapple.

I guess people generally color code their toothbrushes, or get ones of completely different design. In my family we generally color code, unless the toon character ones go on sale and the price was close enough to the plain ones for mom to get convinced. She doesn't like cheap toothbrushes, so if we ever manage to score a toon one, it's when they collaborate with the dentists.

Do you floss? I just can't seem to use the plain string floss on those tooth at the back, so I always get ones with the floss attached to something like a y shaped plastic. I don't think I generally like sweet or flavored tooth pastes. I like minty ones, especially spearmint.

In Oceania I used to use this Nemo toothpaste that had sparkles in it. That's right, a glitter in a toothpaste, and now I think UGH. That's just not right... Hopefully it didn't have any sugar in it. Have you ever seen a toothpaste that says "Sugar free"? I wonder why ANY toothpaste would ever have sugar in it... For the taste?

I went out with granma today for lunch. We had sushi, and then after walking around had a tea time over maron cake. In Japan the maron cakes are called Mont Blanc, I think it's a French or Italian mountain, or the Alps?

I'm too tired to get off this sofa and brush my tooth so I can't sleep yet. Wishing you an amazing class tomorrow R, whatever that is! ;D

H

R and H

If there is one word that describes the both of us, we're short, international and a traveller. Carrot cake lovers and herb teaholics too, but those aren't one word so I will eliminate those. We also love blouses a lot, especially when it's made of silk. We're big on eating. We both have a lot of hair, one like a little Jew girl and the other like Sadako. R's face is also mostly filled with huge pair of eyes. We both have a little mint who we love with all our hearts!

I think we're kind of like Gaspard and Lisa. R have you seen the series?

We have a thing for Haribo's gummy bears, and we like to smear Skippy peanut butter in oreos to have over technology donated movies. We also like popcorn and coke with that. And ice cream.

We love sea food which makes Japan, H's home, an ideal candidate for travelling destination ;D

Speaking of which, have you ever had sesame ice cream? I tried them as a child and didn't know if I like it or not, but I had one again yesterday and it was superb! Haagendaz, an american company that sells the most expensive ice cream in supermarkets in JP, has released two limited editions this spring, Sakura (cherry blossom, something very common and popular in Japanese cuisine) and rose. I can't imagine what rose ice cream would be like. Or, well, I can imagine what rose ice cream will be like, but I can't imagine it being nice, so I think that when I find the $ and courage to afford Haagendaz ice cream, I will be trying the rose.

I do however truly love the rose jam in BG to add to tea. Just a liiiitle bit makes the tea lighter and tastier in my poinion. I like to add an amount that doesn't let me know what exactly it is that's added to the tea. I also in the summer reeeally like to add a drop of Kikkoman soy sauce to the tea. Maybe this is because I tend to not put much salt in food and lack some when it's hot.

I'm missing R a lot these days. Life is so much fun when you're around, R!

H

Shopaholic

I both hate and love being one. I wish I had some kind of income and my own place to comfortably store everything. I have a thing for dishes, and I also like cooking pots. A lot.

Some people say that those that keeps on buying something is purchasing things that they don't think is perfect, and therefore continues to search. What do you think? I personally agree and disagree, with more emphasis on the latter.

I do like what I got, so no it's not that I don't already have a tea pot or a ten and I know I have more salt and pepper shaker and water pitcher than there are months to a year, but I still sometimes come across a must. I don't know if I'm particularly searching for any more, but I just meet them. And love them. And have them.

I know I look like a crazy out of control shopper to some, but I do however have one rule I made for myself. I can't buy nor collect what I can not use. If I actually use it for the purpose or not is another story. So I can not allow myself to buy that rooster decor for the kitchen, but if it's a rooster design huge pitcher that I'll never use, well yes, let's get it so it can sit and look pretty on the kitchen shelf. Doesn't make sense to you? You're not the first one to say.

What do you do with tea sets that you broke a part of, like a saucer or a cup? I once had a beautiful tea set that I broke the tea pot of, so I was just using it to serve purchased bottled tea from the organic market until I accidentally found the same tea pot being sold alone!!! Oh the excitement when I found it, and how glad I was that I didn't simply give up on the whole set.

Today I went to the city because mom asked me to get something from there, and I was so impressed with my ability to not go sightseing in the mall on the kitchen's floor.

I wish I didn't have to not shop.

H

Road trip to the River Dunav

On Thursday the 6th , my mom and I took a week planned trip to Ruse . As soon as I finished class early in the morning - had the rest of day free - we took off on a two and a half  hour road trip . We made it on time for the birthday dinner of mom's uncle .

The dinner party was at a traditional Bulgarian cuisine restaurant,which made me think that I must order Shopska . My mom was eager to see her family in Ruse and see her uncle . I was happy to see him too ,and all of his children and grand children . I held his warm rheumatic hands and wished him health .

 I was asked ; how many years I got left in school and what am I to do afterwords for specialty .I couldn't answer the latter . I feel like lost in a wonderland with a Cheshire cat for a guide .As if this is going to be the hardest decision to make .I wish I could see my future as it was planned before clearly . I though I would never fall in the conundrum of medical residency and I knew what I wanted .However this is something I am just starting to put the pieces together ,of what I truly want to do and what are my limits and possibilities .

Mom's uncle always tells the story of how he came to be a carpenter during the communistic times .When I first heard the story my brother was retelling it after he and mom came back from Ruse two years ago ,with a set of four adorable wooden chairs-I personally use as book or food table and chairs ....

The storytelling extends to how he married his wife and built a house in the suburbs of Ruse and becoming a citizen of the city...

Ruse in my opinion is a neat place with more of an European influence .After all the border between it and Romania is open and its a matter of a few hours drive to bucharest .The city center makes for a good shoe shopping destination.  The coffee shops there are cozy and modern looking aomething  to look for in our next visit . I was thinking H we might do that together .

Just before leaving ,for the road back home ,we stumbled upon a restaurant called la Strada .It  looked to be on the fancier side with carnival masks hanging on the walls and it had surprisingly affordable prices  .

We arrived home late at around 11 .I had energy to scrub my face clean and wear pajamas  than sink into sleep .I knew that I had to wake up early for a 07:30 lecture of ophthalmology . Luckily the trip and the city were so refreshing ,that I made it on time ,unfortunately ,my green tea had finished and I was in need to be dipped in caffeine to maintain interest for the rest of the day....

R

Japan

I learnt from friends that "Japan" in Bulgaria is a super glue, and in Turkey a sandal. Or vice versa, I can't quite recall.

In Japan, Ghana is a product name of sheet of premium chocolate that comes in a red flat box (made with beans imported from Ghana), Napier (town in NZ that exports trees) is a name of boxed tissue papers, and Bulgaria is a name of the authentic yoghurt that is BG approved that comes in a square plastic container, advertised by sumo wrestler Kotooushu.

I think there might be more but can't think of any at the moment. Isn't it interesting? If there is more to "Japan" anywhere else in the world, I'd love to know them.


There is one photo that granpa liked of me, and the dress I was wearing in that photo is now hanging next to the fire place. Mom hand washed it for me after I took it out of the container from the storage.

I might wear it when spring comes, but for now I feel like preserving it for visiting granpa's grave.


BTW, if it interests anybody, the kombu tofu was yummmazing! Highly, highly recommended unless you have thyroid problems.

H

Tea Pot

Today I got one Japanese tea set. It's white with one small tea pot and five small tea cups. The one I got has some cut out parts filled with semi-transparent glass, and because of the way it lets the light through those parts, this technique/design is called lighting bug.

The traditional things in Japan are very season concerned, and this tea set is really for July, but I guess for now as a student R and I will be using this throughout the year. I would love to own lots of different tea sets for each season/celebration/occasion/fauna and flora though!

I really wanted another tea set that had plum flowers on them, but I decided I couldn't 1)afford two, and 2)carry the both back, and that if I could only get one, all white would suit the dishes I have over there better.

Now that I'm done admiring the white set I got, I wish I had at least photographed the plum flower set so I could consider weather or not I should go get it once I score some yen (JP crrency) or if I should just forget it. I know that you're not supposed to photo places these days because everywhere they're concerned with security, but I guess it's okay to take a pic for self for catalogue-ish use?

I've been regretting not bringing home cinnamon sticks, they're expensive here! But oysters are like 1/5 the price compared to there, and besides here they're sterilized by salt water and ozone or by UV rays so it feels more comfortable eating them raw.

Back to the tea topic, my other house, the main one on mainland JP is surrounded by short tea trees and every year granma picks the newly grown leaves to dry for making tea. I should bring you some!

When we were little, we would return home for the event but I will be chased away after a while because I'm way too busy collecting the tiny snail babies from the tree and am therefore of no help.

These family events are always discussed at family gatherings, and for each harvesting it seems everyone remembers me as a nuisance, like how I will collect centipede while they dug up potatoes or how I caught so many frogs while everyone else planted rice. I wish I had behaved better on the only days of the year that the relatives gathered!

No one is a full time farmer in the family but in the traditional parts of JP, the eldest of the families that have retired grew crops for the whole family so when it came to harvesting everyone spared few days to help.

I got one kombu tofu today. There are many diferent kinds of tofus, but this is the first time I see a kombu one. I wonder if kombu (kelp? Sea vegetable.) will be any good in the olive pesto we keep on discussing.

H