Takenoko

Mama and papa went for their official anniversary dinner last Sunday to the Westin Hotel in Ebisu which is the same place where they were married and had their wedding reception. The food was good but not as good as the menu prepared by Chef Ohno who prepared the dinner for mama's and papa's wedding. This new chef, Nicolas Chevrollier, is not as good at putting courses together. He's too pretentious and arrogant with his mediocre food and he seems to barely tolerate his customers. He has Gordon Ramsay's attitude minus Gordon's talent.

Too bad mama and papa kept forgetting to take pictures of each dish to show me. Here are some of the dishes that they remembered to take a snap of...

The place setting...very cool!

The appetizer was maguro (tuna) and tofu carpaccio. It was a little too big for an appetizer but was quite good. Very light and clean tasting, but twice as big as it needed to be.

Papa's main course was veal. There was also ravioli but papa ate it before he remembered to take a picture of the dish.

And mama's main was Japanese Spanish mackerel.

After dinner, they had a special anniversary dessert compliments of the Westin Hotel. They also had espresso and ordered another dessert but they forgot to take a picture so I can't show you what they had.

Last Wednesday, the first official day of Golden Week holidays in Japan (papa loves these made-up holidays we have here), mama and papa were invited by their friend Q-chan to go to Tochigi prefecture to pick takenoko (bamboo shoots) which are a spring delicacy in Japan. The best thing was that I was also invited!!! It was my first time to see bamboo. It was also papa's first time to pick bamboo shoots. He was mighty proud of his first one...but it doesn't look that special to me...





After the takenoko is picked and cleaned, it must be cooked quickly to avoid having it become bitter. The best time to pick takenoko is after a rainfall when they are just coming out of the ground about 10 to 20 cm and the spouts at the top are yellow, not green. It takes about 90 minutes to boil the takenoko using a wood heated pot.











While the takenoko was cooking, everyone (about 30 people) had a barbecue lunch with nagashi somen.

It was so nice being out in the countryside and away from the noise and pollution of the cesspool we call Tokyo.

For dinner on Wednesday, mama made takenoko gohan and a stir fry with takenoko. Papa cooked up a steak. Mama's takenoko gohan was soooooooooooo delicious!!!
Mama and papa had takenoko again last night for dinner. This time, papa made the takenoko gohan. Papa has had so much takenoko lately that he thinks he is starting to look like a bamboo shoot.

Today we went to Jonan-jima park again. I love running around and playing with MY toys and then chillin' out in the shade with MY toys.

We went to the park with one of mama's friends and their puppies, Riku-chan the Miniature Dachshund and Maro-chan the Chihuahua.

There's so much talk and over-reaction about the Mexican swine flu. I mean, tens of thousands of people die each year from the regular flu, which is a tragedy, but comparatively, the Mexican swine flu has not claimed nearly as many people. You humans are too susceptible to panic...grow up and act like a dog! Or be like Joe Biden and advise people not to take airplanes or subways. What a paranoid putz! I wonder if he's related to George W.

Papa took Monday off to go golfing. That was his 4th time in April. Given how often he goes, you'd think he'd be much better :-)

Platinum me!

Today is mama's and papa's 3rd wedding anniversary! Happy anniversary!!! They celebrated with sushi and Sauvignon Blanc. Next weekend they will have dinner at the Westin Hotel in Ebisu where they got married and had their reception. Papa got mama earrings. Look familiar? Platinum me???

We went to the park last weekend and I had fun playing in the mud. Mama and papa were not impressed...

The next morning, I was awake, alert and ready to play at 6am! But not papa...so I found a good place to wait for him...on top of him :-)

So much to catch up on!

Papa has been so lazy lately and wouldn't help me update my blog for the past 6 weeks. And yet he still has time to play golf (3 times this month already)...

The cherry blossoms were amazing this year. With the warm weather we had in March and early April, the sakura were much more beautiful than in previous years and stayed with us for longer than usual. Mama and papa took me for a walk every night near Meguro River for o-hanami!

We also went to Yutenji Temple to see the cherry blossoms there...

...and to Yoyogi Park...there were quite a few people there to say the least... Even Meguro River was really crowded, especially on weekends. Mama and papa had Turkish kebabs for dinner a few times but it was so hard to walk along the river because of the people...and when you're my height, it's even more dangerous...but I have a good view of everyone's footwear. A few weeks ago, papa went to dinner with a few friends to an Italian restaurant, Il Pinolo, in Ginza. They were able to bring their own wine (no corking charge!) and the chef matched the meal to the wine. The 3 of them made it through 3 bottles of wine! The food was excellent and papa highly recommends this restaurant. Can you guess which bottle papa brought?
2 weeks ago, mama and papa went to see Corteo by Cirque du Soleil. They really liked the show although papa mentioned that he thought Dralion was better. As they were walking out of the building, papa thought he saw one of the clowns walking in front of him but it turned out to be a simple case of a fashion faux pas...some people really shouldn't be allowed to dress themselves.

The Formula 1 season has started again!!! Who would have believed that Jensen Button would win the first 2 races and be leading the championship??!??! I guess it goes to show what an average driver can do when he has a faster car due to an interpretation of the rules which allows the Brawn (formerly Honda) team to use a part which may or may not be legal...

Papa made Fettucine Carbonara with Veal Diane a few weeks ago. Man, I wish he'd share some with me.
I've been having a great time playing with other JRTs at Jonan-jima Park...

...and playing with my toys (which no one else is allowed to touch)...

...and keeping away from papa when he mentions anything about cleaning ears...
...and spending time playing in the sun on the roof balcony...Hello? Anyone home??? Will someone come out and entertain me???
...and then curling up for a nap with (on top of?) papa...
Papa calls me an old man just because I like to keep warm by wearing my favorite futon while I walk around the house.

But would an old man be able to do this??? I think I scared this Doberman! Of course, given our size difference (I'm somewhat bigger than him), it isn't surprising that I had him on the run!

Huh???

OK, so, I can't help myself and papa won't let it rest until we get this off our chests. Korea is up 1-0 in the final game of the first round of the World Baseball Classic this evening. 8th inning, 1 out and Ichiro singles. With the meat of the order coming up, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th batters, the manager of the Japan team, Tatsunori Hara (roughly translated means "Freakishly Asinine"), inexplicably calls a sacrifice bunt...huh??? What was he thinking? Did he learn baseball from a video game? Or from "Baseball for Extreme Dummies"? Is that a meatball that he uses for a head? Sure, he gets Ichiro in scoring position, but at the expense of sacrificing a batter who's hitting .500, followed by a .364 hitter, and he guarantees himself 2 outs. I may be a Jack Russell Terrier, but even I know stupidity when I see it.

Then he switches pitchers. Darvish, a natural starter during the regular season, came in fresh as a reliever in the 8th and struck out the side. Again, inexplicably, the manager changes pitchers and Japan barely survived the top of the 9th, only managing to get out of the inning with a very lucky double play.

If Japan wins the WBC this time, it will be due to the skill of the team despite Hara. If they lose...well...Hara-Kiri??? :-)

Funny thing...none of the post-game sports casts that I saw showed the bunt. I feel like I'm living in a controlled news environment like North Korea...

Have mercy...

We've been watching the World Baseball Classic for the past few days. Japan looks strong again! I'm hoping for a repeat of the 2006 WBC! Yesterday, Japan crushed Korea 14-2. It was a massacre. I couldn't even bear witness to the bloodshed...

It was the first time in Major League baseball that I've seen the mercy rule applied after 7 innings. Who even knew there was such a thing??? Papa mentioned something about Little League rules...

But it was the right thing to do putting Korea out of its misery. Funny thing is that Korea came back today and blew China away 14-0, and again the mercy rule was applied after the top of the 7th when China failed to score. Papa is not a fan of the mercy rule. These are professionals, not children...well...actually they quite often act like children...and whine like children...and they're very, very selfish...and they like to yell and scream at umpires when they don't get their way...OK, OK, so perhaps there is a need for the mercy rule after all :-)

It's been raining almost all week. I was wishing I could go outside but papa wouldn't walk me in the cold, slushy rain. Wimp. He was pretty disappointed that his golf day was canceled today. Me? I'm just longing to go outside...

So I just sleep in...

...and watch papa cook...

...and then sleep some more...

Today, mama and papa said I stink so papa gave me my monthly bath...and then he brushed my teeth...but when he tried to clean my ears, well, that was the last straw, so I found a safe place and waited him out. Eventually he relented and I was able to escape alive with my dirty ears in tact. Tomorrow will be another day. But for today, I'm safe and happy and feeling pretty good about myself!
So happy in fact, that I have had some extra energy to burn off...

And now it's bed time!!! Oyasumi nasai!!!