the good things in life...

The best bakery in my opinion(organic and natural), closed down last month (Pain di Ami).

Since there is no other decent bakery (well, there is Maison Keyser which is considered to be excellent, but it doesn't have that tender loving care like Pan Ami had.) Pan Ami also used natural yeast and organic wheat, I haven't had any bread for at least a couple of weeks. On the good side of things, I am able to fit back into my skinny jeans again! Bad news is, I really miss the bread and the wonderful, talented baker N there. We became quite good friends and it was always nice to call in there and say hi to her after work.. The bread was definitely a bonus.

Crossiants were like heaven!

She definitely rates as one of best patisser that I know of in Tokyo.. especially for her age and her vitality! I hope she manages to find another bakery that she can manage again. A very skilled lady in the way of creating all sorts of wonderful delights. It was worth not fitting in the skinny jeans! hee hee.. (this site is in Japanese, but it tells us where the bakeries this person has visited. What a list!) http://www.geocities.jp/sanzenri_panyatour/tokyopannya.htm It even has one of my favourite places listed near where I work. This person really is a bread-gourmet!

These days, I have been addicted to watching Prisonbreak. Got this great photo of the two heartthrobs that tickle me at the moment....

Great series and have watched all the episodes at the local DVD store (Tsutaya). I am only up to Episode 7, (there aren't any more episodes at Tsutaya), which means I am completely stuck and can't watch any more even if I want. SO have resorted to Amazon and bought the complete series 1! I know, it sounds really TV-junkie, but I can't wait till December to get it, besides, I would only end up paying around the same amount of cash if I ordered it from there anyway (got a good deal on a NEW/USED DVD set). So all is good. At least it won't arrive in the post till well after my big exam for Uni. So no distraction till after then. Will be a good after-exam present for myself (^_^)/ Will be busy though, as I have Desperate Housewives II also coming soon as well. And one more...

These are just a couple of the guys that push the buttons on in the right places. Of course, these ones are just based on the characters. You would have to know me well, for who really does push my buttons....

I had a great catch up with close friend Z last night. Talking about life, generally just a chit chat and the next thing we knew it was midnight before we hung up! Always like that when close friends get on the phone or catch up at a cafe. We didn't have to rush off any where and we ended up chatting for over 2 hours, and the best thing was - for FREE! (Usually, I am not the type that likes to chat for a long time on the phone! However, with Z it's different...) Anyway, Skype is amazing and if you aren't on it already, I highly reccommend you to go on it, especially if you are on a budget. Even if you aren't on a budget it is great and the quality is crystal clear! Like listening to a conference in a huge hall. Should wire my PC up to the speakers and have the voice booming out. That would be a laugh.

Weekend had some interesting aspects to it. Went to my favourite yoga class and felt wonderfully alive after it, then I guess I just mucked about (watched Prisonbreak) and went to bed around 11 (nothing that exciting, but that is what I wanted to do). Sunday, I had my Japanese lesson in the morning with now good friend Y and went to one of my favourite Italian restaurants for lunch). We were enjoying our pasta (named funnily enough, Shofu Special - prostitutes special?!! Or in Italian it is known as Spagetti alla Puttanesca - the photo below) and a very tasty pizza....

As one does, I sprinkled over some hot chilli extra virgin olive oil and was looking idly at my pizza slice when I noticed there was a soaked cockroach in it! Had to be careful not to throw up..! It is funny to think about it now, how I almost ate a cockie, however, at the time, my appetite just shrunk and had to contain myself. The only reason I didn't make more of a fuss about it, was that it is one of my favourite places to go and I really enjoy the food and service there. Luckily, we were spoiled to an extra special dessert and it was on the house! So there goes the saying "there is no such thing as a free lunch!" So just bring a cockie along and put it on your pizza next time and see what happens.

Sunday night, went for a good 1km or so swim, even managed to pull a few lengths of butterfly. Quite good considering it's been about a couple of weeks since I got myself into chlorine-induced waters.. Had a quiet night after that and ended up going to sleep after some very good Shochu (Murasaki). So life for me is pretty quiet, but that is how I am liking it at the moment. Need time to just unwind and reflect on things as well as taking my mind off the daily pressures of life (not that there is that much stress in my life). Just a bit of sorting out of which direction to take, but doesn't everyone go through that at times?....

Life can be found only in the present moment. The past is gone, the future is not yet here, and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life.
Thich Nhat Hanh