Home for the holidays (pt. 1)

As always the trip home for the holidays was fun and busy. This year’s itinerary was particularly packed since a friend from Japan came with me so we needed time to play tourist on top of all the appointments with friends and family.

The first day back was relatively relaxed, though. We all (my parents, brother, friend and I) had dinner at Swiss Chalet with family friends before heading off to church (Mississauga Chinese Baptist Church—MCBC) for the Christmas Eve (Eve) service.

Swiss Chalet: Festive Special!

Christmas Eve was breakfast at Tutti Frutti (a bit of a break from our usual Cora’s) and lunch at Frank at the AGO—both with friends, of course. (Between the meals we did spend some time walking around the Eaton Centre.)

Tutti Frutti: salmon eggs benedict

Frank: scones

Frank: beef brisket burger & sweet potato fries

Eaton Centre

After lunch we wandered around Chinatown and Kensington. Then it was a GO Bus back to Mississauga and some time relaxing at home. Dinner was Chinese takeout.

(friend's pic) Chinatown

(friend's pic) Kensington

(friend's pic) Chinese takeout dinner

We watched Kung Fu Panda 2 after dinner and hung out in the living room until midnight when we all opened our Christmas presents. I got an iPad from my brother and parents (my mother also got one from my bro) so we stayed up fairly late downloading apps and playing games.

(friend's pic) playing with my new iPad

Christmas Day service at MCBC was followed by a family lunch (dim sum with my aunts and uncle) and a trip to Niagara Falls.

(friend's pic) dim sum: duck feet

dim sum: lychee "pudding"

The car ride was mostly spent playing games on the iPad. Unfortunately it was rainy in the afternoon and foggy in the evening so the view wasn’t all that great. A nice steak dinner at Canyon Creek (and crème brûlée for dessert for me!), however, made it a nice evening.

Canyon Creek: filet mignon

(friend's pic) Canyon Creek: crème brûlée

Niagara Falls night view from outside Fallsview Casino Resort

Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort

Our hotel suite at the Hilton Niagara Falls Fallsview was also the most strangely designed set of rooms I’ve yet to encounter. Rather than having two separate bedrooms with a common area in between them (my image of a “normal” suite), the “sitting” area was next to the window next to that was a king bed. The bathroom was in the middle, separating the main area from a smaller bedroom with two double beds. Other than the awkwardness of having the one king bed open to all and sundry in the room (compared to the double beds room which had a door to ensure privacy), there was also the design of the bathroom. Right next to the tub was a “window” that overlooked the king bed/main area. Although the window had shutters, the shutters didn’t lock! Of course we kept the shutters closed, but it was always possible for anyone in the main room to open the shutters and get a full view of the bathroom!

open concept bathroom: why?!?

 But anyway, Boxing Day we were able to check out late so we slept in a bit. After checking out and eating lunch, we took some pictures at the Falls and did some souvenir shopping before heading back to Mississauga.

double rainbow!!

After a short time at home (to pack and relax a bit), we headed off to Montreal. (Every Christmas vacation where I’ve come back from Japan we take a family trip somewhere. Last year it was San Francisco, the year before that Las Vegas, and before that Michigan.)

(to be continued...)

Christmas insanity

It's been a tradition of mine to bake chocolate chip cookies (with red and green M&M's for a festive touch) for presents since high school. (Scroll down to the bottom of this post for the recipe.)

Back home with a regular big oven that can bake something like 50 cookies at once, it only took me about an 1.5hr to make around 100 cookies, but here in Japan all I've got is a regular toaster oven and a two-tier toaster oven. I can only make about 25 cookies in one shot so it takes me about 2.5hr to make a batch of about 70-100 cookies.

Still, that's an improvement from my first two years in Japan when I only had a regular toaster oven and it took me 3hr to make a single batch. (If I make multiple batches at once, the time savings are even more noticeable.)

Since this is my last year on JET I decided to be super ambitious and to give cookies to pretty much all of the schools I've visited regularly this year (thankfully there aren't so many--2 junior highs, and 4 elementary schools) as well as my Board of Education, Japanese dance teacher, and taiko group members.

The breakdown:
Tue. Dec. 6- 2.5hr for 67 cookies
Sun. Dec. 11 - 6hr for 281 cookies
Mon. Dec. 12 - 4hr for 189 cookies
Mon. Dec. 19 - 2.5hr for 89 cookies
Total = 15hr over 4 days for 626 cookies

It was an insane amount of work, especially since I also had the JLPT (where I flunked the N1 spectacularly) and English Day (two days of activities from 9am~4pm with 60 elementary 5th and 6th graders and junior high school students) in December.


But it was totally worth it. Some of my highlights from giving out cookies were:

1) at an elementary school, the student I was sitting next to during lunch noticed that I didn't have any cookies for myself and asked "Sensei, hitokuchi wa doudesuka?" (Sensei, would you like a bite of my cookie?). Of course I declined since I had had plenty sampling each batch to make sure they were OK, but it was soooo sweet of the student to offer. ^_^

2) at Kirita, after I gave out the cookies to the 3rd years, one of the students commented that they looked forward to the cookies all year (ichinenkan no tanoshimi--or something along those lines). And another student asked me for the recipe. =D

There's really nothing better than the feeling that you've brightened up someone's day even just a little.

Xmas night museum

For those sticking around in Japan over the holidays, some Christmas-themed events going on at the Towada Art Center from Dec. 23-24.

Christmas Workshop: Make Ornaments & Cards
Date: Dec 23, 2011
Time: 10:00-12:00
Place: Shimin Katsudou Space 市民活動スペース
Materials Fee: 700yen
*Limited to 20 people, reservations required*

Gospel Concert by GRACES
Date: Dec 23, 2011
Time: 18:30-19:30
Place: Kyuukei (Rest/Break) Space 休憩スペース
Admission: Free

Night Tour
Date: Dec 23-24, 2011
Time: 17:30-18:30; 18:00-19:00
Place: Meet at Reception 受付
Admission: 500yen (regular exhibit fee)

Cafe Extended Hours
Date: Dec 23-24, 2011
Time: 9:00-20:00
*Special Christmas Sweets Available*

Love Wari (Love Discount)
Date: Dec 24, 2011
Time: 17:00-20:00 (last admission, 19:30)
Admission: 2 for 1
**Please hold hands and ask for "Rabu wari onegaishimasu" at reception**

Also, completely unrelated to Christmas, the shimin (citizen) free days for December are the 10th and 23rd. On these days, admission to the regular exhibits is free for Towada citizens. Simply say that you are "shimin" to the receptionist and show proof of residence (alien registration card, driver's license, etc.).

Tohoku Expressway Toll Free Zones Dec 1, 2011-Mar 31, 2012

Portions of the Tohoku Expressway will be free for all cars, everyday from Dec. 1, 2011-Mar. 31, 2012.

See the map for more details, but basically you can go from Hachinohe to Sendai for free. (The roads marked in blue are free all the time for everyone; the brown is only free for ETC users on weekends and national holidays.)

For complete details, see http://www.mlit.go.jp/road/road_tk1_000022.html (Japanese).