Inexplicable Fashion Trend Part Deux

Along with the half pants of awkward length, another disturbing trend this spring is the cardigan worn backwards, as demonstrated by this lovely young lady.



The first time I saw one, I thought the person had somehow managed to contort her head all the way back (me and my astigmatic eyes). I hoped this was just one single girl’s idea of creative dressing, but knowing how Japanese fashion works, I braced myself for more. Not surprisingly, everywhere I turn my head, there’s another one.

Do they find comfort in wearing their clothes the same way they did their kindergarten smock? Does it bring back childhood memory of being pampered and taken care of? Or are they recently released from a long hospital stay and had gotten so used to tying on the hospital gown in the back that they have yet to adjust to wearing clothes the normal way? Or maybe it’s a new way of incorporating yoga into every aspect of their lives: twist while getting dressed!

Regardless of what’s going on in these girls’ heads, this look is disturbing in so many ways. First of all, when I see a row of buttons on a crew neck cardigan, I expect to see a face at the top of the buttons, instead I see a neckless head of hair! It looks like the head is screwed on backwards. Talk about freaky! Then there’s the problem with the cut. Do they not understand that the front of the torso and the back of the torso have different topography? Do they not feel what is supposed to be the back of the neck hole choking the breath out of them? If it looks UGLY and feels UNCOMFORTABLE, what possessed them to wear it like this?

Princess Chariot

Libby is picky about the surface that she walks on. She prefers grass and carpet over asphalt and hardwood floor, and she especially hates uneven surfaces such as those covered with small pebbles.

On our hanami trip to the palace on Sunday, Libby decided that she simply could not walk even one more step on those horrendous pebbles and made a great effort to feign pain and discomfort. So daddy rose to the occasion and carried the Princess over his shoulder until she could touch down on concrete pavement. Even concrete is better than pebbles!

Inexplicable Fashion Trend

I admit I don’t do quirky when it comes to dressing but although I’m no Carrie Bradshaw I certainly do read my Vogue and know what’s “in” and what’s “out.” However, a recent trend in Tokyo fashion has me completely baffled: the skinny half pants that awkwardly fall right at knee level. I’ve seen this look all over town ever since the temperature crept up to double digits, and honestly, not one person looked good in them. I mean, unless you are a supermodel with super long limbs, chances are you are going to look like an amputee.

Another thing I’d never been able to understand is the skirt over jeans look. It’s as if the person couldn’t decide when she got up in the morning whether to go with skirt or jeans, so she threw on both, without looking herself over in the mirror before stepping out the door. Having said that, I do admit that certain people, namely those who resemble supermodels in their proportions, can pull this look off if the skirt is flowy and the jeans skinny.

What I saw today on the train, on the other hand, is so … (hmmm, how should I put it, hideous comes to mind, but I am not going to be too harsh) God awful, that I am at a loss for words. And I'm not even going to comment on those black sockies that peak out from the shoes.



Girl, go get yourself a full-length mirror for crying out loud!

Let the Hanami Begin!

Mori Tower in Roppongi Hills

The cherry blossoms in Tokyo are finally in full bloom! I remember every year around this time for the past three years I wished I could be out enjoying the beautiful sakura instead of sitting in a stuffy office doing meaningless so-called work. This year, I really can.

I’ve been “hanami-ing” (looking at flowers) everyday this week. I have been sticking to the less popular places so far: Mori garden in Roppongi Hills (twice), the Nogizaka shrine (once) and the Aoyama cemetery (everyday walking Libby). I used the sakura in the cemetery as my gauge. Yesterday the flower to bud ratio was still only 50% but this morning, it was a sea of sakura the faintest shade of pink. This means I must now shift into high gear and cover all the sakura-meisho (famous place for viewing cherry blossom) within the next three or four days, before the petals start falling, which is beautiful in its own right (like pink snow flakes) but right now the mission is to look at them while they are on the tree.


A branch of the lone shidarezakura in front of Nogizaka shrine

So the battle plan goes like this: tomorrow I am taking my in-laws to Shinjuku-Gyoen, one of my favorite sakura viewing places, with a large parking lot. My in-laws need a break from walking after I dragged them the long route to Roppongi Hills and Azabu-Juban today. (I don’t think my MIL knew what she was getting into as I innocently pointed to the Mori tower from my house, “Look, it’s just there!”) On Saturday, we will brave the crowd and go to Kamakura (I’m hoping to snap a couple of pictures of the Giant Buddha with sakura branches swaying in front). Sunday we will go to either the Imperial Palace or Yoyogi park, and if we are insane enough, Ueno park. Next week, maybe we’ll go to the Meguro river and look at petals in the water.

Phew, it’s tough to hanami!

Doggie Helper

Since the in-laws are coming to stay, I am having to haul home twice the amount of milk. So I saddled up Libby and made her carry milk for me on the way home from our walk.



The cat says, “What the heck?!”

A Photo Blog is Born

I've decided to move some of my photos to a photoblog. So far I've only uploaded three pictures, but you can check it out here, or from the side bar of this blog.

Spring Blooms

Before the sakura come the magnolias.



And the nameless blue flowers.

Black-Eyed Pea Cake

Ever since I saw the picture of this cake on Jessica's blog, I'd been wanting to try it. Of course, when I decorated it, I was too lazy to check the photo and cut my apricot slices too thin, resulting in the limpy-withered-petal look. The taste was great though, and very unique.

I followed the cake recipe almost exactly (but changed the icing), except instead of boiled apricot, I spread apricot jam in between the layers. I also sliced it into four layers because I thought it might be dry with only one layer of jam. It turned out to be entirely unnecessary however, because the cake was surprisingly moist. The batter looked so pretty and tasted heavenly (in fact I think I might even prefer the raw batter to the baked cake!) but since I was using my butterfly shaped silicone pan for the first time, I burned the cake a little bit. Nothing a little trimming wouldn’t solve though.

I took the cake to my friend Anna's surprise birthday party and it received good reviews. I think the unusual taste and texture might have thrown some off, but a number of people told me they really liked it. Even Jason said it was good. I do have this really strange thing where sometimes when I eat food containing beans and corn, my forehead goes numb. I had the same reaction to the cake today but it’s not a bad sensation, so I didn’t mind at all. I did think it was maybe just a little too apricotish, however, that’s probably because I added the two extra layers of apricot jam.

Oh, and I'm particularly proud of the icing because after researching for something that won’t give you instant cavity, I decided to combine a couple of recipes and make my own version. So I mixed together 3oz of cream cheese, 2 tbsp of butter, 3.5 oz of mascarpone cheese, and about 3/4 cups of honey. It was the perfect sweetness and spreading consistency. I even have some leftovers to use on another batch of ginger cupcakes.

Thanks for sharing the recipe, Jessica. I am definitely going to make this cake again, maybe in cupcake forms with individual black-eyed susans on top. I bet those would look so cute!