vespa

I'm from a country where many people ride scooters. I still remember my dad's 70s Vintage Vespa where he installed a small seat above the foot panel so I could ride with him when I was little. I've always had a special and warm feeling toward Vespa since then. I still have this vintage Vepsa toy I bought at a shop a few years ago... the moment I saw it I said, "Ahhh... that's the same color and style of Vespa my dad had!"


I've been looking at them here and there, thinking if I could handle the gear shifts and such, and when I finally went to the Vespa store again yesterday I spotted the newest model of the Vespa family: the LX150. It's a powerful scooter and no gear-shifting... I think I may just have to have it... some time, that is.

mikado

We went to the downtown Mikado for lunch after the citizenship ceremony.

John had Gyoza for appetizer, and I had Agedashi tofu. I liked both. Not jumping-up-and-down liked both, but I liked them.

And then the main part of lunch came. John ordered ginger pork and I had the some-friends-said-it's-yummy ramen. The ramen was supposed to be pork broth based (which was meant to be thick and strong) but it didn't quite taste right, and I saw the square-ish corner of a ramen block. Hmm...

I didn't taste John's ginger pork. I think he said it tasted pretty good.. but when I saw the white boiled pork sliced lying on the white plates I didn't even want to give it a try.

Oh, as for the tamago we ordered... it didn't come. The chef had our server bring us grilled eggplant nigiri, which was pretty good... only that I ordered tamago, not eggplant. The lovely server explained that they ran out of tamago. If you ask me, I'd say they didn't make tamago that day.

My friend Brian worked at Mikado for a while and I heard many good things about the place; however our lunch that was about $45 (including tips) was really not worth that much. Maybe we just didn't ordered all of the right items.

god bless america

I went to the Oath of Allegience ceremony today and became a naturalized U.S. citizen. I wonder if there were any unnatural ones.

seriously

It happened again, and I said something about it. Seriously, I've had enough. I'm gonna take it to the mattresses.

the dog whisperer

John and I have been addicted to the series of Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer. We have actually learned quite a bit from the man! We got the complete first season of the series from Costco, and it was a great deal.

I've been going on better walks with the dogs, as recommended by Cesar Millan, and I think it's working! The dogs seem to be more "focused" and "balanced." It's amazing.

I'll recommend the series to any dog owner, or any dog owner wannabe!

bunny stamp

I got these Japanese books on carving cool stamps out of erasers, and I made a bunny stamp! I used Artgum and it worked all right, but I think basic, plain, white, and slightly harder school erasers will probably work better. The erasers here are more expensive somehow, so I'm thinking I'll have my mom and sister bring me some cheap-o erasers when they come to visit this summer.


oops, please excuse the blurry pics.

little forest

We've had pretty good rain this year so far, so the trees are growing quite well; however our grass is not growing as well, or should I say we're not working as hard as we should to keep the backyard nice and green. (The front yard IS though!) *shy*

But the backyard is the dogs' favorite, especially for Nuki, as he always
smiles when he strolls around the backyard.

little plants

I ordered some books from Taiwan again Wednesday and they got here this morning! I got some Japanese and Chinese books, and among them was a books about growing little plants/bonsai indoor.

It's an amazing book! I'm not a plant killer, but I haven't been able to grow plants very well. I've always wanted to have more plants at the caffe so I'm hoping this book will help.

I think I'm going to start with growing a small orange plant and a potato plant.

extraordinary machine

Extraordinary Machine is great, and isn't Fiona Apple the most lovely name?

Extraordinary Machine

I certainly haven't been shopping for any new shoes, and
I certainly haven't been spreading myself around
I still only travel by foot and by foot, it's a slow climb
But I'm good at being uncomfortable so I can't stop changing all the time

I noticed that my opponent is always on the go, and
Won't go slow so's not to focus and I notice
He'll hitch a ride with any guide as long as they go fast from whence he came
But he's no good at being uncomfortable so he can't stop staying exactly the same

If there was a better way to go then it would find me
I can't help it, the road just rolls out behind me
Be kind to me or treat me mean
I'll make the most of it, I'm an extraordinary machine

I seem to you to seek a new disaster every day
You deem me due to clean my view and be at peace and lay
I mean to prove I mean to move in my own way and say
I've been getting along for long before you came into the play

I am the baby of the family
It happens so everybody cares
And wears the sheeps' clothes while they chaperone
Curious you're looking down your nose at me while you appease
Courteous to try and help but let me set your mind at ease

If there was a better way to go then it would find me
I can't help it, the road just rolls out behind me
Be kind to me or treat me mean
I'll make the most of it, I'm an extraordinary machine

Do I so worry you
You need to hurry to my side, it's very kind
But it's to no avail
I don't want the bail
I promise you everything will be just fine

If there was a better way to go then it would find me
I can't help it, the road just rolls out behind me
Be kind to me or treat me mean
I'll make the most of it, I'm an extraordinary machine

If there was a better way to go then it would find me
I can't help it, the road just rolls out behind me
Be kind to me or treat me mean
I'll make the most of it, I'm an extraordinary machine

arts festival

The 30th Utah Arts Festival is here. For the past couple of years the festivals had been held at the Library Square, which is across from the caffe, and I just found out yesterday that the entrance is directly across from our door. That's cool.

Don't know if I'll have time to stop by to check things out, but I'm sure everyone else would come and tell me waht he/she sees.

more than best friend

Kevin Weaver, 34, was rescued by his beagle, Belle, in Ocoee, Fla., after Weaver collapsed in a diabetic seizure. Belle received the VITA Wireless Samaritan Award in Washington for biting onto owner's cell phone to call 911.

You can read the complete version of the story about Belle. You'll realize a dog is not only a man's best friend.

sleepy kitty

OMG this is just too cute.

shame on me

Some more of my stuff was stolen. Stuff stolen once, shame on the thief; stuff stolen twice, shame on me; or should I say, stuff stolen once, f&$# them; stuff stolen twice, f&^$ them again. I do realize I have to take serious precautions now.

If you've come into the shop recently, you might have noticed some cool collectable cigarette cases. A lot of people get those to use as their wallets. I got a Bob Marley one and it was gone. No one bought it.

It's a fairly rare one, so if you see someone you know with a Bob Marley cigarette case (It's Bob Marley's profile on the right and a lion's profile on the left,) please let me know. I'll hunt the guy down and give you reward. Seriously.

I believe the same person/people stole all the stuff. I will find them.

lunch

John and I are looking at a few properties in town for our restaurant project, and there's this one spot downtown that we are particularly interested in right now, so for the past few days we have been taking turns to drive by the location to check out the surroundings in the area.

After talking to some friends and chefs, we're now also thinking about the lunch menus for the restaurant. While they are talking about Japanese lunch items I thought of the yummy gyoza and ramens we had at Gyoza King in Gion, Kyoto. Those were some of the yummiest and best deal gyoza I've had. 180 yen per six, and the ramens were good, too. John had some sort of spicy ramen while I had a house special thick stock ramen. Yum. *drooling* I'm going to bribe our future head chef to make me some of those some time, as part of his work duties.

organizing

I'm organizing my crafty room right now. I moved all the boxes full of the clothing and accessories for the boutique to the guest room, and then I re-arranged the tables and shelves in the room. I'm going to get some rubbermaid boxes to store and organize the clothes by the season, and to clear my work table so I can actually find things when I make stuff.

The dogs seem to be happy about my re-arranging stuff in the crafty room. They try to all lie down on the crafty room floor when I was organizing... 3 big dogs in a 10x10 room full of fabrics and supplies... imagine that!

fried not

I read a blog entry about crispy drumsticks that taste fried but baked. I used a different brand of coating and altered the baking time and temperature and it actually worked pretty well. I sprinkled ground white pepper on them. Yummy! I think I'll try to make my own blend of coating next time.

and they were robbed

Ryan who works at the board shop next door came to get coffee today and told us a crazy story.

A guy went in to their shop last night, looked at stuff, and asked Adam (one of the owners of the shop) if he had his size certain style shoes. Adam went to the back room to grab the shoes and when he came out the guy apparently had grabbed a specialty longboard and took off. Adam ran out the door and saw the guy just got out of the buildling.

Adam ran after the guy, only to find that the thief was gone. Ryan said the stolen longboard was top of the line and so far no one has bought one yet.

I felt really bad for the board shop. When their stuff is stolen, they lose hundreds of dollars. I guess my under $100 loss over the stolen jewelry was not that bad... but still, f*(& the scum bag thieves!

so ginger is really siamese

For the past few days I've noticed that Ginger's been loving to lie on the platform on the kitty tree and being lazy.

And I finally could see the Siamese look on her!

stolen

I just found that somebody stole stuff from my little boutique at the store. I picked these great Hello Kitty and other great design steel key chains while we were in Japan.
I put some out and people love them! However I just found out that a 3-piece Hello Kitty and a Star with crystals key chains ($60 value!)were stolen! I'm sad. I try to bring fun and pretty things to people and allow them freedome to browse the boutique, but then these lovely key chains were stolen, along with some other chunky rings a few weeks ago... boooooo!

Booooo the person/people who stole my stuff, and don't blame the language I'm using toward the person/people in my head, I'm just going to gently put those words down as f&*# 'em. f&*# 'em 'til they rot in h&*#.

live 8 concerts

I found "Live 8"at the library. It's a concert series (4 DVDs) by wonderful singers and bands and celebrities at major cities in the world. Its belief was that with the 8 most powerful men (leaders/presidents of 8 powerful nations) in the world, 3rd world hunger could be stopped, and children will be helped and educated.

Too bad the library only lets you borrow DVDs for a week, and there's a bunch of people on the hold list so I can't renew 'em right now. I have to return it tonight.

There are some really great concerts on the DVDs, and I guess I'll just have to put myself on the hold list again.

umm... anchorage, ak?

I order books from Taiwan sometimes where I can find great books from Taiwan and Japan, which is very helpful. Usually the company sends out books either via DHL or UPS Express.

My books left Taiwan on June 9th, and got to Ontario, CA on June 9th. (Amazing, I know, but there's the time difference bonus that we get, remember?) I was really excited to see that when I checked out the delivery status, and figured that I'd get my package on Saturday.

WRONG! Apparently my package went to Anchorage, ALASKA and spent the weekend there. Hmmm... interesting. Well I've got my package this morning, so I'm not really mad or anything, and I know that sometimes UPS re-route their deliveries, but... California-Anchorage, ALASKA-SLC, UT? Hmmm...

Package Progress:

Location Date Local Time Activity
ANCHORAGE, AK, US 06/09/2006 1:47 P.M. ARRIVAL SCAN
ONTARIO, CA, US 06/09/2006 1:01 P.M. REGISTERED WITH CLEARING AGENCY;SHIPMENT

under the weather

I've been feeling a bit under the weather this past couple of days. I've been hearing people who come in to the caffe saying, "I've been sick for a week," "I've got sinus infection," etc. Apparently while they were talking they delivered tiny little viruses to me as well. *sigh* I've been sniffling since.

I guess the only semi-fun thing about being sniffly is that Yama would come and check me out whenever I sniffle.

scrubbing my shower clean

Scrubbing Bubbles came up with this new battery-operated automatic shower cleaner, where you'd push the blue button everyday after you take a shower, the squirt head would spin and dispenses cleaner onto the shower walls and door. The company guarantees that your shower will be sparkling clean in 3 weeks or less.

I'm all for the ease of cleaning so of course I got one to put in our shower. It's been there for a few days now. We'll see how it is. If it doesn't work I'm going to bring it back and demand a refund.

hot weather is here to stay

It's been quite hot in town this past few days, and while it's trying to rain today, it's still super hot, which makes me want to sware at people, things, and the passing cars.

But then I saw this photo we took when we were in Kyoto. It's a little fountain in front of a Gion temple. These fontains are built in front of Japanese temples to allow visitors to wash their hands and cool off before they go into the temples, and they are usually built to suit the theme, looks, and such of the main temples. You'd hold the scoop in your right hand to pour water and wash your left hand, and then hold the scoop in your left hand to pour water and wash your right hand. It really cools you down quite a bit in hot weather.

takashi is cool

The caffe was closed on Saturday because of the chaotic road closures for the downtown events, and we went to Takashi's.

We did the omakase, which is pretty much the term you use when you want the chef to be creative and use whatever is fresh at the restaurant to create wonderful sushi and other dishes, or whatever he recommends specifically to you.

We had a different chef this time... didn't get to sit in front of Takashi! The dinner was fabulous.



the grilled scallops and miso-marinated black cod were fantastic!


the sushi was good; however the nigiri was a bit too firm for me.


finally tried anago, its texture was firmer than unagi.
and ahh... of course the legendary takashi's hakozushi- "the box".

and they are good friends

I think I'm fortunate to have wonderful dogs and cats in my life. They are loving, playful, and sweet. Another great thing is that everyone gets along and they are all good friends!

And recently Yama and Jasper just love hanging out together in the front room.

ginger on the tree

We moved our furnitures around so we can place the kitty tree by the window. The cats love to look out of the window, and this way they don't have to sit on top of the couch to do it.

Ginger apparently loves the idea, too!

ginger the tiny and serious

Ginger is probably the smallest cat of her age I've ever seen. Sure there are skinnier cats out there, but not this small in height and length. I've also noticed that even though she's all small and cute, she always looks really serious and older in photos. Hmm... maybe she has an older soul?