mckib•in•nihon: February 2006

Chowhound

Yesterday Nico tried solid food for the first time. We gave her a little rice porridge. She started slurping the stuff down the second the spoon touched her lips. She really went for it... kind of amazing. She chowed down like a lil' champ. So to celebrate, we'll be heading to Mickey D's tomorrow for her first double bacon with cheese.

Joking. joking.

OK, that's all for now. Work. Me. Up to eyeballs.

Latest Dailies

Dailies

5 months

Yesterday was Nico's 5 month birthday. Keep on keeping on baby girl.

She had some quality time with her 2 favorite bears.

And Mom wore a special hat just for the occasion.

I've got my nose back to the grindstone, so not much more to report (or recommend).

Escape Pod

I can't believe it's taken me this long to mention Escape Pod. It's one of the best scifi and short fiction podcast sites going. I've been listening for months now. Unlike many similar sites, they actually pay their authors so the work is usually top notch and the voice talent is always spot on. So if you've got a long commute that needs filling, or as in my case, find that most radio sucks (yup even here in Japan... actually more so) then get with the clickety-clickety-click. The latest episode is a gem, "My Friend is a Lesbian Zombie". Here's an excerpt:

"I don’t know how it happened. I’m the last person I’d go to if I were a zombie; I’m not into the occult thing at all. But I was the only friend Mandy had in this city, so she came to me with her sob story. Lucky me. So there she was, kicked back in my bed, having herself a good, long cry and I was stuck with her, wondering how long until she began stinking. That was really unfair of me, I know, but there was a goddamn walking, talking corpse snuggled up in my good sheets and I was a little concerned about it."

Technorati Tags: podcast, scifi, zombies, lesbians

A whole 'nother kind a baby

Our pals Steve and Sofie recently added a puppy Dogue de Bordeaux to their brood. His name is Okie (or maybe Huck).

What a lil' cutie.

Here he is in his full recumbent splendor. Check out the jowl action.

Steve, my friend, you must be in flap heaven. Now why don't y'all head on over to Steve's House o' Wax and peep his awesome drawings and such.

The Dailes

Dailies

Bon Anniversaire Miyuki

Yesterday was my honey's birthday. We got a great present from Yuichiro and Yumi... they offered to babysit Nico for a few hours and (pick up part of the tab) while we had lunch at Le Midi, a French restaurant in town. It's actually one of several French restaurants in town. There's even a few patisseries about. It's odd, there's enough of a demand in Japan for French cuisine that even a little po-dunk city like Takayama can support several outlets. And the cuisine survives fairly intact... there's a conspicuous absence of mentaiko, natto or curry dishes on the menu. If only the Japanese felt the same way about bagels, NY style pizza and Mexican food...

Miyuki had a very nice lamb dish.

And I had a really good steak au poivre.

We almost didn't make it to dessert. We were already stuffed before the entree's came, from the generous salad and soup they served before hand. But good thing there's always the betsu bara, or extra stomach, that deploys just in case of such emergencies. We then had a bit of a stroll to get that betsu bara packed away again.

It was really nice having a few hours just to ourselves. But this is just Birthday celebration part 1. Part 2 comes in a couple of weeks when we, along with Nico, take a little mini vacation for a night at one of the local hotel/ryokans. Ah, a warm room and a warm bath... looking forward to it.