An early greeting from Sendai

It might be still early for sharing the Christmas and New Year`s greeting, but while I`m enjoying some quality time on weekend after my experiment marathon, why not sit down and write about our recent photo-walking in the city?

Sendai Pageant of Starlight, or what people simply call "Illumination" is one of the famous annual events held every December where all the trees in some main streets and parks are decorated with lights and lit on every night until December 31. 

The streets are crowded with visitors not only from Sendai but also from other cities despite the frostiness. My husband and I are not big on places packed with people, but for this spectacular view, oh, we`re so ready to join the crowd!  

If you remember my previous post on Jozenji avenue, this is exactly the same place, only the trees are now without their leaves and everything looks glowing thanks to the magical transformation by the lights.

Beautiful. Not so many people here.

Now say cheese!

Busy. Busy busy busy. That was the word that kept coming out on his camera. But I think the camera was as happy as the owner!

These are probably the first white Christmas trees I`ve ever seen, but I was so into the colors that I wouldn`t leave them! 

 Now finally, here comes our greeting!

Thank you for all your visits to A Box of Kitchen this year (and the years before too, probably), which I truly appreciate, and we wish you a very happy, delicious, and successful 2013!

Eat. Work. Ride.

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving! 

I hope you all enjoyed the celebration with good food and surrounded with your beloved ones.

My disappearance for almost one whole season has made me think that my blogging days were over. Joining into a new research project and increasing my part-time works are what keep me busy like a bee. Not the queen, of course. Now add to those works a regular headache that comes every time I encourage myself to be more serious (and not stubbornly picky) in finding me a job for next year.So, I really apologize to my blogger friends because I haven`t visited their blogs for these past few months, but I promise I`ll drop by more often.

Do I still cook? Yes. And an incredibly fluffy souffle cheese cake is what I wish to share with you next time. Do I still take pictures of food? Err...yes...and no. Yes for lovely food I have outside. Like this beautiful sashimi rice bowl containing piles of tuna, salmon and the roe, shrimp, octopus, and sea urchin with a dollop of wasabi on top. Ah, just lovely.

But no for my cooking rituals. Not that I won`t take pictures again, but maybe I need to take a break for a while.  And in the mean time, this is actually what I`ve been doing after works and during weekends. Here is me riding a 4-cylinder Honda CB400 at my driving/riding school, which I`d totally recommend to those of you who live in Sendai and are interested in getting driver`s license. I need to complete at least 17 hours of training sessions before taking the final test to get the license and I`m still like half-way from finishing everything.

Have I told you that I got my car driver`s license in summer? Well, if I haven`t, I did. Yaay! 

But, as buying a car for me seems to be a long term plan, a motorcycle would be a better option for me. I`m perfectly happy with my current 50-cc scooter, which is apparently not a "motorcycle" according to the motorist terms, except that it`s difficult not to exceed the 30 km/h speed limit for 50-cc vehicles when riding on a big road along with the faster cars and sometimes the bigger motorcycles too. That`s why I`m planning on upgrading my commuter to 250-cc motorcycles and for that I need a new driver`s license, again. Now here`s the tricky part for me. What I want is being able to ride a 250-cc motorcycle, but the system in Japan requires me to practice riding on a 400-cc motorcycle and get a license with that. I couldn`t find any better chart to explain the driver`s license categories in Japan, but I hope this Wikipedia link can help you understand what I`m saying.

This handsome Honda weighs about 200 kg. I, on the other hand, weigh one forth of that and I (and the instructors) have lost count on how many times I dropped the bike, especially on my first days of training. And I still sometimes do until now. Dropping the bike must sound awful to you, but believe me, trying to lift it up is the hardest part for me. The second hardest? Putting it on the center stand. I`m not sure whether it`s because my lack of muscle strength (and height maybe?) or my ability in excelling the technique. Anyway, if it wasn`t for its weight, I would ask Santa to bring me this CB400 for my Christmas present as I`m seriously in love with it.

Now here are some videos during my practice showing some parts of the motorcyle riding skills that are going to be scored during the test. Riding a motorcycle in a straight direction with fast speed is easy, even for me on this 200- kg bike. It is, however, super difficult to ride slowly and maneuver it in a zig-zag direction while keeping it balanced. You`ll see in the video that I need to work harder in improving my skills.

Cone weaves. 

I need to weave through a series yellow cones under 7 seconds. If I touch the cones or put my feet down during an actual test, the test will be terminated. 

Quick stop. 

Within a quite short distance, I need to speed up to 40 km/h and brake the bike so it stops before the second white line. I think my speed was still not enough, but my front tire passed the line. I`d definitely fail if this was a test.

Slow ride on a narrow track. 

I need to ride on this very narrow track and finish it at least within 7 seconds, which means speeding up is not an option no matter how tempting it seems.

Slow turns on multiple curves. 

I`ve got bruises and muscle pain from the fallings and bike droppings, but the part that made me utterly frustrated and literally sob is this one. Working on the throttle, clutching, back braking, turning, and counter-weighting simultaneously is what it takes to pass the curves without putting down my feet. Or worse, falling down. After tons of failures and two extra sessions only on this part, I`ve finally made some progress and I really really hope I won`t mess up during my test later.

I can go on and on when it comes to my motorcycling practice, but the bottom line is, riding is so fun! Riding also makes me sweat and it`s like 7 degrees C outside. Another bottom line: I would probably stick with anything less than 200 kg even if my future license allow me to ride the bigger ones. And speaking of future license, please wish me luck so I can pass the test before the snow falls hard.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy preparing for the holiday season!

The summer end on Jozenji avenue

Hi folks, is summer already ending at your place? In Sendai, we are still having humid and scorching hot days, although lately the nights and early mornings have been bringing some cool air into our house. When I started to have the feeling that this summer seems to never end, I saw some stores has already hung up Halloween decorations and there`s where I realized that fall is coming!

With the heat, the driving lessons, and tons of other excuses, I`m particularly looking forward for this fall and to getting back to cooking/baking since I seemed to be nowhere near my baking tools practically the whole summer and even my husband lost his appetite for baked goods.  Other than that, I just have to go outside to photograph the fall colors of Sendai before leaving to Shizuoka. For now, please let me share these views that I recorded on a windy but cozy afternoon on Jozenji avenue, one of Sendai`s landmarks where the street is lined with zelkova trees that provide shade and refreshing air in the summer heat. 

This green scenery actually transforms into another amazing view in winter because the leafless trees would be decorated with hundreds of lights that are lit during snowy nights in December. This too is definitely in my to-photograph list, but in the mean time, you can take a peek to see how magical they are through my husband`s Flickr page.

Now back to present time, which is summer, don`t you want to get married and kiss your husband under those trees? And if you do, apparently you`re not alone. Like this couple, who happened to came and have their photographs taken near where my husband and I sat.

Congratulations to the newly wedded couple!

A beautiful afternoon with beautiful shady trees and a beautiful bride. 

I must have been very lucky to be there that day.

I feel like I had not appreciated Sendai`s beauty as much as I should have been before and now I wish I could bring all these places with me when I leave.

Anyway, have a lovely day and hope to see you again soon!