I actually don't remember whether I've eaten that brand of bread. But pretty much any kind of bread is wonderful to me, because I simply love bread.

There's something in the French language that I find hilarious. Part of the final exam for French included reading a pamphlet about Harry Potter, and in it were the words "baguette magique". I didn't think much of it at first, but then I read over it again and wondered if there had been any magical bread in Harry Potter, because I certainly couldn't recall any.

Turns out that a "baguette magique" is a magic wand. A drumstick is a "baguette de tambour", a "baguette d'encens" is an incense stick, a "baguette de chef d'orchestre" is a conductor's baton... And baguette can even refer to a chopstick, if you're eating. I suppose baguette doesn't just refer to food. It's just a stick or rod-shaped object in general.

But really, though, words aside, I've been living off of bread for the last two weeks or so. The #1 thing about my trip to China was bread, no doubt about it. I stopped at every bakery I saw. Would be heaven if I could spend all day visiting bakeries. Bread's cheap and tasty. Everything looked like a great deal compared to USA - got "pineapple buns" (they don't have pineapples in them, I think it's just named that because it looks like pineapples? I have no idea. They're also called polo buns). One itime I found them, fresh out of the oven, for ¥3.5 per bun. One US dollar is about ¥7, so it's like $0.50 for a bun. Better deal than any pineapple bun I've found yet in the USA. ...Then again, the average pay of people in China is far less, so it only looks like a great deal to a foreigner such as myself. But I also found melon bread at a 7-11 in Shanghai! It was only ¥5! And it's just so hard to find melon bread where I live, even if there are many Asian food stores. When I do find it, although it's delicious, it's kind of pricey.

Still, I guess it's not so bad to be back home, because I discovered a place to get pineapple buns. There's a bakery in a nearby grocery store which sells them 3 for $1.95! I can almost die happy.

Labels: baguette, bakery, bread, china, deal, delicious, eating, food, french, harry potter, magic wand, meaning, money, pineapple bun, polo bun, price

I've heard the saying, "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach." I'm not sure if the man here refers to humans in general or just men, but I have certainly been quite fond of food lately.

Ever since we got home from the cruise ship, I seem to be hungry at the oddest times of day. I would wake up, at, say, 1 or 2 in the morning, and would feel the urge to eat something. Last night it took me a while to get to sleep (in fact, I'm not quite certain that I slept), and woke up at around 5 in the morning. I was rather drowsy at first, but I actually don't feel that tired from waking up early. Perhaps I should make this a habit. (It's funny how after taking a nap you often feel more tired than you did before napping, for instance.)

Once it was around 11, I paid a visit to the library I usually visit before going to another town to visit the San Jose Library, West Valley branch. I've only been here once before (at least in my memory) but I liked it a lot, although I have trouble navigating it. It seems to be quite the bustling place. There were a bunch of kids, and I noticed that they had Nintendo DS. (What's the plural form for DS? Is it just DS or is it DSes, or is it DSs?) I discovered that there's this room called the Teen Space, and on the wall there's a poster of Haruhi Suzumiya, as well as some drawings from people who are apparently part of a manga and anime club. I thought to myself, "Hey, it might be interesting to join, and I can get my drawings put up on the wall..."

But anyways, since there were apparently ramen shops nearby, we went searching for one which an acquaintance of my dad had mentioned. We found that it was inside a Japanese supermarket. That ramen shop is part of a chain of stores, so we've actually eaten there before (in Japan). But instead of being a restaurant, here you place your order and wait for your number to be called so you can pick up trays with your food on them and find a seat amongst the various tables.

It was the supermarket which interested me in particular. There was an Andersen Bakery inside the supermarket. My mom used to buy me this bread that has custard on it. It's quite delicious. When I was looking around, I saw that there was melon-pan (melon bread) being sold! (It's a bit different from usual, it doesn't look like the usual melon bread. Instead it apparently has cookie dough on the top. But it's quite delicious nevertheless.

I was very excited getting to hear people speaking Japanese. (I should get used to it already, but I can't seem to help it.) I could hear people saying "Irrashaimase!", which means "Welcome", and "Okage desu ka?" (I think that's what I heard, but I don't remember clearly. I forget what it means.) And there was a girl sitting at a table eating her lunch, and she kept saying, "Okashi daiyo" which I believe means something like, "It's strange." But I have no idea what exactly was strange.

I sampled some dango and looked at the sushi and rice balls. It's really quite thrilling to see the foods that you've seen in anime or manga in real life. It's like confirmation that fiction really is based off actual things and happenings. I was on the cruise ship watching a comedy juggler perform and he pulled the tablecloth off a table in one swift motion. The plates and utensils on the table didn't fall off of it. I saw this same thing executed in the anime Kuroshitsuji. I'd like to try it too (although I don't want to risk breaking my plates).

Labels: andersen bakery, anime, bread, cruise ship, food, japanese, kuroshitsuji, library, manga, melon, pan, ramen, show, sleep, supermarket, trick

I saw a picture with these very words on it when I was in a store. I believe it was probably Michael's. We go there whenever we need art supplies, like the time I needed black paint (I had green, red, yellow, red, blue, and white paint already because when I took a painting class before, we were given the leftover paints). They sell art there too, and there was a cute picture of some rubber ducks. And there was a little rubber duck on the back of a big one. I thought it was a very nice picture but I hadn't the heart to ask to buy it since it's not exactly practical (except for maybe decorating a bathroom wall or something).

Anyways, I was thinking that, really, life is simply life. There are ups and downs...Which is definitely true when it comes to my grades (recently I'd been on the down, but maybe soon I'll be on the "road to recovery", if we use the terms to describe our current economy). And sometimes things happen. Like getting injured, which seems to happen to me quite often.

Lacrosse is one of my favorite sports, besides bocce ball and basketball. Unfortunately, that doesn't save me from getting injured. I wonder if I am not only a magnet for miracles (see post by the same name) but also a magnet for balls. One time a lacrosse ball whacked me in the face. Luckily, I didn't bruise, but it was sore for a little while. Then, in the same day, a ball hit me on the leg. I wonder if we don't need lacrosse protective gear.

Soccer is also dangerous. A soccer ball would've hit me in the stomach, but I whirled to the side, so it hit me in the side instead. (I wonder if it's better to be hit in the stomach or the side?) And when I was young, I was trying to get a ball out from under some bushes, but then someone threw a football at my head. (Wait...Did they do that on purpose? If so, I must have some enemies that I'm not aware of.)

Ducks don't always have the greatest life either. There are people out there who hunt, so you could get shot down by a rifle and then get picked up by a dog. Not too pleasant for the duck, but fun for the human. Then again, ducks have the chance to be fed bread crumbs if they go to the park. (You're not supposed to feed them, but I did it a few times when I was a wee child.) But if we poisoned the bread, they'd be in big trouble, because I don't know if they can distinguish between safe and unsafe...

Speaking of ducking, I remember that last year there was a kid in my village (each village has a few teachers that teach the four core subjects. For your elective or PE teacher, you can have any of the teachers, but for the four core subjects, you can only have the teachers in your village, so you have the same core teachers all year) nicknamed Squeakers. He didn't live up to his name, though. When someone (I think the teacher! o_O;; ) threw an object (I think it was maybe the fake brain he keeps in his class) at Squeakers, instead of squeaking, he just ducked. So now he's Duckers instead.

Labels: art, balls, black, bread, danger, duckers, ducks, flying objects, hunting, injury, just ducky, life, michael's, nickname, paint, picture, squeakers, store, supplies, ups and downs

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