ready for lunch

Bento boxes drying

Yesterday, before heading to Andrea and Bill’s for Bill’s birthday party (which was great, by the way; we had a fabulous time), JeT and I went to Kam Man Marketplace, in Quincy. Though the Laptop Lunchbox is great, we had been wanting to buy some Japanese bento boxes for a long time. But ordering them online direct from Japan is way too expensive. Seriously. If you shop on Ebay (or any of the other bento shops online), you’re going to pay at least $10 for each box, and then add on $6-10 in shipping. It’s craziness, I tell you. Especially since we got five, two-tiered boxes, two sets of chopsticks (with cases) for under $15. Total. I didn’t expect them to be that cheap. No box was over $2. (Click through to see photos of individual boxes.) And Kam Man Food rules. It kicks Super 88’s arse. Though it’s not as convenient to get to from Boston, it’s worth it. (It’s about 2 miles from the nearest T stop.)

I haven’t put much energy into any of my lunches these last 6 months or so. Sure, I’ve been packing my lunch most every day, but they’re basically just filled with leftovers plopped in, with not much fun going on. Tasty, but not fun. So, since I had today off of work (yeah!) I spent the day making food that takes a bit of time, but freezes well. The gyoza (moon-shaped dumplings filled with cabbage, shredded carrot, and tofu) can be cooked in only a few minutes, and they are super tasty. We also bought some prepared moshi (sweet rice cake things) and mini jellies (made with fruit juice and seaweed) to pack in for a little extra, and some umbeoshi (pickled plums), too. I’ve also pre-chopped some veggies (carrots and peppers) and they’ll keep all week stored in container filled with water in the fridge.

We couldn’t find any mini sauce containers nor condiment cups at Kam Man, so we’ll just have to pack our mini cups from the laptop lunch box instead. We didn’t have much time to look around in depth, so we’ll have to go back. I need some mini sauce containers. They’re too cute: little squeezy bottles in fun shapes (like vegetables or animals). I may have to order those online, but they are at least pretty cheap.

Here’s to a bento-filled 2008!

I can has short rows?

O HAI!

Thanks to all who came to the Winter Super Fun Times gathering on Saturday! Click through to see our poor sampling of photos from the event. Click here for way better pictures from SEA, though I think you have to be one of her contacts to see them. Which is fine by me, since I got one of my, shall we say, “party whims,” and decided it would be great fun to knit a merkin. Many modeled the blue, fuzzy thing and SEA captured the action. (All merkin photos are clean, don’t worry.)

I had wanted everyone’s Decemberween presents to be done by Saturday, but that did not happen. I can’t knit on the train anymore, because I take a later train, which is way crowded, and I get all cramped trying to avoid elbowing the person next to me. So, evenings are my only knitting time these days. I kept getting terrible headaches in the evenings the week before the party, so I ran out of knitting time. Finishing the larger items (which shall remain slightly secret, since there is at least one who may read this that still does not know what they are) was impossible, so I decided to just work on the smaller items. But I needed at least 15 of those, and only managed 7. Therefore, only a few party guests got their party favor nose warmer. Alas.

I have decided that one of my knitterly resolutions for this year is to knit things that teach me new skills. For too long have my knitting skills been stagnant. I decided that the first things I would learn would be short rows. I know, I know, I’ve been knitting since I was 13 and I still need to learn short rows? Yes. Well, not really anymore, since I had to learn to do them for the nose warmers. They are essentially the toe of a toe-up sock, with crochet chain ties to secure behind the head. The instructions I used (for sock toes) were pretty good, except they left out certain important elements, such as which side of the work the yarn needs to be on for certain actions. Or rather, it kept leaving out the instruction to put the yarn back after having moved it. I find it very hard to learn new skills from written instructions because there are too many gaps. Without a real person sitting next to me filling in the gaps in instructions, I’m at a loss.

Anyway, after much trial and error, and tears, and ripping the darn things out again, it was midnight on Friday, the night before the day they were supposed to be gifts, and I still hadn’t got it right. I went to bed annoyed, but in the wee hours I had a knitterly epiphany, and as soon as I picked up the stupid thing the next morning, it started to click. I finally had the thrill of learning something new, and stopped swearing at the instructions (and the yarn, and the needles, and myself), and was able to whip them out at a pretty good pace (25 minutes each, including weaving in ends). Now I just have to finish the rest of them, and pop them in the post. Who wouldn’t love to get a nose warmer in their mailbox, right? I do need to figure out who got one and who didn’t, though.

It snowed Monday, and Radcliffe was closed, so I got to finish several things and pop a few in the post, which was rad. Unfortunately, I got sick that day, and then stayed home most of the week. It was a killer cold with a stupid fever and stuff. I had a really long, one day work week. And Monday is a holiday, too. I feel like a bum. But a well rested bum.

We’re going to see Cloverfield tonight. JeT has been following the marketing/hype/propaganda for this film for months, so we’re wicked excited to actually see the darned thing. I’m just excited to get out to see a movie. We don’t get out very often. And tomorrow, I’m going on a shopping spree with other people’s money. I’ve been amassing a fairly large collection of gift cards these last few months, and I’m going to spend them all in one day. A movie and shopping? Super fun consumer times, woot! There will also be a trip to Kam Man market tomorrow for some bento supplies. Hooray!

Happy New Year!

Right, so I tried to post on January first, but our network did not feel like speaking to the outside world that day. We had a very boring New Year’s, indeed. JeT had to work on the Eve and the Day, so we hadn’t planned on partying too wildly anyway. When he got home from work on the Eve and found me still in my jammies, it was rather obvious that I didn’t particularly want to go out. I hadn’t felt well all day, and so we fell asleep around 11:30 pm. Woke up around 1-ish, said “happy new yrrrrrzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.” The next day I still didn’t feel well. Kind of like when you’re about to get a cold and your head weighs too much and all you need is a dozen or so more hours of sleep. Most of my family had been ill over the last few weeks, and I was exposed to all their germiness while visiting, so I was prepared to be sick. But when I woke up Wednesday, all was well. Thank goodness I’m not starting out the year ill.

Or starting my new job ill. That would be doubly worse. So, I’m now an assistant at Radcliffe and MIT. Woot! I’m now properly poised to conduct a proper job search, while still being able to pay some bills. I’m feeling optimistic at the start, though I haven’t done much leg work yet. I’m enjoying both of my part-time jobs thus far. I’ve been at Radcliffe since October, and only just started at MIT this week. Regarding the latter, I’d like to say that nuclear physicists have an interesting sense of humor. I also find it amusing that Oppenheimer’s friends called him “Oppie.”

I haven’t been knitting as much as I’d wanted to these last couple of weeks. I’ve mostly been sleeping, watching movies, and generally staring into space. I have much to knit before the belated Christmas gifts are going to be done, so I should get cracking. Especially since they’re supposed to be handed over in one week exactly. Right, maybe I should get off the computer.