Salmon Eye

Been Nippon the bottle a bit...Got the Vapors

TALLULAH SAYS....

I got your picture of me and you
You wrote "I love you" I wrote "me too"
I sit here staring and there's nothing else to do
Oh it's in color
Your hair is brown
Your eyes are hazel
And soft as clouds
I have to kiss you when there's no one else around

I got your picture, I got your picture
I'd like a million of you over myself
I want a doctor to take a picture
So I can look at you from inside as well
You've got me turning up and turning down
and turning in and turning 'round

I'm turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so
Turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so
Turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so
Turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so

I got your picture, I got your picture
I'd like a million of you over myself
I want a doctor to take a picture
So I can look at you from inside as well
You've got me turning up and turning down
and turning in and turning 'round

I'm turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so
Turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so
Turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so
Turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so

No sex, no drugs, no wine, no women
No fun, no sin, no you, no wonder it's dark
Everyone around me is a total stranger
Everyone avoids me like a Psyclone Ranger
Everyone

That's why I'm turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so
Turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so
Turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so
Turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so...

Twilight Nippon

"It's not New Year's Eve without the Twilight Zone," quoth sister Lola as she lies supine on my sofa. "We could watch the Dukes of Hazzard Reunion," she quips as confirming evidence that the Twilight Zone marathon is the only way to go. I sip more champagne, I eat a mini quiche.

I think about New Year's Eve. Time for resolutions: a tradition I rarely entertain, being a rogue and a discontent. This year may be different, I prophesy. I feel the icy breath of 40 raising the fine, blonde hackles on the back of my computer-hunched neck.

2006 Resolutions: 1) I will learn to cook Japanese. 2) I will learn to knit one garment, however simple.

I Google Carrot Ginger Salad Dressing, my favorite:

Carrot Ginger Salad Dressing

1/2 cup shredded carrot
2 Tbsp. Mirin, Japanese cooking wine
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 Tbsp. fresh grated ginger (you can use more, but it might kick your butt)
1/2 tsp. sesame oil, dark if your store offers the choice.
3 oz. silken tofu (this will thicken it up)

Whirl in blender until smooth. Pour it into a pitcher and sit that in the freezer to chill. Above should serve a 2-3 person salad just fine.

Carrot-Ginger Dressing (Orange Goddess)

Prep time: 5 minutes
· 3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
· 2-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled
· 1 tablespoon soy sauce
· 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
· 1/4 cup orange juice
· 2 tablespoons peanut oil
· Equipment:
· Blender
In a blender, combine all the ingredients except the oil. Pulse blender until the mixture is mostly smooth, then add the oil and puree for 15 seconds. (Blending oil for too long emulsifies it, giving it a mayonnaise flavor you don't want in this dressing.)

I am inclined to try the second one without the tofu first. Mostly because I can get all the ingredients at my local Stop N Shop, instead of schlepping the extra 25 miles to the vegetarian-friendly Whole Oats food store for the special components.

Lazy. Japanese people aren't lazy. I want to be Japanese.

I drink more champagne. Shama shama!

I still haven't baked the Christmas Tree sugar cookies I promised my husband weeks ago. I tell myself that he won't eat enough of them to justify making a whole batch. And then I will feel obligated to make up the difference.

That's just not Japanese. I want to be Japanese. I want to eat Miso and seaweed for breakfast. I want to do Tai Chi every morning - outside, even! I want to rake tiny pebbles into serpentine shapes and walk the middle path. I want to watch more Akira Kurosawa movies.

Favorite Kurosawa movie: "Yojimbo"
Only other Kurosawa movie I've ever watched on purpose from beginning to end: "Ran"

Yaye and Tallulah

Okay so this is my first attempt at submitting on this blogger doo dah. And weeeeeeeeee....I'm hoping I'm doing this right on a lovely new years eve...Gawd bless thine Yaye and setting this up for the two of us. I'm up here on the second floor where me office is. I was hesitant to log the blog for a while because well, I had soooo many papers to move to get to my desk and well, might as well be New Years Eve to clean off the desk before the New Year and all. How very feng shui.

So my Yaye once told me when I was complainin' about filing, that one should always write in pencil on folders so the folder doesn't get all botched up with stupid avery labels and pen marks. BUT I HAVE FOUND...that one must ALWAYS have a "TO BE FILED" folder written in pen cause you'll never need to erase it cause you'll always want that special folder so that you can clear your desk and then get to the clutter later...how very un-feng SCHWAYYYY Way! Needless to say, tonight this very last night of 2005, I have made my very own To Be Filed folder IN PEN.

I must go and squeeze the last bit o' wine from the plastic bladder of the Peter Vella (Urinates in every box) Box Wine. Gawd bless the spigot that carries the wine to my lips....mmmmmmmmmmmm

But I must say that since I have come ALLLLLL the way up to the second floor and cleared (at least partially my desk) I have already found my comb that I was desperately looking for and blaming the boys in the house for losing (curses wrong again) and I have found my kitchen scissors AND my furniture polish (with rag).

Holler Power!

Tallulah says, "I can't post!" For her holler power is no more. "Can't ride the stationary bike fast enough to create power." Tears flow down cheek. She sad. She no power.

She makes me giggle as she sits on her kitchen floor on a land line peering at the spots on her floor that her mop missed. Me sad for her. I gallop with my fingers.

"The first entry in a blog is never Shakespeare," says Yaye.