Back in the Swing of Things

I haven't been very good about blogging so far this month, have I? Now that the New Year's holidays are over it's been back to regular life - John going to work and me back to my daily working out and writing routine. It's been hard to get back into the swing of things though. I just want to go fun places or watch TV curled up under warm blankets all the time.

But just because it's been back to reality doesn't mean we haven't done anything fun. John's birthday was this week and I made him a really awesome chocolate stout cake (if I do say so myself) decorated with edible gold (and for the careful observer, the exact same candles that I used on his cake last year). We also had some weird "champagne" (and I use that term loosely).  Around New Year's a lot of stores sell fukubukuro - or "Lucky Bags" that have unknown contents in them. There are some variations where you actually do know what you're getting, or you at least know the possibilities are. We did one where we bought mystery bottles of wine and the one John picked was this bright blue drink that is less alcoholic, but "based on" champagne whatever that means. The flavor was a little earthy which was jarring - with such a bright color I kept expecting it to taste like a blue raspberry slushy or something.

Speaking of weird things, I also tried a new weird snack food this week. After Raku and I tried the Sausage Doritos and the Fried Chicken Cheetos I was really excited when I found a bag of Camembert Doritos to buy her! But we tried that last night and they were terrible. Seriously, if you ever see them do yourself a favor and walk away. When we opened the bag the smell was really strong, in an unpleasant stinky cheese way. And the taste was just bizarre. They were really sweet! There must be at least as much sugar as weird cheese flavoring in them. With all the other novelty chips we've at least managed to finish the bag even if we wouldn't buy another, but with these we threw them out after one bite each.

Tomorrow is Coming of Age Day, so it's a three day weekend. I think we might celebrate by going to the spa in Yokohama. John's never been but I think it will be the perfect way to relax on a cold winter day.