January Thaw

From facebook it seems like the whole United States is one giant ice cube, but we've had a little thaw here in Tokyo this week.  I'm sure before I know it the weather will be frigid again, but I'm enjoying it while it lasts.  Last night John and I even went up and had a drink on the roof!  Of course we wore coats and gloves and only lasted about fifteen minutes, but it was really nice.  I love being up on our roof.  You can look out at almost the whole city, but being so high up it it feels like you can see forever. It's easier to breathe up there, and it's so quiet! 

Our neighborhood is usually quiet, but a building is going up next door to us, and the taller it gets the closer the construction noise gets to our windows.  It's not bad, but it's nice when it ends in the evenings.

This afternoon I'm going to try to make cookies in my fish oven.  I can't believe it's taken me over a year to even attempt this, but it's a complicated little contraption.  I can't read all of the controls, and those that I can aren't all that helpful.  The biggest problem is that I can't really control the exact temperature, so it's like a game of figuring out if bread toasts better on the pizza or the gratin setting, etc. Do you think cookies bake better at the "whole fish" or "piece of a fish" setting?  Maybe those don't even have different temperatures, just different time settings.  Who knows?  It will probably be a disaster, but I'll post an update if they turn out.  (Update: total disaster, as expected.)

Construction Out My Window

View From The Roof