The Best Friend Dinner #3

Chopsticks and soy sauce

Lilian and I caught up again last night. I had a giant bag of books to give her. Really it was only three books, but they were huge! At the end of the night she told me about how she was buying eBooks for her new tablet to take to Europe to keep herself occupied while travelling – she didn’t feel right buying eBooks because she really wanted the physical books. I, on the other hand, could get used to eBooks. Which is why I was giving my old books to her. :D She still plans to have a library.

Food

We went to Yebisu Izakaya again. I ate so much candy last week and I wanted to eat something that had healthier, lighter options. We went for the lotus chips again – getting two bowls this time. Sooooo yummy. I am in love with those lotus chips. Lilian dropped one and since we had our bags on the floor, we had a quick look through our bags to see if it landed in one of them. We couldn’t find it, and it wasn’t on the floor surrounding us, so we decided to forget about it. Even though we were really wondering if we’d find it later…

I ordered some aburi sushi. I love seared fish nigiri! Aburi sushi is basically seared fish on top of a rectangular prism of rice. Nigiri is the style of sushi that usually has a topping on a small piece of rice. We also shared some soft shell crab roll, which was super delicious.

Post-food

After eating, we did some Christmas shopping! I won’t go into details here, since presents are surprises. 🎄🎁 We also looked for lipstick for Lilian for her upcoming work party, and I bought some hair removal gel. I tried waxing my arm recently but I think the hairs on my arm are too thin. I also tried waxing my legs… which was OK. Not that great. It was my first time trying it out. So I’m trying a few other things besides shaving. 😆

Dessert

We sat down and made a list of wedding-things. I was worried that there was something I had not given a single thought to. But when we listed things out, nothing came up as a surprise. I mean – I have already thought flowers, hair, makeup, photography, nails, music, MC, who will be doing speeches, guest gifts, name cards, invitations, and more… we have ideas for all those things already. Whether or not I have executed any of those ideas to any extent is another story, though. 😝

While we were making the list we were having tea in a small cafe, and I had a macaron. It was in the cafe that Lilian found the missing lotus chip in her bag! I struggled to get through my super-hot earl grey tea as quickly as I’d liked, but we weren’t in a huge rush anyway. I took the teabag out of the cup and put it on a saucer. Lilian took a photo but I look silly in it. Haha.

The cafe was soon to close so we had to move and sit in the shopping centre for a bit to finish up the list. We were comparing our experiences or knowledge of different weddings from different cultures. Lilian told me some stuff I didn’t know about Buddhist and Chinese weddings, like taking a pig’s head and body, locking the bride up, having all vegetarian food (that would not bother me at all though!)… funny what you don’t know.

Post-dessert

On the train we found ourself reminiscing over high school. We graduated eight years ago, which was shortly after I first started blogging seriously on my website rather than on a specialised blogging platform. Speaking of blogging, I deleted Lilian’s blog that used to be hosted on heartdrops.org. She forgot that she had it so said I could go ahead and delete it. 😆

While we were talking about high school we were trying to remember who our school captains were. I took a stab – I think I was pretty accurate. But when I looked at our yearbook once I got home, I couldn’t find anything that specifically named the captains. Just a mention from one of the captains on his profile. That confirmed my guess, but Lilian and I were wondering about the vice-captains too!

I spent some time trawling through our grade’s yearbook. So much drama happened and I have lost touch with a lot of people who we used to hang out with. I was on the yearbook committee as one of the editors and it was sort of an open committee until everyone just wanted to join in. Then the yearbook coordinator, one of the teachers, had to kick people out of the library because we just weren’t getting shit done. It was a fun time, though.

A final thought on school…

As I looked through the yearbook I remember stories from some of my friends about being bullied. I remembered struggles that I went through. I remember the popularity contests that were the nomination of the school prefects. I remember just not being one of those popular people. And yet, in the end, I feel that it was us – the quiet ones, myself included – who were on the yearbook committee, who, even though were required to include and edit most of the content that was submitted regardless of bias, quietly put together the yearbook the way we wanted. We may not have been the popular kids, but we made more than just a valuable contribution.

Comments on this post

aburi sushi is one of my all-time favorites! it’s like if americans see california rolls as the basic common go-to choice, that’s how i see aburi sushi in my life. okay, i hope that doesn’t sound offensive :P i’m generalizing things.

i remember shaving my arms and legs just for fun even though i was never blessed with long body hair. after shaving them, i thought i was going to be doomed with hairy arms and legs but eh, it turns out that they’re not as … “flourishing” as i thought they’d be. weird. because i’ve seen people who shaved their legs and the next growth turns them into a hairy beast, lol. i’m genuinely lucky then :P

ack, school was never a place for me too. it sucks sooo bad. i’d rather relive my university life rather than my school days. i was the kind of kid who have always hated school. i remember being humiliated by my teacher in physics class because i was never the physics genius unlike everybody else so he purposely called my name and when i couldn’t answer, he said something that triggered the class to laugh. it was so awful and the others thought i was this quiet, shy, unintelligent student :

I feel the same about aburi. 😎 What is so good about California rolls anyway? 😜

I really liked school but there were definitely some highs and lows. I was really shy to begin with but then I became known as the loud girl. The only thing I remember that was humiliating was the fact that we had maths classes organised by how smart you were, so this one time I go demoted from the “smart” class to the “dumb class” and people watched me pack my desk and get escorted out by the teacher. Stupid.

I’m obsessed with Japanese food! My husband and I try out a lot of restaurants, but we always end up getting Asian food for lunch/dinner. Hahaha!

I plan on having a library when I (eventually) get my own place! I’ve a paperback > eBook gal myself, but I can see the ease with eBooks. I do actually own an eReader myself, nothing special, but I don’t even use it anymore because ~paperback for lifeeeee~.

Oooh, I’ve had lotus chips before and they were pretty tasty! There are times where I really wish I could eat sushi, but as I’m allergic to seafood/fish it’s probably not gonna happen. I can eat the veggie options/prawn sushi, but not others. I love the way sushi is presented, as well! So pretty :)

Christmas shopping is so stressful for me. Especially shopping London – I prefer to do my shopping online, if I can help it. I went to a shopping centre the other day just to find part of a present for a friend and I was in there for 2 hours. I almost cried. Too many people and it’s always so hot inside. Maybe I’m just being a Scrooge xD

I’m not even gonna lie, it would be so cool if I happened to be in Australia for your wedding (excuse me for being presumptuous that I would even be invited, lol)! Wedding planning seems like such fun, but long! I really do hope everything goes well for you and Nick. What an exciting time~

Gosh, high school seems like such a long time ago for me. I was coincidentally reading back from old posts from when I was still in school a couple of hours ago and the amount of drama I had. Stupid kid drama, but still. Haha.

If you can avoid doing all your shopping in person and can do it online, that would be good! I ordered a few gifts online, and other gifts I just purchased in store because I happened to be passing by. I am lucky that I work in the city so I can walk out any time I don’t have a meeting or am not too busy at work and it’s usually not a big hassle (pssst, I still have not finished all my shopping).

LOLOLOL. You let me know if you are in town next October and for sure I will invite you. ;) ;)

I’m the same way – I could get used to ebooks also. I own an e-reader and stop by Barnes and Noble at least twice every month and I feel I read more after I got my e-reader just because of how easy it is to buy a book haha. I buy all my favorite books in physical format anyways, so best of both worlds!

Sounds like you had a lot of fun with your friend! I also love seared fish nigiri! They’re sooo good.

I used to do the hair removal gel but I still had to scrape it off, so I didn’t really see the point. I think it took longer too since I had to leave it on my leg for a certain amount of time. It’s good to explore lots of options though!

I still love physical books. I don’t think I can ever convert to e-books. It’s just not the same.