Happy Belated Birthday to Amagirl

[sorry, i'm really bad at remembering bdays lately but hope you had a great one!]

:::

Did some baking therapy last week following LuckyKat's recipe for castella [castilla] cakes. I usually purchase castella cakes or baum cakes from Marukai or other Japanese markets but I always find them to be not only damn pricey but also too dry and sweet. The only really good castella I've ever had was the one my friend's mom in Osaka bought for me.

So I was really happy to try out Linda's recipe to find that it's much more dense and moist than the typical castella cakes. In fact, her version is similar to a pound cake without the butter, which I really dig because butter makes me feel *oomph* sometimes. Not only was the recipe really easy, but it was something that was really nice to do on a Friday afternoon while putting aside my other thoughts and worries for a bit. Not to mention, the house smells really nice and the oven keeps me warm too. The big plus is that I love honey and this cake is all about that!

I'll be baking more of these this week since those three loafettes above disappeared rather quickly into my tummy last week. No wonder my jeans were kinda tight this week. :P But maybe that's what baking therapy is all about - you bake it, you eat it - everyone's happy. :P

:::

At the suggestion by Michael [after he read about my drag queen escapades], I went and rented Hedwig and The Angry Inch from the library. And he was so right about me liking this film because it turned out to be fantastic! After the movie, I watched the documentary on making the film and I wished I had the sense to see the show live on stage before. I've always loved watching movies that are not too mainstream because I'm really not a mainstream type of gal. In particular, I love movies like Ma Vie En Rose, Priscilla Queen of the Desert and the like. So no wonder Hedwig fit right into what I really like watching. John Cameron Mitchell was sublime as the actor, director and writer of the show that became a film. Although some people may find the topic of transvestites disturbing, I think the more you learn about other people, the more you find that we're all alike. The music [!] was unreal and the wigs, costumes and acting by the supporting cast was equally impressive. I'd really advise you to see it if you haven't. I feel dumb for waiting so long. :P

:::

Fishpimp and I have been addicted to watching Happy Family Plan [Shiawase Kazoku Keikaku] these days. It's a Japanese game show that enlists fathers to take on challenges in order to win prizes for their family. In every episode, there are 4 families that get chosen to take part in this game show. The game show sends a representative to surprise the family at their home, where they then produce a catalog of "prizes" that each family member gets to choose from. Each member of the family gets to choose one prize each but in total they all must add to be lower than 3 Million Yen. After everyone has chosen the prize they want, the father is then presented with the challenge that he has to master and then will perform in front of the live audience 1 week later at the TV station. Some of the feats that have been featured are: ping pong 100 times without stopping, reciting all 56 trains stops along the Tokkaido in both directions, taste testing 6 different sake, dart throwing, "moa" [feeling] mahjong tiles, bicycling within 5 meters for 30 seconds, reciting 300 word passages and the like. During the week that they have to prepare for it, the family is given a video camera to document their father's practice and training. Ultimately, at the show, the father has to perform his challenge and if he wins, then the family gets all the prizes they chose from the catalog. It's a very inspiring show where they really bring the family together toward one goal- and that's the help their father master the challenge. However, I always feel like the father has way too much pressure on him to succeed. Because often times the kids end up crying on the stage when they realize that their dad didn't make it and lost all chances for those great prizes. And it really sucks when they show the whole family their prizes before they give the father the challenge on stage - especially when there's a lil puppy or guinea pig waiting for an owner. :( But aside from that, it's a really enjoyable show that you don't even really need to understand Japanese in order to know what's going on.

If you live in LA, the show is on Sunday night at 10pm - on one of those Japanese channels. Sorry, can't remember if it's KLCS or KOCE at the moment.

I'm out.