pinch me

Alain's out at the end-of-semester dinner for the French institute where he volunteers as an assistant teacher (it seems there is some professorhood in his future) and I just finished a very late supper but figured I must take the "before" pix of the gingerbread houses before it's too late and the boys layer them with candy and biscuits beyond recognition.

I stayed up into the wee hours this morning (okay, 1:30) finishing the construction phase and consequently had a splitting headache this morning when the doorbell woke me just before 8:00. It was my friend C, mom of the gingerbread boys, so I dragged her into the dining room to show her and then she hugged and kissed me silly.

Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked here. My post title refers to the fact that after class this morning I decided to make myself miso soup for lunch because of its supposed energy-giving powers, hoping it might help get me through work this afternoon and shopping (for an xmas party outfit) this eve. Well it worked! My headache, which had been taken care of by some Advil, never came back and I felt so genki (healthy) all eve, to the point where I thought I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. But I am finally starting to feel tired now.

The Japanese diet is full of little health secrets like miso (and green tea) and these types of food miracles contribute greatly to the fitness and longevity enjoyed by the majority of Japanese. Unfortunately for the oceans, the other main reason is that fish is such a dietary staple (I just read an article that claims the average is 1/2 lb per day!). Though what with the pollutants out there, this choice has/will begin to be a detriment I imagine.

So I don't know if anyone out there actually found this omoshiroi (interesting) at all, it is just the ramblings of a genkina but tired gingerbread girl. Eat miso, feel genki!