Thoughts in Bloom

May 19, 2013 | patriciablaj

As I’m stuck inside studying for my finals (ahem, procrastinating), while drifting away from the ever exhilarating economy ended up imagining the perfect Sunday. It would be just warm enough to feel cozy in a sweater, laying under blooming trees with Murakami’s The wind up bird chronicle with a basket filled with delicious sushi for when hunger strikes. I find it wonderful how easy being alone without feeling lonely is when you’ve got a good book beside you. What would your perfect Sunday look like?

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Reaching for heaven together

April 12, 2013 | patriciablaj

That’s how I usually feel when I eat at my favourite restaurant, Tokyo Sushi. They recently changed their menu, which means more yummy stuff to try out, although some of my favourites such as udon are gone. Their chef won a cooking competition in Japan a few weeks ago too, with a type of sushi called Dracula Roll. I hope they’ll add it in the menu, I’m really curious about it :3
We were celebrating my little brothers’ birthday on that day and I had some spicy rolls and takoyaki, yum as always. Sadly I’m scared that the takoyaki will disappear too since they’re out of the new menu

Either way, if you’re hungry, prepare for it to get worse. Enjoy! <3

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The climb to God: Yamadera

April 8, 2013 | patriciablaj

When I asked people the first three words that come to their mind if they think about Japan the words I heard most of the time were skyscrapers, robots, anime, cosplay, everything related to the industrialized and Japan’s urban area. So many people tend to forget how breathtakingly beautiful and unique the Japanese nature is. Hell, where else can you see monkeys crossing the road in front of you? It happened to me once, there are hundreds on mountain monkeys in more remote areas.

Anyway, I strayed from the subject of this post a little, as I usually do. In my second trip to Japan I visited the Yamadera temple, lovated in a tiny mountain city with the same name. The temple was founded over 1000 years ago, in 860, under the official name Risshakuji and its grounds extend high up a steep mountainside. Yamadera, its popular name can be translated as mountain temple.
The holy complex is pretty popular due to Basho’s (a famous haiku poet) visit. A statue of him and an inscription of his famous poem can be found in the lower area, unfortunately I didn’t know that at the time of my visit. His poem (Shizukesaya / Iwa ni shimiiru / Semi no koe) can be translated or more likely interpreted (Japanese is really difficult to literally translate, mot a mot) in two ways: “This pervasive silence / Enhanced yet by cicadas simmering” and “Silence and penetrating into the rocks — the cry of the cicada”.

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Fever when you kiss me

March 27, 2013 | patriciablaj

What a beautiful winter we’ve got this spring! Aside from that, this has been one of the best weeks of my life, not even the snow and wind and cold could ruin it for me. People are actually becoming annoyed with me jumping up and down with a beaming smile plastered all over my face. I sometimes annoy myself, so I know how they feel. I can’t help it though, I’m a bundle of energy, happiness and love that is bursting with joy at, usually, inappropriate times.
The reason of my hyperactivity is the news I got on Monday: I’ll be spending 5 weeks this summer in Japan. Five weeks in Tokyo, Kyoto and Shizuoka. I’m counting the days already.
Sadly, there’s some rain on my parade. My baby brother broke his wrist today. A colleague of his played a prank on him and it ended pretty badly. He’s okay, it doesn’t hurt badly but I’ve spoiled him a little and done his homework.

I am wearing a Zara shirt and boots, a pull and bear skirt, H&M tights and an Accessorize headband and bracelet.

Flashing my panties to the whole city.

Thanks for reading! Have a nice day!

Rain on the samurai city

March 25, 2013 | patriciablaj

One of the prettiest old cities I’ve visited in Japan was Kakunodate. Founded in 1620, it used to be the home of 80 families and it had two districts: one for the samurais and one for the merchants. Almost 400 years later, Kakunodate still has some of the best examples of samurai architecture in Japan. The samurai city is also well known for the beauty and the abundance of its cherry trees: in spring it’s one of the most sought sakura viewing spot in the Tohoku area.

Unfortunately for us, it was raining the day we visited. I don’t know how summer rain is in your country, but the one we had in Kakunodate was a killer: it poured down all day long, no breaks. As time passed it seemed it was only getting stronger, but maybe my patience was wearing thin. Such a pity, we could’ve enjoyed the beautiful city a lot more if we were dry.

Silly us! We went in a small restaurant to grab a bite, hoping the rain would stop. By the time we went out, it was raining harder.

Traveling in style is an understatement. My flats were fully soaked and started to rub against my skin and cause blisters, so I just took them off.

Kakunodate, at least the samurai district is opened for visitors. Most of the buildings host tiny museums, with the families belongings and the sorts. You can also find a lot of tiny restaurants and souvenir shops.

In some of the houses’ backyards you could find festival floats. This was definitely my favourite.

Thank you for reading! Have an awesome evening!

The way to my heart is through my stomach

March 20, 2013 | patriciablaj

Although it’s not a Romanian holiday, since my name’s Patricia, we celebrated St Patrik’s day by having a family meal at the usual Japanese restaurant, Tokyo sushi. The meal started with the usual salmon croquette, then I had ramen and gyoza. My brother had the shrimp katsu, I forgot what my mom’s was called, my grandmother the chicken teriyaki and my grandfather spicy chicken yakisoba. The food was incredibly good, as always. I wish we’d go more often.

Do you like Japanese food? Thanks a lot for reading!

What I hate most about traveling

January 30, 2013 | patriciablaj

There ain’t no sunshine without a little rain, huh? No matter how perfect a trip may be, there is always, yet ALWAYS something that rains on my parade. I’m not talking about forgetting stuff at home (my family got pretty used to having to buy me toothbrushes because for some reason that’s one thing I forget every time) nor literally about bad weather ruining my travels, because most things can be replaced or you can leave without them for a while and I actually like rain, snow, fog and the sorts while traveling. Bad weather makes the cities show their other side and I find it beautiful. What I hate from the bottom of my heart when going abroad is the last day you spend there. You already know your way around the hotel, you know how to get to the hotel, you don’t get lost in train stations anymore, you even know the best coffee shop that’s close to you and then you just pack and leave. I always feel so apathetic when I know it’s the last day I’m spending somewhere. I don’t even know where to go again, what to do, what to visit, where to eat, I just can’t decide! It usually ends up with me running around the city until my body really screams stop so I can take in as much foreign beauty as possible.

I’ve never felt as if I truly belonged here. Since I was little I felt a weird attraction to asian stuff and as I grew up I ended completely engrossed in the Japanese culture. In 2009 when I’ve first been to Japan, I felt it for the first time, oddly enough in a place worlds apart from the safety of my home, with different people who spoke a language unknown to me and had a different culture, that I belonged there. This sounds waaay cheesier that it did in my head, but I’ll let cheesy pass for once. I fell in love with the narrow streets, the short people, the amazing food, the way new mixed with old and traditional with modern. You could only imagine how bad I felt the last day I spent in Tokyo. All I could think of was how much I’ll miss it all. The city, the temples, the parks, the food, the people. But I survived (after crying half the plane ride back, I still wonder how come I didn’t die from dehydration). The only thing that sucks is that since I’ve been there I can’t help but compare every other city I’m going to to Tokyo and that’s a bummer because nothing compares to Tokyo. I’ll leave you with more photos of the things I miss, I hope you’ll enjoy

And then you’re off If you’re interested, you can read more about my trips to Japan here, here, here, here and here.

Tokyo

January 25, 2013 | patriciablaj

If you can’t have the city, you can at least have the food. Although it’s a little bittersweet, since I always end up comparing the food at Japanese restaurants to the one I ate when I was in Japan. I can’t believe in two months it’ll be four years since my first trip, I swear I remember everything as if it was last month.

We have two Japanese Restaurants in my city, but Tokyo Sushi is definitely my favourite. They stick close to the original recipes and I find the overall atmosphere better too. Plus we always get a seasonal appetizer, like the one in the photo above, which are meatballs made out of salmon. My parents must hate me for whenever there’s the tiniest thing to celebrate I beg them to go there.

I had an amazing sushi and writing this post makes my stomach grumble and my eyes get teary and the cravings lift sky high. The best was the roll in the middle, which had salmon teriyaki in it.

M y starved little brother who was still all red from the cold wind, the poor baby.

Little bro’s shrimp katsu. My family is already accustomed to the rule: you don’t touch your food until your crazy daughter/sister took a million photos of it.

Daddy’s gyoza and my step-mother’s salmon teriyaki box. Yum!

Again daddy’s food, some calamari (I think) rings and rice noodles.

Last but never least, the desserts: matcha cheesecake and choco magic :3

And then there’s me torturing the boy. Thanks a lot for reading and if you’re in Cluj Napoca craving Japanese food, make sure to pay Tokyo Sushi a visit. It’s worth it!

I’ve been bad bad bad!

July 27, 2012 | patriciablaj

Horrible blogger alert! I haven’t updated in almost a month again, I am so so sorry! I’ve been experiencing so much in my “real” life lately that somehow I wanted to keep myself as far from the internet world as I could in the hopes of making it last longer. That’s my excuse, at least. I’ve been going out a lot, I met new people, cherished old friends and today is my last day as a sixteen year old, haha. I can’t believe I’m almost an adult when I still feel as naive and childish as ever.

I don’t have any outfits to show you, my dears, but I have some delicious Japanese food instead. If I remember correctly, daddy took me out to celebrate the end of the school year a month ago (bad blogger). I promise I’ll take a lot of pictures tomorrow and I’ll be back on track before you know! For now, let’s drool together over this wonderful food.

Stay hungry, stay foolish!

Inside a Japanese supermarket

May 27, 2012 | patriciablaj

Walking around Japan, you can spot convenience stores at every corner, there are so many of them my cousin said once that if a small red dot would mark a conbini on Japan’s map, it would all be red. But have you ever been inside a supermarket?

For I know I have only entered one during my second trip to Japan, out of curiosity. You can find what you need in conbinis most of the time, so there was no need to look for a supermarket. But I thought the way it’s organized is pretty interesting, so I’ll share. In my country all supermarkets are like a gigantic store with everything you need in it, but this one in Sapporo was the other way around! It was made out tens of small, individual shops. A lot of them offer freebies for eventual customers to taste and on of your Japanese friends told us a lot of people just walk around tasting freebies and that’s a meal