brace yourselves...

I have some very shocking news for everyone - I know its going to boggle your mind - but sit down if you currently are standing...I have rejoined the world of normal people by inviting back, wait for it - PEANUT BUTTER into my life! Yes, I have learned again to love that sticky, chewy, smear-able paste...Let me give you a quick background on why this is so important. Growing up, my wonderful mother did not inherit the cooking, domestic housewife gene - daily lunches consisted of a sugar filled playland that I thoroughly enjoyed, but should have ended up at fat kid camp for consuming. Everyday I would have a peanut butter, nutella and chocolate chip sandwich - which is the best trading chip on the playground by the way...Nonetheless, after years of eating this - I grew tired of peanut butter, going as far as 'hating' it. Now that I have been in Tokyo and devoid of certain American delicacies, aka peanut butter (the Skippy kind), I have found that when you are missing out on something that should be taken for granted, you want it ever more! I had a friend make a lunch for us to take to a park on a sunny afternoon - and she whipped out this pb&j - which I of course recoiled and gave that stinky face to. But, knowing that I was eating for free, I dug in - and let me tell you - heaven on my tastebuds! That's right kids - send me peanut butter cups, stick it in brownies or put it on waffles - I'll take it!!

The other fun thing I have witnessed here in Tokyo is womens obsession with shoes. Now, I know that any American gal loves to stock pile her footwear every time Nordy's has a sale, but the ladies here are something of a different breed! I just can't figure out where they stick them all since everyone lives in a shoebox - there's no way to keep all the other things you need in your life...well, maybe women in Japan just go without...But the most interesting part is not that they have 20 kinds of boots or wedges that make them soar to Amazonian heights - the strangest part is the way they don't buy shoes that fit!? Almost every woman I've seen with stilettos has about a half inch gap in the back, which causes her foot to clap every time she takes a step. Now, my philosophy on life is if you are gonna spend a month's paycheck on some killer kicks - make sure that they fit properly and have been broken in...I don't get why on earth you would buy shoes that make you look like your playing dress up...hhmm - yet another quandary the Japanese have injected into my brain...