Self Isolation
I came across this cute Shrine near my house on instagram where people tie their wishes to the blossom tree on pink satin ribbons. A couple of friends and I made it just in time to see a few of the last of these blossoms. So incredibly pretty. If you’re in Tokyo pre-Sakura sometime I’d definitely recommend a little visit to Sakura Jingu.
We went and had some beers by the nearby Tamagawa river afterwards, and watched the sunset flicker over the water as the 5pm bell rang.
My Japanese teacher has always said that it just as it starts to get warm after winter, and you’re on the verge of packing away your winter coats and scarves, it suddenly gets cold again. She was right this year, too. It snowed the other day. Beautiful Tokyo snow. On snow days I like to open all of the blinds, play my snow day playlist which has a lot of Lullatone, and stretch out on my bed resting my chin on my hands looking out the window just behind my pillows. Coming from Australia where it’s so rare to see snow, I always like to take a moment to watch the slow flakes fall and think to myself ‘it’s snowing - just outside my bedroom!’. Dreamy.
The perfect way to end a snow day is a milk bath.
Wintery mornings with mikan, beautiful sun and a stash of zines.
On some days, when I’m on the search for toilet paper in the shops in Shimokitazawa, I’ll stop at Frankie Melbourne Espresso for a flat white and a chat with Saori-chan. The feeling of chatting with shop owners about the last supermarket toilet paper sighting just makes it really hit home that I’m a local here. It will be ten years in a few months. How did that even happen.
Years ago I added some herbs and lettuce to my plant collection, and I’ve tried the Goya green wall a few Summers. But with the price of parsley in this country, it just makes sense to give growing herbs another shot. Last time I planted them I just popped some seeds into a pot plant and they grew fine, but this time I did a tiny bit of research and found out that it’s best to start the seedlings off like the below pic, and then once they sprout introduce them slowly to sun each day. I only planted them a few days ago but the baby leaf lettuce is already starting to sprout. Ganbare! Ganbare!
How cute is this sugar bow packaging! Oh, Japan. I hadn’t made bread since 2013 so I thought another good self isolation activity could be to try my hand at baking again.
This no knead recipe worked quite well. It came out undercooked at first, and then I probably pushed it by leaving it back in for a bit too long. But overall, it could be worse. And that winter sun. So nourishing.
There’s a teeny florist just near my house and before self isolation I thought I’d get a tiny bunch to try and keep some lockdown joy in the home.
It’s a public holiday in Japan tomorrow and I’m thinking of making a little newsletter / zine thing with favourite books / favourite playlists / favourite podcasts / things to do in self isolation / maybe a little quiz or find-a-word. Did anyone sign up for The New Yorker trial subscription? $6 for 12 weeks of magazines. A magazine a week has been coming in my letter box and it’s so nostalgic. That thin gloss coated paper and the way the ink smells on the page…brings back memories of The Readers Digest, and how excited I used to be to read Dolly magazine. So, just for fun I thought I’d make a silly little zine to send to friends. Or if you want one let me know!
Sending love to you. And healing energy.
P.S. I have a virtual lunch date on zoom with some artist friends in Melbourne tomorrow. And it’s 2am here now, so this Sandwich better get into bed. Oyasumi! Ninight!
Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xoxo