All things Japanese...

This is one of the many things I love about Japan:  their knack for cuteifying even something as simple as the boiled egg.  I love bentos and some fabulous examples can be found here.  Taz only started eating hard boiled eggs (after much persuasion) when I used egg moulds on them:

He really loves eggs, especially boiled ones (before he started eating them he loved rubbing their soft smoothness on his cheeks!)  Unfortunately, he also came to the realization that he hates (really *hates*) egg yolks, whether they're soft, medium or hard boiled.  He got into the habit of biting into an egg, seeing the yellow middle, discarding it and then going for a fresh egg to bite into.  It was quickly becoming a habit but we were fortunately able to break that cycle by using a different type of egg mould:

and used it to create not only a yolkless hard boiled egg, but one with an appealing shape, too!

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Following the news and seeing all the awful stories coming out of Japan has been really difficult to watch.  Not only were they hit by the 5th biggest earthquake since records began (equal to 1,500 megaton atomic bombs or 1,500,000,000 tons of dynamite) that actually raised the ocean floor by 10 m, moved the island of Honshu 2.4 m and diverged the earth's rotational axis by 10 cm, but they were then slammed by a multitude of Tsunami waves, the biggest of which was 33 ft.

If history has taught me anything though, it's no matter what Nature or war throws at Japan, they always come back stronger than ever.  What horrific times they must be enduring right now, I can't help tearing up at all the harrowing news coming through, the terrible stories of survival...  And not...

It's always inspiring at these times seeing people banding together, helping each other out and I hope they stay strong and find a way to move forward through all this devastation.  Our thoughts and prayers are with them.