All About Sheep
Happy Chinese New Year, readers of Milkcananime! I had an average reunion dinner last night at a local restaurant where the only saving grace was the easy access to and from home. I would very much prefer a steamboat dinner but for convenience and such, my family has been dining out for years. Anyway, there was this dessert known as Hashima and Almond Cream - supposedly good for the skin I reckon. That raked in the most brownie points out of the entire dinner. Okay, enough of my rants. As Chinese New Year is considered boring on my side, I shall attempt to relieve some of that gloom by writing an article or some. Hopefully, some readers would be around their computers or something. The Sheep (or Goat if you please) adds an exceptional cuteness to quite a lot of things. I mean, take a look at this...
Kawaii deshou? Sakura dons a full sheep costume while a herd of winged sheep circles around her. There is an episode in Cardcaptor Sakura as well where Sakura got 'attacked' by a bunch of sheep plushies while she was trapped inside a deep hole in the middle of the playground. Those sheep plushies didn't even look half an inch menacing, and to top that absurdity (?) they let out a string of 'baaaaa' sounds while attempting to smother poor Sakura whose mantra 'Hoe?' echoed through the darkness. If anybody had watched 'Sakura's Sheep Warning', even the fifth graders' Japanese textbook had sheep in it! Despite its randomness, there was just something kawaii about the whole episode which etched into the subconsciousness, and over time it manifested even bigger quirks that weren't necessarily bad. Maybe that was how counting sheep began for some people.
Speaking of sheep plushies, recently I came across a series of Alpacasso plush toys in Books Kinokuniya. Like most plushies, the sheep are available in different sizes, designs and price tags (ahem). One of the earliest designs that caught my attention was the one bearing a 'Welcome' sign over its neck. Another one had an 'Open' sign over its neck! My immediate thought was "Oh, a cafe!" Imagine a couple of sheep standing in front of your favourite coffee house awaiting your patronage just like how the waitresses at a maid cafe would. Personally, I would be more inclined to place an order of my favourite drink and pastry from a sheep. "Baaaaa, baaaaa baaaaa?" (Welcome Sir, may I take your order?) I didn't realise that there were also sheep donned in waiter and waitress costumes. Geez, if only such a setting could be real!
Fancy some sheep-inspired ice-cream? At the time of my discovery, quite unfortunately this sheep ice-cream is no longer being sold anywhere. This limited concoction came from Baskin Robbins Japan, and it was named Happy Doll Sheep. Its fleece was made with generous swirls of whipped cream. The horns were chocolate, and the blissful expression was done with a scoop of ice-cream of the customer's choice, and little dabs of chocolate sauce. I wish I could have some of that! Come to think of it, there is nothing remotely sheep-related in my house. Oh wait, there is the calendar bearing a sheep accompanied by the Chinese character for Happiness...
As I'm not an enthusiast of the Zodiac, I remain clueless about what each animal would face in the year ahead. I shall just embrace whatever snacks there are lying around the coffee table. Once again, Happy Chinese New Year!
Eccentrically Yours.
Written by J.Fluffysheep ♪
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