小栗旬の豚バラと白菜の鍋(oguri shun no buta bara to hakusai no nabe)

I tried out this new nabe recipe seen here:

Oguri Shun's Hondashi Nabe CM

It's kind of like a pork and cabbage lasagne.

You make it with this:

Hakusai - Chinese cabbage

and this:

Bacon...you are probably supposed to use more expensive meat/a better cut, but this worked fine.

You take apart the cabbage and start layering it with pork like this:

When you're finished, it looks like this:

Then you cut it up into chunks:

You can see that it looks kind of like lasagne:

Sorry if this looks kinda gross

You place them in a pot, add Hondashi (soup stock), and boil it until the cabbage is soft.

It's really simple--only three ingredients but very flavorful and filling!

チョコレートとケーキ(chocolate & cake)

Today I got a nice surprise in the mail from my relatives in Kyushu!

It was a very sweet and unexpected surprise! My aunt wrote me a letter about the family and said everyone is doing well. The gold box said "chocolates" on it.

Lucky me it was Godiva!!

She also sent me this cute scarf! She said it is reminded her of spring so she wanted to give it to me. I like the colors and the Navajo-style print. I can't wait to wear it when it gets warmer!

Today I wore a scarf that my aunt in San Diego got me for Christmas. It is acrylic but super-soft and feels like cashmere! I also wore my new beret that I got at the New Year's "Bargain" (they call sales "ba-gen") this year.

Thanks for the cute scarf!

I ended up buying two berets, which is funny because I've never really worn hats before. I guess because so many Japanese people wear hats it made me want to, too.

When I was out doing errands I passed by this cute little shop that sells little cakes and cookies. The lady there was really chatty and asked me where I was from and stuff. She had these cute little sandwich cakes on display.

They looked like macaroons but they were soft and airy like cake. She gave me a sample of the green tea one. Yum yum.

Here's what I walked home with:

I got blueberry, strawberry, and champagne flavor. She said you can freeze them and eat them like ice cream sandwiches or put them in the fridge and eat them chilled or at room temperature.  They last a couple days if you refrigerate them. I just sampled a couple bites from each--the champagne one was the best! It had a really unique flavor!

Oops! Don't worry, I saved the rest! ;)

今日の朝ごはん (kyou no asa-gohan)

Today I made a quick bowl of nabe for breakfast.

It was really easy! I used these ingredients:

I chopped off the ends of the shiro-negi (leeks), cut up a couple of stalks of mizuna (the green leafy stuff) and the end of the hakusai (Chinese cabbage), boiled it in water with konbu dashi (soup stock made from seaweed), added a couple of tsukune (ground chicken meat balls) until the vegetables were soft. It took me about 15 minutes total (and about 2 minutes to eat it, jk.) to make and prepare it. I washed my dishes while it was "cooking," so it was super efficient.

Here's the end result (I only put a small portion in at a time to let it cool down faster):

I flavored it with Ponzu: a lemony soy sauce that is used a lot in Japanese cooking.

Great way to start the day!

みんな、ありがとう！(minna arigatou!)

I got some great packages in the mail from my mom, dad, and grandma! I love all the treats from back home!

 From Grandma: Everything is from Trader Joes, so if you have one near you, I highly recommend these items. My favorites were the peppermint pretzel slims (I like the chocolate versions, too) which have a perfect balance of salty and sweet. The after-taste makes you crave more, so it is easy to finish a whole bag at once! The oat cookies were probably my second favorite, but all of the treats are very good.

These chocolates are not only cute, but they are verryyyy tasty and addictive. All three are really great flavors! 

The food that all foreigners in Japan miss most is definitely Mexican food! I can't wait to make some tacos and fajitas!

 Oatmeal, why are you so delicious and expensive in Japan? You would think that Japanese people would like oatmeal since it's so healthy, but it just is not popular here. It costs about ￥700 (so $8 or 9) to get a box of instant oatmeal here... :-/

Spices! I need to get some recipes to use these in! Thanks, Mom!

 More oatmeal and Mexican food! And a USC Calendar from Dad! :)

I'm so lucky to get all these great things from home! Thanks again!!

舞子さん (maiko-san)

How cute are these "maiko" (or geisha) tweezers I found in a gift shop in Osaka????




 

Oh, don't worry. There are more. :)

ビッグアメリカ２ (Big America 2)

So McDonald’s in Japan has this campaign called “Big America 2” where they sell different specialty burgers for a limited time. Last year they had the first “Big America” campaign and I guess it was pretty successful so they decided to introduce four new burgers.

Last year’s burgers were as follows:

The California Burger - It had some type of special sauce and bacon.

 The Texas Burger - Fried onions (like the kind you put on green bean casserole), bacon, and some mustard sauce.

 The New York Burger - Bacon and some type of BBQ sauce.

 The Hawaiian Burger - Loco-moco style with an egg on it. And of course, bacon! 

Basically every burger has bacon and a different kind of sauce, right? And some of the buns are different.

Anyway, here is the new line-up. 

The Texas 2 Burger - I guess Texas was the most popular last time. It says it has more of everything (more meat, more sauce, three pieces of bread) and chili, but it doesn't have the fried onions this time.

 Next up is the Idaho Burger - Mustard & relish sauce, bacon, and a hash brown. It debuts 1/28! This one has the most calories out of the four

 The Miami Burger - For some reason it has "taco meat" and Doritos on it...

The Manhattan Burger - Pastrami, mozzarella cheese, and fancy bread. Why didn't they put it on a bagel?

I actually haven't tried any of these, but I think it's a pretty cool advertising campaign. I have to admit, every time I pass one of the giant posters it makes me want to go in there and try one. My friends say they are good though.

I wish they had the new Fruit and Maple Oatmeal here in Japan instead!

 

シグネ(signe)

The other day I went with my friend to this cute cafe in Okayama's Ichibangai called "Signe."

The location is in a busy underground station shopping center, but the cafe was cozy and quiet.

They had different lunch sets which came with a salad and a drink. The lunch was tasty, but not filling enough for me, so my friend said we should get dessert. There was a big display case full of desserts at the front, so we went to go look at them before ordering. Apparently you can order just pieces of cake to go and they come in these really cute boxes. We ate ours at the cafe.

We got strawberry chocolate pie and strawberry mille feuille. I think they change the desserts based on what's in season.

Both were sooo good, but the mille feuille was probably my favorite!

春のケーキも楽しみヽ(^o^)丿
http://r.tabelog.com/okayama/A3301/A330101/33000600/

今日の忘れたいこと

もうすっごい嫌なことで

考えたくないけど、

言いたいけど、

全部読んでくれる人、ご注意ください＞＜

今日の昼ごはんは凄く楽しみだった。

昨日、会社の先輩達が仕事場の近くのタイ料理店へ連れて行ってくれるって言ってたから。

８８０円だけで食べ放題だって。

安いし、食べ放題やし、タイ料理が大好きやし、最近タイ料理ぜんぜん食べてないからめっちゃ楽しみだった。

その店はインド料理もあった。

私は胃が弱いからカレーはあまり苦手やけど、私の好きなパッドタイ（焼きそば）が無かったし（日々メニューがかわるらしい）、せっかくやし、食べてみたかった。

ボスが隣に座って、「僕のカレーに怪しい物が入ってる」って言いながらお皿においた。

カレーの材料が見にくいから何やったか分からんかったけど

ええええ、

「それはゴキブリみたい」ってボスに言った。

ボスの前に座っていた先輩が「たぶん、焼きすぎたのチキンだよ」。

でも

その黒いイメージが頭から離れなくて、

見たくないけども一回見たいと思いながら、

見ちゃって、

まさかのゴキブリじゃないよね。

安心。

でも、何やろ？

貝かな？

その後ボスがビッグニュースを知らせてくれた。

今奥さんが妊娠してるって！

ボスが気になる・心配なことが多かったみたいであまり食べられなかった。

仕事場に戻ったら私が５階の会議室に行ってプレゼンテーションの予習して、

その時お腹が痛くなってきて、

ああ、やっぱりカレーは合わないな・・・と思って　＞＜

気持ち悪い・・・

戻ってきたらボスが机に来て、

「メリンダ、ちょっと話があるんですが・・・。」って言われて。

そのままプライベートの部屋に行って

ああ、しまったな！

また注意されるんや！

今日何か言い過ぎた？

今日遅れた？

どううううううしたん？？？

と思って。

ボスの顔見たらヒントが全然なかったし　＞＜


ところが

「メリンダ、

昼ごはんのカレーに入ってた物はゴキブリだった。

絶対ゴキブリだった。

みんなが食べながら言ったら気まずいから言わなかったけど。」

もうううう嫌だ嫌だ嫌だ！

信じたくないのよ！

お腹が痛いし！

そんな事はかなり聞きにくい！

でもそれは言えなかった。

だって、

ボス、可愛そう！

ボスの方が考えたくないから私がうるさくなったら可愛そうでしょう？

「可愛そう、ボス。

大丈夫？」って聞いて、

「大丈夫じゃないけどメリンダのリアクションが思ったより静かだった」って言われた。

「大丈夫じゃないな。可愛そう。」

「たまごも入ってたし・・・」

「たまご？？？うっそっ！」

「僕の口の中に・・・。」

忘れたい忘れたい！＞＜

お腹が痛い！

あそこまた行かない！

お腹が痛い！（多分食べ過ぎ＆カレーの油のせいだけど）

頭から離れない！

早く忘れたい！

お願い！＞＜

キットカット (kit kat)

Japan has all these different Kit Kat flavors every season and I love going into a combini (aka convenience store) and seeing a new flavor out.

I used to collect them, but it actually became a quite expensive hobby--especially because I thought they were so special that I wouldn't want to eat them, so now I just take pictures of them or buy them as presents for people back home. 

My boss gave me one the other day that was Daigaku-imo flavor!

Daigaku-imo is this sweet, sticky sweet potato dessert. It tasted really good! Sometimes they have weird flavors like wasabi, cheese, veggie juice...I guess they are running out of ideas by now... :/

At the bottom it says, "Believe in yourself." In Japan, Kit Kats are given to students before they take entrance exams (usually in Jan and Feb) because when they pronounce Kit Kat it sounds like "kitto katto" which means "You'll win for sure."

Kinda cute, right?

Here are some othes that I've collected over the years:

お正月 (oshogatsu)

Oshougatsu =New Years in Japanese

This year (or last year? What should I say?) I went to my friend’s house in Kagawa for New Years. The year before I went home and the year before that I went to Guam with my friend, so this was my first time experiencing a real Japanese New Year with a real Japanese family, in a real-ly cold place. (>_<)

My friend’s uncle manages a farm and grows and sells rice. We used that rice (which is the best rice I’ve ever tasted, and yes, different rice tastes differently, even if it’s the same color) to make mochi. The steamed the rice in these old-school rice cookers outside and then put the hot rice in this mochi-making machine. Traditionally, rice is pounded in a giant mortar until it is soft and sticky, but the machine is much faster. Besides, it was really cold outside. 

My friend’s grandma owns a little shop by a famous shrine in Kagawa where she sells soft serve, shaved ice, and these sweet red bean cakes called “oban-yaki.” We used the anko (red beans) from her restaurant to make anko-mochi. It was sooo good. The mochi was fresh and hot and the anko was not too sweet. My friend’s mom even bought strawberries to make ichigo daifuku.

So good.

We also used red-grain rice called “aka-mai” and a type of seaweed, “ao-nori,” to make different kinds of mochi. 

Did I mention that it was snowing that day??? The snow even piled up from the night before! It really felt like winter! Although next year I definitely want to go some place warm for New Years.

The next day (Dec 31) we prepared all the foods for the New Years Day celebration.

I always went to our family friends’ house on New Year’s Day in America and had osechi-ryori (traditional Japanese NYD meal) Nikkei-style. I didn’t know how similar it actually was to the real thing!

We had tamago-yaki (one was even cooked with anago, salt-water eel, in the middle!), konbu, kuro mame (for good luck!), kamaboko (fish cake), tai fish, pork, some kind of fish parts, nimono, and most importantly, ozouni soup.

Ozouni is a simple soup made with mochi. We used the handmade mochi from yesterday. Each region has a different way of preparing ozouni soup. In Kagawa, they use anko-mochi in a miso-broth soup. The anko adds texture and sweetness to the soup and the mochi is sticky but melts in your mouth. It was sooo good. I got to bring back some mochi and made ozouni soup at my house a couple times. The only problem is if you eat too much of it, it’s kind of hard to digest….

Check out these pics of the feast!

I made the kamaboko plate! We cut pieces of kamaboko and stuffed them with shiso leaves and ikura or mentaiko. I ate plain ones since I don’t like fish eggs.

Apparently if you eat all of these foods on New Years, you will have good luck for the year. 

I hope so. :)