Kichinto

This is something about Saturday.

For dinner, we've been to an Izakaya called "Kichinto" again! I love foods and drinks here because they are delicious and relatively cheap! We had the natto, yam, and fish mixture with nori again (left bottom image)! The grilled rice ball with sauteed vegetables soup was fablicious (right bottom image). It was still boiling when it's served! Warms us up in winter ;)

BTW, how often do you go back to your favorite restaurants?
I think we go back once in 3 months, since we only eat out on Saturdays.

It was freezing cold on this day but the high today is 68F (20C)! Unbelievably warm!!!

Have a good one :D

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Yakiniku @ Gyutetsu

Hi! How is the weather at your place?!

It was cold in Tokyo this weekend, so my darling and I went out to eat yakiniku to warm up by the grill. He-he :D

We've been to a restaurant called 牛鉄 (Gyutetsu) near the station. 牛鉄 means iron cow... funny if I translate. Ha-ha! We knew the place for a long time, but it was our first time to eat there! Their grilled chicken and scallop were delicious! They were salt flavored and you dip them into fresh lemon juice :D Yummy!!!

The average budget was 2,500yen ($25) per person, but we spent 3,000yen ($30)... Did we eat a lot?!

Anyway, I wore wig bangs on this day. Little bit weird, but it is okay for a change :P

Busy Monday! Bye for now!!!

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Hiroshimayaki

On Saturday, we found a newly opened yummy hiroshimayaki restaurant near station. Hiroshimayaki is a Japanese pancake (similar to okonomiyaki) containing a variety of ingredients with soba. We sat at the counter, in front of the grill to warm up :D



A pile of cabbage strips were flattened in few minutes. We added scallion topping, which was really refreshing and delicious. At this restaurant you can pick udon instead of soba! Maybe we can try udon next time :D

I guess the restaurant is managed by young cooks, but they cook their very best, so everything was delicious. I hope they maintain that hard work forever!!!

I found an interesting sake called 伊根満開 (inemankai). It's a red rice sake! It was sweeter than regular sake like Chinese 紹興酒, but was not strongly scented like 紹興酒. Maybe I want to try this again, when I go back!

BTW, yesterday, I cooked and took photos of 14 new recipes.
Damn tired today!!!

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Year-End Eatings in Kyoto!

Hi there! I am extremely drowsy now... so for a break, I will post about foods I had at the end of 2009.

On 12/28 my darling and I went to Otsu to say hello to my father's side grandmother. For breakfast, we had a Japanese set breakfast menu at Shinagawa station in Tokyo. Then when we arrived at Otsu, we had soba for lunch. We went to buy delicious miso at 九重みそ (Kokonoemiso)! Their white miso is rich and mild, so my family always get it for the New Year's white miso zoni!

At night, we moved to Kyoto and met my mother's side grandmother at the hotel. When we arrived there, it was already dinner time, so we went to a yummy kushiyaki (a Japanese type of skewered meats and vegetables) restaurant called 串まんま (Kushimanma). My dad loves this restaurant, so he've been here for many times! We brought our wine for drink :D


On 12/29, we bought our breakfast at a popular bakery called FRIANDISE! Their cutlet sandwich was super delicious! The meat was not greasy at all and really nice and thick!!! I took a pic with my grandma and my youngest sister. BTW, my middle sister didn't come to Kyoto since she had to work. Sorry that she missed all these yummy foods...

After breakfast, we realized we ate too much, so my dad suggested us to take a walk at Kyoto Imperial palace park (Kyoto Gyoen national garden), where I danced hula the other day ;) I don't have any pic at all, but after the walk, we had lunch with my darling's parents! It was for the first for my parents to see them. I got little nervous, but everything went fine :D Both parents agreed about our wedding reception! Whew!!!

Then after lunch, my darling and I went to shop at Shijo Street (a huge shopping street in Kyoto). I think we walked there for about 5 hours. Good exercise!!! Then for dinner, we joined my parents and had sukiyaki (nabe-style dish with sliced beef) at モリタ屋 (Moritaya). Their sukiyaki is totally awesome! I hate raw egg, but believe it or not, it was super delicious!!! I took pics of how they cooked it in front of us :D

On 12/30, my darling and I moved to Hikone to see my darling's parents again. We had lunch at obanzai restaurant called 京百菜 (Kyohyakusai). Obanzai is small appetizer dishes that usually goes good with white rice. The restaurant was buffet style, so I ate as much as I can. Whew... When we arrived at Hikone, we said hello to my darling's grandparents! Actually, it was for the first time to see them. For dinner, we had yakiniku at a restaurant called Ibukitei. Their meats were really soft and delicious. OMG, I ate too much again!!! The green tea Swiss roll was a souvenir for his parents. Of course we had it at night :P

Then on 12/31, we went back to Tokyo. For souvenir from Hikone, I bought 糸切餅 (itokirimochi), which is a famous rice cake with salty read bean paste. We bought special bento sold at Maibara station for lunch and had it on the train back to Tokyo.



Lots of eatings!!! I think I need to exercise a lot before I put on fat!

Oh no, I'm still way behind on replies... I will catch up soon!

I gotta go now. See you again!

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Big Clam Spaghetti @ Mia Angela

Hi! I am still busy with many stuff but want to post this before I forget :D

Yesterday, my darling finished his work earlier than usual, so we decided to go out for a dinner after work. We met at a train station and shopped around for a few minutes. When I opened my wallet, I found a winning ticket of lotto that I haven't cashed yet. I knew that I won 3,000yen ($30) but thought I have time, so I didn't care about it. Just in case, I happened to look at the back and found it should be cashed by 1/5/2010! It was already 19:00 at that time. We searched the closest lottery stands but all were closed. So, we headed to a bigger station in Shinjuku! The stand was open, but the cashable time was over at 19:00. We asked the salesclerk, but shook her head, which means NO!!! We told her that we miraculously won 3,000. Then luckily, she said okay, and we received the winning amount! Yay!!!

We upgraded our dinner idea and went to our favorite restaurant called "Mia Angela". As I mentioned before, the restaurant uses farm fresh ingredients from Hokkaido and cook them in the Italian way! We ordered red sea bream carpaccio and big clam spaghetti from today's special, and carbonara.

Like oyster, I hate clam but their seafood is distinct! I think I could overcome my dislikes there :D

You can also enjoy wines at a reasonable price. Barbaresco was recommended on this day. It was rich but refreshing with nice aroma. I wish I could go there again.

We used our cash and paid 10 bucks each! What a nice dinner!!! Plus, I bought pink leopard-print pattern blanket at 300yen ($3) as a memory at at a store near station. He-he ;)

I have a lot more to write! I will write about Kyoto soon.

Have a good day!!!

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Yummy Miso Dipping Sauce @ Tsukada Nojo

Yesterday, my darling and I had dinner at izakaya called 塚田農場 (Tsukada Nojo). As a free appetizer, they serve miso dipping sauce with raw vegetables. This kind of appetizer is very popular in Japan. But mostly, miso dipping sauce is pretty salty. However, I think their miso was best of all I had in my life! They mix tens of different kinds of minced vegetables in miso, so it is rich and tasty! Not at all salty :D I couldn't stop eating vegetables!!! Before you leave, they'll give you a small plastic case with miso. If you bring the case the next time, they'll fill it up! What a nice idea! But I hope they sell it there. I would love to buy it!!! They have 8 restaurants in Tokyo. I recommend you to go there once when you get a chance!

BTW, Tsukada Nojo is famous for Miyazaki local chicken dishes. Mostly izakaya serves foods in strong flavor since it's a drinking place. However, this izakaya serves everything in mild taste! I would say, all dishes there are great!

Changing my story, I have another post today. Which is kind of important :D

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Hatahata Nabe @ Robataya

Sometimes I learn a lot from eating out.

Last Saturday, my darling and I went to an izakaya called Robataya and had hatahata nabe (hot pot). Hatahata is a fish called Arctoscopus japonicus in English. It's a local specialty of Akita Prefecture. I knew the fish called hatahata but never had a chance to try it. It was very sticky with chewy eggs X(

After I got home, I found that the eggs are called "buriko" and they are coated with sticky liquid. If you salt it, the eggs become more chewy like rubber. Interesting, right?! I found a blog that explains hatahata in detail. Please click here to learn more.

It is sunny and the temp this week is warmer than last week :D

Tomorrow is a holiday (The Emperor's Birthday), so I will come back on Thursday. Have a good day!

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Heartfelt Birthday

The time has come...

I became 30 on 12/9!!!

At night, I had a dinner with my darling. He took me to a restaurant called HEART LEAF in Shibuya. The restaurant was cute with many heart decorations. At such a cute restaurant, in the middle of our dinner, he gave me a present. It was a necklace with a cute bling-bling heart pendant! How sweet and neat!!! I was really surprised with his idea :D

All dishes were super delicious! I could eat more than I thought!!! What we ordered were "tuna carpaccio with avocado", "tomato simmered collagen chicken and beans", "grilled vegetables", and "vegetable rice omelet". Last but not least, my birthday cake was huuuuuuge!!! We first thought we couldn't eat any more, but the cake was not sweet and the fruits were delicious, so we could eat almost all of it!!! Can you believe our depthless stomach?!

But now I knew why all foods were that fabulicious! To write this post, I searched the Net for the restaurant and found that they use only domestically-produced organic ingredients (eggs, vegetables, etc...) direct from contract farmers! Therefore, their foods can be eaten safe without any question! (As you know, there are many imported food safety concerns, recently.) Of course, they used homemade sponge cake for my birthday cake! The cream they use is not sweet, so you can enjoy the true taste of fruits! You now know why we ate that much! Ha-ha!!!

Back to my birthday story, compared to my 20s, I think I would cut corners on many things in my 30s, without even noticing. To avoid this, I want to go back to basics and do my best! Plus, I want to keep smiling and stay healthy. For such a wonderful darling, I want to stay attractive in many ways forever!!!

Thanks to my darling for this memorable birthday surprise.

Lots of hearts :D

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Okinawan Cuisine @ Yura

Last Saturday, we again went to Yura to eat Okinawan cuisine! My darling and I sat at the bar counter and found an interesting jar with a word "habu sake". Habu is a venomous snake living in Okinawa and Amami island chain. We turned the bottle around and found a real snake in the jar!!! eek!!!!!!! However, it says macrobiotic sake, so we ordered it!!! We thought it would smell fishy and taste like an animal, but it didn't. The habu was soaked in rum with sugar, so it was nice and sweet. It costs about 10 bucks per glass but we thought it was worth to try!

Mostly, we don't drink but eat at izakaya because they charge a lot for the drinks, as you know. On this day, we had oden since it was cold. We loved the huuuuuge daikon simmered in dashi broth. Yummy!!! We had papaya champuru (Okinawan style stir-fried papaya), too. It was juicy and delicious! Grilled fish jaw was really tasty and great. We had a good dinner time :D

It's my 30th birthday today, so my darling is going to take me to a restaurant tonight. I have a plan to eat lunch out with my co-workers, too. Too many eating-outs in December!!!

I gotta go to the GYM whenever I can.

Stay healthy!

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Wedding Surprise @ Hibiya Bar

Hi there! Freezing down at high 55F (13C) but we have a clear blue sky again :)

Last Friday, there was a co-worker year-end dinner party after work. I heard that they will use this opportunity to celebrate my wedding, so I didn't expect that much. Of course, I didn't want people to celebrate us since I have been with my boyfriend for a long time and the situation is different from other couples. However, surprisingly, they arranged an original cocktail menu for me! (It was printed on the menu!!!) They named it "Recipe Fountain", created in the image of me coming up with a lot of new recipe ideas! Ha-ha ;) The color of the cocktail was my favorite FUCHSIA PINK made from pink grapefruit juice, cassis, and soda! It was refreshing and delicious! Super thanks to all!

Hibiya Bar serves healthy foods! They were all prepared with light seasonings. I loved them all!!! All drinks were all you can drink for 3 hours. Their wine was great. I loved HobNob red wine!
On this day, my co-worker who opened a cafe and now work on her own came to see me, too! I haven't seen her for 2 years, so I'm glad to see her again. It was a touching and memorable day :D

Changing my story, yesterday, I took a day off to renew my driver's license and passport! I had to change my name after the marriage, so it was at just the right time to do so! Also, I had to go to the ward office. Plus, I had to make a new bank account. Whew... but I think I finished most of the painful paperwork!

I must make another important post today!

Will post soon!!!

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XEX Daikanyama - Bridal Fair

Last Saturday, after 3 weeks, we finally attended the bridal fair! It was our first time to attend such an event. The event is usually available for one couple at the time. Personal wedding planner will guide you through the place for the wedding.

I love to cook, so I chose to see a restaurant ceremonial hall. XEX Daikanyama is a restaurant with an open kitchen! You can talk to cooks freely, so you can feel at home knowing what you are eating and enjoy!

On this day, there was a pizza event. Actually, I wasn't that interested in cooking pizza during the tour, but it was fun! He-he :D My darling made pizza dough. I made toppings. Then my darling placed it in the oven! Wow! In a huge oven (which is about 572F/300C), our pizza was done in a minute !!! Can you believe it?! It usually takes about 15 minutes by range oven at home.

I thought it is one of the good ways to entertain people in the party :D

After the tour, we had a dinner there! We tried their long arm shrimp pasta with american sauce and grilled chicken! Both were delicious!!! We enjoyed them along with a glass of wine :) I appreciate my darling for going to the tour together. I know he hates this kind!

Anyway, I will report about the next tour when we get a chance to go!

Hula tonight! Bye for now!

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