Summer 2011 in New York

Hi! I'm back now :D

6 days in NY were amazingly fast. When I leave Japan, I had too many things to do, so I thought leaving them behind for 6 days is not good, but now I think I should have planned to stay more days!!! LoL

Day 1 (7/1):

This was our fast time to take Japanese airline ANA (All Nippon Airways) because there wasn't any empty seat for the cheaper ones (usually we take Delta or Continental). What surprised us was their meals!!! They were amazingly delicious!!! Free alcohol, of course :) I watched 4 movies since the seat was very comfortable. Time we arrived in NY was noon, so we took a walk outside (took a pic in front of 23 foot tall giant yellow teddy bear) and met our friends at night. Every year we stay at Grand Hyatt. The room was nicely renovated this year :)

Day2 (7/2):

We had a breakfast at Grand Central Terminal and went for a walk at The High Line! The weather was really hot but nice. I took my 10th hula video at Hudson River Park (Pier 62). I will write about it later. For lunch, we went to The Fat Radish where I found on a Japanese magazine. Their foods were very healthy and delicious with lots of vegetables: omelette with a bunch of greens :D Then for dinner we went to a Malaysian restaurant called Nyonya. What we ordered were their popular dishes: Home Made Roti Canai (Indian Pancake), Sizzling Nyonya Tofu, and Singapore Rice Noodles. They were all great!

Day 3 (7/3):

We went Rabbithole Restaurant in Brooklyn for Breakfast. I had their recommended Stuffed French Toast! Yummy :) My darling had eggs benedict! Then we shopped around and went to the Brooklyn Brewery. My darling was really excited having a beer there ;) It was raining all day long so we enjoyed shopping. My darling enjoyed shopping at Superdry and bought their tees and bag for himself! For dinner, we went to La Lanterna di Vittorio where is famous for Pizza and Pumpkin Cognac Cheesecake! They were of course delicious!!!

Day 4 (7/4):

OMG! I finally found a place to try the 3-tiered afternoon tea!!! Alice's Afternoon Tea serves the afternoon tea menu before and after noon, which is cool :) So, we had The Mad Hatter menu (2 for $37). Their scones (especially the mixed berry) and sandwiches were amazingly delicious! Yay!!! Then we shopped upper west and walked down to the hotel through the central park. We had a dinner at Rock Center Cafe (as usual - we eat here every year). It's the place where my darling and I dated for the 2nd time. On the Broadway, we found cool Forever 21 electric bulletin board! Can you see us waving hands?! LoL We didn't join the crowds, so we kind of saw the July 4th fireworks from 42nd street. hehe

Day 5 (7/5):

Can you believe it's already the 5th day?! Yeah, I was kind of feeling in that way at this time :'( We took a breakfast at hotel's Market. They are open 24 hours, which is very convenient! For a snack, we went to my long-planned Luke's Lobster! A Taste of Maine, you can try half of lobster, crab, and shrimp! I shared it with my darling but I thought I could eat them all by myself later. hehehe Then we walked up to Union Square to shop (we tried YOGO frozen yogurt - sold on trucks) and went to Limelight Marketplace (originally a church). I never get tired of shopping! For dinner, we went to Hummus Place and tried their recommended dishes: Hummus Masabacha and Shakshuka. No meats?! Yeah, they serve vegetarian dishes. The foods were delicious but we kind of needed meats. haha

Day 6 (7/6):

7/6 is the special day! My darling proposed to me at The Pond of Central Park 2 years ago :) So, we kind of coming back here every year at the same time eating breakfast. (We bought our breakfast at Pret A Manger. I really loved the foods there!) I thought my darling might not answer to my question, but I asked him "why time flies?" then he said, "kiss me and time will stop". Wow! Is that true?! I kissed him, of course. Nothing happened!!! haha We love walking together in the city. Of course, time flies… At night, we planned to go to a cozy restaurant in Battery Park, but it was under renovation (or it was gone…) so we moved to the South Street Seaport. There we found Lobster Paella ($75) at Il Porto. It was pretty expensive, but my darling said okay because it's our last dinner. Thanks XOXO I really enjoyed the dish. Also, I talked him about my recipe stuff (kind of reality) that is not going well, and he said "I don't expect anything, so do as you want." How come he is so nice to me :)

Day 7 (7/7):

Time to go home. Our flight was early in the morning, so we left the city at 8AM X( The way back was Continental, so it was not that comfy like ANA, but was friendly on the wallet!!!

Sorry for my lousy typing… I really want to write more in detail and post more pictures, but need to move on and create my new recipes for contests and YouTube videos! But actually, I spent 2 hours writing this post! LoL

I shoot one video today, so I am going to edit it this week! And tomorrow I have new hula class to attend…

I wish I could have more time!!!

See you again :)

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La casa di Nao

Good morning :D

On the weekend I went to shop at Shibuya 109 again :D Yay!!! I really love clothes from One Spo, so after going up and down the shops (you know what I mean if you've been to 109 before. LoL) I decided to shop only at this store. hehe

After shopping is the dinner time! XD But at the time we were hungry, all restaurants in Shibuya were really crowded... so we decided to try the Italian called La casa di Nao where we didn't have to wait.

Unexpectedly, all foods here (we ordered) were amazingly delicious!!! I think I'm gonna come back here again.

Homemade sangria. Nice refreshing citrus flavor.



Arugula salad with slices of parmesan cheese.



Anchovy tomato pizza baked in stove oven.



Green carbonara. The pasta was hand-kneaded!!!



They each were pricey but surprisingly, the total amount was not that much and was as usual! XD

We still have rainy days... and because I carry an umbrella and feel like having too much luggage, I keep on forgetting to take pics of myself. X'(

Anyways, yesterday I cooked for the contests after a great while!!! I can't tell you what I cooked at this moment but they were delish.

Yeah, also my new video is almost done. It's one of very popular Japanese foods which you might know! hehe

See you later on YouTube :D

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Loco's TABLE MAHANA

For our 8th anniversary celebration, we've been to a Hawaiian restaurant called Loco's TABLE MAHANA in Ebisu :D



Dinner here is really Hawaiian with flowers and tropical seasonings :) Loco Moco rice bowl is a must order dish! And unexpectedly, the pork rib with BBQ sauce was pretty good!



Here there's a hula show and one of my hula teachers dances every other week!!! I shoot a video of the dance "Ka Uluwehi O Ke Kai" which we are learning right now! I will share it privately at my YouTube soon!

It was such a wonderful night.

Have a good day!!!

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KYODO406 and My Artwork LOL

Summer is really here today! It is too hot though we must save on electricity in consequence of the earthquake X(

Anyways, on the weekend we finally were treated with good foods! (We eat out once on the weekend but the other 2 weekends were not really, and I thought it was better to eat at home. haha)

KYODO406 is known for natural vintage wines. Yes! Their wines were pretty good!!!



Also foods were delish :) The clams were huge and were a lot on top!!! The grilled chicken was not at all greasy and was high in protein which is my taste!



You know what!? This is something really funny that made me laugh. Remember that I tested my darling to see if he cares having a pile of paper tubes in our restroom? I finally asked him why and guess what he said?! He said he thought I was collecting them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How come?! But some of my artwork do use garbages... for example the table below is made by using packages of snacks...



He said he was scared of throwing them out. oh boy...

All for today :P

I am editing the next video!!!

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As My Hun Sees Me… LOL

Tonight, we've been to a new shopping malls in Futakotamagawa: Rise and Dogwood Plaza. They both were clean and gorgeous but most things were pricey so we just enjoyed window-shopping :P

For dinner, we found yakitori izakaya (skewered chicken restaurant) called 鶏厨くし (Torizukushi). As a starter, I ordered grapefruit sour which is 焼酎 (sho-chu) based cocktail that I need to squeeze the grapefruit by myself. My darling helped me, of course ;)



And then my darling said he's gonna take my pic but I wasn't ready… as you can see I was busy picking the grapefruit pulp. haha



Here we go!



It is funny I am always like this in front of him!!!

Their yakitori was pretty delicious!!! I hate liver but I tried a piece from my darling's and found it pretty good!!!



I will go back here again :D

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Royal Wing Lunch Cruise in Yokohama

Today my darling and I went to Yokohama and enjoyed a Royal Wing Lunch Cruise - 飲茶 (dim sum)! My mom gave us the free lunch tickets while ago ;) hehe



After lunch, there was a balloon sculpture demonstration.



They took our pics with my camera, which was pretty kind :D



Then we shopped around, so my feet are tired X( But luckily we found a great sofa for our new home!!!

BTW, thanks for the comments on my previous posts! I will write back later for sure!!! And I know I am behind the video creation, but I will soon post the next one after the GW holidays ;)

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GRANDBERRY MALL and WIRED KITCHEN

Today, my darling and I went shopping at GRANDBERRY MALL as planned!

I wore a dress from one spo which I bought yesterday! It's my recent favorite brand XD



Unfortunately, I didn't find anything special at the mall but cute underwear. hehe

We then had a dinner at WIRED KITCHEN.





They serve Hawaiian style dishes with a lot of veggies. I love them!!!

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Buso Marathon and RAKERU Lunch

This morning, my darling and I completed 10km (6 miles) Buso Marathon! At the end, we received a certificate, which is cool :D



Maybe we can try a half marathon (20km) someday!

For lunch, we had omurice at RAKERU. suki told me their omurice is good and was true in Japan, too! I ordered very refreshing omurice with grated radish on top and my darling ordered omurice with demi sauce! Both were rich in taste and not at all fatty because they use healthy egg called Yodoran (Hikari brand of iodine-enriched eggs) which I always use for my cooking and contests :D



My darling is having a nap, so I am blogging. hehe

See ya!

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Starbucks Logo Change

On April 1st, 2011, Starbucks Coffee Japan made a change to their logo!

I completely forgot about it but realized on the weekend when I had a coffee there!



Did the logo change in your country already?

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Our New Favorite Places

As you might know, my darling and I (actually I...) love to have a steady routine because I don't get bored of doing the same things :P Of course, I add some new things but not necessarily frequent. LoL

What we found near our new home is a jog spot! It's a 10 minutes run to get there. My dream to run along the river on the weekends came true :D



Near the station, we found many bento shops. One day, we tried okowa (sticky rice with vegetables or beans) bento, which you can select 3 different okowa from many!



Also, we found a sushi restaurant called Magurobito near station! Yay!!! As there are always long lines of people in front of the restaurant, their sushi was pretty good!!! We've already been there twice ;)



What we couldn't find is a cafe (my recipe thinking workplace LoL)... maybe I should better use our new dining table at home instead, which will hopefully arrive in April. Anyways, most cafes and restaurants are freezing cold due to the power saving (since the earthquake), so better to stay at home at the present day :(

Do you have any favorite place?
How often do you go there?



We are still having down-jacket weather in Tokyo...
I hope spring comes soon!!!

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