Weekend Trip to Hirado (Nagasaki)

On the weekend, my darling and I visited Hirado city in Nagasaki prefecture. 4/4 was my darling's 35th birthday, so we celebrated his birthday there, too! We stayed at the hotel called 旗松亭 (Kishoutei), which was the prize for the Dutch food contest!

We left home at 5:00AM, took a plane from Tokyo to Fukuoka for about 2 hours, took a bus from Hakata to Hirado for about 2.5 hours, and arrived at Hirado at 1:30PM! It was well worth the long distance, we enjoyed local dishes in Hirado!

The top left image is 懐石料理 (Kaiseki-ryouri: variety of dishes). After having a relaxing dip in outdoor hot spring bath, we had those for dinner in our room at the hotel. Raw flatfish on the boat was gorgeous and super delicious! The soy sauce in Kyushu area is not that salty but sweet as compared to soy sauce in Tokyo, so you can eat a lot of sashimi without white rice!

Besides foods, we enjoyed sightseeing! We walked to 平戸城 (Hirado Castle) which dominates the hill that rises above the town and the harbour. 平戸教会 (St. Francis Xavier Memorial Church) raises high behind temples and it has a very interesting view with both temples and a church from the distance.

BTW, we couldn't rent a car since there was no car available during our stay, so we rented bicycles! We headed to 千里ヶ浜 (Senrigahama Beach) where is Hirado's largest sandy beach. It was 7km (4.5miles) away from the city! My muscles are sore now... The sea was blue and beautiful, so I took a video of my hula there! That was my objective to ride there actually. He-he ;)

Our return bus was at 1:30PM as well, so we had exactly 24 hours in Hirado. The time there was like a dream. Now I'm back to work... Busy Monday! I will hopefully upload my hula video tomorrow!

Please click below and vote for me.

Sakura Light-Up

Sakura light-up is currently taking place along the river (senkawa) near home from 3/31 to 4/4. Last night, the trees weren't in full bloom, but were very beautiful.

It is already April, the first day of the new (school) term in Japan. I saw many freshmen at the train station. This year, I somehow feel the new term since the new hula session starts from tonight and I am also planning to attend the new fat burning class called "calorie hunter" after that :D But my concern is... that the class ends at 9PM, so I should be really exhausted on Friday X(

Anyway, I'm not making an April Fool, seriously, April 1st is a good day to start something new!

Make the best of it!

Please click below and vote for me.

Valentine's Day 2010

Yesterday was a busy Valentine's day. I had to cook recipes for deadlines... In addition to handmade chocolates, I gave my darling budonoki's famous char-grilled chocolates. Each piece costs 300yen (3 bucks), so I haven't tasted them. The round one is rose champagne, and the heart one is sweet-sour strawberry. I hope he liked them ;D I wore the clothes I bought at 109 the other day!

Last night, we've been to Koumibou again to eat Chinese food since my dad came back from China during the CNY holidays :D OMG, how expensive the food is... this tiny sharks' fin (right bottom image) was $30 per dish... stir fried yellow chive (right top image) was $18 per dish. Of course we ordered only one each and shared. Anyway, we enjoyed more than 10 different kinds of Chinese foods! Sorry, I forgot to take pictures of all...

Anyway, as you are aware, I deleted my wedding dress images... My darling said it is a surprise :P BTW, my parents and sisters loved the pink one, if you remember!

Busy Monday. I changed my company PC to Windows 7, so I need to set up all programs and files X( I'm still trying to get used to the new OS... shadow and animation functions are kind of annoying...

See ya!

Please click below and vote for me.

Calorie-Saving Ehomaki

My darling was cooperative last night. He wore 鬼(devil) mask for me to throw the beans on Setsubun! How neat this mask is! Your nose pops out from a hole so it looks like 3D. I got this mask at the supermarket for free!





Of course, I made Ehomaki! This year, I partially used hanpen (white square shaped minced fish product) instead of rice to save calories ;D The recipe is in Japanese but I posted at Cookpad!

It's a busy day again today! But I am trying to post something while I have a break :P

How long does it take you to write a post? Me?! I think I use about 15 min to 1 hr... Depending on the content, I use too much time! Ha-ha!!! How about you? When do you write your post? (Don't ask me... you know!)

Okay, hula tonight ;)

Have a good one!!!

Please click below and vote for me.

Garapon Drawing

It was a busy weekend. I worked through the night on the 29th (stayed awake 48 hours) to finish up projects due 1/31... whew X( I think I need to be more organized. I am not a last minute person, though...

Anyway, on such a busy weekend, I had one important thing to do... which was to draw lots at Ajinomingei. Since we go there very often, we had 5 tickets to play Garapon drawing...

But what is Garapon?!

Not knowing what the event is about, I had shrimp udon again. The "good luck shrimp tempura udon" was already over, so I had a regular shrimp udon. The shrimp was really small compared to the other one. Ha-ha!

We won 4 pocket warmers and 1 yogurt drink at the drawing. Yep! They are useful!

But what is Garapon?!

Now I just googled "Garapon" and knew it is a name of the drawing machine! I didn't even think it has such a funny name! It is actually a common drawing machine in Japan. You turn it around one time and a colored ball comes out from the hole. You get a prize depending on what the color of the ball is.

Is this common in your country as well?!

Okay, I think I gotta go now.

I can't believe January is already over...
Hope I won't be that busy this month X(

Bye for now :)

Please click below and vote for me.

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!

Please click below and vote for me.

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

Please click below and vote for me.

We Just Got MARRIED!!!

On November 22nd, we filed our marriage paper!!!

In Japan, 11/22 is a good married couple day. We read (as phonetic equivalent) 11 "ii" which means "good" and 22 "fu-fu" which means "married couple". Very simple, but we will never forget this date ;)

In the evening, my family threw us a surprise party at Yoga Club (dogs okay restaurant). Milk (our dog) came to celebrate us, too. Along with dinner, we had Mommessin's Beaujolais Nouveau. I think this brand is quite a hit this year! It was refreshing but tasty. We all liked it!

Milk also had a cake. We tried it before he ate. It wasn't sweet at all. The cream part was potato. The bottom part was a carrot cake with cinnamon flavor. We all thought the carrot part is edible. Ha-ha!

Anyway, thanks for your support!
We have lived together for 6 years, so nothing changes as husband and wife, but I am really happy now. I think all things happened between us are meaningful. I want to keep ALOHA in my heart and cherish our time together forever!

We will be happy :D

Please click below and vote for me.

Pink Christmas Tree

Time flies. Christmas is right around the corner!!! Streets in Tokyo are decorated with Christmas trees and lighting. People are looking for Christmas presents already.

Last Saturday, I found a cute pink Christmas tree in front of the department store (Printemps) in Ginza. I took a pic of it and using it for my iPhone background. You know I love pink color ;)

It is cold and raining today. But now is the best season to feel the warmth of your partner. He-he ;)

Hula again tonight.

ALOHA!!!

P.S. Finally! I hope I replied to all comments. Thanks :D

Please click below and vote for me.

Hakone

Finally! I am going to write about Monday the holiday. My boyfriend and I took a day trip to Hakone :) We knew we can easily get there by Romancecar (express train), but we have never used it, so we decided to go there once! It is about an hour and a half to get there from Shinjuku station. The train we took was an older model. My boyfriend was complaining about it. Ha-ha!!!

Our plan for this trip was to relax in a hot spring bath! We enjoyed simple alkaline hot spring at "Himeshara no yu". Outdoor hot spring bath was incredibly relaxing. I think I could refresh my body and soul for a moment. You know I am stressed out... Anyway, after that we enjoyed Begonia Garden. I took a shot of red Begonia with macro mode!

For lunch, we had soba at "Hatsuhana". Soba is said to be good in Hakone because the water there is clean! Hatsuhana serves soba made with yams and eggs. For full flavor, they boil the soba and dry before they serve! I had a cold soba with yam dipping sauce. My boyfriend had tempura soba. Both were great ;)

After lunch, we walked around the town. There were many stores where you can sample the souvenir food! Yummy :D Then we took a rest near the river. We still had loads of time, so we decided to take a local train to visit Kamaboko museum at Kazamatsuri station.

Kamaboko is a variety of Japanese processed seafood product, made from surimi, in which various white fish are pureed, combined with additives, formed into distinctive loaves, and then steamed until fully cooked and firm. At the museum, you can see, make and play with Kamaboko. We again sampled varieties of Kamaboko at stores! Yay ;) Also, we had a local black beer, which was deliciously refreshing!

The return train was a newer model. My boyfriend was happy with it. We bought Ekiben for dinner. Ekiben are railway boxed meals sold on trains and train stations. I think we ate all day long. Ha-ha!

I heard my co-worker has been to Hakone on the same day! She said she's been to Gora where you can enjoy beer tasting. There are many fun places around us. I should go out more often :D

Please click below and vote for me.