Versatile Blogger Award

Thank you mica for passing me the Versatile Blogger Award! I love the award with such a positive name! It makes me feel motivated!!!

In accepting this award, I've got to: (1) thank and link the person who gave me this award, (2) share 7 facts about myself, and (3) pass the award to 7 other blogs that I've recently discovered and leave them a note to tell them about the award.

I already thanked mica, so I will list 7 facts about myself!

FACT #1
I love pink but fuchsia pink! That's why my wedding flowers and my colored dress were in fuchsia pink. And of course, my iPhone is in fuchsia pink, too :D

FACT #2
I don't prefer to eat sweets since my darling doesn't like sweets... Maybe that's why I don't have that many sweets recipes. Good for my health, though!

FACT #3
When I'm angry, my darling always goes to sleep. But in fact, I LOVE his sleeping face. For me, he looks cute when he is asleep. I always forgive him while he's sleeping... X(

FACT #4
I love hula but the teacher! My hula teacher used to join the idle group called Ribbon, so she is really cute and has her aura!!! I respect her a lot and I want to be like her. So, that's why I go to hula every Thursday night even after work and do video taking after every term, not to forget what she taught us ;)

FACT #5
As you know... I make a mistake with enthusiasm...

FACT #6
I never did cooking before I met my darling but loved to create things (drawings, making tables, and many other art stuff)! I didn't even help my mom... After I met him, I realized cooking is a practical way to be creative, so that's why I loved it and I think I will cook my art forever!!!

FACT #7
I love NY, the place where I met my darling. We visit there every summer since we came back to Japan in 2004.

I know many are busy so I'm not leaving a note, but this award goes to jo, Nazarina, merce, theda_bara,  fran, Genki Gaijin Girl, and Cathy. Please do when you have time :D

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My Accomplishments

Now again it is time to list my Accomplishments in November!

On 11/3, I attended the finals of SPAM Recipe Contest 2010. Details are HERE.

On 11/3, my Montblanc-Like Egg Salad was broadcast on CookTV. HERE, you can view the video of it! As its name suggests it looks like the sweet but actually is salad. hehe ;)


On 11/4, I attended the award ceremony of the Quick Scallop Recipe Contest held in Hokkaido. Details are HERE. The ceremony also appeared on the news. The award-winning are now on the web.

On 11/15, my Tandoori Okara Chicken Nuggets was appeared on P.81 of a recipe mook (magazine book) published by Kodansha.




On 11/11, my Sweet And Sour Potato Pork Roll won a prize and received 3 packages of frozen vegetable. Delcy sells frozen vegetables and they asked for bento recipes using their products.

On 11/18, 10th person has photo reported my Neapolitan Stir Fried Cabbage. Instead of using pasta, I used cabbage to cook spaghetti Neapolitan. Real healthy and yummy :D My darling loves it!

On 11/30, my Miso Mushrooms Marinated Matcha Soba received the highest award at Tomisen (soba dealer)'s website. Like I marinate greens, I marinated Matcha Soba, which is made of green powdered tea (the tea used for tea ceremony).

On 11/30, 10th person has photo reported my Tuna Egg Sandwich! Oh, btw, the photo reports are available down the page I linked. Sorry the site is in Japanese.



And I received the Smile Award at ABC Smile Recipe Contest and the Idea Award at Asadaame Contest, but not big enough to write about.

It is funny that the recipes I think good don't receive an award but those I don't put that much effort always get a place...

Life is not easy!!!

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Microwave Cookies

Do you know that you can bake cookies in microwave?

Just mix and microwave! Easy enough for kids to bake ;)

Use your favorite sprinkles!!! I should have used more of pink ones. Ha-ha!!!

Video Recipe Available :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoLStf_-HgU



Cup measurement video is HERE!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvnAQcgAo9o



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Microwave Cookies

Difficulty: Very Easy
Time: 15min
Number of servings: 20 cookies

Ingredients:
100g (3.5oz.) butter (softened)
50g (1.7oz.) sugar
1 egg
A
* 130g (4.5oz.) all-purpose flour
* 1/2 tsp. baking powder
B
* 25g (0.8oz.) chocolate chips
* 25g (0.8oz.) sprinkles of your choice

Directions:
1. Beat butter and sugar until creamy, add egg and mix well.
2. Sift A in 1. and mix well. Add B and mix well again.
3. Drop 5 cookies (at a time) by teaspoon in a ring onto waxed paper on microwave oven glass tray.
4. Microwave at 500w for 3min or 3 min + 30sec. Repeat the steps 3 & 4 to complete the rest.

My original recipe in Japanese is here.
---------------------------------

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Microwave Cookies (Metric Cup Measurement)

Difficulty: Very Easy
Time: 15min
Number of servings: 24 cookies

Note:
1cup = 250ml or 250cc

Ingredients:
1/2cup = 125ml butter (softened) *100g (3.5oz.)
1/4cup = 62.5ml granulated sugar
1 egg
1cup = 250ml cake flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4cup = 62.5ml chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Beat butter and sugar until creamy, add egg and mix well.
2. Sift cake flour and baking powder in 1. and mix well. Add chocolate chips and mix well again.
3. Drop 4 cookie dough at a time by tablespoon onto parchment paper on microwavable plate or tray. *You don't want to burn your plate, so please line with the parchment paper.
4. Microwave at 500w for 3min (or less or more depending on the heat of your microwave). Repeat the steps 3 & 4 to complete the rest. *It is safe to test from 1 min to see how they come out. Microwave bakes the cookies from inside, so if they are baked golden brown, they are burned X(

*You can also bake them in an oven at 180C (350F) for 15 minutes.

レシピ（日本語）
http://cooklabo.blogspot.jp/2012/04/blog-post_28.html
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Apple iPhone 4

Have you checked out Apple iPhone 4 already? It was just released today in Japan.

iPhone 4 is the world’s thinnest smartphone! With a revamped design and features, Apple iPhone 4 is the big upgrade from iPhone 3GS! I bought my iPhone 3GS last year but iPhone 4 just serves my need for iPhone 3GS, I'm afraid to know these new changes X(

Aren't they cool?

Stainless Steel Band: Created from alloy, then forged to be five times stronger than standard steel, the CNC-machined band is the mounting point for all the components of iPhone 4. The band provides impressive structural rigidity and allows for its incredibly thin, refined design. It also functions as both iPhone 4 antennas.

Instead of the steel band, my iPhone 3GS is a plastic. It cracked a little around the buttons recently... oh boy....

Camera + LED: The iPhone 4 camera shoots gorgeous 5-megapixel photos and stunning HD video. And with its advanced backside illumination sensor, it captures beautiful images even in low-light settings. The built-in LED flash does double duty. And on the front of iPhone 4, the built-in camera is perfect for making FaceTime calls and shooting self-portraits.

I need this function for my picture-taking!!!

Face Time: iPhone 4 makes video calling a reality. With just a tap, you can wave hello to your kids, share a smile from across the globe, or watch your best friend laugh at your stories ? iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 over Wi-Fi.

I don't actually need this but sounds cool!

Moreover!!!

I wish I could upgrade my iPhone to iPhone 4. I'm sure that I have one or two more years to pay up my 3GS... Unlike laptops, newer is better, so I just can't take it! Anyway, I will definiately upgrade to iPhone 5 when it comes out! Ha-ha!!!

BTW, Apple iPhone OS 4.0 supports Multitasking! Now it supports wireless keyboard! Then I can write my recipe anywhere :D I should check it out, too!!!

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My Accomplishments

Belated post, but I will list my accomplishments in April.

4/10 was Yodoran (iodine-enriched egg) Day! My Spring Sushi Rolls were introduced at their event site. To give pink color to sushi rice, I sprinkled "Sakura Denbu", which is pink colored & seasoned shredded codfish :)


On 4/12, my "Black Sushi Rolls with Fruity Millet Tuna Curry", which won the prize for participation at the Millet Recipe Contest 2010, was posted on Japan Millet Association's website. Also, the report of the day was posted here. Can you find me?!

On 4/26, my Takoyaki Croquette was introduced on CookTV (TBS). The video is HERE. Sorry in Japanese X(




On 4/25, I won the special award at soy milk recipe contest. Sorry, no image available for this one.

That's it! I'll try to do better this month!!!

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Amazon Kindle

Last month, I did many things in the last minute and couldn't able to complete some of my tasks, so this month I will "act at once"! Consequently, I'm running out of time to write about our restaurant tour, so I will write about my darling instead ;)

Do you know Amazon Kindle?

Amazon Kindle is a software and hardware platform developed by Amazon.com subsidiary Lab126 for rendering and displaying e-books and other digital media.

My darling loves to read books, and now he's reading English books for his study, so recently he purchased Kindle! It just started to support Japan to access the book contents. Still can't read Japanese books, though. Anyway, he is reading Kindle all day long like playing video games! Ha-ha!!! Good for him ;)

This is all for today!

BTW, I just read recipe books :P

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My Accomplishments

Time flies again. It is already October. Not that many but I will list my accomplishments last month.

On 9/4, my "Cold Egg Soup Rice With Okura and Nameko" won a prize at the Yodoran (iodine-enriched egg) recipe competition by Nosan Corporation. They asked for cold recipes using their egg.






On 9/7, my "Chinese Style Pork And Shimeji Steamed Rice" was introduced as a sample recipe using Lee Kum Kee's oyster sauce at the recipe contest held by Cookpad.







On 9/10, my "Pork and Eggplant Bowl" ranked in the 5th place at Lettuceclub recipe site.







On 9/15, my "Pineapple and Shrimp Cocktail Rolls" won the outstanding performance award at the pineapple recipe contest. The contest is held every summer. I wish I could win the highest award which prize is a trip to Okinawa!





On 9/25, my "Blended Herb Sour Tomatoes" won the special prize at the herb salt contest.








I don't know which of my recipes won the prize but I received the fighting-spirit award at sweets recipe contest and received the double chance award at soy beans contest.

Then last but not least, I won some sample products as usual: 2 bottles of Blendy coffee, makeup essence base, and Reed's parchment paper.

This morning, my boyfriend game me Ichiro T-Shirt! Cool! The letters are glittering!!! I will wear it at GYM. He-he ;)

We expect rain this week. Too bad... I hope I can take a video of my hula this weekend. Yesterday new hula term has started. This time Christmas version: "Melehula Kalikimaka"! I can't wait to complete it ;)

Aloha!

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Wow!!! Lucky Me!!!

Sometimes I am in luck!
This month, I won 2 big grand prizes at the contests held at Cookpad (recipe site).

I can't get carried away because the next contests are going to held from this point, but let me feel delight for a while :)

On 5/11, my "Bacon Rolled Shrimp Saute" won the grand prize. It was a shrimp recipe contest that asked to create side dishes that goes good with Kirin beer. The recipe will be used for their promotions, such as recipe card, poster, and store front promotional video.

As seen on the right image, the prize for this contest was 16 slabs of low-malt beer and 2 slabs of sparkling liquor. Wow! But unfortunately, my boyfriend and I don't drink that much, so I decided to give them to my mom and her friends. They were happy with them ;)


Then today, my "Healthy Colorful Rolled Chicken" won the grand prize! The contest was to create easy and healthy side dishes using Reed Healthy-Cooking Paper: A thick cooking paper with water and oil retention to promote “healthy cooking” while protecting vitamins and reducing calories.
I wrapped vegetable rolled chicken with this cooking paper, steamed in the microwave, and browned in a pan. I flavored it with shiso leaves and umeboshi (pickle ume), so it has a mild taste.

The prize was an assortment of laundry detergents, dish soaps etc... Plus, popular culinarian Koh Kentetsu's autographed recipe book!!! I am excited to receive them all. Sometimes things are much more valuable than cash ;)

I get too many bad results than good ones, but I think there is hope.
Let's keep trying!!!

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My Accomplishments

This morning, before the sun rises high, I ran outside instead of going to the gym! It is nice to run outside once in a while.

Time flies. April is almost over... Before I forget, I will list the rest of my accomplishments.

On 4/1, my Tomato Salt Cake won the silver prize at Yukishio salt (snow powder salt) contest. The salt is made in Okinawa, Miyakojima and won the prize of gold medal of Monde-Selection for third straight year since 2006. The salt contains a world record of mineral element varieties and it has been registered in the Guinness Book of Records. As its naming suggests, it is fine powder, and is the best match for eating tempura with and preparing the cooking with. It can enhance the flavor of the ingredients from the cooking. Furthermore, these days it attains much attention as applied for massage salt and bath salt.

On 4/6, my Chinese Style Pork And Shimeji Steamed Rice won the grand prize at the Lee Kum Kee's oyster sauce recipe contest held by Cookpad. Lee Kum Kee is the world renowned leader of oyster flavored sauce which is the basic ingredient for countless Chinese dishes. They asked for recipes that brings out the rich flavor of oyster sauce. My recipe will be used for their flyers, too.

On 4/12, my Curry Simmered Whole Onion won the gold award at Inoue spice contest. They sell curry products and spices over the Internet so they asked for recipes using those.



On 4/13, my Soymilk Stir Fried Juicy Freeze-Dried Bean Curd won the outstanding performance award at soymilk contest.







On 4/15, I again won the Outstanding Performance Award at Asahi Food & Healthcare's diet recipe contest. I submitted my "Avocado Milk Yogurt Drink". Instead of using sugar, I used Calpis (lactic acid beverage) for health.





On 4/23, my Bonito and Edamame Rice Bowl was featured as "today's choice" at recipe-blog (the recipe site I'm registered). I had a lot of visitors to my Japanese recipe blog on that day!






On 4/25, I won a prize at Yodoran (iodine-enriched egg)'s contest. The theme was Tamagokakegohan (rice bowl with raw egg). I submitted Salmon Avocado Italian Egg Rice Bowl. Actually, I don't like to eat raw eggs, but it is a popular way of eating eggs. Most people just pour soy sauce over the rice and egg, and mix. What do you think of it?! I found a video of it... wow...

Then as usual, I won some sample products, again. Smart cheese, healthy salt, bling-bling pen, flavored seaweed, hand towels, soft drink, cereal rice, and deodorant mist.

Golden Week holidays are from 5/2-6 according to the calendar. But some people are off from today since today is a holiday. I had to work on the 30th and the 1st. Boo!!!

Anyway, my boyfriend and I have a plan to stay a night at a hotel in Odaiba (Tokyo). We aren't going that far since everything is expensive during the holidays. It is wise to stay local ;) Maybe I will go to work during the holidays and take days off later. That might be a good idea ;)

Now I am leaving to have some coffee at a cafe, repair eyelash extensions, and have a dinner date with my boyfriend. I hope everything is fine with me...

Oh, be careful of the swine flu! WHO raised pandemic alert to phase 4... How scary... We don't know what will happen the next...

Let's take care!

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