Portrait Bento

Hi! It is again nice and sunny today. The high will be 71F (22C). In autumn, we have clear sky! Yesterday, on TV news, I learned 2 things that I've been wondering for a long time but didn't go far enough to find out. One is about the clear sky I just mentioned. I always thought that the sky in summer is foggy and they said that is because of the warm humid air from the south. In autumn, the cold dry air comes from the north which lowers the amount of vapor, makes the sky blue.

Another thing I learned was about artificial nails! Until I started to cook, I used to wear those. I glued them on my nails and wore them about a week. However, one day I realized there was green stuff under the nails when I removed. Mold?! I didn't even search but it was as suspected! I saw on the news that it can happen and some people have spoiled their nails! How scary!!!

Back to my topic! I will show you something funny today ;) Do you know bento? Bento is a home-packed meal in a lunchbox. Usually packed with rice. I don't make bento often, but one day I made it for my boyfriend for dinner (because I was sure he doesn't want to take this with him for lunch at work!). Can you tell what this is? It's my boyfriend's portrait! Ha-ha!!! I drew it with seasoned kelp. The face is 3D because I piled the rice.

I think I'd better write my post in the morning. No drowsiness. Ha-ha ;)

Okay, have a good day!!!

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Cheers! Omurice

It's a beautiful day without a cloud in the sky! I really wanted to have a cup of coffee at a cafe near the station instead of going to work...

Anyway, do you know Omurice? It is a thin fried egg wrapped chicken rice (seasoned with ketchup), shaped like an omelet. The fancy one comes with a runny omelet on top of the chicken rice! Which is meltingly delicious. My boyfriend loves it in that way!
Omurice is a very popular home-cooked meal in Japan. I think most Japanese moms have served this at least once at home! It can be found at most restaurants in Japan, too!

Wow! It's quite some time ago, but in May, I made a funny omurice! Those fingers are sausages! I drew nails and the beer foam using mayonnaise. Funny, right? The word "おつかれさま★" in Japanese means "Have a nice evening! (after work)".
My boyfriend liked this idea ;)

Video Recipe Available :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJPOHS3qyx8

You know what!? I just received a message from Tokyo Marathon Organization and they said that the lottery (will be held in the middle of November) is highly competitive. There were 260,000 applicants but only 35,000 people could run. Hope I could participate...

Okay, I gotta stop. Have a nice day ;)

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Jack-o'-Lantern Cookies

Good morning! Yesterday was raining all day as predicted :( Hopefully it will clear up by this noon. I couldn't post this last night because my drowsiness depends on the weather, you know!!!

Here is another Halloween recipe! But a lazy one.
3 years ago, I bought an "Autumn Cookie kit" that had cookie mix, cookie cutters, and autumn sprinkles!

I tried the sprinkles, but those didn't look good. I think it's very difficult to use them nicely! I guess kids are better than me! So I ended up making faces on the cookies. I added cocoa powder to half of the cookie dough to make brown chocolate dough.

I hope I can create something better this year!!!

You know what!? I'm losing the big contests... :( I'm not even winning the highest awards at all... I shouldn't expect much, right!?

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Marc Chagall @ Aoyama Unimat Museum

Today (the National Sports Day) was a beautiful autumn day. My boyfriend and I went to see Marc Chagall's paintings at Aoyama Unimat Museum. My mom gave us tickets.

Actually, my boyfriend stayed out all night with his friends and came home at noon :( I didn't expect him going to the museum with me, but he came. And I think that was right, because today was a nice day to take a walk!!! (Too bad I didn't take many pictures...)

Chagall's 25 paintings were exhibited at the museum. Also there were some other Western European paintings : Marie Laurencin, Amadeo Modigliani, Moise Kisling, Leonard Foujita, etc... It has been more than 7 years since I last went to a museum. I thought I wouldn't feel the art of Chagall's work, but was impressive! I really liked his "Bouquet d’Anniversaire". It was too beautiful for words.

After the museum, we went window-shopping, walked to Omotesando. We had a glass of champagne at a cafe at metro. Then we took a train to Akasaka and had a dinner at a Thai restaurant. What was nice was that we came home before 9PM.

Badly, it's gonna rain tomorrow. I'm not that drowsy yet but will go to bed early once in a while!!!

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Jack-o'-Lantern: Philadelphia Sushi Balls

Here is another Halloween idea! I made sushi balls using Philadelphia cream cheese. I added the cheese in sushi rice, made balls, sprinkled tobiko (flying fish roe), and drew their faces by cutting nori sheet.
You can dip it in soy sauce when you eat. It goes good with cream cheese!

The weather is nice and clear today! I didn't want to go to work... Also this weekend is going to be fine with a high of about 73F (23C)! We have three-day weekends this weekend because Monday is National Sports Day, so I'm glad that the weather will be fine :)

Yesterday I had a headache but luckily it wasn't a cold! I need to get a flu shot someday soon... Take care you all!!!
Have a good weekend ;)

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Halloween Frankenstein: Stuffed Green Peppers

Hi! It's raining again here in Tokyo.
Yesterday, I had a nice chat with my high-school friend for about 5 hours! However, it wasn't enough for us! We had so much more to talk, you know!!!

Halloween is coming soon, so I will show you my scary stuffed green peppers.

You can cook stuffed green peppers in your style! When you remove the tops, don't discard them and cook them together. They are going to be part of Frankenstein heads! When done, draw their faces by cutting nori sheet and using mayonnaise. Pour ketchup on top and sandwich with tops!

Might be too scary for small kids... make them cuter then ;)



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My Accomplishments

The other day I wrote that I gained 4 pounds of muscle, and I believe I have gained more by now. But at the same time I am gaining weight :( I know that the muscle is heavier than fat but it fears me a lot, you know...

As usual, I will list my recent accomplishments. No wonder I couldn't post this yesterday because I've been really sleepy.

On 9/25, my "Ketchup Miso Stir-Fried Pork and Cabbage" and "Western Style Green Pepper, Carrot, and Egg Kinpira" appeared on Kagome's recipe card and website. Those are going to be used for their promotion.

On 9/26, it is not a contest but I won a diet set meal by submitting my diet recipe: Soy Beans and Tomatoes Tantan Rice. This project was organized by Doctor Kitchen at edita (community website: they give out free samples of many different products).

On 10/1, I won the Posting Award at a tomato recipe contest by Toyota. Toyota has cute pop cars called PASSO and this contest was to promote their cars. I don't know which one was elected though...

On 10/3, I won the Natto Prize at mizkan's bushi tsuyu contest. Bushi tsuyu is a dried bonito flakes based broth. It is very tasty :) I mixed this broth with mayonnaise and umeboshi (pickled plums) to dress vegetables.





On 10/5, I received the Diploma of Merit for sushi project that I wrote before. This was cool! Because mostly I receive my awards in printed out papers or by e-mail!



On 10/6, my blueberry Chinese stir-fried recipe won the Dried Wild Blueberry Award. The contest was organized by Wild Blueberry Association of North America (English site is here) at Cookpad as usual.





Then on 10/6, I won the Outstanding Performance Award at Asahi Food & Healthcare. They manufacture health care products, yeast extract, organic foods, and freeze-dried foods, such as chunky ingredients. Aim to be a creator of wholesome living styles. They asked us for healthy diet recipes so I made "Healthy Microwave Cooked Okonomiyaki".

Unfortunately, all of those are not the highest... you know X(

Yesterday it rained hard until afternoon as predicted! Hopefully we have no rain today, which is good because I'm gonna take a day off to see my high-school friend (she is a nurse). I'm seeing her almost after 2 years because she was busy and our holidays were different! Anyway, on Sunday I ate rice crackers and my braces broke off again. Gee! But luckily, I could book to see my orthodontist this morning!

Okay, I gotta go.
Bye for now!

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Hamonepu

Oh my god, it is already 3AM! I am staying up late tonight!!! Maybe because it's Friday night.

I am not writing here about food today, but found very interesting videos at YouTube! I will link here one of the best ones I found! It is in Japanese but please take a look! They are not playing any musical instrument but singing! They are all students. Amazing!!! I don't watch TV often so I have just realized about this program. Sorry, if I am way behind the times.



Okay, will go to bed now!
Have a great weekend!!!

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Zunda Flavored PRETZ

Today was a fine autumn day in a while! Under splendid fall weather, I was frustrated with my boyfriend! Sorry, it was a trivial reason. Sometimes I behave in that way and can't stop... hope I'm not mentally ill.

In summer, I wrote that one of my co-workers went to Nagano prefecture and bought us nozawana flavored Pretz for a souvenir! This time, this guy has been to Tohoku district and bought us zunda flavored Pretz! Zunda is a bean paste made from mashed edamame soybeans. Zunda is usually sweet like azuki bean paste, but this Pretz was slightly salted. It was like when you eat edamame with salt for an appetizer, which was pretty good :)

It is already after 12AM.
I can't stay awake, so I will stop.

Good night.

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Sugar-Free Ham, Bacon and Sausage

Hello! It was raining again in the morning, but it finally cleared up in the evening :) Hope the sunshine lasts long.

Wow! It's already October! I don't like fore-end these days. Gasoline prices are stable since September, but raw material price increase is continuous. This month, flour-based food products are up about 10%! Also canned products, home electronics, and wines are marked-up! Without an increase in our income it's a deep problem.

You know what!? When I got home, I found some garbage left at the garbage collection point. I thought those were thrown by bad-mannered people. However, after a while, I realized that was mine!!! I totally forgot about the change in garbage collection that I mentioned before on my blog!!! Actually today was the plastic bottle collection day. I don't want to take my garbage home, so I think I'm gonna leave there till Friday collection day.

Changing my story, I found interesting food products at the supermarket: sugar-free ham, bacon and sausage! The manufacturer is Nippon Ham and they actually released them on August 20th. I didn't realize them until recently! This year, we see a lot of new healthy food products on the market, such as sugar-free beer because the metabolic syndrome check-up program has started in April! Too bad Nippon Ham don't offer giveaways, but I might try these new sugar-free products someday if they have clearance stickers on them!

Okay, let's try to stay healthy ;)
Talk soon!

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Medical Check-Up

This week, temperature dropped down with a high of only 68F (20C). Kind of chilly... and it's been raining all day long today. Maybe because of another typhoon approaching Kyushu area :(

Yesterday morning I had a yearly medical check-up at the institution of my corporate health insurance association. Time flies. I though I had the check-up quite recently. Usually the check-up is done at work by the circular medical check-up bus service, but I don't feel comfortable in that way, so I always go to the institution directly. I can't say it loud, but you can have a half-day off in this way ;)

So yesterday, after the check-up, I went to my bank to organize my account. Banks are only open during my working hours and closed after work, so I'm glad that I could finally go there!!!

Then I went to the gym and had 45 minutes of yoga class (Hatha Yoga - Deep Breath Flow). This yoga class is also only held during the day, so it was nice I could attend.

After that, I went to the supermarket to claim the reward points that I lost :( I didn't know that they disappear after a year. I had about 1600 points which is about 16 dollars!!! Luckily, they gave me 2000 points back, so I am okay now.

There are many things that I can't do because I work!!!

Okay, see you again.

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