Kiyose Carrot Recipe Contest

Hi! The high today is 68F (20C)! It was nice and warm this weekend, too. But the forecast said we will experience a drop in temperature later in the week.

On Saturday, I attended the cook-off final of the Carrot Recipe Contest in Kiyose-city, Tokyo. Kiyose-city is No.1 carrot producer in Tokyo. Kiyose Chamber of Commerce asked for carrot recipes and there were 26 finalists on this day!!! The contest was something like a block association event and most finalists were Kiyose residents! Ha-ha. I am glad that the lady I met last week (at ANDERSEN Bread Contest) came on this day!
My boyfriend came with me, but unfortunately he couldn't enter the kitchen (so he couldn't take pictures of me). He had to wait for an hour at the waiting room, which was too bad.
The lady from Gifu prefecture who made "Carrot Bomb Clear Soup" won the grand prize! Unfortunately, mine (Stir-Fried Pork with Salty Sweet Grated Carrot) didn't win any prize, but I enjoyed a lot. We tasted all 26 dishes after the awarding ceremony (bottom-right image). While tasting, I found some kids saying "yummy" eating mine, which was more than the prize ;)

After the contest, my boyfriend was bored stiff, so we decided to stop off at Ikebukuro station and have an early dinner. At the food mall of TOBU department store, there was a Challenge Menu Fair. Each restaurants and the students of 8 Universities have collaborated and created amazing "rice" dishes! We had Kaiten-zushi (conveyor belt sushi) at Ooedo. There I found Italian sushi (bottom-left image), which was the Challenge Menu of that restaurant! Also, I had anago (conger eel, bottom-right image), which is my favorite ;) We had a good time.

My boyfriend finally got back into a good mood, so we shopped around the department store. But I guess he was still tired... While I was shopping at Sanrio store I found him sitting and watching Elmo toy... Oh no... Of course, we went home right away!

Changing my story. Today, I won a grand prize at a contest but I lost the others which prizes were more attractive!!! It's just my luck!

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My Accomplishments

Hi! The weather forecast says it gonna be much colder from next week :( I need to put away my summer clothes! I still have them out!!!

Today, I will list my recent accomplishments.

On 10/31, I won the Bull-Dog Sauce Award at a contest held by bellemaison (online shop). They asked us to create some magical recipes using either of these sauce products: Ebara's Yakiniku Sauce, Heinz's White or Demi Glace Sauce, or Bull-Dog Sauce products. Luckily, my "Hamburger-Like Stir-Fried Colorful Vegetables and Minced Meat" won the prize :)

On the same day, I won the second prize at PoleStar's recipe contest. They asked for Japanese-style confectionery recipes using their sauce products!!! This was tough, but my "Misauce (Miso Sauce) Goheimochi" was chosen! Goheimochi is a mochi made by crushed rice, grilled over coals with miso based salty sweet sauce. To tell the truth, I once made it with the other sauce product but the recipe didn't receive a prize, so I retried it with PoleStar's sauce! Sometimes, I need to renovate my idea, I guess!!!

On 11/10, my Halloween recipe was elected to receive MONTEUR's character goods. MONTEUR is a store that sells cakes and sweet treats easy-on-the-pockets. I used their pumpkin waffle (limited time offer) to make ghosts.

Today I need to attend another cook-off!
I will write about it later ;)
I hope I can do well this time...

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Domaine des Bois Lucas

Hi! We have cloudless blue sky today! My runny & sore nose healed but seems like pills causing a blocked nose! My god...

Anyway, some of you might know but I rarely read books. (Maybe that's why I can't think things logically...) Well, one of my co-workers forced me to read a book one day. Since he didn't give up, I said okay, and read 10 minutes a day on the train. Took about a month to finish reading! Ha-ha.

The book was about Junko Arai, who bought a field in Loire (France) to make a biodynamic wine. She has a side job as a wine importer in Japan. I'm not interested in wine, but what amazed me is her vitality! She got the black belt for Karate when she was a college student. Then worked for a company in her 20's, using money for collecting cars and designer goods. But she quit the job and started to take some lessons, such as flower arrangement, tea ceremony, etc... Then one day, she got trapped in wine making. She entered University of Bordeaux to study zymurgy in her 30's. Then she ran a French restaurant in Japan, and held a workshop for wine lovers. However, one day, she was offered to purchase a field in France.

In 2001, she closed her restaurant and flew to France to start winemaking. Sorry in Japanese, but here is her winery info. I didn't know anything about winemaking, but her book explains about that, too. I never knew that the winemaking is such a hard work. I am impressed by her patience! She gives us hope to try something new and never give up!!!

Anyway, in her diary (on her HP), she wrote that she won the lottery to run Tokyo Marathon! She has good luck!!! Hope I can win at the second drawing in December...

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