Yuba and Tofu Restaurant

Hello! The high today is 73F (23C)! The forecast predicts 6 more clear days in a row! Wow!!! Golden Week holidays should be great to have an outing! I don't have that many plans, though...
This morning, the train was packed to the gills as usual. I thought people will take days off from today but they didn't. Maybe because of the recession?!

Anyway, yesterday was a holiday (Showa Day), so my boyfriend and I had a dinner in Ginza. We used to go to the same restaurant nearby, but now we try to go to a new restaurant to keep our romance :)

We went to a Yuba and Tofu restaurant called Umenohana this time! Yuba is tofu skin. It is a Chinese and Japanese food product made from soybeans. During the boiling of soy milk, in an open shallow pan, a film or skin composed primarily of a soy protein-lipid complex forms on the liquid surface. I love Yuba and Tofu since they are nutritious and healthy, especially for women ;) They have many Yuba and Tofu dishes, all comes in small portions, so we ordered 8 dishes and shared: yuba shumai, tofu shumai, deep fried yuba, bean curd refuse croquette, tofu salad, yuba gratin, mochifu (mochi-like tofu), and soy milk shabu-shabu! They also have sake, served in a small glass teapot. Isn't it nice?!
I will recommend this restaurant for those who love Yuba and Tofu!

Speaking of the eyelash extensions I had yesterday, I should have done 40 each... I limited to 30 and bought a mascara that you can wear over the extensions, but it lacks volume... hmm... maybe next time I will do 40 each!

Tonight, I am going to take a Hula class at the gym. Have you ever danced the Hula before?! I haven't... but it's for free at the gym, so why don't I try it for a change?!

Tomorrow, after work, my boyfriend and I are going to stay a night at a hotel in Odaiba! I booked a SPA for two, too!!! I also reserved a two-day and one-night tour to Yamagata on 5/15, which was really cheap: $80 per person using mileage. The tour includes round trip flight to Yamagata, hotel, and 2 meals (all-you-can-eat sukiyaki and breakfast). Am I spending too much money for my recreation?!... I hope I am not doing the wrong thing...

I will take my camera with me and will post some pics when I returned.
Have a good one!!!

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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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Ginza 300 Bar

I have a lot to write about these few days. One thing I want to write before I forget is about the bar I went on Friday.

How do you sustain your enthusiasm?

As you may know, my enthusiasm for cooking has burned out since I had too much problem with my boyfriend. Whatever I cooked within recent days were unsatisfactory... I thought of going to karaoke, or go shopping to cheer myself up, but somehow I knew it won't work out for this time. Then what I thought was to see someone who is really passionate about being creative. This is how I sometimes sustain my enthusiasm!!!

So, I saw my old friend who is always passionate. I heard now he is into DJ stuff playing at the bar in Ginza (Ginza 300 Bar), so I decided to see him there. Actually, it was for the first time in a decade to see him! Wow!!! Though I don't like a place like a bar where people smoke, it was worth to go there. He did stimulate me beyond what I am doing now! I think he tries hard for everything, which inspire motivation in others.

My weekend project was successful ;)
I hope I can keep this tension for a while.

Let's keep up!

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