Colorful Tomato Soba @ Aji no Mingei

Aji no Mingei is well known as a handmade udon restaurant. My boyfriend and I go there once in a while because all their menus are big, cheap, and delicious!

Yesterday, I didn't feel like cooking, so we went there for a dinner!

I really wanted to eat a refreshing soba dish, so I ordered "Colorful Tomato Soba" (upper image). It's a cold soba with daikon radish strips and tomato slices. There are some fried dried shrimps sprinkled on top which makes the dish really tasty! Also, spicy wasabi accent was really refreshing and went great with dashi broth! Mmm :D

My boyfriend ordered "Hot and Sour Black Vinegar Soup Udon". It's the most popular dish at the restaurant. He had it with a small tendon. He has a good appetite! Ha-ha!!!

This week the train is not crowded because of the Bon holiday. Obon or just Bon is a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the departed spirits of one's ancestors. It takes place every year from August 13th to 16th. Many people take summer vacation during this period and go back to their hometowns. Unfortunately, I took my summer vacation already in the end of June (to NY), so I have to go to work. But the work is slow, so it's okay.

Hula class tonight ;) Have a good day!

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6th Anniversary @ ALTOMOND BEKKAN

8/11 was 6th anniversary since my boyfriend and I started dating, so my boyfriend booked a nice restaurant called ALTOMOND BEKKAN.

The restaurant was broadcast on "Gurunai Gochini Narimasu" on 7/2. It's a program that TV personalities guess the prices of dishes they ordered at a selected high-class restaurant without looking at the price list. We had a course menu which consists of dishes that TV personalities actually ordered. Until I go there, I didn't know anything about the restaurant, so I was really excited when I heard it from my boyfriend :D

All the dishes were fabulicious! Grilled Japanese Beef and Foie-Gras "ROSSINI" was like a bouquet with pretty edible flower salad on top! Also their desserets were fancy. Tiramisu was served in a modern style. You pour espresso over Mascarpone ice cream on top of nuts and crunchy chocolate studded on a dish and eat. I loved their presentation! Upper 4 dishes are my boyfriend's choice and the lower 4 is mine. Of course we shared them all ;)

We had a wonderful time :D

Surprisingly, the restaurant was located right next to the Aoyama Unimat Museum where we went last year! My boyfriend didn't know that because he found it on the Net! Cool we came back ;)

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Raspberry and Acai Berry Granita

Have you ever tried acai berry?

This is a seasonal acai drink I sometimes order at UCC coffee shop.
It's a refreshing granita that uses acai and raspberry.
I try acai berry drink whenever I find it because acai has good nutrition!

Acai contains 18 times more polyphenol than blueberry and said to help increase beauty! Also, it is rich in iron, fiber, and calcium.

Do you know that acai is a palm tree?! I just knew it!!!

Anyway, we experienced earthquakes (magnitude of 4) in Tokyo almost daily. This morning, it happened at 5AM. One before happened at 8PM on Sunday. The earthquake's epicenter (magnitude of 6) was Shizuoka, not that far from Tokyo. I hope great one won't happen X(

Besides this, typhoon No.9 supposed to pass this noon... but it hasn't arrived yet. I hope it moves away quickly before our anniversary dinner.

Fingers crossed!


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My Recent Favorite Drink

On Friday night, I ate out with my co-workers of the same age. We've been to an Italian restaurant called CHIANTI. Recommended original dressing was rich and great! But overall, they use too much garlic. Anyway, what I loved the most was their cocktail. I forgot the name, but it was a fresh lemon cocktail using Mediterranean lemon. It wasn't sweet and really refreshing!!! Also it contains mineral, which was eye-catching! Actually, we had a good time but one guy started to doze off, so we called it a night...

On Saturday night, my boyfriend and I went to a dynamic kitchen & BAR restaurant called Hibiki. We had a 3,000yen ($30) coupon, so we went there ;D My boyfriend took my picture with his iPhone but it came out too white X( Anyway, what I like about this restaurant is that we can view chefs cooking foods from the bar counter. Here again, I found a fresh lemon chu-hai (shochu cocktail) on a limited-time menu. It was not sweet (no sugar added) and really refreshing, too!

Mostly, I get a Japanese tea chu-hai when I dine out, but I think I'm gonna go for the lemon cocktails for a while ;D

It is raining really hard since yesterday afternoon. I hope it stops by tomorrow since we have another anniversary tomorrow. My boyfriend booked a restaurant :D To tell the truth, this is without much surprise, he should! Yesterday, I found purikura which he took last year on 7/20 with a girl who I don't know. Fuckin' girl!!! I'm glad she was ugly. I scratched her face and shredded. He-he-he >:D At least my boyfriend is nice to me, I can forgive him but not her! You know what I mean!!!

Sorry, my post is gloomy like a weather here today... Just laugh! I'm fine. Depending on my mood, though. Ha-ha!

See you again ;)

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My Accomplishments

Wow! Time flies!!! It has been already a month since I posted my accomplishments last time. I will list the latest ones briefly before I forget!

On 6/29, my "Foil Baked Chicken Breast Fillet and Onion" received the incentive award at Asahi Breweries' natural wine contest.







On 6/30, my "Fried Tofu Stuffed Natto Cheese Baked Rice Ball" won the highest award at MEIJI's rice ball contest.







On 7/12, my "Mango Miso Stir-Fried Pork, Eggplant, and Peppers" won the outstanding performance award at Asahi's mango juice contest. I used mango juice, soy sauce, etc... to season it ;)





On 7/19, I again won the outstanding performance award at Asahi Food & Healthcare's diet recipe contest. I submitted "Pickled Ume Marinated Tuna Rice Bowl with Grated Yam".


On 7/20, my "Insectosaurus Sandwich" won the Insectosaurus award at energetic recipe contest. The prize was tickets for the movie, Monsters vs Aliens, 2 adults and 2 children... Children?!





On 7/27, my "Premium Cane Sugar Banana Bran Muffin" won the dessert award at the premium cane sugar contest.







On 7/28, my "Italian Japanese Sesame Sauce" won the silver prize at the original sauce contest organized by Kikkoman. They asked for yummy sauces using their soy sauce. My other three sauce recipes (miso soy sauce, maple natto ginger sauce, and apple soy sauce) won the bronze awards, too :) It seems like I'm receiving a dozens of bottle of soy sauce for the prize!


On 7/30, my "Sauce Taco Yakisoba" won the outstanding performance award at Yakisoba recipe contest.








Then, last but not least, on 7/31, my "Black Gomoku Rice Ball" won the highest award at the cereal rice recipe contest. I cooked rice with 5 black-colored ingredients: black pork (which is a local specialty in Kagoshima prefecture), sliced tangle (kind of seaweed), forbidden rice (black cereal rice), black sesame, and dried shitake mushroom. What was good about the prize is that this rice ball is going to be sold at am/pm (convenience stores) in September plus I received 100,000yen ($1,000) cash!!! Wow!!! I hope I didn't use all my luck.

I don't know which of my recipes won the prize but on 6/21, I received an honorable mention at seaweed recipe contest. On 7/8, honorable mention at Asadaame's sugar recipe contest. On 7/12, the prize for participation at egg recipe contest. On 7/15, the prize for participation at tea recipe contest. On 7/19, received a prize at shochu cocktail recipe contest.

As for samples, I got miso making kit, natto furikake (rice topping), tomato juice, apricot wine & other wines, horse placenta serum, yakiniku sauce, collagen, Qi Salt, 50 bucks bookstore gift card, orange shampoo, acne care sample, and persimmon tea.

Tonight I am going out for a dinner with my co-workers again. Eating too many meals outside! Hope I don't get pimples later X(

See you again next week!

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High-Fiber Low-Calorie Bacon Egg Bread

Do you remember high-fiber low-calorie bread that I wrote before?!

Believe it or not, it has been already more than a year since I made that post. Time flies!!! Anyway, I bought it again last week! This time "bacon egg". The bread contains only 167kcal and has 3.6g of fiber! It is almost half the calories as compared to the regular bacon egg bread! Amazingly healthy and delicious ;)

Their lineup should have changed or increased but they are always running out quickly X( Are they in high demand?! I don't hear any news about their next health project since then, but I'm looking forward to it! I'm a health freak, you know!

Okay, I will post my accomplishments tomorrow!!!

See you again ;)

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How Much Rice Do You Eat Every Day?

How much rice do you eat every day?
Since my boyfriend doesn't prefer to eat bread or pasta, we mostly eat rice at home (for breakfast and dinner). I cook about 2 cups of rice per day. We consume about 5kg (11lbs) of rice per month!

Yesterday, I found a bag of rice (5kg) on sale at 1,200yen ($12)! The original price was 2,400yen ($24), so it is a good one!!! I mean, I bought this rice recently and was really good!!! Mostly 5kg costs about 2,000yen ($20). Once in a while, you can find it at 1,500yen ($15) but usually the rice is random when it's cheap :( Anyway, I ended up not buying it because I had too much luggage with me... But I thought I should have bought it because I knew the softness of that rice is perfect when I cook with my rice cooker! The rice sometimes gets really soft depending on conditions (temperature, amount of water, and the rice itself), so it is kind of hard to find the rice you want every season. Even the same brand doesn't always have the same softness. You know what I mean?!

I think I wrote too much about rice. Never mind!

See you again ;)

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Aomori Nebuta Matsuri @ Baji Kouen

Hi! How was your weekend?!

Aomori Nebuta Matsuri is a summer festival in Aomori prefecture that takes place from 8/2 to 8/7. My boyfriend found the festival on his way to work by bus in our neighborhood (in Tokyo, Setagaya), so we went there for fun! There were a lot of food stalls! I don't prefer to drink beer, but the beer there was delicious! The mutton barbecue (jingiskan) and the grilled beef sausage went great with the chilled beer! Oh, by the way, I wore the scrunchy I got from my friend ;)

Then at night, we tried the Kaiten-zushi (conveyor belt sushi) restaurant nearby where we wanted to go for a long time! Of course I ordered anago (conger eel). It was great! But overall, the restaurant was so-so for the price. Ha-ha! We had a good time, though ;)

Oops, I gotta go now!!!
See you again :D

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Beer Garden

Wow! It was a great night for a beer garden! We enjoyed drinking out ;) Luckily there was no rain and the weather was super calm. The temp was low with no wind and comfortable, too!


We've been to Mexican beer garden. The food there was so so, to tell the truth because it was all-you-can-eat-and-drink buffet style. I made a crazy salad! A salad topped with guacamole, salsa, and chili beans. He-he-he!

You know what!? We finally opened the wine made by Junko Arai! It was amazingly delicious since I knew her effort!

It is sometimes nice to hang out with my co-workers after work. I cheered myself up ;)

Tomorrow, I'm going to a summer festival with my bf after my weekend recipe stuff! Hope it won't rain.

Talk to you later!!!

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Hard Candy Eye Shadow Quartet - Disco 2000

Wow! How lucky am I!!!

I was looking for this eye shadow for a while in Japan plus in NY when I went there but I couldn't find it... but finally, I found it at Yahoo! Auctions (Japan) at 1,700yen ($17)!

Actually, this item is no longer available anywhere.
Did Hard Candy close down?!

Tonight, I am going out for a drink after work with my co-workers for the first time in a year! Maybe out at a beer garden, but we have scattered light rain, so we are not sure yet...

I was going to post my accomplishments but I'm running out of time X( Maybe next time!

Have a happy Friday ;)

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