Monsoon Cafe in Jiyugaoka

On Saturday, my boyfriend and I've been to Jiyugaoka, maybe for the first time in three years. Jiyugaoka is the top-ranked residential area in Japan. There are many general stores and apparel stores around there. The newly opened apparel store called FREE'S MART was cool. It's a multi-brand store from L.A.! They have cute and cool clothes at reasonable prices. I didn't get anything on this day, but I'm sure I want to go back and get something one day!

We explored the town and had a dinner at Monsoon Cafe where you can enjoy food from Asian countries (Thai, Vietnam, China, Indonesia, etc...). It was a fashionable restaurant with an exotic atmosphere. I took a pic at the entrance. Their menu is reasonably priced and delicious, which was great! My boyfriend loved their green curry. It was raining hard at night but we were in a good mood, so we had a good time. Simple! He-he-he :D

We found an interesting restaurant dedicated to tomatoes: Celeb de Tomato. Tomatoes are a good source of vitamin C, jose! I wish we could go there the next time!

Today, the weather is super fine again! I think the beginning of fall is the best weather of the whole year ;)

Enjoy your day!

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Colorful Vegetables Steamed Rice

Yes! I finally got a chance to translate it!

I used plenty of colorful vegetable chunks for this steamed rice. I browned the meat and vegetables before I cook in the rice cooker, which makes the rice more tasty ;)




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Colorful Vegetables Steamed Rice

Difficulty: Easy
Time: 30min + rice cooking time
Number of servings: 4

Necessary Equipment:
suihanki (Japanese rice cooker)

Ingredients:
2 cups uncooked Japanese rice (short-grain rice)
100g (3.5oz.) chicken thigh
100g (3.5oz.) seafood mix
100g (3.5oz.) shimeji mushrooms
75g () zucchini
100g (3.5oz.) bell peppers (mix red, orange, and yellow)
100g (3.5oz.) grape tomatoes (mix red, yellow, and orange)
1 garlic clove
50g (1.7oz.) onion
A
* 1 crunched consomme cube
* 1 tsp. salt
cracked black pepper
1 tbsp. olive oil
lemon wedge

Directions:
1. Wash rice 30 minutes prior to cooking.
2. Finely chop onion and garlic. Cut chicken into bite-size pieces and season with salt and cracked black pepper. Slice zucchini into 0.7inch (2cm) rounds. Remove tough base of shimeji mushrooms and broke into bite-sized chunks. Cut bell peppers to one-bite size. Cut grape tomatoes into half.
3. Heat olive oil in a pan, fry onion and garlic until soft. Turn the heat high, add chicken, seafood mix, zucchini, shimeji mushrooms, bell peppers, and grape tomatoes in order, cook until nicely browned on all sides, and remove before done.
4. Place the rice and water (to the correct water level) in a Japanese rice cooker, then add A and mix well. Put browned ingredients (3.) on top and close the cooker and switch it on.
5. When it's done, don't open and leave it for about 10 minutes to blend the flavor.
6. Open, mix well, and serve with lemon wedge.
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Recently, I realized my liquid-type foundation causes acne. I should better use powder-type foundation... Helena Rubinstein has great coverage but I should stop using it X( Also, I need to moisturize my skin even more since the air is getting dry.

See you next week!

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DEAN & DELUCA

The image is the lunch I had one day with my boyfriend at DEAN & DELUCA near home. A little bit expensive but they serve nice light-taste dishes, so we go there once in a while. What we've got on this day was: grilled vegetables salad, crab meat and asparagus sandwich, and jambalaya. Another day we had cabbage and shrimp panini, which was really simple and delicious. Their "Super Premium Ice Cream" is great, too! I will post about it when we get a chance to have it ;)

The weather today is super fine with the blue sky! I wish I could go out for dinner tonight, but my boyfriend said he is busy... will see...

Anyway, I have hula class tonight. I can't believe how fast the week is going! I braided my hair to create a wavy hair again!

Aloha ;D

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KAO Prettia Bubble Hair Coloring: Natural Ash

Prettia Bubble Hair Coloring is my favorite hair coloring product! Yesterday I found that jose uses the same product to dye her hair! I use Natural Ash :D

Amazingly, one box is enough to dye my long hair! It uses foam, so it evenly blends into hair quickly. Non messy application :) It contains the extracts of Amino and Royal Jelly to minimize the dyeing damage and restore the hair, which is wonderful!

Since there is such a great product, I don't go to the hair salon to dye my hair for a long time! Anyway, check my hair color on my previous posts ;)

How do you dye your hair?!

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Pullman Bakery

Pullman Bakery is a bakery in Hokkaido, Sapporo city. They use only natural and fine quality ingredients without artificial additives and are particular about making healthy home-made breads. The bakery has won twice at TV CHAMPION (popular variety show that hosts contests in different genres).

Last week, my mom went to the Hokkaido food exhibition organized in a department store (Isetan) and bought us Pullman Bakery's curry bun and chikuwa (fish sausage) bun.

Curry bun (in front) is crispy outside and has a sweet and spicy curry with potato chunks in it. Chikuwa bun (at the back) is a danish bread. Tuna paste was in Chikuwa, which makes it tasty and easy to eat.

My boyfriend liked the curry bun. He said curry itself is delicious, so that's why the bun is good! That's true ;)

Do you eat bun? What kind do you like?

Anyway, last night, I again ate out with my boyfriend... We had a healthy meal, but I should cook at home today for sure!

Let's eat home :D

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Tokyo Midtown Deutsch Bier Garten

The weather was clear on the weekend, so we went to Deutsch Bier Garten in Tokyo Midtown!

Under the blue sky, we had Hofbräuhaus München's good quality draft beer along with authentic German dishes! My boyfriend and I shared 3 kinds of beer.
- Hofbräu Münchner Weisse: sharp & spicy refreshing taste
- Hofbräu Original: bright taste
- Hofbräu Dunkel: mellow dark beer
They all went great with German sausages!!!

While having a beer, we enjoyed Alpine music performed by Edelweisskapelle with Maria. The cowbell music was really amazing! My boyfriend took a video of it!



The Deutsch Bier Garten is open till September 13, so I hope you have a chance to go there!

After that, we walked around Roppongi. We found a nice open-air cafe restaurant called Del Sole to have a light dinner. We shared a pizza with 3 different toppings. I had a sparkling red wine called "Quercioli Reggiano Lambrusco Secco", which was mild and refreshing!

The weather today is nice, too, and we expect many clear days this week. I found a nice Hawaiian restaurant yesterday. I want to dine there with my boyfriend someday soon. I will write a report when I went there!!!

See you again ;)

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ALOHA

Do you know what ALOHA means?

I started hula dancing and knew the meaning of the word and impressed.

A - Akahai (kindness)
L - Lokahi (unity)
O - Olu'olu (pleasantness)
H - Ha'aha'a (humbleness)
A - Ahonui (patience)

It is my goal to keep ALOHA in my heart forever.
Hula dancing makes me feel peaceful. I'm glad I started it.

Aloha ;)

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My Accomplishments

Not that many for August, but I will list my accomplishments.

On 8/9, I won the Special Prize at summer vegetable contest. I received a box of muskmelon by submitting my Summer Vegetable Steamed Rice.







On 8/10, my Scrambled Chinese Chive And Egg Bowl won the Easy Supplement Rice Award. The contest was held by Cookpad and they asked for rice bowls with good nutrition.






On 8/10, my Fresh Tomato Tan-Tan Noodle won the Second Prize at Suntory's noodle contest using their natural water. The contest was also held by Cookpad.






On 8/27, I got Honorable Mention at the instant coffee contest. I don't know which recipe received the prize but the image is one of the recipes I submitted. It's a Korean Style Coffee Tuna Bowl.






On 8/28, I received the Effort Award at the fresh mozzarella cheese recipe contest organized by recipe blog. I submitted my Korean Italian Nems.







As usual, I won some give aways: lotion sample, organic bonito rice toppings, kefir, natural soap, Ginza fresh pasta tasting coupon, and placenta supplements.

Tonight I have hula class again. I brought my plumeria lei and hair accessory along with my pa'u skirt ;) To enjoy more, I braided my hair to create a wavy hair. I will unbraid it before the class. I can't wait!!!

I am posting the pic that I took with my cell for my boyfriend. He-he.

Aloha :D

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Okinawan Cuisine @ Yura

It was still Tuesday, but I went out to eat Okinawan cuisine near home with my boyfriend last night. Last time we went there was May 2008! Time flies. I should have loved him more at that time because that thing happened in July... oh shit! It reminds me back again!!!

Anyway, we enjoyed the food there! Especially the gourd chanpuru (top left image) cooked with SPAM meat was interesting! It was juicy, spongy, and delicious! I had a glass of Awamori (Okinawan shochu) along with the dishes. It's alcohol content was 45%! Wow!!! Sorry for bad photo quality because I took them with my cell-phone...

When I got home, I was really tired and drowsy. I slept in the tub for a while... oops! And I am still drowsy now... need to have a cup of coffee. BTW, I've recently got acnes on my chin. I searched the net and found that they are from stress! Damn!!! Maybe because I worried too much last month... Mind and body is truly connected!

Let's smile and keep up :)

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Wedding After Party at the Beach

On Saturday my boyfriend and I attended my friend's wedding after party (sorry I can't post a large image without permission). It was for the first time in 3 years to see her! I also met the other friend at that time. He came there with his daughter. Time flies!!!

The party was held at the beach in Kamakura. We had a barbecue party there. Time there was relaxing and I could savor the feelings of resort. My friend and her hubby were in love with each other. The beach was filled with love and happiness. It was a wonderful party. I had a good time with my boyfriend. They made us all happy :)

Best wishes for a beautiful life together.

Anyway, I cannot believe the summer has ended already. There have been many ups and downs this summer... whew... but it was very important time for me because it made me realize once again that I love my boyfriend.

Oops... I forgot to tell you something. The typhoon #11 was not a big deal... he-he-he! I'm glad nothing bad happened.

Bye for now!!!

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Crazy Business!!!

I got home from the hula class at around 14:30. It wasn't raining hard at that time. But I just saw on the news that the typhoon #11 is going to hit Chiba area (close to Tokyo) full force at 15:00 (now) and get close to Tokyo area during rush hours!!! It is going to be accompanied by heavy rain till tomorrow afternoon, receiving up to 80 millimeters of rain!!! I closed all shutters... whew... But my bf have to make the rounds to Odaiba in this rain. What a crazy business! Are they really watching the news?! My co-worker just e-mailed me and said he might not be able to go home because it will hit his area at finishing time. Some companies let people go home now to be on the safe side. I think companies should take it more serious... or am I exaggerating things?!

I think I was right that I happened to take a day off today!!!

Please be careful and go home safe!!!

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