Heartfelt Birthday

The time has come...

I became 30 on 12/9!!!

At night, I had a dinner with my darling. He took me to a restaurant called HEART LEAF in Shibuya. The restaurant was cute with many heart decorations. At such a cute restaurant, in the middle of our dinner, he gave me a present. It was a necklace with a cute bling-bling heart pendant! How sweet and neat!!! I was really surprised with his idea :D

All dishes were super delicious! I could eat more than I thought!!! What we ordered were "tuna carpaccio with avocado", "tomato simmered collagen chicken and beans", "grilled vegetables", and "vegetable rice omelet". Last but not least, my birthday cake was huuuuuuge!!! We first thought we couldn't eat any more, but the cake was not sweet and the fruits were delicious, so we could eat almost all of it!!! Can you believe our depthless stomach?!

But now I knew why all foods were that fabulicious! To write this post, I searched the Net for the restaurant and found that they use only domestically-produced organic ingredients (eggs, vegetables, etc...) direct from contract farmers! Therefore, their foods can be eaten safe without any question! (As you know, there are many imported food safety concerns, recently.) Of course, they used homemade sponge cake for my birthday cake! The cream they use is not sweet, so you can enjoy the true taste of fruits! You now know why we ate that much! Ha-ha!!!

Back to my birthday story, compared to my 20s, I think I would cut corners on many things in my 30s, without even noticing. To avoid this, I want to go back to basics and do my best! Plus, I want to keep smiling and stay healthy. For such a wonderful darling, I want to stay attractive in many ways forever!!!

Thanks to my darling for this memorable birthday surprise.

Lots of hearts :D

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Okinawan Cuisine @ Yura

Last Saturday, we again went to Yura to eat Okinawan cuisine! My darling and I sat at the bar counter and found an interesting jar with a word "habu sake". Habu is a venomous snake living in Okinawa and Amami island chain. We turned the bottle around and found a real snake in the jar!!! eek!!!!!!! However, it says macrobiotic sake, so we ordered it!!! We thought it would smell fishy and taste like an animal, but it didn't. The habu was soaked in rum with sugar, so it was nice and sweet. It costs about 10 bucks per glass but we thought it was worth to try!

Mostly, we don't drink but eat at izakaya because they charge a lot for the drinks, as you know. On this day, we had oden since it was cold. We loved the huuuuuge daikon simmered in dashi broth. Yummy!!! We had papaya champuru (Okinawan style stir-fried papaya), too. It was juicy and delicious! Grilled fish jaw was really tasty and great. We had a good dinner time :D

It's my 30th birthday today, so my darling is going to take me to a restaurant tonight. I have a plan to eat lunch out with my co-workers, too. Too many eating-outs in December!!!

I gotta go to the GYM whenever I can.

Stay healthy!

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The Day Before 30!!!

I am going to be 30 tomorrow! Can you believe it?! Time flies. But strangely, I don't mind it recently. Maybe because my late 20s was productive so I am ready to become 30! He-he :P My darling told me that I need to thank for living healthy for 30 years! That is true :D

There are still so many things I want to do. I hope I can live healthy with my darling "with smile" and do whatever I want without regret. Plus, never giveup to stay young. Ha-ha!!!

Nothing special but I just wanted to leave something the day before.

See you again!!!

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Wedding Surprise @ Hibiya Bar

Hi there! Freezing down at high 55F (13C) but we have a clear blue sky again :)

Last Friday, there was a co-worker year-end dinner party after work. I heard that they will use this opportunity to celebrate my wedding, so I didn't expect that much. Of course, I didn't want people to celebrate us since I have been with my boyfriend for a long time and the situation is different from other couples. However, surprisingly, they arranged an original cocktail menu for me! (It was printed on the menu!!!) They named it "Recipe Fountain", created in the image of me coming up with a lot of new recipe ideas! Ha-ha ;) The color of the cocktail was my favorite FUCHSIA PINK made from pink grapefruit juice, cassis, and soda! It was refreshing and delicious! Super thanks to all!

Hibiya Bar serves healthy foods! They were all prepared with light seasonings. I loved them all!!! All drinks were all you can drink for 3 hours. Their wine was great. I loved HobNob red wine!
On this day, my co-worker who opened a cafe and now work on her own came to see me, too! I haven't seen her for 2 years, so I'm glad to see her again. It was a touching and memorable day :D

Changing my story, yesterday, I took a day off to renew my driver's license and passport! I had to change my name after the marriage, so it was at just the right time to do so! Also, I had to go to the ward office. Plus, I had to make a new bank account. Whew... but I think I finished most of the painful paperwork!

I must make another important post today!

Will post soon!!!

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Clear Blue Winter Sky

Hi there! Today, the weather in Tokyo is nice and clear! The image is from last Saturday, near our home along the river. We have the same blue sky today :D

This weekend, a bathroom cleaner is coming! I hope he does a great job like last year!

My DECO CHOCO is now attached to my PC with magnets! Yep! I ate three of them already :P

Tonight, we have a co-worker year-end dinner party after work. Many year-end parties follow from next week! I need to eat healthy and go to GYM when possible!!!

See you next week!!!

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XEX Daikanyama - Bridal Fair

Last Saturday, after 3 weeks, we finally attended the bridal fair! It was our first time to attend such an event. The event is usually available for one couple at the time. Personal wedding planner will guide you through the place for the wedding.

I love to cook, so I chose to see a restaurant ceremonial hall. XEX Daikanyama is a restaurant with an open kitchen! You can talk to cooks freely, so you can feel at home knowing what you are eating and enjoy!

On this day, there was a pizza event. Actually, I wasn't that interested in cooking pizza during the tour, but it was fun! He-he :D My darling made pizza dough. I made toppings. Then my darling placed it in the oven! Wow! In a huge oven (which is about 572F/300C), our pizza was done in a minute !!! Can you believe it?! It usually takes about 15 minutes by range oven at home.

I thought it is one of the good ways to entertain people in the party :D

After the tour, we had a dinner there! We tried their long arm shrimp pasta with american sauce and grilled chicken! Both were delicious!!! We enjoyed them along with a glass of wine :) I appreciate my darling for going to the tour together. I know he hates this kind!

Anyway, I will report about the next tour when we get a chance to go!

Hula tonight! Bye for now!

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Amazon Kindle

Last month, I did many things in the last minute and couldn't able to complete some of my tasks, so this month I will "act at once"! Consequently, I'm running out of time to write about our restaurant tour, so I will write about my darling instead ;)

Do you know Amazon Kindle?

Amazon Kindle is a software and hardware platform developed by Amazon.com subsidiary Lab126 for rendering and displaying e-books and other digital media.

My darling loves to read books, and now he's reading English books for his study, so recently he purchased Kindle! It just started to support Japan to access the book contents. Still can't read Japanese books, though. Anyway, he is reading Kindle all day long like playing video games! Ha-ha!!! Good for him ;)

This is all for today!

BTW, I just read recipe books :P

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Damn!!!

It is already December. It's my birth month! But the start was too bad... This morning, I had a fight with my boyfriend. Actually it was from last night. Oops, maybe I need to call him hubby from now on! Anyway, then the touch screen of my iPhone suddenly broke!!! Can you believe it!? Now I reset it, so it got better, but still in a state of uncertainty... Moreover, I couldn't make an entry for DV-2011 last night since the site was really busy!!! I should have applied for it ealier since I knew it from the beginning of November. Boo!!!

On the other hand, I have a good news. I was asked to create 30 recipes by the end of January for a certain sake brewery's website! I hope I can expand my activities from the next year.

Be positive!!!

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DECO CHOCO

Hi there!

On Sunday, my sister gave me a box of chocolates.
Don't you think it cool?!
Our picture is printed on each piece! After you ate them, you can re-use the chocolate wrappers for your original cell-phone charms or magnets!

TIROL-CHOCO is a manufacturer of cute and cheap square chocolates. Their collection is here. Mostly, you can find them at the cash register. This printed version is called DECO CHOCO (it stands for Chocolate Decoration). What a smart idea! I'm gonna order more for my return gifts or something :D

On Saturday evening, after 3 weeks, we finally went on a restaurant wedding tour in Daikanyama. The shopping mall near the restaurant was illuminated romantically! I will write about the restaurant tomorrow if I get a chance!

It's getting cold, so my boyfriend was sneezing all day long yesterday. I hope he didn't catch a cold.

Take care!!!
Wash your hands and gargle frequently!!!

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Tonkatsu @ Keitei

This is something about last Monday, the holiday (Labor Thanksgiving Day). My boyfriend and I've been to Futako-Tamagawa to take some time out to relax. On this day, I finally bought a new notebook for 2010! We were thinking of having a cup of coffee at Starbucks but there were so many people on this day (since it was a sunny holiday) that we couldn't find a seat! So, we decided to go to Afternoon Tea :) There was a line but we could be seated sooner. Their set menu was cool! You can pick 3 cakes with a cup of tea of your choice! I chose an apple pie, pumpkin pudding, and Camembert cheesecake with cranberry apple tea. My boyfriend chose a green herb tea! We shared the cakes. They were delicate and delicious! I took time and write my notebook and my boyfriend was reading Kindle. We both had a good time.

Then for dinner, we had Tonkatsu at Keitei. I haven't written about the restaurant before, but we've been here for many times since my boyfriend loves tonkatsu. Tonkatsu is a pork cutlet. It's a popular dish in Japan. At Keitei, you can get 4 different kinds of tsukemono (Japanese pickles), rice, cabbage, and tonjiru (pork miso soup) along with the cutlet! You can have free refills on tsukemono, rice and cabbage!!!

While eating, we always talk happily about anything. But last night, we had a fight again... He went out for a drink before he came home and he slept right after without any conversation!!! I was waiting for him to talk about things we need to lay out, so I got out of temper and said he's unenterprising! Then he shouted and said he wants to sleep! Can you believe it?! I really want to say he needs to do his best to get up and at least listen to my story... Or, do I need to wait until the next dinner time together?! I don't know what he's thinking and what's his priority.

Anyway, good news! I received the result of the physical and everything was fine. I mean, my blood cholesterol levels were reduced!!! To tell the truth, it was rising year by year and I was kind of worried, but since I started to go to the GYM everyday, it drastically improved to normal!!! I truly think effort will be rewarded.

I would say to myself, never give up, for anything!

It's nice and warm outside!
Gonna shop new clothes after work because I can't find anything to wear! jose knows why! He-he ;)

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Roll Cake @ le poupelin

This is something about Tuesday.

As a wedding present, I had le poupelin's roll cake (Swiss roll) at work. They use only egg, sugar and flour to bake the sponge cake and use high quality fresh cream for the filling! BTW, roll cake is a popular cake sold in Japan. Something like cheesecake or angel food cake in the US.

Simple is best!

The sponge cake was soft and the cream was silky, smooth and delicious. Perfect sweetness! Not that sweet at all!
Mmmmmmmm Yummy! I could eat a whole roll :P

I am eating a cake almost every day!!!

Need to work out!

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