My secret run away during my 30min I get during lunch.

Hard to believe this is in the middle of Akasaka/Roppongi!

Now if only I can have lunch at an open cafe like this on a gorgeous sunny spring day...

Bento

When I was little, my mom would pack me either of two things to school: lunch or bento. Lunch was the usual - PB&J, lunchables, leftover pizza, hotdogs. But bento was special. It was just leftover from dinner the night before with rice and furikake over it to make it colorful, but it always was a treat. I suppose because bento was something close to what I ate every day. People are usual in shock when I say I rarely had American food growing up, thanks to my dad hating Westernized food. And thank goodness we didn't! We are one fit and healthy family.





I know I can buy something much more fancier at the 7-11 around the corner but this is how I like it the best.. in a kiddy plastic bento box :)

From Down Below

Oops, it has been a while. My parents were in town so I was busy preparing the week before. Believe me, they are picky visitors!


That needs to be kept for another post as I am still digesting the experience ;)


I'm back to work.

It's quite amazing my office building is quite a marvel. I was going to have a drink with my friend after work and I just happen to capture it because I never really stop to see the building that I'm stuck in for 12 hours a day because...well, I'm stuck. lol

It's quite amazing it didn't even leave a crack when the earthquake hit. Hallelujah to Japanese earthquake technology 

Pretzels

Beer and pretzels make me so happy.
I noticed this is weirdly very American thing because even in a very diverse bar like modern izakayas, I rarely see pretzels in Japan. Come to think of it my mom thinks pretzels are "burnt crackers with salt" so I guess there's not too much of a fanbase here.

Also, taking a quick survey in my head I noticed I tend to drink most often (in terms of frequently not quantity!) on Mondays. I don't know if I am celebrating to a new week or lamenting myself for a dreading week ahead...hmm I think it's the latter :P

Sunday Afternoon

These days I spend my weekend afternoons in the kitchen. I do all my week's worth of cooking in one sitting. It may sound like a tiring process but it only takes about an hour and a half. I just put on a movie or bunch of podcasts and time just flies by. Not only do I save on money by going out to eat less but I also save daily cooking and cleaning time, not to mention gas/water bill. But most importantly it saves me on thinking what I should have for dinner everyday because I map out a whole menu for the week while I'm cooking!

I put everything in plastic bags or tupperware and store them in the freezer and fridge:

Plus I think all the chopping and packing is weirdly soothing...I think that's only me but hey whatever helps!

Family Love

I don't mean to be bias, but Northern Japan makes the best sake. I know, the Kyushu makes the best shochu, Okinawa has the best awamori but you can't beat us Northerners for sake.

My parent's hometown, Rikuzn Takata, was washed away by the tsunami but various local businesses have restarted their business recently. 酔仙 (I absolutely love the name because it literally means "drunken master"!), which in fact had their factory right in front of my aunt's house where I used to spend my childhood days, has restarted theirs as well although productions are limited and have for now moved their factory to another city.

This 雪っこ sake is especially limited because it's a special seasonal kind of sake and they only sell from October to April. Even then, there's a 5 per person limit. I don't know how my auntie go ahold of a dozen of 'em but the care package arrived today and I felt the love.

Will be sure to drink this in honor of all of my relatives that were lost in the tragedy and to my childhood town

*** Praying for 3.11 ***

One of the sake kegs that got washed away from the tsunami. It'll be a while until the factory moves back into town.

For the latest news on the reconstruction efforts in Rikuzen Takata city, visit Aid Takata
A very very dear family friend of mine runs the organization!



 

Viron

French people, don't get mad because I've actually heard multiple French people living in Japan say this: There are boulangeries and French restaurants in Japan that actually taste the same or even exceeds the quality of most places in France.

Viron is probably my most favorite bread places in the entire world. I judge my bread based on the quality of pain aux nois because it's the bread of my choice but it's absolutely perfect here. The baguette here is just, bread god level!

I don't mean to hype it up too much and disappoint you but it is worth to stop by and give it a try. Just be careful because we went there right when it opened on a Sat morning and still had to wait for an hour to get seats! There's also usually a line in the bakery section. My recommended breads are the sandwiches, pain d'auvergne (blue cheese x honey TRUST ME, it's beautiful), and of course the pain aux nois.

Viron

+81 3 5220 7289

Marunouchi 2-7-3, Tokyo Bldg Tokia 1F. Open 10am-midnight daily.

*There's also a store in Shibuya

Brunch

I love bruches with friends, but it makes it even more better when the weather is nice to have it outside. Being in the office 10-12 hours a day certainly makes you appreciate it even more!

They say people tend to get aloof from friends once college is over but I'm lucky to say I have a group of friends from college that grew even stronger and closer post-college. 

So cheers to that :) 

Cravings

When you live in a foreign country, you get the weirdest cravings.

One time, I wanted to eat cupcakes so much I went to a cupcake shop in Hiroo to pick some up but was diappointed since they weren't the bake-sale-betty-crocker-mix-with-frosting ones (they were exquisitely made from A-class ingridients and the recipe came from London. Um, yeah I don' have classy taste for junk food!). I later found the betty crocker mix at a foreign supermarket, but for about $6.50. Ugh, no thanks. I also once begged my mom to send me Skippy peanut butter!

My college friend was in town this weekend so he dropped us off some goodies. It may be nothing big in terms of monetary value but in HUGE in terms of sentimental/mental sense to an American living abroad...!

CADOS

Avocados, the miracle food from mother natre.

In my family, we slice it and eat with soy sauce like sashimi. During college, I used to stock up on them to make dips like guacamole or spreads for sandwices.

But recently I discovered it tastes absolutley the best with lemon juice and salt. I topped it off with my marinated onions and mixed it with some mayonnaise and topped it with blck pepper.


Absoluely amazing and it's healthy! Miracle indeed.


In my family, the most common way to

Summer Nails

Usually summer nails are more of a pastel, bright colors but to me it's more of a part chic/part gothic. I guess since I tend to wear bright color clothes anyway, I like more bold darker color. 

And, do you like my iPhone blings? ;)

Low and Nutritious

OH goodness. I've realized I gained 2kgs in the past 2 weeks so it's mandatory that I need to get my body in order. However with that said, I do eat 3 meals a day and exercise daily so nothing to the extreme. I'm just "tidying up" on my meals shall I say? I think I'd go crazy if I had to eliminate meals.





Today's meal: mushroom salad with flax seed oil, Asian-style shirataki noodle stirfry, 1/2 glass OJ, sashimi and avocado salad (appx 480 kcal)


Asian-style Shirataki Noodle Stirfry
I stirfried shirataki with leftover vegetables on hand and added grated ginger, soysauce, sake, garlic powder, Vietnamese hot sauce, and a little bit of chicken broth. Topped it with sesame to give it a nice aroma. It's so flavorful and healthy at the same time. And do note it's 7kcal for 1 shirtaki pack. Score.

Sashimi Avocado Salad
The wonderful thing about supermarket in Japan is that you can get sashimi on sale if you go right before it closes. A pack of tuna and octopus sashimi for $2.80! Double score.


I mixed this with dice-cut avocados and marinated onions and voila:

It's full of anti-oxidants and good rich sources of good oil.

Btw, I always keep marinated onions (mix sliced onions, flax seed oil, parsely, salt, vinegar, olive oil, pepper) on stock in my fridge because it's so extremely useful. It's great to add on top of grilled meat or fish and it also serves as a dressing for salads. 


Ever since I started to pre-prepare my food on the weekends, all this takes maybe about 10-15 minutes to make. It saves time and money and needless to say a lot of mess in my tiny kitchen so it's working out wonderfully :)

Sky

I already sense it will be a beautiful day...hopefully my day will be just as beautiful!

Covers

It's raining outside and I'm already stressed out on a Tues. It's book and bed time.

 Ever since I was a kid, I had a weird habit of keeping wrapping paper, just because it was pretty. Well, I make use of it now! :)

Daylight

All throughout this weekend I was wondering why I felt so tired even though I was sleeping so much. I even didn't even go out running which is uncommon for me.

I finally realized that this was my first weekend with no race to train for or any plan for big projects for the first time in 8 months. Whoa no wonder. I receive a pat on the back and the weekend rest was well deserved!

And so, another week begins.

It makes such a difference in my mood when I can still see sunlight when I leave the office, even only for a glimpse.

Meal

All the chopping and steaming I did really paid off because I was able to make all this plus packed a lunch in about 20 minutes!  Talk about a time saver :)

Today's meal: 1/2 glass of OJ, carrot salad, steamed pupkins, tofu steak with green onion and ginger, grilled salmon with marinated onions, greens and mushroom stirfry with pasta, yogurt with prune, pickles

Announcement

Not to be full of myself but it IS my blog so I am happy to announce I passed my kimono test :)

This is one of the finished outcomes. Pretty savvy eh?

Repatoire

So, to follow up from my previous post, I've prepared all my side dishes for the week to stay healthy. Okay, well that and also the fact that I am broke to the bone this month so this will save money and also save on gas/water/time so it's a win-win situation :)

Meal

I realized that I gained 3lbs after my running season officially ended as of last week. I'm cutting down on drinking at home and switching to non-calorie non-alcohol beer (yes, it exists and actually quite popular here). All my repatoire has also switched to vegetarian but I made it look colorful so doesn't look too bad right? 

Lovely

What a beautiful Sunday it was. Too bad I wasn't feeling too well so I couldn't go out as much as I wanted to. Nevertheles, how could I not resist to go out in this beautiful weather?

Pancakes

People think that because I'm Japanese, I'm good at cooking Japanese food. The thing is, I'm better at Chinese food. My ex-rooomates and a lot of my friends are Chinese American so I've learned more from than rather than my mom.




These green onion pancakes I leared from my ex-roommate whom she got the recipe from her grandmother. The tip is to use a lot of sesame oil both in the dough and when frying it. Also roll the dough in circle layers. The layers gives it a flaky, pie-crust kind of effect when you fry it.

It's good as is or with some soy sauce but I like it with a bit of hot sauce, cilantro, and grated ginger.

One Fine Day

The day started out with me hauling my butt over to Chinese class because I thought I was late and found out class was actually next week. Aiya.

Thank goodness the weather was nice because that just gave me some time to take an extra long stroll.




First big watermelons I saw this year. Very pretty but the price certainly is not.. $30USD for one of these? I used to buy them at Safeway for $5.77.

I love coming back home late afternoon and then just chilling with the a cup of coffee and listening to podcasts while watching the sun set.

My kryptonite...love 'em so much I bought a bunch from Kyoto and froze them.

The Fad

So, I've jumped on the bandwagon for the latest food fad here which is 塩麹 (shio kouji)

It's pretty easy to make so I made a batch of it during Golden Week and the fermentation process finally completed yesterday!

塩麹 (shiokouji) or fermened rice salt has been a common condiment that's been around for centuries but recently it's been catching on like fire here. Main reason being with its health benefits and increasing interest in fermented food products. Of course, Japan being the most health conscious country in the world, it's all-out on this and now there's hundreds of products out there.

This is a close-up. You see that the rice is so well fermented, it chemically broke down, giving the condiment a creamier texture.

This fermented condiment adds a rich and unique flavor and goes well with pretty much anything.  Also the bacteria helps soften meat or fish and the salt prevents it from going bad. And needless to say, it adds so much more flavor. You can also use it as an alternative to salt or soy sauce for stirfries, pickles, salads, etc. I love mixing it with olive oil and vinegar to make a simple and healthy dressing!

If you think it's kind of gross, then well I gues you can't really eat any Japanese food since soy sauce, sake, and miso all contain 麹 (kouji) as the main ingridient to ferment them...

How to make it:


All you need is a pack of 米麹(Kome kouji: dry pack of rice with kouji bacteria injected. You can get it at supermarkets here or find it online), salt (ratio to the kome kouji to salt should be about 1:3 or 1:4), and just enough water so it will cover up the surface in a tupperware. Leave it for about 1-2 weeks away from sunlight in room temperature. Stir with a spoon once a day.

Easy breezy pickles: Add in a tablespoon of kouji in a tupperware of chopped veggies. Leave it overnight in the fridge and voila!







More recipes to come :)

Shibuya Crossing

I think I've lived here for too long and become jaded because I feel less of the the mesmerized "Lost in Translation" moments being in Tokyo. But not to say that I'm sick of it - I think I feel very home and a part of me of who and where I am now.

Friday Night Fun

Let me take back my words on not going out. I've concluded that with my stressful work, I do deserve to go out for a bit. "A bit" calls out for cheap izakayas. Cheap they may be but they are efficient and good quality for their price, just what we need in this economy today. And to prove that, it was quite crowded! I guess everyone needs their cheap fix of alcohol on a Friday night...





cold beer x edamame always hits the spot

 Ryo-chan

Braised dried fish fins with mayonnnaise..yum!

Now the real ghetto begins..hoppy! (shochu + carbonated barley extract)

 btw, the screen on the top left is not a TV, it's the menu. Love those things. Efficiency, I love you.