Insalata Caprese

One of my favorite dish in the world is Insalata Caprese, otherwise known as Tomato Caprese Salad. It is one of the easiest dish in to prepare, the ingredients that I always use is:

tomato, fresh
mozzarella cheese, fresh
Italian sweet basil, fresh
sea salt
black pepper
extra virgin olive oil

How to make:
1. slice the tomato (some people get rid of the core, I do, too when I remember)
2. slice the mozzarella cheese
3. chop the Italian sweet basil
4. organize number 1 and 2 on the platter
5. add salt and black pepper to the virgin olive oil, and then sprinkle it on top of the platter, put a little bit aside
6. sprinkle the chopped sweet basil on top of the mix, and sprinkle it with the remaining olive oil mix
7. refrigerate prior to eating

I know some people often smear the mozzarella cheese with balsamic vinegar, but I honestly don't think it's necessary.
And some people also like to salt the tomato to bring out the taste. If you have a good fresh tomato, it's really not necessary either, if anything, it will make the tomato really watery.

Ultimately, the key to make this super good lies on the kind of olive oil you use. I've traveled the world and back (not literally, but olive oil wise, I have tried every country's olive oil), all those Mediterranean countries claim that they all make the best olive oil, but it's not necessarily true. The best one I've ever tasted is Greek's Lesvos olive oil. I have just one bottle left from a purchase in Athens - and I can't remember what the brand is - it's written in Greek. All I know is that it's organic and from the province of Lesvos.
Next in line will be Italian olive oil. Olitalia will definitely do the job, and it's available everywhere.

My lunch today

Musings

OK, I effectively have 3 hours in the rat-hole today, all dark, no lights - with no reporting, my thoughts are free to wander. Fascinating what came to mind when you let your head goes loose like that.

1. Natsubate is a Japanese term for summer lethargy, summer weariness and summer discomfort.
It seems like my natsubate keeps on coming earlier every year. Usually it's around my birthday which is much later in July, but now June? Been feeling really blaaach since a week ago. It's really strange, you wake up and then you're just in bed for another hour, just completely energy less. There is not much that I like about summer, this is one of the major one.

2. A Japanese singer songwriter Izumi Sakai of 90s hit group ZARD died on May 27th, 2007. A cancer patient, but she died falling off the stairs. Suicide? Who knows. What I know is that her memorial service was today, in Aoyama. The Aoyama cemetery is right in front of my office. From my desk I saw 3 choppers flying around with cameramen. And there was a long trail of mourners. I am lucky to have come to the office by bicycle today, no need to impose myself to the inhuman line caused by this event at Nogizaka station.

3. Can't stop thinking about Montchan's unfortunate incident with the G-S couchsurfer. That is just awful. As a couchsurfer myself, I have been lucky that such situation never happened to me. In fact all of the people whom I met through couchsurfing have been great. One particular traveling circus girl in fact has become one of my closest friends. Fact is, I'm shuddering with the thought that this could easily happen to me, too. Why? Because I never ask for ID before. Yep, that's stupid, I know. Will definitely start asking for ID. No ID, I will direct you to Yoyogi Park.

4. I have not watched TV in almost 3 weeks now. It is quite amazing the amount of books I finished during these 3 weeks of TV celibacy, though. I admit that some of what I read have been ultimately brainless, but they provided simple pleasure. Right, I was reading the entire library of Sophie Kinsella (The Shopaholic series and 4 other books), completely brainless, but it's a pure enjoyment. Bliss.
And also my long awaited collection of Prof. Dr. Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld finally arrived. Also Mma Ramotswe's last rendition of No.1 Ladies Detective Agency: The Good Husband of Zebra Drive. Also 2 books my friend brought over from Indonesia. Also 5 other books that I bought randomly at the rainy-day 10% discount Aoyama Book Center. Also 55 outlines that need by July 13 for the Paris conference.
Yeah, that does it, I have no time for TV. Especially since I want to and have to (particularly for the outlines) read everything before Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows comes out on July 21.
Yes, I have no time for TV, or any other form of life in general. Well, better make time for guitar lessons. Oh, I have to practice taiko drumming, too. Oh, yes, must remember to go to work and keep the income coming so I can get more books. Yes, but that's about it.

5. Yay! My mid July project got postponed. I better go to Niigata and poke my nose in there. The beach is only 5 minutes walk from my J-fam's house. Better make a phone call. Maybe I could bring 3 books then, too. Yes. And it's a long weekend, too!

Wow, 3 hours passed really quickly. I can go home now.

Tootles!

The virtue of patience

On the blissfully beautiful Saturday, I went with an out-of-towner friend to visit the Meiji Shrine compound. We decided to get an omikuji. Usually an omikuji is a fortune that tells if you're having a lucky day or not. If not, then you will hang it up on a tree in the shrine compound and the monks will pray for you.

We happened to picked our selection from the poem box, so both Ropeninja and myself got ourselves a little poem that were supposed to have a particular meaning. These poems were composed in the traditional 31 syllable form, by either the Emperor Meiji or the Empress Shoken (his wife).

This is what is said on mine:

"Such is the force of water
That it will with gentle pressure
Shape itself to every vessel
And yet pierce the very rock."

In Japanese:

"Utsuwaniwa shitagai nagara iwaganemo
Tosuwa mizu no chikara narikeri"

-- Emperor Meiji --

Meaning:
Water meekly follows the contours of any vessel it is poured into, yet it can also pierce stone itself. Let your heart too be as patient and as strong.

Let my heart, too, be as patient and as strong as this water. Well said.

An early birthday present!

Oh, I'm so excited!!!

I know my birthday is not until next month, but I've decided on an early birthday present for myself. Yep!
I signed myself up for a guitar class!

So... I picked up the beloved instrument back late last month. Since then, whenever I'm home, I rarely find myself without Mister Antonio Sanchez in my hands. Got myself some music books, equipped with the tablatures. As an ambitious objective, I set myself up to master "Cavatina" for a small gig scheduled in September.

A month has passed and I have gone as far as 2 pages in Cavatina (the entire music is about 7 pages), and I'm nowhere near smooth in playing the parts. Looking around Youtube, the darned Xuefei Yang and Ana Vidovic sure made it look so simple and easy. I wonder how many years of training they went through to be able to spread 4 fingers across 5 frets, with different emphasis, on all different strings, too!

Again I came into the realization that I am not much of a self-teaching kind of pupil. I never was one. And doubtful I will ever be one.

So, off I went to Niibori Music School last night to see what they need me do to be able to start my education (other than money, of course).

I walked into the small classroom with 3 advanced students looking at me in their utmost bemused expression. Yeah, picture this: after finally locating their classroom in Yoyogi, I decided to rush over to the class that very evening.
I had shot them an e-mail on Monday afternoon, but they have not got back to me with a visitation schedule. I had only two nights free this week to investigate this further, one was Monday night, and the other was Tuesday night. I figured, why don't I just poke my nose in, worst case scenario would be when they turn me down until a visitation schedule is set. With that in mind, I decided to just go with the best intention to get there before 8 PM.
I cycled over with my giant gym bag in tow, unshowered, all sweaty and my hair was in complete disarray. The elevator was stuck in one of the floor and with 10 minutes to spare, I made a split second decision to run upstairs to the 5th floor where the class is located. While huff-n-puff-ing, I found the class and walked right into a class of 3 advanced guitarists. I mean, literally, right into the MIDDLE of it all. I bet they never had such a comical interruption.
Heck, how was I supposed to know if the classroom is also the reception area.

Putting that aside, and pausing the class for the 10 minutes I was there, Ogiwara-sensei went through the curriculum and explained how I could just easily ease into the system. And to my pleasant surprise: all classes will be one-on-one basis, unless I request otherwise. Heck! This is GREAT. Much better than my group class with YAMAHA years ago.

So, my trial class will be on Saturday and if I like it, I can start as early as next week.

I'm sooooooo excited!!! Can you tell?

A Japanese Wedding

Background information

In these past 9 years, I have been 'fortunate' enough for not having been invited to attend a wedding ceremony. Predominantly because it will be a very expensive participation if I were to attend all friend's celebration, as explained here.

But for Toru and Yone, I cherished the invitation. I am honored to be invited and included in their joyous celebration. In fact, I actually asked him not to hesitate in inviting me when he first started talking about marrying Yone last year. I remember telling him, "I know that you know I've been dodging wedding invitations all these years. But for yours, by all means, I will be most happy to attend."

The Wedding Day

Everything started at 11 AM. This is when the door to Terakoya opens. The couple and their family members had already gathered for some photo sessions earlier that day. Terakoya is a very beautiful French restaurant with a stunning garden on a hilly landscape. Toru and Yone were both doing a little bit of a rehearsal, while some early birds have already showed up and had a peek on their rehearsal procession.

The wedding itself was a simple one. Neither Toru nor Yone are particularly religious, so they decided not to have any religious ceremony.

The procession start at 11:30 AM. All of the friends and families gathered at the grassy area with soap bubble maker in hands. We were encouraged to make soap bubbles at any given time during the procession.
Once we're ready, a keyboardist started making some music, and the groom showed up and started picking up the flowers from some of the friends, and made a small bouquet. Toru was looking very smart in his black suit (not tuxedo).

Not long after, the wedding march began and we were looking at the gate. Yone walked with her father towards the miniature river and Toru came to pick Yone up from her father. The groom then helped the bride crossed the small bridge and they walked to the top of the hill.
Then Toru started his vow. I can't remember what he said exactly, but I remembered thinking that what he said was absolutely perfect and comical, and very Toru-like.
And then Yone's turn was up. Her vow was truly heartfelt and so many of us were moved to tears.
After that they exchanged rings and were officially declared husband and wife.
The fathers of the bride and the groom then joined as witnesses and signed on a large parchment and they held it up like an award.

So really nothing out of the extra ordinary. It's pretty much like a church wedding, but without the priest and the church.



The reception was pretty much regular. The room was divided into the groom side and the bride side. I was seated right in the middle of Toru's close friends from university. It started with a short recap on Toru and Yone's life history, and then a toast and then a very fine meal. People will go table-hop with a bottle of beer and start introducing themselves to each other, while topping off the visited table's beer glass. Most of the people who table-hopped are the family members of the bride and the groom; as they are the one who usually know everybody.
I made 3 table-hops, first to the couple's table, and then to the bride's parents and then to the groom's parents. The visit was returned by the parents and the brothers and the sisters.
The couple also made a round to everyone's table and thanking every single person's attendance, while giving some small token of appreciation. Oh, one more thing to add, when I just arrived at my table (which is right in front of the bride and groom's table), I found that everyone's name card was equipped with a personal message from the bride or the groom. I got a very nice note from Toru! :)



Everything finished at 4 PM. This was then followed by the nijikai (after-party) at a completely different location. Majority of the attendance at the nijikai are those who did not attend the wedding ceremony. There was a slideshow from the wedding and skits provided by Yone's girls rugby team during her years at uni. And Toru's friends also gave a "Boot Camp" skit, which was actually hillarious. All the boys colored their face to be extremely brown and did a Billy Blanks impression with Toru and was completely hillarious.

In conclusion, this Japanese wedding was pretty much like any other wedding, nothing quite "Japanese-y" per se. The biggest difference in comparison to a typical western wedding will be the type of clothing that the family wears, as they are mostly very formal kimonos.

Oh, there was a bouquet throwing at the end of the nijikai, and guess who got the bouquet? Yes, me. People are saying I will be next because of that flower bouquet violently fell into my hands. First, I need to get me a boyfriend, then maybe I will believe this 'omen' or whatever.



Also, it is a little confusing, perhaps, to be calling this a wedding day. Toru and Yone were lawfully wed earlier in the year already, at the city hall. So, that day will be referred to as "city hall wedding". June 16 is the "official wedding day". Toru and Yone are coming over tonight to feast on some tiramisu, so I'm going to ask them then on which date they will be celebrating their wedding anniversary.

Food Obsession

Friends often ask me what my favorite food is. The answer to that is... none. I don't have any favorite food. What I do have is temporary obsession, when I'm into some food, I will want to eat that food everyday as a staple, for about a month or so, and I will stop once I'm sick of it and move on to the next food obsession.

So, last month I was obsessed with tofu and broccoli, now I am obsessed with two foods: tiramisu and macarona bel bashamel.

Häagen-Dazs has recently come up with this fantastic tiramisu special, but there is no way I can eat that everyday without splurging. One small cup costs nearly 400 yen, which frankly I think is too much, even for a Häagen-Dazs (a regular price for Häagen-Dazs ice cream is 260 yen per cup, normal brand costs 100 yen per cup, see what I mean?).

Now, this macarona bel bashamel is this fantastic dish that is originated from Egypt (Iftar). On Sunday I went to a friend's gathering, and was introduced to this lovely Egyptian couple, who brought this lovely Egyptian dish. This dish is very simple, you cook the macaroni (penne would do fine) and then you put a layer of meat in between with some spices and onion, and then you top it with the special bashamel sauce (milk/heavy cream based mixed with flour) and then you grill it in the oven until the bashamel sauce turns brownish. This food is a delight!

So, to cater for my obsession, I came home yesterday and started making some tiramisu, with a killer recipe from Penny Lane Kitchen (natural cooking club). I woke up this morning well after the requested 4 hours wait, and tried my first home-made tiramisu, and it was HEAVENLY. Finally I found a reason to use up my Kahlua bottle collection. I have like 3 bottles from a research that I did for them and for one who's not keen on liqueur, having 3 bottles of Kahlua is truly a waste.

This is my first attempt to make tiramisu. I need to get more sponge cake/lady finger thing to use up all of the mascarphone and whipped cream mix. And I need to get a wider diameter pan, as it seems. Otherwise the tiramisu will be very tall!

Now I am waiting for macarona bel bashamel's recipe from the lovely Egyptian lady so I can make it!

Gosh, I need to spend more time at the gym, this current food obsession will undoubtedly need some shedding away. Yeah, a move to tiramisu from tofu and broccoli is dangerous!

There are many, many, many envelopes in Japan...

I have been living in this country for... 9 years now. Yep, 9 years! Holy crap, that's a long time.

Even though I have been here for that long, there is always a first time for everything. Like the big party tomorrow.

Tomorrow is my dear friend Toru's wedding day to his lovely wife, Yone-chan. (They are already married by law in February)

The following was my conversation with him during a dinner we had earlier in the year:

Toru (To): "Dude, you want to come to my wedding?"

Taiko Tar (Ta): "When is it?"

To: "June. Yone wants to be a June bride. No, actually that's the only time the hall is available."

Ta: "I'd love to come!"

To: "You know that it is customary to give money to the couple when they marry, right? We don't do gifts, "

Ta: "OK, that's great, so I don't have to worry about your wedding gift. I will give money anyway for a present, otherwise you'll end up with ridiculous collection of chinaware."

...

I then contacted my J-mum in Niigata to consult how much money is customary to be given to the happy couple. Okaasan then said, "Well, it depends on how close you are to the person who invites you. It starts from 10,000 yen (about US$100), basically, but people hardly do that, it's regarded too cheap. Then it goes up, if s/he is your good friend, then you give 30,000 yen; if you come as a couple then you get a 'discount' for the couple 'rate' of 50,000 yen or if you're a close relative then it's only fitting if you give 50,000 yen per head, for every family member who goes to the wedding celebration. And remember, don't do 20,000 or 40,000 or 60,000; basically no even pre-fix, it's symbolizing death"

And then she said, "Since you're not Japanese, you can be culturally ignorant and not give money or give however much you are willing to, but I don't suggest you do that. How close are you with this person?"

Me: "You're joking! No, I can't be culturally ignorant. I have been living here for that long. That will be very rude. Well, he was my former colleague at the previous company, and ever since he became one of my savior angel in Tokyo."

Okaasan: "Yep, you're a 30,000 yen tag, at least."

My summer vacation allowance has immediately become a wedding gift.

...

So, later on I discovered that all this gift money has to be presented in a special envelope. Not having done this before, I am completely oblivious as to what the envelope should look like.
I went to the stationery store just now and headed straight to the envelope area. Whoa! There were so many selections for it. From the tiniest of envelopes to the biggest ones. They are all basically white, but with different side coloring. I saw black, green, pink and red. And then there is another one with an elaborate crane in front of it and there was another one with an elaborate origami ornament in front of it. Needless to say, I was at loss. I just want an envelope.
The clerk at the register was rather busy with other customers, so with good faith, I brought a sample of 5 most festive looking envelopes, in different colors. Finally it came my turn, then I just had to ask,

Ta: " Excuse me, but I just want to buy one. I'm not very sure which one I should get. Can you tell me what the differences are among these envelopes?"

Shop clerk: "The black color symbolizes death, so this one is for funeral. Now this dark green one is for a similar purpose. The pink one is for when you give money when visiting someone at a hospital who is very ill. This gold and red one is for people who just graduated university or any school. Now this one with the silver and golden crane, that's for weddings. Which one are you going to?"

Ta: "I like the black the best, I think this one looks very elegant. But I am actually going to the wedding, so the crane it is."

...

Back at the office, I bugged one of my colleague to advise if I'm supposed to be writing any stuff on it or not. As it turns out, there are three places on which you're supposed to write something.

1. The strip in the middle: you should write your name

2. The front cover for the money: a statement on how much money you are putting in the envelope in old Japanese writing

3. The back cover for the money: your name and address, preferably written in old Japanese style writing. The address is especially important as the couple needs to know where to send the hikidemono -which is their "thank you for coming" gift for people who have attended their wedding. Toru did say that he is going to present a catalogue where we can choose anything in it as our own hikidemono.

So, with several ernest attempts, covered in black ink; my envelope is finally ready. Ta da!

This is the end product, the ink is still not dried, so I have to wait to put it behind the crane

the envelope broken into parts

Oh, crap, now I have to worry about what to wear tomorrow morning. Why do I always do these things at the very last minute???

The sad life of my two-wheelers

It is truly not a good day for my two-wheelers.

I was going to work today with all of my stuff in tow. In my agenda today: office, doctor and finally the gym. So I had quite a bit of stuff to carry in one go. Got to my bicycle, and I suddenly remember that I had an almost flat tire last night. Thought to pump some air into it, only to see that both my tires are now flat.
%$#%#'&$#'$('!!!
I had only 30 minutes to spare, so if I had to tend to this situation, I was obviously going to be late for work. So, I ran upstairs to collect my scooter key.

I haven't ridden my scooter in what seemed like 3 months. Ever since the weather picked up, I had always opted Mr. Spalding the bike to Pino the scooter.
After the long abandonment, of course Pino just refused to ignite. Yeah, I know, I should've at least attempted to start the engine every now and then as my brother the mechanic always preaches me to. Heck, what can you do? If you forget, you forget, see what I mean?

Finally after stubbornly kicking start the little machine, Pino choked the engine to life. Yay! I can finally be on my way!

Nope, something didn't seem quite right.

I could not open the damn little trunk. What is wrong now?? As I looked closely, I saw that the key-hole is jammed. What the #$&*!! I cannot believe this, I simply CANNOT believe this! Some loser tried to steal my scooter's little trunk! S/he obviously didn't succeed, the only damage s/he did was jamming the key-hole, and when s/he finally got into the trunk, they could only find my rain-gear.
This is just bloody annoying, now I cannot lock my trunk, which means that I have to carry all the stuff I have with me everywhere.

Bloody annoying. Especially because I can't bring the scooter to the locksmith until next weekend.

A-N-N-O-Y-I-N-G!!

Watch List

OK, this list is only important to me, obviously, but I have to write this down somewhere so I won't forget to look into them at any latter date:

Maurice Steger (blockflöten)

Tríona Marshall (harp). I kid you not, it's really difficult to find online reference on Marshall anywhere. She is quoted a lot in The Chieftains' work, but no website to call your own yet? Come on Triona!

Jon Pilatzke and also here.

Collaboration between Tríona Marshall and the Pilatzke Brothers

Liadan

Zakir Hussain, here and here.

Tamango

The Barra McNeils The keyboard McNeil is really animated, fun to watch, as if he's bouncing in his seat.

Xuefei Yang

Ana Vidovic

Sendai: Day 2

Day 2 started with Traveling Circus Girl aka MirPir (from this point forward will be refered to as TCG) having to get ready for her Japanese class. I chose to continue sleeping while TCG got ready and departed from the hotel.

I finally walked the 15 minutes walk towards the Japanese class as indicated in the map TCG left me, while stopping around at several book stores and started the day with a hot bread, fresh out of the oven, while reading McCall Smith's "Portuguese Irregular Verbs".
I don't know whether it is a combination of having the right set of holiday mind, or having a delicious hot bread, or being utterly fascinated by the dry humor of Professor Dr. Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld's absurd little life, or I-don't-know-what - but I started giggling uncontrollably in the middle of Cafe de Crie Sendai. Two elderly ladies who were sitting three tables away from my table looked up, puzzled and then started smiling at me. And then the store clerks also looked at me and started laughing. I looked at them a little disoriented for 2 seconds and then started laughing along with them. I like these people of Sendai, they're very friendly.
You see, in Tokyo, normally if I suddenly have a giggling fit (which, to be perfectly honest, happens quite often; especially when I'm reading a rather comical book), people around me will be disturbed by a sudden unusual outburst, and in trains some people might actually poke me and say, "Sssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Not in Sendai! Ah, I like Sendai people. I do!

Then it came the time to pick TCG up from her Japanese class. I was a little early, so I wandered into the recycle shop nearby. Ole ole ole! That day was indeed my lucky day. I walked into a display of an open-heart necklace that I lost some years ago. About 14 years ago, my J-mum in Niigata gave me a valentine day's gift in a form of a Tiffany silver necklace. It is a very simple pendant, but I loved it very much. About 7 years ago, the chain broke, and thus I stopped wearing it. I finally got a replacement leather chain, but I have searched and searched, the pendant disappeared.
Until that fateful Friday when I walked into the recycle shop. I saw that they had that pendant with the chain, and it costed only 5,000 yen (about US$45)! My heart skipped a beat, and then I walked right to the shop lady and said, "Excuse me, I'd like to buy that necklace."
She said, "Do you know why we're selling it cheaply? The chain is a little dirty, but I'm sure you can get it cleaned."
I said firmly, "I'd like to buy it. Could you wrap it, please, thank you."
I was a 10 times happier girl when I left the store. Finally, I found it again!!! (FYI, this necklace if bought new would cost US$215 before tax)

Friday was such a beautiful day. TCG and I decided to go on a McDonald's picnic by the river on the way to visit Aoba Castle. Sendai is indeed a very beautiful green city. The water at the river was so clear. After we finished our burgers and took some photos, we decided to do a bit more exploring.

Interracial ducks couple

Don't you think it looks like we're sitting somewhere in Europe?

We walked up to Aoba Castle. The hike up was a little steep, but fun nonetheless. The castle was a little overrated, I have to say. Predominantly because there is no castle on site. It was demolished during the war time (WWII). So what we found were merely the foundation walls where the castle once was. The view from the top was still breathtaking, though!

TCG posing with the one-eyed dragon dude (Sendai's shogunate mascot)

TCG had to go back to get ready for the circus that evening, while I still have a few hours to kill and decided to visit Miyagi Museum or Art . With the 'steep' entrance fee of 300 yen, I gained admission to several nice exhibition by artists from the Miyagi prefecture area.

Of course it's nothing like The MET or MoMA, but still the collection is quite varied and sporadic.
If you do go to visit the museum, please don't forget to check out Churyo Sato's gallery. Mr. Sato is known to be Japan's greatest concrete sculptors. His works is similar to that of Rodin's. Mr. Sato is also known to be the first Japanese artist to ever having exhibited at Musee Rodin in Paris.

After that I went back to TCG's hotel and got ready for another privileged circus performance. TCG had organized a seat for me with the circus band in the pit for that evening. Let me tell you, I've sat at every possible wing and seat available, from the cheapest seat, to those very special seats where I could literally touch the stage. Whilst all those were very special, it doesn't get anymore special than to be amongst the inner circle. This experience deserves a special post, so I will leave the details to another day.

I think this recapped the brilliant second day of my visit in Sendai. Along with the especially delicious memory of the exquisite gyu-tan (beef tongue) meal at Rikkyu. Not only the meal was delicious and moderately priced, they deserve a special mention for their display of true customer service: admitting us in when we're 10 minutes past last order time, and left us to eat in peace until midnight, when the restaurant actually closes at 11 PM. Domo arigato gozaimashita, gochisosamadeshita from the bottom of our heart!

Sendai: Day 1

So... Sendai was FUN!

As I said, I went up north to visit the traveling circus girl and see what Sendai is all about. The last time I was there, it was in 1998 for a student conference. The schedule was very hectic and predominantly spent indoors, hence I don't remember seeing anything particularly memorable.

I got into Sendai at 11 AM, promptly met by MirPir at the station, so we could immediately catch the senseki line to visit one of Japan's top 3 most beautiful spot, Matsushima. We road the train all the way to Hon-Shiogoma, the port city and caught the boat going through the 260 islets of Matsushima archipelago. The day was quite hazey, so misty that we couldn't see that far in the horizon; however the 50 minutes boat ride was very pleasant.
Getting into Matsushima, we were not quite sure of what to expect. I had expected Matsushima to be the main island, since the name bears the meaning of an 'island' (the ~shima part of the name means an island). But after a long search, I couldn't find the isle of Matsu, and when I prompted the inquiry to the nice young man at the tourist counter, he politely answered, "Well, there is no island that is called 'Matsushima' per se in this archipelago of Matsushima, but it is a bay area that contains of 260 islands. But, you might want to check out the three islands with the temples right by this port, the biggest island is called Fukuurashima. Yes, madam, the biggest island in Matsushima is Honshu the mainland, or Fukuurashima, not Matsushima."


Ah, too much information too early in the day. MirPir and I decided to go explore the few islands that were connected to Honshu mainland with red bridges. Our first stop is the tiny islet where Godaido is located.
We came, we walked and we saw. We concluded that Godaido is, in fact, a very tiny island - if we can even call it that. The temple has four walls and is only open once every 30 years (which I think is quite a marketing blurp to kind of sell the island so it can always have constant visitors). Other than that, there is nothing extraordinarily special about that island, I must say. And we were still on the quest of finding what the WOW factor is of Matsushima.

Onto the next quest, we walked the coast towards the largest island at the bay, Fukuurashima. The bridge that took us there was long and red. Quite impressive. We had to pay 200 yen to go in. The minute we stepped foot on the island, we immediately felt the lushness of the surrounding. It was beautiful! Everything was so green. The island, as it turns out, is a small botanical garden, we had a pleasant walk around it and found a nice hidden little secret passage that took us to the beach. It was so peaceful and nice and we spent a good hour just laying there and chatted the afternoon away. I remembered thinking then, "Gosh, it was only 4 hours before I went through the craziness of Shinjuku station in Tokyo, and now I'm here, surrounded by all this nature and peacefulness. It is so... Zen." This thought then brought the biggest smile to my face.


After we left the island, we walked back to the mainland on a food quest. We found some shop selling the local delicacy kamaboko. Kamaboko is like a fish cake, that you put on a stick (like kebab) and then you grill on top of some hot charcoal. Yummm!


We also discovered a very nice Zen temple grounds. It was very mesmerizing to be in there, the Buddhist statues that they have there were quite unique, they even looked somewhat Indian. It was already 5 PM when we got there, so we couldn't gain admission to the temple area, but the surrounding was good enough to explore.




The day then progressed and we were trying to decide what we wanted to do for the evening. We went up to the station area and found an onsen to get ourselves relaxed and cleaned up before we embarked to have dinner back in town.

MirPir wanted to take me to a restaurant that is owned by her friend Mariko's family out in Tagajo. We finally showed up at around 7 PM. When we walked into the doors of "Kuishinbo", we were very warmly greeted by a very lovely lady clad in Japanese kimono. Later we discovered that it was Mariko's mother. Shortly after that, a very kind-faced authoritative gentleman showed up and introduced himself, "I am Papa!" Of course, who else could he be?! The evening went on very pleasantly. The food that we ate were traditional Japanese izakaya food. It's first sashimi, and then radish salad, and then grilled fish, and then yakitori, and then... I can't even remember anymore, there were so many beautiful food coming our way and we overate them. haha!
The highlight of the evening was to have the pleasant opportunity to learn about calligraphy from Mariko's expert calligrapher of a mother, discussing about kimonos and the art of wearing it, as well as learning about the tricks on sake from Mariko's gregarious father.




After 3.5 hours at the restaurant, MirPir, Taiko Tari, and the Dralion technician duo bowed Kuishinbo good night. Gochisousamadeshita!

What a perfectly enjoyable day 1!

p.s: oh, this is ONLY of day 1, I will post again on the brilliant day 2 soon!

Good grief, I got tagged! (a.k.a 8 random facts about myself)

Oh, no!!!! Montchan tagged me last week, and because I was on hiatus, I didn't get to answer this on a timely manner. I wonder what she'd do to me!!!
She can be very scary, you don't say no to Montchan. That I know for sure.

First, here are the rules:
1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.


Now, here are the "8 random facts about myself":

1. I hate mayonnaise. I really really do. I used to like it moderately growing up, but ever since I moved to Japan, I noticed that somehow they crept their way into my plate, in every food! Let me repeat it, I hate mayonnaise with a passion, I don't want it on my food, around my food, or anywhere near my food.

2. I am a sucker for packaging. Really, to me, packaging matters. I should know better, given the fact that I am working in marketing research, but nope, I would buy something that costs 500 yen more for the same content, solely for the packaging.

3. I am a musical instruments freak. I adore musical instruments and buy them on a whim, and very randomly. Throughout my life, from the age of 6, I have always had a musical instrument project going on. Some I will learn obsessively (at the moment classical guitar is making a comeback, alongside the taiko drums), some are on momentary lapse (I just purchased an ocarina, and still mulling over the way to master the principle behind it).

4. I prefer to cook alone. This is actually an improvement. I used to dislike it when people offer to help me in the kitchen, because 1) kitchens in Japan are small, 2) said helpers usually tend to make a mess in the kitchen and are messing up the general cooking procession, rather than actually helping, 3)I am a perfectionist.
I do realize that this sole fact has qualified me as an official freak, but I finally learnt to accept the beauty of people cooking for and/or with me during the month-long cooking disability. I am now moderately 'tamed' in accepting other people's presence in my kitchen.

5. I am terrified at horror stories, but love watching horror movies with friends.

6. My full first name is a modification from a masculine name, a sanskrit god name. My parents were dead sure I was going to be a boy, and on my birthday they were shocked that I turned up looking feminine. They then twisted the last syllable of my first name to make it sound feminine. To this day, I have never met anyone with my first name, those who started corresponding with me on e-mails and never having met me always address me as Mr. B. And when I googled it, I discover that my twisted full first name is, in fact, a prominent Russian last name.

7. I am slightly claustrophobic. Tokyo is so not the city for me indeed.

8. I prefer lakes to beaches, highland to lowland, winter to summer, spring to summer, autumn to summer. I came from a tropical country, but that really doesn't mean that I am fond of the tropics.

And I tag:

C-Genilimaa, because I miss her
Deenster, because two tag attacks from Montchan and myself might really revive her from her hibernation
Benx, because he always has something hilarious to say
Ovie, because I always love to hear from her, all the way from Cork!
Jean, because I'd love to to hear more about her
Femmy, because she's my oldest friend, back from the days when I was still only 1 meter tall, and she never ceases to surprise me

Here and back again!

Miss me yet?

Just got back from a short hiatus. Went up north to visit my favorite travelling circus girl at her new 6-weeks location. It was a fun opportunity to also enjoy lush Sendai and its surrounding area. Will tell more in the next few days.

So, again, I am back in Tokyo. Safe and sound. Now must get some beauty sleep for the busy day tomorrow. Yep, my wonderful weekend still has one more day to go!

Catch y'all later!

Delectable Books

On this fine Monday afternoon, I began my delicious daydreaming on foods. The trigger of it all was simply because I am supposed to be cooking for the Tuesdays tomorrow. The last time I had people over for dinner was in March (EEEKKK!), so it's time to pull my sleeves and dive into the kitchen!

While thinking of the menu, my mind kept on being transported back to the top of my kitchen cabinet, where I had some 20 cookbooks. Ah, the joy those books have brought me!

Yes, it is time. It is time for me to divulge the cookbooks that I simply cannot live without.

1. Jamie Oliver's "The Naked Chef"

You need to go to page 120 where he had his amazing roast chicken recipe. I have made this chicken so much over the years. The multiple herbs that are used for this dish brought out the best flavor from the chicken. If you can, try to always use sea salt in the mix, it brings out the best taste from the chicken.

Another thing that I began doing recently every time I cook this chicken:
put aside the chicken broth and oil that comes out after you roasted it for 1 hour

For an easy-to-prepare lunch: take 2 tbsp of this broth, heat it up, and then mixed some of the left over chicken and some chopped tomatoes.
Add in pre-cooked linguini/ spaghetti/ vermicelli/ capellini, anything rod and long, mix it well. Buon appetito! You got yourself a delicious lunch!

The other recipes here in this book are all equally simple and so easy to make. For muslims like Taiko Tari here, substitute all Miss Piggy related stuff with chicken, or for broth you can always use mushroom broth. I have no idea what pork/lard are supposed to taste like; but I can assure you replacing them with chicken/mushroom base are very very tasty! Really, really!

2. "Vegetarian" by Fiona Biggs

I found this book 50% off at Barnes & Nobles in San Diego back in 2003. I remembered at the time paying only $5.00 (or something ridiculously cheap like that) and was sincerely hoping that the book could somehow make my life easier. You see, at that time I was dating a very picky vegetarian who liked to eat quality food. This book had ultimately saved my kitchen and is solely responsible in expanding my horizon to vegetarian cooking and eating.
Now, said boyfriend is history, but the cookbook remained going strong in my kitchen. Over the years, I have gone through literally half of the cookbook of some 175+ recipes. This book has opened my way to hummus, vegetarian pâté, baked pie, baked pasta, tortilla hors d'oeuvres, turnip soup, potato soup, mexican omelet, desserts.
The sad news about this book is that I don't think it is anywhere in circulation anymore. Been wanting to give this book as presents to fellow food and cooking enthusiasts, but they are nowhere to be found. Kind of making me feel special for actually owning it and using it religiously.

3. "The Essential Asian Cookbook", by Whitecap Publications

This book is a lifesaver for me to be living overseas and wanting to cook the foods from home. Early in the days where my foods and ingredients vocabulary were limited to the Indonesian language, I was ever clueless each time I am looking for the stuff in Japanese. Heck, I didn't even know the words in English, and back in those days there was no good source for localizing it based on the local market availability. Enter came this book with the pictures of those odd "gallangal", or "coriander", or "cumin", or "bawang merah" (Thai pearl onion), etc - since then grocery shopping has become so much easier, I can actually strategize a substitute for the impossible ingredients. The book smartly divide the books based on the countries the recipes came from, makes thematic party planning so much easier!

4. Mi madre
Last but not least... if all roads failed, such as no books to refer to,
nothing online that is trustworthy and all attempt led to a dead-end: I will pick up the phone and call my mother. She always has the ultimate answer to all my culinary questions.

Ah.... and for tomorrow night, I've decided to finally use my paellera and make some paella, as well as some rotisserie chicken and some tomato caprese. Yeah, that'll do it.

Michael Bublé - Everything

I never knew of Michael Bublé's name until I saw this clip played several times on Fox. This is one of the simplest tune I've ever laid my ears upon. The song is about a man in love, who believes that their strong love can simply be the power to overcome anything that may come their way. Here's the fun part: the vocal works that Bublé displayed in this song is absolutely outstanding. It is like he's talking throughout the song, but the melody is actually going to all high and low pitches. It is very easy to overdo the song in different parts, but Bublé kept it level at all times. His vocal control is impeccable. Do watch the clip, it's very charming. Good stuff on Bono and Whoopi Goldberg!

Rengginang

This one is another recipe for you, Montchan!

This is a standard recipe for Rengginang that I found from a blog of the Indonesian women society in Helsinki.
Since it is in Bahasa Indonesia here is the translated version:

Rengginang

Inggredients:

1 kg sticky rice/ mochi kome, soaked in water for 1 hour
5 cloves of garlic, pasted
1 tsp of shrimp paste (you can get them at any Asian store, the Thai people use it a lot for their cooking)
1.5 tbsp salt
400 cc water

How to cook:

1. steam the sticky rice for 30 minutes
2. Cook the rice with 400 cc water, pasted garlic, shrimp paste and salt the traditional way (using regular pot) on small fire until water is dissolved
3. Steam the cooked rice for another hour until rice is cooked
4. Take a tbsp of cooked rice and flatten it on a surface, basically like you're making a senbei, but this is with the rice thingy
5. Let it sit in the sun for 2 days (with the long days of sun that you have in Scandinavia now, I say, you can let it sit for 1 day)
6. Deep fry in any cooking oil (well, avoid olive oil, because they don't fry well)
7. VOILA! ready to be eaten

The end product will look like the attached picture.

Rengginang picture was excerpted from the quoted link

So, this is ideally how Rengginang is made.
Now, in attempt to make use of burnt rice, here's what I would do:

1. Repeat everything from step #2 above and add any kind of seasoning that your heart desires. It can be salty, it can be sweet. If you want sweet, add honey. If you want salty, copy the seasoning used in the recipe above. If you don't have shrimp paste, you can do without it. The only thing that makes it taste Indonesian is the shrimp paste, mind you. One of the trivia trial that I loved the most is actually adding honey to the composition above. The honey or sugar will make it slightly stickier than the salty/cheesy version.

2. After you do everything from #2 to #7. Do eat it, like lots of it. Eating hearty food will make your heart a whole lot lighter.

P.s.
In exchange of step #6, my mother sometimes will put this in the microwave, so she doesn't have to deal with the oil after frying. I don't prefer doing this, though, the taste will be too 'clean' and quite different from the intended.