CAKES Make You HAPPY

Hi:)
Birthday, Wedding, Graduation, Entrance...

How do you celebrate your dearerst persons' anniversary?
Do you go somewher memorable place? or give some presents for them?

It would be different depends on the person, but one thing which might be common...
you must have CAKES to impress your congrats!

I've celebrated my friends, families, countless situations.
AND lucky for me, I've been celebrated my birthday as well. It means that I've had many kinds of cakes;)

So today, let me introduce some UNIQUE&SPECIAL cases which I've ever had. I hope you to remember YOUR memory through my exprience.

1. Princess

Look at this picture! can you imagine this is the cakes for human? I'd never seen such a colorful cake. My friends and I bought this cake for my best friend's birthday in AUS. This cake is called "princess" and it's quite famous & common in foreign countries. Have you ever been to "IKEA", the Swedish funiture store? If you go there, you'll find similar cake which called "princess"I recommend it especially for little girls who wants to be "princess":)

2. Handmade flower cake

I had this cake for my 19th birthday. My friend made it for me;) I was so impressed that my friends used flower petals for decolating this cake. She said that "you love flower and I thought this color would be suit on you!" I will never forget my 19th birthday cake! I felt very special with my original cake.

3. MEG's Surprising birthday cake

You know that MEG and I were quite close friend and of course I cerebrated her birthday with all my wishes for her. I wanted MEG to feel something special and memorable, so my friend and I secretly ordered birthday cake at a restaurant. end of the dinner, the stuffs brought the cake for her and we sang Birthday Song for her. My friend and I were sooo happy because Meg seemed to feel delight with the performance.

4. The very first cake

I had this cake for my nephew's 2nd birthday. As you can imagine, this cake would be the first cake for him because when his a year birthday, it would be too young to eat cake;) When he saw the cake, he were so excited with it. The most impressive point for him was puffing out the candle!! I remember he tried four times to do that. He was soooo cute and we felt sooo happy.

5. My friend's Wedding

On March, 2010, one of my best friend got married!! Actually it was the first time to be invited my friend's wedding, it was a very precious party for me. I'd presented my relative's one, but I felt a bit different when my friend's one. The wedding cake made me think that "they became husband&wife today..." It was a kind of normal shortcake, but I'll never forget the taste of it.

Do you remember some special anniversary of you or your precious person?
I have more and more cakes which I want to introduce to you, but If I started it, I would never stop talking it;)

I think CAKEs are magical tool for people because CAKEs would make EVERYONE happy ;)
If you need some similes, why don't you celebrate your special:)

My First and Last VEGGIE LIFE

Hi:)
How was your vegetarian experience?
Me? I tried it on Monday. It was hard and memorable, but I learned a lot from this experience. Before talking about what I thought, let me iintroduce how I spend with vegetalian life.

When I started my vegetarian day, I decide being "VEGAN" for it. The reason why I chose it is because I will not have this experience in the future so harder one is worth trying for me. My VEGAN LIFE has started at June 13 0:00am. I sometimes eat some snacks or dinner at this time, so I felt a bit hungry but I decied not to eat at this time because it would be hard to distingish which food is safe for vegan people.

Then I woke up at 7:30, I faced my first problem. Usually I eat rice and "natto" and miso soup for my breakfast, and I thought it would be OK for VEGAN. however it is not!! miso soup is using fish soup stock and "natto" as well. Instead of them, I eat soybean curd with putting only soy sauce. I couldn't put even dried bonito on it.Wow, VEGAN is not easy:(

On that day, I had this class. it means I ate lunch at KUIS. My usually lunch at school is "karaage"-meal. Can I have it? Of cource NOT!! You know how much I love it, so it was so hard to give up having it. So I tried to choose something which didn't contain any animal product...Oh No!! I have NOTHING to eat!! I felt disapointed about it. I could only get salad. To my delight, there are "inari-sushi", so I had them too. I had no choice...

After lunch time, I had to leave there are bacause of my part time job. My working time was from 3:00pm to 11:30pm. I usually buy snacks and dinner at starbucks because I can buy them with some discount. however, I found that there are NO FOOD for Vegan at starbucks!!! They have some food with vegetable, but all of them include eggs. I had to buy my dinner at convenience store. I wanted to eat some rice ball, but there are nothing which doesn't contain animal products. I picked up soybean curd salad as well as my breakfast. Plus, you may know it that we can have free starbucks bevetage during my work time. I love "chai tea latte" but of course it contains milk, so I could drink only tea or coffee. (Though I actually could drink soy milk, but we sometimes use same cups for making soy milk and milk beverage, so I avoid them) Actually It was hardest time of the day because I made so many beverages of milk!! I hate my job only that day:(

my Vegan life has finished there. I think I didn't feel full for all day. Is that only because of VEGAN diet? I don't think so. I didn't have any food which was from only vegetables. This is my first and last VEGAN DAY of my life. My honest impression for this experience is "it's too hard for me to live without any meat and animal products!" It's clear that I am the person who needs meat!!

During my Vegan life, I found some difficulties for being vegan.

1. Only a few choices for begetarian

When I was trying Vegan diet, my saddest time was that there are no choice to eat something at out side. I felt big disappointment especially I was in KUIS. I knew that there are some ELI teacheres or students who are vegetarian at KUIS, however, we don't have any menu for them. Even though we have so many foreign students and teachers compare with other universities, there are almost no choice for them! I have japanese vegetarian friend, who has already graduated from KUIS though, he said "It's too hard to find meal only from vegetables." In his case, he never bought lunch at KUIS and always brought it by his own. It means that vegetarianism has not become widespread to Japanese people yet.

2. we never know how our food made from
I also felt troublesome that we couldn't know exactly how our food made from. When I went to convenience store for looking for my dinner, I checked each food ingredients, but I was not sure that all those information were true or not. I think this way because as I said above, we sometimes put milk and soy milk together or using same washer to clean it. So, even if the information of some products say "we don't use egg for it", we never know the process of meking them. Only thing we can do is trust them if you eat it. That's why many vegetarian cook their meal by their own as my friend. It would be the surest way to have vegetarialn meals.

3. Japanese society needs more apprehension and knowledge for begetarian

Some people may say "Japan has developed as a global society". I don't agree with that from the begetarians' point of view. I think there are plenty of foreign products in Japan. We can get almost anythig from overseas now, but how many people have thought about the diet of foreigners? Of course there are many Japanese vegetarian though, the percentages of vegetarian is much higher among foreigners. These days, there are so many foreign restaurants, but I hadn't care about people who are vegetarian. I am also the person who has never thought about the vegetarian life in Japan, but I found that it is so inconvenient for them through this experience.

To conclude, this experience gave me a great oppotunity to think about real vegetarian life in Japan. I tried it only one day, but I know how they feel. So I can understand how difficult to being vegetarian in Japan. In addition, we need some knowlede and understanding when we deal with vegetarian. I want my friends to try one-day vegetarian experience as well.

KOREAN beats SUMMER!!

Hi:)
It's getting hot and humid. Summer is coming!!!
Do you like summer? I am not good at the hot weather honestly. I feel like melting, but I have one thing what I like to do in the summer
...is eating KOREAN FOOD:)
Do you know that spicy food makes you cool down? When you eat spicy food, you would get sweaty. Sweating is good for our body to make our body temperature sool in the summer. So this is the reason why you and I want to eat something spicy food in the hot weather NATURALY. Did you know that?
In addition to that, while you want to eat something hot, you would feel like eating something mild as well. You might say NO, but there are many mild Korean food!!

So today, I want to introduce some dishes of my favorite KOREAN FOOD.
Please enjoy the food I choose and story of KOREAN FOOD and ME;)

I met Korean food when I was in AUS. One of my best friend was Korean, she knew some delicious Korean restaurant.
PLUS, my share-mates in the shared house were all Korean except me for a period of time. During we lived together, we often cook our own cultural food and did "food exchenge" Although I had never had Korean food because my mom hate eating garlic and kimuch(what a poor :(!!), my share-mates made me lots of Korean and it was the lovely oppotunity of made me a "Korean holic"
So let me introduce some Korean dish now.
Are you ready:)?

Sun-Dub Chige

This is my MOST FAVORITE KOREAN DISH ever!
This is the spicy soup with bean curd and some sea food. My Korean best friend Anny often made me this dish. Oridinally, I couldn't eat spicy food because whenever I eat spicy food, my ears feel itchy! However, I really love her sun-dub chige, so I kept eating it, I overcome my itchy ears!! So Sun-dub chige reminds me my memories with my Korean friend.
I think this dish made me "Korean holic" Whenever I go to Korean restaurant, if I found the sun-dub chige, I would definietely order it. The taste of chige is defferent for each shops.
So if you go to Korean restautant, I recommend you to eat it and find your best!
My best sun-dub chige is Anny's one, of course, but I also like one of "Tokyo Sun-Dub"'s.

Dak-Gal Bee

Have you ever heard "Dak-Gal Bee"?
This is grilled chicken with tangy sause like "teriyaki". I love chicken the best of all kinds of meat. So I was so happy when I found the menu of Korean chicken. As I said, it's tangy, so almost all Japanes would love it! This dish is not so famous in Japan yet, but you'll find it in every Korean restaurant. If you are the person who cannot eat any spicy food, I recommend you to try this. It's not spicy at all! but if you want to make it spicy, Don't worry! sometimes there are red pepper or "kochu-jan"come along with this dish, so you can put them as much as you like;)

Sam Gae Tan

This is also Korean famous dish!!
I guess most of you know this food, but I wonder how many of you guys have actually tried. because it's a bit more expensive compare with other Korean dishes. Maybe this dish require to cook whole chicken. Inside of the chicken, sticky rice and some harbs are stuffed. Then boiled few hours, there will be white soup of chicken.
I had this dish when one of my share-mate made it. I recommend this dish especially for female because Sam gae tan contains lots of "collagen"!! colllagen gives us a glossy and healthy look for our skin!
In addition, I also recommend it if you are hungover!!! This soup is good for our body which are exhausted by alcohol.
If you want eat Sam gae tan cheaper, why don't you go to Korea? You can eat it around only 1000yen.

Chi-zi-mi

Chi-zi-mi is like "okonomi-yaki" in Japanese.
The difference between chi-zi-mi and okonomi-yaki is those sause and cooking method. Compare with okonomi-yaki, chi-zi-mi use much oil and grilled like frying and make it thinner than okonomi-yaki. So chi-zi-mi is more crispy!!!
When we eat okonomi-yaki, we put mayonnaise and tangy sause on it, but in the case of chi-zi-mi, we put soured soy sause.
I love both of chi-zi-mi and okonomiyaki, but I'm now a big fan of chi-zi-mi now!

Pulgogi

I actually have had pulgogi when I went to Korea. So it would be a bit different from pulgogi which you have had in Japan...
this dish is grilled beaf and vegetable. the taste of this dish is tangy, but a bit bitter than Japanese grilled vegetable. It is because of "kochu-jan(kind of Korean miso)" Pulgogi is not as spicy as sun-dub chige, but sometimes people use kochu-jan with pulgogi.
If you have a chance to eat it, please tell me your impression of pulgogi:)

Wow!!Those dishes which I introduced today are actually not spicy except Sun-dub chige! It is little bit diffrent from which I expected on the biggining;)
but I think my introduction of Korean food might be a good oppotunity to know that there are many dishes which are not spicy.

There are more and more Korean food which I love, so If you want to know any other Korean food, ask me!!!
or We can enjoy Korean food together!!
I hope you would be survive with Korean food in this summer;)

STARBUCKS and YOU

Hi:)
How's your eating today?

Can you find any similarity between these movies?

The Devil Wears PRADA, I am SAM, and The Terminal

STARBUCKS appears on those movies!
In The Devil Wears PLADA, Miranda(Meryl Streep) who is Andy(Anne Hathaway)'s boss loves drinking skimmed Latte. The main charactor Sam(Sean Penn) is working at starbucks. There are starbucks as well where Victor(Tom Hanks) staying at the airport.
AND you'll find starbucks in the movie in another movie...

Have you ever been to starbucks? I hope you say YES because I've been working at starbucks for 4years. I am kind of "starbucks holic";) I
So I'm going to introduce something about starbucks which might be new for you today.


Do you have YOUR drink?

In starbucks, you can alter drink to suit your own preference. We call it "CUSTOMIZE" the drink. If you love whip cream, you can add whip cream on top of your drinks, or add espresso shot into your drink if you want to make it bitter. I'll tell you secrets of customize.
There are many kinds of customize which you can try it for FREE!!

*alter syrup
You can change syrup from original recipe to something you like.
For example, we put vanilla syrup to frappuccino, but you can change it to your own. caramel, almond, mocha, hazelnuts, mocha, white chocolate, chai...
I'll tell you some drink which I recommend. "White chocolate Frappuccino" In order to try this drink, order "caramel frappuccino" and ONLY you need to say is "change caramel syrup to white chocolate syrup, please" that's it! If you want something sweet, you'll love it.

*add sauce
You can add caramel or chocolate sauce on the top of your drink. Almost everyone dosen't know it that it is free customize as well. You can try it to ANY drink; Coffee, Latte, mocha, frapccino, tea etc... If you make cafe latte a bit sweeter, you can add caramel sauce on it. You'll feel something different.

*4 types of milk
Do you know you can customize MILK itself? may be you'll say "Yes of course!"
So...how about frappccino? "What? is it possible?" I can hear your voice like that.
YES!! We'll serve your frappuccino if you want to change the base of milk. We have four kinds of milk; original milk, low-fat milk, non-fat milk and soy milk(only soy milk cost 50yen though) Many people change milk to non-fat milk inorder to save calories. In case of fruppccino, many girls worry about the carolies, I can say that it's quite high, but if you change it to non-fat milk, you can reduce the carolies little bit. It's a good news for you, isn't it?


Have you ever seen the BLACK APRON?
Which colore does partners (we call "partner" to the stuffs) usually wear?
Most of you might visualize someone who wears GREEN APRON.
Do you know a few partner wears the black one? Someone who wears black apron is the specialist of COFFEE BEANS. If you work at starbucks, there are test for you about knowledge of coffee at once a year. In this test, you'll be asked the origin of coffee and the knowledge of starbucks coffee beans. Those who wears the black apron are successful candidates of this test. So, if you find someone who wears BLACK APRON, you can ask anything about COFFEE.

Usually, there are one black apron's partner for each store, but there is an ONLY store which every partner wears the black apron.

You can find this store at Shinjuku and if you go there, you'll meet someone you know...ME;)
I actually work at this store. Now you wonder if I passed the exam or not...Unfortunately, I acutually haven't took this test, but every partners who are working at this store can proudly serve a cup of coffee. If you go to this store, you can enjoy COFFEE which called "Coffee Press service"

We have kind of "bar" which serves only coffee and you can enjoy chatting with us. To be honest, I am the person who couldn't drink coffee until I started working at starbucks. however, I can drink it now. So don't worry about trying this coffee service even if you don't drink coffee usually. It's gonna be fun:)

Wanna try? Come to our store!!

I have plenty of stuff I haven't introduce about starbucks yet. but it's time to say good bye today. I'll talk about more in the near future.
I would be happy if you know more about starbucks.

Did you find your favorite drink? Please let me know about it:)

I also want to hear your story of starbucks.
I'm looking forward to talking about YOU and STARBUCKS:)

How Do You Enjoy Your UNBIRTHDAY?

Have you ever heard the word "UNBIRTHDAY" I think you may had head before if you have seen Alice In Wonderland.

I love that scene which Alice and Mad hatter have a tea party to celebrate their "UNBIRTHDAY" So, have you ever had such a lovely party? I definiately say "YES" to you. Even though there are normal day for you, if you had food which is a bit different from normal. You can enjoy your UNBIRTHDAY.
Today, let me talk about my memories of UNBIRTHDAY.
Then, you'll find out your special UNVIRTHDAY.

1. shocking colored ice cream

Loooooook!!! Can you believe that this is the food for human? saddly, yes it is. I met this too vivid ice cream at my home-stay house. When we invite my host mother's parents, host mother made it for them. Actually, it was the first time for me to meet such food. When I saw it, I thought "Oh, I came to FOREIGN country" I think you also have such experience like me if you have been abroad, don't you? Do you want to know the taste look like?...Nothing!! It has no special taste like, orange, grapes, or strawberry...it was just sweet. Anyway, It was a great time to eat together with them. Whenever I found such a too vivid food, it reminds me my "gramma&grampa"s' sweet smile and lovely time.

2. lovely pancake

I fell in love with pancake in AUS! my history of pancake has started from there. My friends and I often went to eat pancake as a little treat of daily life:) It makes me so happy! Even if I had some trouble with my life and felt depressed, I would be happy after eating pancake! There is nothing to wrtite about the day, I memorized that day as a "Pancake Day" From that point, I always feel something special whenever I eat pancakes even in Japan. For me, pancake is the food which can rethink as "I am a girl;)"Do you have something special which you can feel better?

3. cookie and cream cheesecake

Unfortunately it is not possible to convey even half of the size of this cheesecake. It's quite big and I can say it's Australian size! It is sold at the "DOME cafe" Have you ever heard the name of the cafe? It's common and popular cafe at AUS especially in Perth. Actually it's more famous than starbucks...because there are NO starbucks in Perth;) I always went there to study and have a chat with my friends. Whenever I went there, there were cookie and cream cheesecake and I wanted to try it, but I didn't... because the price was little bit higher than the others. So I decided to end my AUS life with eating it. then I finally ate it the day before I leave Perth!! I remembered it was a subsaline cake. I think this cheesecake made me cook cakes in Japan. I'll never forget the taste and the special feeling of it.

4."Pika-chu" cream bread
Sooooo cute, isn't it? This is a bread which filled with custard cream. Personally, I think "custard cream" is the king of the any other cream. So I always check custard cream bread when I fo to bakery. When I met this lovely cream bread, I was soooo happy:) I bought it for my lovely nephew because he loved "poke-mon" at that time. and he smile like that;) Even though such a tiny food has a power of making people happy!!! Of course, the taste was outstanding!

5. honey bread with various fruits

My friends and I ate it at the restaurant in shibuya. You may know but we find sweets in any GIRLS TALK. We love both of them, don't you? At that time was also we talked about some UNBELIEVABLE things of our daily life AS USUAL;) Then, the stuffs of the restaurant brought such a lovely honey bread! We shouted like"WooooW! That's soooo CUTE!!" This bread make our meeting more precious and emotional one. It became a graceful memory for us;)

This is the end of today's story. Did you enjoy them? When I think back to each memorial scene in the past, there are always something which are yummy and lovely food there. I think FOOD and MEMORY are conected very tightly. FOOD always help us to celebrate our UNBIRTHDAY!!!

So, how's your UNBIRTHDAY today?

The Very First Dish for YOU

-Today's menu-
*roasted red sea bream
*umeboshi
*Japanese clam soup
*pebbles

Here it is!!!!

Can you imagine whose dish is banquet?
This is the dish that your mother and father might have prepared for YOU!!!
Do you remember the very first food that you ate when you were baby?
Me? Of course NOT ;D

Have you ever heard the word "Okui-zome"?
This is the time you ate something for the first time in your life. Strictly speaking, at that time you just pretend to eat. Did you know that?

Why I'm telling you about it is because my niece has just finished this event on Feb 19. As well as I have two nephews, I also have niece ! She has white skin and cute eyes.. sooo lovely......
Anyway! She will be the today's main heroin of my blog.


-What is "Okui-zome"-
This event is heald to celebtate children's growth and to pray for their future health especially for their food life. Traditionally, it is taken place at 100 days after birth. Though babies can't chew anything to eat yet, parents will serve tons of food for babies. In Japan, there are some food which has a "meaning".
For example, we eat herring roe in New Year's Day because it symbolizes a wish to be gifted with children. As well as that, what I listed on the biginning has also have special meaning for each.

*roasted red sea bream

The Japanese word for red sea bream, "tai"sounds similar to the word "mede-tai". What is more, it is auspiciously red in color.

*Japanese pickled plam

pickled plam has a lot of "wrinkles" on the surface. People wish for baby will enjoy a long life-span until they get lots of wrinkles.

*Japanese clam soup

Usally, there are two shells for each and clam-shell marking is exactry same. So the reason why people make clam soup is to hope that baby share a long and happy life with her or his partner forever.

*pebbles

Of course they don't make babies eating the pebbles actually. Pebbles are just put on the table. There is also has a meaning for it; wish for their strong teeth. It is so interesting, isn't it?

There are many kinds of food and ther reasons depends on the are. Here is the only the typical example of the event. Anyway, now you know much about "Okui-zome". So I'll give you a title to "Doctor Okui-zome";)


Lastly, I'll put some pictures of my niece's "Okui-zome"

The person who gives her food is my grand mother. she is also cute, isn't she?
Looks she is satisfied with her first meal:)


I think ther are similar events in other countries. Have you ever heard about it? If yes, please share your information for me.

I'm also wating the message that "your niece is as lovely as you!!" like that ;)

Hope you will prepare well when your babies become 100 days after birth!

My Luky-Charm Food

Hi :)
I'd like to ask one question for you...
What is my favorite food? Do you remember that?
Yes! The answer is...

KARAAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've been loving karaage since I was a child.
Today, let me introduce various KARAAGE which I've ever met.

1. The biggest KARAAGE I've ever met

I met them at Japanese style pub called "Kyo-kai" in Shinjuku. Can you imagine 20cm karaage? When I saw it, I shouted "WoooooooW!!!!" The attractive point of this karaage was not only huge appearance, also taste was nice. I guess that restaurant's fire power was much stronger than household one. That's why it is possible to make such a huge karaage. If you feel that karaage which you make at home is not big enough for you, I recommend visiting there!

2. Yummy home made KARAAGE

Look! There are mouth-watering karaage on the table! Can you imagine who made it? The chef is someone you know...MEG!! Can you believe it? She is actually a great chef! She made it for us when my friend and I visited her house. MEG's karaage was outstanding!!! I can say that her cooking skill is fantastic. The reason why I love her karaage so much is because her karaage is still taste good when it's cold. I will definiately ask her to make it again for me in near future. Anyway, thank you so much MEG;)

3. Large and Simple KARAAGE

This karaage was similar to Kyo-kai's one. I met it also at Japanese style pub called "Inkyo-Tei" This is also large karaage! My friends and I were surprised at the size. The unique point of this karaage was the flavor. Most of the karaage seasoned with soy sauce, but in Inkyo-Tei's style, it was used only salt! At the first, I don't feel familiar with it, but bite by bite, I loved it so much. If you want to taste something different from normal one, I recommend you it!

4. Great seasoning KARAAGE

I loved it because the combination of karaage and sauce was very nice!! In a normal situation, I prefer plain karaage which doesn't need any sauce to seasoned one. So I don't eat with any sauce even lemon! However, in this case, I enjoyed the flavored karaage very much. I met this karaage at the restaurant in Shibuya with Mariko! She also like karaage, so we kept saying "Hmm...it's yummy. Delicious, isn't it?" Plus, the dish was hearty, so I can recommend there for boys!!

5. My cozy KARAAGE

This is the last karaage which I introduce today...and it is my mom's karaage!! The recipe of it is quite simple, but I love her karaage the most of any other food. Whenever I have any big events, such as; exam, concert, birthday party, graduation party, job interview and I actually have been able to overcome those big events many times. For me, her karaage is like a lucky charm:)

I guess you feel a bit tired because of too many KARAAGE;)
Thank you for reading my loooooong collection of KARAAGE. Hope you enjoyed!
Now you know how much I love KARAAGE!!!!!
And my journey of seeking any other KARAAGE will never end.

So, I need cooperation that if you know some delicious or UNIQUE karaage, please let me know about it !! I think there are many kinds of karaage which I don't know yet...
I'm looking forward to hearing your imformation from you:)

Lastly, as well as my KARAAGE, there must be some lucky food for you!!
So what is your magical food for you?
It's your turn to talk about it. I would be happy if you tell me that:)

Bye;)