Hello everyone :D
I've been having a hectic time after returning from NY, but it's a good thing for me, so enjoying it.
I got my stitches out at the doctor's and back to normal. Another happy thing!
The weather here has been very good for the past few days. The sky by the beach is very pretty blue.
Now is the time to truly enjoy the Southern Californian weather.
Over the weekend, there were many people under the sun at the beach.
Too bad that the Southern Californian water is rather chilly, but still fun to enjoy the water.
My husband took a walk around the beach neighborhood, and then enjoyed reading books we took with us with really nice cup of coffee and latte.
Can't wait for another good weekend :)
See you soon everyone, and enjoy your summer, too!
Wow, another weekend is about to start. And it's a long weekend! :D
Do you have any fun plans for the weekend? My husband and I will just take it easy, maybe eat good food with our friends.
Last Sunday, did you get to see the annular solar eclipse? In Japan, everyone was excited about this, and TV programs were talking about it a lot. I could feel the excitement in Japan through skyping with my family, and seeing friends talking about it on facebook. On the day at 6pm, my brother in law couple who live in midwest texted me saying "We are in New Mexico on top of the mountain to watch the annular solar eclipse. You guys can see it there, too?"
To be honest, I didn't know we could see it in the US as well. I ran to my husband, and he suggested that we go up the mountain close by to take a look. So we did, and on the way, I looked up, and the sun was sooooo bright that I felt scared that my eyes may get hurt. Not only we didn't own that special glasses, but I even forgot to take my sunglasses with me. Oh no! It doesn't show clear in the photo, but part of the sun had dark shade and it was not round.
Luckily, as we drove up the hill, the clouds came out, and the sun was covered but thin enough for us to see through the sun. It wasn't a perfect ring shape, but like a crescent moon. The photo on the top is the one I took with my iPhone.
The dark ones are taken by my husband with his Android phone.
The top photo with the round one was taken by our sister-in-law. She took the photo through her special glasses. Beautiful and exciting!
I heard the next one we will be able to see it in LA will be in 59 years! It was an pretty exciting event. Thank you sister for letting us know : D
Have a fun weekend everyone.
Hello everyone. Time passes so quickly that I didn't notice it's been a while since I last updated this blog. Hope you all enjoyed your week and the weekend :)
May 5th is called "Tango no Sekku" which means children's day in Japanese culture. Since we don't have any children, didn't do anything special on the day, but I got to enjoy a special meal at the Japanese cuisine lesson I attended a few days ago.
I always enjoy attending this private Japanese cuisine class because I get to feel both the Japanese culture and the seasonal taste through the dishes I learn.
After receiving the Culinary Arts degree and the Baking Certificate in the US, I gradually started to wish that I have studied more Japanese cooking method properly before I left my country. Now I've found a very special private teacher, and am grateful for that. I thank my friend who introduced me to the teacher, and thank the teacher who accepted my offer even though she wasn't up to it at the beginning. Thank you :D
This time, the main dish was "Tempura", a Japanese style fritter. The Tempura batter is lighter than the one used in usual fritter you taste in American or European cuisine. The tip is to use ice cold water to make the batter.
We deep fried many different kinds of ingredients, and I found the apple and tomato tempura very interesting. Surprisingly, both of them tasted good and refreshing!
Another new dish to me was "Ume Kanten", pickled plum in agar agar. It looks like a dessert dish, but is actually savory with soy dashi soup poured around it. This would be a nice intermezzo dish during the meal.
Since the teacher was visiting Japan for a while, it had been a little while before we last met, and had so much to talk about. Before started cooking, during cooking, while eating, and after finishing, our talking was endless and very fun! It is always nice to have mentors who gives you advise in your life, and this teacher is one of them for me :)
Thank you again for visiting this blog, and I will try to update the next one soon again. Have a nice day everyone :D
The other day, I went to a farmer's market and bought a few kinds of fresh vegetables. Ones on the photo are yellow cauliflower, celeriac (celery root), kale, and fresh spring onion.
It is always fun to choose which vegetables to pick up at farmer's market :D
Out of those vegetables, my favorite this time was the yellow cauliflower. The lady who was selling them told me that the yellow ones have the most sweet taste out of all the cauliflowers.
To enjoy the fresh taste, I simply steamed it and ate with home made sesame vinegar dressing. It was sweet, and now became one of my favorite veggies.
Also steamed the celeriac and mashed it. Half of them was mixed into mashed potato, and the other half was eaten by itself with a little sauce. It had a slightly bitter taste, but was actually enjoyable, and my husband liked, it too.
When the ingredient is very fresh, you only need to add minimum to enjoy them, and I consider it as a very luxurious way to eat. What do you think everyone? Enjoy your evening :D
