June 4, 2013
As you’ve seen from my previous posts, my current apartment has a nice-sized balcony, which gets wonderful sunlight. I make the most out of this luxury by hosting barbeque dinners, and make my own dried mushrooms and umeboshi. When you have outdoor space, you gotta grow some vegetables, right?
Here are my babies:
I brought back shiso seeds from Japan (probably illegal), and planted them.
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May 7, 2013
The craze for sweets in Japan is so peculiar. There’s always, “This Year’s #1 Dessert!” which will inevitably be forgotten about next year. Sweets like macarons and other delicate pastries are kicked up a notch or two once they enter Japan land. Its level of sophistication is nothing you will see here in the States.
The age-old jelly roll is one of “This Year’s #1 Dessert!” It is super soft, and the cream inside is extra light and not so sweet.
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March 26, 2013
You know what’s inside your Brita filter, right? Charcoal. You know the best way to keep the fridge from smelling bad? Put a piece of charcoal in it.
Due to its purifying effects, people in Japan take powdered charcoal as a daily supplement, and some people even say it saves you from radiation. There’s no scientific proof in this, but there is hope.
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March 5, 2013
Dried mushrooms are fashionable. They are packed with umami, and don’t contain any artificial crap. By drying them, mushrooms are concentrated with nutrients and all the good stuff. Mark Bittman wrote about the greatness of dried mushrooms. Pre-packed dried shiitake are found easily at Asian grocery stores, but majority of them are made in China. After seeing all the crazy pollution there, it’s sort of disgusting to think these are sun dried in China, under such heavy smog (this probably isn’t true since majority of companies use drying machines, rather than sun for this process).
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February 19, 2013
Ramen culture has finally reached America. In New York, when it rains, it rains cats and dogs. There are so many new places opening up and I already lost count. Tonkotsu, shoyu, miso, there is so much variety. Plus, American-owned ramen places serve innovative dishes that are more like soupy pasta than ramen.
Thanks to the boom in gourmet ramen culture, instant ramen has vastly improved in quality as well.
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February 5, 2013
When life gives you sour oranges, make ponzu sauce.
Ponzu is such a versatile condiment and its acidity adds a lot more dimension than regular soy sauce. It’s also extremely easy to make your own ponzu at home. Especially when you find sour oranges (called dai-dai in Japan, and sometimes called “bitter orange” here in the States), you should make your own batch of ponzu.
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January 22, 2013
Oops, I did it again. Some of you may remember my report from last year on my first class flight on American Airlines, and the experience was surely memorable and comfortable. First class has bigger and longer seat, and you can stretch out like you are in your own bed. Food was somewhat ok, but never great. Until now.
I was very fortunate and instead of taking AA’s usual NRT–> ORD–> LGA route back to New York, I somehow got a first class seat on Japan Airlines’s NRT–> JFK non-stop flight.
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January 8, 2013
Aid, Kitchen passed away on Wednesday, December 19, 2012. She was 12 years old. Since she was adopted (refurbished model), the exact date of birth is unknown. The cause of death is paralysis. The bowl is completely stuck on the base, and no matter what I’ve tried, it won’t dislodge. In another words, her brain is still working perfectly, but her body is frozen, forever, so we decided to put her to sleep.
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January 1, 2013
Happy New Year. 2013 has started with a perfect sunrise in Japan. Hopefully it signifies that the rest of the year to be bright and shiny. 2012 was filled with happenings: from Taylor Swift changing boyfriends 18 times, to Gangnam Style to Sandy craziness to starting my own business. Let’s hope 2013 will be a good year for everyone!
I am currently in Japan, staying at my mom’s home in rural Japan.
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December 18, 2012
Trends in Japan changes as often as Taylor Swift changes boyfriends. It’s like, wasn’t she dating the Kennedy kid and even bought a house across from his in order to be close to him? Next minute, she is shacking up with one of the bad boys from One Direction. And she publicly stated, “I don’t understand relationships.” I am sorry, this is a food blog, but once I start my Taylor Swift bitching, I can’t stop.
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