It’s snowing!

It’s been 10 days since my partner and I arrived at Osaka Kansai airport.  Everything is great here, some of the things are changed and some are not.

Food is amazing, I keep eating a lot everyday… but I can’t help it!  (>0<)  I don’t care if I put on weight… :p

Today it was snowing.  That was the first time to see snow since we got here.  No wonder it was so cold last night

I’m not a good driver in snow, but I did try driving this Kei- Truck car (used for our rice fields) to shopping mall.

I’ve been shopping a lot!  Hope I can bring all the stuff I bought here back to Perth…  or maybe I have to send some of them by mail :p

Salmon Dishes

I love seafood!  I used to eat lots of fish and other seafood everyday in Japan.  We eat raw seafood: the seafood in Japan is so fresh and tasty that no need to be cooked.  Here in Perth, on the other hand, I can’t get fresh seafood easily  I wouldn’t eat the white fish uncooked which I purchased from local supermarket.  Feels dangerous to eat them raw.

However, I like salmon here. I think the quality is ok, and sometimes you can get sashimi-grade salmon from fish markets.  Fish is good for your brain and health so I try to eat as much as I can

How we eat salmon in Japan, except for raw dish such as carpaccio and sashimi, is usually grilled or braised in a pan.  In Japanese cuisine we grill the salmon with just a sprinkle of salt, or sometimes marinade the salmon in preserved-malted- rice( Kouji-zuke) and grill them.  We usually cook till well-done.  You can also marinade in miso paste or soy sauce based marinade.

Marinade salmon in miso paste mixture (1 tbs miso paste, 1tbs sake (Japanese wine) and 1tsp sugar) for more than 30 min before grilling.

Marinade salmon in soy sauce mixture (2 tbs soy sauce, 1 tbs sake, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp grated ginger) for 30 min, then pan fry or grill in the oven.  Boil the sauce down till half its volume and pour over the salmon.

Or you can just deep-fry them with corn flour, then eat with some dipping sauce!!

• Cut Chili + Soy Sauce or Sambal … Indonesia Style
• Soy Sauce + Sesame Oil + Chopped Spring Onion, Grated Garlic … Chinese Style
• Chopped Coriander + Sweet Chili Sauce + Roasted Peanuts (crushed) … Thai Style
• Pest + Fresh Tomato Salsa … Italian Style
• Sansho Powder … Japanese Style
• Soy Sauce + Grated Ginger … Japanese Style
• Hoisin Sauce + Sweet Chili Sauce … Ume Style

kiva – Loans That Change Lives

I’ve always wanted to do some volunteer work since I was little.  It started when my elementary school teacher showed a video to us in a class:  the video was about kids in Ethiopia.  The reality in other countries shocked me.  As a Japanese, I could eat anything at anytime since I was a baby, and I thought it was normal thing.  Apparently it wasn’t.  In other countries they have no food to eat and many people die everyday.  Kids can’t go to school to learn.  They don’t have any facility to do anything.  Is there anything I can do to such people?

I tried to find out what I could do, but there was no actual chance for me to go to the country and help them out.  School, work…  I didn’t even have that amount of money anyway.  Then, I found this website- kiva

Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world.  You can choose someone to lend to from this website, and then make a loan. Help a real person make great strides towards economic independence and improve life for themselves, their family, and their community.  It is a loan, so of course you will get your money back after the period, or if you wish you can re-lend to someone else in need.

There are many interesting businesses, Grocery Store in Afghanistan, Beauty Salon in the Dominican Republic, Taxi driver in Lebanon etc…  I made a loan to a restaurant owner in Peru.  You can choose the amount to lend in increments of US$25.00 up to the total amount they are requesting.

Men’s Bra

In Japan there are bras for men??  … and according to the fasion news in Japan, this item is extremely popular and people have to wait for few months to book up the stock!

Wow… interesting :p

There are also other color available.  (pink, red, white…)

Is it only Japan, or worldwide?

Asian Salad

One of my favorite recipe(ºuº*)v  You can add beef, chicken, prawn, scallop… for varieties!!  Colorful and healthy salad.  One important rule you need to follow is: DO NOT OVERCOOK the veggies.  The texture is the key for this salad

<Asian Salad>

• Branch       … Broccoli, Asparagus, Bok Choy
• No Branch … Bean Sprouts, Carrots, Capsicum, Spring Onion

(dressing)

• 3 tbs Oyster Sauce
• 3 tbs Sweet Chili Sauce
• 1/2 tsp Sesame Oil
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• Roasted peanuts (or any nuts) – crushed
• 1 bunch fresh coriander
• sesame seeds

1. Boil water in a sauce pan.  Branch vegetables and place in a bowl of iced water quickly to stop the cooking process.  Dry well.
2. Shred carrot and capsicum.  Chop up spring onion.
3. Chop coriander and Mix with all other ingredients for dressing.
4. Place all the vegetables in a bowl.  Mix through dressing sauce just before serving.  Sprinkle sesame seeds on top.

* You can add grated garlic to the dressing if desired.

<Variety>

*Beef Asian Salad…　Stir fry sliced beef with sesame oil and grated ginger.  Mix into the salad.

*Prawn Asian Salad…　Stir fry prawn with garlic or ginger.  Mix into the salad.