Cream Bath and Furikake

Posted July 4th, 2010 in Uncategorized No Comments »

It was just like heaven…  I mean, my husband gave me cream bath last night. 😀

I had cream bath while in Jakarta few times. It’s a head treatment session with some kind of white hair treatment cream.  At the salon they spread the cream on the hair, and they massage it into the skin and hair.  The massage continues to the shoulders, arms and hand too.  It’s really relaxing…

We bought a tub of “cream bath cream” from Jakarta on our last visit, and he gave me the head bath last night…  It was really good.  It was another chilling night, but I was wrapped in blanket and surrounded by heaters.  It was warm, and he gave me massage for about 45 minutes.  It was so good that I fell asleep after washing the hair –  like, I passed out completely.  I couldn’t keep my eyes open!  I think, my head and body were so tired and stiff, then the massage did something to push out the bad stuff from my body.  I had a good sleep, then this morning I noticed there are some red spots on my face. (not pimples)  They banished after I showed.  I think it was also some bad stuff coming out from my deep skin..

(image photos)

Anyway,

As you know, Japanese people eat rice a lot.  Even though many young people consume bread, pasta and potato nowadays, rice is still the most important food in Japan.  And, a bowl of rice, miso soup and some side dish (or even pickles) can be a great meal for me.

When I have such simple meal, I often add some kinds of condiments to the rice.  The easy option for it is “furikake”.  Furikake is a dry Japanese condiment meant to be sprinkled on top of rice.  There are many different kinds and flavours in furikake; some of them consists of dried fish, seaweed, egg, vegetables etc.

I like shiso furikake, which is a dried shiso leaves and normally red/dark pink colour.  It has a sour, salty flavours, and it may tastes very new to foreign people. But, I love it!  I can eat many bowls of rice with just shiso furikake…

If you find furikake, and you think “well, it’s only to be eaten with steamed rice”, you are wrong!  You can also use furikake as a topping on okonomiyaki, yakisoba, (depends on the flavour of furikake) and also seasoning of pasta dish.  Shiso furikake, for example, can be used to season cooked pasta and served as “shiso pasta”.  Or, if you have bonito, salmon, egg furikake (or any flavours you like), you can add to croquette or meat patty to give a hidden flavour.  You can mix furikake and make rice balls for kids lunch too.

It’s shame that some kinds of furikake can’t be imported from Japan because of the custom regulation, but you can still find few flavours of furikake at Asian grocery shops.  😉

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(image photos from http://www.balivillas.com/spa/cream_bath.html)

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