the beach from yesteryear

So I was trying to see why there are still some drafts sitting in my blog, I found the following images which was probably uploaded in 2008.

I'm still trying to figure out why these were significant enough to be shared. Or maybe it's some long-forgotten story that I had meant to tell.

5 minutes after reading this, I'm thinking perhaps I wanted to show what kind of beaches we have in Japan!
   

going for gyoza

One of the new recipes I tried for the first time was making gyoza, the Chinese dumpling that the Japanese love. I've had lots of it especially at ramen stalls, and recently in Kobe at a little restaurant specialising in just gyoza. So I decided to give it a try thinking it shouldn't be that difficult.

Just need to have some minced pork, which you should marinade with salt, pepper and sesame oil. I added garlic paste for added oomph. You can also add in soy sauce or oyster sauce but I decided to make it simple first. Then mix in the chopped cabbage and spring onions.

I didn't know there were many types of dumpling skin until I tried buying them at the supermarket. This is for the fried dumpling type. After letting the marinaded mix stand for about half an hour, I wet the edges of the skin slightly, then put a tablespoon of the mix in the middle. This really depends on how much you want to get in, but usually the fatter it is, the better. Just be careful when folding it.

On medium fire, put about 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in the frying pan, fry the dumpling. It looks quite dry at this stage, but try to get a little brown on both sides of the skin like the above. The meat should be half cooked by then.

After about 10 minutes, pour a little water at the base of the pan. The dumpling should soak up the water pretty quickly. Then add a little more and cover the pan to steam up the dumpling. Wait for about 10-15 minutes for the meat to thoroughly cook, and the dumpling should now be a little moist but with crispy skin at the edge. Your dumpling is now ready!

I made a 2nd batch using prawns instead but with the same ingredients as above as I had leftover skin. It had a different texture, but still as nice. Both goes well with sambal vinegar dip, my improvisation of the usual vinegar spicy oil sauce.

keep me warm

Since electricity bill has gone up last year probably due to the minimised use of nuclear reactors and dependence on limited resources, I decided to explore the Japanese methods of keeping warm.

Wearing thick socks is a no-brainer, but one will be amazed at the number of colourful and cute socks in Japan. I had gotten these as birthday gifts from Yuri last year, so they were very timely.

I had seen these haramaki pants for some time now but never really thought of getting them until a conversation with Hyun when she was preparing to head back to Korea for the New Year's. Basically these are like warm woolly shorts that you wear on top of your undies. I guess this is the Japanese version of long johns.

Directly translated to "belly wrapper", you can get them for as cheap as JPY100. The cuter ones or with better materials are usually more expensive. These were on sale because they were trying to clear last year's inventory!

The other suggestion was the yutanpo, which is commonly known as hot water bottle. I was really happy to see these at the 100yen shop since I was just trying it out. I thought it was quite cute, with a little woolen pouch.

I just slip these under the comforter before going to sleep. It does a reasonable job of keeping the bed warm, so now I don't need an electric blanket!

I think these conscious efforts are kinda paying off since my electricity bill is lower than what it was this time last year. :)

valentine's in japan

Along with Christmas, Valentine's Day has become somewhat so commercialised that everyone is cashing in on these events. In a country like Japan that loves novelty and has a culture of gift-giving, these are perfect opportunities for retailers.

I'm really astonished by the many creative ideas for gifts and lovely merchandises that they come up for these events. Each elaborately packaged that I'd buy just because they look pretty!

However, Valentine's Day is celebrated a little differently in Japan, and also South Korea. On Feb 14, the grrls get gifts (usually chocolates) for the guys. There are 2 types - one is the usual where if the grrl likes a guy, she would give presents to express her feelings, and the other is called "obligatory" chocolates for female colleagues to give to their male colleagues.

One month later on Mar 13, it will be the guys' turn. In the 1st scenario if the guy is interested in the grrl, he would get her gifts. Then the grrl would know for sure how he felt. Please don't ask me why it takes 1 month for the guy to respond!

This year as with previous year, the IT grrls pooled some money and bought "obligatory" chocolates to the guys in the IT department. Since usually guys outnumber grrls, we had to spend a bit to ensure the guys don't get measly chocolates.

It became such a topic of contention because some felt it was not fair, another pointed out this year's cost was higher because more guys joined the department recently. One even suggested we should just call it off if no one really wanted to give, just because it's a "culture".

I told the organiser, that it's the thoughts that count. Trying to explain this phrase, I illustrated by saying, even if the gift was handmade and not necessarily expensive, I'm sure the recipient would appreciate it.

fluff from above

Just as Sochi was opening the 2014 Winter Olympics, 5 time zones away it started to snow in Kobe. Newscasters had reported that this would be the first time in almost 20 years that there would be this much snow. More so in the Kantou areas such as Tokyo, but considerably less in Kansai region.

Nevertheless, I was quite happy to brave the cold to see the white fluffy snow come down from the sky.

I love it when it snows. Not only because I don't get much of it here, but the snow makes the cold more bearable!

Today, it started to snow again. I thought it was a nice Valentine's Day gift from above as I woke up to a flurry of more whiteness this morning. Pardon my commentary, it was really freezing trying to capture it on video. It might look more like rain when I tried taking pictures, too bad they didn't stay long enough on the ground to build up.

myriad malaysia

I can never have enough Malaysian food. If there's one thing that I'm proud of our country, is the variety and vast array of food that we have. I like seeing the looks of foreign friends and colleagues when I tell them that Malaysians eat 6 times a day. Yes, if you don't eat 6 times a day you're not a true Malaysian! >.<

Asam laksa for Christmas. I know, people usually have the usual turkey and Western do for this Yuletide season. Well, mum did buy loads of lamb and ham home, which I indulged in. Miss the tangy spicy combination with the chewy noodle and fish broth. I cried of course, sadistic that I am.

Saravana Bhavan vegetarian Indian food. If you see curry in Japanese, you could most likely be having the milder version which is sort of like gravy rather than the more diluted curry that gives you the kick. Oh rasam too. Great for colds.

Missed the gobi cauliflower and fried bitter gourd.  Both great with sliced onions and lemon. Think I ordered too much, so Ms Barbie made me take away.

Dosai with the usual sides and sauces. They should have put a disclaimer here, the midly spicy here actually was bits of cili padi hidden in between the dosai. Needless to say, I had to down loads of ice water to salve my tongue.

Their special set which comes with papadam and rice. What I like about Indian vegetarian food is, they are truly vegetarian. I don't get Chinese vegetarian food that tries to look like, and taste like fish or pork. No offense, but, if you missed steamed fish and sweet and sour pork, why did you become vegetarian then? (=.=)

This is not actually Malaysian or even Asian in origin, but some lovely teatime at Publika with the grrlfriends. We had dinner at the food court, which surprisingly have pretty good local fare.

To make up for a lot of other pictures that I didn't get to take because I was too hungry to savour my beloved Malaysian food.

Fat Spoon in Damansara Utama is one of those little cafe which I find appealing - a mix of homely, vintage, creative eatery that puts you at ease with their eclectic interior and fusion Asian food. This was a tamarind shrimp angel hair pasta which made me wish I could eat more of this. My ex-colleagues seemed to enjoy their choices too looking at how fast they finished theirs.

Of course, who could NOT miss nasi lemak? To make sure it's the real thang, I went to this one at the USJ Taipan area which has a queue especially in the evenings. Just as how I like it, with a quarter half-boiled egg, some sprinkles of ikan bilis and nuts, and generous topping of sweet spicy sambal. And all wrapped in fragrant banana leaf.

Only RM2. Okay, so maybe that's a bit expensive but nothing is cheap in Malaysia anymore. Well, except for kangkung, if you know what I mean :)

The other thing that I missed a lot was dimsum, especially Hong Kong chee cheong fan. Well, any types of chee cheong fan is good enough for me. Something I can't get here at all. Sure, there are some Chinese restaurants in Chinatown, and even stalls that seem to sell dumplings and such, but I have not found anything close to authentic.

I was glad Lai Ying was game enough to indulge with me. Though just writing about this post now makes me salivate again... I wish I had more!

So this is not Asian, but I wanted to remind myself how pasta tasted like in Malaysia. There are plenty of Italian restaurants in Kobe, and some are kinda Japanese-Italian, or even pseudo Italian, so it's interesting to try the different variants.

I had missed the Winter Solstice event, so Dad made some extra for me. I didn't manage to take the actual photos, and these are another type with red bean fillings in them.

I'm so glad my Mum actually took the trouble to make the one dish that I really missed - her mushroom sauce chee cheong fan. It's not too difficult a dish actually, but there's just something about simple home cooked food. Sprinkled with onion oil and a dash of freshly ground pepper, it's best eaten fresh from the steamer.

One of the recommended Indonesian restaurant, Ayam Penyet in the Curve. By this time I was getting accustomed to the spices of South East Asian food, and enjoyed the soto. I have seen some Indonesian restaurants around in Kobe, but I have to ask my Indo friends for recommendation so I don't be disappointed!

Last but not least, mamak food! One of my usual mamak hangouts at SS15, the K3K Benta Kaya was closed down and replaced by, of all things, a burger joint! Had to opt for something next door, which felt like another Old Town Cafe. Nevermind, at least their nasi goreng kampung was pretty reasonable. It was about 10pm+ by the time I got there but was amazed I could finish this plate.

Others that made my day included Nyonya dishes, Taiwanese food, Peking duck, Cantonese stir fry, Nando's, Shanghainese, Szechuan, and Penang food.

I'm thankful for my parents who tried to feed me with as much chee cheong fan as possible >.< And I made sure I included delicacies from all the major ethnicities! I know talking about ethnicity in our country at such a time may well provoke "passionate" reactions, but I'm proud to have all these food that I can freely eat and indulge in.

If only the people in power could appreciate this - the myriad glorious food that we have are just like the people that make them, and live on them - without them, there is no Malaysia.

learning through the idiot box

It has been a habit of mine to watch TV while having dinner. Maybe because in my tiny studio, the TV is just in front of the box I used to call my dining table. Now that I have a proper table, it occupies the same area as the box.

Initially I thought it would be a great idea to learn Japanese through TV, there are interesting Japanese game shows which are either modified or replicated in other countries due to their unique engaging characteristics. I realised, there are quite a bit of educational stuff on TV too, nevermind that it's called the idiot box for a good reason. (I have not watched TV in Malaysia for a long time, and no we do not have Astro either)

There are some which shows simple exercises, like for those who wish to reduce their belly, like shown above. They would invite either some health expert or fitness instructor, and a member of the audience, or some celebrity would try to follow the steps.

The one they were showing tonight was hot yoga. Nothing fancy, just simple ones that you can do in the comfort of your home, for perhaps 10-15 minutes or so. Considering my lifestyle, any exercise is better than nothing!

These 2 shots are not exactly exercise programme like the earlier one, but a talk show which showcases Japanese wives married and living abroad. In this instance, it's the wife of Billy the famous fitness guru, who is shown here as part of the gym member! The audience in the show are invited to try to follow the moves on the video too (top left).

There are also language lessons, different ones for each day of the weekday. I think these were taken on a Tuesday. German lessons after Mandarin lessons. Of course, I'm trying to learn Mandarin now that it's worse than my Japanese.

My usual programmes are cooking lessons, though I never jot down any of the recipes lol! Maybe after watching many of these I'm hoping the tips would be immersed unconsciously and emerge as ideas one day.

NHK does a great job showing all sorts of educational programmes on their channel. If I had all the time in the world, I'd love to actually practice some of these : cooking, sewing, craft making, linguistics, gardening, exercise, and even singing.

If you're interested in other similar self development programmes, there are more tips here : http://www.nhk.or.jp/kurashi/

day 8 : coloured hearts

一月一日のプレゼントは最後のです。ちょっと悲しけど、ゆっくりで明けました。人形の封筒の中にもう一つ透明な封筒があります。

「Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth - 3 John 1:2」

色々のハートの説明書も入ってます：
緑　：きよめられた心
青　：神の言葉がう注入する心
Purple : 女王の心
Yellow : 油注がれた心 anointing
Orange : 熱意（ねつい）の心 on fire!

本当に全部のプレゼントは意味があるの贈り物ですよね！よく考えたねドラちゃん～真に有難うございます m(＿ ＿)m