Update on the ramen burger-hubby tried it!

So, my husband and I went to Youme Town (pronounced "you may" town) which is a shopping mall and there is a Lotteria there so he decided he wanted to give the ramen burger a try. We ordered and this is what was delivered to us at the table.

There was a "burger" and a dish of ramen soup with some veggies and pork.

 It states that you can dip your hamburger into the soup.

But hubby got a bit frustrated and ended up just pulling some noodles out

of the burger, putting them in the soup and eating them that way.

 

He said the soup tasted good but the "burger" was just odd and trying to dip it was difficult. He gave it a 2 thumbs up but I really think he was just happy to have something in his stomach as he was starving! He said later that he probably wouldn't order it again.

Homemade Gluten Free Okonomiyaki

Lately I've really been into cooking and baking and so I decided to make some gluten free okonomiyaki and the sauce for it. Okonomiyaki is kind of a savory pancake. We eat the "kansai fu" which means "Osaka style". We took some pictures.....but they aren't great as they are taken at night in the kitchen. Also, if you click on the links within the recipes, it will take you to some sites that sell the items you need to make it. We aren't connected to these places in any way and haven't used these brands but it will give you an idea of what the items are.

This makes a big okonomiyaki-good for 1 really hungry person or 2 or more people.

I made the sauce the day before (all store bought sauce has gluten in it).

The sauce:
1/4 cup ketchup
1 1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon soy sauce (gluten free)
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon mirin (Japanese sweet cooking wine)
1/8 teaspoon ginger (ground, in a jar)

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and simmer for 1 minute or so stirring constantly. You can add honey for a sweeter version or a bit more soy sauce if you find it too sweet. Remove and cool. Store in the refrigerator.



The "pancake" part of the recipe:
1/2 cup Pamela's baking and pancake mix
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1 large egg
1 cup of water
about 2 cups of cabbage cut into bite size pieces (I didn't measure this so it is a guess)
6 pieces of raw shrimp cut into pieces
3-4 pieces of "buta bara" (buta bara is thinly sliced pork belly-You could use another kind of pork-thinly sliced bacon perhaps) Here is a picture.

Toppings:

sauce (see recipe above)
aonori-ground nori (seaweed)
Japanese Mayonnaise (American mayonnaise won't work for this)
katsuobushi (dried shaved bonito fish)

Cut up the cabbage into bite sized pieces and put aside for the moment. In a big bowl,combine the flours, water and egg and stir well.

In a big (lightly oiled) frying pan, lay the meat out in strips and then add the shrimp on top. The heat should be medium. Add the cabbage to the bowl of "pancake" mix and mix well. Pour this mixture on top of the meat and shrimp. I then covered the pancake with a lid. Just like a pancake...when the top has bubbles or is getting a bit dry looking and the bottom (you can check with a spatula) is turning a nice golden brown you can flip it over. Now, this is a big heavy pancake-I can actually flip it (thanks to a few years of being a cook in a restaurant back in high school!) but if you can't you will have to try to flip it over with a spatula.....if it break apart don't worry about it as it will still taste great! Let it completely cook on the other side. You can cut into it to check that is cooked through if you aren't sure. When it is done, put it on a plate.

Add the sauce on top-I like a nice bit of sauce so I add a fair bit. Then sprinkle the aonori on top. Then add the mayonnaise and then the katsuobushi and it is done!! My hubby loves this better than the real stuff so I'm pretty happy with that!

Crazy Japanese Beauty Gadgets!

WARNING: Breasts and nipples will be shown in this post so if that offends you, please skip this one!

I'm sure most if not every country has interesting/crazy gadgets and doodads for losing weight, getting toned, cleaning your house, fixing broken items etc. Japan is no different! One thing though...they have some crazy (in my opinion) beauty gadgets.

I found these ads in very popular catalogs called "Belle Maison" (yep...they love French as much as they love English!) and "Dinos" which are kind of like a Sears catalog for you North Americans.

Let's start with the nipples! Don't like the color of yours? Don't like the wrinkles around your nipples? No problem! Just apply "Top Peach" et voila! Light colored, non wrinkled nipples!

Do you have a "dango bana" (means dumpling nose-see below-the nose without the gadget)? You can get a nice high straight nose if you use this contraption!

Are you cheeks and jowls droopy? Not if use this! Just 10 minutes a day and all droopiness will vanish!

Do you furrow your brow and the lines don't quite go away anymore? Do you have big wrinkles across your forehead? Roll them away with this!

Are those bags under your eyes weighing you down? Not anymore!! Add batteries and apply for 3 minutes a day. Heat and micro currents will kick those bags to the curb!

Does your face need all over toning? Wish you could train your face not to droop! There is an answer! Just apply the "lift patch pro" to different parts of your face and watch your face get whipped into shape!

Roll, roll, roll your way to a more toned and shapely face! As your roll this across your face (and apparently anywhere), the rollers gently lift your skin and the micro currents help keep your shape!

How many women actually use these? I have no clue but they are available in many catalogs!!

Would you pay to hang out in a restroom in a train station?

I'm thinking this might be another "only in Japan" idea but apparently it is a popular one. The West Japan Railway Company (JR West) in Osaka opened a ¥300-per-hour toilet service called Angelbe back in 2007 after hearing complaints from women that there was no place to do their makeup or kill time while waiting for the train. In this spa like restroom you can enjoy tea, learn makeup tricks and even shop for lingerie. It has become so popular that now big brands are sponsors and Panasonic will bring in a professional hair stylist to show women/girls how to use their new hair product that is just being launched. And Wacoal is going to have a fitting event for lingerie. Here are some pictures.

So...what do you think? Would you pay about $3 to hang out here?

A Perfect Mix-Matcha And Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!! I blogged previously that carnations are the kind of normal flower/gift for mom but since I hate carnations I just couldn't give my mother-in-law any. So, we looked around on line for something fabulous and we found this wonderful site that makes everything with match (ground green tea leaves). We had so many things to choose from:

A matcha set

A roll cake with matcha and fresh cream.


A New York style matcha cheese cake

A sandwich cookie made with butter cream, matcha and raisins.

Matcha daifuku-sweet beans with matcha in mochi (rice cake)

We decided on this set since there were lots of things included

This set includes: matcha chocolate, matcha daifuku, matcha pudding, cookies and dorayaki (a pancake like sandwich filled with sweet beans and matcha). We are sure his mom is going to be super happy!!

Things I didn't know about Japanese baseball

So, I'm watching baseball while eating lunch (not my choice I might add) and I realize that the Giants have 4 foreigners on their team. This is not allowed for Japan has a rule that teams may only have 3 foreigners on their team. But it turn out that the guy in the picture, Alex Ramirez, is considered to be Japanese-at least when it comes to baseball. Apparently there is another rule that states that if a foreigner has been here for 10 or more years, he is considered to be a Japanese baseball player rather than a foreigner baseball player.

So...we are eating sushi and watching the game and it looked like Alex hit a home run and my honey was getting all excited as the camera followed the ball. We couldn't quite see where the ball went but finally my honey said...."ah too bad he didn't hit it". I'm like "hit what?" It turns out that if a baseball player hits one of the advertisement billboards that are located high up around the stadium not only did he get a home run but the company advertising on the billboard he hit would give him $10,000. I asked why of course and he said that normally people watching the game on TV never see the advertisers on those boards so if a player hits a home run, they replay that over and over again which is kind of like free advertising so it is their way to say thank you to the player.

Does this happen in any other country? Do advertisers give money to players who hit their boards?

Bentos And Blogs

As you probably know I have 2 stores and one of them sells bentos. I recently started advertising on a bento blog called "Adventures in Bentomaking". She is also doing a series of reviews of some of my products. I love this because people can see the products "in action" so to speak. To read the review of the "food toppers" I sell, please click on the picture.

If you like "bentoing" or just like looking at fabulous pictures of great (and cute!) food you will love her blog!!

We got married!! And other updates.

It has been 2 weeks since I last blogged and there are many reasons for it. The 2 main ones are that we got married yesterday and I've been working on opening a new etsy store which I just opened today.

Now before you all think we did some big wedding thing....we didn't. What we did was go down to city hall and "register". See...I have never wanted a big wedding. I don't like weddings. I didn't go to my brother's or my best friend's wedding. I haven't been to a wedding in over 20 years. Don't ask me why but I just don't like them. Thankfully my honey didn't want a big wedding and with my family and friends scattered all over Canada and the States and his family here in Japan it just got a bit complicated so we made it as simple as possible....we just "registered".

You might be wondering what "registered" means....I mean if you go to city hall in Canada you are getting married. But the thinking is a little different here (this is my take on it...someone else might have a different perspective about getting married in Japan). First the ceremony is basically a big party here....the white dress, the flowers, even the person performing the ceremony (oh and in Japan it is often a foreigner who is just pretending to perform the ceremony-guys can make money doing this and yes...it is legit) have no meaning because until it is "registered" at city hall you aren't married. I told my friend "I'm getting married" and he asked about the "wedding" and I said that we were going down to city hall to get married and he said "oh...you are just registering".....as if I were buying a clunker of a car instead of a BMW. Ummm....Hello?!!! Without "registering" you aren't married so....I'm getting married!!!

I told some of my older female students and one of them told me that her daughter "registered" 2 months ago but they aren't sure when they will have the ceremony. I said to my student that it means she is married and she looked a bit surprised and said "yes, I guess so."

So, yesterday my honey, my friend Phee (hi Phee!), his mom and I went to city hall to "register". We had already filled out many forms at home but we still had a few things to clear up when we got there. First it was important to know if I was "choujyo" which means first born daughter....I am so we circled that (still not sure how that is important). Then we had a piece of paper put in front of us that was about the "head of the household". See he moved in with me so I was the head of the household but once married it is assumed that the man would be the head....well.....we looked at each other and said we'd keep it just as it is .....I mean does it matter? But because we didn't change the title "head of the household" to him, we had to wait extra time while they changed his health insurance card so that my name would appear on his card since I'm the head of the house. I am pretty sure his mother wasn't too impressed that we didn't change it but hey....that's what we wanted!

So...we are now officially married! I called my mom after and she cried! (Hi mom!!) Hope she is ok now. So all day today I've been joking with my honey that I'm the boss since I'm head of the household and he keeps telling me that my butt is his because it is registered!

The other news is that I have opened my new handmade etsy shop called SouZouCreations. I'm a little nervous to do this because it is totally different from selling supplies. I mean if someone doesn't like a sticker sheet I don't take it personally because, after all I didn't make it. But if feels much much more personal (obviously) with this store. SouZou means both "creation" and "imagination" in Japanese and the Kanji (Chinese character) on my banner means SouZou. I have always loved making things so I now have a place I can sell them!

Sticker Giveaway!

We are having a sticker giveaway....check out my other blog here for more information! Good between Sunday, January 18th and Wednesday, January 21st 2009 while supplies last!

The Eggnog was a hit!

I know what you are thinking....eggnog!! You might want to say something like...."hey lady....Christmas is over!". So the story goes like this.....Ever since I got here (10 years ago!) every December I have talked about eggnog and how much I missed it. I wished that my mom could send me eggnog (no....I can't make eggnog) but that was impossible.....until 2007. My mom discovered that the President's Choice company started packaging it in such a way that it didn't need to be refrigerated so she sent me a bottle in December 2007 to try. It was great! (if you have never tried any President's choice products....try them...they are fab!!). So, in November I asked my mom to ship me a case....12 -1 liter bottles via seamail. It took longer than normal so I only got it on Sunday. So all this week, I have been letting students (ok...only my favorite students) taste it. They LOVE it! The 2 girls above each got a bottle as a late Christmas present. These girls....what can I say....I LOVE them. They love trying new things and

after I gave them their bottles they were hugging them, caressing them, telling me the shape was cute and was thrilled that not only was there English on the bottle but French too! They were so cute that I just had to post this picture and story!

Cute characters at the supermarket!

We went shopping today. Actually we go shopping almost everyday but today we also went to the supermarket as we had pretty much run out of food! In the fruit and veggie section we found some rather cute characters!

I'm thinking these kinds of things are only in Japan?!

We also went to get some more Hannari tofu cushions and we saw these Hannari Tofu ATMs!

How cute are those!!! And speaking of cute.....I took some pics of one of my little student's baby sister...I could eat her up she is so cute!! The whole time she is there she says "kore wa?" "kore wa?" as she points at things. It means "what's this?" In the first pic she is trying to make the peace sign!