Winter Vacation!!

Good morning, everyone~. How have you been?

I am just enjoying my winter holidays♪ It is so cold and freezing this week, isn't it?

What can I share with you today... Uh!! We are making "hoshi-gaki" at my house. It is dry persimmons. They are said to be so healthy. We tied each end of a string on a persimmon, and we hanged out them outside. The astringent persimmons changed to the sweet dry persimmons! It is amazing!

I am looking forward to eating them. They remind me that it is winter.

It is the season of a cold and flu. Take care of yourself, everyone!

[108 words]

○ First mochi this winter! ○

In November, I had mochi, Japanese style rice cake for the first time this winter! I really love mochi!

We have a home bakery machine at home, and we usually make bread with the machine and have the bread for breakfast. It is really hot from the oven and too delicious to describe with words!

Furthermore, we knew the machine could make mochi too. How convenient and pleasant it is! We ate mochi with Japanese taste. For example, anko(bean paste), kinako(soybean flour), syouyu(soy sauce), and nori(laver). Mochi is almighty and can be delicious whichever it flavored with. It is good for breakfast and as sweets. I am really looking forward to having it this winter too!

However, you have to be careful about your weight. It is because mochi is made by crushing rice and you will not know how much rice you had. It seems to be less than fact.

Anyway, when you eating mochi, just enjoy the Japanese taste and natural sweetness!

[168 words]

○●たいやき●○

I had a delicious taiyaki!! One of my friends gave it to me. Taiyaki is a sweet with bean paste inside, and it is like a bream in shape. I think it could be said to be one of the Japanese tradition.

That taiyaki tasted so nice and so impressive! It smelled so nice too. I did not like taiyaki so much, but I was fascinated completely.

I heard that the name of the shop of the taiyaki is "sekai-ichi umai taiyaki". It means the most delicious taiyaki in the world, and I agree that!!

The common taiyaki in Japan include black bean paste, but they have not only taiyaki with black paste but also with white bean paste. Their taiyaki is 150 yen, and I think it is worth the price.

I will do try again!!

[138 words]

Tender Chicken with sauce!

I have forgotten to share a recipe that I like! I made a chicken saute with mayonnaise sauce. One of good points about this recipe is that this dish can be made of breast meat of a chicken, so it is so economical. Besides, this part of chicken with low fat helps you, when you want to eat meat while you are on a diet. Further more, this recipe is easy enough to make when you do not have time.

The ingredients are breast meat of chicken, starch, salt, pepper, mayonnaise, milk and wasabi.

First, cut the meat into the proper size and season the pieces with salt, pepper and starch. In this phase, the efficient way is to do in a small plastic bag. You can dust those seasoning successively.

Then, broil the meat in a pre-heated frying pan. Please cook the meat well-done. The point is putting the lid until the meats get well-done. Then, take the lid off and broil into the color of brown. The cooking of meat is finished.

As to the mayonnaise sauce, you can make it while you broil the meat. Put mayonnaise and wasabi in a small container. Then, mix them. If you would like, add a little milk and make the sauce smooth and mild.

Put the sauce on the meat. You must get hooked on the tender meat! Please try it!

[234 words]

Japanese Cuisine!

Hi, everyone. Today is the last day in this week! The weekend is coming!

Recently, I give vent to stress by eating. I know that it is not good for my health, so the least I can do now is trying to do some exercise twice a week. Today was one of those exercising days.

However, I think it is still important to care about meals. I think of Japanese cuisine as the best and the most healthy meals for Japanese people.

Today's dinner was Japanese dishes. The main dish was grilled fillet of the mackerel, and it was in pride of grease. We also had some food boiled and seasoned, and the dishes included something like toufu, pieces of konjak(konnyaku), napa cabbage, taro and some beans. It was seasoned with soy sauce.

Besides, we had rice, and brown(unpolished) rice. What a healthy food! It includes dietary fiber so much. Mo mother boiled it in a pressure cooker, not in a rice-cooker. This is important, I think!

Anyway, we had a good dinner and a good time. Besides, tomorrow is a holiday. I am really happy!

[190 words]

My turn to cook dinner !?

Good evening, everyone! I will talk about my routine in this semester.

I do not have as many classes as last year, and I have only one class on Tuesday and two classes on Wednesday. On Monday and Thursday, I have four classes. Especially, I have the lesson of the Japanese teaching course twice a week, on Monday and Thursday, so I go home late those days.

I have the large time on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then, my mother and I fixed these two days every week for my cooking day. I am to cook dinner twice a week. It is really good and suitable for me, because I feel every time when I want to make something good to eat for someone and especially, when my mother feels sick. Further more, I felt I should learn cooking when I stayed in California in U.S.. This routine in this semester will help me to learn how to cook!

Yesterday, that was Tuesday, I made Spaghetti carbonara and vegetable soup. It is my father's favorite. He enjoyed it with wine. Today, I made oyako-don, and my mother made ton-jiru and ohitashi. I like her dishes, and today's dinner was so good.

My father and mother do not say complain and always say "Thank you" to me, even when the dish tastes bad. That makes me happy and motivates me. I often made many mistakes in cooking, but I will trying! It will do good to me when I leave home, live by myself, and get married.

[260 words]

Total here = 2915 words

Favorite Fall Activity (＾▽＾)/

I love eating in fall! I always eating no matter what season it is, though. Ha ha! However, many fruits like peer and grapes and chestnut...are delicious in fall especially. I can not help enjoying them!

Besides, in fall, we have a good weather, not too hot and no too cold. I think it is a good season for sports and exercises. In second year in the university life, I do not have regular exercises so much. Then, I am thinking of starting exercise in my university's gym once a week with one of my friends.

What is more, fall is also a season for fashion. I love fall color, because they are rich and deep. I want to enjoy the colors!

It is not good for health to eat delicious foods only, don't you agree? I really think so. I would like to spend this fall in a joyful and healthy way!

[156 words]

The Season for Eating !

Ooh~, the autumn is coming. It is not too hot, and it is not too cold. I feel the autumn is coming from the winds, sky, clouds...

I like winter, so I am looking forward its getting cold.

Before that, however, it is autumn, and it is the season for eating! In fact, I had lost weight a little, at least I did not gain weight before I came to Japan from California. I was glad when I knew that, but now, I have already gained weight 3 kg in only 2 weeks after then... terrible. It is because of the amount of my meals, that is, rice.

I do not know which is better to enjoy eating or to feel stress from save meals for the ceremony next year. I know these choices are too excessicve. But actually, I can not save it... but I am happy. (＾▽＾)/

[148 words]

□■Rasks■□

I has forgotten to talkk about rasks of our bakery! If you are a university of KGU, you must have tried rasks. One pack is only 50 yen. It is suitable to your a little hungry.

There are various kinds of them. I think it depends on what kinds of bread left unsold, though I am not sure about it. But I think they did not buy those rasks before. In my opinion, it is very economical and environment-friendly... good thing, anyway. Many of them are made from French bread, but the one I tried last week is made from chocolatechip melon bread. It was delicious! The chocolate smell was good.

I want to say you to try them, but it depends on the timing, in fact. I'd like to have it again!

[135 words]

Cool!

It is so hot, no humid every day, isn't it? Look at this! This is a glass of shake, which we make and drink every morning. In order to get over this humid summer, you should try this!

The recipe is so easy. Here is how for three glasses. You need only one banana, half of a peach in a tin, milk, some ices. Then, put all of them in a blender and smooth. Pour it into your glass. That's all!

You can enjoy this summer more comfortably and smart. You must love it. Let's get through this heat!

[102 words]

● Blueberries ●

In our garden, a tree of blueberry beared fruit. As to the color, it is dark blue or dark purple. Fruits make us happy, doesn't it? I would rather gather or see them than eat them.

The blue berries refreshed us, but it gets more and more humid, doesn't it? Be careful not to suffer from summer heat!

[60 words]

○● Sweet Corn ●○

My friend gave us( my family and I) ten ears of sweet corn in the shuck from her own field.

Her family is farmers and raise many beef cattle. When I was a kid, I liked to watch cattle and give some milk to calves. There were so many animals, for example, cats, dogs, pigs, chickens. I did not like chickens so much, but I loved the other animals.

They have fields of corns for beef cattle and humans. Of course, the corns that she gave us are for humans.

They were so sweet and fresh, and the color, yellow was so bright. Besides, they are healthy. We boiled them, but roasting is also a good way. This food is in season. Why don't you try some this summer?

[130 words]

○茶碗蒸し○

Do you like tyawan-mushi? It is one of Japanese dishes. My mother likes it very much, and she is good at making it by herself. It was included in the menu of yeasterday's dinner. It tested so nice!

[40 words ― total 13305 words]

○ How to make SCORNS ○

Good evening, every one. How was it today? I gave a presentation in today's class. I spoke about
how to make scorns. This is true story, so please read it!

――Now, let's begin!


Good morning everyone. How are you? Did you have breakfast today? Or do you have breakfast every morning? How many people here do NOT have breakfast? (Could you raise your hand? Thank you.) It is said our body and brain work well, if we have breakfast in the morning.

Today, I’ll introduce a recipe of SCORNS to enrich your morning. Once you experience breakfast is pleasant, you must love it. If you already have it every day, you’ll enjoy more variety of breakfast. I often cut corners, that is, “tenuki” in Japanese, so this recipe I use is very simple. (My instructor advised me that I should have used expressions, like ‘skip’ or ‘simplify’.) Besides, scorns are easy to make, so please master it today. You can make them in 30 minutes or less. There are only 4 steps.

Before you start, you need to prepare ingredients. You don’t have to go to a supermarket. Here are them for about 12 pieces. You need 250g cake flour, four teaspoons baking powder, 50g unsalted butter or margarine, a teaspoon sugar, 70ml milk, 1 egg, and yogurt 50g. That’s all. Please don’t forget to heat the oven up to 190 degrees in this moment. It’s a key point of quick cooking. Time is money in the morning, so please devise for “tenuki”.

First, fill the bowl with cake flour, baking powder and margarine and mix them by hand until lumps disappear. You don’t have to shift the flour. After that, add sugar, yogurt, egg and milk. Add them and mix hard into one volume.

Next, put the whole dough on the counter. Knead it into a thickness of 3cm. If you flour your hands, it becomes much easier.

Then, hollow out with a small cup. Please flour your hands and the cup. Put on an oven tray with a cooking sheet. With a cooking sheet, washing the tray becomes easier.

Finally, bake in the pre-heated oven for about 12 minutes. They’ll smell so nice in several minutes. You must feel satisfied,

This is a plain and basic version. If you want some variety, please add bacon, cheese or chocolate chips, raisins.

That’s all. How was it? In summary, you only need to mix, knead, hollow out and bake in the oven. This recipe is simple, isn’t it? I have made in this way, so I hope you to enjoy it! If it doesn’t go right, please ask me. I’ll help you with pleasure.

Please try it tomorrow morning! Thank you!



――That's all. Thank you for reading!


[473 words ― total 13148 words]

Self-intro: THE Sharing

We are to give a presentation in next class(?), so we have to prepare our own power point. Today, I have made a power point about myself. I tried to share the information about some aspects of mine. It does not show all my aspect, but I included various information about me in it. I thought that it is difficult to post medias, because I had not posted the media like this, actually. However, some of my friends helped me to post it, and I could have it done! I could enjoy my own power point. I appreciate their helps. Thanks a lot!

[103 words ― total 12420 words]

● SaKuRanbo ●

Today, I will talk about "Sakuranbo", that is cherries.

My uncle, who is the younger brother of my father, had sent us cherries. He sand us various things, for example, mangos, "zouni", fishes, fresh prawns. This year was cherries. They are so lovely with read skin and packed in a box in order. Besides, they were ripen fully and looked so delicious. I liked them and ate a lot. They are really on season!

They smell so sweet, and they are different from American cherries, which are big and a little chewy. I like American cherries too. How about you? Which do you like Japanese sakuranbo or American cherries?

[109 words ― total 12181 words]

〇 Homemade Sweets 〇

Today, I went swimming again and swam 1 kilometers. There were many kids and the parents. It must be because it had been raining today.



After I came home, my mother was making dinner. She and I made a sweets together. It is a combination of tapioca and two kinds of "shiratama-dango", which is one of Japanese sweet. One of the two kinds is plane, and the other is green. Besides, we add Japanese "anko" and fresh cream. It is a compromise between Japanese and Western tastes. It tasted so nice!


I think every handmade food is the most delicious! I do not live alone and live with my parents, so my mother usually makes meals. I respect my friends who live alone. I think I should learn to cooking, especially to make meals! I want to challenge to make bagels next, but of course, I will try making meals.


[151 words ― total 11405 words]

BR1-11: From Curry to Rice

I read this weekend a book named "From Curry toRice~A Food Dictionary". It is too easy to read, I think. Of course, it is a story about various foods. It shows foods that start with the letters from C to R.

Let me give you some examples. The letter D is Doughnut. I sometimes make round doughnuts by myself, and I think the fresh ones are so good! E is Eggplant, and I love it. Eggplants are especially good as Tempura. F is Fig. It is called "ichi-zhiku" in Japanese, and I did not know how to say it in English. I will never this words! O gives olives. A tree of olives is in my garden, it is beautiful tree. As the last one, R is Rice. I think Japanese rice is the best and the most delicious in the world. When I come back to Japane after a travel, I especially feel so.

The valious foods also enrich our lives, don't you think so? You must agree with me!

[174 words ― total 10489 words]

Review 1-04 (Travel): Visit the land of Parisienne!

In this time, I would like to share the story of my travel with you. The most recent travel was to France in 2007. I think that I could understand a little why Japanese people long for Paris. Let me introduce three main points of this travel. The first of them is architectures, the second is scenery of streets, and the last is foods.

Needless to say, European countries have many heritages and they venerate those old architectures. There are also a lot of heritages in France. For example, France is very famous for Versailles Palace, Eiffel Tower, and the triumphal arch. There are also various are museums and galleries, and I visited three of them, Louvre Museum, Musée d'Orsay and Musee de l'Orangerie. I could see Venus de Miro, Victoire de Samothrace and Leonard de Vinci's Monna Lisa in Louvre. These are so famous arts, but I had not thought I could really see them! There are arts of Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne and Pablo Picasso in Orangerie. Arts of these artists can be seen in calendars. However, the architectures of museums are very impressive! Musée d'Orsay was an old station, and Louvre and Orangerie were Palaces before. I felt the dignity, which is not in recent cities in Japan. The most impressive architecture for me was Opéra national de Paris! It was really magnificent, and I got excited! There was its own mood, which is only there.

The second point is the scenery of streets, and I think this point fascinates Japanese. I found a florist’s on a street. I can not find a good expression, but it is stylish, isn't it? Even ceilings of the department stores are artistic! I think many Japanese people have a good image to Paris, which is stylish, fashionable, sophisticated, and so on, so these scenery of streets must please them and fit the image of Paris and France.

The last point is about foods. The meals of expensive restaurants may be delicious, but budget foods of small shops are very nice. I bought breads and sandwiches at the bakery named “PAUL” at the corner of the street many times. Besides, I would like to introduce macarrons as the specialty of France. They are very cute sweets, so your friends must be delighted with the souvenirs.

I really love to travel, and enjoyed this travel to France too. It was because I could visit the old architectures and streets. I think that to taste local foods is also the enjoyment of traveling. I hope that I will go abroad again someday! Please share the story of your travel with me!

[450 words ― total 8223 words]

Mango!

Last week, my mother visited Taiwan with tow of her friends. She says her trip was great! She told a story of her travels and showed me a lot of pictures. Besides, she had bought various things in Taiwan, and she give me souvenirs.

Talking of Taiwan, there are many mangoes. People eat a mango as is and on a shaved ice. It is a very tropical fruit, and it has a sweet scent all its own. The color of peel is red, but that of inside is bright yellow! How tropical! It is very delicious. Please try if you have a chance.

[103 words ― total 7416 words]