See yourself from little finger

Ok, today will be a very short blog. Exhausted. Just slept less than 4h last nite. Let my sister go to Hiroshima by herself today. Need to hv school and deal with a few things. I am goin off to main campus for sign up, after I finish this post. Yeah! Money. :P

Below is a short test. See your own little finger. By the length of each part as picture below, shows ur personality. ;)

Mine longest is the top, and shortest is the middle. How bout urs? (Oops, sorry, only in Mandarin, no time to translate today. Want an English version, let me know then. Or anyone of u would be kind enough to help me do the translate? Thanks. Oso thanks KFC for this forward)

Your strong point



Your weak point

My sister is coming to town :D

Yeah! My kakak (elder sis) will be arriving in Japan tomorrow morning. In another few hrs, she will be flying from KL. Must be very tiring for her oledi, as she has to keep changing flight this time (Kuching - Johor Bharu - Singapore - Kuala Lumpur - Kansai Airport), due to a cheaper ticket.

I am very eager to meet her up now. Oops... got to tidy up my room tonite. *Sigh* But nothing better than meeting up ur beloved family when u r far far away from home sweet home. Boy... I am very eager to c her, will sure be excited and get imsonia. Must be a lot of things she brings for me too then. :) I hope she made her specialty marble cheese cake for me. And mama hv time to make her Da Lu Dan (flavoured egg).

So, ff will be off from blogging this weekends. But I'll do some blogging on Monday. And be away for another few days again. There will be a lot of posts for info bout having fun in Japan then. :) I still hv a few posts to put on for my past trips. Ai yar~~ speed too slow.

Ok, have a nice weekends everyone.

Mata kondo ne. (c u next time).

Tata.

Okinawaya (1 Oct)

I went to Hamamatsu to meet Yuko in tat weekend. Took a bus on Friday evening, and reached there around 9pm. Very nice to be able to meet up with her again. :)

"Yang, I hv been thinking where to bring u for dinner. But confuse..." Heee... the usual Yuko when she has many choices.

"I think think think... 2 good places want to go. Okinawa food or Bali food... " She turned even more confuse.

"Which one Yuko want to eat more?" I was smiling and looking at her...

"Ei~to~ Both..." She turned to me... "Yang?"

"Let's hv Okinawa, didn't have it for a long time since the last time I went to Okinawa." I said.

"Yatta! (Great!) Okinawa then..." Heee... her confusion settled. "Tomolo Bali restaurant with Naomi then." Heee... she seems to hv the early plan on her mind oledi. Just tat not sure if I will like it or not. This gal has a very considering mind for others. :)

She brought me to a place called Okinawaya. I try to find the link to it, nope, can't get any. Guess it was a very local izakaya (Japanese style bar).

When we stepped in, everyone was looking at us like an alien. Hee... guess we dun really fit the atmosphere inside. With a lot of middle-aged men drinking. Only a few middle-aged ladies. And a few yellow hair young guys at the counter seat. Interesting. Heee...



Yuko n FF got seats at the counter. These 3 Okinawan things just displayed in front of me.



The left one was snake wine. U dun see this in other part of Japan except in Okinawa.



The middle one called Jimami. It's actually peanut. But I dun know wat so special bout this Okinawan peanut. Didn't buy to try.



I was thinking this a kind of spicy seasonings for adding inside foods, but Yuko was telling me it was Awamori sake (wine). Ee~ never know they put so much chili inside. No wonder it was spicy when I tried it last time.



The interior inside was nice and comfortable even though it was just a small building. A very typical type of conventional izakaya, but with a very strong smell of Okinawan air. :P



As appetizer, they gave us this peanut tofu. The texture was very good. Puri puri (don't really know how to explain this in English. It is a kind of soft and smooth texture with a sense of bounciness.). All the time, I thought the appetizer everytime we had in izakaya was for free, only until today then I realised it has been charged into our bill. Including the hand tower fee as well. No wonder last time when I brought my mum to izakaya, they charged me much more than I should hv paid. Ai ya~ how can I be so naive thinking tat it is free in Japan! :P Anyway, this peanut tofu was very good. Love it.



We ordered 3 dishes. First was this soumen chanpuru. Soumen is a kind of superfine noodle. In Chinese, we call it Mian Xian. Chanpuru means mixing. But an original mixing word in Japanese is 'Mazeru'. The word chanpuru actually as Malay word 'campur' which means mixing too. I learnt bout this when in Okinawa. In fact, the Okinawan cuisine taste very much like the South East Asia regions. So, I believe this 'chanpuru' word might be originated from the south too. Think it was for 480yen (~RM17)



We eat the soumen chanpuru with this chilli sauce. Wah~~ very spicy. But very good when u added some into the soumen. Yuko and me keep saying... "Ah~ karai... oishii..." (Wah! Spicy... delicious...) Hee... think the 2 gals might look sakai (a Sarawakian colloquial which means naive) to the other customers around. Yuko is very good in spicy food, me too... so the 2 gals have very similar taste in food.



The next one is my all time favorite Okinawan dish. Called fu chanpuru (mixing gluten curd). But this one was nothing I hv tried before in Okinawa. The chef was very smart in idea menu. He used egg in coating the fu. So when u eat the fu, u hv a fu texture and an egg flavour. I just love it sooo much. A new kind of experience in Okinawan food. Think it was for 680yen (~RM24).



Our last menu was another great surprise for me. Goya pizza (bitter gourd pizza). Genius idea! I must admit the chef made me really satisfied with this dinner. One of the best restaurant I hv ever been to. Not in the sense of anything else, but the food itself touched the inner of my heart. The first time my kandou no namida (tear of a be touched heart) omost came out for an izakaya.

Bout the taste? One of the best pizza I hv ever tried, the taste, the texture and the ingredients. Very cheap. Only 680yen for a generous portion like this.

It was a treat by Yuko. A welcome dinner for me she said. Think the whole dinner cost around 2500yen. Thank u very much dear, for bringing me there.

Shiawaseeee... :)

Lab Trip 2004 (26 Sept, Pt 2)

My god, when woke up yesterday morning n today, with a room like a freezer. Gosh! The weather suddenly just get so cold in one nite. Even use wool cap n gloves to school. But, now it is getting warmer, nice nice. :)

Ok, my last post for the lab trip 2004. :)

After the lunch, we decided to walk around Omihachiman area. We used ropeway to go up to Hachiman Yama. Up there got a temple and u can hv a good view of the Omihachiman city. When we came down, we decided to hv our nice tea time in Club Hare, western dessert part of Himure Village. It is belonged to Taneya, a very famous Japanese and Western sweets shop in Omihachiman.



This was how the out look of the Club Hare building. The place where we had our tea time.



We went to the back part of the building. It was a very westernized coffee house. I just love the garden, a bit like 'Alice in Wonderland', keep following the bunny.



Inside it, just beside the paying counter, had a layout of lovely cakes that inviting this kuishinbo to taste them. :P I was so confused of which one to choose, as everything just seemed to be so delicious. After waiting for 15 min, we got our place. But can't fit in 7 of us in one place. So 4 inside, and 3 outside. Mirian, Wang Hao and me were arranged to be outside, having a great time by relaxing on a splendid tea time. ;)



We were given a piece of this pistachio biscuit as tea time appertizer. Mmmm... I just love it. It was not sweet at all. A taste of saltiness, which bring out the nice crunchy flavour of this little piece. Arrrggg... I was so attracted by it that I bought 1 package home tat day. :P By the way, 1 piece for 30yen (RM1).



This good looking mont blanc ice cream was ordered by Wang Hao. I love the artistic layout of this plate. So cute. Mont blanc means white mountain. And mont blanc is one of the most favorite cake among Japanese during autumn especially, as it is the season for chestnust. Inside was vanilla ice cream. And surrounding with marron glace, meringue and chocolate sauce. The dessert itself was not too sweet. But Wang Hao was kind of disappointed with the vanilla ice cream inside. It was delicious, but just normal vanilla ice cream, nothing special. Heee... This plate was for 840yen (~RM30).



Mirian oso ordered a mont blanc, but a normal one. with cream and spongy cake inside, instead of ice cream. And no decoration around it. The cream inside was good. And it was much cheaper, 420yen (~RM15).



Hehe... a chocoholic like fish fish never will miss a good chance in having nice choco. S0 fish fish let go of the grape layer cake, and stick to her old choice, chocolate...

If this looks good to u, well... believe me, the taste is even much better than its look. A cute shape dark choco on top, followed by a firm but melt in ur mouth choco mousse, then in the middle, a hidden round choco gave u a surprise when u bitten one it unexpectedly. And finally, a cold choco ice cream taste like cake gave u another different kind of feel. I got 4 kinds of feeling by just eating one cake. :P Chou suki (super like). It was for 420yen, which I think really worth the value.



But hv to admit, the choco was kind of insufficient for ff. So, she ordered another favorite dessert of hers... creme brulee. Too bad, even though it was good, but didn't reach her expectation. Oh well, guess next time I hv to go back to the one I had try in USJ again. Think this was for 400yen++, forgot.



This is Mirian (left) and Wang Hao (right) after a good tea time.



We even found out 2 private rooms tat can be rented for tea time.



With a full stomach, we went to the front part of the building, looking for the famous baumkuchen. My... it was sure a long line for a cut of fresh baked baumkuchen. U can buy a packaged one too with a longer shelflife and cheaper price.



Here is the chef busy demonstrating how the making of baumkuchen. It was the first time I see people getting so serious in making cake. He was like handling with a very fragile artpiece.

See 2 round edges tat left after the long baumkuchen cut into pieces? Know wat happen to these edges? All will go into pig stomach. Yap, it is true, they use this for feeding high class pig. Hmm... I wouldn't want to think bout the price of these pork then.



This is wat people been crazy about in lining up for. Yap, a small cut like this for 210yen (RM7.50). Hv to say it was one of the best baum kuchen I hv ever tried. Very spongy and soft. Hmmm... a freshly baked version really do make a difference.



I saw this imopai (sweet potato pie). Lovely. So bought a long bar as omiyage for my host family. It was for ~470yen (~RM17). My host mama was telling me the taste was great. She really like it. :)



Opposite the Club Hare, is the Japanese sweets corner of Taneya, containing counters selling wagashi (Japanese sweets) and a Japanese teahouse for u to enjoy an authentic wafu(Japanese style) teatime. If u hv a sweet tooth for red bean, must try their most famous zenzai (Japanese style red bean soup).

Overall, the thing I enjoyed the most in this trip was the foods. Really hv a very relaxing time enjoying walking around and munching non-stopping. :)

Donation for Niigata Earthquake Victims

Just a short note here.

I mentioned bout waiting for the Niigata Earthquake donation to start. It started, saw in on NHK news last nite. It is called 新潟県共同募金会. It started on 25 Oct 2004, will end on 31 Dec 2004. So hello fellow readers, especially those who stay in Japan, if u r affordable, would appreciate if can help a bit. Thanks! :) Very easy actually, I went to the post office, all I hv to do was just fill in one form, with the info bout the money u want to donate, to who, from who. Tat's all. And no extra charge. Oh, btw, I printed out the whole piece of the info from here and just bring it to the post office. :P

Thank you for the attention.

Lab Trip 2004 (26 Sept, Pt 1)

Stayed with the others eating and chit-chating till omost midnite. We woke up in the morning with a very fresh air. But the sky was kind of a cloudy. I woke up earlier than Mirian n Wang Hao in my room, took a good ofuro (Japanese style bath) and went outside for a morning short walk.



A morning Yogo Lake was very quiet, and yet full of beautiful sounds around. The sound of morning birds tweeting, early autumn breeze blowing and woods leaves whispering. Ah~~ ur mind just got blank and think nothing else.



Then, I went back to the villa to hv breakfast with the others. This was the normal meal set. With fish, ham and potato salad, pickles, half boiled egg, natto, nori (seaweed), Japanese style cold salad, rice and soup. This was a typical Japanese style breakfast.



As for me, omost the same except tat i dun hv the fish n ham. But was given mushroom pickle tat cook with miso paste. Very nice. I like it. Ate a lot of rice again with tat. Gosh! Dun want to think bout the calories intake for these 2 days.



After the breakfast, we hv another 30 min before depature. So, with a few gals in my lab, we walked along the lake again. This pic was taken in another corner beside the lake.



Then, the villa bus sent us to the nearest station to take train to our next destination. While waiting for the train to come, we strolled around for a short while. I like this paddy field tat just being cut not long ago. Spacious place like this seldom can be seen in Kyoto.



We then took another 1.5 h train journey to our next destination called Omihachiman. A famous riverside district and full of old time shops. We went to a place call Maruyama Suigo Meguri for taking a boat ride along the river. It costs 8400yen (~RM300) for 6 people an hr.



It was Sunday, so the business was quite good. Keep bumping into other boat that bring passengers. "Konnichiwa!" Everyone greeting like this to other boats.



On the way back to the harbour, we saw a group of energetic old folks having a painting session. :) If only when I am old, I hv money, energy and time to do the things I like as them...

After the boat riding, we went to our lunch place. It was a restaurant selling famous beef, Omigyu (Omi beef), one of the 3 most famous beef in Japan. The cafeteria named Senrian was in a shops area called Akindo no Sato. Our lunch set cost 2100yen (~RM75) per person.



Mine was a tempura lunch set.



The main dish definitely tempura. :) Assorted vege tempura. Very generous portion. And very good taste too.



Lisa, my junior in my lab who incharged of the trip asked the restaurant dealer to provide me one more dish. :) It was the red konnyaku tat I mentioned yesterday. Hmm, I like the taste of this better when they mix with the black sauce on top. Good to go with rice.

My, I was very full... bloated indeed after I finished the whole meal.



For those who chosen beef set, 2 choices. First was this Sukiyaki lunch set.



Main dish was this sukiyaki pot. Very red beef. Didn't take a picture of the cook version. But for Sukiyaki, the sauce was sweet, and u eat by dipping into raw egg. I tried a bit of the sweet sauce... hmmm... just not my style.



Majority chose the 2nd menu. Teppanyaki (hot plate) lunch set. A white cube on the hot plate (top left) was the beef fat. Replace butter or oil for doin the hot plate cooking. Cholesterol!



As u can see on the place, there was only very stingy 4 pieces of Omi gyu. If u buy from the fresh market, usually it is 420yen (RM15) per 100g for the cheapest category of Omigyu. The most expensive one is 1890yen (RM67) per 100g. I hv even seen in TV before introducing a kind of super expensive beef, a type of Kobegyu for 10,000yen (~RM356) per 100g. "Eat gold ", I say.



Heee... see the big group of my lab people enjoying their smoky lunch? Everyone was saying the beef was excellent, but everyone was complaining stomach still hungry even after the lunch. So, they still go around looking for food in the next destination after this high class beef lunch. ;)

Lab Trip 2004 (25 Sept, Pt 2)

We reached a national guesthouse called Yogokosou (Yogo Lake Villa). It was oledi omost 6pm. Our bus moved along the Yogo lake, very beautiful scene. Feel like in another world. Mind gets into a very relaxing situation.



This was the long dinner desks where we sat. Got 2 rows. It seemed like all the gals get to a row, and so do the guys. :P



Our kaiseki (banquet dinner) was in a big room. This was a part of the layout for other members who hv normal menu. Each member meal cost 4500yen.



Mine was a vegetarian meal. See a grilled fish lay out for me too? They made a mistake. Later they took it away and replace with something else.



And this was for Hayashi sensei little son, Dai chan. Kid's menu. Cute. But I dun think a small boy can finish it all.



We have 4 types of appertizer. Mine were mushroom, sweet potato, small taro and pumpkin.



The normal version had 4 types too, but I dun know wat was wat. :P



For nabemono (hot pot), the normal version had a generous portion of pork.



Whereas mine was generous in vege and mushroom. Very nice taste. But the portion sure a big one for 1 person, counting the keeps coming up menu later on.



For sashimi (sliced raw fish), they had assorted nice fresh seafood.



I got a very healthy bowl of boiled koyatofu (dried tofu) with kinoko (mushroom), okura (lady's finger) and ninjin (carrot). This was a very mild taste. Which really suited my taste bud.



The fish menu I mentioned just now, was a yaki sake (grilled salmon) with benishoga (red ginger).



They replace mine with a very big plate of Chinese style stir fried vege. I love the capsicum and asparagus inside. Goes very well with the sesame sauce. It was a very nice hot place. Yummy Yummy! I ate a lot of rice with this. :P



For tsukurimono (decorated meal), I dun know what they hv. A combination of few foods make into a colourful cubes. Guess somekind of ground fish or meat maybe.



But I do love mine. Agedashi tofu (deep‐fried bean curd in a light savory sauce) with a topping of mushroom and grated radish cooked with shoyu (soy sauce). The tofu was very soft, and the mushroom still left a lite crunch when bitten. :)



Ah~~ finally my favorite tempura was served in the middle of the dinner. It is a normal pratice for a banquet like this, so that the guests can hv a maximum nice taste of a freshly fried tempura. ;) The pic shown here was for normal meal, with prawn, fish n some vege.



And mine was vege and mushroom tempura. I must say I love this one so much. The shimeji and maitake mushroom... I just love it. Totemo oishikatta yo (It was very delicious!)



When our dinner omost came to the end, one of the master 1st year student who incharged the trip did some performance. See the cute pic? It was his product. He was talking bout story of our ex-senior who had some incident during the research. Ai yar~~ poor frog.



Everyone of us then has a bowl of hot steamed egg with assorted ingredient inside. Mine again, meat omitted.



The takikomigohan (rice steamed with assorted things) for a banquet owez serve in the end... we had kinoko (assorted mushroom) takikomigohan...



With akamiso shiru (red miso soup).



And ended the whole series with a cute little dish of sliced orange and kiwi.

Wow!! FF finished all the food of hers, which most of the gals can't. :P Yappari kuishinbo ya na~~ (You see... I am really a greedy pig).

Overall, we felt very manzoku with the menu served. Not only the portion and variety, but oso the great taste. :)