Eating, Meeting, Mighty, Money

I went to Japan to see my family in May.   I left Japan 20 years ago.  The price of the food is really affordable if you choose. For breakfast, I had rice, miso soup, salmon, and pickles set for only 500 yen or so, I bought a ticket at the machine and gave it to the lady who works by herself cooking, serving, clean up, doing everything! There were at least 8 customers including me. She was working hard. at 8:00 AM it was the peak time serving for guys before going to work. After everybody left, I told her, "You were doing all by yourself, what a hard worker you are!"  I didn't take a picture of the food. Too bad. On the other hand, expensive food like this one a cake for 780 yen 810 yen with tax exists. It was good though. Potato cake (heavy and filled me up)  I stayed at Shizuoka where Mt. Fuji is, and also my family. In Tokyo, I stayed at Shin Okubo (near Shinjuku). This area is a Korean town in Tokyo. I booked at booking.com the rat...

I read a buzz about Marie Kondo's Netflix show so I watched the first episode yesterday. Marie Kondo is very famous in Japan and she's called "Konmari" in short. I've read her book once or twice and I tried her method, (don't ask me if it worked or not) but after I've watched it, and I actually wrote about her book 3 years ago and I totally skipped the most important thing she's talking about. "Does it spark joy or not for you?" I have watched the first episode with a young couple with two little adorable children in a beautiful house. Their house doesn't look so bad but got a lot of junk. Before starting tidying up the house, Marie Kondo sits down on the floor in the house and greet to the house, like meditating. Then, take out all the clothes you have and put into one pile Next, take the clothes one by one in your hand and see if that particular thing spark joy or not. If not, you say "thank you" and say goodbye. ...

I have a little gardening space in front of my apartment. I planted tomatoes, watermelon, but the soil is poor, and space on my side is shady, I planted flowers but they would not grow another flower bulb or just withered. I wanted to try "Cartonbox Compost" I read in Japanese. It's a compost system made in a carton box so it doesn't need big space, you can put fruit rind, peel, vegetable scraps, it's eco, environmental, so I tried. You need, 1) Carton box, you need one more layer of carton box at the bottom for the extra reinforcement. 2), 3) Peat Moss and Charcoal (ground) ratio 2:1 Espoma PTM8 8-Quart Organic Peat Moss Wakefield Biochar Soil Conditioner - Premium - 1 lb Bag 4) Mix with vegetable/ fruit/food waste and mix every day. 5) Cover with big t-shirts the box to prevent bugs to get inside. 6) Put the box on an upside-down basket or grates for the airflow under the box. in 2-3 weeks, the compost is ready! You are supposed to use ...

Shop early for the Halloween Costume Halloween is coming soon. I just went to Costco and Target with my 7 years old daughter. She is not in a "Princess Phase" anymore. Last year, she became a wonder women, this year, she wanted to be Jojo Siwa, or something cute and scary but Costco didn't have her size already! She took a witch costume but she didn't click on it so we went to Target. I was surprised her size was out already, I didn't ask the store so not sure if they are really out or not, but my daughter wanted to buy the Descendant costume and wig. We went home and try out but she didn't like it, so we went back to exchange for target brand (hyde and eek) Magical fawn costume. It's not a princess but it's cute and girly. Time to put on last year's costume on eBay I tried posting on eBay for the first time. I just sold one Mario Brothers two listing still there. It's good to buy pre-owned because it's cheaper and better for the en...

A Japanese aura reader blogged about this book (in Japanese) so I wanted to read this. I'm Japanese too so honestly, it takes a long time to read in English for me. The Japanese bloger heard the book using Audible so I did the same thing too. I listened to it in a day! (8 hours) but I was doing something here and there at the same time so some parts didn't come into my head so I'm listing to it with my 12-year-old son. I forced him to listen to it with me 1 or 2 chapters a day. I like audible. The author himself was reading it. The real chapter and audible chapter is different and I don't know why. It was a really inspirational story. This young guy wanted to interview well known successful people like Bill Gates when he was an aspiring USC pre-med student, unsure with what he really wanted to do, and what to do, he decided to go on a quiz show, The Price is Right, which he has never seen completly and he won with his brief research and tactics at the spot! He got a...

French bread gets dried and hard just after a few hours if you left out, You might cut your mouth if you’re  eating this as it is but you can make the best French toast out of this! I mean I can’t eat other French toast anymore. About 1/3 of French toast Cut into slices Soak into the mixture of these 1egg 3/4 cup of milk (about 170 cc) 1 tablespoon of sugar cinnamon (optional) You flip the bread and coat with the mixture. Heat up the frying pan, put some oil, maybe some butter and cook for a few minutes each both sides. Put on the plates, enjoy with butter and powdered sugar. Non-Stick Frying pan

Salmon Teriyaki with rice, miso soup, vegetable This salmon Teriyaki is very easy. No marinade necessary.  First, mix these to make a sauce and set aside.  1 Tablespoon of Soy Sauce  1 Tablespoon each of water and sweet sake  1 Teaspoon of Sugar hint of grated ginger (optional) Heat up frying pan, coat with oil, Place the salmon, skin-side up in the pan. Cook until golden brown on 1 side. Turn the fish over with a spatula, and cook until it feels firm to the touch and the skin is crisp if desired. Add the sauce, cook till the sauce get a little thicker. Serve with cooked rice and enjoy! Here's Mirin (Sweet Sake) you can use white wine instead.