Adventures in Asian Cuisine

Jp and I took a little trip to Richmond to visit the Japanese Dollar store called Daiso because I needed to get something from there that I haven't been able to find elsewhere. It's a little over an hour to drive there and so we decided to enjoy the food court in the mall, Aberdeen Center.  This area has a large population of Asian people and there are many 'authentic' restaurants to choose from. Many store signs in this area are written in Chinese or Korean (or other) languages and is almost like a very large "chinatown' that is common is many large cities.

At the food court I decided to try a rice dish with beef  and Jp tried a bowl of congee (it's like a rice porridge). He had heard people refer to congee many times as comfort food.

Unfortunately my dish came with the parts of beef I don't like to eat - tripe, lung, liver etc. And Jp's bowl of  congee tasted like a big bowl of wall paper paste - we have no idea how that can be comfort food for anyone. Usually we are pretty open to new foods and do like a wide range of food but I suppose  this was just too "authentic" for us. I had to throw my bowl  away and bought a bowl of lemongrass chicken soup from the Vietnamese restaurant which was absolutely yummy.  We were both disappointed  that we chose so badly on the Chinese foods.

We did have a successful shopping trip at Daiso and then went home to have some good old fashioned American hot dogs - that's our comfort food.

Photo credit: congee

I forgot to tell you, when we were in Vancouver a couple of weeks ago, I found a shop that was selling Japanese books and found several terrific craft books, at a very good price! Look what I got!

Usually when I've been in Richmond, they want around $25 for the littlest craft books and so usually I just don't buy them, but this place had very reasonable prices $7 - 15 is much better than $25 - $45!

The nice thing about the Japanese craft books is they do include a fair amount of english in them and have very good illustrations. (It would be nice to know someone who could translate them to me though.)

Now to find time to make what is in them!

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Speaking  of making things, I was asked by a photographer to make some props as she specializes in newborn photos, first up on the list - elf-type hat with a long tail! Stay tuned for other fun adorable little items:

This one is pea green and cream, I can't wait to see in on a little one's head - can't you? 

Making Bread While the Sun Shines

We just got the cutest kitchen appliance - a Zojirushi Home Bakery! It makes little 1 pound loaves of bread - perfect for the two of us, and little cakes, and pretzels and cookies, and pizza dough and even makes jam!

(Isn't it tiny?  And it has a handle so you can take it places!! I)

It's the perfect size for our small kitchen and it makes a 'half' loaf which is perfect for the two of us. I am having a wee bit of a problem getting the loaf to rise to the correct heigh - it might be because it's cold outside(and/or the water's too cold), or maybe our humidity. I did buy fresh bread flour, powdered milk and fresh yeast. I've tweaked the recipe a bit and I'm about to make another loaf. MMmmm, I miss the smell of homemade bread. Bread machines were so popular for a while, but I don't hear anyone talking about still using them. The only person I know who regularly bakes bread is my brother who is a  fantastic home-chef. 

Last night is snowed about 4 inches and that's fine by me since I didn't need to go out today anyway. The dog had a great time fetching her ball - she would run and then pounce where it landed except she'd slide and send the ball flying and then she'd lose the ball. It was quite funny, too bad I didn't have a camera with me this morning. 

I hope you're having a wonderful Saturday afternoon. 

I'm doing better, thanks

Thanks to some great counselling sessions with my brother, and doing some 'home study" I am feeling better. I went to my doctor to find out if some of the things I was feeling were physiological, physical or what. He did requisition some tests for me to get.

Also we had a gas technician come by our house and look at our gas fireplace - because we were getting carbon build-up on the outside of the unit. He said that we most likely were also getting carbon monoxide escaping. That's also scary and may have been the cause of some of my winter headaches. He's coming back in a few days to fully clean up and get 'er nice and efficient for next winter. One more thing off the list. 

We also buzzed into Vancouver on Saturday and did some shopping at Mountain Equipment Co-Op as I was looking for a new rain jacket ( we sure need that these days). On the way home we stopped for Japanese food. I've been eating sushi for 20+ years but had stopped lately because the food in the last couple of restaurants we had been to had no flavour. Have you noticed that too? So instead, we had been enjoying the local Vietnamese restaurant which has wonderful, flavourful food. Anyway this restaurant  was very good. So good I can't wait to go back. And there was plenty of food for the price as well.  

So all in all, I'm trying to stay positive, and to stay present and not let work things get to me. I'm doing more yoga and working more on my dance. Being physical really seems to help . And,thanks for your support and care, I so much appreciate it. I hope you had a great weekend too. 

Oh I like this one too - Hanamatsuri

Did you know... that today is Japanese Flower Festival (Hanamatsuri) Day?This Japanese festival celebrates the birth of Siddhartha Gautama. "Hana" means "flower" in Japanese, and "matsuri" means "festival," so Hanamatsuri means "flower festival."

You can read more here and here. 

Daiso Fun

Yesterday I drove Jp to the Vancouver Airport but as we drove, it became obvious that I was not going to turn around and jump into the long line-ups, if you're familiar with Vancouver then you will understand that I wasn't too eager to be part of this: Hwy 99 backed up from the Oak Street Bridge to the tunnel.

So I hit Yaohan Centre and Daiso (sorry Carol and Cynthia).

The main reason was to get some little lunch boxes/bento boxes for my brother. You see every Wednesday he caters lunch to my sister-in-law and her staff at the office. He's always coming up with some creative ideas including buzzing a loaf of warm bread up the office on his scooter. We thought it would be fun to get some little Japanese lunch boxes, so I picked him up a selection of boxes and bags and other little ornaments, and sauce containers etc. I forgot to take a picture before I wrapped it all up for the post, but perhaps he'll share a finished lunch photo with us.

Here are some of the items I picked up for myself:

I can't speak Japanese and I totally respect people who can speak/read/write more than one language but I very much enjoy the translations on the packages, how about these:
- Useful cute pattern sticker
- Sewing sweet holiday - what shall we make?
- Funny Stamp. What a cute & fun shape. The design of this shape is as bellows. Please it never licks and do not put it in the mouth though ink is harmless.
- This item is an eraser. Pay attention never children put it into the mouth
- Do not put sharp stuff into it,it may cause breakage. If got dirty, hand-wash it with neutral detergents and dry well. Avoid using drying machine. Spread out and dry well in the shade.
- Only use for writing instrument. The dropping or throwing of pen may cause ink leakage. Avoid ink contact with clothing - hard removal and causes of discoloration.

Nothing too hilarious, but still fun, no? 

Thrifting Finds - Pucca

Recent thrift store find, this Pucca mug:

I already had the earrings and necklace (not from a thrift store).

If you like Japanese style art, you might like Pucca, she's Korean, and so adorable

Spring Break (for who?)

Last week, Jp had to be out of town, so the kid and I drove him to the airport. It was the kid's spring break so it was going to be just me and him for a couple of days. He promised "you won't even know I am here." But I did. How can I not? He was happy, he was silly, he played with Eco - a lot - the poor dog must really be missing him now that he's back at school. It was all good.

On Friday, I supervised while he made butterscotch chip cookies. This is the first time, he's baked  by himself - everything  by himself, except I took the cookie sheets from the oven. He measured and mixed everything. He even cracked the egg. I just stood by and gave verbal instructions and passed him the ingredients to be measured.

After the baking was done, we headed to Aberdeen Centre in Richmond for a trip to Daiso, Candyland,  Voodoo Palace (where he scored 4 dolls for the price of 2- including this voodoo dog because it reminded him of Eco) and Gacha Gacha which sells toys in vending machines that you needed tokens for. He said that was the first time he enjoyed shopping. And then raced to the airport to pick up his dad who was just getting his luggage when we walked in. He was so awestruck by the mall and the people, it was such a new experience for him.

So the kid got a bit of an adventure and had lots of fun new candies to try out - mochi, and cola Chupa Chups and little Hello Kitty marshmallows, plus a whole bunch more. I should have taken a photo and a bunch of it's already gone!