FOOD PORN - 8 - Tarako Cream Sauce

今週は疲れました・・・・I am too tired this week.. Too many things happen.. Mostly bad things happen to me. I have totally no time to sleep at all.

At least, today I am finally have time to cook something for myself.

As request challenge from my friends and another request for “No-Oil” meal. Here you go,

TARAKO CREAM SAUCE!!! タラコクリームソース

I am pretty tired today so I will just cut down some description haha

Ingredients are as follow:

Pasta

Button mushroom

Spinach

Tarako (or mentaiko if you want)

A little bit of cheese

Spice (I used white wine as well)

Raw cream (生クリーム)… oh god I don’t know how to say these in English lmao

So let’s start!

First of all just cut the ingredients to the proportion you like.

Then prepare the sauce, easy, just mix milk, salt, spice, tarako, little bit of white wine, and cheese together… BAM you get a nice looking white sauce

Then you start boiling the pasta, should take around 4-5 mins. During those time, because I am living alone and I have to take pics and check other stuff together, I use this time to start cooking the veggies.

Cook mushroom and spinach together using the water from pasta (of course you have salt in it), in this process, you can also use olive oil as well if you like.

Then when it looks good enough just put the pasta in.

CAREFUL though, mushroom takes sometimes to cook. If the mushroom is not cook yet, low down the heat of the pasta, or start boiling pasta later. Don’t worry about the spinach, it will shrink down to a really small portion.

You can have the heat on but very low, then after you see that the pasta and everything else mixed already, just dump in the sauce in the pan and mix them.

DONE! It is that easy right!?

Here is the complete of it. (the matter of decoration.)

I am totally satisfy with this meal. Totally.

If you are hungry after reading this post, I am sorry, but go eat! XD!!!!!!

- FOOD Restaurant PORN 1 - Jojoen

This is suppose to be in the Food porn section,  but I think I should make a new category for this special topic because the content will be about the restaurant I visited in Japan.

Today, I will introduce you one of the most high class and well-known Yakiniku (grill meat) restaurant in Tokyo. Almost all Tokyo Towner know this place.

JOJOEN (叙々苑)

I went here with my student I used to teach him during my tough college year.

It is not cheap…. At all…

The good side about this is that IT IS VERY DELICIOUS! One full meal with the mid-range menu will cost around 20000 yen at least (for 2 guys in this case) The customer service is high-class as well. You will be surprise on how good the place is.

Here is some of the dishes I had that day... Don't mind the price

Looks like a really normal beer but I really want to know what is this beer from.. It tasted realllllly good though!

Meat in the Jar! it came with variety of things in there.. 

The meat in the grill is way too awesome (You need to cut them into pieces later)

See the fat in the meat?!??!?!?!

It is chain store, so you can probably find this store at almost every major train stations around Tokyo.

MEATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT Om nom nom nom nom nom

If you are hungry after reading this post, eat something now! hehe

Doing business with Japanese people

The topic today is totally based on my vision and from what I have seen or experienced, not from any book or sites related to this. I will not be able to cover everything but only just what I could recall out of my head right now.

Business here in Japan is a very serious task. I do understand that business around the world is also very serious, but people here took it to the entire new different level.

So, what do I mean by different level?

They prioritize work before everything else in their life. Family, friends, boy friend, girl friend, pets etc.. They also get very very little money out of this even if you are manager class or even C class manager. How do they live out of this environment!? This is the question that I have been questioning myself this entire time while working in the Japanese company here.

Come to work early and get home really late is normal. I have heard from one of my friend’s friend that he has to get up at 4am every day, go to work at 6am and finish around 10pm. Uh?! Crazy right? But that is not for every company of course. I do think that it is because of the society forces its people to work this way.

As the first year employee, you will fully have to listen to whatever upper classmen tells you to do, or the company tells you to do. Basically you have no right to argue them. Working with the Japanese company, you especially have to watch out for the manner that they hold tight. If the company you are dealing with is fully Japanese oriented company, it might be a good way to fully understand or at least some important part of the Japanese business culture (yea, just search it up, should be planty online), or if your partner is some-what global company, then they might be a little bit flexible about it.

Here is something that I might have to warn though. The biggest thing that Japanese companies fear of when dealing with foreign company is language barrier. At the moment, this is changing rather fast because they are realizing the fact that the people cannot communicate in English at all. But they are still worry about this problem nonetheless. So, be aware of this problem and try to make sure that your topic is understood fully across your clients company. Else, the project might have to be extended due to miscommunication. I do warn you already.

Here is some cute picture because the topic is heavy.

Japanese sweets: Mochi!

Happy work day!

Food Porn - 7 - Yam Wun Sen

HOT!!! IT IS GETTING HOTTEERRRR!!!!

Today my friend said to me that I have … the smell of alcohol out from my body.. I think it is kinda true that I might have some of those out but!

Hmmm

I tried to change my menu into something that might look healthy this time.

Thai Food

Thai Rice Noodle Seafood Salad or YAM WUN SEN!

I only use half of the overall ingredients because it will be too much for me to eat everything.

Ingredients – too many veggies hahaha

セロリ

Tomato

Shirm

Squid

Rice noodle

Onion (I am using the red one this time)

Small leek

Sauce:

Fish sauce

Lemon

Sugar

For preparation,

Just cut all the ingredients into pieces.

Boil the shrimp and then rice noodle together

While waiting, put the lemon (2 of them) and fish sauce and sugar, mix together

I think the approximate mix will be lemon 10; Fish sauce 6; Sugar 4

Hmm That might be hard to understand.. here

Out of 10

Lemon 5

Fish sauce 3

Sugar 2

I think that might be a good mix

Then get the noodle out after it looks alright, normally 2-3 mins

Mix them with the sauce then add all the veggies in.

DONE!

This has no fat at all.. almost nothing out of this

Best!!!!!

If you are hungry, don’t forget to eat!

First Seminar

Today, it is my frist time to attend a seminar which directed for newly graduated or employee that just transferred or accepted into company. There are many seminar’s topics that you can actually attend and learn about how-to Japanese business. This seminar is apparently free of charge from the company. I found it pretty amusing and interesting at the same time.

I arrived at the place around 30 mins before meeting time. Sign at the door said that they will begin the reception process 15 mins before starting time. After everything was done and I got in the room, the room environment is fairly huge, could fit around 80 people in there with 3 columns, tables for 2 each. As you expected, no one really sit in front, so I sit there. Room started to filled and all the seats are occupied. The lecturer came and start his lecture right on time.

The core lesson is actually interesting. Actually learnt many things about how Japanese business works, especially how it is different from American style business. Result is everything. How to be professional and how people treated each other in the company. The way of thinking by using, what, when. who, and how strategy. Overall, the lecture is not that boring at all! The lecturer is very attentive and not really mono-tone talking at all.

During the lecture, there are parts that they let us form groups (which is basically with the people who share the same desk with you and the 2 in front), introduce each others and discuss the question that has been given by lecturer. 4 mins … really… 4 mins to discuss. No one in my group speak anything, so I took the initiate and start the conversation. One of my group members is from Animation company or art design and another two are from the same companies, IT based company it seems. Overall there are 2 set of questions.

After it finished, we have to write report to our company and the seminar place, now, that’s the problem. Japanese!, So I did not write them down in Japanese, but English. Hopefully it works.

Then instead of have lunch break before going back to the office, I went to see skin doctor because I have been diagnose to some weird symptoms around my back. Sigh. Doc said that I had too much stress.

Hate having shit loads of meds (/o_o)

Cheers! Working on Sat as well!

FOOD PORN - 6 - Bitter Melon

There are many days that I arrive home pretty late… the biggest problem about this is

Well,

I live alone, supermarket close REALLY early. I cannot blame anyone for this because it is there time to close. It is either I stock food in the fridge which I do not really do it, or ! just live with it.

I found out that the supermarket around my area close at midnight. OH!!! OOHHHHH!!!

I

AM

ALIVE!

So, I bought home something to cook for the sake of it. Bitter Melon!!! Some people might not like this thing but it is actually not that bitter at all if you know how to deal with the smell, apparently, I don’t (laugh)

I had too much things going on last weekend that I did not finish the meat from last week, so I plan to used them all in this dish, with no rice or any add-on of course! Just to minimized the meal because it is already late.

The menu is!!

BITTER MELON LON LON!

Hahaha

Ingredients:

Bitter Melon

Meat

Garlic

Egg

Spices

Just cook Garlic with the pork, add bitter melon, add egg, spice it, wait, done!

IT IS THAT SIMPLE REALLY!

Yum yum yum! I cannot back down from this meal haha the thing is too delicious.

BEST!

If you are hungry, don’t forget to eat!

Thai Festival 2014 @Yoyogi park

After a really long week, this post marked 1 week old of my blog. Thank you for coming and read whatever is going on here!

The weekend for me was pretty busy because I was helping out at

THAI FESTIVAL 2014! This is my 4^th years of helping them… doing what? WEARING MASCOT DOLL @Yoyogi park. Both day on Sat 17 and Sun 18.

Well, I cannot see anything from the inside but I can feel that I took picture with many cool people, such as, Miss Thailand 2013!

Hey! They are pretty! But I didn’t see them at all ><!

After each day, the company brought me to many places to eat,

First day was this chicken-only restaurant which originated since Meiji era.. Taste? AWESOME.

2^nd day was at Thai Restaurant at New Marunouchi building near Tokyo station. The place is really high class and I got to eat what I have been carving for entire time at the festival, Mango with Sticky Rice!!!!!

Two tiring days and now I am back to my regular work. Fun and productive week indeed.

FOOD PORN - 5 - Steak and Red Wine

Food Porn section is getting more and more lively now!

TGIF! THANKS GOD IT’S FRIDAY! WOOOHOOOO!!!!

Phew, this week has been tough week. It is not going to finish yet. Still have Sat and Sun to go. Going to be fun weekend because I will be wearing Mascot Character at Thai Festival! Time to lose weight….

Before losing weight, I will have to gain weight today!

Because it is Friday and I got home really late… Really tired as well… Sooooo!

MENU IS!

STEAK with RED WINE!!!

Wine will be from 2012, spicy full body type wine.

Ingredients are as follow:

Beef

Sweet chili

Leftover veggies in the fridge

Garlic

Salt, spices, etc

WINE

Alright.. there might be something in between but these are what in here.

First of all, I just prepare veggies and marinated the beef with salt, white wine, pepper, etc.

While sitting the beef aside around 15-30 mins, start cooking the veggies.

I did not take the picture of this process, but basically just cook veggies with salt.. salt only because I do not want the plate to be watery.

Then take the veggies out, start cooking the beef later. I cook the beef together with garlic so the smell can get over it as well. Start with lower heat and then maximized the heat later just for the outer layer to be cooked but not inside. Medium in this case.

Finished both side. And cook the sauce. My sauce is basically the left over stuff from when I marinated the beef and mixed with red wine.

FINISH!

This is actually tasted better than I expected. Reallllllly goodddd as well ><!

If you are looking at these pictures and start to feel hungry, EAT!!!!!

For your future, our future

Once in a while that I will not be writing about.. food…hahaha

Yesterday I came across this wonderful and meaningful Youtube video. It is very inspiring and has very deep meaning in it.

The hard part about this video, maybe for many people, is that the speaker has quite heavy English accent which might be a little hard to understand from American accent’s perspective.

Here you go,

The main message that this video tells us or basically the theme of this video is that,

Try to get away from the technology world, get away from smart phone, talks to people around you not via social media. You might not be able to meet your love one without looking at each other. Technology can kill relationship. Get away from it and start talking to people. Friendship occurs from those.

Me, personally think this is very true because I can see that many parents lately just throw ipad, iphone to these kids and let them play and be happy about it. The kid in this generation will never know how to play outside at the play ground or meet with friends afterschool to do something fun… other than coming home and game.

I am at fault myself as well because I do those things. I do have to get my ass out of this technology and go outside and talk or interact with people more. At least I might bump into someone whom I can share the rest of my life with…*that is just a dream*

Leave your technology and get a life.

Because the topic is so tense, here is something to make you relax... 

ニャア