Japanese Fast Food - TEMPURA-

I went to Ashiya to run errands and dropped in this Tempura restaurant on my way to the station.

  They served rice and miso soup soon after I sat down at the table. A lady brought Tempura right out of the hot oil one by one- shrimp, squid, flatfish, eggplant, okura and mixed-vegetables.

I also ordered grated Daikon radish - good with tempura...

It was only JPY690!!


Makino　（まきの）
If you have been to Marugame Seimen, Japanese Udon restaurant chain, it'd be easier for you to imagine what's like...Fast but tasty.

Today's breakfast

I made bagels with the rice bran.

Ingredients:

Wheat flour 150g

Wholewheat flour 150g

Rice bran 20-30g

Brown Sugar 15g

Salt 6g

Yeast 3g

Water 150-160cc

My most favorite item - Obagi Peeling V10 Essence

There are so many cosmetic brands out there...sometimes it's very difficult to decide what to choose.

But I've been using Rohto Obagi Peeling item which I think is particularly good for summer!
Up until recently, the item is called as Obagi Triple Peel 10 but was recently replaced by Rohto Obagi Peeling V10 Essence.

Obagi Triple Peel 10 is in light-blue color bottle while new Peeling V10 is in deep-blue color bottle.
It gives us a sort of high-end image...

I use this item twice a day - morning and night - just after washing my face.
I like using this item with Rohto Obagi C10 serum! Thanks to them, I think I can keep bright skin in spite that I'm exposed to direct sunlight every day - my face still shines though....

I like this company -Rohto Pharmaceuticals - their Obagi product line is highly admired and loved by many women here in Japan. Their icon is Obagi C5,10 and 20 serum! I use C10 serum and think it is very good throughout the year...You just use a couple of drops at a time so it lasts almost two or three months so it's pretty reasonable in terms of price.

I use many items when it comes makeup because it's fun to try many colors. But I stick to a few of certain items for my skin care routine.

You can purchase Obagi Peeling V10 Essence from here!
↓

Travel tips

We went to Okinawa and stayed there for two days.

It was very nice to spend time doing nothing but bathing.

The hotel that we stayed in, there were so many guests around the world..We heard a lot of languages including Chinese, English and even Russian!

When I had a small chat with a chef at a restaurant in the hotel, he told me that they have more and more guests from Russia these days because some airline companies have started direct flights between Okinawa and Russia.

I'm just glad that more and more people become to know about Japan and actually visit many places such as Okinawa.

There are many nice hotels in Okinawa so it's easy to find a nice one, but in big cities like Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, it would be a good idea to use this kind of service:
airbnb

Especially, if you are planning to visit Kyoto and to spend there for a week or two, you could find a lot of useful and down-to-earth information about Kyoto on this website.!

That's what I thought...

My son chose tomato over carrot!

Basically, it tastes vanilla with a hint of tomato flavor...
It sounds and looks kind of funny but we like it!





Haagen Dazs Japan is to release some more new items such as:
Waguri (Japanese maron)

Sweet Potato

They follow the same strategy as Nestle's kit kat?

Herbal tea

I'm a coffee person.
I have been and will always be.

But once a month, I feel like I cannot drink anything but herbal tea...

These are my recent favorite<3

The clipper tea is very cheap in the UK but costs almost 8-9 times more expensive here in Japan. Given transfer cost and some other necessary fees required to import food items, I cannot complain and wouldn't....T T

Raspberry leaf tea is said to be good for women in late pregnancy. I personally think that it is also good for those who suffer from cramps.

The herbal tea behind the CLIPPER is the one that I had sent from Germany...This is also good for women's health issues.

During this time of the month, I always experience mood swing but when I drink these herbal tea, I feel relaxed and the bad mood swing almost goes away...which I think is fantastic!

But after a while, I always go back to a coffee as if nothing happened...

Shiny face..

The weather gets a bit better since the typhoon landed in Kansai area last Sunday..
It's 29 degree today - it's much better compared to last year..It was insanely hot last year...I remember it was still around 35 degree even in September.

I'm looking for a new BB cream / Sunscreen item and loose powder.
My skin is normal to combination in spring/winter but gets very oily in summer....

My sister tells me that my face is very shiny every time when we meet for a coffee or lunch these days...

To stop her from saying that my face is very shiny, I've been looking for new BB cream/ Sunscreen and powder.
The following are BB cream / Sunscreen that I'm now interested in:

1. Addiction tinted skin protector SPF50 30ml JPY4500

2. Transino Whitening Day Protector SPF35 40ml JPY3334

3. THREE Ultimate Protective Pristine Primer 30ml JPY3800

I picked up these three based on reviews on @cosme (I know this kind of review site is not something you can trust 100% but still good if you can find a way to tell which posting can be true or not)

I've been using VERIMA BB Cream. Verima is an organic-based cosmetic brand.

This is good and gentle to the skin...I probably go back to this one sometime soon - maybe in winter?, but as I said earlier, I think it would be good to try some other stuff especially in summer...

So cute...

I went to a super market for grocery shopping.
I was not planning to buy boxes of Kleenex (precisely speaking, it's not Kleenex though) but I did....
I think no one can blame me for doing that...They are too cute to pass by...
My son loves the movie so much that he must be very glad if he looks at these!

I also bought these.

Carrot Orange, Tomato Cherry (from left to right)
The main(?) ingredients are veggies such as carrot and tomato....
It makes us feel less guilty eating them....
I tried the tomato one before so I'm kind of looking forward to trying the carrot one..

Matcha Ice Cream

My son asked me to make Matcha Ice Cream this morning....

When I want to check recipes, I always visit here:
クックパッド（Cookpad)

There are thousands of recipes-including both good and bad- so you have to be careful what to choose (- -;)

I think it looks good to me so I will try this one:
matcha ice cream

Ingredients:
1 Egg
Sugar 80g
Milk 400g
Matcha Powder 30-45g

1. Put egg, sugar and milk into a pan and cook and stir it over low heat til thickened but not boiling.


2. Add small amount of 1. to Matcha powder and mix them well.


3. Put 2 (the matcha powder mixed with small amount of 1) back to 1 and mix them well.

4. Put 3 in the freezer.

5. Done!


It's not too sweet thanks to Matcha, so I think it would be good for summer...
But my son didn't like it very much....he said it was a bit bitter for him and requested me to make different one..

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra

I happened to see Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra in a Breakfast television called Sukkiri （スッキリ）this morning.  I didn't know that they are so popular overseas - they have performed in many countries including the US, Spain and Mexico.

When I was in 20s, I bought their CD - the songs reminds me of my old good days...


I used to listened to this CD especially in summer...At that time, I lived in Tokyo and went out with my friends almost every night after work. Hanged out with them at nice cafes and restaurantｓ.


They are going to perform at Tokyo Yagai Ongakudo tonight! and what's great about it is ...it's free!!...they are so generous!
I will definitely go see their performance if I were in Tokyo....

Also, their new album will be released tomorrow.

I'm writing this blog while listening to their music...I just can't stop...They are so good!

Hakka Oil

Hakka means "Japanese mint".
Especially in summer, this Hakka Oil is so useful!

When you're bitten by a mosquito, you will no longer feel itchy soon after you apply this Hakka Oil.
(*do not apply to much! small amount - just one push is enough!)

It's also good for night - You feel cool by applying this Hakka Oil so you don't have to turn AC on throughout the night!

I use the right one with green cap when directly applying to the body. It's edible so 100% safe!
It's edible but I wouldn't recommend to put it into coffee or tea...I tried once but it was too strong for me...

I use the left one with my aroma diffuser. You can also customize your favorite Hakka water with the left one by adding ethanol and purified water.  This can be used for cleaning  and room fragrance.

I'm so hooked on this Hakka Oil!

Rice bran

We purchased a new rice cooker very recently.

We had been eating unpolished brown rice up until then but we found that our son didn't like it very much.

He loves polished rice with pearlish luster... Yes, I admit that polished rice smells great and tastes great...but from a nutritional perspective, we dare to stick to unpolished brown rice. 

But we came across an article saying that 10-20% polished rice has the same amount of nutrition as the unpolished one. My husband purchased a brand new rice polisher machine soon after we read this article.

One week has passed since the purchase....we LOVE this one!


First of all, my son started eating a lot compared to before!  It's very easy to use, light weight and good designed! Also, among many good things, my most favorite aspect is that I can get very fresh rice bran!

You can use this very fresh rice bran to bake bread! I forgot taking pictures but I actually made some bread with the rice bran - it tasted good!
I made Teriyaki chicken hamburger with the bread:) My hubby loved it!

Rice bran can also be used for your daily skin care routine. You can make rice bran mask just by adding flour and water. You can also make your own Nukabukuro - rice bran massage bag and use it when taking a bath every day.  It makes your skin smooth and clear! !

    

I've just started!

I've decided to start a blog in English. I'm not a native English speaker so there may be a lot of grammatical mistakes and so on...but I'm so grateful if you could kindly bear with me!

I'd like to share a lot of Japanese good items with you. As a Japanese in late 30s, a housewife and a mother of 3-year-old boy, there are so many stuffs here in Japan that interest me a lot!
But I have to add that I love shopping from overseas website such as ebay, shopbop, iherb and love lula...

I hope that you enjoy my blog!