Hello from Japan!

It's been almost two weeks since I came to Japan. I know I have been neglecting my blog. What have I been doing for the past two weeks? Let me update you what I have been up to :)

- My visa is finally done! I have been going to the immigration office in Tokyo and I received my spouse visa last week, yay! Thanks so much for this forum and this blog for the info about the visa.

- Apartment hunting. Atchan and I have been looking for our own place for the past two weeks and our search is over! We found a cute, quiet apartment located in Saitama. We think it would be easy to commute since it not very far from Tokyo (40 mins). I would compare it to Mississauga of Toronto :)




- Having lots and lots of Yakisoba and Okonomiyaki! I have gained 1.5 kg ever since I got here. Too many delicious food around here!



- Lastly, a view from my neighborhood.

Thai Tea

I'm not sure if you have heard of Thai tea before. Thai tea is my all time favorite tea. I had it almost everyday back when I was living in Bangkok, but it's almost impossible to find it here in Canada.

I was very lucky to have a friend of mine who brought me a canned of Thai tea leaves when she came over for dinner. As you may know I LOVE having afternoon tea & beverages. They keep me from not falling asleep in the afternoon :)


The leaves will turn your hands really orange!

All you need are hot water, sweet condensed milk, a little bit of evaporated milk on top and some ice too. Yep, it's really that sweet!

I'm going to enjoy my afternoon for sure!

St. Lawrence market

I hope this post wouldn't make you feel hungry. I went to St. Lawrence market during the weekend with my sister. I don't go to St. Lawrence market very often, but when I do, I LOVE it!!

We had lunch at Buster's Sea Cove. I had grilled tilapia with salad. They have the freshest seafood I've ever had!



My sister's classic haddock fish & curly fries


Before we left, I decided to take a photo of the shop for my blog. This kid made a goofy face when he saw me snapping a photo of the shop. LOL!



Have a nice day!!!

Beard Papa's Cream Puff

Finally, Beard Papa's (funny name) is officially opened in Toronto. I didn't get to try it on my last trip to Japan last year. I'm happy they have a franchise in Toronto since cream puff is one of my favorite sweets!!

New week & New month!

Happy new month! How was everyone's long weekend? I made a super easy and delicious meal for my family over the weekend. Everyone voted for baked pasta and baked sweet potato.




The best thing about this baked sweet potato was the dipping sauce. I got the dipping recipe while watching Giada de Laurentiis' cooking show. Just added some chopped garlic and squeeze a little lemon juice on the mayonnaise! I also sprinkled some curry powder and salt on the sweet potato while baking. It made a huge difference! It's one of my not-so-secret recipes :)



Got lots of orders over the last weekend. I'm off to the the post office!! Have a great day :)

Richtree restaurant

Good morning everyone. How are you today? I just love Fridays! I went out with my girlfriend yesterday to grab something to eat. We usually go to Korean restaurants (we love spicy food!), but we were feeling a little bit fancy, so we decided to go to one of her favorite restaurants, Richtree (aka Marché)

My friend's spinach and cheese ravioli with rose sauce.



Mine was Salmon with fried rice.



I was so full, but I heard the crapes and waffles here were soooo good. I forced my friend to share it with me. Yum! It was really good! I love whipped cream!



The food wasn't bad, but it wasn't that good either. I love the atmosphere and waffle the most.

I hope you have a fun weekend. I'm going to my sister's art school on the weekends. She is working on her print making project at school and I have never seen it before, it sounds interesting!

photo credits:

Karina Bu
And me

Random things that make me happy

Candles from Bath and Body Works:


Cinderella inspired necklace:


Homemade truffles :)


Puppy + Blueberries = Puppuberries:


Emerald drop necklace, a birthstone for May:


Meringue with strawberry at L'Opéra

Fabulous finds { What Doraemon Loves }

If you grew up reading a timeless comic as Doraemon (like me) or watching Doraemon animations (me again!). You will know by heart that Doraemon's favorite food is Dorayaki (Red bean pancakes).

I'm such a big fan of Doraemon since I was young. I remember I was jealous of Nobita for having Doraemon for his own....haha

Cooking with dog is making a very yummy looking Dorayaki this month. I can't wait to try making it on the weekend!!



By the way, what is your favorite Doraemon tool? I love Dokodemo Door (Anywhere door)!!

Sunday Brunch { Tofu Quiche }

I'm making Tofu Quiche for today's brunch. I was inspired by a Japanese drama I'm currently watching, Ohitori sama. It was my first time making quiche and it turned out quite nice. I'm surprised I couldn't even taste the tofu inside!

I found this lovely recipe. I adapted it a little by adding extra soft tofu into the recipe.

Ingredients:
Bread 3 slices
Onion, grated 1/4 cups
Shredded Swiss cheese, 2 tablespoons
Milk, 1/4 cup
Egg, 1
Extra soft tofu, 1/2 cup drained of water
A pinch of salt and pepper
Mixed vegetables, 1/4 cup optional

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 12 muffin tins.
2. Trim or cut bread into circles. Place circles in bottom of muffin tins. Distribute the onion and shredded cheese evenly between the muffin tins.
3. In a medium bowl, combine milk, eggs, tofu and pepper. Divide between the muffin tins.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a quiche comes out clean.

Today's lunch { Korokke and ketchup fried rice }

I have some left over baked potatoes from dinner the other night. I thought Korokke (croquette) would be a great idea for today's lunch. I know ketchup fried rice sounds funny, but it is such a perfect combination with potato korokke. I added tonkatsu sauce over potatoes korokke and it tastes even better!! Another yummy homemade meal :)

Ingredients for ketchup fried rice (for 2):
Cooked rice 2 cups
Mixed vegetables 1/4 cup
Garlic, finely chopped 2 cloves
Butter 1 tablespoon
Oil 1 tablespoon
Salt and Pepper
Ketchup 2-3 tablespoons
Shrimps (optional)

Directions:
1.Heat the oil, put butter into pan with the oil.
2.Once the butter melts, add garlic and mixed vegetables. Saute until fragrant.
3.Add shrimp and take shrimp out when almost cooked.
4.Add rice into the pan, then put the shrimp back into the pan.
5.Season with ketchup, salt and pepper.
6.Serve with potato korokke and some grilled asparagus.

For korokke recipe, please follow this link.

Feeling Italian? { Spicy tomato sauce spaghetti }

Not sure where I found this recipe, but it's been one of the hottest dishes in my household for a while now. I'd love to share this recipe with spaghetti lovers.

Ingredients:
Spaghetti pasta, cooked
Cremini mushrooms, sliced
Basil leaves
Pizza sauce 1/2 cup
Ketchup 2 tablespoons
Garlic 2-3 cloves, chopped
Anchovy paste 1 tablespoon (Optional)
Olive Oil 1 tablespoon
Butter 1 tablespoon
Chili 1 teaspoon
Salt and Pepper

Directions:
1. Heat the oil, put butter into pan with the oil.
2. Once the butter melts, add garlic and chili. Saute until fragrant.
3. Add anchovy paste. If you don't like it, you can skip this method. Stir well.
4. Add sliced mushrooms. Saute until cooked.
5. Add pizza sauce, mix well. Season with salt, pepper and ketchup.
6. Once the pasta is cooked, add into the pan. Mix well.
7. Throw in basil leaves. You may want to sprinkle more olive oil.
8. Ready to serve and enjoy :)

Japanese food { Kakiage soba }

I made something new today. My sister is a fan of this youtube channel, Cooking with dog. She told me I HAVE to see it. I've been looking for a simple and easy way to make Japanese home style food for quite sometime now. If you love homey style food, you might like it like I do :)

I added some fish tofu and some lotus roots. I also used buckwheat soba instead of a regular soba. It turned out so well :) The soba is so soft and chewy. Yum yum.

Green tea ice-cream

I got this green tea ice-cream at a local Korean grocery store the other day. Whenever I find green tea flavored snacks, ice-creams or any products, I just have to give it a try :D

This green tea ice-cream is quite bitter. It has this bitter feeling at the tip of the tongue. I personally prefer it sweeter. I love green tea ice-cream from Baskin Robbins as well. I heard somewhere before that girls should eat sweets once a day to maintain happiness. Wonder if it's true, but it sure works for me.....haha

I'm LOOKING forward to Taste of the Danforth this coming weekend!! I can't believe I've never been there before. I've heard that the Calamari is really good. I can't wait to give it a try. If you have any recommendations, please share it with me :)

Homemade pizza

I made pizza for lunch today. I've been craving pizza for the whole week. I found this homemade pizza dough recipe on the website and decided to make it myself. The recipe was very quick and easy to make. While I was making the dough, I thought I was running out of flour. I ended up using the entire flour I have left in the pantry.



It was fun making something together with my family. We were nervous whether the pizza will turn out alright. The pizza is absolutely amazing. This recipe is such a keeper. Bye bye to take out pizza :)

Love at first bite

For today's lunch I had Okonomiyaki. Okonomiyaki is one of my favorite food, second to Takoyaki. I went to Osaka in April and tried one of the Okonomiyaki restaurants around Namba. I was a little bit disappointed, though. The batter was too soft than the usual Okonomiyaki, but Yakisoba there was to die for. I ended up having 2 orders of Yakisoba myself hahaha.



By the way, I got featured again by window seat books . The theme was How to enjoy a nectarine (lovely!). My plumeria blooms got featured in there. I'm so happy. This is the 2nd time I got featured in one week, Yay!

My dinner

I have been to Fresh restaurant on Spadina & Bloor couple times and I absolutely love that place. It is a very chic/modern vegetarian restaurant. Although you're not a vegetarian, you will love the food there.

Last night, I made a grilled sandwich inspired by Fresh restaurant. I also made baked potatoes with onions on the side as well. Yum yum. I found that if you use grilled red peppers, it will make the sandwich taste so much better. Grilled peppers have so much taste and it is sweeter than a fresh red pepper.

I also prefer ciabatta bread than a regular plain sandwich bread. It is so crispy and chewy at the same time when you grill it!

Today's lunch

This is what I had for today's lunch. Eggplant with fried tofu and sweet basil. This is a mock Thai food. We don't really eat eggplants in Thailand, but since many authentic ingredients are hard to find in Canada, we have to be creative a little bit. I also added sliced king mushrooms and red chili into this dish. And the star of this dish is one of my favorite herbs, Basil!! (clapping hands)

I love basil + love the smell of basil. It has a strong smell which some people can't stand. I hated it when I was young, but I really like it as I get older. I also love cilantro, um...what else, ginger, lemongrass, and many many more.

Oh, I also add boiled egg as well. I prefer it fried, but I hate to clean up after deep frying something. Yikes! So, boiled egg tastes good no less than fried egg.

Cooking is fun, but cleaning is not!

What's your addiction?

I'm strongly addicted to bubble tea! I have to have bubble tea at least twice a week. I usually go to 168 Tea Shop to get my all time favorite, milk green tea with tapioca in large size. I know some people can't stand tapioca. They think it's gross. I just love all things chewy, like gummies, sticky rice, you name it!

There's also another tea shop that I like. It's called Ten Ren. Some of my friends prefer that shop because Ten Ren keeps stronger tea flavors. I kinda like them all. I just to drink tea very much.

Today's lunch

I made yakisoba (stir fried noodle) for lunch. Yum Yum. It is one of my favorite dishes. Seems like someone wanted to have it too!