I m o e t

Wednesday Bento: Super Mario Bro

2012-01-18T10:24:00.001+09:00

So...! Here the Wednesday bento started again after the long winter holiday! Today was iki's request, super Mario bro's obento

Inside:
Rice with umeboshi furikake
Mario's face: sliced cheese, kanikama, nori
Tempe goreng
Mandarin orange
Mini tomatoes
Steamed spinach
Stars: sliced cheese and black sesame seed

He looked very happy this morning!

He will graduate from Yochien in march, ... Somewhat I will miss this Wednesday bento!

Best sushi!!

2012-01-16T23:09:00.001+09:00

From Evernote:

Best sushi!!

Hiro took holiday today. Iki has to go to school, so it was only me and him, the two of us, YAY!

I Couldn't think of any other place to have our brunch date than Tsukiji Fish Market. Fish market for a date? Well yeah I love it!

We went into the same restaurant we visited on our anniversary two years ago. Because it was not as crowded as the other restaurants (hiro hates crowd!), and because the sushi there was my best sushi ever two years ago. And still is.

I love sushi and sashimi, and going to Tsukiji will always be a special treat for me. I really want to bring iki there someday!

パーラー江古田

2012-01-11T18:33:00.000+09:00

From Evernote:

パーラー江古田

We went to the elementary school this morning to submit some documents and on the way back home a friend brought us to a small cafe for coffee.

パーラー江古田, is what its called. A small small cafe and pattiserie nearby ekoda station. It was so small that we were so lucky we could sit on the only table available! (others had to sit on the counter, enough for 3 persons only).

I ordered cappucino, and this is it!

There were some selection of home made bread too. I had this blue cheese and nuts bread to accompany my cappucino. It was so good that i bought more to bring home for tomorrow breakfast!

I want to bring hiro here someday for a lazy yummy breakfast or brunch. Unfortunately it's not a place for kids.........

Happy birthday, iki!

2012-01-01T06:43:00.000+09:00

Iki was six yesterday! I can't believe that super tiny red baby has
grown up that much.
I'm a very proud mom, iki. Keep your cheeky smile, and be yourself.
Happy birthday, my boy ...

Shierly Motulo
Sent from my iPhone

November flower arrangement

2011-11-22T12:59:00.001+09:00

Kamen Rider Fourze

2011-11-21T18:21:00.001+09:00

It's way too late, but here it is anyway, iki's Halloween costume!

He wanted to be a Kamen rider Fourze, his fave superhero character so we made this costume together!

Iki made the mask, belt and switches from paper craft. I made the costume from 100 yen raincoat with black thick tape and red marker!

Visiting ASIMO

2011-11-21T10:58:00.001+09:00

We went to the science and future museum, Miraikan this afternoon.
Actually I brought iki once last summer holiday but he wanted to visit
it again with papa!

The first visit to that museum opened his eyes about robot and future
science. He is in love with robot making and plamodel since then.

Today he got a very rare chance to do short demonstration with ASIMO
robot. His favorite ever robot.

He really enjoyed the visit. We stayed until closing time, and he was
very satisfied!
Later at home he told us that he will study hard and learn how to make
a robot. He will make a saru (monkey) robot who can climb a tree. Good
luck, iki!

Sweet potatoes party

2011-11-19T23:59:00.001+09:00

Early this month we had school trip (ensoku) to saitama area for sweet
potatoes picking (imohori)

We brought home soooo many sweet potatoes. I sent obaachan 8 potatoes,
gave away some more to friends and neighbor, put a bit of it on our
meal every day, but still had some left!

So yesterday I had sweet potatoes party at home with some friends.
Everyone should bring in one sweet potatoes meal!

It was a good party! A lot of variety of sweet potatoes meal, to my surprise!

We even had small birthday celebration for a friend, with sweet potato cake!

And I closed the day finishing the left over wine. Ah.... What a life!

My first handmade tempe

2011-09-05T13:02:00.001+09:00

So at last I made my own Tempe, million thanks to nova!!

It's actually not difficult to make, but takes time and a lot of patience. Especially during this peeling the beans' skins process!!

Then it takes about 36 hours of patience 

But here it is :)

So my lunch was this super spicy Tempe penyet. Ahhhh life is beautiful

Tahu tek tek

2011-09-01T15:52:00.001+09:00

It's my favorite hawker's food back in Surabaya, and i'm very very
happy to make it myself today!

Big thanks to mbak Maria and nova, for all the inputs to make the
lontong. It made my simple tahu tek tek perfect. Yummy!!!!

Visiting nova

2011-08-30T19:48:00.001+09:00

We went to shin misato to visit nova. Kimi is much bigger now, a very brave and independent little girl!!

Iki, kiyo and rui now can play together. They fought sometimes  but surely had a very good time!

It's like the end of summer, but it was still warm so the kids hit the pool. What a fun afternoon ( with fabulous lunch)!!!

Yes!!!

2011-08-23T15:22:00.001+09:00

So starting today, I'm officially a permanent resident holder in Japan (^O^)／

No more visits to Japanese embassy abroad for applying Japanese visa
from now on. YAY!!!

Sent from my iPhone

First TAMIYA kit

2011-08-08T21:39:00.001+09:00

So iki chose this Amphibious vehicle kit from TAMIYA shop yesterday.
Well, he actually wanted to build a robot but we think it's way too
difficult for him!

He started right away once we arrived home and really got into it.
It's his first time to build this kind of plamodel. He has to work
with tiny parts, motor and even grease. Not easy but he enjoys it so
much that I think he could manage to finish it.

Ganbatte iki-chan!! This will make him busy for a few days during this
very long summer holiday (^_^)

Science museum

2011-08-08T21:31:00.001+09:00

Iki was obsessed with robot since he visited the Miraikan! Last Sunday
he asked papa-chan to bring him to other science museum in Tokyo.

He enjoyed it. So much that it was difficult to drag him out of the
museum. Papa-chan was tired and I could hardly walk when finally he
grumpily stepped out of the building (´･_･`), asking papa-chan to buy
him a robot making set so he can make his own robot.

Brand minded papa-chan didn't want to buy him one from the museum
shop, but brought him to tamiya shop in shinbashi instead. There you
go!! Iki found a new hobby again! ！(◎_◎;)

Tantanmen

2011-08-07T22:38:00.001+09:00

We went to roponggi hills last weekend to watch cars 2 and I had this for lunch.

It was said as Japan's spiciest Tanya men so I ordered it. Too much
expectation!!! It was not spicy at all. What a dissapointing lunch
haha!

Bye bye Kaho....

2011-08-07T22:33:00.001+09:00

I held a make it yourself sandwich brunch party as a farewel to iki's
dear classmate, Kaho.

Again, life is just about hello and goodbye. Wish you the best in Jakarta.......

Miraikan

2011-08-07T22:02:00.001+09:00

Last Thursday I went to Miraikan (science and innovation museum) in
odaiba with iki and my friend Tomomi and her kids.

Iki was amazed and fell in love with asimo ( the humanoid robot) and
all other scientific stuffs. He was really excited to see a real
moving robot and want to make one himself. He forgot that he wanted to
buy inline skate before and now he all he wants is his his own robot!

Shiohigari (collecting clams)

2011-07-19T22:43:00.001+09:00

We went to Chiba prefecture for shiohigari last Sunday. Iki was
excited to have what he said his first shiohigari ever!! He totally
forgot that he did it before when he was 2.5 years old ！(◎_◎;)

It was 35 degrees celcius and I felt like melting. But iki had sooo much fun!

Our dinner that day was asari gohan (clam rice), BBQ hamaguri ( bigger
clams) and asari miso soup. The next day lunch was clam peperontini
spaghetti and we still had another kilogram of clams!! (which I threw
away today)

I think I won't cook clam for the next two months =))

My new dishwasher

2011-07-14T20:12:00.001+09:00

Iki suddenly said that he wanted to help me with the dirty dishes. I
let him try and was so surprised that he did it very well. He said
that he always watched me doing it so he knew what to do.

Ahhh i've been waiting for this moment!!! I have my new dishwasher now

First sewing

2011-07-02T17:39:00.001+09:00

Iki wanted to try, so I let him sew the name tag on his swimming towel!

Honestly it looks ugly but iki was happy hehehe. I think it could be
one good idea for the very long upcoming summer holiday

June Flower Arrangement: Diamond shape

2011-06-25T22:19:00.003+09:00

This month's flower arrangement class is the most difficult so far for me. Diamond shaped arrangement.

View from above:

It's getting hotter here in Tokyo. Those flowers could only last for few days :(

Wednesday Bento: Shinkenja

2011-06-15T21:50:00.002+09:00

I got flu, but I promised Iki last week that I would make this shinkenja obento. So here it is...

He was happy!! =))

Inside:

Green shinkenja: seaweed furikake onigiri, sliced cheese and nori

Red shinkenja: onigiri covered with crab skin, sliced cheese and nori

Yellow shinkenja: yellow egg onigiri, sliced cheese and nori

Rolled okra and bacon

Broccoli and crab salad

Watermelon

First beach visit

2011-06-15T21:34:00.003+09:00

Last Sunday Hiro brought us to Morito Beach, near Kamakura. It was our first visit to the beach (in Japan) this year. A bit too early. It was still cold, and the cafes are still being built. The beach season will start on July 1st this year. Hiro, who hates crowd, prefers to go there either too early or when it almost finishes.

We had picnic lunch there. No, I didn't prepare anything. We just brought some food from the convenience store. Iki and Hiro played with the sand and the cold sticky water, and explored around excitedly, while I sat alone waiting. Ah.....this always happen lately. That Iki loves playing with Hiro, and that I have to kill the time alone (_ _!)

We also visited a shrine nearby where Hiro and Iki prayed a bit.

We didn't stay long. I felt the wind was too cold and was afraid to catch a cold (which actually really happened!) But it was a good relaxing one. I think it was a good change from our regular camping trip.

Lego necklaces

2011-06-09T22:53:00.003+09:00

This is my latest interest. Making accessories from nanoblock, the micro size building block!

Small red robot necklace

Colorful nanoblock necklace

Simple red nanoblock necklace and earrings set

Blue robot necklace and earrings set

Little nanoblock robot mobile phone strap

I made these cute things for bazaar in Iki's school next month (^____^)

Kitty-chan: Mt. Fuji and Yokohama

2011-06-08T21:48:00.003+09:00

These two kitty-chan were from last weekend camping to Saiko Lake!

This one is Kitty-chan in Fuji Mountain, drinking a cup of green tea -which is famous in Mt. Fuji area-

We went back to Tokyo through the highway that passes Yokohama area, so I bought this Kitty-chan bringing chinese' wrapped sticky rice (hmm....bakcang?). Yokohama has big China town. Though we didn't go there this time, I went there several times and loved the place!

And they joined the other kitty-chan on my fridge door ;-)

Wednesday Bento: Pokemon

2011-06-08T19:49:00.003+09:00

Iki-chan is now crazy about Pokemon characters so these two weeks he requested Pokemon obento for his Wednesday lunch at school.

This was last week one: Naetoru (Turtwig) Obento

Inside:

Monster ball: quail egg with tomato skin and nori

Grilled tomato and asparagus salad

American cherries

Naetoru: wakame (seaweed) rice balls with cheese, ham, and nori as decorations

Rolled ham and spinach

And this one is today's bento: Nyoromo (Poliwag) Bento

Inside:

Nyoromo: Rice balls filled with pork ginger. With nori and sliced cheese as decoration

Soramame

Mini tomatoes

Grapes

Rolled bacon and carrot

He was happy!!! :p

Saiko Lake

2011-06-04T11:26:00.001+09:00

We are out camping again. This time nearby the Saiko lake in mount Fuji area.

It's hot hot hot, didn't expect it at all. We were still wearing long
sleeves yesterday in Tokyo !

New class

2011-06-02T18:32:00.001+09:00

This is my third class. Smaller than the previous two, but has 6 boys!
All are 4 years old!!

The most exhausting class so far, but they all are really eager to
learn. And it matters the most ;-).

I've got new request to teach another class of five 4 years old girls.
I think this would be the last class i would accept or I won't have
any free time left.

My house is like a small English school now!! :p

Gotochi Kitty

2011-05-28T16:33:00.004+09:00

I recognized that there is always local's specialty Hello Kitty's souvenir wherever I went around Japan. Well, not only Hello Kitty actually. Doraemon, Kewpie and other character have too; but I think Hello Kitty one is the cutest.

So I started to collect Kitty-chan when we visited Shirakawa-go, during our golden week holiday early May. I regretted I didn't start earlier, we've been to many places that I doubt we would visit again in the future. But better late than never, this is my first Gotochi Kitty: from Shirakawa-Go

From Hida perfecture, where we had camp at the Takasu campground for three nights

From Kamikochi, where we had 3.5 hours hiking with Iki's walking speed.

From Yamanashi, an area where peach is the specialty

They are now hanging on my fridge's door, waiting for more Kitty-chan(s)!

6 Years!

2011-05-27T21:48:00.004+09:00

So it's been 6 years! I can't believe it's been 6 years. I feel like I really lost track of time!

It's almost like an ordinary day for us. With SLOPPY me served the still floury pancake for breakfast; burnt baguette and still too hard veggies for dinner's side dish, and tasteless and uncooked roasted chicken for our supposed to be main anniversary dinner :p. A lot of eeww and yuck - as always, but they (hiro and Iki) understood anyway. After all these 6 years, things are still the same and I'm afraid will remain the same for the next hmmm 20 years? :p

It's been 6 years. 6 Years of ups and downs; and burnt or tasteless or too salty food. But it was our day today and we are glad that we've been together these 6 whole years.....

May flower arrangement: Roses

2011-05-24T15:24:00.000+09:00

My favorite flowers!!!!

Wednesday Bento: Kamen Rider Oz

2011-05-11T13:56:00.003+09:00

SO! It's wednesday bento again, after lo o o ong golden week holiday. I planned to make something really simple today because I was very very busy with houseworks and teaching after we got back from camping, but last night Iki begged me to make him his favorite Kamen Rider Bento.

Kamen Rider!! (>.<)

So this is it.....the first thing he said this morning when he woke up and saw it was: " hmm? what's this? ....kamen rider Oz...? why is it orange?!...why..." - and he stopped asking once he saw my very sharp look :D

Well, I should have used red paprika, but I didn't have it and didn't want to go out to buy it last night. Better than nothing, you have your orange face Kamen Rider Oz, honey!!

Inside:

Umeboshi onigiri, wrapped with Nori.

Kamen rider's face: Boiled carrot, nori and green pepper

Potato croquettes

Boiled quail eggs

Celery sticks with mayonnaise

Orange and Haruka

April's Flower Arrangement

2011-05-11T12:46:00.003+09:00

An almost forgotten one!!

Iki got fever at that day so I didn't join the class, but it can't be cancelled so I had to take all the flowers home and arranged them myself based on the photos I took from the class...

Very difficult....I almost cried helplessly!

But anyway...here it is (^__^). I gave it to my mother in law for her 81st birthday present

Emergency lunch

2011-05-07T12:02:00.001+09:00

We are on the way back to tokyo from shirahone onsen (gifu ken) and
felt very hungry! So when we found this beautiful view on the side of
the road, we decided to have an emergency lunch: cup noodle!! Yummy!

Ouch!!

2011-05-07T09:32:00.001+09:00

This happened yesterday morning in takasu campfround. He went downhill
way too fast that he couldn't control the bicycle!! Well iki....this
was a very good lesson not to ride bike that fast anymore, right?!

The blood was almost all over his face, but now he is fine and could
even hike around kamikochi yesterday

Crafting

2011-05-05T09:47:00.000+09:00

There are lots of activities for kids in this NAO campground and this
morning iki chose to do crafting. He's making a small church with
ponyo music box inside (^_−)−☆

NAO campground in Takasu area

2011-05-05T09:44:00.000+09:00

We actually didn't plan to come to this area, but land sliding near
kamikochi, where we actually planned to camp till the end of golden
week closed the electricity line in the campground. It would be still
way too cold there that we need to use electric mat inside the tent
during sleeping so we had to change our plan.,.

But I kind of like this campground except that it's far more
expensive! I like the woods and the spacey ground and that our tent
location is not far from toilet!! :p

Tateyama camping ground

2011-04-30T11:05:00.001+09:00

We will spend four nights, half part of our golden week holiday
sleeping in this tent in Tateyama area. It took us 9 hours driving
from Tokyo yesterday because of heavy traffic jam!

Too bad it's raining today...we have to give up our plan for Tateyama
alpine route (~_~;). But well, we are off to Kanazawa city in ishikawa
now! (^O^)／

Wednesday Bento: Ohanami picnic

2011-04-22T22:10:00.003+09:00

Iki just started his school again after spring holiday. He is tsukigumi (highest grade in his kindergarten) now and this year will be my last year making bento for him!!

This is last Wednesday's Bento, for his Ohanami (cherry blossoms) picnic (^_^)

Inside:

The kids: small onigiri (rice balls)

Sakura: pink kamaboko

Tree: croquette

Soramame (big beans, spring specialty)

Red and yellow rolled paprika

Spring holiday

2011-04-11T15:19:00.003+09:00

We actually didn't plan any overseas trip because we wanted to drive around Japan this year, but my brother got married last March so we ended up spending the spring holiday in Indonesia. Iki unexpectedly agreed to help bringing the bride's gown! He did a very good job! I knew my very shy boy was so nervous that he almost cried after he did it :p. It was a huuuuuge thing for him walking in front of hundreds of people haha

Hiro lost his Iphone in Surabaya so we kind of lost of holiday mood. He put a lot of important data there and it was really scary to imagine if someone could manage to open his password vault inside the iphone!! But Iki had to enjoy it so Hiro spent time with him in the swimming pool :). It was surprising to see Iki's swimming progress now

We had dinner at Iki restaurant on Hiro's last night in Surabaya. Well, we really had to go there this time. Surprisingly one waitress still remembered Hiro and me! Iki can read now and he was very excited to read the restaurant name LOL

Too bad I didn't have good appetite during my trip in Surabaya. I couldn't eat a lot but I was happy to be able to eat my fave soto banjar and baksowith Enyo. Also this bebek Sinjay for breakfast one day!! Boy it was soooo goood!!! and it was the biggest meal I had during my whole trip in Indonesia! -Thanks, Vi!

Then we went to Manado. I realized that I really don't have any single friend in Manado that I spent my whole time with my family. We (me and Iki) really had quality time with families, which I'm not sure could happen again anytime soon.....Iki had so much fun!!

I just can't believe that I lost 1.5 kgs during my holiday in Indonesia!!! usually i gained at least 4 kgs during holiday. Blame it to the "good quality" family time....?? hahaha

Smock - remake

2011-04-08T08:23:00.003+09:00

We are back in Tokyo. Well, 5 days ago actually. Then I had 5 full days of house chores. Arghh it's always hard to get used to this do-it-myself-life again after going back from Indonesia.

Iki's school will start next week so yesterday I remake his old smock. This would be his last year in Yochien that I don't want to make a new one.

This time of the year is when I remember that I have a sewing machine somewhere in this house ;-). The final result is not bad, right? Iki chose the pokemon printed fabric himself :p

Graduation day

2011-03-17T23:25:00.001+09:00

It's graduation day today. These kids, my Wednesday class, graduated
from kindergarten today. It was a beautiful ceremony, can't hold my
tears watching them.

After the ceremony was finished, on my way out of the Yochien, all of
them, in a very loud voice said: "miss Shierly, thank you! Good bye
and see you again!"

Ah... Those kids! One of them said that she wanted me to teach him
English until high school LOL.

The money for this week's English lesson was donated to the earthquake
and tsunami victim through the Japanese Red Cross (^_^).
http://www.google.co.jp/intl/en/crisisresponse/japanquake2011.html

Leaving Tokyo

2011-03-17T22:28:00.000+09:00

We are in haneda airport now, will fly to Surabaya via Singapore in
few hours. No, we are not running away from japan like many other
foreigners do. My brother is getting married tomorrow night, so this
is a planned trip.

I know that japan is not stable now after the big earthquake and
tsunami last week, but actually it's all good in Tokyo. Yes, there's
radiation leak from the nuclear plantation, but it's not harmful (yet)
in Tokyo. It's what the government said and I, and apparently the
people I know trust them. Because indeed, they can be trusted.

The food and basic need are limited, but people are not starving.
Basic food and needs are sent north to help the victims and people do
understand. Few days ago they bought a lot of food but now they start
to control not to overstock. So that more food could be sent north.
Isn't it touching?

Rice, miso, seaweed are the main food so these few days we ate pasta,
cereal or pancake; meanwhile veggies and fruit are sold in normal
amount.

To save energy people also voluntarily reduce the electric, gas and
water usage. We wore down jacket at home so that we don't need to turn
on the heater and save the bath water for the next day. Even kids
understand and are trained to turn off the light if they don't really
need it. Usually Tokyo was bright at night because of the lights but
now all are dimmed. Also voluntarily.

It's cold today. Can't imagine how cold the north is. I keep thinking
of those (mostly) old people. I feel cold here, it must be freezing
there. How sad it is to see the ruined houses covered with snow...I am
lucky that I live far away...

If you would like to donate, I did mine through the Japanese Red Cross:
http://www.google.co.jp/intl/en/crisisresponse/japanquake2011.html

What stressed me out is actually the aftershocks earthquake. Our apt
building Also has earthquake absorbent so it sways like jelly. Hiro,
grown up in Tokyo, is just so used to it. I couldn't sleep from last
Friday, and he couldn't understand how would those 'small' earthquakes
make me stress (･_･;

But again, I married a Japanese and might have to spent my old time in
this country. I don't want to be a frustrated old lady here later so I
think I need to learn to change my point of view.

We also try not to make the kids stress with the situation. They go to
school like usual and play. Iki even started to go to his fave
swimming club already from yesterday. Those kids....they were not
scared of earthquake but they know exactly what to do when it comes.

Today was the last day of school. We will spend spring break in
Indonesia. Hopefully it will be warmer then, and things will be much
better

Sent from my iPhone

8.9M earthquake......

2011-03-11T20:26:00.004+09:00

I was riding my bike with Iki on the back. We were on the way to Iki's swimming school when I felt really dizzy. I park my bike then realized that everything was shaking. Earthquake!!!! Trembling, I tried to take Iki out of his seatbelt. I didn't know what to do, just hugging that shocked boy. People came out of the building and ducked down. Iki told me to do the same thing too. He said that he learnt it at school.

It was a strong and long earthquake. It was the first in my life to see the whole buildings, bicycles, and cars shaking that hard. After it stopped, we went up the the swimming school. The pool's water was like tsunami, that the pool was half empty. The swimming teacher told us that the class is cancelled today so we went down, to find out that the bottom of the pool cracked and the water started to spill down to the receptionist room. We rushed back home right away. I was so trembling I couldn't ride the bike.

As I arrived at our apartment building, everyone was ducking down outside the building. Then another big earthquake hit again. I didn't get the chance to park my bike, I just threw it to the parking area and joined other people ducking down while hugging Iki. Our apartment building is using earthquake safety technology. There's thick rubbery yellow line around the base of the building so that the building will move following it when earthquake happens. It was my first time to see that building moving within the yellow line and it was really amazing!

I was surprised that people were calm and knew what to do. Iki was the one who told me to duck down and cover our head with the bag and keep away from the building. My friend then told me that they have earthquake tsunami safety training since they were in Kindergarten so eventhough scared, they knew exactly what to do to avoid the worst effect.

We stayed outside for 2 hours and went back home because it was getting way too cold. I am scared. Really scared, so my friend also stayed with us at home. Earthquake still happens every 5-10 minutes so the gas was stopped for safety. We could only eat onigiri (rice ball) for dinner and followed the news from TV!! It was really sad to see how the earthquake and tsunami broke everything. All the phone line didn't work, couldn't contact anyone here in Japan, but internet was fine! So I was connected with Hiro and other worried friends by FACEBOOK!

But then her husband came back after walking 3 hours from the office, while papa-chan chose to wait until the train moves again- which I think is impossible tonight. Ah....the earth shake again just now, and we are alone....and cold...and scared... (_ _o)

March Flower Arrangement

2011-03-11T07:27:00.000+09:00

The theme was White Day. I used papa-chan beer mug as the vase ;)

Kanji

2011-03-10T13:21:00.003+09:00

Suddenly Iki showed great interest in learning Kanji -argh...something that is out of my plate! Hiro was home earlier last night so Iki got the chance to ask papa to teach him :)

Hmm maybe it's the chance for me to learn too - together with him! :p

Motsunabe

2011-03-09T08:34:00.000+09:00

Motsunabe is kind of nabemono (hot pot) with offal and vegetables (usually cabbage and chives) inside. It is originally from Kyushu, and last week I got a frozen one in package a friend from Kyushu. This one is the sweet one, so that Iki can eat it too.

But we ate it when Iki slept over at Obaachan's house!! So to meet Hiro's taste, I added 3 Indonesian fresh red chillies I just got from Hiro's colleague. It is basically a very simple meal to prepare. Cut the whole cabbage and chives, put them around the offal, add the soup, turn on the fire, and wait. The cabbage formed a little mountain so I was actually tempted to mix it with a spoon, but my friend said that I really don't have to touch it. Just wait patiently until all the vegetables shrink!

After about 10 minutes:

It was too spicy!! I didn't expect the chillies would be that spicy! Poor Hiro....!!

But I really love the taste! The sweet and spicy taste reminded me of Mie ayam soup taste from Sorowako. At the end we put champon (Fat ramen) inside the hot pot and boiled it a bit until it got all the good soup

Hmmmmm..................I L.O.V.E it!!!!!!

Night ski and Ice Lake Fishing

2011-03-08T10:28:00.002+09:00

We had lunch at McDonald's last Saturday when Hiro suddenly said, "let's go ski and ice fishing after this!"

Well, actually planned a day trip on Sunday, but still I was very surprised and not prepared!

Anyway in less than an hour we were in our way up north to Urabandai area in Fukushima perfecture. After having a quick lunch then we did our first night ski together. Boy, it was a beautiful night!! We went up and saw the beautiful lights from the villages down the mountain.

I (of course) fell off when I tried to turn on my snowboard and accidentally realized that there were millions of stars up there. I love spending few minutes laying on the snow, watching them twinkling.

Then we stayed in a Minshuku, a budget version of Japanese Ryokan by the end of narrow and slippery Urabandai road. It was very cheap. A good accommodation choice for our unplanned trip. Eventhough spoilt Iki asked once he saw the building: "What? we're staying here? is this really hotel?!" LOL

We spent the next day fishing wakasagi (Japanese smelt) on the frozen lake. What an experience!!!

At first Iki was very excited but then after 5 minutes he got bored and started to complain :p

We waited for 3.5 hours but got nothing!!!! not even one tiny wakasagi! (>.<). It was very cold and Iki looked very miserable so we gave up

We went back without any wakasagi but we brought back home an unforgettable experience

Hinamatsuri-kai

2011-03-07T13:15:00.004+09:00

March 3 is Hinamatsuri in Japan. Iki's school entrance was beautifully decorated by hinamatsuri decoration made by the children

Then on the following Friday my friend invited me for a hinamatsuri lunch

We ordered the gorgeous lunch box. I don't have a daughter but I feel lucky to be able to celebrate this beautiful tradition with them

Especially when surprisingly the dessert baked was a late celebration for my birthday!

Thank you, girls! I enjoy my life in Japan so much because of all of you too!!

Wednesday Bento: Elmo and Cookie Monster

2011-02-24T10:24:00.002+09:00

Another quick and easy one!!!

Elmo: Rice ball with tomato ketchup, sliced cheese, nori, carrot

Cookie monster: Rice ball with green furikake, sliced cheese, nori

Croquette

Cucumber,

Mini tomatoes

Iyoukan (Japanese big orange)

February Flower Arrangement

2011-02-23T10:13:00.001+09:00

I had my flower arrangement class again yesterday. This time I had to work with L style arrangement. Hina Matsuri is coming, so momo no hana (peach blossom) was the highlight. I really enjoyed the session and am happy with the result.

I also tried to rearrange the bouquet I got from Hiro on my birthday :p

Our tiny living room smells really good now. Love it!!

How I miss my flower garden in Sorowako!!!

A year older!

2011-02-22T14:34:00.005+09:00

And I am a year older yesterday. Am still small, with more and more wrinkles around my eyes, dropping boobs and bums, and a lot more fat here and there. Around waist, arms, thigh, and neck. Ah yeahh...I'm a tante tante now LOL

But I am blessed and happy with my life (^____^)

I had mie bancir for my Indonesian tradition birthday noodle, as a wish for a long life. Oh no....I used udon noodle!! Could I be as fat as udon too....?! (@_@)

Hiro brought home this beautiful bouquet.

And a supper yummy birthday cake. He decorated it with Iki :p

We had this very easy but delicious pork belly and chinese cabbage nabe (hot pot) with camembert cheese. It was surprisingly a good pairing to red wine!

Birthday present? I requested a diamond necklace, so Iki made me necklace with diamond shape cut papers as decoration LOL

And again the birthday wishes from family and friends really made my big day!!! Thank you!

Valentine's day

2011-02-16T18:23:00.003+09:00

Valentine's day is a bit different in Japan. Here only women give presents (generally chocolates) to express their feeling. And the men are supposed to return the gift (= the feeling) on the White Day (March 14).

I invited my girlfriends to have chocolate fondue at home at that day. I ate too much chocolate that I swore myself not to eat it for at least 2 weeks :p

This year for the first time Iki got a chocolate gift from a girl. Yes, she was the girl he kissed last time hahaha

And this is my heart to my two men :)

I love you two (^___^)

One day ski/snowboarding trip

2011-02-13T20:53:00.004+09:00

We went to Mt. Jeans in Nasu, Tochigi area, Japan yesterday. Oh well, Iki actually still had pretty bad cough but he (and Hiro) really wanted to ski that the season almost comes to the end.

Iki is getting better skiing. He really loves it and started to say irritating things while waiting for me (like:"you're so slow, mom!"), or even tried to teach me how to snowboard! Ha! Let's wait until you try snowboarding, young man!!

I wished I could learn as fast as a kid could. I am still working hard on my snowboarding skill. Have to practice a lot to turn. I fell down for so many times that my whole body is aching now -don't ask about my rib. Yes, it's still painful (>.<)- I'm running out of time (and money haha!) this year, but I hope I could make it by the end of winter!

Mt. Takao

2011-02-13T20:35:00.003+09:00

We went to Ukai Toriyama Restaurant in Mt. Takao last Friday to congratulate Iki's cousin who successfully passed the examination to enter private junior high school. It was a very hard work for her to be able to enter her dream school and we are really proud that she could make it!

It is a beautiful restaurant with large Japanese style garden. This was the view from our room:

The food was good too. We chose chicken menu that day and everybody were happily stuffed. I fell in love with the Japanese sake too that day :p. It's pretty pricey though. It costed us 800 usd for 8 people's lunch (+alcohol)

I am interested to see the view in spring, though! ;-)

Mie Bancir

2011-02-10T18:55:00.000+09:00

I spent my childhood at a small town in Borneo island: Banjarmasin and this food is one of my favorite childhood memory. Bancir literary means transsexual, and I think this meal is named because of its appearance. It only has a little bit soup, so can't really said as noodle soup or stir fry noodle. The ingredients were stir fried a bit and then boiled in a little bit soup.

I got this recipe from my grandmother. But instead of using chinese noodle, I used udon (because it was the only noodle I could find in my fridge). It surprisingly tasted very good. Very very good! hmmmmm

Wednesday Bento: Nyasu (pokemon character)

2011-02-09T15:43:00.003+09:00

Iki had fever yesterday and didn't go to school so I thought today he would take another day off and have a rest at home - means I didn't have to make the Wednesday Bento. But he was fine in the morning and really wanted to go to school! (>.<)

He requested this Pokemon Character obento and I started making it pretty late. But well....at least it looks like a cat LOL (sorry, Iki :p)

Inside:

Nyasu: Plum rice ball, omelette, sliced cheese, ham, nori

Potato croquettes

Boiled Broccoli

Strawberry

Rib pain

2011-02-08T14:29:00.000+09:00

I got severe right rib pain after falling down on a hard snow during
snowboarding last Sunday. I thought it's just bruised but this morning
the pain is getting worse....

Want to have it checked by X-ray but can't go to doctor today. Iki got
high fever so he is on his bed the whole day, can't possibly leave him
alone.

I'm trying anti inflammatory cream and let's see if it could help.
Arghh....hope I didn't break my rib!!! I'm in snowboarding mode now
and plan to take snowboard lesson this weekend....... (_ _o)

Sent from my iPhone

To the top!!

2011-02-07T20:03:00.000+09:00

We did it!

I still had hangover from drinking with my girlfriends the night before, but we went to the top of the mountain together, the three of us. It was incredible!

Japan is surely getting warmer now. It's only february but the snow is wet already. It's even melted on my snowboard. This makes Hiro wants to go ski every weekend.....

Girls night out

2011-02-06T23:30:00.001+09:00

Boy it was fun! We went out last Saturday night and the fathers took care of the kids. We had a lot of parties in the afternoon, but drinking outside at night is definitely different.

We ate Kushiage at Nezu. One of my friend is moving to Jakarta and she really wanted to eat it. In that specific restaurant. It was my first time to eat it, and it was really good!!

Then we went back to our station, and drank at the bar in front of it until 1.30 am. Nearby our house so that we could crawl back home if we were too drunk haha!

It was a good fun.....Hope we could do it again :p

Setsubun

2011-02-05T16:14:00.003+09:00

February 3 is Setsubun here in Japan. This year Iki knew a lot more about it from school so he was pretty excited.

We tried Kansai area's setsubun tradition to eat ehomaki, an uncut sushi roll, eaten in silence facing the yearly lucky compass direction. It was very hard for talkative Iki to eat without talking, and God it was the quietest dinner ever!! This year's lucky direction is South South East, but stupid me, wrongly read the compass. We ate our lucky roll facing the opposite direction: north north west!!!! I hope luck won't go away from us this year!!

Then we did the Mamemaki tradition, this time Iki was the Oni (devil)

And we threw beans in every room in this house to bring in good luck.

By the end of the day, there were beans all over the floor!!

And this was last wednesday's Bento. To celebrate setsubun!

Oni (devil): rice with tomato ketchup, cheese, carrot, spinach

Japanese croquettes

Quail eggs

Strawberries

Roasted beans

Winter Camping

2011-02-01T14:27:00.005+09:00

Yes, we did it last weekend. I still think that we were crazy!

We were hungry when we arrived at the Regina forest campsite in Fukushima Perfecture, but before we could start making fire, we still had to clean away snow! What an exercise!

For the first time in my life, I felt like cooking in a freezer. All the leftover food turned into ice the next day, even my liquid dish washing detergent LOL

It was cold cold cold, that I thought I wouldn't survive

Eventhough Hiro and Iki had so much fun making this happy snowman :)

Hot black coffee was a luxurious treat

Thanks God we didn't have to stay in a tent!! Hiro rented this igloo shaped comfortable cabin for us spending the night

But it was fun. Once in a lifetime experience....O N C E in a life time....!!! (could it be only once, Hiro?! :p)

Wednesday Bento: Ski Obento

2011-01-31T21:18:00.002+09:00

For my son who is crazy about skiing now :p

Inside:

Rice with umeboshi inside

Decoration: green pepper, cheese, carrot

Boiled spinach

Apple

Ika to sato imo no nimono (boiled squid with taro)

Snow Monkey

2011-01-31T14:23:00.000+09:00

We went to Shiga Kogen last two weeks for skiing and Iki wanted to see the snow monkey advertised around the Ryokan we stayed.

Last year we didn't bring him there but this year we thought he would be strong enough to walk so we agreed to give those monkey a visit :p

I didn't expect that we would do a winter hiking to reach the monkey area!! Good that Iki enjoyed the whole trip -which made it even longer :p

We had to walked through a snowy jungle

And a narrow slippery road

And also lots of slippery steps

Until we met this cutie

With his friends trying to warm themselves up in the hot spring

The whole hiking trip worthed it. We could see the only monkeys who wash their food before eating :p. It was a good walk. We saw a lot and surprisingly Iki had so much fun!

Flower arrangement: basic round shape

2011-01-30T17:05:00.000+09:00

I joined flower arrangement again this month. This time I had to work
with fresh flowers, and I found it challenging.

This is an expensive new hobby, and I kind of like it. And it's nice
anyway, to have fresh flowers in the livingroom -eventhough only once
a month!

Snowboarding

2011-01-26T14:13:00.002+09:00

Hiro bought me snowboard and the boots, so that I won't get bored all the time waiting for him and Iki skiing. I tried snowboard before we got married and as far as I could remember, it was not as difficult as ski so I agreed to give it a try again this time.

Again his dream to go to the top of the snowy mountain together and see the breathtaking view melted me. Well, eventhough he knows that it would take years for Iki and (especially) me to go up to the top of the mountain :p

I surprisingly enjoyed snowboarding, though it is actually is not THAT easy. It's a very good exercise too so I hope I wouldn't be too fat putting on layers of fat to keep myself warm during winter!

So I do snowboarding now, while Hiro and Iki skiing. Iki also loves ski now, and Hiro is very happy with that!

Winter is just a month to go. I'm glad that this time the three of us can enjoy it more....

OMG!

2011-01-21T10:03:00.000+09:00

Iki kissed a girl yesterday. On her lips. In front of me!

I'm a shocked and brokenhearted mom....I feel like he would leave me soon!!!

It's not Japanese culture to kiss someone openly on the lips. Iki
might feel it's just a usual thing since he kisses me and hiro a lot.
But it shocked his friends who saw it too.

Oh well, maybe I should kiss hiro less in front of him so that he
won't kiss girls that easy...?

Sent from my iPhone

Wednesday Bento: White winter

2011-01-17T14:21:00.003+09:00

This is Iki's Bento on his first week back to school after the winter holiday.

Inside:

Steamed rice

Pork ginger

Cabbage salad

Strawberry

Snowman: hanpen, nori, kombu and ham

Hatsumode

2011-01-17T13:00:00.003+09:00

Hatsumode is the first visit to the shrine during New Year, where people pray for the whole good coming year. The shrines are super crowded during this period so actually Hiro planned to go there in the second of third week of January, when hopefully the crowd is lesser.

But Iki, who now learned a lot of Japanese traditional custom from his daily life, school or even television, asked Hiro to go to Shrine during last New Year holiday. Because he wants a daruma-san for his New Year good luck charm.

We went to a shrine in Sanno, about 1.5 hour drive from Tokyo. Iki could buy his Daruma-san there and then Hiro planned to go to big Outlet stores nearby. There were lots of small shops along the street to the shrine, so it was a good opportunity too to try some festival (and street) food of Japan.

And yes, it was very crowded. We had to queue in line for about 1 hour only to enter the shrine. And needed more than 5 hours to try to queue to the outlet store (then we gave up after 1.5 hour lining!) and to drive back home because of the traffic jam.

Oshogatsu (New Year)

2011-01-01T12:20:00.001+09:00

New Year (oshogatsu) is the most important holiday in Japan. Holiday usually starts from 29 December - 3 January and most businesses are closed during that period. New Year is the time to gather with family and travelling from/to big cities could be a nightmare, as it is extremely expensive and crowded.

On 26th December, people usually change all the Christmas decoration with new year decoration, which are made by pine, bamboo, and plum trees. And inside the house, there is also a kagami mochi to welcome New Year.

People (read: Housewives!) clean the whole house before New Year (Osouji = big cleaning up). Such a hardwork for me, God I miss my maid in Sorowako, Maria during those awful time! But Iki helped me this time, cleaning the sofas and the whole carpets. Thanks, my boy!

On New Year's eve, people eat buckwheat noodle (soba) as a symbol of long life

The sunrise of the first day of the year is pretty important. Most people get up early, some go to higher buildings or mountains, or beach area for better view. Last year we had the first sunrise from our boat on the lake, such a beautiful once in a lifetime experience! This year? All of us were up late :p

The New Year meal is Ozouni, soup with toasted mochi on top. Ozouni varies based on each location in japan, and clear chicken soup broth is the based soup in our house.

It is eaten together with Osechi Ryori, a traditional Japanese New Year food, beautifully presented in a two or three layered traditional box.

I learnt to make this complicated meal in Sorowako last year from Mariko and Miwa, was actually tempted to buy the ready made from the store, but at last put myself into trouble and made them!!! I actually just finished preparing those food and took a bath just before 2010 changed into 2011!

But I am really satisfied and proud of myself (^___^). The pre-ordered Osechi is very expensive. One box cost like 200-500 USD!

There is tradition to visit temple and pray during the first three days of the year. I don't know when will we do it as temples would be full of people during those period. I think Hiro will just wait until the third week :p

2010 was a great year for us. It is our first whole 4 seasons living in Japan. I got a lot of new experiences and friends; and enjoyed every minute of it. I am so excited to welcome 2011, with whatever waiting for us there (^___^)

Happy New Year, friends. Hope 2011 will be a super year for you too!

Happy Birthday, Iki-chan!!

2010-12-31T23:41:00.005+09:00

My boy is finally turned 5 today. Yesterday we had party with families, and Iki was very happy to have his grandparents and cousins coming. I didn't take pictures at all :(, as a host I was really really busy preparing the food and making sure everything run smoothly.

We had roasted chicken and cheese fondue as the main food, with octopus tomato salad and christmas tree ham as side dish.

And this is the birthday/christmas cake.

Today we just had a quiet day. Ate sekihan, Japanese red bean rice for breakfast to celebrate birthday and buckwheat noodle (soba) for dinner. Soba is usually eaten on New Year eve in Japan as a symbol of longevity meanwhile eating noodle during birthday for Indonesian has the same meaning too!

He is showered with presents this month. Both for Christmas and birthday. Looking at his room, I don't think I will buy him anymore toys until next December!

He loves mini lego now and can build things following the instruction book already. And this is him making Newton Telescope (with papa-chan's help!), his birthday present from papa.

Happy 5th birthday my boy (^___^)

Ah...

2010-12-29T11:47:00.001+09:00

Iki was down with stomach bug, high fever and never ending coughing
for two days. He is good and busy studying Japanese now but I started
to feel very sleepy and tired!

Oh god no, pls, I have to be good until new year. Will host whole in
laws family Christmas and iki's birthday party here tomorrow, and
prepare the Japanese new year food the next day.

Please oh please, I really don't want to get sick now �

Christmas Ski

2010-12-26T23:33:00.005+09:00

We went to Zao, an onsen area in northern Japan last weekend. Ski season just started last week, so Hiro thought it would be a great way to spend Christmas skiing instead of camping!

At first Iki was excited and followed papa-chan instruction

Well then again, the drama began. Papa-chan got angry and Iki-chan started to cry

Papa-chan walked away.... and everyone felt bad.

So at last we just put him into the ski school. He loved it, wanted to learn ski more, but not from papa-chan. He wants to learn only from the ski school now (>.<).

Anyway both papa-chan and Iki-chan had a good time skiing. And me....just waiting while watching the snowfall and eating a lot of high calorie snacks (@_@).

At least I had fun playing with Iki

while papa-chan had to clean the car from the snow LOL

It was a beautiful day afterall. A beautiful white Christmas (^_^)

Merry Christmas, hope yours' are as beautiful as ours

Christmas special

2010-12-20T17:31:00.001+09:00

I held Christmas special lesson for my students today. It was tiring,
I had to prepare everything myself, but we had so much fun. My
students enjoyed it and it matters the most!!

Tanjoubi-kai

2010-12-16T13:15:00.007+09:00

Or birthday party :)

Winter holiday will start next week, so we held birthday party for Iki last Tuesday. As he gets older, it is impossible to have party for him right on his birthday. No friends would come for a birthday party on December 31st!!

Iki requested Transformer Bumblebee birthday cake, which I thought was impossible to make at first!

Lazy me then just brought ready made sponge cake, made a round hole on the surface and filled it in with chocolate whipped cream and chopped mixed nuts.

Then worked on the robot's shapes using marsmallow fondant. It was fun actually, I felt like playing with edible playdough

Even Papa-chan also helped to draw the red trasnformer mark. Because according to Iki, that tiny complicated mark was so important (@_@)

And here it is. Transformer Bumblebee cake..

He loved it, everyone loved it

My boy will be five by the end of this year (^___^).

F I V E!!!

Yakiniku Party

2010-12-11T12:37:00.000+09:00

I like having friends coming to my place. We do it a lot now. Either just waiting for the kids to play, for doing some crafts together, for a beer, or some parties.

We had Yakiniku party last week. Had a very good time, but sadly two of them are moving out pretty soon.....

But well....again I have to remind myself. That life is about Hello and Goodbye...

Wintery nails

2010-12-10T12:32:00.002+09:00

Its getting colder and colder out there. I prefer sipping hot amaretto coffee instead of shopping around now. And doing my favorite relaxing activity: manicuring.

So here are my wintery nails, for welcoming winter (^____^)

Wednesday Bento: Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-09T12:28:00.000+09:00

So here is the last Bento this year. Winter holiday is coming, and I will be free from bento making hassle until next year ;-)

My kitchen would like to wish you "Merry Christmas" too (^___^)

Inside:

Snowman: two umeboshi rice balls, nori, carrots, and crab

Steamed carrots

Gyoza

Oranges

Weekend date

2010-12-08T12:19:00.002+09:00

We sent Iki to his grandparents' house for a night and had a date last Saturday. These few months we haven't really spent quality time only for the two of us, so it was just at a right time. Hiro brought me to watch classical orchestra live, and I was really impressed. Well, I actually was not allowed to take picture hehe :p

We walked a long Omotesando street and enjoyed how the luxurious street welcoming Christmas. Too bad there were thousands other people wanted to enjoy too that we could hardly walk. Oh well...this is the consequences of living in one of world's most populated city (@_@)

It was a relaxing night. Except that I fell of the stairs in the Subway station and Hiro yelled: "What the hell are you doing?! KAKKOWARUI (malu maluin!)!" - instead of worrying and asking if I was alright! Ah...that guy!

But still it was a good night afterall (^__^)

Flower arrangement

2010-12-05T11:43:00.001+09:00

I joined flower arrangement class last week. I always think that I
don't have good sense in arranging flowers and I did have a hard time
putting all those fragile flowers together!

Almost forgotten Wednesday bentos!

2010-11-26T10:34:00.008+09:00

Another Halloween theme Obento. It was the obento for the sweet potatoes picking last month.

Inside:

Boiled broccoli

Ham and cheese butter roll sandwich

Boiled carrots

Bat: sliced cheese and nori

Ensoku (school trip) Obento. It was for Iki's school trip picnic bento by the end of October.

Inside:

Rice with kecap manis

Boiled broccoli and mayonnaise

Tempe goreng

Cut apple

"Ensoku" banner: sliced cheese and nori

Saturn Obento.

Iki loves Saturn and really wants to go there for holiday!

Inside:

Rice with dried small fish on top

Bear shaped croquettes

Roasted mini tomatoes

Ham and cheese rolls

Robot Obento.

I woke up late and only had 15 minutes to prepare bento that day (>.<). It was supposed to be robot, but Iki said it was just a purple doll (@_@)

Inside:

Rice with purple colored furikake and kombu

Niku jaga

Cut kaki (persimmon)

Sausage and cheese on picks

Pon-chan (???) Obento.

Not sure if it is the correct name. One of Pokemon character, Iki just showed me the picture and asked me to make it last week.

Inside:

Boiled broccoli

Rice onigiri with salted kombu filling

Sausage and processed cheese on picks

Cut apples

And this is today's obento. "Yochien's Bestfriend" obento.

Iki said that they were Iki and Isamu. Isamu is his classmate and Iki said that he likes him because they always play tatakai gokko (fighting game) :p. And they were wearing Yochien (kindergarten) hats as they always do! I think it was sweet :)

Inside:

Boiled broccoli

Rice balls with kombu fillings. Nori, sliced cheese and ham

Buri no teriyaki

quail sunny side up eggs

Cut appples

Next Wednesday's bento will be the last this year. Winter holiday is coming soon, Christmas is just around the corner.

So next week's obento....hopefully will be a christmas theme one! (^___^)

Autumn camping

2010-11-24T11:59:00.006+09:00

We went camping again for two nights last weekend. Supposed to be three nights, but Hiro got sick so we decided to go back one day earlier...

We went to Nasu area again this time, in Maple Nasu campground, which has electricity plug and onsen (hotspring). We were ready with electric mat this time, and an onsen bath before sleeping was a luxury for such a cold weather!!

It's a nice place. The autumn view was beautiful, eventhough the maple leaves were almost all fallen off. Lots of activities to make us (and Iki) busy too!

We built the tent nearby the playground. Iki was very happy!!

Iki wanted to fish too so off he went to the pond with papa-chan. Well, he got bored waiting after few minutes and gave the fishing rod to papa-chan at last :p

They caught two fishes and we grilled them for lunch. Yummy!

And we of course had a good time walking around :)

It was our first camping with our first owned car in Japan too! Yeah...at last we bought a car for our adventure instead of borrowing parents in laws' car all the time. Which means Hiro planned to stay in Japan for a while to give Iki's childhood an unforgettable outdoor experience.

Feel sad because this might be our last camping experience. Might be!

But winter is so close now. We are getting ready for skiing now!

Sichi Go San (7-5-3)

2010-11-18T12:45:00.005+09:00

Sichi Go San is one of Japan's important festival to celebrate the children's growth at the age of three (boys and girls), five (for boys), and seven (for girls). The festival itself actually is on November fifteen, but now parents can choose whatever date around November and early December to celebrate it.

Iki will turn 5 next month so we decided to celebrate his Sichi Go San this year. We don't know when will we be next Autumn and his grandparents really wanted to make it this year. So we had it last Sunday on November 14.

The festival have started from Heian Period (794-1185, when the Nobles celebrate their children growth in November. Now every parents can celebrate this festival to their children, by visiting the shrines and have prayers through small ceremonies by the priest. Don't you think that those priests are so young??

We went to a shrine nearby Iki's grandparents' house. Where Hiro also had his Sichi Go San festival when he was a little boy. At first I had no clue what is the difference between shrine and temple. It's the red gate. Shrine has this red gate!

It was believed that at the age of three children can start growing their hair, at the age of five the boys can wear hakama (Traditional cloth for boys) for the first time, and at the age of seven the girls can wear obi around the kimono for the first time. Parents and grandparents also dressed formally to visit the shrines. Most mothers wear Kimono but nowadays a lot of families just wear formal western style clothing, also the children celebrating the Sichi Go San. I guess it is more comfortable than the traditional clothes and less pricey! Iki wanted to take the hakama off already after three minutes he was dressed, and those hakama and kimono renting costed a fortune!!! trust me, it was a thousand dollar festival. Thanks God, we only have one boy. Girls would definitely cost more hahaha

After the ceremony Iki got a bag with chitose ame (thousand years candy), omamori (lucky charm) and a small sichi go san cup. The candy is in long stick shape and all came in a paper bag illustrated with turtle and cranes as a symbol of long live.

Iki's grandmother cooked Sekihan (red bean rice) to celebrate it, and we had a photo session in a studio too

Iki-chan sayang, Sichi Go San omedetou! (^___^)

(_ _o)

2010-11-05T10:00:00.005+09:00

I'm in pieces now. I have no words to describe how i feel, I don't even know how to say goodbye. Simply because I can't. I don't want you to go. But I, We, all have to let you go....

I made this opor babi this afternoon in tears. I remember you used to make this comfort food back in our childhood. It doesn't look the same, it doesn't taste the same. It will never be. But I will never forget the taste, like I will never forget you.......

Memory about you will always be with me. May you rest in peace, Uma. I love you, I just realized I never said those words to you when you were alive :(

You have had enough 78 years of your life. I wished I could make it better for you....

Getting ready for winter

2010-10-31T22:16:00.006+09:00

I live in a city where most women take a really good care of their body appearance (read: slim or VERY slim). The concept of winter and putting on a lot of clothes for warmth scared them off because they don't like to look fat (or a little bit fatter).

I think that is why these amazing products are invented: HeatTech clothing and Kairo (pocket warmer).

HeatTeach clothing from Uniqlo Japan is my biggest recommendation to stay fashionable while fighting with cold weather. They are very thin inners that are made by special fabric that can keep your body warm. Now it varies from turtleneck inners, T-shirt, camisoles, leggings and tights, socks and even now (unfortunately) SKINNY trousers (which I really want but don't fit my fat legs!).

Winter is not really my favorite season. Hey, I'm a tropical woman! That's why I really fell in love with this products the first time I found it. For me, 1 turtleneck inner = 1 fleece jacket. Two turtleneck inner = 1 wool sweater.

I looked like a pregnant snowball during my first winter in South Korea, but now that I had found HeatTech products, I don't need to put on thick layers of clothes anymore!!

And my other favorite for winter is Hakkin Kairo, or disposable pocket warmer. It was invented by Niichi Matoba in 1923. Kairo is using platinum catalyst technology, that is environment friendly but really useful to keep your body warm during winter.

At this time of the year Kairo can be found like almost in every drugstores or supermarkets all over Japan. The pocket warmers are thin, easy to slipped into pockets. Some are specially designed to slip into gloves or socks. Some can be sticked into inner clothes for extra warmth.

If any of you wonder how I could still look slim during winter. It's because of those two products. I put on heattech inner clothing and have kairo in almost every pocket (^___-)

And what are your favorites for fighting the cold weather...?

..............

2010-10-28T23:03:00.001+09:00

Be strong, Indonesia....

You'll always be in my pray (_ _o).........

Imo Hori (sweet potatoes picking)

2010-10-27T17:46:00.000+09:00

I also joined Iki's schooltrip for harvesting sweet potatoes last two weeks. Not only kids enjoying this kind of activity, but me too!! As long as I could remember, I have never paid quite amount of money to harvest veggies or fruit MYSELF back in Indonesia! I did pay the gardener to do the whole thing ;-)

At first he used gloves because he didn't want to touch the soil.

But then what the heck! haha

Dig dig dig! Everyone tried to get as much sweet potatoes as possible

Then we had picnic lunch together

This was Iki's obento. Halloween theme one again.

Everyone was dead tired. But had to walk about 20 minutes to the train station. Bringing the sweet potatoes back!!!! Thanks God I brought this (^_-)

Swimming class

2010-10-27T15:57:00.001+09:00

Today mothers were allowed to go to poolside and took pictures!

Iki likes swimming now and I was thinking to add one more swimming day
for him. But winter is just around the corner, going to the swimming
school is another freezing trip for me (@_@)

Wednesday Bento: Halloween

2010-10-26T07:42:00.001+09:00

This was last week's bento for the upcoming Halloween

Inside:

Cube carrots and yellow paprika on picks

Chicken teriyaki

Rice

Spinach and nori rolls

Spring onion

Marsmallow and cheese rolls

(_ _o)

2010-10-25T17:15:00.003+09:00

Uma....Ocho...

Cepat sembuh ya...... (_ _o).....

Iki masih mau ketemu....

Tonkotsu Ramen 

2010-10-25T15:27:00.000+09:00

It is definitely my favorite ramen ever!!

Tonkotsu ramen is Kyushu (japan southern island)'s specialty. The
thick broth is from boiled pork bones, and varies in some areas all
over Kyushu.

There is garlic tonkotsu based broth, miso tonkotsu, and spicy
tonkotsu for example.

Personally I like the simply white tonkotsu broth, with not too soft
ramen (Chinese wheat noodle), some slices of char siu and aji no
tamago (tasty half boiled egg).

Hmmmm.....I think I know what is for lunch tomorrow! ��

Camping at Kinugawa area

2010-10-25T08:59:00.000+09:00

Iki had high fever after swine flu injection last Thursday. We almost
thought that we couldn't go to our might-be-last camping this year.
But he looked fine on Saturday morning! So off we went to kinugawa
hotspring area in nikko late in the afternoon.

It was a good decision though. We were more experienced this time, so
things ran really well. And we enjoyed our might be last camping this
year �

Happy Birthday, Papa-chan

2010-10-22T22:31:00.005+09:00

I seriously don't want to remember your age haha!

A very happy birthday, honey. Sorry for the burnt cake, it was supposed to be a campground anyway ;-)

Tooooo bad Iki got fever that we couldn't have your birthday camping this weekend. But we did celebrate it with a little tent and campfire yesterday (^___^)

Campground: baked cheese cake

Tent: store bought castella

The lazy pig: snow balls

Campfire: pretz with caramel chips around

(and two little candles in the middle)

Undokai (Sport Day)

2010-10-14T23:00:00.001+09:00

I think almost all kindergartens all over Japan scheduled Undokai or sport day last Saturday - and then rescheduled it to Sunday or Monday because of the pouring rain! It was kind of ruining our mood and plan to go camping for that rare long weekend, but apparently the super shiny Monday when Iki's undokai was rescheduled was just a perfect time.

Iki's school is a small one, run by Hiro's company's management. It's much much cheaper than normal kindergarten around, but mothers have to participate in all event it held. Which is actually tiring eventhough they're all good fun. Also for this undokai. Mothers had to prepare a lot of things, decorated the school, cleaned it well, and had performances too. As I'm writing this the next day, I can feel my whole body aching from the participating there.

On the other hand, the undokai itself was great. The fact that not only kids participated was actually fun too. They had games for moms, dads, toddlers, and even yochien's graduates (two of them were grown ups and work for the company too!)

They had sprint. Of course my boy lost haha!

Giant balls racing

Dancing

Walking on a "bridge". This is interesting because each kid has to show their own creativity. Iki surprisingly "walked" on his butt haha

Throwing balls into the nets

There is fathers' dancing wearing vegetables hats too. Papa-chan was the only one wearing REAL chinese cabbage hat hahaha. How funny!

Mommies also had to dance samba together, and made performance to support each group competing. I was participating so I don't have the photos :(. It was good memory though.

Poor daddies then had to race bringing the kids on the back

The undokai was closed by Mommies and Kids dancing.

And of course everyone has to clean up the whole school after that, except papa-chan! haha

Good fun. It was a good fun!

Wednesday Bento: Lightning McQueen

2010-10-13T14:00:00.003+09:00

I had a very bad morning that really ruined my day, that I was surprised I could finish making this bento. I am not satisfied with the result, and so was Iki..... :(

But he had to bring it to school anyway.....

The inside part was like this:

I put furikake rice inside, with Tetsuage Fish and Renkon, mini tomatoes and sliced cheese on the picks, cheese kamaboko sausages, and mini oranges as dessert.

And then covered it with the pinky Lightning McQueen - ah....it was supposed to be red!

It's made from white eggs omelet (with supposed to be red food coloring added), sliced cheese, and nori for decoration.

Wednesday Bento: Tomica Cars

2010-10-13T13:53:00.004+09:00

After very very long summer holiday, the Wednesday bento was started again last week. I almost forgot how to make bento again! LOL

Let's say it was a warming up one for that Wednesday: Tomica cars Bento

Inside:

Fried chicken

Carrots cubes and processed cheese on the picks

Furikake rice

Sliced ham, cheese and nori for the tomica cars

Sunday run

2010-10-10T12:27:00.001+09:00

It's been kind of routine lately whenever we don't go camping or if
iki doesn't stay over at his grandparents' house. We run about 1.2 km,
have breakfast at mister donuts or mcd, then walk back home.

The fatty breakfast has probably double or triple calories we burnt
during running, but hell, it's a fun family time �

Two wheels bike

2010-10-10T00:21:00.000+09:00

In a day he could ride a two wheels bike already!!! How time
flies....he is not my little baby anymore

Back to teaching

2010-10-09T17:07:00.001+09:00

I had never thought that I would be an English Teacher in Tokyo. I did want to work because I was practically doing nothing than spending a lot of money eating and shopping with friends while Iki's at school. Applied for some administrative works, but well....I have not enough Japanese for that kind of job ;-)

Some mothers requested me to teach English to their kids then. At first I was just doing favor for the kids from Iki's class. I didn't really care how much they would pay me. Those kids were interested to learn English because they see Iki communicating in English. But it turned out that other kids from this apartment building also wanted to join the class too. Now I have totally fourteen students, divided in three classes (^__^)

I was nervous at first, I haven't been teaching for years. But I enjoy it way too much now!!!

Unexpectedly now I have little income myself. First ever since I married papa-chan five years ago. At least I could buy him birthday present with my own money this year? hehehe

First camping in Japan

2010-09-17T17:24:00.000+09:00

Yes, we finally did it last weekend!

After our first and last camping last new year's eve on Matano Lake in Sorowako, we had always wished that we could go camping again. Summer was way too hot -and crowded here. So once the summer holiday finished, papa-chan started buying the camping gear.

We went to a lake in Fuji mountain area. Lake, this time, because Iki wants to play with his wooden boat he brought from Madura haha

Our tent is small but enough for the three of us. We spent a surprisingly comfortable night

Iki really enjoyed it. He helped papa-chan making the tent and preparing the fire

Also helping me cooking

In the morning he excitedly woke up and said' "mom, you can sleep more. I will make the fire and prepare the breakfast"

LOL, wasn't it sweet???

He of course enjoyed the lake, even the "jungle". And he used to hate jungle when we lived in the jungle paradise, Sorowako. How come!!

And God, that campsite had a breathtaking sunset view

The next day we went back to Tokyo after taking a relaxing bath at a hotspring (onsen) nearby, and had a super delicious soba lunch in a small soba restaurant in the middle of pine forrest

It was a great family time (^____^)