It has grown on me!

Thursday, January 24, 2019

How to Cook Omurice, a Japanese Omelette Stuffed with Rice (Cook Like a Pro!)

Omurice (オムライス) is a Japanese omelette stuffed with rice. As I mentioned in my previous entry, Most Popular Japanese Foods (Top 21 - 30), it's one of the most popular Japanese foods, and you can find omurice at many yoshoku restaurants in Japan.

Last week, I found this Del Monte Japan official YouTube video and tried this recipe. I was so surprised that it turned out so delicious!!! (That's why I've cooked this omurice twice since then!) I was also surprised that the chef in this video is Hiroshi Modegi (茂出木浩司) from Taimeiken (たいめいけん), a very famous yoshoku restaurant located in Nihonbashi, Tokyo Japan. This restaurant serve the best yoshoku foods in Japan, and specially, their omurice is very famous!

Taimeiken (Japanese Yoshoku Restaurant)
1-12-10 Nihonbashi
Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Japan

How to Cook Omurice (Hiroshi Modegi from Taimeiken Restaurant)

I really want you to try this recipe from this video! Since this video is only Japanese, I decided to share the recipe in English with you! In this video, Hiroshi Modegi used many kinds of mushrooms, shimeji mushrooms (しめじ), king oyster mushrooms (エリンギ), enoki mushrooms (エノキ) and white mushrooms (マッシュルーム), but I only had shiitake mushrooms in my kitchen, and it turned out so good as well. ;) I also used green beans instead of peas.

Ingredients (2 Servings)
1/2 of Onion (Minced)
Butter
1/2 Pound of Chicken Thigh (Chopped)
1 to 2 Cups of Your Favorite Mushrooms (Sliced)
1/2 Cup of Green Beans (Chopped) or Peas
1 Tablespoons of White Wine
Nip of Salt and Black Peppers
3 oz (80g) of Ketchup
2 Servings of Cooked White Rice
6 Eggs (3 Eggs per Serving)

1. Heat butter (1 and 1/2 tablespoons) in a large pan over low heat. Stir-fry onions until translucent.

2. Add butter (1 and 1/2 tablespoons) again. When the butter has melted, add chicken thigh, and stir-fry them over medium high heat.

3. When the color of chicken has changed, add mushrooms and stir-fry them. (I also added green beans here.) When the mushrooms are almost cooked, add white wine, salt and black peppers.

4. Add ketchup, and stir-fry them for 1 minute.

5. Add cooked rice and stir-fry them over high heat.

6. Serve chicken rice on a plate.

7. Make one serving of omelette at a time. Beat 3 eggs. Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in a pan over high heat. When the butter has melted, pour beaten eggs. Stir them and make omelette. (You might want to watch the video above.)

8. Cover the chicken rice with omelette. Top it with ketchup. Enjoy!

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■How to Cook Miso Soup

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■How to Cook Easy Teriyaki Chicken

■How to Make Japanese Deep Fried Chicken, Kara-Age

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■What I Bought at Japanese Supermarkets

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■Don Quijote (Donki) Haul - What He Got in Japan

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■Top 10 Most Popular Japanese Foods

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My entries related to Japanese noodles can be seen here.

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★You can find my recipe entries through my Pinterest.

Monday, January 21, 2019

Starbucks You Are Here Collection Mug - Japan (Winter Edition)

My husband and I have been collecting Starbucks You Are Here Collection Mugs which are only released locally. As I mentioned in my previous entry, we were able to get a Starbucks You Are Here Japan mug while we were visiting Fukuoka, Japan in January, 2018. Then, when he was on his business trip in Japan in November, 2018, he found this new Starbucks You Are Here Collection Japan Winter Edition Mug there. This mug was just released in Japan on November 22 in 2018. Starbucks Japan released its tumbler and ornament as well. He was very lucky that he was in Japan on the day it was released! Because Starbucks You Are Here Japan mugs have been very popular for foreign tourists visiting Japan, those are usually selling out pretty quickly. :)

Anyway, I'm going to share this Starbucks You Are Here Collection Japan mug with you.

Starbucks You Are Here Collection Mug - Japan (Winter Edition)

【Tsubaki Flowers】The red flowers pictured in this mug are tsubaki (ツバキ, 椿), Japanese camellia. If you live in Japan, you've probably seen tsubaki there. When I was a child, my family has tsubaki trees in our yard, and I also saw some tsubaki trees in my neighborhood. Tsubaki blooms during cold season in Japan. By the way, if you love Japanese beauty products, you have probably know Shiseido Tsubaki hair care products, which contain tsubaki oil extract.

【Mount Fuji】Mount Fuji, which is called Fujisan (富士山) in Japan, is the highest mountain in Japan. It's located in Shizuoka prefecture (静岡県) and Yamanashi prefecture (山梨県), but you can also see it from Tokyo on a clear sunny day. During cold season, you can see beautiful Fuji with a snow cap.

【Red-Crowned Cranes】Cranes are called tsuru (鶴, ツル) in Japan. Specially, red-crowned cranes, Tancho (タンチョウ, タンチョウヅル), are believed a symbol of Japan. You can see the pictures of red-crowned cranes in Japanese 1,000-yen bills (Soseki Natsume version). During cold season, you can see red-crowned cranes dancing in Hokkaido, Japan.

Starbucks You Are Here Collection Mug - Japan (Winter Edition)

【Crab Nabe】In Japan, a crab is called kani (カニ) and crab nabe is called kani nabe (カニ鍋) . The season of Snow Crab, zuwaigani (ズワイガニ), is November through March. Nabe (鍋, 鍋料理) is a variety of Japanese hot pot dishes and winter is a nabe season in Japan.

【Sushi】You can eat sushi all year round. If you are a sushi lover, you might want to know the season of fresh fish. Maguro (マグロ, 鮪), hirame (ヒラメ, 平目) and buri (ブリ, 寒ブリ, 鰤) taste the best in winter. (Maguro means tuna, hirame means halibut, and buri means yellowtail.)

Starbucks You Are Here Collection Mug - Japan (Winter Edition)

【Japanese Castle】In Japan, there are many Japanese castles such as Osaka Castle (大阪城) and Nagoya Castle (名古屋城). On snowy days, Japanese castles are dusted with snow.

【Daruma Doll】A daruma doll (だるま) is a bearded man doll and is a good luck charm. You can select a goal or wish and paint in one of eyes. When you achieved the goal, you can paint in the second eye. Daruma dolls are selling very well as one of traditional Japanese New Year's lucky charms in the end of December through early January in Japan.

Starbucks You Are Here Collection Mug - Japan (Winter Edition)

【Snow Dome】Snow domes with a cave dug are called kamakura (かまくら) in Japan. You can possibly make kamakura in yukiguni (雪国), which is areas in Japan with heavy or deep snows such as Hokkaido and Akita, in winter. A large kamakura has a room for a few to several people. People make kamakura, light it up and enjoy hot foods like soup and mochi in it.

Starbucks You Are Here Collection Mug - Japan (Winter Edition)

The left You Are Here Collection mug was released in 2017, and the right mug is the winter edition released in 2018.

Starbucks You Are Here Collection Mugs - Japan

Now, we have 31 Starbucks You Are Here Collection Mugs!

Starbucks You Are Here Collection Mugs

These are my entries related to You Are Here Collection Mugs.

Hawaii

Waikiki

Las Vegas

Los Angeles

California

Orange County

San Diego

Chicago

Dallas

San Francisco

Utah

Vancouver

Arizona

Phoenix

Lake Tahoe

Houston

Ohio

Pike Place Market

Seattle

Illinois

Texas

New Mexico

Twin Cities

Washington, D.C.

Virginia

Maryland

Michigan

Detroit

Wisconsin

Japan

Japan (Winter Edition)

      My entries related to Starbucks You Are Here Collection Mugs can be seen here.

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Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach

On January 1st, my husband and I enjoyed hiking at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, which is located next to Huntington State Beach. We had a great time to look at many kinds of wild birds and a beautiful sunset. :)

Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve
3842 Warner Ave
Huntington Beach, CA 92649
U.S.A.

Free Parking Lots
There are two small parking lots for this place. We parked at the north parking lot (3842 Warner Ave, Huntington Beach). When we arrived there at 3 p.m., the parking lot was full, so we needed to wait for several minutes to park there.

North Lot : 3842 Warner Ave, Huntington Beach, CA 92649
South Lot : 18000 CA-1, Huntington Beach, CA 92648

We took many photos with our cameras, Canon PowerShot SX50 HS, Canon EOS Rebel SL1 with telephoto zoom lens, Canon EF-S 55-250mm, and my iPhone 6s. Today, I'm going to share beautiful photos we took at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve that day with you. :)