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Monday, January 2, 2023

What I Ate Traditional Japanese Foods for This New Year's Holidays and Our New Year's Day Hike

New Year's holidays, which are called oshogatsu (お正月) in Japanese, are the most important holidays for Japanese people. Today, I'm going to share with you what I ate this New Year's holidays.

Traditional Japanese Food for New Year's Eve

It's a Japanese traditional that osoji (大掃除), big cleaning, is done in late December before the New Year comes. Indeed, my husband and I did osoji all day long on New Year's Eve. The last meal before the New Year came was toshikoshi soba. It's a Japanese traditional to eat soba noodles, which are called toshikoshi soba (年越しそば, 年越し蕎麦).

Toshikoshi Soba (年越し蕎麦)

Toshikoshi Soba

This time, my husband cooked chicken soba noodles. He topped soba noodles with Tyson Grilled & Ready Fully Cooked Southwest Grilled Chicken Breast Strips because it's easier. Dried soba noodles were one we purchased in Japan about a month ago. 😉

Traditional Japanese Foods for New Year

Japanese New Year (Shogatsu) runs January 1 through January 7 (O-shogatsu, 大正月) or January 15 (Ko-shogatsu, 小正月). Specially, January 1 through January 3 is called sanganichi (三が日), and people visit shrines and meet families and relatives for the first time in the year and enjoy Japanese traditional New Year's foods.

Osechi (おせち料理)

During New Year's holiday, people in Japan eat Osechi (おせち), Osechi Ryori (おせち料理). Osechi is a collection of lucky foods such as chikuzenni, kuromame, kamaboko and so on.

Osechi

Zoni (雑煮), Mochi Soup
During New Year's holiday, it's a Japanese traditional to eat mochi. Specially, mochi soup which is called zoni (雑煮) or ozoni (お雑煮) is commonly eaten in Japan during New Year's holiday.

Zoni

This year, my husband cooked this zoni for New Year's soup. If you are interested in how to cook zoni, you can check out my previous entry, How to Cook Zoni, Japanese Mochi Soup for New Year's Day.

Chikuzenni (筑前煮), Nishime (煮しめ)

Chikuzenni

I cooked this chikuzenni as our Osechi. I used some vegetable, konjack and chicken. If you are interested in how to cook chikuzenni, you can check out my previous entry, How to Cook Chikuzenni, Japanese Simmered Chicken and Vegetables.

Kuromame (黒豆), Sweetened Japanese Black Beans

Kuromame

I cooked this kuromame (黒豆), sweetened black beans, as our Osechi for my first time. I thought that it would be difficult, but it was easier than I expected. However, it took about four hours. I will write about kuromame recipe in my future entry.

It's not a traditional Japanese New Year's food, but I made a lot of taiyaki on January 1st!

It's because tai (鯛) is a lucky fish! Tai (鯛, たい) means a red snapper, sea bream, in Japanese. People in Japan eat a broiled red snapper on happy events such as on a wedding day, baby's 100th day, New Year's day and etc. Auspicious is called medetai (めでたい) in Japanese. "Tai ha medetai (鯛はめでたい)" means tai is a good luck fish. That's why taiyaki is a kind of a good luck fish-shaped cake and can be eaten all year round.

Taiyaki

A traditional taiyaki has sweetened azuki bean pastes. If you are interested in how to make taiyaki, you can check out my previous entry, How to Make Perfect Taiyaki, Japanese Fish-Shaped Cake .　

Our New Year's Day Hike!

San Gabriel River Bike Trail

It was raining on New Year's Eve all day long. It finally stopped raining in the early morning on January 1st. That's why we decided to hike in Orange County. We finally chose San Gabriel River trail for our first hike of 2023 because we hoped that we could see sea turtles in the river. Because of after storm, it was very windy and cold, and we were not able to find sea turtles this time unlike our previous hike. You can also check out my previous entry, Green Sea Turtles in San Gabriel River - Seal Beach / Long Beach .

San Gabriel River Bike Trail

However, we were able to see beautiful rainbows twice on January 1st! How lucky we were!

San Gabriel River Bike Trail

I thought that 2023 will be a great year!

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♥My Shopping List for Japanese Beauty Products - What I Want to Get in Japan

Friday, March 27, 2020

Stay At Home Order

As I mentioned in my previous entry, on March 17, Orange County announced that all gatherings of people outside home in Orange County are banned. Then, on March 19, California's governor issued a statewide stay at home order. Yet, people are allowed to go to grocery stores, pharmacies, gas stations, banks and etc. In addition, people can take a walk in local neighborhoods as long as they maintain a social distance of 6 feet or more.

Since the stay at home order was issued, more people have been going to grocery stores, and now it's problem with panic buying. Last weekend, my husband and I skipped grocery shopping even though I wanted some fresh vegetables and milk. We still have frozen vegetables and canned tomato in our kitchen. We can live without grocery shopping for a week or so. I think that less frequent grocery shopping and buying only what you need for a few weeks help everyone. We should avoid crowded areas and stop panic buying. We will use frozen vegetables and meat in our freezer first. Maybe, it's good time for me to save money on groceries.

Last weekend, we took a walk around the park. It was so refreshing! I think that regular exercise is important to keep us healthy physically and mentally. We saw many people walking and running there. Everyone was trying to maintain a social distance of 6 feet or more. However, I heard that some beaches and parks in Southern California were very crowded last weekend, so some of those areas were eventually closed because of COVID-19.

After coming back home, we washed our hands as usual. As we all know, washing your hands is the most effective ways to prevent the spread of infections.

Clean hands protect against infection (WHO)

I think that it's the best time for everyone to learn how to wash your hands properly. I hope everyone stays safe and healthy. 😊

     These are my entries you might like.
■Coronavirus Panic Buying Hits California!

■What I Bought at Japanese Supermarkets

■Costco Haul - Polar Black Garlic Cured Super Food

■Trader Joe's Japanese Aomori Black Garlic

■Japanese Aomori Black Garlic

■How I Make Black Garlic at Home

■Costco Haul - the Big Island, Hawaii

■What Do They Sell at Costco on the Big Island, Hawaii? - 12 Kinds of Unique Products!

■COSTCO in Japan

■10 Products I Purchased at Costco in Japan

■What Do They Sell at Costco Business Center? (My Costco Haul)

■Costco Haul - Tiger That Tempura Shrimp

■Starbucks Winter Blend Melange D'Hiver 2017 at Costco

■Starbucks Arizona Double Wall Traveler and Cold Cup

■7 Best Japanese Beauty Products Hall of Fame

   My entries related to Costco can be seen here.

   My entries related to Starbucks can be seen here.

     My entries related to Best Japanese Beauty Products can be seen here.

   My entries related to Japan can be seen here.

     My entries related to beauty can be seen here.

   My entries related to Japan Haul can be seen here.

     You can find my beauty entries by categories from here.

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Mario & Luigi at Target

Today, my husband and I went to Target and found that Target's red bollards transformed into Mario & Luigi!

When I was a child, I enjoyed playing video game such as Nintendo Mario Kart in Japan. I think many people have played some Nintendo games before. :) Nintendo Mario Kart 8 Deluxe will be released on the Nintendo Switch on April 28 this year. Probably, you can also find Mario and Luigi at your local Target for a while.

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Beautiful Palm Trees Around John Wayne Airport

Today, I gave my husband a ride to John Wayne Airport because he would fly to Chicago for his business trip.

I like the view around this airport. There are many beautiful large and tall palm trees along the roads. :)

When he arrived in Chicago, he called me that he was glad to have brought a winter jacket which I told him to take this morning. As we live in sunny Southern California, we sometimes forget how cold a real winter is. :)

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

The Safest City Is Not Always Safe

I have read online local news on a daily basis since last year. I used to believe that I was living in one of the safest cities in the U.S. However, now I think that I need to be always careful because it's not as safe as Japan. According to local news, shooting, stabbing, burglary, robbery, hit-and-run accidents and etc happen in the county where I live right now. If any of these happens in Japan, it will be considered as a huge crime and broadcasted nationally (not locally). Since I didn't usually watch local TV, I didn't know what happened in this county. Specifically, I was surprised that gun related crimes happen almost every week. Shooting sometimes happens at malls, national parks and even on highways! Because people here are able to get guns much easier than Japan (People in Japan are not allowed to own a gun except for police officers), a number of crimes is much higher than Japan. If nobody owns any deadly weapon, they don't have to threaten people with using guns to get money or take away someones' lives. Even if they are not trying to kill anybody, they will break into someone's house or store and take money with showing a gun easily. I am also surprised at a number of crimes related to burglary here. It also sometimes happens in my city, which is always ranked one of the safest cities in the U.S. I know it's a very controversial issue, and some people believe that the U.S. needs to protect the right to own a gun for defending. However, I don't think so. I think that people should never own a gun. Never!

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Powerball Lottery

This morning, I watched TV news that no one won Powerball Lottery yesterday, so the next jackpot could reach an estimated $1.3 billion. I am not usually interested in any lottery, but when my husband and I went to CVS, we found lottery ticket machine at the next to the entrance. He told me that it's Powerball we watched on TV this morning. We decided to buy one ticket just for fun. This was my first time to buy a lottery ticket. I probably won't win the next jackpot, but I look forward to next Wednesday.

Sunday, December 27, 2015

Donated Goods to Goodwill

Next year, I am planing on reading Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Indeed, I've ordered the book on Amazon and will be supposed to receive it in early next year. :) I watched her on Japanese TV and learned how to declutter your home from the show. Last night, I just did what I learned from her. I decided which ones I should keep or get rid of. As a result, I collected so many clothes which I wouldn't wear any more from my closet. Now, my closet is neatly clean, and I am very happy. It's like the life changing magic as she says. I can't wait reading her book next year. :)

Today, my husband and I went to our local Goodwill Donation Center to donate those goods. I am glad that we just finished this task before New Year's Day. We received this Donation Tax Receipt, which we will need to fill out information to fill a tax return next spring.

Donation Tax Receipt

      These are my entries you might like.

■The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

■I Got the Konmari Book, Spark Joy!

■My Tidying Marathon (Books) - Konmari Methods

■Japanese MD Player - My Tidying Marathon

■Marie Kondo Moved to the U.S.

■Marie Kondo's New Book : The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up

     My entries related to Konmari can be seen here.

     My entries related to Japan can be seen here.

Monday, September 28, 2015

Blood Moon, A Total Lunar Eclipse on September 27, 2015

As I mentioned in my yesterday's entry, my husband and I saw a total lunar eclipse and took some pictures last night. The moon was totally eclipsed around 7:40 p.m. He used his camera, Canon EOS SL1. Taking picture of the blood moon was not easy, but I thought that he did really good job! I will share our photos with you. :)) By the way, the original photos were too large, so I resized photos to minimum in order not to run out of memory on my blog.

A Total Lunar Eclipse on September 27, 2015

I uploaded this YouTube video which we recorded last night.

We used these Canon camera and lens for for the blood moon photos and videos.

My previous entry about a total lunar eclipse can be seen here. (Blood Moon : 4/4/2015)

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Blood Moon, A Total Lunar Eclipse

Tonight, my husband and I went to outside and saw a total lunar eclipse. We took some pictures with his camera, Canon EOS SL1. I'm going to share one of them with you tonight. I will share more of photos next time. :)

Total Lunar Eclipse, 27/09/2015

I uploaded this YouTube video which we recorded that day.

We used these Canon camera and lens for for the blood moon photos and videos.

My previous entry about a total lunar eclipse can be seen here. (Blood Moon : 4/4/2015)

Sunday, July 12, 2015

Iced Caramel Macchiato

Today, I made iced caramel macchiato and filmed the videos to share how to make it on YouTube. I will edit and upload the video next week.

Sunday, April 12, 2015

In-N-Out Cheese Burger

Today, my husband and I went to In-N-Out Burger for lunch for the first time in a long time. We don't usually eat out because we love eating healthy foods at home, but somehow I felt like eating an In-N-Out cheese burger last night. I always prefer eating a lot of vegetables every day, but when I want to eat junk foods, I tell myself, "go ahead and eat what I want". It's because I think my body needs those food at the moment. :) Unless eating junk foods every day, eating cheese burger once in a while is not too bad for me. It tasted so good indeed. :)

In-N-Out Cheese Burger

Monday, April 6, 2015

Total Lunar Eclipse

The Moon was totally eclipsed around 5 a.m. last Saturday. My husband and I are usually asleep around that time, but we woke up and got outside to observe the moon.

Lunar Eclipse on April 4, 2015

If truth be told, I didn't expect that we would be able to wake up such an early morning. That's why we didn't well prepare for the observation. Our tripod was still in our garage, but we didn't open the garage because it would possibly disturb neighbors' sleep. That's why we took pictures without the tripod. If we had used a tripod, we could have taken much more great pictures. However, considering darkness, we were able to take pretty good pictures of the lunar eclipse. :) I'm going to share the pictures with you.

Lunar Eclipse on April 4, 2015

Lunar eclipse is also called "blood moon" because of its red color. I was surprised that it looked actually red (or pink).

Lunar Eclipse on April 4, 2015

I took these photos with Canon Power Shot SH50 HS without a tripod. :))

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Kate Spade and Tory Burch iPhone 5 Cases at T.J. Maxx

Yesterday, I found that T.J. Maxx was selling some Kate Spade and Tory Burch iPhone 5 cases. I just bought my new iPhone case last month, so I didn't buy any yesterday, but it was good to know. :)

Kate Spade iPhone cases at T.J. Maxx

Tory Burch iPhone cases at T.J. Maxx

These were much cheaper than ones at Premium Outlets! (A year ago, I wrote about iPhone Cases at Premium Outlets Mall.)

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Marukai Turned Into Tokyo Central

Yesterday, my husband and I went to Tokyo Central, which is a new Japanese supermarket. You might know that Tokyo Central used to be Marukai supermarket. In 2013, Don Quijote, one of the most famous discount chain stores in Japan, purchased Marukai Corporation USA, and they renovated Marukai and finally rebranded Tokyo Central this month. While we were living in Japan many years ago, we sometimes went to Don Quijote, which carried a wide range of products and were selling them at very reasonable prices. After moving to the U.S. we became Marukai members and paid annual fee for years but ended up canceling our membership about a year ago because we had shopped there only a few times a year. However, Tokyo Central is not a membership supermarket unlike Marukai. :) That's why we decided to stopped by this new supermarket to see how they improved the store on our way home from IKEA.

Tokyo Central

These pop signs are Japanese Don Quijote style. Don Quijote branches in Japan also hang such sings everywhere in stores. :) Tokyo Central seemed carry same items as Marukai, but their food court turned into new deli area. They were selling tempura, Japanese bento, sushi and so on. Frankly, these didn't look so good, so we didn't pick up anything at deli. We purchased fresh tuna at seafood section, and we ate it as sashimi today. It was super fresh and great! Because our home is further from this supermarket, probably we won't go to this supermarket often.

Tokyo Central
2975 Harbor Blvd
Costa Mesa, CA 92626

These are my entries you might like.

Top 10 Products You Should Buy at Japanese Supermarkets (for Beginners!)

Top 10 Products You Should Buy at Daiso

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Photo ID for Cold Medicine

       Today, I went to RiteAid to buy cold medicine. When I purchased it, I was required to swipe my ID. I had never been asked my ID for purchasing cold medicine before, so I was pretty surprised about that. According to FDA, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the sale of cold medicine containing pseudoephedrine is limited to behind the counter. The amount of pseudoephedrine that an individual can purchase each month is limited and individuals are required to present photo identification to purchase products containing pseudoephedrine. In addition, stores are required to keep personal information about purchasers for at least two years. Pseudoephedrine is a drug found in both prescription and over-the-counter products used to relieve nasal or sinus congestion caused by the common cold, sinusitis, hay fever, and other respiratory allergies. It can also be used illegally to produce methamphetamine. My cold medicine doesn't contain pseudoephedrine but does phenylephrine, which is marketed as an alternative for the decongestant pseudoephedrine.

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Halloween Clearance Sale

Tonight, my husband and I went to Walgreens and Target to see after Halloween sale. Most Halloween items were 90% off there! We bought a lot of Halloween items for next Halloween season. I will share what we bought with you tomorrow. :)

Friday, October 24, 2014

Editing

My husband and I have uploaded three Youtube videos this week so far, and we will update two more videos this weekend. :)

Getting Pumpkins for Halloween

Monday, October 13, 2014

Coming Back from Japan

Today, I picked up my husband at Los Angeles airport. He bought so many stuffs in Japan. I'll share what he bought there with you next time. :)

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Flew to Japan

After taking Terminology class today, I gave my husband a ride to LAX Airport. He flew to Japan for business trip. During his business trip, he is going to Tsukiji, where is famous place for high quality foods in Tokyo, especially sushi. We went there more than 10 years ago and had delicious sushi there. He told me that he would buy something fish products for me there. His business trip in Japan this time is only for five days, so I think he can not go as many places as he hopes, but I asked him to buy some Muji sweets there. I know that Narita Airport has Muji store, so I think that he can go Muji store right before leaving from Japan.
While he is gone, I will take over his eBay business. :)

Sunday, September 28, 2014

A Huge T.J.Maxx Reusable Bag

This big reusable bag is one My husband and I purchased at T.J.Maxx yesterday. I was able to put five packages into this bag! It will be definitely useful for our shipping. :)