Sweet Mandarin oranges grown in the backyard

Healthy Home Cooked Japanese Meal

Yakisoba the Japanese mee goreng

Camping tent for sale

 

 

The shop at a mall is giving a 10% on all camping gears. I was impressed by above tent which was going for about S$1,000 after discount. It looked and felt comfortable after entering it and even lying on one of its beds. Will discuss with my wife whether to get one for the coming spring. Will be nice to go camping here in Japan.

Curry Cheese Cup Noodles by Nissin

Tips to achieving a positive BMI

 After almost a year residing in Japan, my BMI fell from 25.4 which is in the overweight category to 23.7 in the normal bracket. The positive result is due to my change in eating habits. I started to eat instead of 3 full meals a day to 1.5 a day. I avoid taking too much carbohydrates like rice, noodles, bread, sugar etc.

Over a span of less than a year I achieved the positive results. In terms of body weight I've lost 5 kilos during the same period. Below is the chart.

Cooking and eating Sayur Lodeh

 

Instead of using the Thai curry paste that I've got from Japan for Thai curry, I used it for my sayur lodeh. It is also known as Indonesian vegetable stew in coconut milk. In Singapore, the Chinese calls it curry vegetables. With this type of dish which I am able to cook in Japan, I don't really miss Singapore food.

Cabbages ready for harvesting

 

The cabbages are ready for harvesting. A few were harvested and given to our neighbors and relatives. Each cabbage costs about $1.20 in the supermarket. It's cheap because it's in season now and so are the Japanese radishes.

Growing Japanese radishes or Daikon

 

In the next few days, we should be able to harvest the daikon in our garden. We will be cooking them as veggie dishes and pickled some of them. At the moment, we are also growing onions, cabbages, lettuce etc.

Persimmons or kaki in Japanese

 

Our neighbors had a tree full of persimmons and gave us lots of them. We really have good neighbors who are generous. In return, we bought them gifts like Chinese dumplings aka Goyza in Japanese.

Nabe or Japanese steamboat lunch

 

Our lunch was nabe aka Japanese steamboat. We used the salmon parts which we bought yesterday plus a dozen chicken balls and vegetables. It was fitting to eat the steaming nabe on a chilly day like today when the outside temperature was about 14c (house temperature = 22c). The salmon parts and head was indeed very tasty. It was boiled together with the other stuff. As for the futomaki or Californian rolls, we left them for dinner.

At a foodcourt in Japan

 

Had our breakfast at a foodcourt near a wet market in Fukuoka, Japan. It was Friday and the stall holders gave their customers a hefty 10% discount on the food as well as groceries, seafoods etc.

Fish head steamboat with Vegetables

 

We did not hesitate for a moment to pick up the fish head which was going for only Yen180 or S$2.20. And it was fresh too.

Since we also had some vegetables in the fridge we decided to have a steamboat lunch aka nabe in Japanese.

The temperature was around 18c and it was a good time to eat steamboat lunch.

McDonald's, Japan

 

We had the Big Mac, Samurai and Double Cheese Burger this morning at McDonald's Japan. Not to be outclassed by Masajiro's burger, McDonald's burgers are slightly less tastier but nevertheless at least 50% cheaper. I will definitely settled for McDonald's anytime.

Japanese hamburgers by Masajiro

 

We drove about 15 minutes to where they were selling yummy Japanese burgers in Fukuoka. It was a quiet restaurant with lots of takeaways. Customers would pre-order via phone call or social platforms and pick the burgers when they are ready. However, we decided to dine in the restaurant which was pretty quiet.

I had the above which was bacon and egg burger. The buns were freshly baked and overall taste was good. It's a little expensive, about S$16 with French fries and a cup of coffee. Nevertheless I will still want to visit them again in the near future.

Lovely dinner on a cool evening

 

Today is a lovely autumn day and my wife and I decided to have a small simple BBQ dinner at our garden. We had a few pieces of lamb meat and chicken wings in our fridge and so decided to grill them for dinner.

The sun sets around 5:30 pm and we decided to prepare our meal one hour earlier. At 4:30 pm the temperature was 18c which was nice. There was no breeze and it was good.

By the time we finished our dinner, it was getting dark and a little chilly at 15c. With a hot cup of freshly brewed coffee, it was a perfect end to our dinner.

100 Yen store called "Can Do"

 

"Can Do" is a 100 Yen ($1.20) shop, something like Daiso. This outlet is newly opened and so it is interesting to pay it a visit.

Since winter is approaching, I went shopping at a store next to Can Do and bought myself a few pairs of warm clothing etc.