Potato and Spam Korokke

 

 I watched a video on YouTube before about korokke. The recipe is meat and potato korokke. For my lunch yesterday, I asked our househelper to prepare my meal. I taught her the basics in making a korokke even if I just watched the video online. I asked her to buy Japanese bread crumbs. We didn't have a stock of ground meat at home so I just make use of what's available at home. We had lots of canned goods, like Spam so I just told her to chop it up, and mix it with the mashed boiled potatoes. For the recipe of korokke you can search it online, or you can check out some videos online about making authentic Japanese korokke. Korokke is best served with tonkatsu sauce.

What is korokke? (コロッケ.) According to Wikipedia, it is the Japanese name for deep fried dish. Its related to the French dish called croquettes. It is made by using chopped meat, vegetables, potatoes, shaped in a patty, rolling it in flour, eggs, Japanese style breadcrumbs, and then it is deep fried. It usually goes well with shredded cabbage, or any vegetable of your choice as a side-dish. The photo here is the finished product. Let's eat! Itadakemasu! 

Japanology Plus Series (NHK World)

      I am enjoying the Lunch On episodes by Japanology Plus Series of NHK World. It features people with different occupations, and what they eat for lunch. I noticed that Japanese food is not only pleasing to the eye, but it must also be delicious, and nutritious.

The Japanology Plus Series reminds me of Japan Video Topics, another documentary that I like, and I grew up watching it. I came to know about the culture and tradition of Japan through this series. It has been really helpful to me in understanding, and knowing more about Japan and its people. The Japanology Plus Series, is more of the upbeat, and much nicer presentation of Japanese life and culture. This series is also presented in English. For the website, you can go to this link. -> Japanology Plus Series Website
 

Zettai Kareshi (Ideal Boyfriend)

    I'm watching Zettai Kareshi now. This Japanese series is based on anime and manga if I'm not mistaken. It is about a woman, who's an ordinary office worker who was approached by a tech company who is in the process of a project. A robot who will meet a woman or maybe a man's ideal lover. This drama has also a Taiwanese version, entitled Absolute Boyfriend. I also like the closing theme of this drama, sung by my favorite Japanese singer named Ayaka, the title of the song is Okaeri meaning 'I'm home'.

    I really can relate to this drama. Reko (or Riko), The main protagonist in the series is not that lucky and love, and if she meets someone she likes, she doesn't get anywhere, and most often gets rejected. So the people in-charge of the Ideal Boyfriend project sees her as the potential owner of this boyfriend robot whom she named Knight (maybe her knight in shining armor). Most of us especially the single ladies/women, wishes for an ideal man. Someone who can understand us, who will go an extra-mile for us without complaining, who will love us unconditionally, and will never ever get tired, loyal and devoted to us only. In my social network page, I posted that if ever this robot will soon materialize, I'll definitely sign-up if they need someone to try it out. Japan has already an existing robot assistant like Asimo. I'm on Episode 3 now, and its just getting better and better. In the end, we all just want to be loved and be needed. I'm still hopeful (even if there's also a time when I get discouraged) that I'll find my very own Knight someday...soon!

Yonimo Kimyona Monogatari (Tales of the Unusual)

 

In my country, every December we have a film festival which we call Metro Manila Film Festival, a lot of movie entries with different genres are included. Popular genres are fantasy, which oftentimes becomes a box-office hit because families can watch it, and kids love these kinds of movies, another hit genre is the horror films. One popular movie which is always expected to be included is entitled Shake, Rattle, and Roll. It consists of 3 different horror stories. It reminds me of this Japanese tv-movie made series. In English, it means Tales of the Unusual. I have seen the Spring Edition 2014. It consists of five stories. The story opens up by a man wearing black, I got this summary from KissAsian.com.

Tamamori Yuta stars as a down-on-his-luck college graduate who lives with a holographic female/maid servant; Watanabe Eri is a divorcee who feels uncomfortable with her new-found friendship with a so-called 'graveyard friend.'; Nounen Rena as a high schooler who delves too much into her fantasies of Samurai warlords; Eikura Nana as a tv director who gets into an accident and sees her life flas before her eyes; and Fujiki Naohito as a doctor who cannot forget a hurtful past.

My favorite among the five stories is the first story, the fresh-college graduate who lives in a dorm run by the government, and he has a female maid hologram. I have also seen the 2010 Fall Special. I didn't notice that my Japanese crush, superstar is included in this movie, Ohno Satoshi, he is included in the story about a woman who's frustrated by his boyfriend's habit of saying, 'first of all,' he always uses it when he says something.

 Other stories are, about the mysterious hotel wherein if you checked-in all your wishes will come true. Another story is about the bookmark of love, wherein a young woman communicates with the love of her life by writing, since cellphone is still not invented during that time. Followed by, an office worker who found a manual for killing someone, and the last story is about a man who's sister was murdered, and he met and befriend's someone who has a pyrokinetic ability, and she helps him get revenge. I just wish I had the chance to see all of the episodes but I cannot watch the other episodes since they are in Japanese. I have got to find an English subtitled version. I really like this movie, it reminds me also of the American tv series, 'Twilight Zone', and 'Amazing Stories', featuring weird, scary, and fantasy tales. Also, you get to see different kinds of stories in a movie, so its not boring. This is definitely a must-see movie! Two thumbs up!

Kit Kat Green Tea

   I'm not that fond of drinking green tea, but I am more of a tea drinker than a coffee drinker. I prefer
English breakfast tea. I love Kit Kat chocolate. When I was still in teenager days, I can devour 1 regular block of Kit Kat. (It has four wafer fingers). The Kit Kat that is being sold now comes in two wafer fingers. I first tried Kit Kat Green Tea in a Japanese surplus store here in my country. At first taste, I wasn't not immediately hooked, but I guess liking this unique flavor is sort of an acquired taste. It's kind of bitter, and sweet at the same time. I read that Kit Kat green tea flavor (maybe the strength of green tea depends where you bought it. I'm talking about Kit Kat that is available abroad). I try to cut my sugar intake these past months, and I'm proud to say that this pack of Kit Kat that I bought, can lasts up to a month. I still have a single individual pack left with me. Now, when I eat Kit Kat green tea I didn't notice the bitterness now, but the taste reminds me more of creamy avocado. (weird huh?!). Well, that's just my opinion. I like avocado. So I also like Kit Kat Green Tea. Japanese Kit Kat have a lot of flavors, and we can really see how innovative, and creative Japanese are. So if you really want to have a break, don't hesitate buy a Kit Kat now. Kit Kat Green Tea (I believe this Kit Kat is made in Malaysia, if I'm not mistaken.), is available in all leading supermarket nationwide, and you can also check-out the Japanese thrift stores.

My Japanese Travel and Culture Books

   Since I'm just starting to collect Japanese related books, I just wanted to share my latest books about Japanese culture and travel. These are quite expensive books but I guess its okay to splurge once in a while since it is about my hobby and interest. I have not been to Japan but I plan to go on a short trip soon, also to visit my cousins, and niece who are living in Japan.
 
   These past weekw I bought two books from a popular bookstore in my country, National Bookstore. The first book that I bought is entitled Introduction to Japanese Culture by Daniel Sosnoski, who is an American who has lived in Japan for quite a long time. If you want to know more about Japan in a brief but detailed book, with attractive photos then this book is for you. The next book that I bought is Clueless in Tokyo by Betty Reynolds. What I like about this book is that it is a sketchbook. I love the drawings here, and I can use it as a guide, and I can also make my own watercolor painting while basing from the artworks from this book.  Both of these books are from a foreigner perspective, and their experiences while living in Japan.

My Art Books

  We all like anime, and we everyone likes to draw cute things. Thus, almost everyone's enamored with Japanese cartoons or anime. Especially the Western world. I got my first book about drawing chibi's or a Japanese slang word for a short person. The author is an American comic book artist named Christopher Hart, he also released a lot of drawing books with regards in drawing anime. You can check out his work on facebook, and he really replies to some posts.  
 I got another 'How to Draw' book who's author is a popular Japanese artist, named Sachiko Umoto, I got 3 of her books from a local bookstore. It has good reviews online. It is Illustration School Series. Her book is entitled Illustration School Let's Draw Cute Animals, Illustration School Let's Draw Plants and Small Creatures, Illustration School Let's Draw Happy People.

You can visit her website by clicking on this -> Umoto Sachiko Website