Updates

I have been so busy with my business and no time to update this blog.
But I finally have time and updating soon!!

Here in Manila, it's still hot.
I got sun tanned since I was visiting suppliers and stores everyday.
It's a great experience and I'm having so much fun :)

See you soon!


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Yoga Workshop of Jules Febre

I attended workshop of Jules Febre.

For my memo and to share with yogis, I'll write down what I learned.

I took back bending class and inversion workshop.
He told us that in our ordinary life, we don't usually back bend or invert ourself.
We do a lot of forward bending when you read a book or use computers, and you always stand on your knees. We don't back bend our body to see what's behind you, and we don't stand on our hands.
Your body took them for granted that we do a lot of forward bending and standing on our foot.
So, it's really good for your body to do back bending and inversion because it surprises your body and at the same time stimulate your body and brain. It's a medicine for rejuvenation!

In back bending, he told us that many people who have problems with back bending, usually not really bending their back. They are bending their neck, arms and legs.

In back bending, we use bones from C7 down to 12 thoracic vertebrae.
For those who are not familiar with anatomy, I'll show you C7 and 12 thoracic vertebrae in picture below.
When you bend your neck forward, there's a bone sticking out. That's C7.

(Picture borrowed from http://www.us.oct-net.jp/~e-fimie/takuma16.html)

So, before starting back bending, we did warm-up with Jivamukti-version suriya namaskara and gradually deepen our asanas to full-bending.

Suriya namaskara→Bhujangasana(cobra pose)→Shalabhasana(locust pose)→Dhanurasana(bow pose)→Urdhva Dhanurasana(bridge pose)

Things that you always have to care about are that you try to bend your C7 down to 12 thoracic vertebrae and relax your neck.

I'll write down more in my next entry!

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Banana ketchup

Banana ketchup is one of the Filipino condiments.
I didn't know about this ketchup before I came here, but it's everywhere here in Philippines.

In Filipino houses, they have one most of the time. At Filipino or fast food restaurant, they have one.
One of the biggest Filipino fast food, Joli Bee uses this banana ketchup to all menues.

It's created during the World War II. There was a lack of tomatoes, so they looked for substitute. However, without coloring, it's brown and doesn't look good. So they put red color so that it looks like a real ketchup.

I tried tasting it and I like it! It's sweet and of course it has banana taste just a little bit.

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速攻オクラ料理(Easy and fast okra cooking)

Easy cooking!
This is a popular and easy dish in Japan.

Ingredients for 1 person:

5 pieces of Okras
3g of かつおぶし(Katsuobushi : finely sliced dried bonito)
1 big spoon of soy sauce
1 big spoon of ground sesame

1. Put little bit of salt in a water and boil okra.

2. Mince okra, put it in a bowl along with katsuobushi, soy sauce and ground sesame, and mix them.
3. Eat with rice!

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柴葉漬け(Shibazuke)

(Picture borrowed from http://www.akaoya.jp/)

Shibazuke is a traditional 漬物(Tsukemono) in Kyoto. It's made by pickling eggplant and red perilla with salt. It's one of the famous Tsukemono in Kyoto along with すぐき(Suguki) and 千枚漬け(Senmaizuke).

Although, it's a traditional Tsukemono in Kyoto, it's so popular in Japan, so you can find it easily in a supermarket in almost all over Japan.

It takes about 1 year until it's properly aged. However, nowadays people don't usually make Shibazuke in an original way. People put cucumber or myoga aside from eggplant, and pickle with vinegar. Originally, it was lactic acid fermentation from lactic acid bacteria, but now the popular way is to use vinegar.
Of course, you can still find Shibazuke made by traditional way, but it's hard to get one and much more expensive.


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一味唐辛子(Ichimi tougarashi)&七味唐辛子(Shichimi tougarashi)

Ichimi that my friend gave me.


There are 2 types of popular red pepper in Japan.

一味唐辛子(Ichimi tougarashi)
七味唐辛子(Shichimi tougarashi)

一味(Ichimi) means 1 taste and 七味(Shichimi) means 7 tastes in Japanese.
As you can clearly see, ichimi is made from single kind red pepper. Based on ichimi, add 6 other spices or sometimes more, shichimi is made.

The spices that usually put in Shichimi are these:
芥子(Keshi : garden poppy)
陳皮(Chinpi : chenpi)
胡麻(Goma : sesame)
山椒(Sansyou : Japanese pepper)
麻の実(Asa no mi : hempseed)
紫蘇(Shiso : perilla)
海苔(Noli : dried seaweed)
青海苔(Aonoli : dried seaweed)
生姜(Syouga : ginger)
菜種(Natane : rapeseed)

Shichimi was first sold in 1625 by a person whose name was 徳右衛門(Tokuuemon) at 薬研堀(Yagenbori). Some people wanted to use herbal medicine for edible use and Shichimi was created.

We usually put Ichimi and Shichimi in Udon or Soba.

For your reference, you can see all the major Shichimi in Japan, and their feature of original-blended tastes in this website.
(Japanese only)
http://www.albsasa.com/sub1/sub103t_1.html


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Yoga

I love cooking, and I also love yoga!
I haven't written about it in this blog, but going to write about it once in a while from now:)

There are so many styles of yoga, but right now I practice Ashtanga Vinsaya yoga.
What I like about it is that I can talk with my body and be able to understand my body condition well. Of course, it's a good exercise, too. But I prefer to get to know my health condition through yoga.

Practicing yoga, I noticed these changes:
-Better understanding of what's happening inside my body which includes my internal organs, muscle and nerve fivers.
-I was little hunchbacked, but now I stand/sit straight.
-I was bow-legged, but now my legs are straight.
-Increased muscle.
-Able to control my appetite.
-More relaxed and became kinder.

I'm going to write about what I found out through my yoga practice and hope to share them with you!


Picture from Kyoto last year.

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カレー : Japanese-style curry (2)

In my last entry, I promised that I would write how to make Japanese Curry.
So, here it is;

Ingredients for 4 people:

Half pack(4 blocks) of Japanese curry block(I took picture after I used the blocks, sorry)↓

2 potatoes
1 carrot
1 onion
400g of chicken thigh
(about) 700ml of water
2 big spoons of oil


1. Cut vegetables and chicken into one-bite size.
2. Put oil in a pan and cook vegetable.
3. Put chicken in a pan and cook for a while. When the chicken starts to turn white, pour water just enough to cover the surface. Skim the scum.

4. Break Japanese curry block and put 4 of them in a pan. Mix the block until it melts and cook for 15 minutes and it's done!



I forgot to take a picture when I placed it on a plate...
We usually eat with rice, sometimes we eat with pasta or bread.
I'll upload a photo when I make Japanese curry next time.


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カレー : Japanese-style Curry (1)

Have you ever seen these??



These are the condiments to make Japanese-style curry.

From the right,
辛口: Extra spicy
中辛: Spicy
甘口: Not spicy

Even though it says spicy, I don't think that it's spicy enough. So, if you like spicy dishes, I recommend that you buy extra spicy one or put chili pepper in it.

I'll tell you how to make Japanese-style curry in my next entry.
Little busy for my yoga classes, hehe.

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梅干しドレッシング(Ueboshi dressing)

Since I wrote about Umeboshi in my last entry, I made Umeboshi dressing.
Here's the recipe for you.

Ingredients;

4 pieces of Umeboshi or Umezuke
30cc of soy sauce
30cc of Japanese rice vinegar
60cc of olive oil
1 small spoon of lemon juice
1/4 piece of onion


1. Remove the seeds from Umeboshi/Umezuke and cut it into pieces. Mince onion.
2. Put all ingredients into a mixer and mix them.


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梅干し(Umeboshi: Japanese salted prune)

I found Umebohsi in a Japanese grocery store here in Manila!!
My grandmother used to make Umeboshi in June. I miss her salty Umeboshi...

Umebishi is a traditional Japanese food. It's made of Japanese plum, pickled and a little bit dried. It tastes really sour and salty. It is easily found in a supermarket in Japan.

Since it's salted and dried, it can be preserved very long. According to Wikipedia, the oldest Umeboshi they have in Japan now was made in 1576!! and it's still preserved in a very good condition. It's proved that if you make Umeboshi in a very traditional way, it can be preserved very long, really long time.

Usually, Umeboshi is pickled with salt and dried, but now we have pickled but not dried Umeboshi. Those are called "Umezuke". In Japan, we have so many varieties of Umeboshi and Umezuke.
They are pickled with reduced salt, 赤紫蘇(Akajiso: perilla), 昆布(Konbu: kelp), 鰹節(Katsuobushi: finely sliced dried bonito), 蜂蜜(Hachimitsu: honey), and so on.
Those Umeboshi or Umezuke won't last long since they don't have enough salt for long preservation.
(Traditional Umeboshi has about 22% of salt, while nowadays we usually have about 7% of salt.)

Good Umeboshi is really expensive! The famous brand 南高梅(Nankoubai) cost 10,000yen for 720g while you can find one about 1,200yen in a supermarket.

Umeboshi and Umezuke have lots of citric acid and are said good to your health.
However, it has a lot of salt. So, if you don't want to consume a lot of salt, don't eat too much of them.

Usually, we eat Umeboshi with rice, but sometimes we use it like a condiment. Paste them and put them in a sauce or dressing.



Picture of Umezuke and the special paste that I made using Umezuke:)

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Jose Rizal

Jose Rizal is a national hero in Philippines.
I was not interested in him at first, but suddenly got interested ever since my Filipino friend took me to the Fort Santiago and Rizal Shrine in Metro Manila.

I was so surprised to found out that it is required by law to read the books that he wrote.
He wrote so many books. Among them, "Noli Me Tangere" and "El Filibusterismo" are the most famous and his masterpieces.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that he was executed simply because he wrote those two books.



Currently I'm reading "Noli Me Tangere" and I found the book is very good. Interesting historical and Christianity contents full of sarcasm against the situation of Philippines at that time.
If you have a chance to read those books, please read them in Spanish because those books were originally written in Spanish.
(I'm reading English version since I cannot understand Spanish, but I will read Spanish original version someday!!)

Come to think of Jose Rizal, there are so many streets that are named "Rizal Street" or "Rizal Drive".
The place where I currently live now, its address is "corner Rizal Drive":)
He is very much respected by Filipino people.


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ごまの炒り方・すり方(How to roast and grind sesame seeds)

In my previous entry on May 21, I wrote the Okra recipe using sesame seeds.
Some of my friends didn't know how to roast and mill sesame seeds, so I put the procedure below:)

1. Prepare a pan without oil(Sesame seeds contains oil, so we do not need to put oil in a pan). Heat the pan at low heat.
2. Put sesame seeds in the pan(arrange sesame in one layer). Cook at medium or low heat, shaking the pan, move it to or from the fire.
*careful! Sesame seeds are easy to get burned!
3. When 2 or 3 sesame seeds splatter, turn off the fire. Keep shaking the pan since there still be remaining feat.

See the pic below on how they look like after they're roasted.
The image is small, so click it and see with a bigger picture:)



4. Grind sesame with すり鉢(suribachi:mortar)&すりこ木(surikogi:pestle). If you don't have them, you can use mill. When you use mill, only 1 second process is enough to grind sesame.




Roughly grind sesame seeds like this.




After roasting sesame seeds, we usually grind them. If you don't grind them, it's too hard to chew up into pieces since they are so small, therefore they will be excreted without fully digested. So, to absorb enough nutrients from them, it' better to grind them. In addition to that, grinded sesame seeds taste much better than those of not.
It is best to grind them rough and leave some whole sesame seeds.

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オクラのゴマ和え (Okra dressed in sesame sauce)

It's too hot to go out in the day time now in Philippines...
At times like this, eat okra and recover!
It's said eating okra helps to releive summer lethargy.

This is very popular dish in Japan.
People uaually eat this in summer:)



[Recipe]

Ingredients for 2 people:

6 pieces of okra
3 big spoons of white sesame
1 big spoon of めんつゆ(Mentsuyu: noodle sauce)
1/2 small spoon of sugar

1. Boil okra until cooked through. Drain off hot water and cool them down.
2. Roast sesame in a pan and bray them in a mortar (If you don't have a mortar, you can use mill. If you use mill, only 1 second is enough to mill sesame).
You want to bray sesame like the picture below.



3. Remove caps from okra and cut them into one-bite size and mix them with sesame, Mentsuyu and sugar. Then it's ready to eat!



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Cafe Adriatico

Cafe Adriatico!! I have long wanted to visit!!
My Filippino friend took me to this place and I was so happy that I could finally find this place:)



My first try, I could not find the place since I didn't have the address.
I asked so many people where this place was, but all of them took me wrong places.
I did my best for 2 hours, but I just simply resigned in the end.
Just got too hungry to keep on searching the place.
Later I found out that they were closed down by fire at that time anyway.

I don't want you to have same experience like I did, so I put the address below:

Cafe Adriatico
Address
1790 M Adriatico St Malate
Phone
02 525 2509
Hours
11am-11pm



The reason I wanted to visit this place were that it's famous for the good foods and the atmosphere. Cafe Adriatico is a remodeled pre-war house. I love traditional and historical places! I love their another restaurant "Abe" which is in the Fort area, too.

We ordered chocolate eh and enjoyed the place:)



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みりん (Mirin)

In my precious entry, I used みりん(Mirin) for cooking. It's a Japanese condiment contains about 14% of rich alcohol. I'm sure that everybody has Mirin in their kitchen since it's used for so many Japanese recipes. It's essential for Japanese food!

Mirin usually looks like this.
The price is normally about 130yen for 200ml, 400yen for 1L.



If you want to know more about Mirin, Wikipedia has a page for it:)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirin

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お漬物 (Otsukemono) -soy sauce based version-

Living abroad, I miss Japanese food so much!
Fortunately, I can find some ingredients for Japanese food where I live.
So, I cooked easy but traditional Otsukemono today.

If there is Kimuchi for Korean, Otsukemono is for Japanese!
You eat Otsukemono with rice. It's a good side dish:)

Cucumber in Philippines is too big compared to Japan.
I prefer cucumber in Japan.





Ingredients for 4 people:
2 pieces of cucumber
(If it's not like Japanese cucumber, but big one, 1/2 of cucumber)
2 big spoon of soy sauce
1 big spoon of Mirin
1/2 piece of garlic


1. Grate the garlic. Cut cucumber into one-bite size
2. In a bag, put all the ingredients and put it in a fridge
3. Wait half day and it's done.

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RUN FOR JAPAN!!

There was a charity run for Japan. I like running and I wanted to help people who suffered from Tsunami, so I participated in that event!
I was in Japan when Tsunami happened, and even though it was pretty far from where earthquake happened I could feel the ground moving for more than 5 minutes. I can imagine how awful people felt in Sendai and Fukushima.


First, you need to register! I paid 350 pesos for registration.
They have 3k, 5k and 10k courses. Since I'm a beginner, I took 3k.



Around 4:50AM. Already so many people there!



3k starts at 5:50AM! RUN FOR JAPAN!!
Why it's so early in the morning? Because it gets super hot after this.



... I got lost while taking pictures and accidentally took 5k course.
I ran 5k, anyway.



There were some jumping points:)



Thanks doggy :)



I really appreciate people's kindness!
Thank you for helping my country!!