Going back to Japan

I'm leaving Philippines and going back to Japan for 2 weeks.
Sorry, our delivery service will be temporarily closed from Feb. 28 to Mar. 10 since I'm not here.

One of the main reasons that I'm going back is to prepare for our cafe's opening!!
I'm going to bring a lot of Japanese things like cup, dishes and other accessories for our cafe. It's going to be an amazing cafe with lots of Japanese stuff!!

We still have a long way to go for the opening, but we are so determined to make our cafe something special, real Japanese and of course, interesting.

The picture above is "Yasai itame (Japanese-style fried vegetables)".
I get a lot of order for it from our Japanese customers.
Some people might think that we just have to simply fry it, but it has more to it.
Type of oil, timing to put each vegetables, amount of salt and pepper, etc.
I just love the moment that I've done everything perfect!!


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Our New Cafe & Casual Restaurant

Meeting, meeting and meeting everyday.
Our new restaurant site is located in global city!!

It's a small space, so we have to limit our menu :(
Anyway, We're doing our best to make it better and better!
Our interior designer is going to send us the 2nd draft of the layout plan tomorrow.
Still long way to go for the opening.

It's going to be a Japanese cafe and casual restaurant.
We're thinking about offering home-style pure Japanese food.
I'm now working on developing cafe menus right now. Hope you like them!

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Opening a Casual Restaurant & Cafe!!

I'm opening a Casual Restaurant & Cafe in Global City, Philippines!

So far, I can't tell you the details, but we're opening it in April.
Our store is going to be a Japanese-style casual cafe :)
Now we only offer delivery service, but since I can't talk with our customers face to face, we decided to open our cafe.

It's a samll cafe, but I'm really looking forward to seeing everybody there!

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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