にわ My Japanese garden

This year I decided to start my own Japanese garden so I wouldn’t have to go all the way to the Asian market to get some of my favorite produce. I ordered the seeds from Kitazawa Seed company based in California. Here’s the progress of my plants.

This is shiso. I believe it’s part of the mint family.

This is mitsuba. It reminds a little bit of parsley.

This is azuki beans. No beans yet but they are growing nicely. I can’t wait to make anmitsu!

I also planted burdock and Japanese turnips. The turnip leaves look good, I just hope the root turns out. The burdock on the other hand might not turn out so well. I’ll see in late August when it’s time to harvest!

ラーメン Rai Rai Ramen

This weekend I was at Animenext and was lucky to find a ramen shop nearby. It is located in Franklin township near North Brunswick, NJ. They have so many ramen choices. I had the shoyu ramen which was amazing! Best yet that I’ve tasted.

Rai Rai Ramen
1980 New Jersey 27, Franklin Township, NJ 08873
There is also one in Philadelphia too.

けっこん Unique wedding kimono

食べ物 Chicken Katsudon

This chicken katsudon I made isn’t exactly traditional but it was really good!

Instead of frying I baked the chicken.

Chicken

1 pack of chicken tenderloins
Panko
Flour
Egg
Salt
Pepper
Powder ginger
Olive oil

Heat oven to 350F. Lightly grease pan with olive oil. Set out in separate bowls/plates beaten egg, flour, and Panko mixed with desired amount of salt, pepper, and powdered ginger. Lightly coat chicken in flour, then egg and cover with panko. Place an pan and drizzle olive oil on top of chicken. Bake till lightly brown and cooked through.

Sauce

1 2/3 cups dashi (I didn’t have dashi so I did half chicken stock and half water)
1 2/3 oz mirin
1 Tbsp sugar
4 Tbsp soy sauce

Place mirin in pan, bring to a boil, add dashi(or chicken stock/water), sugar, and soy sauce, and bring back to a boil.

Vegetables and putting it together

1 pack cut exotic mushrooms
2 or 3 green onions
1 cup soy beans (I used gmo free soy beans)
1 large carrot or 4 small sweet carrots
3 or 4 eggs
Chicken katsu cut into slices
Sauce

Wash mushrooms. Wash and cut green onion into thin slices. Wash and cut carrot into thin matchsticks. Have sauce still on pan and add mushrooms and cook half way, add carrots and continue to cook till liquid is half the starting amount. Add green onions, soy beans, and sliced chicken katsu. When chicken is reheated add pre-beaten eggs and stir till half cooked. Serve over individual bowls of rice(I used jasmine rice). Enjoy!

セーラームーン New Sailor Moon

So the new Sailor moon will be airing on Niconico’s website this July subbed in 10 languages. Here is the first image revealed of the new Sailor Moon. Looks more like the manga, don’t you think?

本 Japanese book sale

Last month my Japanese language school that I take classes at had a used book sale (though some were new from kinokuniya in NYC). All the books were a $1 and the few new ones were $2. There were also some free ones that had some extra wear. Most of the ones I got were children’s books since they are suited to my Japanese reading level. Thought I did get a fashion magazine and an exercise book that has some really good things in it. The exercise book is named Real Simple. Also I got a Hello Kitty little kids activity book that I love so much. It’s super simple but has fun games while learning a little bit of Japanese, plus it has stickers!

A real good one for practicing kanji and general reading is the となりのトトロbook. Since I’m familiar with the story it’s an easy read and great practice. Another one that is short and cute is くまのスリーピー. It’s about a bear who is sleepy and tries finding different beds of other animals but none work out except his own. It’s cute. I also picked up the manga Death Note which is good since all the kanji has furigana. I got many others but these are my favorites.

ならう A fun way to learn Japanese

For Christmas I received this nice little heart shaped chalk board. I thought I would put it to good use by writing a new word in Japanese each day. Today I used the word for stone and soap because they use the same kanji. I hope with this I can build my vocabulary up(and so my fiancé can pick up a few words too, hence the romaji), plus learn another 100 kanji this year(my New Years resolution).

あけましておめでとう2013 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 3,400 times in 2013. If it were a cable car, it would take about 57 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

冬 Japanese winter words

Here are some winter words in Japanese.

冬                                 fuyu                    Winter

雪                                 yuki                      Snow

雪だるま                    yuki daruma       Snowman

つらら                        tsurara                 Icicle

アイススケート       aisu sukeeto        Ice skating

氷                               koori                     Ice

そり                           sori                         Sled

ハロウィン Halloween words in Japanese

To be festive I thought I would make a post on Halloween related words in Japanese.

おばけ Obake Ghost
ゆうれい Yuurei Traditional Japanese ghost
こうもり Koumori Bat
ばけもの Bakemono Monster
あくま Akuma Devil
くろい ねこ Kuroi neko Black cat
がいこつ Gaikotsu Skeleton
ち Chi Blood
あめ Ame Candy
かぼちゃ Kabocha Pumpkin
まじょ Majo Witch