Author: have you eaten?

food

If You Are So Brave: Natto Eating 納豆

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If You Are So Brave: Natto Eating 納豆

Fried eggs and bacon?  French toast with loads of syrup?  Steak and eggs?  Or Green eggs and ham? What Japanese people eat in the morning is a little different (we definitely read “Green eggs and ham”, but “I would not eat them here or there”).  What I grew up with, for example,  a bowl of rice, miso soup, grilled fish, homemade pickles, and seasoned vegetables.  This kind of meal however takes time and preparation.  When I want to energize quickly in the morning, this is what I have;  natto over rice. Carbs give you energy as you know.  But what is Natto?  Natto is fermented soybeans in short.  Yogurt, vinegar, pickles, kimchi, miso, sourdough bread (gasp!), kombucha, wine (what?), Worcestershire sauce, cheese to name a few.  Natto is in the same family.  Like cheese, it has a STRONG smell and taste like…hmmm…natto?  It also has a slimy texture.  You simply add a bit of soy sauce (my dad’s favorite) or sweet soy which is my favorite then mix really well to make it even more slimy.  Then add natto on top of warm, well-prepared rice and start eating.  It contains fiber, vitamins, and iron so it’s nutritiously rich.  I grew up with this and it is on my long list of Soul Food dishes. You can do this.  Yes, it is slimy and it is smelly.  But you eat okra and you also love cheese, right?  It’s not far from it.  There is always a first time.  This will change your perspective on eating.  Completely.  If you want to experience that, I recommend for you to at least try it.  And I will salute you for your bravery. By the way, my mom will give you crap though.  She hates natto.

personal view

730 Sq. of Freedom: Simple Living

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730 Sq. of Freedom: Simple Living

This is the square footage of living space of my house.  Some people think it’s to0 tiny and wonder how I live in it.  I am a 5’-2 Asian woman so my house is the perfect size for me.  I am a purger.  I’m always looking for something to donate or let go.  When I buy one clothing item, for example, I donate at least 2 items.  One pair of shoes purchased, one old pair will go.  I have 2 things I dislike in the world, life drama and “stuff.”  I don’t like to have lots of thing and I don’t like things filling up my personal space.

There is this house.  A big house.  Maybe 4-person family plus one friendly Labrador living in that house.  The house has a 3-car garage but it seems like  only 2 people in that household can drive, husband and wife.  Kids are maybe like 4 and 6 years old.  The 2 cars that they own are always parked on the street.  One day, a garage door was open when I was out walking my dog and I saw that garage was full of “stuff.”  I mean it was PACKED.  This is actually what I saw in Atlanta.  The big house was right next to mine.  Do they even need that many items?  It seems like it was almost impossible for them to take stuff out because it was SO packed.  You buy a bigger house because you are running out of space to put your stuff?  I really do not see the point in that.

I don’t get indecisive on what to wear to work in the morning because I only own what I wear.  I don’t worry about which purse I use today because I only have one laptop bag.

I do like a very simple life.  I don’t like to complicate things (because I am a complicated person).  I don’t call myself a complete minimalist but my wish is to lead a minimal life.  Food, books, my dog, handful of precious friends, music and travel.  That’s all I need to complete my life.  If someone tells me “you need to move to Thailand tomorrow”, the things that I would bring are my overweight Chihuahua, Archie, my favorite book, and my passport and I will say “let’s go!”

Like Oscar Wiled said, “With freedom, books, flowers, and the moon, who could not be happy?”  He is genius, right?

coffee

My Kind of Meditation: Coffee, Cream and Sugar

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My Kind of Meditation: Coffee, Cream and Sugar

When I feel like this (oh, life is so hard).

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I translate my body is asking for some happiness injection.  Gentle sugar intake.  I barely use sugar when I drink coffee since I want to enjoy pure flavor and taste of coffee beans but sometimes what you need is good quality sugar and happy cow cream.

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Inner beauty is important but outer beauty is also important.  I don’t know what it is but I have this huge love for mason jars.  Whatever you put in, they all look lovely.  I even put my  quinoa salad in one of my mason jars and bring it as my lunch.  Anyhow, coffee also looks good in that.

I like to use rock sugar or raw sugar because it taste milder and rounder than refined sugar, to me anyways. Sometimes all you need is to take extra few minutes to grind beans, boil the water, and inhale fantastic coffee aroma while pouring water over the coffee.  Your life would be so much better after that.  It is sort of like meditating.

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Some tips on making this coffee…use good quality coffee. I tend to like higher acidity beans from Africa.  Use good quality sugar and cream, this makes so much difference.  You can also add vanilla beans (real) to ground beans to it.  Don’t rush to do anything.  Please make sure to taste it.

personal view

They Are a Great Start for Problem Solving: Flowers

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They Are a Great Start for Problem Solving: Flowers

It is true, flowers actually do not solve any one problem you may have.  However, flowers remind you that you are being thought of by someone, the beauty of life, that you are loved and to smile.  Someone special in your life, whoever that may be, is thinking of you, which lifts you up, not the flowers themselves.  It has been hard to accept that I am special to someone because I grew up convincing myself that I was an ugly duckling and no one cared about me.

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My friend Ayako Gordon, (also an artisan jam maker) made this gorgeous bouquet.   Archie goes to see Ayako every other Sunday at Marigold and Mint where she works as a florist.  She knows exactly what I like so he doesn’t have to tell Ayako what kind of bouquet he wants to get for me.  Every time Archie brings me those flowers, my heart gets filled so much and it almost explodes.

The bonus to that is that when you give flowers to someone special, your best friend, your spouse, your boss, your direct report, your mother, your brother’s wife…whoever that is, you will experience the same effect as much as when you receive them.  You will get to feel the beauty of life, how much you love that person, how much you think of him/her.

Flowers=the first step to world peace (at least your inner peace)

Personal, restaurant

Happy Meal: Sunday Brunch at Sitka & Spruce

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Happy Meal: Sunday Brunch at Sitka & Spruce

“A Sunday well spent brings a week of content”  Whoever said this, gets my respect automatically.

My favorite meal is brunch on Sundays.  Not Saturday, not holiday brunch.  It must be Sunday brunch.  My work starts Monday so Sunday is the day I recharge and rejuvenate my body and soul so that I can tackle my insane work week until next Friday evening.  Rejuvenating my body and soul starts with satisfying my tummy.  When I am done with that task, my Sunday is 80% complete.  Therefore, choosing where and what to eat on Sundays is super critical.  Since last Thursday, I had been thinking about spending my couple of hours of Sunday morning, at Sitka & Spruce.

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Sitka & Spruce is one of 5-Matt Dillon’s restaurants, located in Capitol Hill in Seattle.  Melrose Market is combination of restaurant, bar, butcher, furniture store, general store, cheese shop, clothing store, deli, shellfish restaurant/shop, it’s a mini version of Chelsea Market in New York City.  Sitka & Spruce is located inside of this old building that they didn’t tear down.  The space has floor to ceiling windows and concrete floor, it reminds me of old and spacious loft.  We were lucky to be seated at bar by the window.  Bloody Mary, homemade pickles, bread and butter, hot rye porridge, granola, cultured cream & marjoram, baked eggs with smoked brisket, beer braised cabbage & harissa.  I was already giddy being inside of that restaurant anyway and I was overjoyed by looking at the menu.  What Archie and I ate was ridiculous.  If I can show you what happiness looks like, this would be one of them.

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My stomach is warm and satisfied.  Now I look forward to welcoming my new week.  Have a great rest of Sunday, everyone.

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Personal

A Well Read Woman: and Well Traveled Women

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A Well Read Woman: and Well Traveled Women

I love books so I read a lot.  I love traveling and I get out there a lot.

When I was about half of my current age, I was traveling through Thailand.  I was dirty, filthy and broke.  I was hungry.  At one point, a  well-dressed Caucasian couple threw a can of cat food at me when I was sitting street side in Bangkok starving. Two not-well-dressed-at-all kids took me to their home to feed me what they already DON’T have.  This couple seems they had enough money versus these kids’ family who don’t have enough of anything.  These kind of experience opened up my eyes and my heart.  Wide open.

Reading has the same effect on me.  I can be inside of a book and travel though the book.  I get to experience tons and my heart soars.

A well-read and traveled woman is very emotional, opinionated, strong, stubborn, protective of her own space and wants to be alone many times.

On contrary, she is kind-mannered and (most likely) has a fuzzy heart.  She is just afraid of showing that.

If you ever wish to lead an interesting and never-a-dull-moment kind of life, she would be a perfect companion.  I won’t say it is easy but you will never get bored, I promise.

love

Powder (Power) of Love: Packed Lunch

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Powder (Power) of Love: Packed Lunch

12-hours a day.  Once in a while I had to work that long but I havn’t really since moving to the States (in Japan yes, it’s a norm).  Recently I have been working 12 hours a day almost every day.  I am a very healthy person but I feel drained and bone-tired.

Last night, I went out for dinner with my friend and we had Chinese.  It was lovely to see her but all I could think about was going home and lying down on my bed.  When I came home, I was so relieved and couldn’t wait to go to bed.

Please look at this photo.  A very boring and bland glass container with squared tin foil on it is pictured here.  This tin foil contains pure magic.  Archie knew what I have been going though and how exhausted I have been.  So, he packed my lunch for me (spaghetti with simple tomato sauce that he made) and told me the tin foil square was grated parmesan cheese.  Not only did he grate the cheese, thinking I would enjoy my lunch better with cheese, but he couldn’t find a small enough container to put cheese in so he made this “magical” square tin container.  When he told me, I nearly cried.  Does it sound weird to you or you don’t get why I am so happy about it?  It’s totally OK.  It is me getting so silly-happy to realize that I have that kind of person in my life and appreciate the human-being.  I’ve never seen a better container that holds cheese than this square.

This is a true power of love.