Double Rainbows in Tokyo!

It is not common for Tokyoites to see rainbows in town.

However, I was able to see one for the first time in the last decade (or two!).

AND the rainbow was doubled!!!

In the early morning, it was raining soooooo hard, so I gave up walking to the metro station and got a cab for work. I worked 8-9 hours straight, and, when I was almost done, my colleagues pointed out window and shouted "RAINBOW!!"

Is it gonna be a good sign of something? Or this incident itself might be the LUCKY ONE.

Anyway, I felt soooo good afterwards.

"Somewhere/ Over the Rainbow...s" Shall we sing?

Bella Primavera!

Spring has come! I really feel good because I'm neither cold nor hot in this season!

Especially when I walk along with the beautiful cherry blossoms, I feel happiness--I don't need anything else! but these beautiful, baby pink flowers!!

However, the best season with the cherry blossom doesn't last long...at most 7-8 days, usually.

That's why people here in Japan have special feelings when they admire the flower.
(As the flower with sentimental, bitter-sweet memories, in the midst of graduation season=fiscal/business year starts in April=here!)

But, thanks to the less-than-usual rain and colder-than-expected weather of this year, we could enjoy being love with the cherry blossoms from March 23 to April 8 in Tokyo (and could be much longer in northern regions).

Many freshmen were greeted by the flowers this year at their entrance ceremonies for schools and companies/institutions. So the cherry blossom of this year may be a symbol of hopes, rather than sentimental farewells. And...I'm glad for them=freshmen and cherry blossoms!=too!!!

Pasta Carbonara e Chocolate Salame; Italian Cooking Class II

It was my second time to join the Italian Cooking Class by Davide. As I really enjoyed the last lessen and had more than enough review sessions at home, I finally decided to take another one from him.

Tonight menu was Pasta Carbonara and Chocolate Salame. Pasta Carbonara? Not Carbonara Spaghetti? Davide prefers short pasta rather than spaghetti as the sauce goes better with short, twisted shaped ones. Unlike popular carbonara sauce with lots of fresh cream, his recipe was much lighter and even tasted better and --- SO EASY TO COOK!

Here is his recipe for the pasta and dessert.

PASTA CARBONARA (Ingredients for 2 people)

#250g pasta (fugirri)

#80g of Pancetta (or bacon)

#2 eggs

#1 table spoon of cooking oil

#a spoon of unsalted butter

#pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Beat eggs and whisk until blended. Add 2 spoons of parmesan and blend the cheese with the eggs. Bring water & salt to boil in large pot. Meanwhile, fry the bacon seasoned with pepper (use butter preferably) over med heat until crisp.

When the past is done, completely drain the water, and put the past into the bowl with eggs and Parmesan to mix them.

Stir in hot bacon and finally season with salt, pepper and a little bit of oil.

Serve with grated parmesan cheese & black pepper.

CHOCOLATE SALAME (Ingredients for 6-8 persons)
#3 eggs (yoke only)

#3-4 table spoon of sugar

#75g of butter

#4 spoons unsweetened cocoa powder

#1/2 cup of Rum or Marsala

#100g of dry Biscuit
#Finely chopped walnuts of Amaretti (Optional)

DIRECTIONS:
Combine egg yolks and sugar. Whip yokes until thick and lemon colored. Add cocoa and butter partially melted. Beat until combined. Add the crumbled biscuits and transfer the mixture into a metal foil. Use hands to shape a 'salame' and wrap with the metal foil.
Put in the freezer for about one hour.

Italian Cooking Class!

I love cooking. But I had never been to cooking school. I just ate, memorize the taste, and then tried (and error? not really) & learned how to cook eventually.

Tonight, I joined an Italian cooking class held at a local community center to learn 'something new.' As a matter of fact, I received an e-mail from unknown person who asked me to join his cooking class.

I checked his homepage and blog and decided to join his class which to provide "Special Italian cooking recipe from grandma."

The teacher, Davide, is originally from Milan. He is not a chef, but a good cook. (He formerly worked for a financial sector as a computer engineer but was recently fired due to the latest global financial crunches. He unexpectedly came to have many free time so that he decided to hold Italian cooking classes for his gastronomic friends. He found me somehow via facebook.

Tonight menu were Funghi (Mushroom) Risotto and Tiramisu' ; both of them were my favorite dishes from the country. After the lesson, we enjoyed eating them with glass of red wine.

MUSHROOM RISOTTO

Ingredients for 4 persons

# 1.5 litter of broth

# 5 tablespoons olive oil

# 6-7 shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced

# 1/2 pack of dried 'porcini' mushrooms

# 1 clove of garlic sliced

# 1/2 onion, diced

# 2 cups Arborio rice (A special kind of rice for risotto.)

# 1/2 cup dry white wine

# sea salt to taste

# Freshly ground black pepper to taste

# 3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

# 2 tablespoons butter

# 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Put the dry mushuroom in a bowl with warm water for 20 minutes.

2. In a pan, prepare the broth over low heat. (Mushroom stock cubes can be used, instead.) Make use of the water from the mushrooms above.

3. Warm 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in the mushrooms (dry and fresh) and the garlic, cook until soft, about 10-15 minutes. Remove mushrooms and their liquid , and set aside.

4. In a new pan add 2-3 tablespoon olive oil and stir in the onion. Cook for a couple of minutes. Add rice, stirring to coat with oil, about 2 minutes. When the rice has taken on a pale, golden color, pour in wine, stirring constantly until the wine is fully absorbed. Add 1/2 cup broth to the rice, and stir until the broth is absorbed. Continue adding broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring contiguously, until the liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes.

5. Stir in mushrooms with their liquid and cook for another 10 minutes.

6. When the rice is 'al dente' add Parmesan, butter (and possibly Truffle Oil) and fresh parsley, remove from heat and season with salt and pepper to taste.

TIRAMISU'

Ingredients for 4-5 persons

# 4 egg yolks

# 2 table spoons of white sugar

# 1 pinch of salt

# 4 egg whites ("snow" whipped)

# 500g mascarpone cheese

# 2 packages ladyfingers (strip type biscuits)

# 2 espressos + 1/4 cup of "Amaretto di Saronno" (almond) liqueur.

# 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder, for dusting

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine egg yolks and sugar. Whip yolks until thick and lemon colored.

2. Add mascarpone to whipped yolks (un poco a poco...a bit by bit!) Bean until combined. In a separate bowl, whip the whites with a pinch of salt. Gently fold into yolk mixture and set aside.

3. Dip the lady fingers biscuits in the coffee and liqueur mixture and lay them in the bottom of a large glass bowl. Spoon half of the cream filling over the lady fingers. Repeat lady fingers, and filling layers. Refrigerate several hours (about 5-6 hours before serving!) or overnight. Garnish with cocoa powder only when ready to serve.

Valentine's Day Gyoza Party

On the St. Valentine's day I invited my sweetest girl friends to enjoy Gyoza Party (Pot stickers Party) at my place. I have a huge electrical hot plate to cook pot stickers, about 50 pieces or so, all at once!

Many girls spend this special day with their boy friends, we, this year, decided to hold a GIRLS' Party to make the day much sweeter!

Including myself, there were 5 girls tonight! And we finished the plate within one hour! (Why not?)

Then we moved to the second main dish "Roasted Stuffed Chicken" cooked by REMOSKA (=my favorite Czech made Magic Pan)! It was so soft & juicy...and girls finished the chicken within 30 minutes...

Though we ate alot, we did not drink much tonight (...I think). ONLY one bottle of sparkling wine and another bottle of Japanese Sake from Nagano Prefecture.

Everybody was so happy to share the sweet Valentine's Day 2009.

Will or Denzel?

That was a question from a good friend of mine, and also one of the latest topics featured by the Vanity Fair.

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/politics/2009/01/screenwriters-have-your-quill-ready.html

Many people may have thought that the whole inauguration ceremony were JUST LIKE A MOVIE. It was surely impressive, moving and exciting to be a witness of the historical moment when a young and clever, and good looking!, man becomes the 44th President of the United States. Millions of audience, you could see on TV at a glance, was not Computer Graphics, but the real! Yet the music played at the site was not LIVE, but recorded on the previous day. (We cannot blame China, any more!)

Well, who would I cast if we film the story of Obama's glorious triumph?

I would vote for Will Smith, rather than Denzel Washington. Although I'm a great fan of Denzel, I would cast Will because I would love to depict his half life story, mostly emphasizing on his Dream and Romance of young Obama. In my casting list, Beyonce is placed the top for the role of Michelle. Halle Berry might be the next candidate for the role.

==MINA's Casting for the Movie "Yes, We Can!"==
Barack Obama: Will Smith
Michelle Obama: Beyonce
Mama Obama: Meryl Streep
Papa Obama: Morgan Freeman
Young Obama: Jaden Smith (Will's son.)
John McCain: Steve Martin

Greeting Card Design for 2008-09 Winter

Here is my greeting card design of this year's winter season (2008 Christmas--'09 New Year). I painted this when I was traveling in Nagasaki in late November. It took about 30 min. to finish the outline and colors.

I came back to Tokyo with this piece and soon started printing greeting cards.

As the church, Oura Tenshudo, is known as the symbol of the wish for peace of the people of Nagasaki, I thought it should be suitable to show the piece to my friends, to share the wish for peace at the time of Christmas/New Year.

I sent out about 300 copies of Christmas Cards/New Years greetings with this design along with my wish for the world peace.

May the year 2009 be filled with peace and happiness for you and your dearest ones!