Gluttony Expedition

Cup Noodle Seafood - My Favorite Japanese Foods (No. 7)

2011-02-24T04:58:00.000-08:00

Cup noodle Seafood - it's my favorite Japanese foods.
This "Cup Noodle" is very popular in Japan. It's a long-time top seller that I see since I was a kid.... It still stays strongly popular in the very competitive Japanese food market - you can see it even here - US. I don't see this much here, but it's so expensive if I saw that here ($4 or so) ... ;(
It's soooo Japanese that has a "SEAFOOD" flavor for an instant noodle???? I do think so ;) They also have more flavors - the original (it's kinda bland), curry etc. I like this seafood and curry ones.

I'm not a type of girl who loves instant foods. But this "Cup Noodle Seafood" is my favorite Japanese food ;) All you need to do is to pour hot water and to wait for 3 minutes. Tasty ramen is ready to eat with minimal time and efforts. The Japanese don't cut the corner - even for the instant noodle. The soup has a great depth in flavors. Don't underestimate it just because it's just an instant noodle. THERE'S NO SUCH A THING FOR THE JAPANESE: they do pay a great attention to details even on foods that cost even only a dollar or so. The soup tastes great!!! The quality of noodle is whatever to be honest with you ;p

Another thing. This product shows a few ingenuity that you see often on Japanese products. The Japanese food manufactures pay attention to the package. Easy instructions with pictures, easy materials for packaging to cut it open easily etc. They do make everything idiot proof:

- The instructions are pretty easy to understand
- There's a line on the lid (it's about 1/3 of the lid) to show you how much you should peel the lid so that you can seal the cup easily for 3 minutes.
- Little pinch on the plastic sealing to cover the product so that people can grab and open up the plastic easily.
- There's a sticker at the bottom to close the lid after you pour hot water.

Instant noodles here are kind of like these: beef, chicken, shrimp etc... Nothing creative. Maybe so because people here do like so - bland flavors. But oh boy, the Japanese are super picky eaters. They do enjoy good flavors - even on a cheap ass cup noodle. The efforts for the Japanese food manufactures are incredible and never ending - they have to improve it constantly to meet their customers' needs. The Japanese get bored so easily.... It has to taste great. If they liked it, they would stick to it... Long-seller is pretty strong because of the reasons.

I don't eat an instant noodle much, but I do like cup noodle seafood a lot. Sounds weird - seafood????
Trust me - it's pretty yummy. That's why this is my favorite Japanese food ;p

cultural differences in restaurants

2011-01-20T10:54:00.000-08:00

I love to eat all kinds of cuisines from all over the world - I'm always intrigued to see cultural differences in restaurants and its food. They all offer foods, but they are all different in various ways. I'm Japanese. I admit we all look alike (lol), though I can recognize the differences pretty well - Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese etc... It's easy for me to distinguish the nationalities. The ways to cook and present foods, the way to decor the restaurants, the seasonings on the tables etc.... This time, I wanna talk about service differences in Asian restaurants.

I'm not a stereo type ;p But this is my OBSERVATIONS about the cultural differences in restaurants:

- Service -

Vietnamese: Don't expect services much. Friendly customer service?! Forget that especially from older generations... I'm serious. LOL. Even my Vietnamese friends agree with me ;p Yeah, they bring you foods and drinks. But they tend to offer bare minimum / not-so-attentive services. Unless you ask, you don't get "services" much. Once you get used to it, it wouldn't bother you much. I don't - because I'm happy with the foods they offer. Little service doesn't bother me ;) lol. You should feel lucky if you found the Vietnamese restaurants that offer good services. There's some out there ;)

Korean: Their expectations for tips are ridiculous. (Most of the time) I tell you the reasons why... I think most Korean restaurants don't offer good services. I've been in restaurant industry for long time, so I do know what it takes to offer “excellent” service. “Good services” should mean the services that all of customer's needs should be fulfilled without their asking. Some Korean restaurants have a button on tables like the one on airplane to call a flight attendant. Really?! You won't come to check your tables unless the customers pushed the button??? You bring one drink at the buffet and the customers do all the works – you still DEMAND to give you 20% tips??? They'll chase you down till you give them reasonable tips (for the server) if you left little tips... Come on!! If you want a tip, you should earn it by giving me a good service. Don't expect it just because of the custom. I'm just saying...

Japanese: Their services are very attentive and friendly. They are not so used to the custom of tips – Japanese don't have the tip system in Japan. Despite of the fact, they try to offer the best service possible. That's their nature. You might encounter the inconvenience – just because of “language” barrier...;p

Thai: Their services are bare minimum, but not as bad as Vietnamese nor Korean. I often find friendly owners. Their services are usually quick.

- Labels & Signs for menu -

Vietnamese: They don't put signs for many OBVIOUS ones - for their own people. Which means they don't put labels for all the stuff - especially To-Go ones ;( (It rarely happens to Japanese restaurants.) The Vietnamese do cater their own people mainly, so they seem not to be bothered to put signs for everything assuming their main and most customers knew them already... I wanna try those unfamiliar stuffs, but it's kinda hard for me to ask questions a lot... English translation is bare minimum. The long Vietnamese names are hard to read nor to remember. I don't plan to learn the language, either. It's too hard for me ;( It's nice if they offer pictures more on the menu... Well, but those disadvantages (for Non Vietnamese customers) tickle my curiosity to try their stuff - I'm curious and adventurous ;)

Korean: They don't translate everything like Vietnamese. I had a Korean restaurant that absolutely NO ENGLISH in Garden Grove, CA.

Japanese: They translate everything. They often use pictures so that you know what you get. But their English skills are usually poor and crack you up sometimes ;p

Thai: They translate everything and often offer pictures on the menu.

- Decor -

Vietnamese: It's bare minimum. Rough walls, simple tables etc... They might put some pictures or stuffs that are believed to make them rich (golden budda, bamboo trees, flog with coins etc.). Rarely fancy, just simple. Or you can see many "Cafe" style ones. Those types are a lot neater than the former ones.

Korean: It's simple but they seem to put more efforts than Vietnamese. Dark color furniture, their characters or Chinese characters on the wall etc.. Or miss-matched decors picking up from IKEA catalog and their own furniture places - half contemporary and half traditional... It cracks me up ;p

Japanese: I think it's the cleanest and most welcoming. Fancy places are usually very simple and minimalism.

Thai: They put their traditional statues and pictures of their county a lot.

- Payment -

Vietnamese & Thai: Most of them are CASH only or $10 minimum for credit card usage. You better bring cash just to be safe side. It makes me smile when I see the signs of credit cards ;p

Japanese & Korean: I rarely see Cash only places. (Restaurants in Mitsuwa are cash only)

I can keep going and going.... I just wanted to give you heads up for your Asian restaurant visit. Trying their foods and seeing cultural differences in restaurants do help you to understand where they come from. You don't see all but I do enjoy seeing the differences from my culture ;)

I'm Asian foodie, so you can trust me ;)

Little red wagon - Disneyland : Restaurant review on Yelp (No.2)

2010-12-10T05:28:00.000-08:00

- Locale destination -
The wagon is located in right next to "Plaza Inn" on Main Street USA. The line is always long....

- Gluttony expedition -
Corn dog: The BEST corn dog ever - hands down !! One of the best foods you can get at Disneyland ;p Outside is crunchy, yet inside is very soft. I don't know why it tastes so great out of the little kitchen in the Red Wagon :) Very huge, though it used to be a little bigger...

- Conqueror's deduction -
Don't underestimate this hand-dipped corn dog!!!! It's really one of the best foods you can find in Disneyland. It's like $6 with potato chips or apple slices.... It's not cheap but priceless for the taste :)

Bengal Barbecue - Disneyland : Restaurant Review on Yelp (No.1)

2010-12-08T04:46:00.000-08:00

- Locale destination -
It's in an Adventureland, right next to "River Belle Terrace". It's a food stand with some seating in front of it. You see a long line though they offer you foods quickly. Annual Pass discount and credit card usage are available.

- Gluttony expedition -
Banyan Beef skewer: One of the best foods at Disneyland!!! The sauce is the bomb - spicy yet complicated seasonings ;)
Beef cooked a bit too much often times, but It's soooo good and I use it for Outback (Vegetable skewer) and french fries from other locations :)

Outback: Vegetable (bell pepper, potato, mushroom, onion, zucchini). I dip it into "Banyan" sauce ;) I like it!
Bengal Beef: Light teriyaki sauce with lime. It's OK..
Chieftan chicken: It's kinda like a ketchup sauce. It's OK...

Safari: Asparagus wrapped with bacon. Great!
Jalapeno Pretzel: LOVE it ;) Little spicy Jalapeno cheese inside. With "Banyan" sauce, mmmmm.... so good ;)

Fruit yogurt parfait: Granola, berries, and yogurt. I don't like the yogurt because it has some sort of chemical flavor... ;(

- Conqueror's deduction -
You feel a lot more value than full service restaurants there :) Foods are good - it's a great munch food place. My favorite place to eat in Disneyland ;)

Save Japan Dolphins !!

2010-10-21T10:50:00.000-07:00

Why do I say "Save Japan Dolphins" on my food blog?!
It's a very food related topic. I'll explain the reason why.

I do want you to watch the Oscar-winning movie "The Cove". The movie was created to "save Japan dolphins" by exposing what was and is happening at the little cove in Japan. I couldn't watch without tears. It's a great but sad documentary movie to show horrible dolphin slaughters in Taiji, Japan. The cove is purposely hidden and guarded from the public - even to Japanese. I'm a Japanese from Tokyo who used to live there 20 years. I'm a big time foodie as you know. I know there's few places you can eat a whale in Japan but it's rare. It's a tradition in certain areas. But I've NEVER heard of eating dolphins in Japan, I swear!! In the movie, they interviewed many Japanese in Japan whether if they knew about the dolphin slaughter in Japan or not. They all said no and wanted to stop this like me. I didn't know this is happening in Japan till I watched the movie. I was embarrassed and shamed of it as a Japanese. This movie torn me hard... I'm a hardcore animal eater and foodie, but it makes even me think about becoming a vegetarian, which is so crazy to me....

I don't know why but somehow I always love dolphin since I was a kid. It's not just cute. I love the shape, the way they move, and how smart they are... I'm fascinated by them. Dolphin is my dream pet - I always wish I could swim with my dolphin like the movie...lol. When I body boarded in Australia, 3 dolphins included a little one swam right next to me!! I was so scared when I saw them at first because they could be sharks. They were so playful and jumped a few times close to me. Especially water in Australia was crystal clear and you can see EVERYTHING. I still remember their big bodies and the little baby dolphin swam right underneath me... It was so great...;) Every summer my family went to Okinawa, which is in a southern part of Japan, for vacation. We always went to "Kaiyo-haku", which is one of the greatest aquariums (at least for me) in Japan. They got a big dolphin pool with a window. I loved to stand right in front of the window to watch the dolphins for a long time... They always came to the window and smiled at me - they seemed so happy to see me ;) I do believe they were happy to interact people.

Let's get back to about the movie:
In Taiji, the largest dolphin slaughter is happening - more than 20,000 dolphins per year. Taiji is known as the biggest dolphin seller to the world - aquariums, resorts and the dolphin entertainment venues. There's certain specifics to train the dolphins easier. Those dolphins that meet the requirement are sold like $15,000 or something like that per dolphin. But the rest of the dolphins that didn't meet the standards are slaughtered as a meat and are sold for $600 or 700 per dolphin. As I told you, eating a whale is rare in Japan, which drives the meat price high. Nobody knows about eating dolphins in Japan, so the dolphin meat must be cheap, I assume. (In the movie, it seemed like only little areas around Taiji eat dolphins.) The movie exposed that some bad fishermen sell dolphin meats labeled as a whale meat for higher profits. I'm sorry if the numbers were wrong. But I believe those are about right. The point is dolphins for dolphin entertainment businesses drives this cove and the dolphins here crazy.

The way the fishermen capture the dolphins is horrible. They capture them with huge nets, force them to get closer to the cove. The captured dolphins were crying for life. It's not a few - TONS OF THEM at a time. The sounds are quite horrifying... After they made them close to the edge of the cove, they pick the ones for selling to the dolphin entertainment business - more expensive ones. The rest were poked by the long sticks till they die. They don't die instantly. It's a slow and cruel slaughter. The cove is quite small in size by the movie. But the little cove gets so red because of the dolphin blood as pictures shown. I've never seen "RED ocean" like this.... NEVER. It's real and happening in Japan, which disgusts me a lot more as a Japanese... You can also watch this video: Dolphin slaughter video

As you know, dolphin is in a higher food chain - they eat tons of fish and sea shells. Dolphin contains a toxic leveled mercury. Eating dolphin IS NOT SAFE. In the movie, they even tested how high the toxic level the meat was. It was kinda funny and ironic that the person who encouraged the dolphin slaughter (and of course eat dolphin!) on the goverment level had a very high mercury in his body!!!!! You know how horrible what mercury does???? Mercury caused one of the 3 biggest industrial diseases in Japanese history - "Minamata disease" (Picture on the left). In the mid 50s, people in Minamata who ate fish from the bay got sick. People had numbness in their limbs and lips. Some had difficulty in hearing and seeing. Others developed shaking (tremors) in their arms and legs, difficulty walking, even brain damage. They didn't know what was happening to them till they figured out the chisso corporation, which is a large petrochemical plant, dumped an estimated 27 tons of mercury compunds into the bay.... Do you still want to eat dolphin with high level mercury???

Like I said, this is not just about the dolphin slaughter. It's also a warning how dangerous to eat dolphin. Dolphin is not some food that we must eat and can farm-harvest like cows and pigs. WE DON'T NEED IT, and WE SHOULDN'T EAT IT - it's dangerous to your body!!

As a Japanese and foodie, I want you to know these facts and spread the word to the world so that we can stop this madness. I'm ashamed of this as a Japanese. But I'm the one of the many Japanese who are against this - most of us won't allow this. We just didn't know... till now. I'll support this campaign as a Japanese and dolphin lover. Help us stop this - if we can get together, we can stop this quicker. Petitions, donate, spread words etc. It's very easy to do. Dolphins are our friends, not a food. Please help me to save Japan dolphins.

What you can do to stop this:
Official Ric O'Barry's website
SaveJapanDolphins.org
Petition for the Cove
Donate and petitions

SaveJapanDolphins.org | Ending dolphin slaughter in Taiji

2010-09-20T08:32:00.000-07:00

SaveJapanDolphins.org | Ending dolphin slaughter in Taiji

doner G (Anaheim, CA) - Restaurant Review (No.2)

2010-09-04T06:15:00.000-07:00

Turkish food... Do you know what's real Turkish foods?? I misunderstood it till I came here, "doner G" in Anaheim. We're often confused about "Mediterranean" foods. I thought of hummus, gyros, kabob, pita etc. as "Mediterranean" foods. It's sort of true, but not totally right. So let me clarify about it.

The Mediterranean can be divided into 3 culinary regions:
1. North African (especially Morocco)
2. Eastern Mediterranean (Egypt, Greece, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Sylya, and Turky)
3. South Mediterranean (Italy, France, and Spain)

FYI to clarify The Middle East: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libyra, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

See... "Mediterranean" cuisine is pretty wide range. We just don't think of French or Italian cuisine as "Mediterranean" cuisine. Majority of people, included me, mostlikely think of "middle eastern" foods as "Mediterranean" foods. In the Eastern Mediterranean regions, they share similar cultures, cooking techniques, ingredients and spices etc... But each country has its own identity and foods as well. No cuisine is stand-alone. All the cuisines were influenced by the traders, settlers, rulers etc. That's what I want to emphasize with this blog - its own identity....

"Mediterranean" foods are getting popular here. It's light and healthy. We'll see gyros, kabobs, hummus everywhere - Greek, Persian, Moroccon restaurants etc.... I'm a big fan of "Mediterranean" cuisine. But even I, who is a hardcore foodie and eat all kinds of foods all over the world, misunderstood it until I came here, "doner G". The owner told me about the magic word - "Mediterranean" food - for a marketing purpose. We feel a bit more familiar or safe if we see the word "Mediterranean". Because we haven't understood the "Mediterranean" cuisine well yet. Even I misunderstood it - so don't worry.

From restaurant business standpoint, they are forced to use the word so that they can attract more customers instead of selling their own identity like "Turkish" or "Iranian" foods. It's not just a gyro nor kabob. It's more than that - but people know them pretty well. No wonder they sell more of those than other unfamiliar but unique foods. It's very unfortunate thing, but they have to do those things until they capture the customers.... It just takes time. That's why I'm here for. I do enjoy and respect the authentic foods and their uniqueness. I want to introduce you unfamiliar but good foods.

I wrote a bunch of reviews about this restaurant on Yelp with tons of pictures. So please check it out!! I don't want to make this blog too long for the food critique because I ate tons of items there ;) I just want to tell you about what I felt and learned at the establishment here.

Turkish cuisine consists of 3 key elements:
1) Nurturing environment. Turkey is known for an abundance and diversity of foodstuff due to its rich flora, fauna and regional differentiation. 2) Imperial Kitchen. Hundreds of cooks specializing in different types of dishes, all eager to please the royal palate. The Palace Kitchen, supported by a complex social organization, a vibrant urban life, specialization of labor, trade, and total control of the spice road, reflected the culmination of wealth and the flourishing of culture in the capital of a mighty Empire. 3) the influence of the longevity of social organization. The Turkish State of Anatolia is a millennium old and so, naturally, is the Cuisine. The reign of the Ottoman Dynasty during 600 years, and a seamless cultural transition into the present day of modern Turkey, led to the evolution of a grand Cuisine through differentiation, refinement and perfection of dishes, as well as their sequence and combination of the meals.

It is quite rare that all the three conditions above are met, as they are in the French, the Chinese and the Turkish Cuisine. The Turkish Cuisine has the extra privilege of being at the cross-roads of the Far-East and the Mediterranean, which mirrors a long and complex history of Turkish migration from the steppes of Central Asia (where they mingled with the Chinese) to Europe (where they exerted influence all the way to Vienna).

All these unique characteristics and history have bestowed on the cuisine - a rich and varied number of dishes, which can be prepared and combined with other dishes in meals of almost infinite variety, but always in a non-arbitrary way. This led to a cuisine that is open to improvisation through development of regional styles, while retaining its deep structure, as all great works of art do.

The foundation of the cuisine is based on grains (rice and wheat) and vegetables. Each category of dishes contains only one or two types of main ingredients. They are purists in their culinary taste; the dishes are supposed to bring out the flavour of the main ingredient rather than hiding it behind sauces or spices. It's like a Japanese cuisine ;) Most desserts and fruit dishes do not call for any spices. So their flavours are refined and subtle.

There are major classes of meatless dishes. When meat is used, it is used sparingly. Even with the meat kebabs, the "pita" or the flat bread occupies the largest part of the portion along with vegetables or yogurt. Oh, don't forget the religious influences. Muslims don't eat pork. That's why you see many lamb and chicken dishes. Turkish cuisine also boasts a variety of authentic contributions in the desserts and beverage categories.

I really enjoyed the straightforward tastes of the ingredients and bold seasonings of some kabobs and gyros. It's not just gyro and kabob - Turkish foods are deep... Please check out Yelp for the restaurant review and go there to try good "Turkish" food at "doner G"!! It's a wonderful discovery of Turkish cuisine ;)

How To Eat Sushi Properly

2010-07-24T10:40:00.000-07:00

How many of you know how to eat sushi properly??? Many people still don't know much about sushi, though sushi is becoming very popular here in US. Once you read this, you can go to the sushi bar with confidence. It doesn't matter whether if you were Japanese or not. The sushi chef will treat you a lot better, if you show them your knowledge and respect (subtly - that's the key). You must know about sushi and its etiquettes.

Well, sushi isn't just sliced fish and rice. How to eat a sushi properly isn't difficult. Before teaching it, let me tell you about myths by NON Japanese people.
I researched how people (in US) think what's the proper way to eat sushi. Geez, many of them don't even know about sushi and teach it to others.... sigh ;( Some of them are not totally correct. Look at those :

Myth No.1:
Some people mix a little wasabi into the soy sauce; however, even though the wasabi is there on your plate, it's really considered bad manners to do this, because the sushi chef has already placed some wasabi on the rice roll. If you add more wasabi, you are essentially telling the chef that he or she did not do a good job.

(Me) - I'm not a sushi chef. I'm just a Japanese foodie born in Tokyo. Mixing wasabi into the soy sauce just shows how ignorant you are as a "SUSHI EATER" as I'll explain it to you later. It's not an insult for chef's work, though I'm sure sushi chefs won't like it to deal with an ignorant customer like you ;p

Myth No.2:
Another way to eat nigiri sushi is to lift the slice of fish from the rice ball, dip the fish into the sauce, replace it back on top of the rice ball and pop the whole thing into your mouth.

(Me) - Dude, don't embarrass yourself by doing it. It's NOT OK. It's hilarious. lol. If you wanna get laughed at sushi chefs, go ahead and do it!! It's NO-NO.

Myth No.3:
Cut rolls are considered as sushi (like NIGIRI sushi). It's OK to order those at a sushi bar.

(Me) - Cut rolls are not so popular in Japan. I didn't know what the California roll was until I came here (CA). lol. Only cut rolls you see in Japan : tuna (tekka), cucumber(kappa), vegetable, natto (fermented soy beans). Those are the major and only rolls I can think of. Sushi chefs want you to enjoy whole sushi experience - especially at a sushi bar. Don't expect to have a cut roll at good sushi places. Most traditional sushi bars DON'T even offer cut rolls at all. Don't embarrass yourself by ordering cut rolls at sushi bar. They'll laugh at you ;p I'm not saying cut rolls are bad. They taste good. It's a fun part of going to a sushi bar to interact with sushi chefs and to enjoy what they can do for your taste bud with sushi and sashimi ;)

How To Eat Sushi Properly
I'll explain it to you and the reasons behind them. If you can master these, your sushi chef would consider you as "TSU" (Gourmet eater who knows about food and its manners in Japanese) and treat you a lot better ;)

1. NEVER mix soy sauce sauce with wasabi.
You're supposed to enjoy every layer - fish, rice, wasabi, and soy sauce - when you eat sushi. Soy sauce is one of the important elements. If you mix wasabi with soy sauce, you ruin both ingredients' flavors.

If you really go to the good sushi places in Japan, they do use a great quality soy sauce that tastes great by itself. Soy sauce to Japanese is like an olive oil to the Italian. You don't see good quality soy sauce here unless you go to Japanese supermarket. Even the market doesn't have the high grade soy sauce I'm talking about. If you really tried those good quality one, you can taste soy with mild and smooth flavors. And it can be very expensive like the quality olive oil - those are matured for years, and made by hands for only limited amount using only the best soys. Using "low-sodium" soy sauce?! GIVE ME A BREAK!! Stop embarrassing yourself...sigh...You don't use a pool of soy sauce. Soy sauce is very important part of sushi.
How can the tasteless soy sauce be complemented the sweetness of fish????? NEVER. Stop being so healthy!! It's a moderation.... Especially at sushi bar, forget that damn idea!! You can't enjoy "real" sushi with the crappy low-sodium soy sauce..... Please, stop embarrassing yourself by using it.... ;(

For some sushi, sushi chef might tell you "don't use soy sauce". Don't be upset. They must have seasoned them with salt, lemon juice, ponzu (Citrus - Japanese "lime" - sauce), eel sauce or some sort of special
sauce. Just follow what sushi chef tells you. They did so to bring out the ingredients' best flavor ;)

So as wasabi. Good wasabi grows only where there's a good quality water. Good quality wasabi takes 5~7 years to grow. It gets very expensive. When you grind it, good sushi chefs use the grinder with a Shark skin. Shark skin is very smooth not to break the cells of wasabi - it brings out the real goodness of wasabi. By using the grinder, wasabi will be very smooth and fluffy. You can taste the sweetness of wasabi first and get a kick right after that. Those grinder isn't cheap, either. FYI: Wasabi's spicyness lasts only once unlike chili. Chili's spiciness last long but never wasabi unless you used tons or cheap artificial stuff ;p

If you did it, sushi chefs would laugh at you (perhaps in their mind) and won't treat you any better. If you didn't do it, chefs instantly knew that you knew about sushi and give you better sushi (out of menu) and service for sure. Good sushi chefs try to offer the best they can do for you. They put their souls into your sushi (in good way ;p) If you show them your respect for their professionalism, they'll treat you really well ;)

2. DIP it fish side (not rice side) first, don’t drown sushi in soy sauce.
This will avoid the rice to separate and get mixed with the sauce. This is the way you enjoy sushi properly. First, you taste the sweetness of the fish with soy sauce. (If you put too much soy sauce, you can't taste the sweetness of fish. We Japanese love to enjoy and appreciate the taste of the ingredient.) Second, the kick of the wasabi follows. Third, you enjoy the sweetness of rice. The good sushi rice (called "shari" in JPN) will crumble in your mouth, not in the soy sauce. It requires a great skill for sushi chef to make the right hardness - to make the perfect "shari". It can't be too soft nor too hard. The size of rice is also important. It can't be too big nor too small. There's a perfect balance between the size of fish and "Shari". "Shari" isn't just a sushi ball. It does show the skills of the chefs. If it's done right, it really shows by look and taste. That's why I do admire and show respect good sushi chefs. Sushi is pretty deep.... ;)

3. It's totally OK to use your hand - it's SUSHI!!
Sure, you need chopsticks for sashimi - it’s a sliced fish. Otherwise, use your hands. That's why they give you a hot/cold wet towel ("Oshibori") When pinched, the roll can easily come undone.

4. Big isn't always good thing.
Most Japanese in Japan eat sushi for just one bite. But my mouth is a bit small. That's why I prefer "Sashimi" to Sushi. I don't need to open up my mouth widely in front of my man ;p Two bites should do traditional sushi. Sushi is a one-bite food. If the sliced fish on the rice is too big, you can't enjoy the taste of "Shari" and vice versa. If the size of sushi is too big, you can't put it into your mouth without struggling. There's a perfect balance between the size of sliced fish and "Shari" - to make a great sushi!! But here in the land of supersized everything - "Big is Great". Some of cut rolls are so gigantic and I have to have a "sushi operation" so that I can eat without making a mess.. Forget that! This is SUSHI !!!

5. There're unwritten rules - which sushi you should order first.
Follow the natural order of things - starting with raw, light-tasting dishes (such as white fish) and moving to cooked dishes with stronger flavors (such as mackerel). If you eat "Toro" (fatty tuna, which has more fat than regular red tuna.) first before a regular red tuna, the sweetness of Toro (the more fat the tuna gets, the sweeter and more expensive it will get) would totally kill the flavor of the regular red tuna. It can be complicated to figure out the order - that's why "OMAKASE" (Chef's choice) exists. Sushi chefs know the best order. They would ask you what you like or what you don't like so that they can figure out the best orders FOR YOU. You don't need to know all that. Let your sushi chef work for you ;) Yeah, you can eat whatever you like but why not to try it if there's a better order to enhance your sushi dining experience?!?! Soup is traditionally held to the end, though most Americans do just the opposite.

6. How much WASABI do you need?
A small amount of wasabi should always be part of sushi. Unless you tell your sushi chef, he/she will put a wasabi in your sushi. Therefore, you don't need to put an extra wasabi. As I explained it to you at the beginning, the balance of ingredients are very important when it comes to sushi. If you put too much wasabi, you can't enjoy the sweetness of fish. Sushi is delicate. Wasabi gives you a kick enhancing the flavor of sushi. For sashimi, put only a small amount of wasabi IN THE MIDDLE of sashimi, and dip the side that wasabi isn't on. Don't mix it with soy sauce. Dip only the fish in the soy sauce - once you can do it, you'll impress your sushi chefs.

Do you still like tons of spiciness?! Sigh... ;( Then try a small amount first so you can assess the amount you
want to put on your sushi. But be really careful, too much of wasabi (especially cheap artificial powder one) will give a real serious kick on your nasal cavities. Good wasabi actually gives you the sweetness first and a kick of spiciness.

7. Slices of gingers are NOT a side dish - it cleans your palette. You'll eat all kind of sushi. We Japanese wanna enjoy EVERY one of them. You eat gingers ("Gari") AFTER eating a sushi so that you can clean your palette. Hot tea ("Agari") also has the same function as wasabi. Oh, Japanese don't put a sugar for this kind of green tea. I was a bit surprised when somebody did it at sushi bar... It was a bit weird to me. Don't dip your ginger into a soy sauce. Stop embarrassing yourself ;p It's OK to ask more gingers.

FYI: Pink gingers are the cheap one. Good ginger is yellowish and tastes a lot better than pink ones.

8. Eat at a sushi bar - if you really want a good stuff. Sushi chefs will ALWAYS take care of the customers at sushi bar better than the ones at tables. I'm sorry that I'm brutally honest but that's the FACT. Sushi chefs can offer you not-on-the-menu items and better parts of fish. If you encounter the good sushi chefs, they can make you all kinds of special appetizers and sushi for you. Buy the sushi chefs a drink - that's another trick to get you better stuff ;)

Another advantage of sitting at sushi bar: You can ask what the sushi chefs recommend. Also, don't be afraid to ask for an item not on the menu. They might get something special or seasonal for the day. Never ask "how fresh it is". It is just an insult to imply that something may not be. If you think it may not be fresh, you shouldn’t be eating there, however a good sushi chef ("Itamae") will steer a diner towards the food he/she feels will be most satisfying and highlight his/her skills.

If you sit at the bar, tip the chef for the food (in western countries there is often a tip jar as the itamae will never touch money since he touches food) and the wait staff for the drinks etc. Otherwise, tip as you normally would.

9. I can't use chopsticks!! - Is it OK to ask utensils?????
It's totally understandable and OK to ask utensils. You got to practice a lot to master how to use chopsticks correctly. Even some Japanese can't hold them correctly (lol). It's a part of manners for Japanese. My parents were very annoying about it until I could master it, when I was a kid. If I couldn't hold it right, it would show my parents didn't teach me a proper manner. So I got to practice a lot and do appreciate my parents ;) Japanese use chopsticks for everything (lol), though they do use folks and knives. Just ask, instead of being uncomfortable. Sushi chefs won't bite you :p

Well, well, well... I hope I cover the most of the important stuff for you to be able to be considered as "TSU".
For Japanese, foods are art and an important part of their cultures. I do think Japanese are one of the pickiest foodies in the world. They love to eat the tasty foods with the highest quality. They don't mind spend more money for better stuff. They even use particular ingredients for certain foods - sugar isn't just a sugar. It has to come from certain region etc. They pursue its perfection - by look and taste. As I explained to you, sushi isn't just a fish and rice. I'm glad you master how to eat sushi properly ;)

Is healthy eating good for you?

2010-07-03T09:54:00.000-07:00

Is healthy eating good for you? Eating junk foods - full of toxic food additives, sugar, salt and fat - bring you all kinds of diseases: obesity, cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, sleep apnea etc. You name it! That's the fact. I've talked about how common our foods contain toxic food additives and how to make better choices about foods for your healthy lifestyle. Who doesn't wanna be healthy??

Now if you're aware of and focus on eating healthy, you'll be considered as "mentally disordered", which is called "Orthorexia nervosa" (It is Latin for "nervous about correct eating). Wait a minute, is healthy eating good for you? OF COURSE, it's great for you but not according to some experts. I'll explain about "Orthorexia nervosa".

"Orthorexia nervosa" refers to a pathological fixation on eating proper food. This term coined by Steven Bratman (Colorado MD) to denote an EATING DISORDER characterized by a focus on eating "pure" or "correct" foods. Bratman describes orthorexia as an unhealthy obsession, and claims that if the sufferer does not eat appropriately, malnutrition can ensue.

"Patients" with "Orthorexia nervosa" spend large amounts of time thinking about healthy food, frequently planning menus a day in advance. As the disorder progresses, the list of foods an individual is allowed to eat may become increasingly restrictive. "Patients" may avoid certain unhealthy foods - those containing fats, preservatives,artificial food additives, animal products, or other ingredients considered by the subject to be unhealthy. Because of this, "Orthorexia nervosa" can make it difficult for the sufferers to eat outside the home. "Patients" may begin to feel isolated from others, as their restrictive diet prevents them from participating in many social activities. So, it has many similarities to the two well-known eating disorders "anorexia" and "bulimia". Where the bulimic and anorexic focus on the quantity of food, the "Orthorexic nervosa" fixates on its quality. All three give food an excessive place in the scheme of life.

The Bratman Test for Orthorexia
-- Do you spend more than 3 hours a day thinking about your diet?
-- Do you plan your meals several days ahead?
-- Is the nutritional value of your meal more important than the pleasure of eating it?
-- Has the quality of your life decreased as the quality of your diet has increased?
-- Have you become stricter with yourself lately?
-- Does your self-esteem get a boost from eating healthily?
-- Have you given up foods you used to enjoy in order to eat the 'right' foods
-- Does your diet make it difficult for you to eat out, distancing you from family and friends?
-- Do you feel guilty when you stray from your diet?
-- Do you feel at peace with yourself and in total control when you eat healthily?

Yes to 4 or 5 of the above questions means it is time to relax more about food. Yes to all of them means a full-blown obsession with eating healthy food.

Let me translate what he claims.
If you focus on eating healthy, you are mentally disordered. So, eating UNHEALTHY foods is the way to go..... What the hell?????? Ok, I kinda understand the part of being "TOO OBSESSIVE" - makes it a disorder. But eating crap is the answer for healthy lifestyle?! What a joke...

What's wrong with being control of your own life - being aware, focusing on health, and eating healthy foods??? Oh, it's a serious danger for people who live on the ignorant consumers. Food manufactures love to use those toxic food additives because they can save $$$ and give incredible amount of profits despite the fact that those are very unhealthy for you. They don't want you to be aware of their usage of the toxic food additives. They want you to buy their stuff more blindly. Eating those make you sick. Pharmaceutical companies can sell you their drugs (chemicals) if you're unhealthy. They want you to consume synthetic chemicals and to be unhealthy so that they can make more $$$$$. Not to mention, they pay taxes to government....

Wake up!! You're the only one who can be in charge of your life!!!! You don't need to follow "popular" - junk foods - stream nor health "experts" who don't know what they are talking about. As I mentioned before on my blog, it's great and NORMAL to eat healthy foods and pay attention to your intake for your health :)
Avoid those bad chemicals in the foods. Stay aware and make better choices for your health. You don't need to even question "is healthy eating good for you?" The junk food eaters are the real mental patients, not you.

Bad Chemicals In Foods - Toxic Food Additives (No.6)

2010-06-12T14:08:00.000-07:00

No. 1) Major toxic food additives
No. 2) What "catches" on food labels to watch out for

No. 3) What food labels says - (1) Nutrition Facts (2) Ingredients

No. 4) Cancer Testing
No. 5) How to avoid toxic food additives

This time, i'll focus on "how we can get rid of bad chemicals in food - toxic food additives - out of your body system". As our body generates new cells to keep itself in good health, it also has a natural detox system. This system comprises of various organs as well as supporting systems to facilitate our body to purge out toxins through the skin, lungs, kidneys, liver, and colon. The processes of expulsion of these toxins are either through urination, fecal excretion, breath, or these toxins can also be neutralized by your organ.

However, these organs and supporting systems are like rivers flowing toward the ocean. It can be smooth in its travel so long as there are no accumulation of riverbank debris and narrowing of the riverbank. How do we accumulate riverbank debris? More often than not, it is the human intervention into the natural habitat that resulted in this.

If one organ becomes congested, the others must work harder to keep the system balanced. What junks do choke up and narrows our elimination system and slows down its detox function? The body doesn't just have to deal with the toxins we consume (drug residues, chemicals, food additives, saturated fat, high sugar), but those from external sources, such as include environmental pollutants (fungi, pesticides, heavy metals), polluted air (excessive carbon monoxide) and water etc. Those junks were never available in old days. For recent decades, we are exposed to them significantly.

By adding to the "toxic overload" we are taking away resources needed to maintain our body in good condition, generating / repairing cells, maintaining vital bodily functions, breaking down fats, etc. etc.
If the body has to constantly deal with the onslaught of chemicals we ingest, there will be times when the body can no longer fulfill all its other major functions. Our increasing exposure to them has led us to see more cancer cases, chronic diseases like cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, as well as inflammatory diseases like arthritis.

Isn't it too late you seriously start considering about those toxins till you finally get into direct contact with cancer in your life?? Recognizing and avoiding these harmful chemicals will definitely help you to keep your body in good condition. We must recognize not to abuse our natural detox system but allow them to function at their optimum. If they have been choked up for some time, it would require patience for your body to clear the debris accumulated over time and allow our detoxification organs to work their best again. This is the reason that we suffer from an initial stage of healing crisis (clearing up the debris) and then a strong feeling of rejuvenation and alertness (proper functioning of our natural detox function). It is through proper care of all these organs that they can expel toxins and neutralize them easily.

Solutions:

- Educate yourself and make wise and healthy choice for your food intake.
You are the one who make choices of what you consume. I've helped you to learn what you should look for and the reason why those are important for YOU. Read the food labels and avoid the foods that contain toxic food additives. Get fresh vegetables and fruits and cook at home. If you didn't demand the foods with toxic, the food manufactures have to supply something WE WANT TO BUY. Be smart. Take in charge of your health. You are the one who can make it happen!!

- Make more severe laws to ban using toxic food additives.
If we knew that those bad chemicals in foods make us sick, why don't we stop taking them? Although most governments ban the use of harmful chemicals in food, unfortunately all manufacturers don't oblige. Make the laws to enforce the food manufactures to ban the toxic food additives. Unless you take a initiative about your food intake, who does? Voicot the foods that contain those toxic food additives and give the food manufactures pressure. Without their economical damage, the food manufactures wouldn't do anything about it. We, the consumers, have to take charge of OUR healthy well being. You're the one who can make it happen!!

- Make laws requiring food labels to be EASY for anyone to read.
Do we need to have a chemical degree to read the labels?! How can we read such a tiny print? The label should state possible dangers in any of the ingredients, and/or make the names of ingredients easier to read.

- Use natural food preservatives.
Natural food preservatives include substances such as salt, sugar, rosemary extract and vinegar. Among these, salt, sugar and vinegar are used as an ingredient rather than additives or preservatives. They are preservatives that have been used in the recipe itself, hence they are also called as traditional preservatives.

- Pass laws the require fast food restaurants to use more natural ingredients
A great deal of the support for chemical laden, toxic food is the fast food industry. The fast food industry is thriving right now because of people looking for inexpensive and convenient food. Do you know how expensive your medical bill will cost you? Do you really want to exchange your health over the convenience???? Wake up!

Useful websites for investigating food additives:
Food Additives – http://www.foodadditivesworld.com/
National Institute of Health – http://www.nih.gov/
FDA Consumer – http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/default.htm

We've learned so much about bad chemicals in foods. You got to eat everyday. You have a full control of what you consume. Avoid those toxic food additives that would make you sick. Take charge of your healthy life. It's too late to realize how great your life can be with great health when you get sick. YOU make choices. You have the power. Be wise for yourself and loved ones.

Bad Chemicals In Foods - Toxic Food Additives (No.5)

2010-06-11T13:46:00.000-07:00

No. 1) Major toxic food additives
No. 2) What "catches" on food labels to watch out for
No. 3) What food labels says - (1) Nutrition Facts (2) Ingredients
No. 4) Cancer Testing

Now we know many of these toxic food additives make us sick, so I'll focus on how to avoid the bad chemicals in foods this time. You'll check back blog No. 1 and No. 3 for which food additives to avoid.
The best bet is "get fresh wholesome foods and cook at home". You can skip reading the label part :)
Not only you can have delicious and healthier foods, but also you can save your $.

Tip 1 Read labels.

You heard me so many times by now (lol), but it's really important!! Don't be fooled by catchy advertisement and complicated names. If you can’t say it or spell it, don’t eat it!! This is a sure way to avoid the toxins :) Check No. 2 and No. 3 for what to look for and how to read them. You need to read your food labels carefully and check them against the lists I provided for you.

The worst offenders: Aspartame, Blue No.1 Dye, BHA, Olestra, Hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, sodium nitrate, and propyl gallate.

Tip 2 Go farmer's market.

Most of the food in your grocery store comes from far places. Because of that, preservatives are added to last longer. Many processed meats, such as hot dogs and polish sausages, have a preservative called nitrate. This helps with the meat’s red color and preserves its flavor. But studies have linked nitrates to cancer. To avoid preservatives, buy food that isn’t meant to be stored. That means you’ll only have a few days or so to consume them. You can do this by shopping at a butcher’s who gets his meat from inside your state. Or go to a farmer’s market to buy fresh vegetables and fruits grown locally. If you want them for later you can pickle them yourself at home. We lived for centuries without preservatives - we can do without them now.

Tip 3 Stay in the grocery suburbs.
When you shop at the supermarket, stay in the grocery suburbs – the outskirts of the center of the store. You’ll find fresh fruits, vegetables and dairy products. These foods will be less likely to contain toxic food additives.

Tip 4 Eat home cooked meals.
Most of us enjoy fast foods or ready-to-eat packaged foods. It is the easiest and convenient way to prepare a meal. But eating out leads to more processed foods and more processed foods leads to more toxic food additives. But if you just follow tips like cutting up veggies in advance, using slow cookers to cook while you’re gone and buying meat and putting it into daily use bags and sticking it in the freezer, you can save time on meal preparation and eat real food without added toxins. Start slow for you busy bodies. Home cooking recipes usually contain real food. Try one day a week with nothing but real food. If it gets easy then jump to two. Pretty soon you’ll eat home cooked meals every day.

Tip 5 Don’t Swallow Your Nutrients.

Vitamins became the rage in the 1970s and many people still swallow their nutrients. But vitamins can also contain unnatural substances such as Aristolochic acid, which the FDA issued a warning about. It has been associated with permanent kidney damage. Get your nutrients through real food. Experts say there is no research to prove that vitamins are helpful to your health.

Tip 6 Wash Your Produce.
Many fresh vegetables and fruits, no matter how fresh and natural they look, often have residues of pesticides on them. Foods to be watch out for include grapes, celery, lettuce, cucumber, cabbage and green beans. Fruits like apples and pears are coated with paraffin wax to make them look shiny and delicious. Not to mention the fact that the food you are about to eat has been handled by produce clerks, shippers, pickers and other shoppers. E. Coli, Listeria, and Salmonella can live on fruits and vegetables whether they are organic or not. So wash them by gently rubbing them under cold running water without soap.

You don't need to study chemicals to avoid bad chemicals in foods. Just pay a little more attention to what you eat. If you follow these tips, you will avoid some of the toxic food additives. But you’ve already taken the first step - you’ve gotten educated. Now the rest is up to you :)

Calbee Potato Chips Usushio flavor - My Favorite Japanese Foods (No.6)

2010-06-06T02:03:00.000-07:00

Yes, this is very standard potato chips for the Japanese in Japan - Calbee potato chips usushio flavor. This is my favorite Japanese foods :) As you know, I'm not so fond of junk foods. But I can't just ignore this very typical Japanese snack...

By the way, "Usushio" means "Lightly salted" in Japanese. This Calbee potato chips "Usushio" flavor is VERY lightly or LITTLE salted for you -even for me now, though I'm 100 % Japanese born in Japan. People who used to eat "Lay's" will be surprised how little they use salt for it... When I had it in Japan, I thought this was a bit salty. I've lived in US for a long while and am so used to eat VERY salty potato chips and foods here. ( I mean everything here is too salty or too sweet....) When I had this in US, I was so surprised how little salt I could taste and how much my taste bud can change by living here and changing diets... My taste palette used to be much more sensitive or delicate.... :(

This "Usushio" is the standard flavor among their potato chip lines. There are many other flavors: Consommé punch, Nori Shio, Shoyu & Mayo, pepper etc. They are all good. As other typical hit food products in Japan, there are many "area limited" flavors: Shoyu & Butter, Konbu (Kelp) & Shoyu, Kyushu (Southern part of Japan) Shoyu etc. Typical, typical, typical.... The Japanese love that "limited" stuff. They can't help trying new and different stuff... Those words tickle our curiosities... I don't know why... We just love something "SPECIAL" and "LIMITED"... lol

My friend's father (Osamu Harada), who is very famous illustrator in Japan, designed this famous potato character. My friend told me about it one day and I remembered I thought WOW.... Because I believe ALL THE JAPANESE know this character and the chips.

Most of the Japanese care about dieting but do eat a junk food like this. They know it's all about moderation. Their foods are used obviously less salt than ones in US. This Calbee potato chips Usushio flavor always reminds me of it. The Japanese love to enjoy the tastes of the ingredients themselves. Subtle seasoning is almost always good for them. I thought "Usushio" is so "JAPANESE" stuff.... lol. My favorite Japanese foods will continue....

Bad Chemicals In Foods - Toxic Food Additives (No.4)

2010-06-03T16:10:00.000-07:00

This time, I'll focus on "cancer testing" - how FDA or the researchers figure out which chemicals in foods can be toxic food additives....

Scientists and researchers are looking for the answer. They look at the causes of the deteriorating health of the population and figure out some of the important triggers - the type of food we eat and bad chemicals in foods added by the food manufactures. With non-smoking related cancers representing 80 % of new cancer cases, many people are blaming on the toxic food additives for their health deterioration. Unfortunately or fortunately, there are evidences to suggest that food additives are making us sick...

FDA has a database listing over 3,000 substances which are added to our foods. Food additives have the purpose of adding taste and color to over processed food that has little (natural) flavor and color left. FDA claims they are all safe - including even "MSG" and "Aspartame". As I mentioned on my past posts, many of them are no better than poison. Even if all of the food additives were safe individually, rarely does any food have only one additive in it. Testing for additive safety has been done for individual additives, not for combinations of the additives. They could be harmful in certain combinations. No one knows the effects of the many different additives used in the hundreds of various combinations...

In general, food additives are tested - whether if it causes a cancer or not - by feeding large dosages to small numbers of rats and mice. Large dosages are used to compensate for the small number of animals that can be used (a few hundred is considered a big study... I'm not kidding...). Also, the large dosages can compensate for the possibility that rodents may be less sensitive than people to a particular chemical (as happened with thalidomide). Note: Humans are 5 times more sensitive to the toxic effects of certain food additives than rats and 20 times more sensitive than monkeys.

Some of you might claim that such tests are improper and that large amounts of any chemical would cause cancer. That is not true. Large amounts of most chemicals don't cause cancer. When a large dosage causes cancer, most scientists believe that a smaller amount would also cause cancer, but less frequently. But some toxins might be reasonably safe at tested levels. However, unsafe levels can also be reached if toxins accumulate in human bodies (toxic over-load, some chemicals bioaccumulate - which means that they increase in concentration over time, potentially to generally accepted toxic levels.

It would be nice if lower, more realistic dosages could be used, but a test using low dosages and a small number of animals would be extraordinarily insensitive. It would also be nice if test-tube tests not using any animals were developed that could cheaply and accurately identify cancer-causing chemicals. While some progress has been made in that direction, those tests have not proven reliable. Thus, the standard high-dosage cancer test on small numbers of animals is currently the only practical, reasonably reliable way to identify food additives (and other chemicals) that might cause cancer. Remember, food manufacturers are presenting one-sided and questionable research results to support their use of chemicals without telling us the whole truth.

Another problem at cancer testing is that poorly calibrated production equipment may mix in more of those chemicals than even the FDA would consider safe.... Bad news keep coming up, huh... :(

The Pesticide Action Network North America and Commonweal reported that Americans can experience up to 70 daily exposures to residues of a class of toxic chemicals known as "persistent organic pollutants" (POPs), including such chemicals as DDT and dioxin, through their diets. The report, "Nowhere to Hide: Persistent Toxic Chemicals in the U.S. Food Supply," analyzes chemical residue data collected by the FDA and finds persistent chemical contaminants in ALL food groups.

The Delaney Clause is an important part of the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. That important consumer-protection clause specifically bans any additive that "is found to induce cancer when ingested by man or animal." The food and chemical industries are seeking to weaken or repeal that law. I do want to talk about "Codex alimentarius" soon... Stand up for your own safety. Make a healthy choice. Read the food labels carefully. You already know there are tons of bad chemicals in foods - toxic food additives.

Bad Chemicals In Foods - Toxic Food Additives (No.3)

2010-06-03T06:30:00.000-07:00

I'm feeding you tons of information about bad chemicals in foods. Are you full with the information of toxic food additive???? This time, I'll show you how to read food labels and how to use the information.

No. 1) Major toxic food additives
No. 2) What "catches" on food labels to watch out for

No. 3) What food labels says - (1) Nutrition Facts (2) Ingredients

1) Nutrition Facts
This is good and useful, but not the most important information you need to get from food labels about the item. It gives you information on calories, grams of fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates, dietary fiber, sugars, and protein in each serving plus some percentages of a few nutrients. What they don't tell you is that:

1 gram of fat = approximately 9 calories.
1 gram of protein = approximately 4 calories.
1 gram of carbohydrate = approximately 4 calories.
4 grams of sugar = 1 teaspoon of sugar

Ex: a 123 calorie snack with 7 g of fat, 2 g of protein and 13 g of carbohydrate of which 12 g of the carbohydrate is sugar.

- To get fat calories, multiply calories from fat.(9x7=63). To get % of fat, divide 63 fat calories by 123 snack calories to get 51% fat.
- To get protein calories, multiply calories from protein.(4x2=8) To get % of protein, divide 8 protein calories by 123 snack calories to get 7% protein.
- To get carbohydrate calories, multiply 4x13=52 calories from carbohydrate. To get % of carbohydrate, divide 52 carbohydrate calories by 123 snack calories to get 42% carbohydrate.
- To get the number of teaspoons of sugar in the snack, divide 12g of sugar in the snack by 4, to get 3 teaspoons of sugar.

Start here: Note the size of a single serving and how many servings are in the package.

Check total calories per serving: Look at the serving size and how many servings you’re really consuming. If you double the servings you eat, you double the calories and nutrients, including the Percent Daily Value (% DV).
Limit these nutrients : Limit your total fat to no more than 56~78g per day — including no more than 16g of saturated fat, less than 2g of trans fat, and less than 300 mg cholesterol (for a 2,000 calorie diet).

Get enough of these nutrients : Make sure you get 100 % of the fiber, vitamins and other nutrients you need everyday.

Quick guide to % DV : The % DV section tells you the percent of each nutrient in a single serving, in terms of the daily recommended amount. As a guide, if you want to consume less of a nutrient (such as saturated fat, cholesterol or sodium), choose foods with a lower % DV — 5 % or less is low. If you want to consume more of a nutrient (such as fiber), seek foods with a higher % DV — 20 % or more is high.

Tip 1: Remember that the information shown in these panels is based on 2,000 calories per day. You may need to consume less or more than 2,000 calories depending upon your age, gender, activity level, and whether you’re trying to lose, gain or maintain your weight. Find out your personal daily limits.

   - Low 40 calories per serving
   - Moderate 100 calories per serving
   - High 400 calories or more per serving

Tip 2: When the Nutrition Facts panel says the food contains “0 g” of trans fat, it means the food contains less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving. When the Nutrition Facts label says a food contains “0 g” of trans fat, but includes “partially hydrogenated oil” in the ingredient list, it means the food contains trans fat, but less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving. So, if you eat more than one serving, you could quickly reach your daily limit of trans fat.

Tip 3: There is no % DV shown for trans fat on the panel because FDA doesn't have enough scientific information to set this value. I recommend eating less than 20 calories or (less than 2g of trans fat) a day – that’s less than 1 % of your total daily calories (for a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet).

  2) Ingredients

These bad chemicals in foods are widely used in the more industrialized countries. These toxic food additives are normally defined as non nutritive substances (intentionally added to food), generally in small quantities, to improve its appearance destroyed by processing, flavor, texture or preservation. Even though it were only tiny amount, they might rise to harm your health and we should avoid.

Food scientist, toxicologists and control officials mention food problems in the following decreasing order: microbial contamination of food, natural toxic in food, environmental contamination of food and food additives. Food additives serve the interests of both the consumer and the producer of foodstuffs since they inhibit the spoilage of food, thus reducing the losses and enabling greater production at a lower cost. They increase the viability of the diet, make preparation of food more convenient and help stabilize the quality of food. Many countries require a toxicological analysis of any food additive which determines, in most cases, the average amount of a substance expressed in mg/kg of body weight which can be taken daily in the diet over a lifetime without risk considering all known factors.

Note: food flavouring substances are different from food additives as there are several thousand flavoring substances which occur naturally. Most flavouring substances are identical substances to the tens of thousands which have been detected in the flavouring component of natural foods such as fruits, spices, vegetables, milk and meat products. The natural flavouring component of foods is invariably an extremely complicated mixture comprising a few dozen to several thousand different chemicals of natural origin.

A Good Rule of Thumb
- If the list of ingredients is long, there's probably a lot of chemical additives in the product. It’s best to avoid these foods because of the unknown health effects of combinations of food additives.

- If the list of ingredients is short, it may or may not have harmful additives in it.

- Ingredients are listed on the label in order of predominance by weight...the ingredient that weighs the most is listed first, the ingredient that weighs the least is listed last. If there’s a questionable additive on the list, the closer it is to the front of the list, the more you put yourself at risk.

- Generally only those ingredients that are required by law to be listed on the label are listed. So, you never really know if there are any other ingredients in the product that are not listed on the label.

- Cut Back : Not toxic, but large amounts may be unsafe or promote bad nutrition -
Caffeine, corn syrup, dextrose (Corn Sugar, Glucose), fructose, high-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenatated starch hydrolysate, invert sugar, lactitol, maltitol, mannitol, polydextrose, salatrim, salt, sorbitol, sugar, tagatose, xylitol

- Caution : May pose a risk and needs to be better tested. Try to avoid -
Artificial colorings (Citrus red 2, Red 40), brominated vegetable oil (BVO), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), diacetyl, heptyl paraben, quinine, stevia/rebiana

- Avoid : Unsafe in amounts consumed or is very poorly tested and not worth any risk -
Acesulfame potassium, artificial colorings (blue 2, green 3, orange B, red 3, yellow 5, yellow 6), aspartame (Nutrasweet), butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), cyclamate (Not legal in US), hydrogenated vegetable oil, olestra (olean) , partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propyl gallate, saccharin, sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite.

Now you know what the food label says about bad chemicals in foods and how to read the information about the toxic food additives. Read the label carefully before you buy it.

Bad Chemicals in foods - Toxic food additives (No.2)

2010-05-30T14:10:00.000-07:00

At No.1, I discussed about the awareness of how common the toxic food additives are used and how often we take bad chemicals in foods daily. So, I'll go a little further about food labels and what "catches" to watch out for. Reading the labels can be tricky....

How can you be aware of them?
Now you realized we take a lot of bad chemicals in foods. How can you avoid those toxic food additives?Packaged foods must list the ingredients on the labels. Food labels contain a wealth of information about the product if you knew what to look for and how to interpret them. The packaging tells you nothing about how healthy the product is. The main purpose of food labels is to sell the product, not tell you what's in it. Being able to read them can be challenging.

We recently start seeing the packages saying like "No preservatives added" and "Natural fruit flavors with real fruit juice" on various food products. Those newly added claims make me wonder what kinds of food additives they used to use before?! If they weren't so natural, what were that?? Those words don't guarantee that there are no toxic additives in the product, though they could mean well.

It is just the food manufacturer's gimmick hoping you'll think these are healthy, natural and safe to eat.... The easiest way to be aware of the additives is to READ the labels and to KNOW what it means.

1. Serving Size: Note the size of a single serving and how many servings are in the package.
Many processed foods packaged as a "single serving" actually contain 2 or more servings. According to NLEA (the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act) of 1990, a food item in a relatively small container may be labeled as a single serving if the entire contents can "reasonably be expected to be consumed in a single-eating occasion." However, there is often a discrepancy.

- "Big Grab" potato chips : A single-serving snack size bag of chips has fewer calories than a larger, but still single-serving, size of the same snack. The serving size can vary depending on the package.
- "Big Gulp" drinks : An average serving of a soft drink is 12 ounces. But it can be up to 64 ounces (+ 5 can sodas)! Most people buy them with the intention of eating or drinking the whole thing.
- Others: large muffins (which often contain two servings), bagels, "individual" ice cream containers (some contain 4 servings), and personal size pizzas.

2. Exempt Ingredients
Food labels list ingredients in descending order. (The most prevalent ingredient is first, the least is last.) However, ingredients that constitute less than 2 percent can be listed in any order after the heading "contains less than 2% of the following." Other ingredients called "incidental additives" don't have to be listed on labels. These include substances transferred to food via packaging and "ingredients of other ingredients" that are present at "insignificant levels" and have no "technical or functional effect."

Natural and artificial flavors are also often grouped together under one name, and the food manufacturers aren't required to disclose what "artificial flavors" really means. The exception here (since Jan, 06): any food containing a "major food allergen" must have it listed on the label (whether or not its part of flavoring or incidental additives). Major food allergens - milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soy and wheat, and food ingredients containing proteins derived from any of these food categories.

3. Watch out "Natural" and "Free From" claiming:

100% Natural
All natural ingredients
Gluten - free
Natural fruit flavors with Real Fruit Juice
No artificial ingredients
No Artificial preservative
No preservatives
Real fruit

Sounds nice, huh?! These statements make you feel as if it were free from bad chemicals in foods... "NATURAL" isn't always safe, and products with the these 'natural' labeling are not required by law to contain only natural ingredients. There may be harmful ingredients. Remember, the purpose of the labels is to SELL the product. The food manufacturers hope you'll think there are safer to eat. Buying products in a healthy food stores do not guarantee that packaged products you buy will be no harmful additives either.

Ex. The ingredients from a loaf of bread that states 'ALL NATURAL INGREDIENTS,' and 'NO ARTIFICIAL PRESERVATIVES ADDED,' are: Enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, malted barley, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin), water, high fructose corn syrup, yeast, wheat bran, vital wheat gluten butter. Contains 2% or less of each of the following: rye meal, corn flour, molasses, rolled whole wheat, salt, dough conditioners (ammonium sulfate, sodium stearoyl lactylate), brown sugar, honey, vinegar, oatmeal, soy flour, mono and diglycerides, partially hydrogenated soybean oil.

   Here is an analysis of the ingredients.

Enriched wheat flour : "white flour". The bran and the germ portion of the whole wheat (rich in vitamins and minerals), have been refined out. To compensate for the refining 20 nutrients out, they add back nutrient additives like synthetic nutrients, niacin (vitamin B3) etc. These are added to mostly refined and processed foods giving a false sense of nutritional value and can lead to nutritional imbalances.
High fructose corn syrup : sugar derived from corn. It is associated with blood sugar problems, depression, fatigue, vitamin B deficiency, hyperactivity, tooth decay, periodontal disease and indigestion.
Dough Conditioners : in general, can cause mineral deficiencies.
Ammonium sulfate : It may cause nausea, mouth ulcers, kidney and liver problems.
Sodium stearoyl lactylate : It may be milk, corn, peanut or soy based, and may cause blood pressure and kidney disturbances, and water retention.
Brown sugar : frequently white sugar with molasses added. It is associated with blood sugar problems, depression, fatigue, B-vitamin deficiency, hyperactivity, tooth decay, periodontal disease and indigestion.
Mono and diglycerides : It may be corn, soy, peanut or fat based. They may cause genetic changes, cancer, birth defects, and allergic reactions.
Partially hydrogenated soybean oil : It's associated with heart disease, breast and colon cancer, atherosclerosis and elevated cholesterol.

Also "FREE FROM" labeling. The FDA allows food manufacturers to round to zero any ingredient that accounts for less than 0.5 grams per serving. So while a product may claim to be "gluten-free" or "alcohol-free," it can legally contain up to 0.5 grams per serving. While this may seem like an insignificant amount, over time this small fraction can add up... Remember watch out for "Zero Trans Fat", too. So, always READ LABELS very carefully.

4. Unfamiliar Terms for Unsavory Ingredients
Food manufacturers are known to use "clean labels," in which they hide ingredients they know the consumers would rather not have in their foods under names they won't recognize.

Ex: if you wanted to avoid MSG, you must look for all of the following terms, as they all contain MSG...

Autolyzed yeast, Calcium caseinate, Gelatin, Glutamate, Glutamic acid, Hydrolyzed protein, Sodium caseinate, Monopotassium glutamate, Monosodium glutamate, Textured protein, Yeast extract,
Yeast food, Yeast Nutrient

5. Misleading Ingredient Claims
Food manufacturers are shamelessly tricking consumers who are trying to eat more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Many processed foods that claim to contain healthy ingredients highlighted on labels actually don't include them, or only include them in insignificant amounts. Moreover, they are typically loaded with fats, refined sugars, refined flour, and salt, in various combinations. Common offenders: strawberry yogurt without strawberries and blueberry waffles without blueberries. CSPI (The Center for Science in the Public Interest) recently asked the FDA to "immediately stop misleading food labels," including:

Kellogg's Eggo Nutri-Grain Pancakes: The label says they're made with whole wheat and whole grain, but they're made primarily of white flour and contain more high-fructose corn syrup than whole wheat or whole grain.
Betty Crocker Super Moist Carrot Cake Mix: Contains only carrot powder as the 19th ingredient on the label.
Gerber Graduates for Toddlers Fruit Juice Snacks: The primary ingredients are corn syrup and sugar.

Now you know a little bit more about how to read "between the line" on food labels. Don't be fool by the food manufactures "smooth" statement. You should be careful when you READ the labels. There are tons of bad chemicals in foods - many of them really contains toxic food additives.....

Bad Chemicals In Foods - Toxic Food Additives (No.1)

2010-05-27T23:28:00.000-07:00

Have you ever thought that we take bad chemicals in foods daily? There are over 3000 different food additives purposefully added to our foods. Some of them are known to cause cancer, though we need further research for sure. In theory, any additives shown to cause cancer in humans or animals are not allowed to be added to our foods. But political and economical pressures have made the FDA "loosen" their standards and allow “small amounts” of the toxic food additives to be used in foods.

Yeah, it sounds scary... But it's important that you recognize "bad chemicals in foods" - toxic food additives exist all over. Certain food additives can cause allergic reactions in certain people - such as pregnant women, infants, people with high blood pressure and kidney problems. Although we need more researches, we rather avoid those "possible" cancer suspects than just ignore them. The best bet to avoid these is to eat Natural Foods :)

I'm researching a lot about this topic and found so many information.... I can make a website about it, if I want (lol). So I try to break down (I'm not sure how long it can be....), summarize and concise them so that you can understand easily :)

In general, it's best to avoid the following ingredients.

Artificial coloring
Artificial Sweetners: Acesulfame-K, Aspartame, Saccharin
BHA and BHT
Caffeine
MSG
Olestra
Potassium bromate
Propyl gallate
Salt (Sodium Chloride)
Sodium nitrite
Trans Fats
White Sugar

Artificial Colorings
The source of many artificial food colors are coal tar and petrochemicals. The human body was not designed to eat petrochemicals and the risk the consumption of these ingredients pose to our health is obvious. The food manufactures are using them to make the foods more appealing to the consumers.
Blue 1: used in beverages, candy and baked goods. Blue 2: used in pet food, candy and beverages. Red 3: Used in fruit cocktail cherries, baked goods and candy.
Yellow 6: used in beverages, baked goods, candy, sausages, and gelatin. It is the third most widely used of all food colorings.
Aspartame (also known by "Equal" and "NutraSweet") - Artificial Sweetner
It is composed of methanol and two amino acids. Although originally believed to be the perfect artificial sweetener, it caused brain tumors in rats in certain studies conducted in the 70s. Further studies found that even small doses of the sweetener increased the occurrence of lymphoma and leukemia, and occasionally caused brain tumors in rats.
Acesulfame-K - Artificial Sweetner
It is approximately 200 times sweeter than regular sugar and is used around the world in baked goods, soft drinks, chewing gum, and gelatin desserts. An added concern is that the breakdown product of acesulfame-K known as acetoacetamide.

Saccharin (also known by "Sweet'N Low") - Artificial Sweetner

It does not contain any calories, does not raise blood sugar levels and is 200 to 700 times sweeter than sucrose (table sugar). Research showed bladder tumors in male rats with the ingestion of saccharin.

BHA (Butylated hydroxyanisole) and BHT (Butylated hydroxytoluene)
These are used as a preservative. These can be found in butter, meats, chewing gum, snack foods, dehydrated potatoes, and even beer. These additives are approved by the FDA as safe for human consumption. However, they are proven carcinogens. There is proof that some people have difficulty metabolizing BHA and this can result in health and behavioral changes.

Caffein
It is the only drug that is present naturally (coffee, tea, cocoa, coffee-flavored yogurt and frozen desserts) or added to widely consumed foods like soft drinks, energy drinks, gum, and waters. Because it increases the risk of miscarriages (and possibly birth defects) and inhibits fetal growth, it should be avoided by women who are pregnant or considering becoming pregnant. It also may make it harder to get pregnant. It's a stimulant - keeps many people from sleeping, causes jitteriness, and affects calcium metabolism. It is mildly addictive. The caffeine in a standard cup or two of coffee is harmless to most people. If it were more than that, reconsider your habit... Note: some "energy drinks" contain far more caffeine than most soft drinks.
MSG (Monosodium glutamate)
An amino acid used widely as a flavor enhancer in frozen dinners, salad dressings, chips and restaurant food. Love the taste but, I pay later – feel sluggish and bloated. MSG is now so ubiquitous in our food chain (east and west) that you would be very hard pressed to go MSG-free. As you would expect, junk foods and instant foods like soups and other mixes contain MSG. When you see the word “citric acid” in prepared food ingredient lists, think MSG. Industrial citric acid is not made from citrus fruits, its made from corn. Its not pure either.

Olestra (also known by "Olean")
A fat substitute that adds no fat, calories, or cholesterol to products. It has been used in the preparation of traditionally high-fat foods such as potato chips, thereby lowering or eliminating their fat content. It may cause abdominal cramping and loose stools and inhibits the absorption of some vitamins and other nutrients.
Potassium bromate (KBrO3)
An oxidizing agent - used as a food additive, mainly in the bread-making process. Although adverse effects are not evident in animals fed bread-based diets made from flour treated with KBrO3, the agent is carcinogenic in rats and nephrotoxic in both man and experimental animals when given orally. It induces renal cell tumors, mesotheliomas of the peritoneum, and follicular cell tumors of the thyroid. In addition, it is a complete carcinogen, possessing both initiating and promoting activities for rat renal tumorigenesis.

Propyl gallate
Preservative, used to prevent fats and oils from spoiling, might cause cancer. It’s used in vegetable oil, meat products, potato sticks, chicken soup base and chewing gum, and is often used with BHA and BHT.
Salt (Sodium Chloride)
Salt is probably the single most harmful substance in the food supply. It is used in many processed foods, cured meats, snacks, and restaurant meals. Other additives, such as monosodium glutamate and sodium benzoate, contribute additional sodium. Salt serves many purposes in foods - preservative, additional/erasing flavors etc. High in sodium diet increases blood pressure in most people, thereby increasing the risk of stroke and heart attack. Everyone should avoid salty processed foods and restaurant meals, use salt moderately.
Sodium nitrite
It is used as a color fixative and preservative in meats and fish. It also prevents growth of Clostridium botulinum, the bacterium which causes botulism. While this chemical will prevent the growth of bacteria, it can be toxic in high amounts for animals, including humans.

Trans Fat
Try finding hamburgers without trans fats in them, it is almost impossible. Hamburgers taste perfectly fine without them adding trans fats. Margarines have at least .5% in them and sometimes as high as .7%. Artificial trans fats are made when hydrogen gas reacts with oil. They can be found in cookies, crackers, icing, potato chips, stick margarine and microwave popcorn. About 80 percent of trans fat in American’s diet comes from factory-produce partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. . Trans fats pose a higher risk of heart disease than saturated fats. Trans fats not only raise total cholesterol levels, they also deplete good cholesterol (HDL), which helps protect against heart disease.
White sugar
The white crystalline substance (we know of as sugar) is an unnatural substance produced by industrial processes (mostly from sugar cane or sugar beets) by refining it down to pure sucrose, after stripping away all the vitamins, minerals, proteins, enzymes and other beneficial nutrients.What is left is a concentrated unnatural substance which the human body is not able to handle, at least not in anywhere near the quantities that is now ingested in today’s accepted lifestyle. Sugar is addictive.The damage sugar does is slow and insidious. It takes years before it ruins your pancreas, your adrenal glands, throws your whole endocrine system out of kilter and produces a huge list of damage.Sugar is the main cause of diabetes, hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia. It is either a significant or contributory cause of heart disease, arteriosclerosis, mental illness, depression, senility, hypertension, cancer.

There are more things to add to help you understand "Bad Chemicals In Foods - Toxic Food Additives". It might not be so fun but I hope it'll be helpful for you to understand it easily :) To be continued....

How To Tip At Restaurant

2010-05-20T00:52:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered how to tip at restaurant? Giving a tip is no one's favorite thing to do unless you were celebrities like Matt Damon (He tipped $400)... Often times, people worry about giving too much or too little. It's not that difficult to calculate it. I hate to see it when my rich dates took time to figure it out.... :(
Of course, it is easy when the restaurant automatically puts the tip on the credit card along with the bill. Going to such places can be annoying sometimes - because the service can be poor or just OK but the server still gets a tip anyway...

In Japan, there's NO custom of tipping. Although I've been in the restaurant industry, I had to learn how to tip at restaurant here. When I worked at a world-known restaurant in Japan, I got tips sometimes. Just because many of their customers were foreigners - all the workers were required to speak English. You'll get good services with smiles anywhere pretty much without a tip.

I do think some genius created this amazing custom - shifting restaurant owners' obligation to pay their labor cost to customers... Customers feel or do obligated to give tips to the servers just because they knew the facts and had a compassion - servers only earn minimum wage or less than that and "customers" were the ones who can compensate for their living cost.... What a genius idea it is. (Of course, from the restaurant owner's point of view) I personally think that feeling obligated to give a tip even if you got some crappy service is not right. You are then sending them a message that giving our poor services is OK. The servers forget something occasionally. A polite reminder is the best way to get the best service.
Since I've worked in the restaurant industry, I can get into this topic deeper than ordinary customers like you.

Tipping reveals a human ego and its harsh reality. Once people become the patrons of the restaurant, they feel and act as if they became a KING or GOD.... It's very embarrassing to see those cheap and shameless customers who complains loudly in front of all the strangers at the establishment... "Customers" feel entitled to CONTROL their power to decide whether if the server deserves their hard earned money as his/her reward or not...

I personally leave a tip no matter how good or bad the service is. However, when you get really bad service and the server doesn't do much to try to alleviate the situation, then "sometimes" it is OK not to give a tip. Let me explain this from server's stand point. Things go wrong sometimes - mistake happens. I want you to realize not all errors are the fault of a server. For example, if your steak is not cooked right, do not take it out on the server's tip - the server can't cook nor see how it is cooked until you cut it. All the server can do to fix the problem is to get you a new one cooked properly. Also, servers don't control prices nor anything about preparation - cooking times, running out of things etc. Any of those problems can be addressed with a manager and you may be compensated by them for your troubles, not by cutting server's tips.

Because of my restaurant working experience, I'm a relatively good tipper. I don't ask much and give 20 % tip at least. All I want is to get the food in timely manner and to get my drink refilled. I wanna enjoy the time with my company. I don't go to restaurant to enjoy conversation with the workers. I rather be left alone than being given too much attention. How easy is that???? Compared with that, I worked so much harder to give amazing restaurant experiences for my customers and did feel I deserved a tip as my reward. Some restaurant patrons find every excuse to shortchange wait staff. The servers work hard for a living. Be generous to them. Restaurant work is demanding and GRUELING. The bottom line is that what we tip should be commensurate to the quality of the service we receive. 20 % should be the standard, in my opinion. Don't be so cheap. If you can't afford it, don't go out for a restaurant.

I understand that there are several different types of establishments, and that it is difficult to know how much to tip. So here is my advice for how to determine that. Pay based on what you are getting.

Cafe, Buffet (Self-Serve), and Fast Food Restaurants

No tip is required. If you are at a buffet where someone just brings you a drink and then leaves you alone, maybe give them a couple of dollars. Some places may have a tip jar. It is your choice to put any money in the tip jar, even if it is just the extra change you have. If you got really good service from the staff, why not?

Pizza Delivery The delivery person - 5 ~ 10 % (at least $1)

Restaurants (Casual) 15 ~ 20% of the bill post-tax (I THINK 20% should be the standard!!)

Restaurant (Fine dining) 15 ~ 20% of the bill post-tax

- The parking attendant $1 to $3

- The coat-room attendant $1 per coat

- The restroom attending $0.50 to $1

- The wine steward 10% of the wine bill post taxes

- The wait staff 15% to 20% of the food bill post tax

Tip 1 Tipping should always be based on the post-tax amount of the bill because servers sometimes have to pay taxes on the tips that they receive.

Tip 2 Tip with CASH is the best for the servers.

Tip 3 Usually there is a certain tip percentage for busser. Busser deserves the tip more than the server will give, tip him/her directly into the hand. If you tip them upfront, they'll work their asses off for you while your dining.

Tip 4 If you're a regular customer at the restaurant and there's a good waitress who usually helps you, tip her better because she will give better service to a loyal customer that she remembers rather than just someone who came in once.

Tip 5 You occasionally see the restaurant suggesting the tip percentage. Don't feel pressured to tip more - it's your choice!

Tip 6 Leaving a server more than 18%, if you :
- staying at your table for a full hour after your meal is completed. The servers are essentially per table, and committing such an action is basically depriving the person that has catered to your every whim of an hour's wage.
- completely trash the table with your kids. Try watching someone destroy something that takes you an hour to get clean.

Are these tips helpful for how to tip at restaurant? I hope so :D

Bull Dog Tonkatsu Sauce - My Favorite Japanese Foods (No.6) - Seasonings

2010-05-11T00:01:00.000-07:00

My Favorite Japanese Foods (No.6) - Bull Dog Tonkatsu sauce.

Once you tried this, you won't even care about A1 Steak Sauce anymore and understand the reason why this Bull Dog Tonkatsu sauce is my favorite Japanese food. This is kinda like A1 sauce but waaaaaaaaaaaay better :D

It's basically a vegetable sauce. We Japanese use this Bull Dog Tonkatsu sauce a lot for many homie dishes - mainly for Tonkatsu (Deep fried pork cutlet. Picture ->), Corrokke (Deep fried mushed potato), Okonomi yaki (Assorted pancake) etc.

There are sauces exclusively for "Okonomi yaki", but basically similar to Tonkatsu sauce but only a bit different. (I don't know what's the difference exactly but I guess it's thicker?!) I use this Tonkatsu sauce instead when I don't have the "Okonomi yaki" sauce. But you can't miss this sauce when you eat "Tonkatsu" :) I can eat a lot of cabbages (It's the golden side dish for Tonkatsu) with this sauce. Ummmmmmm :D Some people use just salad dressing, some people use soy sauce & mayonnaise on the cabbage. I like just eating it with Tonkatsu sauce.

There are a few thickness depending on your preference and the dishes. (Hey, we Japanese are so picky about foods including sauces. We change sauces/thickness depending on the dishes... Also some areas in Japan prefer thin sauces, some areas prefer thick ones.) I don't like the thinnest one "Uster"- it's very watery thickness. I love the "Chuno" or "Tonkatsu", which are thicker ones. Now they got all kinds of fancy level Tonkatsu sauces that uses only high-class ingredients. That's so Japanese. lol

Bull Dog has bunch of sauces and other products. But the company is well known for this - the most popular Tonkatsu sauce in Japan. There are similar products but nothing can beat this. I'm so sure that over 95 % Japanese have this at home :D No wonder this Bull Dog Tonkatsu sauce is my favorite Japanese food :)

Check out my favorite Japanese foods on Yelp as well.

My wonderful ideas about food TV program were stolen....:(

2010-05-07T00:46:00.000-07:00

I have a dream - I have tons of amazing ideas for what I want to do for the future of my blog, website, and restaurants. But my wonderful ideas about food TV program were stolen by Timmy S from Yelp.
I told him my passion about foods and wine and ideas for my dream future. I told him I wanna take over Anthony Bourdain's job (Food TV show - "No Reservation") and give MY OWN twists. I pitched some ideas to him about MY food TV show. He asked me to work with him since he does video editing as his career. But I couldn't contact him because I was in the hell in my life at the time...

I got an email from Timmy yesterday saying "Thank you for inspiring me for the food show. I start producing a show that Japanese girl goes to restaurants in OC and review them." My wonderful ideas about food TV program was stolen - it was MY ideas. He didn't inspire ME anything about MY OWN TV show.... I emailed him back saying that it was my idea. His reply was " it was our ideas." I couldn't have any word.....

Not only I missed the chance for me to have my own food TV show, but also my ideas were stolen....
I bombed out and talked to one of my friends who's a lawyer about it. He told me I should consult with a lawyer for stolen intellectual property... I told him the show wouldn't be successful without me and who cares? He said I DO...... Yah, it was my idea.... I was just sad that Timmy didn't have a shame nor dignity. He has no problem to claim that was his ideas. It was MY ideas.....

Life sucks sometimes. All I can do is to keep moving forward, right?
I put lots of love and passion on this blog and its future. I'm a little sad and hurt that my ideas were stolen....
I know most of the TV shows are similar... Each has own twist a little. But I did put my love and thoughts about the show.... I wanted to show it was ME....

Don't worry. I'll think of better ideas. I'm gonna keep showing you my uniqueness and my own cool ideas here and Yelp. It sucks that my wonderful ideas about food TV program were stolen though, I learned the lessons. "Don't trust people and tell anyone your ideas". I have a dignity and respect others.
Stay tuned!!

Tips (No.3): How To Cut Onion Without Crying

2010-05-05T07:43:00.000-07:00

Do you wanna know how to cut onion without crying? Do you need goggles?! It helps, for sure. I know the food chopper will work. But it takes your precious counter-top space and requires extra washing. Why don't many of us use those amazing and simple techniques???? Well, I'll introduce bunch of those cool tips on this blog. I'll always pick simple and easy ones that even cavemen can do :)

Ready?! This is the reason why you want to know how to cut onion without crying.
When you chop onions, cells are broken, allowing enzymes (alliinases) to break down amino acid sulphoxides and generate sulphenic acids. A specific sulfenic acid (1-propenesulfenic acid) is rapidly rearranged by a second enzyme (LFS), giving a volatile gas (LF). The LF gas diffuses through the air and reaches the eye creating an irritation - that's why you cry.

I found all kinds of information about it and picked the most popular ones.

Tip No. 1 1) Hold a chopstick in the side way (like the picture) in your mouth and then cut it. (It helps drooling instead of making tears.)
Tip No. 2 Keep onions in the freezer for about 15 minutes before chopping. (The sulfur would not affect the eyes if the onion is cold.) Do not freeze for over 15 minutes.
Tip No. 3 Soak it in plain water for about an hour and then cut it. (The water dilutes the sulfur present in onions.) Rinsing the onion and leaving it wet while chopping may also be effective.
Tip No. 4 Cut the root or the core section of the onion. (the root of the onion has a higher concentration of enzymes that induce tears.)
Tip No. 5 1) Don't remove the skin. Neatly cut the ends off of the onion. Pierce the skin of the onion several times with a tooth pick. 2) Place the onion on a paper towel inside microwave. 3) Heat on high for 60 seconds. 4) Remove from microwave and peel. Chop as desired.
Tip No. 6 Cut onions in a ventilated room or light a candle (to minimize the effect of the sulfur fumes).
Tip No. 7 Make sure you chop onions with a sharp knife. (This will lessen the damage done to the cell walls and release less irritants.)

Pick the one you like and try it next time you chop onion. My tips for how to cut onion without crying are really helpful (I tested them by myself).
Also check out my restaurant reviews (haha, it's not how to cut onion without crying.) on Yelp. Chao!

Calbee Kappa Ebisen - My Favorite Japanese Foods (No.5)

2010-05-03T06:30:00.000-07:00

My favorite Japanese Foods (No.5) - Calbee Kappa Ebisen.

There is the theme song for this Calbee Kappa Ebisen - my favorite Japanese foods (snack).

"Yamerare nai Tomara nai, Kappa Ebisen ~" (Translation: "You CAN'T STOP (eating) Kappa Ebisen" in Japanese.) Click the site link and check out this song. It'll be stuck in your head. It's stuck in my brain since I was a kid. ALL the Japanese know it. I swear!

It's a "shrimp" crackers. Why is this Calbee Kappa Ebisen my favorite Japanese foods?! It damn tastes good. It tastes shrimp. It shapes like French fries but twisted. Light and crunchy snacks. I looked it up what it was in English and "Shrimp crackers" came up. "Shrimp crackers" does sound weird, doesn't it?! LOL. Hey, I'm a Japanese and grew up with it. It was and is normal snack for me :) LOL. It's a classic snack in Japan but still popular one in Japan. You can find it here easily at Asian supermarket. You can get copied Kappa Ebisen made in Korea or China cheaper than the real Japanese one.

Calbee is well known for their potato chips. My friend's dad designed the famous potato character for their chips!!! (just FYI) But this is one of their HIT products for sure. Now they got all kinds of flavors from plum to wasabi. Catchy flavors that the Japanese would be fond of. This is the original and still the best flavor for me.

This is like potato chips for the Japanese - it's like saying "you want a Doritos or Lay's?" I know shrimp crackers sound strange but it's very popular snack in Japan. Calbee Kappa Ebisen is still one of my favorite Japanese food.

Check out my favorite Japanese food on Yelp as well. Chao!

Tips (No.2): How To Get Rid Of Garlic Breath Fast!

2010-05-02T00:50:00.000-07:00

Do you want to know how to get rid of garlic breath fast?! I know garlic tastes so good but not the after breath :( Chewing gum isn't gonna cut it, right?! You shouldn't worry so much about your garlic breath - perhaps only for social gathering or your love life?!

Well... Let me explain the reason why Garlic creates the bad smell - before telling you how to get rid of garlic breath fast. Garlic contains a volatile oil which is responsible for most of garlic’s medicinal properties. The oil is made of many sulphur-containing compounds. It is the sulphur that causes your body to react and produce the foul smell.

Tips No. 1 Eat APPLE! (1/4, not a whole apple) (It is due to the smell and enzymes in apple contains poly phenols). It lasts for over 6 hours. Unfortunately, apple juice is less effective because the enzyme is processed.
Tips No. 2 Drink milk or tea.
Tips No. 3 Rinse your mouth with lemon juice mixed in a glass of water.
Tips No. 4 Chew on fennel or cardamom seeds. (2 teaspoons)
Tips No. 5 Eat raw parsley. (1 or 2 tablespoons)
Tips No. 6 Eating sugar (1 table spoon) everyday can make your breath fresh. Eating chocolate also works.
Tips No. 7 Cooking your garlic. (It can reduce the foul smell but you must also realize that the anti-bacterial properties of garlic are also diminished with cooking. This is due to the destruction of the active ingredient that kills the germs through heat.) When you cook food, try to use fresh garlic instead of garlic powder.

To remove the scent of garlic from your hands, try rubbing them on your stainless steel sink for 30 seconds! I'm dead serious. If you don't have a stainless steel sink you can actually buy (about $12), a stainless steel bar of soap. You can also rub your skin with salt mixed into lemon juice or with toothpaste.

I love GARLIC in my foods. Once you know how to get rid of garlic breath fast, we all don't need to worry about a bad breath and enjoy food with tons of garlic :)

Check out my restaurant reviews that might require you to know how to get rid of garlic breath fast.

Vegetarian Diet Problems

2010-04-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

Vegetarian diet problem - I know I'm a hardcore Animal eater but nutritious conscious. Vegetarian diet can be nutritionally balanced, but it requires a lot of careful planning. Poor planning is the cause of nutritional deficiencies in the diet, not the absence of animals. The lack of nutrients will depend on the foods that you omit. The following are the most common nutrients that may be lacking in the diet.

What nutrients you lack in???? - Vegetarian diet problems
1) Vitamin B12 It helps to produce red blood cells and to grow nerve cells properly etc. It is especially important for pregnant and lactating women, infants, and children. Because of their greater ability to store it, animals contain more of the vitamin than plants. (snapper, calf's liver, venison, shrimp, scallops, salmon, and beef). Take: Tofu, fortified soy milk, sea plants (kelp), vitamin Fortified meat analogues, yeasts(brewer's yeast).

2) Omega-3 fatty acids It's important for brain and behavioral functions, growth, and preventing diseases like cancer and heart disease. It's an essential fatty acid, which cannot be made by your own body - you must be obtained through your diet. Fish is the great source for it. Take: alpha-linolenic acid - flax seed oil, flax seed, canola oil, soybeans, walnuts and tofu.

3) Calcium It's vital for building strong bones and teeth. The time to build strong bones is during childhood and the teen years. Dairy products (milk, yogurt, cheese) and dark green vegetable (broccoli and leafy ones) are good sources of calcium. Take: Soy foods, and foods fortified with calcium (some kinds of orange juice and soy milk).

4) Iron It helps red blood cells carry oxygen to your whole body. Iron absorption is increased remarkably by eating foods with vitamin C along with foods with iron. Vegetarians do not have a higher incidence of iron deficiency than do meat eaters. Red meat, pork, fish and shellfish, poultry are the great sources.
Take: Beans (lentils), soy foods, green leafy vegetables, raisins, some flours, cereals, and grain products.

I don't wanna go too much details. I just wanna inform you - both vegetarians and Non vegetarians - about vegetarian diet problems for your reference. I like to make this blog to be an a little informative place for food related information.

Check out my restaurant reviews that contains tons of information on Yelp as well.

Purple Yam Cake - Experiment of New Foods (No.1)

2010-04-27T21:38:00.000-07:00

Experiment of New Foods :
I'm 100% Japanese foodie from Tokyo. I love to eat all kinds of cuisine - French, Thai, Indian, Mediterranean, Mexican etc...(You name it!!) I'm very open minded and adventurous to try new and different foods. Isn't that the only way to broaden my taste bud, right? The Japanese eat all kinds of foods from eye-catching beautiful sweets to fermented soybeans. I'm always curious about all kinds of foods that I don't even know what they are at international supermarkets. I thought it's a good chance for me to try those strange and/or new foods I've never tried before and share my experiment with you.

This is my first "Experiment of New Foods" - Purple Yam cake.
It's also called "Ube ("purple yam" in Philippino) Cake" and a very popular Philippino sponge cake. The color is a little dark lavender and so beautiful. That's why I couldn't help grabbing it to test the flavors. In the Philippines, ube is cooked with sugar and eaten as a sweetened dessert or jam (halaya ube) and "halo halo"(shaved ice). Ube is often confused with the Okinawa sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas).

How to make a Ube Cake:
2 cups purple yam, washed, peeled and cubed
2 cups sweet rice flour
1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons baking powder
1-1/2 cups water
1-1/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup grated coconut

1. Cover yams with water and boil until tender or soft. Drain and mash until smooth.
2. Mix flour and water in a bowl to form a thick batter. Add sugar and mashed yams. Blend well. Strain to remove lumps. Add coconut milk and the baking powder and mix well.
3. Pour mixture into greased muffin pans to 2/3 full and steam over boiling water about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. (Makes 3 dozen cakes)

Check out my experiment of new foods - the purple yam cake on YouTube.

Kewpie Mayonnaise - My Favorite Japanese Foods (No.4)

2010-04-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

My favorite Japanese Foods (No.4) - Kewpie Mayonnaise.

Hey, I'm not talking about fresh-made mayonnaise here. I've made it before by myself and it tasted great! This is something you can get any super market in Japan and any Asian market in US easily, but tastes so great :) Once you tried this, you WON'T be back to an American mayonnaise anymore. Hehehehe, I'm not kidding. By the way, I hate an American Mayonnaise. I won't buy it anymore. Because it tastes awful. It's tasteless and has a weird texture - it's almost like glue. It's white. The better egg yolk you use, the yellower its color becomes. The color is one of the indications of better quality you can get out of your mayonnaise. (I believe. lol)

I'm not a big fan of Mayonnaise. What the hell am I talking about - I'm saying Kewpie mayonnaise is my favorite Japanese food?! Yeah, it tastes good - I admit that. But it has high calories. It basically made from egg yolk, OIL, citrus juice, and seasonings. I naturally avoid using it. I use only minimum portion when I use it. This is my "guilty pleasure" seasoning. It's that good :D

I'm very conscious about my weight. I'm not skinny by Japanese standards. Though my American friends consider me as skinny, I never think so. I workout at gym and pay lots of attention to my intake. My weight hasn't changed since high school. But I gained a lot after I seriously started working out thanks to muscle weight. Dress size gets down despise of my weight gain - muscles weight 3 times more than fat. Using mayonnaise is pretty much my "guilty pleasure". lol

Kewpie has various products - from mayonnaise to dressings. It also has their own 3 minute TV cooking show (Sorry, it's in Japanese). It's been there forever. Do you know why I bring it up? The theme song. You hear it before and after the show. Tara ratta tattatta, tara ratta tattata.... It stuck to my head... Gosh, I wish I can bring the song here :(

Even its high calories, I still love this. You can use it to various dishes. There are some weird flavor ones like wasabi. I sometimes like to use it with soy sauce or Bull Dog Tonkatsu sauce. This will enhance your dishes for sure :) This stays strong and forever in fiercely competitive Japanese food market. It just because it tastes so good. That's why this Kewpie mayonnaise is my favorite Japanese food.

You can see more of my favorite Japanese food and other stuff on Yelp. Check them out!

Bad Restaurant Experiences

2010-04-23T22:03:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had bad restaurant experiences? Hell, yeah! Dirty tables, bad services, yucky foods etc.

I'm a foodie. So I'm a little careless about customer services and decor. Though I prefer clean, I can put up with bad services (a lot more tolerant than ordinary annoying customers) over good foods. I go there for the food, not for the service. Foods make me happy, other stuff is just a bonus for me. If the foods were bad, I WON'T come back - no second chance from me. First impression is very important here. lol

I've worked in restaurant industry. Giving bad restaurant experience to customers is the last thing I would do. I was well trained at very high-end places known for great customer services from the beginning of my career in the industry. All of my senior co-workers and managers had incredibly high expectations and paid a lot of attention to details. I've done all the roles in a restaurant - from a dish washer to manager. So I DO KNOW how much restaurant workers have to work to give "great customer service" at the restaurant.

Hence, I'm one of the easiest customer when I eat at restaurant. I don't complain nor demand. All I want from my server is to get my food in timely manner and my drink refilled. How easy is that?! I don't ask much and give more than 20 % tips easily. I had to work a lot more to get the tips when I was a server... Well, some genius created "Tip" system for the sake of restaurant industry. It switched the obligation for their labor cost to the customers. How brilliant is that?????

Haha, I know it sounds weird. I should be a PICKY customer after my last paragraph, right? I feel sorry when I see very annoying and rude customers complained to the manager or the servers. I do know how the restaurant people feel. It's incredible how rude and cheap customers here can be at the restaurant. Shame on you!!!!! It's embarrassing for you to show everyone at restaurant how frugal and inconsiderate you are.... If you don't like it, just don't come back instead of complaining. I don't see any complainer at restaurant in Japan....

Even if I were the easiest customer, I have occasionally some moments I wanna say or complain. So I decided to blog not only the good restaurant experiences but also bad ones.

Suggest for annoying customers: Unless the reason for the complain was severe and valid, don't complain. Never come back instead !! Don't just complain just because you want to cut the bill. Especially don't complain in front of your date embarrassed by you....

Suggest for restaurant workers: Work hard to EARN your tips. Don't expect me to give you tips automatically if you didn't make any efforts to make MY restaurant experience enjoyable. You are the key for not creating bad restaurant experiences. WORK!! Little efforts make a big difference.

I hope this blog helps you and restaurants to decrease the bad restaurant experiences in the future. Check my restaurant reviews, as well.

House Curry Sauce - My Favorite Japanese Foods (No.3)

2010-04-19T06:30:00.000-07:00

House Curry Sauce - My Favorite Japanese foods (No. 3) - Instant food.

It's called "Kukure Curry" unlike the official name on the package. It's a Japanese style curry in the pouch. All you do (to cook) is to put it into boiling water for 4 to 5 minutes - ready to eat!! How simple is that?!
Open and pour it onto a bowl of rice. You can eat it with bread, if you want. It's easy and TASTY!!! This is very convenient "Instant food" when you don't wanna cook or go camping.

Kukure curry... House curry sauce - this is not only my favorite Japanese foods but also many Japanese kids (I'm sure there are tons of adults love it). Curry is always No. 1 favorite food for kids in Japan. "House" is the most popular curry brand in Japan - just because it tastes good. I often compare it with other brands as a starting point. Other brands can be a little more spicier than House. I still think "House" is the best. I believe most of Japanese think of "House" curry as a standard curry. It's that big in Japan. That's why House opened up restaurants all over the US using their products. You can try the curry at "Curry House". This place has great varieties of homie Japanese foods - from curry to pasta. It's always packed - especially lunch time.

There are 3 levels of the spiciness - Sweet, Mid Hot, and Hot. Kids love Sweet. Hot isn't so hot - it's just "Japanese" hot. lol. I like HOT personally. I used to like the mild when I was a kid. Obviously I'm not a kid anymore :p But this House Curry Sauce is my favorite Japanese food.

I haven't done the review of Curry House yet, but you can check out other restaurant reviews.

Border Grill (Santa Monica, CA) - Restaurant Reviews (No.1)

2010-04-18T00:53:00.000-07:00

My first restaurant review here ; Border Grill - Santa Monica, CA.
You can see its restaurant review on Yelp, but I wanna use here for extra stuff I didn't write there. I'm still trying to figure out how I can make this interesting. At least I decide to write reviews for only certain restaurants I wanna talk about more - instead of writing reviews of ALL the restaurants I tried on Yelp. We'll see.

Why did I pick this place first?! "Border Grill" (Santa Monica, CA) is my recent "WOW" restaurant that I was so excited to write its restaurant review. I go to eat at restaurants a lot. But it's hard to find 4 or 5 star places for me - I'm very picky in a good way when it comes to food. I do think I'm easily amused IF the foods were very yummy :) This place certainly made me think these foods were so great!! So I picked this place for my memorable first place for review here.

This place claims to offer modern Mexican food. I do think it's more like the mixture of Mexican and Latin foods in modern way. You don't see those kind of "twist" in real Mexican foods. I do love authentic Mexican foods that MEXICAN cook - so don't worry, I know what I'm talking about :)

If I think of "Latin foods", maize-based dishes (tortillas, tamales, pupusas), varied "Salsas" and condiments (pico de gallo, guacamole, mole) would come up in my mind. All the dishes here have those basic with their own twists. Each dish is FULL of flavors by emphasizing the tastes of the ingredients. Unlike real Mexican foods, each dish is pretty light. (I'm not talking about portion; their portion for appetizer is perfect and pretty generous for entrée.) I'm Japanese who was born in Japan. We Japanese cook and enjoy foods in that way - appreciating and enhancing the flavors of the ingredients. I was so amazed how perfectly each item was cooked and its flavors. I haven't seen the restaurant that offers such a sensation for me these days. I did enjoy all the dishes I had there except for turkey tostada. (It was kinda bland..)

I'm known to a tough restaurant critic on Yelp. Border Grill (Santa Monica, CA) is definitely my favorite restaurant that is very appropriate for my first restaurant review here. Trust me - you'll love it.

The foods I can eat but don't like to eat

2010-04-16T14:56:00.000-07:00

I'm a hardcore foodie - but I have the foods I can eat but don't like to eat. I can eat most of the stuff even like Natto (fermented soy beans). I'm not talking about foods at "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern". I don't like to eat bugs nor something too exquisite - just to compensate protein or some sort of nutritious as food resources in the third world. I'm talking about foods more like the ones at "No Reservation" - local and authentic foods at the areas.

I'm adventurous and curious to try new and interesting foods. These are the foods I can eat but don't like to eat - I'll give you the reason why I'm not so fond of eating them...

- Mint Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (It tastes like a tooth paste. Meh...), gum, candies etc.
- Cinnamon Artificial cinnamon products, Cinnamon stick... I'm getting OK with cinnamon powder now :)
- Apple Pie Ewww.. I don't like the texture when apple was cooked. I love fresh apple, of course.

- American candies Chocolates and candies etc. (They taste and look awful and unhealthy.... )

I'm glad that I was born as 100% Japanese - I can eat various foods. I'm fortunate that I don't have any food allergy so far. I think this list will get longer if I tried more foods..... My principle is "AT LEAST I TRY ONCE". There are tons of food choices available. Life is so short. I don't need to eat foods I don't like. At least I tried - that's all matter. These are the foods I can eat but don't like to eat (unfortunately).

You might find the foods I can eat but don't like to eat on my restaurant reviews....

Passing a Sommelier exam with the highest score in the class!!

2010-04-15T08:07:00.000-07:00

I'm very proud of myself for passing a sommelier exam with the highest score in the class (around 40 people). I did study a lot for 6 months by making my own notes and flash cards. I carried and memorized them even while walking for exercise. I'm weird - I love to learn. I think it's coming from my curious nature. And I love wine - I got some elements I could become a certified sommelier. I can't remember my cell phone number, but was always good at memorizing things for tests at schools. Basically I memorized the whole book to pass the test :) In fact, I didn't mean to study that much - I just wanted to pass it at first. I did it just because I felt like I was insulted by the Master Sommelier who taught the class. He thought I couldn't make it just because I was a Japanese chick with broken English who worked at Japanese restaurant with a little wine. He is the manager of VERY famous wine restaurant in Orange County. He is also infamous for being a "Male Chauvinist Pig" at a VERY well known company.

I was offered to take the class for free at work. Passing a sommelier exam with the highest score in the class IS NOT my job requirement at all. Normally, only employees who work with wine daily can go through the program since the cost is pretty high. My chef went through the program and I was just hired there, where was a fine-dining Japanese restaurant. But he knew I loved wine with work experience at very famous restaurants with wine and helped me to go through the program.

Once the class started, I was a stranger - working at Japanese restaurant that carried only a few fine wine. On top of that, I was just a hostess, not even a server - I didn't even touch a wine at all !! About 10 people from a wine restaurant, about 10 people from a VERY famous wine restaurant, about 10 chefs from various locations, about 5 people from wineries and other companies, and my friend from a casual dining and me. But I was VERY confident that I could pass the test with my brain. It doesn't matter how good my skills for English and public speaking are. I studied, so I tried to raise my hand during the classes.
But the Master sommelier instructor(Just call him Mike) tended to point HIS people instead of me or others. I could see Mike didn't like me somehow and tried to avoid me. I know the reason - I'm FEMALE. He showed such absurd attitudes for entire 6 month class. So I studied hard.

I was so nervous right before the test. I felt like I was about to forget everything. But I had enough time to review it twice. After the Masters scored our tests, one of the Masters called our names passed the test. I was 99% sure that I had 100% and there was only ONE question I wasn't sure. I was worried like most of my classmates. When he said this was the last person....he didn't call my name :( My classmates looked at me with surprise. I couldn't believe I couldn't pass it. I was about to burst into tears..... Then he said "I'll call the name of the person who passed the test with the highest score in this class". He called MY NAME finally!! I was so relieved.... :)

When I was given the Sommelier badge and its certification, 4 master sommeliers gave me big hugs and compliments. Mike smiled at me and gave me a hug but I could tell it wasn't coming from his heart. But I FELT SO GOOD to have seen the face!! The class assistant who works with Mike daily was very supportive for the entire class. I told him the reason why I wanted to pass the test with the highest score. He came up to me and gave me big hugs and smiles after I got my badge!!

This was a big deal for my managers. They were so happy that all of the food and beverage managers talked about me at their meetings. I got a gigantic special cheese cake for me just because I kicked ALL of the servers (my classmates) who deal with wine daily at their WINE restaurants. After that, I was offered to teach one of the introduction wine class as a guest instructor. I did pretty good in the class :) I also helped a study group (around 10 people) for the next class - ALL of them passed it :)

I'd like to be a sommelier that I can share my knowledge and experience with my customers and friends without being snobby. Though I felt so great to have been able to show I can do it, passing a sommelier exam with the highest score in the class is just a step for me.

Calpico - My Favorite Japanese Food (No.2)

2010-04-13T06:11:00.000-07:00

Calpico - my favorite Japanese food (No.2) - drink.

It's a beverage concentrate which tastes like some sort of yogurt drink. It is called "Calpico" here. But its "original" name is "Calpis" - it's only known as "Calpis" in Japan. But they had to change it to "Calpico" here because "Calpis" sounded like "Cow Piss" in English. lol. I don't hear it so personally, but I'm not a native English speaker...

At first, they just sold the syrup (concentrate) with bottle. Little me (when I was a kid) was so excited when my mom asked me to buy the bottle at supermarket - because it was my favorite Japanese drink :) It still reminds me of nostalgic memories when I was a kid. You make the "Calpis" by diluting it with water. Recommended water and Calpis ratio is 4:1. You can change the ratio up to your preference. Some people prefer 3:1 ratio, which is sweeter "Calpico". I prefer a little more water ratio than 4:1 just because it's still too sweet for me. Now they sell not only the syrup but also the "Calpis" (no need diluting) in the can now. I think it's a little too thin for me in the can. They must want to make more profit out of little use of the syrup, right?! lol.

Now there are all kinds of flavors - strawberry, mango, lychee, and aloe etc. But I love the original syrup. The Japanese love "Seasonal" item, which you can get it only for a short period of time. They love the words "limited", "seasonal" and "special". This seasonal calpico on this picture is made by the "thicker milk" from Hokkaido (Northern part of Japan. The milk there have more fat content with better quality (I guess), which makes its taste sweeter and more flavorful than ordinary milk). It's fun to see special flavors sometimes.

I prefer to use the syrup on the top of my shaved ice as it is. I also love my "Strawberry Milk Calpico" shaved ice (Calpico, condensed milk, and smashed fresh strawberries). You can use it whatever you like. I hope the original keeps staying in the market forever.. It seems to stay strong in the crazy Japanese food market. It'll be my favorite Japanese food - drink - forever.

I'll keep introducing my favorite Japanese foods from drinks to anything - you name it!

How to Become a Certified Sommelier

2010-04-12T06:24:00.000-07:00

Have you ever thought about how to become a certified sommelier?!
You can't be a sommelier just because you love wine. That's just a first step to get into the wine. You got to study A LOT just to pass the test. Even after getting the title of "Sommelier", learning about wine is endless - wine is constantly changing (and aging). Let me explain about "Sommelier" from the prospective in the wine industry. "Sommelier" is a wine expert who specializes in the restaurant side of the industry - wine tasting, wine purchasing, the creation of wine lists, pairing wine with foods, wine storage and inventory. For restaurant guests, "Sommelier" helps them to pick up the suitable wine within their budget that fits their tastes (needs) and complements their food. Having a master sommelier at fine dining restaurant and resort is kind of necessity.

There are a few organizations to certify you as a sommelier. Wanna know how to become a certified sommelier? I went through the test of "The Court of the Master Sommeliers". There are a few steps to become the top of sommelier - Master Sommelier. There are currently less than 200 Master Sommeliers worldwide, around 60 % of them are in N. America. Only 15 women at this moment. This is its rough guide:

The Court of the Master Sommelier:
Sommelier Level 1&2(Certified) - Written test only. It covers the basic knowledge of wine and viticulture (cultivation of grape wine), preparing and presenting wine, beer, liqueurs, and cigars. $500
Sommelier Level 3 (Advanced) - Written test (more in details) and 6 blind tests. You must identify and discuss six wines, referencing the varietal, place of origin, and vintage. $300.
Sommelier Level 4 (Master) - 2 tests. $900 + $800.

The class for Level 1 is petty intense and long (almost 6 month class). The course is generally offered 2-3 times per year and acceptance is highly controlled. The course is designed for potential Master Sommelier candidates. But I do recommend to take it if you were a wine lover who has a time and $. You will learn a lot about wine. It really helps you to pick up better wine for your bucks and enjoy wine more.

All you need to do it to fill out the application on the organization (this case, The Court of the Master Sommeliers). And study a lot and pass the test. Once you pass it, you will be a "Sommelier" forever. You'll get a pin and the certification. Now you know how to become a certified sommelier :)

Do you like the tip of how to become a certified sommelier? Check also my restaurant reviews on Yelp.

Meiji Strawberry Chocolate Bar - My favorite Japanese Foods (No.1)

2010-04-07T15:34:00.000-07:00

Meiji Strawberry Chocolate Bar - my favorite Japanese foods (No. 1) - Snacks.
I want to introduce my favorite Japanese foods, which can be very unfamiliar to you. Japanese food is not just "Sushi", "Teriyaki Chicken", and "Tempra". I want you to know that we Japanese eat all kinds of good stuff. This includes homie dishes (we Japanese eat a lot more often than sushi), snacks, drinks that I've been familiar with. I also want to add new stuff from Japanese supermarket sometimes.

Well, I'm not a big fan of chocolate. Why do I include it as "My favorite Japanese foods"?! Because I like it :)
This is $1 chocolate that has been in the market forever. Since I was a kid, this is my favorite chocolate. This is NOT a fancy chocolate ever. But I do like it because it has strawberry seeds in it for just a $1 chocolate! Hershey's chocolate tastes "cheap" but not this one.

Japanese food makers have to create new food products constantly because Japanese get bored so quickly. I saw the news in Japan that even food items at convenient store are renewed EVERY 2 weeks. How often you see new item at Seven Eleven in US?! Let's say.. If "Mango" became "Hot" in Japan, EVERYBODY makes and buys mango products from jello to candy. But the "Hot" period is quite a short. Next hot product will come out in a few months and everyone will move on to the new trend. But this chocolate stays for long time and I do hope it will do so forever :)

I think chocolate taste good. I just don't like the fact that it makes me fat :p I eat chocolate sometimes especially when I'm so exhausted - when I need a sugar. But I'd say this is my favorite Japanese food.

I write restaurant reviews that introduce my favorite Japanese foods on Yelp. Check them out!

Tips (No.1): Tips for Cutting Hot Peppers - Remedy from burning hands!

2010-04-04T12:27:00.000-07:00

Tips for cutting hot peppers! I marinaded beef with very spicy sauce (tons of red chili peppers and Serrano) with a single latex glove yesterday. Right after I touched the marinade sauce, my hands were burning !! Gosh, literally burning :( I have a weird allergy for a cardboard. I don't always have the allergic reaction to all of card boards, it happens sometimes. I worry that I got another allergy, so I asked chefs I work with about the allergic reaction and how to fix the burning from touching hot peppers. They told me about "Capsicum" but neither of them knew how to fix it. So I had to research it.

I know MILK can cut the heat when you eat very spicy foods. But does it work as "tip for cutting hot peppers" as well? When I had a "Russian Rulette roll", which contain all kinds of hotness, from "Tabento?", which is my favorite Sushi joint in Costa Mesa, I had to drink milk at Sushi Counter!!! It worked :)

The following is what I learned about:
"Capsaicin"(methyl vanillyl nonenamide), is a lipophilic chemical in the hot peppers responsible for the heat when you taste food with hot peppers and when you cut hot peppers.

Tip No.1 - When you cut hot peppers, wear rubber gloves. The oil can seep through latex gloves, so wear thick ones or use multiple gloves.
Tip No.2 - Do Not rub them whatever you do.
Tip No. 3 - Wash your hands thoroughly with dish soap or milk. Take an over the counter pain killer as directed.
Tip No. 4 - Apply an ointment such as aloe vera or hydro cortisone cream.
Tip No. 5 - Put on gloves to clean the area where you cut the peppers.

Other tips I found:
- Chlorine Bleach. It's hard to rinse it off though, it neutralizes capsicum. Not recommended for eyes.
- Your hair. The oil in the hair helps neutralize the heat. It sounds like capsicum is oil based - that is why water doesn't seem to offer much relief.
- WD-40. It's a widely available water displacing spray. Do you have it at your home?
- Alcohol products. It cuts the oil, then follow that with a lotion or ointment.
- Benedryl. It can be (and might be) an allergic reaction.

I learn things everyday - tips for cutting hot peppers. I hope you enjoy what I do as well.
If you want to see my review of "Tabento?" or other reviews, go to my Yelp page.

Becoming Vegetarians ?!

2010-04-02T07:50:00.000-07:00

Becoming Vegetarians? Hell no! Wanna know the reason why I'm not Vegetarian?! 1) I love animal foods -it's tasty and nutritious. 2) I understand human being is a sinful creature that can't survive without eating animals. (I mean in healthy way as our body need) 3) I'm not convinced enough the reasons why I should become a vegetarian as Vegetarians claim. I wanna talk deeper about the reason No. 3.

Health, animal rights, religious or other beliefs, environment, parental preferences... The most common reasons for becoming vegetarians. It's your personal choice - I get that and I respect that. But many Vegetarians claim that killing animals are NOT OK, but eating plants are OK. Don't forget the FACT - it's not just my personal opinion. Both animals and plants are alive - that's why they grow. Why can we say which lives are more important than others?? Why can we say killing animals is Not OK but eating(KILLING) plants is OK?? When did we (especially Vegetarians) become the GOD to judge it?!

I do think we all need to realize that we human being are the sinful creature that can't survive without eating alive creatures - BOTH animals and plants. For me (hope not just me), both lives are EQUALLY important.
Vegetarians might claim animals have emotions - they cry. Who the hell can we say plants DON'T have ones? They might have them - we just don't know: I saw an episode at "Mythbusters" that they grew 2 identical plants in a hostile environment (loud music & nasty comments toward the plant) and in a pleasant one (natured music and benevolent comments) at the same time. Guess what? The latter lasted longer....

I do appreciate whatever I eat because of my understanding of food intake and meanings of life. Hence, I'm not convinced enough for the reason why I should eat only plants as they claim. If you give me good reasons, I'll become a Vegetarian and support "Becoming Vegetarians"!!

I share not only my passion about foods and wine here, but also write restaurant reviews on Yelp. I'm not so focused on "Becoming Vegetarians" there (lol), I do talk about foods. Check them out!

Unbiased restaurant review

2010-03-23T10:37:00.000-07:00

Do you really believe "unbiased restaurant review" exists?????
Some people love spicy foods, and some people don't. In some cultures, people eat more various foods than others.... Look at all the restaurant review sites. For the same restaurant, some gave 5 stars and some did 2 stars even if the place offers the same foods. Some people are easy to give away 5 stars, and some people like ME are very picky.....

Everyone has a different taste palette. If you were really trained to eat all kinds of foods, "unbiased restaurant review" might exist.... I don't believe so. Any review is NOT absolute. It's just a reference. I refer those reviews but I make my own judgment when I write my restaurant reviews. But I really stick to my rating system. And I do write all the experience I had at the restaurant and my thoughts.... If you see "Zagat" or other popular restaurant guides, you would see many fancy adjectives and generic reviews. You don't see any soul. But if you see my reviews, you'll see who I'm, my thoughts, and my love towards foods - my soul :)

I love foods and drinks (especially wine). Foods are my passion in my life. I'm 100% Japanese who was born in Tokyo. I'm very fortunate to be born as a Japanese because I can eat all kinds of foods - Japanese, Thai, Indian, French, Mediterranean etc. You name it! And I do believe I have a great taste palette. My sensor is very keen to various flavors and great foods :) No wonder I'm certified Sommelier as well.... And I love to write restaurant reviews and to share my experience. I love to help people, so they can save their $ and time. I hope you'll think my review will be the closest "unbiased restaurant guide" exists.

Currently I'm writing my "unbiased restaurant guide" on Yelp. Please come to enjoy my reviews. I help you to find a great restaurant!!!