Katy Perry's Odd Nickname In Japan

After getting over her initial shock, Katy Perry decided to take the odd nickname as a compliment. She said: “I didn't know that about myself, but I’m very flattered, thank you.”

Potato Korokke For Snacks And Some Funky Fillings

Stopped by at Jusco's supermarket to check out the food section and got interested at the korokke on sale. It is actually another version of the French croquette which is deep fried rolls of mashed potatos with other addition such as meat, milk, curry, etc and encased in breadcrumbs.

Would you be interested to try a durian korokke? I wasn't so I just played safe and bought chuka iidako korokke instead. May not be the healthiest food around, but it sure is yummy (and cheap too!)

Soft korokke for me to sink my teeth in
The fillings inside. Yummy!

Dinner At Kampachi Equatorial Bangi-Putrajaya

Trying to set a time to eat at Kampachi can be tricky. Their opening hours is Mon - Fri from 12.00pm to 2.30pm (lunch) and 6.30pm to 10.00pm (dinner) while on Saturday it's dinner only.

The buffet on Saturday was priced about the same as Midori, at IOI Marriott Putrajaya but with more selection.

The restaurant setting was quite simple and open concept unless of course you require a private tatami room (which I don't think is open for buffet patrons). Business was indeed brisk and the place was filled up with people by 8.00pm. We had the luck of being seated between two very noisy tables which kinda marred our enjoyment of the place. Although, like Zaini said this was by no way the fault of the restaurant or the hotel, I do wish for a quieter evening, like the one we had at Midori previously.

Buffet selection was good enough. Fresh sashimi, plenty of sushi choices, grilled items, soups, salads, rice, soba.... you'd be spoilt for choice. However, the grilled items were cold and the ones we got that were warmer were specifically requested so. A couple of friendly staff and chef but mostly the chefs were intent in their work. No smiles for me? Awww...

A word of caution for those planning to visit Kampachi and blogging about it afterwards. The Chef frowned photo taking at their restaurant and they were quite sullen about it too. We were duly notified about it in front of other patrons which is really "nice" of them to do so. Our fault for being presumptious enough to think that it is OK to do so... And for me thinking that everyone will want to be friendly with me. Again, totally my fault for talking so much. If I'm more like Zaini and just eat quietly, I'd probably enjoy the evening more. He certainly did enjoy the evening (why shouldn't he? I foot the bill! LOL)

Being told about it with others staring at you can surely nip anyone else's desire to do the same (take photos, that is) in the bud.

Well, looking at how brisk their business is, they sure don't need extra publicity.

Anyhoo, the photos:

Enjoying The Spring Air at Shinobazu Pond

Just the other day, someone mentioned to me that it's been two years since we last went to Japan. Wow, someone was sure counting. XD

Well, it's only been 14 months, but that remark got me browsing our 2008 vacation photos. Here are some photos we took at Shinobazu Pond in Ueno Park in March last year.

We went to the Park on our last day in Tokyo before taking a night train to Kanazawa. The day was sunny and we did enjoy pedaling around the pond and enjoying the crisp cold Spring air.

Plenty of ducks sightings here, the live duck and the one that you have to pedal to move it around the pond. We didn't rent the swan type boat as the rental was higher (I think it was 100 yen more, but 100 yen = RM3.60 so it is a bit steep) than the normal ones (see the turqoise boat in the photo above).

Also saw a couple pedaling in a row boat but it was the girl who did all the pedaling. How chivalrous of the boyfriend. Not!

Three happy camper, pedaling in a boat. I'm wearing the exact same blouse as in the photo today.

Of Kare Raisu and Curry

Japanese curry is so different from the curry we Malaysians are used to. For one, it tastes powdery and sweeter than Malay/Indian curry due to the addition of fruits such as apples, mango and other dubious items(well, dubious for me anyway) like caramel and honey in making the curry.

Zaini enjoys the Japanese version as much as he enjoy the Mamak curry, but I'm still not keen on them. Like ramen, we don't eat them when we are in Japan because, as advised by Malaysian Muslim currently staying in Japan, the curry ingredients might contain lard in it, which we, are forbidden to eat. Typical curry ingredients are onions, carrots, potatos with meat and also seafood.

We've yet to try curry udon though.

If you are trying to save cost while vacationing in Japan, curry rice (and ramen too) can be a cheap meal option for you if you have no food restrictions like us.

Travel Necessities

What are your must have items to bring when you go on travel? Apart from the usual important stuff like passport, money, credit cards, camera, sunscreen...

Here's mine:

It's Po Chai pills, a Chinese traditional herbal supplement that work wonders to ease stomach discomfort. I don't go far without one, just in case. I do not want to have to be on a toilet lookout when I'm vacationing LOL and it works for travel sickness too!

A New Toy For Us

So we finally got out new camera to replace the Sony T7 that went bust after being dunked into water at a waterfall near my hometown.

We should have gotten a new camera earlier, but Zaini and I can't seem to agree with what camera to buy until Sony T90 came into market earlier this year. Zaini for one is a loyal customer of Sony and despite one Olympus camera; Tough that caught my fancy, he was quite reluctant to make a purchase until he saw the T90. It is a bit bulkier than our old camera, but it has touch screen features which is nice, I guess. The only thing I have problems with this camera is that I have to touch so many buttons to change my shooting settings. New camera, new features.

We procrastinated a bit, just to see what free gifts we can get with the purchase and whether the price is going to go down in a few month's time.

With our brand new Brown Sony T90, we got a 4G memory card, a camera case and a tripod. Nothing special about the free gift, but we need a camera. For the time being, we are pretty excited trying the features in the camera and snapping away.

We spent last Sunday photographing the tulips that I received as a Mother's day gift.

My wish to buy a DSLR? Let's just say, after researching and reading on DSLR (the affordable ones), I'm still at loss on which camera to buy. So, I guess the DSLR will have to wait.

Of TV Magazine, Ultraman And Yokohama Expo Y150

Another frivolous thing that we buy every single month apart from the gachapon toys is a children's magazine called Terebi-kun and Terebi-mag (terebi = TV). We buy them every month without fail and the bookstore's staff actually kept and reserved the two magazines for us to decide which one to buy every end of the month. We limit just one magazine per month for Raimie.

All three of us enjoy looking at pictures of the latest TV show in Japan and occasionally, when I tried hard enough, I managed to decipher an event or two mentioned inside (especially Ultraman) that will be held somewhere in Japan. Anyway, reading these two magazines is how we learn about new children TV shows in Japan which Zaini will try and download later for our enjoyment. Zaini practically downloaded TV shows everyday from Isohunt. And for us to go and visit a "Live Show" that is mentioned in the magazine when we visit Japan each year.

There was one "crazy" year when we went to Tokyo in summer just for the sake of going to Ultraman Festival (Ulfes) and meet as many Ultramen as we can.

Like the time we went to Ultraman Land and went beserk chasing all the Ultra Heroes there. To say we love Japanese anime and tokukatsu series would be an understatement.

And oh! Ulfes will be held in Yokohama this year, a change from previous festival venue which were usually held in Sunshine City, Ikebukuro.

Yokohama is having celebration for the city's port opening 150 years ago in 1859, called Expo Y150. Those planning for a trip to Japan, why not make Yokohama a stop?

Feeling Under The Weather - What To Eat?

Raimie has been quite unwell during the weekdays, and as a result he hasn't been eating much. He was willing to eat some porridge but how much porridge can you take? Fried food are definitely a no-no for him.

I'm trying to figure out what to make for him and us during the weekend that all of us can enjoy. Something soupy and light would be best and these food came to mind because they not only taste nice, they are easy to make too!

Ochazuke

Nabe

Pasta


or Soba

Mmmmm... yummm... gotta do some cooking now!

Gachapon Madness

Gachapon is capsule toys, popular not only in Japan but over here on Malaysian shores too. The toys are often based on popular characters from anime, manga and games and the capsule toys do not only cater for children's market but there are also those explicitly for adults.

The name Gachapon refers to the actual Japanese gachapon machines, which dispense collectible toys inside its little capsules. The name is Gachapon an onomatopoeia (I learnt this word while listening to JapanesePod101.com podcast): Gacha is the sound made when the turning of a crank on a toy vending machine and Pon for the sound of the toy capsule dropping into the receptacle.

A gachapon toy is usually sold at 100 - 300 yen in Japan, and here in Malaysia it cost RM8 for each toy that went for 200 yen over there. Considering the current exchange rate of 100 yen = RM3.60, these toys are not so pricey for those who loves Japanese toys.

The difference between buying this toy in Malaysia, instead of using the normal 100 yen coin, we had to get tokens to use at the toy vending machine. One token is RM4.00

Put in your token and crank up the machine and come out your toy in a capsule

Raimie and Zaini used to buy the Dragon Ball capsule toys, but after getting this figure (see photo above) over and over, both of them kinda lost interest and moved on to Kamen Rider Gashapon instead

A new Den-O capsule toy for Raimie

Current Kamen Rider Gachapon collection : Kamen Rider Decade, Hibiki and Den-O. Just bought a new one, Kabuto the other night

Empty capsule toys casings. Rather than let it go to waste, I gave all the empty casings to a friend of mine because his Mom wanted them for a project of hers

What is an onomatopoeia?
Onomatopoeia is a word or words that imitate or suggest the source of the sound they are describing.

Playing Tag?

I'm not really a fan of doing tags and awards but once in a while, I do oblige even if I procrastinate long enough to let it be forgotten. Anyway, here's one from Jim of Self Magic.

International Bloggers Community

Rules:
1. Link the person who tagged you.
2. Copy the image above, the rules and the questionnaire in this post.
3. Post this in one or all of your blogs.
4. Answer the four questions following these Rules.
5. Recruit at least seven (7) friends on your Blog Roll by sharing this with them.

6. Come back to BLoGGiSTa iNFo CoRNeR (PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE THIS LINK) at http://bloggistame.blogspot.com and leave the URL of your Post in order for you/your Blog to be added to the Master List.

7. Have Fun!

Questions & Your Answers:
1. The person who tagged you: Jim
2. His/her site’s title and url: Self Magic, The Imagination Comes To Life
3. Date when you were tagged: April 24, 2009
4. Persons you tagged: check below (I'm cheating a bit here...)

And another one from Prometheus of A Misspent Life. Lucky for me, it's an easy one.

Please read below for the rules of the game:

A. Name & link back to the person who tagged you

I got tagged by Prometheus of A Misspent Life, who is currently in Japan.

B. List six (un)important things that make you happy

Six (un) important things that make me happy:

1. Snuggling under my blanket on a cold rainy day
   
2. Chocolates and candies
3. Watching silly Japanese and Korean game shows
4. Coffee
5. A walk in the park
   
6. People commenting that I lose weight (even if untruthfully) hehehe
   

C. Tag six bloggers & let them know they’re it by leaving them a comment

I'm tagging Ayie, Yatie, KuE, Life Ramblings, Jason, *lynne*, Mea Culpa Bath and Body

They are a mixture of bloggers who read this blog and my two other blogs - Life, In My Own Backyard and the now not so active Daily Ramblings.

No obligations though. Just hope you'll have fun doing them. Cheers!

The Swine Flu Song

The Swine Flu Song by Ryan Erwin for your Labour Day enjoyment.

Don't forget to don your mask and wash your hands a hundred times. :D