Raimie Turns 6 Today!

Happy birthday to Raimie. He's 6 today. How time flies.

If we are in Japan (or more specifically at Ultramanland) today, we can reserve a cake at Ultra De Restaurant and have one of the Ultra Heroes greet him personally. That would be a great way to celebrate a birthday, don't you think?

But we are here in KL and we'll be going to Sunway Lagoon instead for a day of wet, wet fun! (Raimie loves getting wet - which is so unlike his mother).

He's looking forward for today, and I can't blame him. It's not everyday you turn 6, right? :)

Cooking Sanma Fish

Happy to report that my attempt in cooking the sanma fish bought earlier went without a hitch.

One of the fish, gutted and cleaned ready to be cooked. I chose to gut the fish instead of leaving the innards intact.

Grilled fish served ala Malay style (just like what Kak Lela said). With soy sauce, vinegar and shallots. Simple but absolutely heavenly.

Steamed sanma fish asam pedas with lady fingers (or okra). Quite nice, if I say so myself. :)

Of course, the dish above can be made with cheaper fish like Ikan Kembong (mackerel) / ikan selar (scad), but hey! why not try new things, eh? Especially when it's not everyday you can buy them. :)

Sanma Fish At Jusco's Iwate Fair

Lovely sanma fish (Pacific saury) for our weekend lunch. Bought them at Jusco Mid Valley as they're having a Japanese-Iwate Food Fair.

These sanma fish would normally cost RM12.90 per pc but during the fair it is only RM3.99. So, I bought 4!

It'll be my first try making sanma no shioyaki (salt grilled pacific saury) and I got this recipe to try. Looks easy but with my "excellent" ability to cook, I'm not sure how it'll turn out. Wish me luck! XD



Grilled Sanma

1. Rinse the fish with cold water and pat dry.
2. Sprinkle salt all over on both sides of the fish and set aside for about 10 minutes.
3. Broil in a broiling pan in the oven for 7-10 minutes until the flesh is firm & the top is golden brown.
4. Grate some fresh daikon radish.
5. Squeeze the water out of the grated daikon and serve next to the sanma with a wedge of lime and a dash of soy sauce.
6. Ready to be eaten with a nice bowl of piping hot rice and miso soup.

I simply can't wait for lunch!

Online Shopping At JShoppers

This is not a paid post. I repeat, this is not a paid post.

I have to fork my own $$$ for these item. :)

I ordered a few items from JShoppers.com and am happy to say I've already got them! Yeay!

I guess now I can't use the excuse "I need to go to Japan to update my wardrobe" anymore.

Can't wait to show off my newly acquired clothes this weekend. I'm going to wear them to Nuffnang & Friso Family Day Out on Saturday.

I love buying things online but apart from the odd books from Amazon, this is the first time I bought clothes online, and from a site outside of Malaysia. I bought the dress a size too big, but that's okay because they do feel comfy (but they do look humongous in the photo don't they?)

Thank you Japan Post for sending my parcel so speedily. It was sent out on Nov 20 and I got them on Monday, Nov 24th. Now, isn't that fast?

Total damage for the purchase : 4,780yen for a dress set of 3 (tunic, turtleneck & cardigan) and a pair of denim style leggings (no shipping fees at the moment for purchases below 5,000yen; a savings of 900yen). Yet to know how much it'll cost me in MYR as my credit card has yet to put it in my account. The later the better! Just wish the exchange rate is not so high. Imagine RM3.87 for every 100yen!

Online shopping is so addictive, I find myself returning to the site every single day looking for more items to buy. Better hide that credit card of mine!

Quest For A 300 Million Yen Payout

300 million yen = RM11 million ++. That's a nice amount of money to have, eh?

But Sports Toto has a better payout of RM20 million. (No, I'm not advocating gambling in this site. Just thought I'd mention it)

Fixing A Travel Date

We've pretty much have a date for next year's vacation to Japan. Unlike in previous years, next year's vacation date is not as flexible because we have to go during Raimie's school holiday. Yes, my son in entering primary school next year. How time flies...

The problem with the date of our choosing: not only it is a public holiday (major major holiday, in actual fact) in Malaysia, Japan too will be on holiday for 3 days!

We are thinking of travelling during the Hari Raya Aidilfitri (Eid) holidays next year: that's Sep 21 - Sep 27. We thought it will be a special vacation to travel on our birthdays which incidentally fall on a public holiday next year.

Eid falls on Sunday, Sep 20 and we Malaysians can enjoy two days of public holiday from Sep 21 - Sep 22. This unfortunately means paying for peak season priced air tickets. Shudder!

In Japan, the Respect For The Aged Day falls on Mon, Sep 21 and the Autumn Equinox is on Sep 23 plus the in-between holiday on Sep 22. 3 days of public holidays for you guys in Japan means a whole lot of crowd everywhere and lots of queing time for everything, right?

How about you guys out there? Are you flexible with your vacation dates and only decide at the last minute or do you like to fix it way in advance and stay true to it? Would you pay for an airticket a year in advance just because it looks pretty cheap now? Do you like to travel during peak season or go for off-season and save a little bit of $$$?

Then again, are we nuts to be away from home on a such important day and miss celebrating Eid with our family?

Dinner Out On Friday Night

A nice dinner on Friday night for the three of us. Well, anything is nice compared to last week's Friday night dinner.

Zaini's Jo Unagi Set

My Yakiniku Set. The beef is enough for two! Plenty of beef and negi too! I love it!

The two chawan mushis that came with the set above were for Raimie, as always.

Raimie's favourite - Kappa Maki

Total bill for the night : RM65.00. I was so full, I had stomach cramps!

Anyhoo, current promotion at Sushi Zen.

By the way, Pasta Zanmai has opened its shop in Mid Valley. Maybe we'll check it out next time!