Convenience Store-Style Onigiri

When I go to Japan, I always eat onigiri from the convenience stores, but I'm really picky so there are only a few varieties that I'll actually eat. Most stores have the same types, but some have a few that might only be available in that store. My all-time favourite onigiri is wafuu tuna mayo, Japanese-style tuna mayo. The rice itself is flavoured with dashi soup stock, and the inside is like the filling you'd have in a tuna sandwich, only with a sweetish soy sauce flavor added. The best one I've had so far, comes from 7-11s all over Japan. Also, unlike on a regular onigiri, the seaweed is already stuck onto the rice, so it's not crispy, but the flavor of it blends very well with the rice and is majidelicious.

Here's a recipe for it I found on cookpad.com!
http://cookpad.com/recipe/1001317

It is all in Japanese, but if anyone is interested in making it, I can post a translation for you :)

TO THE LIMIT PV Out Now!

Yesterday, KAT-TUN's new PV for TO THE LIMIT came out! And I'm actually impressed it's not just dancing pretty boys this time, but something different and more interesting! Let me just say, Ueda Tatsuya shaving his head was the best thing for him. It was like he's been completely reinvented from the super girly boy he used to be, and now he's a real ikemen. The wind tunnel hair and earring killed me, 'cause now he's a straight-up knock-out. Wow.

Watch it here @TokyoHive!

KAT-TUN's New Single PV

As reported by www.tokyohive.com, KAT-TUN will be releasing a new single, "TO THE LIMIT" on June 27! Excited!
They've also released a teaser for the single's new video, which can be watched here, on Tokyo Hive's website.

I've watched it, and it looks amazing, and obviously different from KAT-TUN's usual boy-band style music videos, as this one actually seems to have a story line, with lots of action scenes! Everyone's looking beautiful as usual, but wow, Ueda's looking better than ever. I was sad when he had to shave his head for the drama he was in recently, but he was cute with super short hair, and the way it has grown back is cute too. If you get a chance, follow that link and watch Runaway. I haven't finished it yet, but it's been really good.

Other dramas I've been kind of following lately are Ataru and Cleopatrana Onnatachi, both I've really liked so far. Check them out on www.dramacrazy.net if you're interested, as they are both new, and I believe currently-airing dramas!

Which J-dramas, if any are your favourites, and what have you been watching lately? Let me know in the comments :D

Cold Udon Recipe (NaitoKo's Way)

The warm weather shall soon be upon us!! Well, it is for some people, but the world knows how Canada is...Less than warm at times, and also slow to get on the summer bandwagon. Anyways, summer weather calls for summer foods, and one of my favourites is cold udon/soba. In a restaurant or nicer setting, such a dish would be served on a bamboo at called a zaru, but if you want to make it at home, who needs it?

Here's my recipe for cold summer udon!

You will need:
Japanese soy sauce, about 3 tbs
Mirin, also about 3tbs
Dashi (Konbu or Katsuo flavours), about 1 1/2 cup
A package of udon, frozen or dry
Green onions, chopped to your liking

Add caption

Wasabi/shredded nori/goma/poached egg etc, Also to your liking


Start by making your dipping sauce/soup. Boil about 1 1/2 cup of water and add the mix for your konbu/katsuo dashi soup stock, or if you have already made soup stock boil that.

When your soup starts boiling, add your tablespoons of mirin and soy sauce. If you feel like you'd like a stronger, saltier soup, add another tbs of soy sauce. Taste your soup, and remove from heat so it cools while your noodles cook.

Cook your udon according to package directions, then rinse with cold water until chilled. Also, add a few ice cubes to your soup stock to chill it.

Udon cooking

Soy sauce and mirin

Chop up and prepare your garnishes as your like.












Lastly, serve up your chilled noodles and soup, topped up with your favourite toppings in your favourite bowl! Most people serve their soup as a dipping sauce and actually dip their soba or udon in it, but you of course don't have to. It's your meal after all, ne?

Photos from Tokyo, May 2012

I know I've blogged about my trip to Tokyo early this month when I was there and posted some pictures, but I've now uploaded all of them into a public album on photobucket if anyone would like to see them, haha. If you have any questions about them, feel free to ask :)

www.photobucket.com\cnaitotokyo2012

On another note, I love Japanese TV. It's hilarious, and they air a lot of things that just wouldn't fly anywhere else. A friend sent me a link last night to an episode of Arashi no Shukudai-kun (download it here http://dvampyrlestat.livejournal.com/46838.html), which is of course a variety show hosted by Japanese boy-band, Arashi, which I was never a huge fan of, for no reason in particular, but I don't mind seeing them on TV. Anyways, the reason she sent me the link was because she remembered their special guest that episode was Daigo Naito of BREAKERZ. In short, he's a rock star, who happens to share my last name, and whose grandpa was once the prime minister of Japan. Also, he's smokin' hot. So, if I just go ahead and marry him, we don't have to deal with the name changie thing. LOL. Anyways, the show is just some funny Japanese nonsense hosted by Arashi and Daigo, and it`s making me want to watch some more recent shows that Arashi has, so I'll check out www.dramacrazy.net because I think I saw some links to one lately.

Speaking of Arashi, I just started watching Masaki Aiba's new drama, Mikeneko Holmes no Suiri. Aiba plays a young detective with the police who unfortunately is afraid of blood and talking to women. He also takes home a stray calico who turns into Matsuko Deluxe and helps him solve his crimes. If you don't know who Matsuko Deluxe is, check out gakifiles.blogspot.ca, and watch some of Downtown's batsu games, more specifically the most recent Airport one. It's hilarious, especially if you're doS like me LOL.

Learn Japanese!

http://jisho.org/ is a lifesaver for me. I'm so bad at reading and writing Japanese! I obviously didn't and haven't been studying enough at all when I was in school! Mostly, I just have to look up kanji :/
I don't really want to take Japanese at university anymore, because it takes up such a huge time slot, and it's hard to work around having to fit in a language lab section as well. Plus it could be at a whole different campus, and I just don't have the motivation or energy I did when I was a kid! Haha...

My oral Japanese is okay. Not as good as it could be, I admit, and sometimes it's just easier to pretend I don't speak Japanese at all. I'm thinking about doing cultural exchange to Japan with school, or some teach ESL there if I can. I'm really in need of the nice fresh start. 子供のときから、「いい日本人の男性と結婚することがいいなあ」と思ったんだよ。(笑）

Back to the Everyday

*sigh* I went back to work last week, though not the whole week. It's been boring, really, nothing much important happening.

On Wednesday morning I believe I was rudely awakened by my phone as my boss called me, and as soon as I answered it was like, "COURTNAY, YOU WORK NAO?". Sheesh. But at least I didn't have to go bearing gifts and beg for my job back for the summer. And I only have to work weekends which is where the real money is at. Did I mention I work as a nail technician? Well, I do, part-time and on call. We don't get hourly pay, just commission, so there have been lots of days I sat there for an 8-10 hour day and made like $20. It's kind of ridiculous, so it's a good thing I don't have to pay like a million bills every month. Then there are days like last Sunday, which was Mother's Day. We were booked solid from 9:30AM til the end of the day. I just laughed when people walked in thinking there'd be space for them. I heard from a lot of clients that their regular salons were closed on Sunday, and I guess it was because, from what I've heard, they don't celebrate Mother's Day in Vietnam, so salon owners were unaware of the business opportunity. Not my boss though. Nope. He would never in ever pass up a chance like this, to stand over us and crack the whip as his cash rolled in.
Honestly, when I work, he is a major source of stress. He's ALWAYS on my back about being too slow. The problem is not me being too slow, it's his overbooking appointments and never refusing anyone's business. Yes, the clients get lined up quickly sometimes, but it is my responsibility to do a good job and spend an adequate amount of times on my clients. A nail salon is not an assembly line where people should be shoved in and shoved out. He's said that new clients cannot wait even one minute over time, because then they'd leave and he'd lose business, and that if it's busy, current clients will understand if you're fast. That is simply not true, and contradicts everything he wants.
I DID manage to get my speed up eventually and then guess what? He shat on me because he thought I was going too fast. Any attempts to explain to him what I was/am doing go nowhere, because he cuts me off and overrides me. No respect at all. He's also said some very unprofessional things to me in the process, most specifically about the long work hours he's had to endure since becoming a new immigrant and that I could never work that much because I'm Canadian-born and that I "would just die".
I have, however, heard from his wife that I'm not the only one he does this to, and that he just does it to everyone else in Vietnamese, in front of the customers and all the employees. I think he has little-man-syndrome and just likes to have control over all the women that work in the salon.

That being said, working at the salon is the only job I have, and a flexible one at that, with the potential to make lots of tips from all the lovely regular clients that we get; all the ones that make this job worth while. Also, sometimes I get to do leopard print nails on people's toes, and that's legit.