Mennonite Fried Bread & Watermelon!

I've had this delicious combo before, and recently had it again,

so I decided to share it with the world!

(Or at least the one or two of you who read this.)

I haven't actually made any myself,

however next time my neighbors make it they said they will invite me over.

I too want to learn the mysterious ways of this food.

.

You can eat the bread with syrup or jam, however I prefer to eat it plain.

I am not one for tainting naturally, beautiful food.

The watermelon pictured above, although not seedless, was very sweet for so late in the season. All in all it was a great snack,

and reminded me of my Japanese friend

as we ate it together a few days before she returned home. Ah...memories.

.

Anyone else ever tried this delicacy?

I believe its proper name is Rollkuchen, or so my not-so-extensive-google-search tells me.

Yasuko to Kenji/ヤスコとケンジ

Genre: Comedy/Romance

Language: Japanese

Kenji is a manga artist who lives with his sister Yasuko and his two assistants. Their parents died when they were young; causing Kenji to leave his violent gangster past in exchange for something he could support his younger sister with. This dorama is the story of when Erika, also a previous gangster, and her younger brother Jun moves into town . Yasuko falls in love with Jun, while Erika is in love with Kenji. Can they overcome their barriers and find true love? Will they be able to overcome their character flaws and become one, big, happy, family?

Review:
This is probably one of the lamest dramas I have ever watched. I liked it, however it was far too cheesy for my likings. The main thing that kept me coming back was Matsuoka Masahiro as Kenji. The rest were such generic characters it was hard to stay interested. I particularly found the main heroine to be boring, and not very pretty. Her love interest, the supposed heart-throb, was pretty uninteresting to put it lightly. The script wasn't that good, and to be honest the actors weren't either. (Man I sound so harsh! >_>)

Well if you are looking for a drama with uncountable cliches, predictability, but with still enough funny to, maybe, keep you amused. This could be for you.

I've Been Married to Hell/エラいところに嫁いでしまった!

Genre: Comedy
Language: Japanese

Kimiko Makimura marries into the Yamamoto family, via Isojirou, an incompetent, yet kind-hearted man. She soon learns that the Yamamoto family is no ordinary family, but one obsessed with traditions. As well her Mother-in-Law believes she can do no wrong; she believes that Kimiko wants to learn all the customs of their home, as quickly as possible. Each time she visits them she vows never to return, but nonetheless still gets sucked back. Each episode shows how Kimiko interacts with her new in-laws and their quirks.

Review:
Just finished this one last night. (Watched some of this series with my mom.) An alright drama. If your looking for something kind of dopey, but sweet, this is it. The whole series is a bit slow, but you do grow to really like some of the characters. Kimiko, (who is played by Nakama Yukie, the lead in Gokusen) does well. The mother-in-law played by Matsuzaka Keiko is really endearing, and quite the loving mother. However I admit the ending, like in many Jdoramas, is rather weak. I didn't even realize it was the finale until I looked at the title half way through the episode....

Anyways so in a nutshell not the best drama ever, but definately a family watch. If you are looking for a time killer this is a cute, short series with only 9 episodes.

Asian Clothing Stores?

Ah the relaxed, yet fashionable, Korean style or the cute Japanese style? I admit, I am a wanabe Asian. Sadly I am also cheap...

I enjoy drooling over the Asian clothing at shops such as yesstyle, asiajam, and other sites. However I have never actually ordered. Lately though I've been itching to finally give it a try. As a rule I'm not one for online shopping, too shifty, buuuttt this is one exception I might just make...

An example of a slightly sketchy sounding warranty from an online Asian clothing store would be this:

We cannot guarantee specific results, however, we know our clothes are nice. First of all, we do not know what a particular person is feeling or experiencing, and there is no way to measure their level of discomfort. Everyone has different tolerances and different levels of expectations. Besides, doctors do not and cannot guarantee medicines or treatments. Physical therapists do not and cannot guarantee any specific results. Surgeons do not and cannot guarantee any specific results. Consequently, neither do we. -From Color-Shopping

Not that I'm judging the site though, it has a whole lot of nice clothes. I just don't know if I would trust it :). I mean it has separate sections for Pants, Jeans, and Trousers. Talk about specifying!

So if anyone has ever ordered from an Asian clothing site, tell me about it? How was the quality? What did you buy? I'm always interested in Asian style <3>

(P.S. Doesn't the above dress look far more Japanese than Korean? )

Kimi wa Petto/きみはペット

Genre: Romance/Comedy
Language: Japanese

One day a downtrodden business women, Iwaya Sumire, stumbles upon an unconcsious good-looking fellow, stuffed into a box. She then proceeds to attempt to rescue him by bringing him back to her apartment. Long story short she allows him to stay only if he becomes her pet. That means eating, sleeping, not talking...basically to be an animal. (she even pets him....>_>) Eventually they bond and you get to watch their relationship evolve and how they react to problems.

Review:
Ah this was one of the first shows I watched. With the famous Matsumoto Jun. (I remember my host-mom loved him, even had pictures of him on her phone xD.) It was okay, not my favorite, but it had it's moments. Matsumoto Jun was cute in his role. Kiyuki was a solid enough career women, she portrayed the realization up of her character's feelings well.

With a slightly shifty story line, and a relatively predictable ending, Kimi wa Petto still becomes a good dorama. I would say if you have some time to burn, may as well try this for wood.

Geese Shooting!...(not really...)

Ah could this be....? A goose from my past?

Well not to long ago, as per every year, a bunch of geese landed in the field across the road. So I decided to try out my new camera with some wildlife shots! Long story short I actually ended up crawling under a neighbors fence just to get to the field...nevertheless I was not deterred. I enjoyed taking their photos, and they enjoyed keeping their distance. With one who enjoyed honking at me(pictured above), and scaring me away basically. (Don't worry I didn't get very close, all my pictures were, pretty well, taken with my 12x zoom.)

Now for story time. A few years ago there was a goose, who seemed to have separated from his comrades. He then decided to wander around my block. He stayed around for a day or so and even let people come up to him. So he got quite his share of bread, and such. Note: Geese do not seem to like small dogs. Now obviously it isn't the wisest choice to go petting wild animals! Don't attack me environmentalists! Anyways the bird stayed around for about a day, and then flew off, I guess.

No harm done. History has not repeated itself. So obviously the bird didn't decide that it would become the goose version of flipper, and hang out with us every year. Thinking about those geese in the field though, makes me think, I wonder if one of those geese is the goose...Hard to tell, since all them geese look alike. ;) As well I wonder how long do geese remember stuff, you'd think a long time, right? I mean migrating? That takes at least some memory skills.

Well there you go there is the deep, national geographic version of unread tales. Please note: no geese were harmed during the shooting of the above photo.

One Litre of Tears/１リットルの涙

Perhaps one of the most famous Japanese tear-jerkers?

Genre: Drama, Tear-Jerker
Language: Japanese

This is a dorama based on the diary of a young girl, who became ill with a progressive disease (one that can't be cured.) Despite her daunting circumstances, and declining health, she decides to try her best to live her life to the fullest.

Review:
This was one of the few sad doramas I've watched. It was really touching, and you really begin to sympathise with the characters. To this day one particular scene still remains vivid in my mind. It really breaks your heart, to watch her declining so rapidly (literally since Jdramas seem to. almost always, have a max. 12 episodes.) I didn't cry during this, but I considered it.

I recognized a few of the actors, like Ryo Nishikido; but not the main girl, Erika Sawajiri, although she did do a good job.

So watch it, no it is not a comedy, but there are sweet moments too. (Not all heaviness :)

So Saucy....

Ah The Tomato!

Well we had received a bunch of tomatoes from friends.

(we still had quite a few left-over tomatoes, even after filling our sink, pictured above.)

So on Saturday my mom decided to put them to use.

We canned tomato sauce!

For pizza, lasagna, spaghetti...etc.

.

Above you can see all the spices added. I was the official mixer-girl. Although I had other unofficial titles, such as tomato-retriever, spice-dumper, and labeler, among other things.

This is the finished product. Turned out well from what I can see. Since I haven't actually tasted it since cooking....was fun though. The house smelt great after too; smelt a lot like when you make salsa.