Well it’s a new year so we all should be thinking about what we want to accomplish for 2009. I’ve been making a mental list for things I would like work on for myself for the next 365 days. Here’s a brief list of my resolutions for the new year.
1. Be better about energy consumption. This is my big one for 2009. I’m going to work at watching how much energy I use/waste throughout the year. This includes turning off lights when I leave a room, turning off my laptop when I go to work for the day, only have my chargers for my laptop and cell phone plugged in when I’m using them, and turning my Wii all the way off more often.
2. Work at being cleaner. I’m a cluttery person. My apartment is riddled with random papers and receipts and I need to get more organized. This year I’m going to try and be more organized in my personal life.
3. Save 10-15 percent of my paychecks each month. Just a smart thing to do all around. I’ve really enjoyed buying things these past few months, but now it’s time to start putting stuff into savings for things I really want/life’s unexpected surprises.
4. Go to the gym at least four times a week. Saying “lose __ pounds” isn’t much of a goal and it’s totally cliche. My goal is to double my gym visits a week and the pounds will melt away from having a more active lifestyle.
5. Study Japanese more. With me starting Chinese classes in a few weeks through work I want to tie in what I learn from those classes and apply it to further my study of Japanese. P.S. The Chinese characters for “panda” literally translates into “bear-cat” and I think that is the best thing ever.
Well those are my resolutions. What are yours everyone? Blog them and let’s encourage each other to reach our goals for 2009. And as they say in Japan …
Japanese food is relatively simple and easy to make, but you can come into problems if you aren’t stocked with the base ingredients. Luckily you can make most of the Japanese recipes if you keep a full stock of these ingredients. Some of them you may have to get at a grocer that specialises in Asian foods, but most you can pick up in the Asian section of your local supermarket. These arealongside other foods you should be stocking your pantry and refridgerator with anyway such as eggs, fresh fruit and vegetables, flour, sugar, and other every-day spices.
Basic Japanese Ingredients
Short grain rice: I’m partial to the Nishiki brand, but you can try any brand.
Dashi soup stock: This is one you’ll have to travel to an Asian grocer for, or you can make your own using kelp. This is the base soup stock for most soup dishes, and the base for some of my favorite dishes like okonomiyaki and takoyaki.
Noodles There are so many noodlesused in Japanese dishes I can’t list them all quickly. Udon, somen and chukamen noodles are the most common noodles.
Tofu Whether you’re just eating it plain or adding it to miso soup or yakisoba, this is a great way to get low-fat protein in a number of recipes.
Nori Also known as seaweed. This is used in many soups, noodle dishes and as a garnish for tons of Japanese foods. It gives a light salty flavor to the food without a lot of sodium.
In my freetime tonight I decided to look up to see if there was any video of Japanese “ラジオ体操” or Radio Exercise. It took a bit of searching but I finally found a cute little video of a girl practicing in her apartment. This exercise was created in the late 1920s in Japan and is broadcast every morning on Japan’s public radio. Don’t worry about the voice in the background. that’s just the instructor telling you what to do next and counting off …
