Hello Kitty Onigiri Case

Every Monday is Haruka's onigiri ( rice ball ) day and the kids at school will only have just one onigiri during lunch time. It is because that the school wanted to let the kids think that there are people who has eaten less for the day and they let the kids at school experience their sufferings. Every Monday the kids at school offer money as a donation to give to the poor.



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Strawberry Mousse Cake For Wakaba

Made this Strawberry Mousse Cake during Wakaba's 8th Birthday last week and since the party was a yakiniku party, I decided to go for a refreshing dessert which I made earlier before the party starts. I was worried coz I thought there will be no more room for dessert for them but Wakaba says she wants her birthday cake as soon we came home from the yakiniku restaurant ^_^

Well, anywho I wanna share the recipe to all of you coz it's really easy to make and the how-to's step by step. Enjoy!

Strawberry Mousse Cake: ( 18 cm cake round pan )

Ingredients:

18 cm sponge cake, sliced

your favorite strawberry/raspberry sauce or jam
Fresh strawberries- 30 g, cut in dices

For the mousse:

Fresh Strawberries - 200 g
Gelatin - 10 g
Water - 50 g
Sugar - 70 g
Whipping cream, cold - 160 g

Directions:

1: Soften the gelatin with water, stir until the gelatin is dissolved

2: Whip cream until thick but not stiff, set aside
3: Puree strawberries by a food processor or mixer
4: Put the pureed strawberries on a bowl and add sugar then mix
5: Heat the dissoved gelatin for seconds at the oven range and stir while it's still hot then pour it to the strawberry mixture and mix
6: Fold the whipped cream into the strawberry and gelatin mixture
7: Cover the bottom of the cake round pan with a plastic wrap and secure with rubber band around it then prepare your 18 cm sponge cake like of the photo above ( you'll only need the half of the sponge cake, please cut your sponge cake smaller than the size of the cake round pan ).

8: Pour the half mixture unto the sponge then add some diced strawberry then cover with the other half of the mixture. Chill in the refrigarator for 2 to 3 hours
9: Option: Spread in your favorite strawberry/raspberry sauce and then chill for another hour
10: Transfer Strawberry Mousse Cake to service plate then release the cake/unmold the cake with the help of a hot towel to soften the mousse. Decorate with fresh strawberries.
Sharing with you my daughter Wakaba's birthday cake ^_^

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Daddy Moments

Dear Daddy,

We love you so much and appreciate all that you do. You're the best father to us and we are so lucky to have you. We want to thank you for giving us everything we need to be taken care of. Nevertheless, we want to thank you for taking us on lots of walks, playing with us and having lots of fun with us all the time! We love you, Dad!

Happy Father's Day!

We're lucky you're our Daddy,

Clarence Claire
Wakaba chan
Haruka chan

"I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection."

~ Sigmund Freud ~

" Once, God gave me the greatest gift ever. I call that gift: DAD."

~ Kurt Avish ~
"Any man can be a father. It takes someone special to be a Dad. "
~ Anne Geddes ~

"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family."

~ Anthony Brandt ~

"A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty."
~ Unknown ~


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Their Laughs Is My Joy

I love to listen to my kids when they get laughing at something or just goofing around. Just hearing them laugh is wonderful!^_^



Isn't it so much fun to go back and just yank them all out and just sit there and reminisce? ^_^

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Wakaba's Happy 8th Birthday

Wakaba celebrated her birthday last Tuesday with a blast! Wakaba's Grannies granted her wish to celebrate her birthday with us and not only that, her Grannies stayed for the whole week at the apartment. They brought along some japanese futon coz we don't have extra for them at home lol! Wakaba was excited coz her Grandpa dropped Haruka to school in the morning and picked Wakaba after her class in the afternoon and that was almost everyday^_^

Her Grannies shopped some clothes for Wakaba as a birthday gift ( and Haruka, too ) on her big day then we decided to have a yakiniku party like we always did when having special occassions but our favorite Za-Za Yakiniku Restaurant is now closed because the said restaurant is 8 km away from the nuclear plant in Fukushima and I'm afraid we will not be able to lavish their high quality meats anymore... We went to Gyu-Kaku instead which was just a minute walk away from the apartment and enjoyed the foods while having some good laughs and drinks. We handled her our gifts at home and ate the birthday cake ( which I made earlier ) for dessert.

A Grandpa's love
Gyu-Kaku Yakiniku Restaurant
Us with the birthday girl
Birthday gift from us~ Tamagotchi id L, latest model ( released last March 19,2011 ) featuring 32 virtual Tamatomo characters.
Another new Eco-friendly Water Bottle for her to use at school
Hello Kitty Pencil Case
Happy Birthday, Wakaba chan! We love you!

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Chopper and Rilakkuma Lunch Box

Wakaba is gaga over the One Piece anime nowadays and after seeing this Chopper Man Heart lunch box, I didn't thinked twice to buy it for her since she needs a new one for the school year and since she's a big eater, 500 ml is just exactly what I need for her.
Haruka however loves Rilakkuma and no wonder, it's uber cute!
Reusable water bottles are good to the environment and my kids brings water bottle to school for water or mugicha ( roasted barley ) everyday. As a mother, I would recommend bringing water bottles for eco ^_^
More of my kids homemade bento here



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Iwaki-Shi, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan

It's almost 3 months after the earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan, life in downtown Iwaki has slowly returned to ' normal '... running water, electricity, most of the supermarkets were open filled with stocks of foods, no more cars lining up too long when filling up a gasoline, damaged roads were done and etc. BUT not at the disaster striken area on the coastal area in Iwaki. The ruins remained untouched since the earthquake and tsunami.... Coastal area in Iwaki is 20 minutes away from us and everytime we passed by to the place, there is this something that grips my heart~ it looks like we're in a different world.別世界です。。。

We wanted to feel and see with our own eyes most especially to Wakaba and Haruka although it would be shocking for them but we want them to understand of what's happening and think about the devastated area that was striken a tsunami. We went to Ena, Toyoma and Onahama ~ we stopped and walked around the area. I couldn't explain how I felt, the scenery has changed...The area surrounding us was overwhelming in it's devastation. A minute or so, we're all speechless...

This is the scenery at the coastal area in Iwaki when the tsunami strikes the area
Clearing the road
7-11 convenient store in Toyoma operating and open despite of the store's damage I almost cried to have seen the damage
Some of the few items sold were all placed inside 7-11's truck
頭が下がります。がんばろう！！
Abandoned and ripped house Speechless Photos washed away by the tsunami

Onahama

Someone's car, washed away by the tsunami

Ena

Collapsed

Damaged bridge

Almost 3 months after the disaster but it still looked like that at Ena
Scenery at Toyoma


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