Agedashi Tofu

I love Agedashi tofu (fried tofu).

Its easy to make and low in calories.

Just pat the tofu evenly in a mixture of corn flour and rice flour.

Fry till golden brown and garnish with chopped spring onions and grated ginger.

Serve with ponzu sauce, a kind of citrus flavoured soya sauce or mix some soya sauce with vinegar to create a tinge of sourness.

Blueberry muffins

I am into baking ever since we came to Japan.

Had always wanted to try baking in Singapore but we didn`t own an oven then.

This is the second time I made blueberry muffins.

Baking is fun but washing up is tedious.

On the way home....

Spotted some pretty summer flowers .

Brightens up the day..

Croak Croak

Last week, it was raining and flooding in Nagano.

Frogs like rain. We saw 3 frogs who lived in the rice padi next to our apartment loittering around in the corridor.


I don't want to step on them accidentally.

Hence, take extra care during rainy days.

I can`t imagine what will happen if they jump into my house. Eksssss....

Lavender Farm

Lavender marks the beginning of hot summer.

I had a wonderful memory of the lavenders in Hokkaido last year.

This year we headed to the lavender farm nearby for an afternoon of aromatherapy session.




For a mere 500 yen, we were free to pick as many lavenders as we like.

I was a bit worried at first because there were many bees flying around the lavender bushes.

Stayed away from the bushes while Takashi picked up the lavenders.



After observing the bees for a while, I figured out that the bees were too engrossed with the lovely lavender blooms to bother about me.


Before I realized it, I was in the bushes picking as many lavenders as I can.


I dried the lavenders and now our home is filled with lavender aroma in every corner.

Rainbow No. 2

Spotted Rainbow No 2 today while driving along the watermelon fields.

It was a big beautiful rainbow.

It made my heart filled with hope believing that good things are waiting ahead.

Fireflies 蛍

Firefly season begins in mid June when the weather starts to get humid.

I hate insects but simply drawn to this glowing bug.

Due to the gradual urbanization in Matsutomo, the number of fireflies has decreased greatly in the recent years.

Fireflies can only survive in clean waters and almost impossible to spot them in urban areas.


To catch a glimpse of the fireflies, we went to the famous Tatsuno park which is around 35km away from home.

It was 9pm when we arrived but there were still hundreds of eager visitors around.

The park was in complete darkness and I had to hold on to my husband while walking around which was kind of romantic.

The only sources of light within visible range were a large number of fireflies, flying around.


According to the park personnels, over 4000 fireflies were spotted on the previous night.

In the darkness, we can only see the glow from the fireflies as they occassionaly emit when flying around.

Those fireflies that rested on the trees looked like christmas illumination.


After more than 10 tries, my husband managed to catch one for my blog photo.

We were not supposed to use flash in the park as it will cause inconvienices to the other visitors.


Instead, we hid in a corner and used a small torch to shine on the firefly.

I tried many times before finally capturing the bug glowing picture.

Of course, we didn`t forget to release the firefly back into the park.