winter makes me hungry

it's a fact when your body is cold, your body will counteract with producing as much heat as needed, and even though your body has so many fat, there'll be signals sent to the brain telling it it needs more resources from outside, thus the hunger.

a hungry me is definitely not the best state. the thing is i admit i'm not a good cook, nor i like to cook in the first place. so i can hardly produce any food by myself. i have to get it somewhere. but, winter really is not my best friend. in fact, i dread it quite a bit. while most people i know would be so happy to see snow, i'll smirk. it's hard to move, it's cold. even to walk to the nearest 7-11 is quite a task. like today, i just had spaghetti as dinner (thankfully there's instant spaghetti sauce for people like me), yet i'm now hungry again.

one thing i hate to be in japan is the ambiguity of the ingredient listed. easier said, i'll just be a vegetarian here. i would avoid all the things with meat or animal extracts, and resort to seafood stuff and vegan. yet, for all the processed food available out there, the most problem i'll encounter is these two: 'emulsifier'(乳化剤) and 'shortening'. both of them can be originated from either plants or animal. emulsifier is called by that name due to its function which is to stabilize an emulsion by increasing its kinetic stability of a food. on the other hand, shortening is a substance that prevents cross-linkage between gluten molecules. the problem for me here is those two can either originate from plant (which is okay) or animal (which is definitely a no). i mean, what's the use of listing ingredient by its function? is there anyone who is interested to know there is a substance in the food that is doing what kind of job. what i want to know is what it is derived from. just why can't you write down specifically 'lard' or 'vegetable fat' instead of shortening, those two functions to prevent cross-linkage between gluten molecules (just copypasting the above). don't vegetarian people in japan be conscious of these stuff? or there's practically no vegetarian here. oh yeah, here is asia after all. animal-sourced stuff maybe is cheaper and more economic for food manufacturing, but please be detailed in disclosing the information.

and oh, my bad when i made a call to the manufacturer, to confirm whether there's any animal-sourced ingredients or not, apparently dairy stuff also considered animal. err, and then i don't know how to ask further. how can i exactly ask them, anyone can teach me the exact term for those?

but i wonder why in other places i've been (talking big as if i've traveled the whole world, yet the number of countries i've gone can even be counted by one hand), i never had to bother with these? i mean, these are the common substances used in food industry. is japan (the famous advanced country) is the only who uses animal-sourced subtances as emulsifier? you see, how awkward to not be able to buy bread? i assume at the moment fresh-baked stuff at bakeries is okay as it's less likely to have these subtances. or should i ask every single time, "does this bun has lard? does this one too?". okay, i know no other ingredients than lard that i shouldn't consume.

babi.

the above is the name of their main source of meat, favourite for most. (okay, honestly i just wanted to mencarut)

yes, i'm hungry. i need to drag my feet to 7-11 and get my favourite dango which cost 105yen, and a 1L pack of lipton milk tea (anyone wanna inform me the emulsifier in it is animal-sourced?? i don't know how many hundred of litres i've drank so far).

or maybe i won't after all, it's cold. i'd rather be in my futon. oh no, i should be studying coz i haven't started at all!

okay, otsukare to all who's already done, and ganbarou who still have papers coming. mine starts next week

p/s: feast to the eyes. another delicious food i got to relish last weekend. maguro saikou!!!

first post of 2012

wow, i only had one entry for last month!

well, i tend to write long entries and when i couldn't finish it, it all get stuck in drafts.

in the end, i didn't even write an entry about the latter half of my summer vacation-sorry for those who anticipates it.

and now the semester nearly ends.

honestly, i don't think i'm doing good. i was even figuring out how exactly i survived the last semester. or specifically to remember that vigor to do things. i've lost it now.

okay, in return, i rigorously do something else completely unrelated to school. i'm sorry for myself.

that's all for i feel inside, i actually had been involved in stuff too lately.

i went to a programme in Zao Liza (pronounced as 'raiza') in Yamagata prefecture.

it was good that i went.

i got to experience snowboarding for the first time too.

that was during the short winter vacation i had. (thanks to the super long summer vacation, our winter vacation is cut short)

now it's over, the school is nearing the period we call final exam. while i'm still clueless what exactly i learnt in classes.

oh, quit that rants!

oh yea, before that trip, it was food haven for me~ for a few days straight, i could relish on delicious cuisines or simply food.

for how many times i lost count, i went to dohtonbori and eat okonomiyaki with my friends on the last day of school of the year. i already memorized the only several menu i could eat there, and i've eaten them all.

that next day, i was fortunate enough to be able to savor on delicious sushi! obviously there's a difference between kaitenzushi (the one that goes round the shop on revolving lanes) and the one that are not. thanks to a particular someone who kindly brought me there. i'm very grateful now. oh yea, we took purikura too.

and then the next day, it was a house party at jlo's. she and her housemates made chicken rice, a tasty one! and i met Heng-their junior, and the rest of the day was pure adventure, where it all decided at the spur of the moment. that was fun watching movie, eating ice-cream, taking purikura(now this is 2 days straight), and unexpectedly singing our heart out.

and then, the next day was sunday, christmas. as much i was puzzled as to how christmas is becoming significant to japanese although they're mostly atheist or buddhist/shinto, i still celebrate the day as holiday and i spent it with my girl friend eating cakes all we want. that was a lot of delicacies.


yeah, FOOD MAKES YOU HAPPY.

for some reason, i'm heavily attached to baskin robbin's ice-cream, during new year, i ate various types of them for 3 days consecutively. on jan 4th, i just couldn't continue as i had no money in my wallet.

oh yea, yesterday, i made nasi goreng. in my case, this is a big news! i really want to put the picture, but i'm now typing this from my main notebook, so lazy to transfer the photo from the phone

if only i got macbook, i could easily use it from the photostream.

i want a macbook <-- this is avarice. it's not like i don't have a functional computer to use (even though the monitor is not working)

i should save more money.

honestly, my head is thinking of more things to write. but i don't think it has any more relevance.

so, ciou.

before that, a feast to the eyes!

the sushi! (i wonder why i took from this angle, tamago is not my fav though)

p/s: i changed the look of the blog! somehow the previous one failed me, i really want a layout with snail on it >.<