March 28, 2007 at 10:22 am (Blogroll, Cooking, Food Photography, Japan, Japanese, Japanese Cuisine, Lifestyle, Living, Stock Photos, Tokyo Disneyland, Travel, Universal Studios Japan)
Welcome to my Japan Spring 2007 blog and photo gallery. If you’ve come here looking for a ideas for your next holiday destination, you’ve come to right place. Japan is like no other countries I’ve visited, and very little has changed since my last two visits (10-15 years ago). By that I mean its culture is built on such strong foundation of tradition, discipline and heritage. This is, of course, a good thing as I particularly like visiting places that are safe and predictable, much like our neighbour Singapore.
In the photo gallery you’ll find 444 images taking you from our transit in Singapore Changi Airport to our itinerary in Japan starting with a city tour of Tokyo. I’ll proceed with my synopsis in the present tense so none of this wonderful experience becomes yesterday’s memories 
. I brought with me my favourite EOS 20D, 580EX Flash, EF10-22mm, EF24-70mm and EF50mm lenses along with four batteries and 12 rechargeable 2700mAh AA’s adding up to a hefty 9kgs of gear and 9GB of CF storage!
On with the tour. We walk out of Narita Airport to be greeted with a thermometer that reads 5.6 Deg C – this is going to be an interesting journey, 5 days in Japan covering Tokyo, Hakone, Toyohashi, Hakone, Kyoto and Osaka and places of interests here are (links to Wikipedia entries):
Shinsaibashi a 5km shopping street that’s more intense than Shanghai’s Nanjing Road. Shinsaibashi features everything you can imagine include the immensely popular and infectious Pachinko and famous King crab legs (Dotombori Arcade) pictured from inside Star Bucks cafe.
A trip to Japan wouldn’t be complete without a taste of world’s finest Kobe Beef pictured here and here at ¥7,000 per 200 grams. Pictured below is a certificate of authenticity from Kobe~serious beef, serious taste, serious business!
p.s. Photo gallery starts with 8 images from Changi Airport, one of my favourite venues and which incidentally lives up to its slogan “Shopping City”. They have something for everyone including free broadband terminals all over the airport, foot massagers from Osim and Otto, “My Foot” massage centre, Game Zone to keep the kids well behaved and a great Japanese eatery called GENKI SUSHI. What I found interesting is each gets piped hot water to the table where you make your own green tea.
Group photo published by Halim Tours & Travel Sdn. Bhd. in United Daily newspaper, a Chinese newspaper with the highest circulation in Brunei and which invariably gets my name spelt wrong.
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March 13, 2007 at 10:05 pm (Blogroll, Cooking, Dinner, Food Photography)
Tonight’s dinner was supposed to be a simple chicken in ABC Sweet Soy Sauce the way our maid does it and instead of doing the same and taking the easy way out, I ended up elaborating dinner and ended up with an unnecessarily complex dinner. With that, I present to you an oven baked chicken chunks with lots of onions, potatoes, garlic, baby carrots and mushrooms. The kids seemed to enjoy the chicken, which is little surprising considering statistics show kids in general will pick chicken over vegies. [Gallery]
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March 12, 2007 at 4:50 pm (Blogroll, High Cholesterol, Lifestyle, Living)
It’s that time of the year and the inevitable has happened-an overdue annual cholesterol and glucose check and the results came back to haunt me, reminiscing the days when I was younger and careless with my diet. I had been IT professional for 13 consecutive years working long and odd hours and eating irregularly until middle of 2004 when I decided to end this insanity. Three years on I’m enjoying life as I rediscover myself and the people around me and in general, the meaning of life.
When was the last time you had your cholesterol tested? A high level of cholesterol in the blood doesn’t have obvious symptoms, but it can increase your risk for conditions that do have symptoms, including angina (chest pain caused by heart disease), high blood pressure, stroke, and other circulatory ailments
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March 12, 2007 at 12:03 pm (Alkalizing, Blogroll, Cooking, Lifestyle, Living)
You may have come across the term “Alkalising” recently and more over, you’ve had Iced Lemon for years and wonder why it’s such a popular thirst quencher. Recent drive to alkalize our diets has put me in touch with my food on a more intimate level. There are pages and pages of information on the web on the the subject of food groups and their pH levels but I use this one. The human body is very acidic for a simple reason-if you look at the chart you can easily understand the large selection of food we eat are acidic. Too much acid and the body’s organ goes into overdrive in an attempt to maintain a balanced pH levels. Rather than depending on the body, we can do our bit by switching to alkaline foods. Let me just say this .. a balanced diet is not a matter of following this chat (if only life were this easy!). The food equation is so complex that most of what we hear and learn barely scratch the surface of what is possibly mind boggling. Take Olive Oil for instance, chart says it’s Acidifying yet research shows the health benefits from the Extra Virgin variety. Like anything in life, do your due diligence before make a decision that could threaten your life.
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March 12, 2007 at 10:39 am (Blogroll, Cooking, Dinner, Food Photography, Italian, Spaghetti Bolognese, Stock Photos)
It would appear that if you’ve been following this blog I do nothing but cook and take photographs of food. And guess what, I feel like that sometimes … I’ll spare you the details of what’s eating up the hours but suffice to say, there isn’t enough hours in a day. We managed a whole week without a maid and even squeezed in a trip to the pool and finished the night with chunkier than usual spaghetti bolognese with Dolmio Tomato, Onion & Garlic Sauce and Anchovy Fillets. I’ve accented what is already a great combination with fresh mushroom slices, onions, garlic, and minced beef for that extra chunky taste! Enjoy! The thing I like about Spaghetti is my generous use of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, the highest quality olive oil. You just cannot substitute your regular sunflower or canola cooking oil with Olive oil as much as it’s a healthier choice. You wouldn’t want to give your Asian dishes Italian flavours, doesn’t work this way. [Gallery]
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March 10, 2007 at 8:58 pm (Blogroll, Chinese Food, Cooking, Food Photography, Kway Teow)
Commonly referred to as Char Kway Teow or “fried flat noodles” it is very delicious but apparently “has a reputation of being unhealthy due to its fat content.” Between your regular “Kolome” or fried noodles, I find myself ordering one every Saturday for breakfast right after we’ve dropped the kids off school. The local kopitiam does it so well makes it hard to resist and goes so well with a good cup of coffee. Today, however, is the first Saturday without a maid and found myself instinctively dishing up a Kway Teow lunch which is also our daughter’s favourite. [Gallery]
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March 8, 2007 at 8:45 pm (Blogroll, Cooking, Dinner, Pizza)
A number of viewers commented offline that the dishes featured here are fresh and healthy – lots of greens and low fat. As much as I would like to maintain that perspective, there are nights when a simple take out seems the obvious alternative. It was to be a pizza night - kids love Honey Garlic Chicken while a personal favourite is Meat Lovers. The fact that Pizza Hut allows you to combine the two into one makes it too convenient to indulge! Delicious? You bet! Unhealthy? Guilty as charged .
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March 8, 2007 at 9:11 am (Blogroll, Cha Soba, Cooking, Dinner, Food Photography, Japanese, Japanese Cuisine)
Konichiwa and welcome to Jan’s Kitchen. For those of you who know me either in person or from my main Blog, you know how much I love Japanese food. You would also know that it’s just a matter of time before we succumb to our cravings for Japanese food. Yesterday was one of those occassions and I decided to go all out with Japanese Curry Chicken, Cha Soba (cold green tea noodles), Garlic Rice, Sausages, and so forth. Personally, I like Salmon Sahimi and seasoned Baby Octupus but these aren’t the sort of items you can easily pick up at a local supermarket. I’m going to Japan on March 16 and cannot wait to experience a week long feasting of authentic Japanese food. [Gallery]
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March 6, 2007 at 10:20 am (Blogroll, Cooking, Dinner, Tofu)
As of Mar 5 I’m now in full charge of Jan’s Kitchen, well, at least for the next 4 weeks or so until my maid returns from her obligatory bi-annual vacation. Between me and my wife who juggles a 7 to 4 job and parenting, time is often a luxury she doesn’t have. I, on the hand, a freelance photographer juggles time and business opportunities as they come, makes me the perfect candidate to manage the culinary domain of our home. For dinner, I came up with something we’ve not had in a long time-Mushroom Omelette with freshly chopped parsley and black pepper pork marinated in light soy sauce, garnished with brocolli and stir-fried tofu. [Gallery]
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March 2, 2007 at 10:03 am (Blogroll, Capsicum, Cooking, Dinner, Living)
On some days, simplicity is the key to a good and satisfying meal. Yesterday was one of those days. I had been out most of the morning and afternoon running errands and meeting an business associate and a friend for coffee. By the time I was done for the day, it got quite late and on my way home, I picked up a bag of Chinese Celery sticks and effortless dished up this wonderful combination.
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March 2, 2007 at 8:45 am (Alfalfa Sprouts, Blogroll, Cooking, Dinner, Living, Tofu)
My kids are 9 and 7 and at this age they really should be experimenting with food and eating a lot more than they are today. Unfortunately, that’s not the case and are, for some reason, very selective about the food they want to eat. In my attempt to introduce more greens in their diet and knowing what some of the items they do like such as tofu, alfalfa sprouts, fresh mushrooms, I tried these two dishes two nights ago - black pepper tofu with alfalfa sprouts and Asparagus in garlic and oyster sauce. Gallery.
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