Night walk at So-Co

South Congress is filled with cute restaurants and vintage shops.  But it is somewhat exhausting to walk around during the weekend because there are way too many people and tourists.

When we went for a walk on Thursday night, it was quiet and nice.  Ah I love October in Austin. This weather makes me want to walk around just to walk, or just to breath.

Bakasana-ing at Mount Bonnell :)

http://blackswanyoga.com/teacher/reiko

The last couple of days have been amazingly beautiful in Austin.  It feels so great to practice outdoor in such beautiful days.   I found a secret spot in Mt. Bonnell where it's very quiet.  June was crying like a baby as always because we were on the cliff.  But, June look at this view!!
 I took some yoga vids. Check my yoga channel  http://www.vimeopro.com/blackswanyoga/reiko

or my youtube channel ! http://www.youtube.com/user/reikoota7?feature=mhee

My mint, Haruko chan

I got two plants recently and they survived through the dry summer.  I had a history of ruining some plants before, so I named them and have been giving some love everyday.  My pot of mint, (her name is Haruko),  has grown up enough to become something else, so I gave her a chance to become mojito!

When you order mojito at restaurants and bars, they usually use club soda and sugar so 1 drink is about 160 calories I think.  I grinded fresh mints and splenda together,  and shook them with fresh lime juice , rum, and sparkling water.  It was so delicious that even Matt (who usually is really picky ) agreed.   

I never knew that it's so easy to make mojito, that's also low-cal! 

I eyeballed all of these so don't rely too much on the measurements, but here is the list of ingredients. Yep, so simple! 

0 calories- 1 tea spoon of splenda 

1 calories- 1 lime (juiced)

0 calories- some mint leaves

70 calories - white rum (2 - 4 oz)

 0 calories- sparkling water ( 4 oz)

ACL ! ウィーケンド

オースティンで何が有名かっていうと、やっぱり音楽です。　毎週のように色々なアーティストがコンサートに来るのはもちろん、年に３，４回、各地からファンの集まる大きな音楽祭があるんです。そのメインになるひとつが、ACL,   Austin City Limits  http://www.aclfestival.com/.

今年はメジャーなとこでゆうと、コールドプレイとか、スティービーワンダーとか、アーケイドファイアーとか、カニエ・ウェスト,あと他にも いっぱいインディーズのバンドがわんさか。
今までそこまで知らなかったアーティストにはまったりすることも。　

私のお気に入りは、Cut Copy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dNPLRTB-SA&feature=related
Fitz & The Tantrums http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cF_S8MDfuA&feature=relmfu
Pretty Lights http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXOSwUWcrE0

次の大きな音楽祭は ファンファンファンフェス！http://funfunfunfest.com/ こっちはもうちょっとインディーよりなお祭りだけど、これもまた楽しみっすね。

Colorful East

Even though Austin is not a big city , there are so many different faces to it.  Tokyo was the same way, but in a little bit bigger scale. I used to walk around the city and enjoyed how much of the flavors changed from one place to another.  I never drove in Japan and always walked around, which might be why I noticed a lot of small cute things. 

So, I decided. I will spend next few weekends to just walk around different spots in Austin.  

I'll start with the East Austin. 

East side is very different.  Strong personalities.   Colorful bikes.  Half sleeve tattoos.  Trailer parks.  Jorts. ....  

It is also fun to see the newly remodeled parts of town and the older parts left untouched. 

 

If I disappear, this is where I would be...

Red Bud Isle..... I can call this place as my best favorite spot in Austin this summer.

What I really appreciate Austin for is that the variety of awesomeness is concentrated in one city.  You can feel the city-life if you go out to downtown, and by driving out from downtown for 5 min you can find a quiet spot by the water surrounded by trees.  When I lived in Tokyo, this was never the case.

Because Red Bud Isle is a round shaped island, there can be many people elsewhere in this park, but you can still find a spot where you don't see anything or anyone but just nature.

I also love Barton Springs , where lots of happy people gather and enjoy the water.  Every Austinite loves the springs.   However I often enjoy this peace, science and space to myself.   It feels such a luxury to feel the fresh water and see some green,  while we are facing the extreme heat and drought in Texas.

Look at this happy face.  June absolutely loves this place.   :)

Don't just cook rice. Do it right.

I encountered many words and situations that could not be translated word to word from Japanese to English, and vice versa. "Washing rice" is one of them. We don't use word "wash" to wash rice in Japan. We say 研ぐ (to-gu), which literary means " polish". I noticed that many people here just wash rice for a few second and put them in a rice cooker. No, wait! We don't just 'wash' rice, but we are supposed to take time and 研ぐ before cooking.
I know, I will grow old to become an annoying Asian old lady who corrects white kids on how to correctly cook rice. And this is me, starting this process already .
So here are the steps :)
1. Rinse rice 2-3 times very quickly. The initial rinsing should be very quick, because the white water will leave the weird smell and taste to the rice. A little side note....This white water you get when you wash is called "kome-nuka "「米ぬか」and it is very good for the skin. Asian cosmetics often use this essence in their moisturizing lotion.
2. Now, we are ready to take some time to really wash (or polish) the rice.
Put the heel of your hand then slide it to the middle. You almost feel like you are grinding the rice with your hand. Change water 2-3 times and repeat this step. At the end, the water should not be as white as the initial round anymore, but it does not need to be transparent.

3. This third step makes your rice sticky, rich and soft. Say bye to your dry, hard, old rice you used to have.
First, soak the rice in the water for about 30 min. You can leave in the room temp.
If you live in Texas like me, where everything melts in a few seconds, then go ahead and leave it in the fridge.



Now drain the water and dry the rice for 10 min. This step makes the rice to absorb the water very good when you cook.
4. Put the rice in your cute little rice cooker, add water, and switch-on!



5. When the rice is done, gently stir the rice from the bottom to the top. This easy one last touch makes the rice fluffier.

Next time you cook rice, remember these steps please. You will notice the difference.

Btw I am not going to do recipe blogs, like all other Japanese moms in the US are already doing. This was something I needed to share with y'all simply because rice is so stereotypically Japanese!

Perfect for my secret plan here, Japanizing Americans. (- _ -)!!