Taiyaki

This is one of Japanese traditional snacks, called Tai-yaki.
Tai means a bream, and Yaki means a something baked.

My dictionary says in English it's 'A fish-shaped pancake stuffed with bean jam,'
but this case it would be ' A fish-shaped pancake stuffed with custard cream'
by Yokohama Kuriko-An (横浜くりこ庵).

http://www.ekipara.com/html/Indication/ShopHtml/K1080R01_188.html



One thing this Taiyaki is remarkable is its thickness.
It's almost twice as thick as usual Taiyaki and cream inside it looks like spilling out. :o
Of course, tastes good for me. I like it. :)

Akihabara

Today, I got a half day off in the afternoon and went to Akihabara almost 1 year interval on my way back home.
I didn't know that now wide area of Akihabara, not only just around the JR Akihabara station but also the electric shop area, is under re-construction. But anyway, looking at a huge empty space where formerly a branch of Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi was there, I walked into the deep Akihabara. :)

Till the last time I was always there because I wanted somethings related to PC.
But, this time I went there to get some simple electric parts like the following. :o

• A 9-pin D-sub connector
• Cables with IC clips
  
• A Triple size AA battery case
• Straight single pin headers (40pins)
  

I bought them at Sengoku Densho (千石電商) in Akihabara, and it's 1,670 yen in total except the size AA batteries. As the cables are a bit delicate ones, 200 yen per one cable. :o

The photo below shows test run of a dsPIC board which I wrote before using the cables above.


The red LED left below is blinking and passed the initial power on test. :)

Transister Gijutsu '07/09

Again, a hardware technology related magazine, Transister Gijutsu '07/09.



This month issue includes an extension board for the dsPIC board of the last month one.
Well, what do I want to do?
It's not the time to write about that yet. :o

Ashiya Takatora, Cream Puffs

Ashiya Takatora (芦屋タカトラ) seems to be a very famous cream puff shop.



My wife was looking forward to having them and finally realized. :)
But, unfortunately they were under a bit wet condition and neither of us didn't feel it good. :(

Tokori

TOKORI (土古里) is a Korean restaurant in Ueno very close to the Ueno park.

After seeing "Treasure of the Topukapi Palace", we had a dinner there today.
I think Korean restaurants in Tokyo are very good in general and TOKORI is not an exception. :)

What was more than our expectation is the dessert.
My wife asked an ice cream, but it's served in a bowl. :o

Of course, it's also very good. :)

Treasures of the Topukapi Palace

I went to Ueno area to see the exhibition below today.



Two years ago, I visited the Topukapi Place and the exhibition really reminded me of the honeymoon. :)

Tachibanaya

Tachibanaya is another Ramen restaurant around along Shin Kogainei Kaido avenue, Tokyo.



Here is tonight dinner. :o
Tonkotsu ramen with sliced roast pork + Karikari powder.
Its noodle is thin , and the soup is a bit strong pork bones (tonkotsu) taste.

To tell the truth, I went there almost 2 years ago, and at that time I didn't have a good impression. By now, I cannot remember why, but anyway it's not so bad, and now I can understand why they get up on their legs. :)

Curry, Nakamuraya

Nakamura-ya is one of the oldest bakeries in Japan, and they are also famous for curry and rice.

Today, we went to one of their branches in Ikebukuro SEIBU and had Indian style curry and rice. I'm not sure if Indian people really have that style of curry, but anyway we enjoyed it. :)

31 Weeks

Wow, thatsdone 3.0 is now 2064 grams! :)



BTW, thatsdone 3.0 could be about 4000 grams when she will be born.
Maybe a giant child. :o

Baby Goods

The above picture shows things we bought at Combi shop in Sano Premium Outlets and BABiESARUS in Fuchu, Tokyo. :)

• Baby Soft Carrier by Ninna Nanna (Combi)
• Nail Scissors
  
• Water Thermometer
  
• Temperature & Humidity 2 in 1 Indicator
• Straw Mug
• WetnapQuick Warmer
• bucket
• basin

There are still many things we need to buy, but we are going to do so in my wife's home town next month. Actually, she knows a commission merchant for baby goods and we can get various baby things at a low price. :)

Sano Premium Outlets

Today, we went to Sano Premium Outlets in Sano city, Tochigi.



As you can see in the above pictures and articles about Gotemba Premium Outlets I wrote before several times, buildings are similar to each other. Of course this is because they belong to the same chain.



The above pictures explain the primary reason why we went there.
Especially, the above left one, Combi store is only Sano Premium Outlets.
Yes, we need to get ready for the upcoming baby in two month. My wife seemed to be satisfied with shopping there. :o)

BTW, Godiva was also there in Sano, and of course we enjoyed Chocolixir. :o

Curry Lemonade?

I'm not sure if this is a GOURMET entry or not, but anyway I bought an interesting (strange?) drink today.



It's a kind of lemonade with "Curry" taste!?
Could (must?) taste terriblly.

BTW, it's not me who is to enjoy the taste but my wife. Anyway I want her doing so after our baby is born. :o

TOEIC '07 Summer

I had a TOEIC exam on August 5 and got the result today.



Last time I got 60 points down, but this time 45 points up. :)
Listening was almost the same, and got an improved result in the reading section.
Maybe it worked well that I kept reading the 7th book of Harry Potter almost two weeks just before the exam.

BTW, the above right graph shows a time series development of my relative TOEIC scores as I wrote before. Still a quadratic function (y = a*x^2+b*x+c) with a negative coefficient 'a' fits well. Of course, my point is that my long term TOEIC scores curve is still descending. :(

Bon Festival '08

It's 7 years since my father past away.

Bon festival is a Japanese Buddhist custom.
In this season, it's said that spirits of departed people and ancestors come back home and stay several days. To welcome and guide them, we light a torch in front of the entrance of each house.

This is the torch for my father and I hope he will have a happy time at home which he built after one year interval. :)



BTW, I took Lantern festival for Bon festival until now.
But, Wikipedia says Lantern Festival is January 15. Who taught me that? :(

She Fa Ping

Today, on our way back to my home town, we had a cup of ice shavings by:

Taiwan Sweets She Fa Ping (雪花氷)



It's a very hot day today, and it's not too sweet and both of us like it very much. :)

Ichibanya

Well, today I had a meeting in Yoshiwara in the morning.
As the meeting ended around the noon, I and colleagues of mine had lunch around the meeting place.

On our way back to our office, we found a small ramen restaurant, Ichibanya.
Looking at their entrance, I'm not sure why, but anyway I had a sudden inspiration that their ramen could be very good.

And here is my today's lunch. :o


Stamina Tonkotsu Ramen with vegetables and sliced roast pork

The noodle is a bit thick and slightly hard one, and the soup is pork bones and soy source mixed.
I like the bland soup very much. :)

Guin Saga 115

Guin Saga 115
Serpentine Spree
Kaoru Kurimoto
ISBN 978-4-15-030897-1

115!

67th Birthday

Today is the 62nd anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

But for me, today is the 67 th birthday of late my father. When I see the ceremony of Hiroshima on TV, it always reminds me that he wore a complex look on his face.
I hope he would be glad looking at his grand daughter in the lantern festival next year. :)

Fan Fan Fan?

As I wrote before, air conditioning of my office is almost out-of-order.
People whose on the aisle side always complain that it's too cold, and people on the window side vice versa everyday. :(

Well, our administration people's solution is the below.



My company joined the Team Minus 6%, and that's why the setting of air-conditioning is a bit high. But the triple fans look like consuming not a small amount of electricity...
I'm not sure what that company is doing as a whole. :o

BTW, the black triple fan circulator reminded me of the Black Tri-Stars of, Gundam. :o

Tsubaki

As I wrote several times, Shin-Koganei Kaido avenue (新小金井街道) is known as a Ramen avenue. Really, there are good ramen restaurants.

Among them, Tsubaki (つばき) is one of the oldest ones, and there is always a crowd of people in front of the shop. One characteristic is them is that there are nothing other than ramen noodles on their menu, even Beer nor dumplings. :o



BTW, it's about 2 years ago when I went to Tsubaki last time.
I went there with my wife at that time, and unfortunately she did not like their soup.
She says their soup was too salty different from my impression. I also thought that their soup tastes strongly, but it's an well balanced recipe of standard pork-bones soup, and it makes sense for me that they have a patronage.



The above is my tonight choice, Ramen with green onion and sliced roast pork. :)

A Maternity Class

Today, I attended at a kind of maternity class for not only mothers but also fathers held by the Kodaira city government.



In addition to several lectures, there they offered several experience courses especially for fathers.

Here are some pictures we took today. :)



The rightmost picture above is a simple holding lesson.
In the central one, I'm trying to change clothing of the baby.
The leftmost one was interesting. The jacket weights about 10K grams, and we can have an experience with a baby in the ninth month. I realised it' difficult even just getting down. :o

As a whole, I was praised very much in the lessons :), and now I'm ready for my daughter due in this October. :)


There were about 50 people in the hall.

BTW, our tutor today, Ms. Kurokawa, mentioned that she stayed in western Japan *a bit* and that's why *maybe* she has western accept. But, she kept speaking in fluent Kansai (western Japan) accent throughout the class, we thought.
Anyway, good job, Kurokawa-san.

Transister Gijutsu '07/08

Again, I bought a magagine with a one-board computer giveaway. :o



Transister Gijutsu (トランジスタ技術) 2007/08

Here is a brief list of one board computers (or just micro controllers?) I have. :o

• Microchip Technology, dsPICF30F
• NEC, V850
• Xilinx, Spartan-3E

Recently, I got an idea to use them finally, but I'm going to write about that next time.
It's a story about a toy with an autonomous control system. :)

BTW, Gijutsu means Technique in Japanese.
I'm not sure why they chose roma-ji instead of a pure English expression...

Harry Potter

Finally, I finished "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." :)
It took me about two weeks.

According to an article, not a small number of Harry Potter fans seem to be feeling sense of loss. I can understand that, but I'm not feeling so.

One reason why I don't feel that something important was lost would be like the following.

When I talk about the series with friends, I often ask them which book and which chapter they love best. In case of me, definitely the very last chapter, the epilogue of the 7th book.

At the King's Cross station, platform 3/4, Harry sees his children off departing for the Hogwarts. I like the very moment when Harry calls his second son.
I'm not disclosing who is Harry's wife nor the name of his second son, but I believe that everyone who read all the books and followed the entire story would be moved greatly and recalls various characteristic people appeared in the story line.

The feeling above keep staying in my heart for a while, and that's why I didn't fell the sense of loss, I think.

I'm wondering which book people like best and what people feel after finishing the last book...

28 Weeks

Well, from today thatsdone 3.0 is in her 28th week and weights 1381 grams now. :)



Today, our doctor didn't give my wife any picture but a video tape.
Thus, the above one is a picture of my TV taken by my digital camera. :o

BTW, what name should we give her?
That's the biggest problem of us recently...

GONZO DOGA

GONZO is one of Japanese anime studios.
I like their works very much. For example, LAST EXILE.

They seem to have opened their own channen on YouTube recently.

• http://jp.youtube.com/user/GONZODOGA

At first, I didn't understand what is "DOGA" above when I saw an article mentioning the channel. Actually, it took me about 3 minutes to understand "DOGA" is a Japanese word, douga (動画, motion picture). :o

One more thing I thought at that time is a French painter, Edger Degas, because in Japanese there is almost no distinction between pronunciations of Degas and Doga. This is my English level. :(