Towada August events

街ロボフェスタ　Robot Festa  (Aug 1)
Location: 十和田市稲生町　八丁目街区 国道102号（旧国道4号）Inaoicho Hacchome Gaiku National Highway 102 (Old Rte 4)
Time: 11:00-15:00
Selected Events:  
・知能ロボット『DiGORO』デモンストレーション (Intelligent Robot "DiGORO" Demonstration)
・ミニSL機関車乗車 (Mini SL Train)
・ラジコンカーサーキット　(Remote Control Car Circuit)


十和田サンバカーニバル2010 Towada Samba Carnival (Aug 7-8)
(PDF Pamplet)

イベント (Event)	日時 (Time)	開催場所 (Place)
遊びの広場 (Play Space)	8/7（土）13：00～17：00 8/8（日）10：00～14：00	文化センター屋外 (Outside the Bunka Center)
サンバ電車 (Samba Train) （チケット1名様　2,000円 per person）	8/7（土）13：20～14：37	十鉄路線・十和田～七百の区間往復 (Towada Toutestu Line: Towada Station ～ Shichihyaku, round trip)
前夜祭 (Zenyasai - Festival Eve) （入場無料 - Free Admission）	8/7（土）17：00～19：00	文化センター (Bunka Center)
パレード (Parade)	8/8（日）11：00～13：00	産馬通り (Sanma Doori)

 
夏まつり花火大会 Summer Festival Fireworks Display (Aug 14)
Location: 陸上競技場、中央公園内 (Track & Field Track, Central Park - Many/most people watch from Kanchogai Street)
Time: ~19:00-20:30

選抜高校相撲十和田大会　All-Japan High School Sumo Tournament (Aug 15)
Location: 十和田市相撲場 (Towada Sumo Dohyo)
*Time: 8:30~
*Admission: Adults 1000 yen advance/ 1500 yen at door; free for youth/children high school aged and younger

全日本大学選抜相撲十和田大会 All-Japan University Sumo Tournament  (Aug 16)　

Location: 十和田市相撲場 (Towada Sumo Dohyo)

*Time: 9:00~
*Admission: Adults 1500 yen advance/ 2000 yen at door, free for youth/children high school aged and younger

盆フェスタ Bon Festa (Aug 28?)
*Location: 十和田市稲生町　八丁目街区 国道102号（旧国道4号）Inaoicho Hacchome Gaiku National Highway 102 (Old Rte 4)　/ 十和田市現代美術館前 Towada Art Center
*Time: 17:00-21:00

* Assuming it's the same as last year

How to make heart-shaped food

I've gotten some comments about my heart-shaped tamagoyaki, so I thought people might be interested in knowing how to make heart-shaped food. ^_^ It's super simple, actually: all you need is oval-shaped food!

Cut the food diagonally like so:

Then flip one of the pieces over and put the two pieces together (along where it was cut) to make a heart:

For small but thick foods like tamagoyaki, you can use a toothpick (I bought reusable plastic ones designed specifically for use in bentos from the 100 yen shop) to hold the shape together.

There's actually another method that's great for bread which I learned from the manga-form essay book My Darling is a Foreigner 2 (Darling wa Gaikokujin) (p18):

^_^ I love ideas that are really simple but make you think "That's brilliant!" the first time you learn about them.

I hope everyone can enjoy heart-shaped food from now on! =D

A week in bentos

I've never been a morning person, but right now I'm having enough fun making bentos for lunch that I haven't minded getting up between 5:00 and 5:30 every morning to shower and prepare. (I'm still not used to making bentos, so I give myself way more time than I actually need for preparation.)

This week I was diligent and brought a bento for lunch every day!

Monday, July 26th:
This was the bento that required the least work. I just cut up the eggplant and heated the leftover (tomato &) meat sauce from Sunday's dinner, threw it on top of some rice and topped it off with cheese.

Tuesday, July 27th:
My "Shinya Shokudo" (深夜食堂) themed bento. The amai (sweet) tamagoyaki and tako-shaped wieners are from the first story in the first volume: 赤いウィンナー ("Akai Wiener" or "Red Wieners").ポテトサラダ ("Potato Sarada" or "Potato Salad") is the eleventh story in the same volume. And the egg salad sandwich is from the third story (seventeenth overall) in the second volume: タマゴサンド ("Tamago Sando" or "Egg Sandwich"). The fruit was just because. ^_^ (It's pretty much the same as my Chuutairen bento, just with potato salad instead of broccoli, and minus the strawberries--which apparently aren't a summer fruit in Aomori/Japan...).)

Wednesday, July 28th:
An おばちゃん ("obachan" or "old lady") bento. Technically it should probably be more brown and flavoured with soy sauce, but I figure it still qualifies. =P I was out on Tuesday night so I didn't have leftovers or much time to prepare for the bento. So I went simple with a 日の丸弁当 ("hinomaru bento" = white rice + umeboshi; "hinomaru" is what people call the Japanese flag, literally "day's circle") and 油揚げとなすの甘辛煮 (simmered sweet and salty eggplant and abura age) and store-bought fried squid.

Thursday, July 29th:
Back to a "proper" green, yellow and red bento! Along with the leftover eggplant, I had さばのひと口ピカタ ("saba no hitokuchi pikata" or "bite-sized mackerel piccata") and microwave steamed broccoli with mini tomatoes sauteed in olive oil as side dishes. Unfortunately the fish was WAY too salty--which I probably should have figured would happen since I could only find 塩さば ("shio saba" or "salted mackerel") and not plain old saba in the grocery store. ^^;;

Friday, July 30th:
Another green, yellow and red bento! For sides I had leftover broccoli plus mini tomatoes (raw this time!), amai tamagoyaki, tako-shaped red wieners PLUS a penguin shaped イチゴミルク ("ichigo miruku" or "strawberry milk") wiener!!! When I saw it in the grocery store I thought it was so bizarre of course I had to buy it! It actually didn't taste as strange as I thought it would. For the "main" I had one umeboshi and one tuna (with mayonnaise, of course!) onigiri (rice ball).

By the way, the link has been in the sidebar for a while now, but I forgot to point it out before: Just Bento (http://justbento.com) is a great website in English all about making bentos (with recipes and useful tips)! If you're interested in bentos, you should definitely check it out! ^_^

Aomori Guinness world record attempt

Just got this email...I'm tempted to join, but Aomori is an hour away... ^_^;;

If ya'll haven't heard it through the grape vine, this Saturday AOMORI will attempt a world record for most people gathered to play the bamboo flute. We are just a hundred plus people away and NEED YOU!

You don't need to know how to play the flute per say, when they say go, just blow!

Doesn't that sound fun? ;-)

THIS SATURDAY MORNING, 9:00am at the NEBUTA village near ASPAM.

Please meet at the village's EAST SIDE entrance and bring some friends.