A loud thunder woke me up this morning. It's been very hot - more than 30°C these days, so I'm glad that it rains today. When it's too hot, we eat cold noodles too often. Not much bread. Well, I never lost my appetite for German bread though. My favourite breads are boiled in Laugen (Caustic soda solutions) before baking. I think the twisted shape brezel (called Laugenbrezel) is very famous. It is so different from the American pretzel, a brezel is quite big and very moist inside and a crunchy outside. Eating brezel with unsalted butter makes a great combination for the rock salt outside. Yum! The round shape, the long one, some cheese on top, there are many kinds of Laugen bread. If you go to Germany, please try some freshly baked Laugen bread!

I went to a press conference in Harajuku for SOUND X VISION 2004. The work by Cornelius x Groovisions is really nice. When the GAS SHOP was still in Nakameguro, I bought groovisons' DVD GRV1778 which is very cool, but I like the new one even more, because of the story.

Recently, C has cooked dinner every Sunday night. It seems like he's really enjoying. Yesterday's dinner was Gnocchi with Smoked Salmon Cream Sauce. All of the dishes he makes are more stylish and tasty than what I do. I was going to take a photo of the gnocchi, but C told me that we should eat before it gets cold. Well, you are right. But I wanted to take some photos! When C left the table for a few second, I had a chance. And! In my hurry I dropped the camera on my plate. But the gnocchi became a cushion for the camera and the plate and they were safe (and gnocchi too). I'm sorry that I ruined the dinner! I hope C will keep continue to cook on Sunday♥

We went to a standing bar to celebrate the birthday of the boss from our local izakaya. There was an amazing flower present which was taller than 2m. After that, our friend took us to an Irish pub in Hiroo. It was nice cosy place for grown-up people. They were showing the EURO 2004 on TV. I don't watch football, but it seems like something is happening (or missing?) on this championship.

As you might know already, the meaning of my blog's name LDK is 'Living-Dining-Kitchen'. This is probably a Japanese-English word. When I was in Germany last month, I was very surprised to see the car's number plates. Almost all plates said LDK! The district where C's parents live called LDK which is stands for Lahn-Dill-Kreis, means 'Lahn River, Dill River District'. What a coincidence!

We got a letter from C's mother in Germany, and we found the sage seeds inside. There are 29 seeds between very thin ø10cm papers. The instruction says, put soil on top, place it in a blight warm place and water them everyday. If it is before the bloom, nice to make herb tea with the fresh sage leaves. I didn't know that they are not only for cooking. Ms sage also makes a cup of sage tea for herself. Apparently the sage tea is good for the a sore throat and the inflammation of the gum.

Do you know what this is for? This is not for covering your head. Well, it's kind of similar but they are pot covers. I can use them instead of cling film. I bought them at a supermarket when I was in Germany last month. They are cheaply made and I could buy similar stuff at imported kitchen gadgets shops in Japan, but these are very cute and cheap. This set contains six different sizes and costs only €1.09 (¥143). I feel like I became just a little bit closer to being an Eco-friendly person.

The F1 racing driver Takuma Sato was on the podium for the first time with a third place in the US Grand Prix! It has been fourteen years since the Japanese driver was on the podium (with also a third place) last time. His driving was so good! I hope F1 becomes more popular in Japan because of him. Hopefully the TV time schedule changes too. In Japan, TV shows F1 only in the early morning. I understand that if it's a live program but usually they broadcast a recorded and edited version.

The other plan of our date in Yokohama was to have a dim sum dinner in Chinatown. Just before the dinner, we had big steamed pork buns from a stall on a street. It was piping hot and so juicy. We also bought some Chinese sweets. My mum used to buy them on the way back from my aunt's place in Yokohama. Sweet memories! By the way, on Friday, we just watched Chinatown on DVD. Jack Nicholson was so cool! I think Roman Polanski's films are great!

I had a date with C in Yokohama. We took a sea bus from Nihonmaru Memorial Park to Osanbashi International Passenger Terminal. I don't see many amazing buildings these days but this was great. The building has no supporting columns and many slopes, it was kind of a spatial art. The colour of the wooden floor was quite faded because of the sun light. But only tiny corners in the shade were still red-ish brown colour. It was a nice place, and lots of people seemed to enjoy sitting on the lawn even there was a 'Keep Out' sign.

The other day I bought mosquito repellent coils and a ceramic container at MUJI. The design is very simple MUJI style and quite small. It seems like that the wind won't blow off the ash of a coil. Very good. The mosquito season is coming soon. I flatter myself that I am super popular among mosquitoes.

These days we don't have rain at all in Tokyo, even we meant to be in the rainy season now. I've washed 6 jumpers this week so far, because of the nice weather. I even washed a duvet. Before the rain comes back I want to wash 6 more sweaters. I also bought lots of repellents. Yes, I'm doing KOROMOGAE 'a seasonal change of clothing' for our wardrobe. I should have done this on 1st of June. This is very old Japanese customs, and we need to switch garments because the temperature changes a lot between the four seasons in Japan. We never wear a wooly clothes in the summer time, like I did when I was in London. But London's summer seems very hot recently. A global warming?

I love cooked soft boiled eggs from Naomi Takayama's recipe book. I cook these eggs somtimes. But I boiled the eggs too long this time! I want to eat them with coriander but that's quite expensive in Tokyo, so I use thinly striped Japanese leek instead.

There is a recycle shop near our flat. They sell lots of junk (maybe some antiques too?) and quite interesting. Our friends from London enjoyed to shop there, and they bought glasses for us. It is a set of 5 Pierre Cardin glasses made by Japanese company called Sasaki Glass (with an original box). It seems like they are from 70's. The colour combinations are very nice. I've seen high ball glasses (tall one) with the same design before.

The 'BUILDING' project which TRICO DESIGN LOVE! has been working for 2 years is completed. And we went to the opening party. There were many nice details, the concrete walls, a kitchen sink (and a cooker) and a washing machine are behind doors, they chose Pantone colours for the post boxes in the entrance hall. The colour numbers match the room numbers. The 'BUILDING' is in Ichigao in Yokohama city. The price for renting a flat isn't very expensive because of the location.

Our guests flew back to London. Thay had to leave our flat at 6 am, so we decided not to stay up till late on the last day. But we went to Karaoke after we had dinner and drinks at an Izakaya. We sang for 2 hours! It was 3 am when we arrived at home.

We went to Niagara for curry. I chose dry curry this time, but I think the normal curry is better. The lady from the restaurant told me that Niagara appeared in magazines in England and Hong Kong, so they have lots of customers from there. After we ate our dinner, she showed us many magazine articles about Niagara, including a big article in a Japanese railway magazine. It has been 22 years since this curry restaurant opened.

On Wednesday, I went to Nikko in Tochigi prefecture with our friends. It was raining a little bit and quite misty, but that made everything beautiful. It's a shame that we didn't have enough time there, we only walked around the Nikko Toshogu temple area. I recommend that you stay there overnight if you want to see lots of the world heritage shines and temples. And Kegon Falls (18 July, we went there!), one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Japan. On the way back to Tokyo, we had gyoza (Dumplings) flavoured snacks in the train. This was a Tochigi prefecture exclusive. Utsunomiya city in Tochigi prefecture is famous for gyoza!

Yesterday, I went to East Gardens of The Imperial Palace with friends. All plants and the lawn looked very healthy because of rain. We had nice burgers for lunch at KUA`AINA in Marunouchi Building. I'm sorry that I didn't to take you to a Japanese restaurant!

We went to a yakiniku (barbecue) restaurant for dinner with our friends from London. When we were grilling the fatty pork, it caught on fire. We missed the right timing to eat it and it turned to bacon...

It was announced yesterday that the rainy season has started in Tokyo area. C and our friends went to Asakusa in the rain, and C brought ningyo-yaki (doll-shaped Japanese cakes) home. There are lots of ningyo yaki shops in Asakusa (in Japanese only), but we always buy ningyo-yaki from Kibun-dou which established in 1891. I like the design on the bag. If you are not very keen on sweet red beans, get one without filling.

We woke up at 4am to go to Tsukiji market. I've been there twice already, but I could enjoy this time too, because the weather was very nice even in the early morning. (But I think I and C had enough of Tsukiji fish market!) We had ramen for breakfast in Tsukiji.

It was the second time I played pachinko. The last time when I went to pachinko about 5 years ago, I won lots of balls (beginner's luck!) and I got many sweets etc. But this time my ¥500 didn't last more than 3mins! I needed your magic Minky MoMo! Apparently, this pachinko shop appears in the film Lost In Translation.

After we had ramen at afuri, we went to a standing bar which our local izakaya opened recently. I could see that the space used to be a liquor shop. There were big fridges, and chairs were inside. We could sit down.

I haven't eaten ramen (lamian) noodle for ages. The roasted pork fillet on noodle was quite fatty but nicely grilled. They use thin and straight type noodle. I had soy sauce flavour, I want to try salt one next time.

Today is my first home-made Ume Liquor's birthday. Yesterday, at midnight, we had the 'opening day' celebration after being matured in the bottle for a year. It was super good! I should make some this year as well.

I was walking around Harajuku-Omotesandou area with my friends from London. We decided to eat some Japanese food for lunch and chose a little place where they serve curry and a set meal. The inside looked like an old karaoke-bar. I'm not going to mention the quality of the food, but the middle age ladies who served us were nice. It seemed like there were only regular customers who are young single men probably working at shops in Ura-Hara (back side of Harajuku). Maybe they look for a taste of home?