Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day In the US, they celebrate Valentine's Day between not only boyfriend and girlfriend but also family and friends. Today I saw a gentlemen buying a bunch of flowers and I also received telephone calls and messages of "Happy Valentine's Day" from my friends. I felt so happy!

Spring Street Natural Reataurant & Bar

I had a late lunch at Spring Street Natural Restaurant & Bar, which is an organic restaurant, at the corner of Spring St. and Lafayette St. in SOHO, Manhattan, as it's name describes. Most of their dishes are made of organic ingredients and they also offer vegetarian and vegan dishes. The restaurant has a large airy room and the atmosphere was good. I ordered a hot appletizer and creamy vegetable soup, and the Fritatta of the day. The hot appletizer was good and relieved my tired body. The Fritatta portion was big but the dishes didn't have much taste, so I had to add salt and pepper. The waiter was very friendly but rushed me a little bit and I could not be there for a long time. However I had a good lunch time looking at people coming and going in the Soho area from the restaurant's window.

Bryant Park

At Bryant Park, we can have Wichcraft's sandwiches and coffee. It was a fine day today after 5 days of rainy and snowy days. How great it was having coffee sitting in Bryant Park in the sunshine!

So Kong Dong Restaurant (Soft Tofu Restaurant)

I had lunch at a well-known Korean restaurant, the Soft Tofu Restaurant, at Fort Lee, NJ. Last time we went there for dinner, there was a long waiting line-up outside the restaurant and we gave up. So this time we went there before noon, avoiding the lunch rush. The restaurant was full of Asian, Korean and maybe Japanese and I even felt Asian energy. Their main dish is Korean Soft Tofu Soup (Sun Du Bu Chigae). I could choose from non-spicy, not so spicy, medium spicy to hot or very spicy. I chose not so spicy Oyster Tofu Soup (Oyster Chigae). Even if it was "not so spicy", it was spicy enough for me and the soup was bubbling and so nice and the soft tofu was so silky. it was only USD8.00 including their free appetizer which was fresh and good. I liked to have Chigae at "HAM BAT" in Manhattan, however I think the Soft Tofu Restaurant is better than that. It's worth going across the George Washington Bridge to have Chigae here.

Whole Foods Market's Eco Bag

Whole Foods Market offers a wide selection of reusable bags for sale. Their design and material are varied and change frequently. I think the canvas Eco bag sold fast. Even if I find a canvas Eco bag at one Whole Foods Market, It's possible that I cannot find the same bag at another Whole Foods Market. On the right of this picture is something called a "Better Bag" which costs 99 cents. This is made from recycled plastic bottles. I think the market really makes us reuse bags. Usually we buy a lot at supermarkets at one time so only one Eco bag doesn't help us. However this Better Bag is very cheap and we can stock a lot of our shopping in it. If we use any Eco bag at this market, they give us 5 cents.

I'm back

I was in my country from the Christmas season until yesterday because I had to help in my parents' house. It has been one and a half months away from New Jersey, but it's still winter and it snowed yesterday and it was minus 12 degrees Celsius today. When I'm in the US, I become a meat-eater, yielding to the temptation of hamburger and tacos. In addition, it's always warm inside our apartment and in the corridor and also I don't do any particular exercises, so inevitably I gain weight. However when I'm back in Japan, I eat Japanese food loaded with fish and vegetables every day. Also I exercise my body because it's almost the same temperature inside the house as outside when the heater isn't turned on. Also I was walking over 30 minutes everyday. I feel that I re-fleshed my body during my stay in Japan. It was thought-provoking. In the US, I become unhealthy unless I try to choose what I eat. So I want to make a choice of food thinking about a healthy life.

The vegetables in American supermarkets are not juicy and I don't feel like eating them much. However if I choose organic vegetables, they are fresh, juicy and safe but their cost is high. In Japan, I didn't care about organic food. However the difference between organic food and non-organic food is very big here. I was checking out about "Organic" and noticed that buying organic food is helping organic farmers and contributing to the protection of the environment and the earth and I am happy about it. My husband's assignment in the US extended to one year instead of a half-year but it seems to be shorter now. We might be here about 2 or 3 months more but I would like to try to be closer to LOHAS as much as I can.