Hiromi Uehara's jazz live

I made a reservation for Hiromi Uehara 's jazz live at Blue note in July.
Now I am listening to her jazz albums "Hiromi's sonicbloom"and "Spiral".I am so moved with her sound.

Actually I didn't know much about her , but as soon as I got to know that she used to be at Yamaha music school in her childhood,I got interested with her background since I used to go the same school for many years and I loved watching the TV program JOC(Junior Original Concert, which is a music concert played by Yamaha's students.)
Unfortunately I ended up with learning the Electone just as a hobby,But I remember I have seen some Junior genius players practicing enthusiastically. 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 (↑Photo from her web site)

Also I was so impressed with the story that Chick Corea invited Hiromi (17years old at that time)to his concert the very next day of meeting her by chance at Yamaha music school to do a rehearsal for his concert in Tokyo .
It must be destiny!!
Afterward she graduated Berklee College of Music in Boston.

As I listen to her music,I feel like the piano is not an instrument for her,but a part of her body and she can't be apart from the piano.She is literally a born musician.

Anyway I can't wait for her live!!!

onegaishimasu... ↓



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Blue Hills at Stone Barns (restaurant)

It was a beautiful day today!! We had lunch with our friend family
at Blue Hills at Stone Barns in Tarry Town.Blue Hills at Stone Barns is located in a huge farm owned by Rockefeller and they use some ingredients such as vegetables ,eggs and meat from their farm.

Although this place doesn't look like fancy from outside,inside the restaurant is well designed ,tastefully decorated with beautiful flowers in the center of the dining hall.
We could see the new green leaves of the spring from the inside.I've never come here for dinner yet,but I would recommend to visit here for lunch,especially in the spring.

The scenery of the bright green grass and trees are so beautiful.

The menu seems to change seasonally.I've visited here twice before and the menu was different every time I came.It was Mother's day special menu today.

These asparagus and beets burgers for amuses were dished up very cute.

Asparagus and carrots seemed in season now.
This carrot soup was so good.
I chose crab cake and lion of beef this time.
All the dishes were out of this world.I am convinced that this is one of the excellent restaurants in NY,even though it's located at a remote area in Westchester.

All of us stuffed ourselves with such a delicious lunch.

After we came out of the restaurants,we got on a hay ride which goes around inside the farm.

It was fun and my daughter was so excited with it ,although I felt a little bit badly when I saw cows and pigs...

onegaishimasu... ↓



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Tofu Soup

We went to IKEA in New Jersey to get my daughter's table and chairs. This is the table set.I love the color.Isn't it cute?My daughter seems to like it.It was fun to look around furniture and kitchen utensils.

After we left IKEA,my husband went to golf driving range.Meanwhile my daughter and I were shopping at Japanese supermarket Mitsuwa and book store Sanseido.

I got some Japanese drills for my daughter.

For dinner ,we went to a Korean restaurant "So Kong Dong" (130Main St,Fort Lee NJ07024),which seems like popular for Tofu Soup(Chige).When we arrived at the restaurant around 7:30pm ,many people were waiting in front of the restaurant.

However,we decided to wait since my husband was saying the tofu soup tasted so good.We got our seats about 30minutes later.I was so hungry at that time and I couldn't wait the food as the smell in the restaurant was so good.We ordered Tofu Soup with Beef ,Oyster Tofu Soup and Beef BBQ.

All of them were tasted good ,but I think Oyster Tofu Soup was more tasty than beef one.My daughter ate Beef BBQ a lot.We can choose the spicy level.We chose the second to the mildest.It was not so hot.

Actually I ate "Tofu Soup " for the first time.I liked it because it seems healthy and tastes good.Also I love the vegetable dishes the most Korean restaurant serve such as Kimchi ,bean sprout.

This restaurant was worth waiting.Only issue was they don't have alcohols.

It is a shame..... their spicy food definitely match beers.

onegaishimasu... ↓



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Metropolitan Museum

I went out to NYC with my daughter today as she had no school. There had been so many rainy days this couple of weeks,so I felt like I had to go out on such a sunny day like today.

I took my daughter to the Central Park as usual since my daughter loves watching carriage horses,although I hate the smell...

Inside the park ,it was really beautiful with the new green leaves. I could smell like the spring .

After my daughter played at the playground in the park,we headed for
the Metropolitan Museum.

However I was not sure how long we could stay at the museum with the little girl, I thought she should learn how to behave in different occasions step by step.... such as she has to be quiet and can't touch paintings and arts in the art museum.

At first,I saw European paintings like Monet,El Greco,Van Gogh,Renoir and so on.Although I am not familiar with art at all ,I am very impressed with the paintings.I saw European sculpture and decorative arts next.As you know, Meto was so big that I got tired of long walking.

My daughter was doing great for an hour, but she got a little peevish.So we took a rest at the cafe in the museum.

After that,we went to the roof garden for the first time.Some interesting arts were there.I kept on eye on my daughter not to touch the arts.

The view from the roof garden was very beautiful.

onegaishimasu... ↓



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A coincidence

When I dropped my daughter off this morning,I happened to see "Koinobori" above a roof of a house near the school.(Koinobori means "a carp streamer "in Japanese .It's decorated in honor of sons and in hope that they will grow up healthy and strong.) I was so amazed with it and I thought a Japanese family must live in this house.

In the afternoon, my daughter and I visited kindergarten for school tour as my daughter is going to enter the kindergarten next year.

I was a little nervous as I didn't know almost anybody....

Suddenly I found a boy with beautiful blond hair running into the same classroom with my daughter .He was wearing a Japanese "Happi" .The word "Matsuri"(meaning :festival)was printed on his back.I almost got laughed at the "Happi" as you know nobody in Japan wears "Happi" as a daily clothes.

Then somebody talked to me in fluent Japanese."Hello. Are you a Japanese?"

I turned round and I saw a tall blonde woman . She told me that she used to live in Japan for many years. And she teaches English to Japanese people at her house now.

Also it turned out that the house I saw this morning with Koinobori was her house.
What a coincident!!

"Koinobori" might have been a sign that I would meet her today.

She kindly said to me,"If you need any help, please let me know.I will help you."

I am so lucky to get to know such a nice woman.

onegaishimasu... ↓



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Magnolia Bakery's cup cake

My husband got Magnolia Bakery 's cup cake for me.

This Bakery is very famous for cup cakes in NY.It's also known as Carrie's favorite shop in "Sex and the City".I have been to the store on Bleecker Street in Downtown before,the store was small and crowded .They have a store close to Rockefeller Center,too.

The decoration of cup cakes are very cute,although they were a little bit too sweet for me.

onegaishimasu... ↓



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Parents Dinner Party

My husband and I attended the parents dinner party of my daughter's nursery school last night.

I feel very weird for not bringing children despite this is a school event,which means we must have a babysitter or have to leave our kids at somebody's house at night.

This time my friend recommended us a very nice babysitter and my daughter seemed to have enjoyed playing with her.

The first 1.5hours was cocktail time at a student's house.The house was so fancy that I wanted to take pictures more.But I hesitated it as if it 's like a curious tourist. We mingled with some parents there.

After that,all the parents gathered at the party place and had dinner with drinking .

It was the second time to join the party so we knew how the party was going.We felt much relaxed and enjoyed the party.

Last year we were very confused and we couldn't talk with other parents so much.

We got over it!We have adapted ourselves to this environment.

onegaishimasu... ↓



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Trader Joe's Spaghetti

I went shopping to Trader Joe's to get dried Spaghetti as I read an article on NY magazine,which was
"Last Noodle Standing".
There were only a few Spaghetti left on the shelf and I guess a lot of people might have read that.

According to this article,3 famous Italian chefs and an actor blind-tasted 8 different kinds of Spaghetti and rated each pasta in flavour,texture,and how well the spaghetti conveyed the butter and Parmesan.

And the result was....that Trader Joe's Spaghetti got the highest score.It's amazing because Trader Joe's Spaghetti was the lowest price among the 8brands...It's only 99cents.

Although I am not sure the authenticity of this result as the panellists are only 4 people,why not taste it by myself ?

And I cooked meat sauce with Trader Joe's Spaghetti. It certainly tasted good ,it has moderate texture. However I didn't think Trader Joe's was much better than Barilla which I usually eat and was the second to the lowest score on this blind-tasting .I feel like they are just different types of noodles and both of them tasted good for me.

But still ,this article was useful to me as Trader Joe's spaghetti is good deal..the low price and good taste.

onegaishimasu... ↓



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