little but great apprehensions

taken with polaroid 180 on blue film

so, i have some apprehensions these days.
those can become more serious if they relate to food. (for me.)

well, i have two little-but-great apprehensions apparently.
you know, if you've loved something very much for long time, the problem with that must become much more serious.

so,i don't want to admit it, but i'm afraid that i can't enjoy coffee any more.
since i came home from italy, i've been sick.
i'm getting better and better day by day, but i came to notice that my favorite coffee doesn't taste good as before.
coffee hurts my throat and head.
and that fact hurts my mind.

i'm not sure if it's because i had lost my voice for more than a week.
my throat has been so sensitive originally, and when i get a lot of stress and tiredness, it easily gets perverse.
the trip to italy was kind of hard for me this time, and i firstly lost my voice on the last day of the trip in rome.
so, my throat might have been resisting any small stress since then.

or, i'm afraid that i had too much caffein in italy and my liver might take a defiant attitude after i came home.

anyway, i'm so sad that i can't enjoy coffee which had always entertained me a lot.
and i'm wondering if this situation is temporary one or everlasting one.

another apprehension is related to my favorite bagels.
i like beginning my morning with a bagel.
my favorite breakfast is always consist of a bagel + a cup of coffee (now i drink a cup of tea with a little bit soy milk) + yogurt.
even though my naturopathic doctor recommended me to replace a bagel with other nutritious menu like oatmeal or brown rice, i can't follow that.
and i've loved bagels from a grocery store next to my apartment.
i sometimes tried other bagels from other bakeries and grocery stores, but my most favorites have been always same.

recently i noticed that the store is changing their bagel style.
looks of new bagels are different from former bagels in terms of color, shape and weight.
so, they are totally different.
totally.
i was soooo disappointed with this incident.
i wanted to throw a tantrum, but instead of doing so i bravely decided to try new bagels telling me " you're an adult, aren't you?"

then, i tried a new bagel this morning finally.
it had blueberry flavor.
well, it wasn't that bad as i had been afraid.
it wasn't bad, but i loved former ones.
i'm missing my favorite ones.

i think i need some time to get used to newcomers and say good-bye to my old lovers.


my goodness, i'm experiencing hard time.
food related problems are serious to me.
as i probably told you before, breakfast is my most favorite meal of a day.
and two problems i talked to you today are both related to breakfast.
so serious.
i know only time will tell everything, i know.


dear breakfast,
you're always my joy.
and you're sometimes my anxious, too.
i know love is always like this, isn't it?
sincerely yours,
tomily

around the table in bologna, italy

today, i'm gonna talk about the table in bologna, italy.

my husband i traveled around italy for 9 nights (11days) early in may, 2010.
this was the 2nd trip there for us (the first was exactly a year ago).
this year, i want to introduce some favorite table scenes in italy here.




we (my husband and i) stayed in bologna for just one night.
we didn't have any restaurant information there, but we like finding our favorite during strolling about the town.
you know, usually restaurants in italy close their stores after lunch and reopen them about 6:30~7:30 at night.
so peeking into glasses and silverware on tables in unlit restaurants through the window during siestas is one of my favorite activities in italy :)
and by doing that, i also search for the best place for the day's dinner.

and, this is the restaurant we found there.
i liked their menu.
they have only 4~6 kinds of selection for each courses.
i like that way.
listing only their confident dishes is an essential point for being a good restaurant, i believe.




for our antipasto (appetizer) , we ordered a dish of tuna carpaccio with radish and orange.
we ordered only one dish for each courses, but the chef kindly dished up on separate dishes for my husband and me.
this was so good because we didn't have to devastate this beautiful dish work before eating :))
and of course, it tasted so good as well.




for the primo (first course), we shared a dish of pasta with squid.
we'd not exactly had the idea what kind of taste it would have, but we ordered this without any hesitation.
because, as i firstly said, they don't have so many selection for each courses, and this was probably the only one we could eat from them.
we don't meat, do you remember?

and, it was totally delicious without any doubt!
the chef also dished up for each person as well.

so, the bread here was very desirable one.
it was just that of tuscany; no salt in bread.
most dishes in italy are salty, and so as pasta dishes.
i ate this delicious but a bit salty past dish with this tuscany bread and it worked very well.

my husband was so pleased with this pasta dish and said that it had kind of same flavor as a japanese fried noodle with squid ( ika-yakisoba)!!




for our secondo (main course), we took a dish of octpus stewed with tomatoes, and grilled vegetables for the side.

so, i didn't expect that i could eat this much of seafood in bologna.
i thought that bologna is the central city for meet eaters, and i would hardly be able to find other dishes than meat ones.
but it was not!!
it's kind of impressive, and i appreciated my instinct to find a pleasing restaurant :))

well, we enjoyed this dish, too.
before ending all courses, we ordered half litter red house wine twice, and drank all up!
we finished all courses and a litter of red wine.
we did a good job.
they were all so good.
molto bene, in italian. :))





here's our rule.
when we are so much satisfied with the food in restaurant, we order a dessert and espresso and celebrate the day's beautiful dinner.
we have to decide to forget all calorie thing ;)
so, we ordered a dolce (dessert) they recommended to us and espresso.
i don't exactly remember what this desert was, but it was probably made from ricotta cheese and eggs and cocoa.
it was so good with bitter espresso.

everything here was more than fine.
i hope you try this pretty restaurant in bologna if you have a chance.
i usually don't follow people's recommendation for restaurants, and i dare not do that either.
but this time, i dare to recommend my favorite restaurant to you :))



-restaurant information-
Trattoria Oberdan
Via Oberdan, 43/a-40126 Bologna
051 272309
333 8642524 (cell)








all pictures here were taken with nikon-f on kodak portra 400nc.

most favorite orange marmalade ever

taken with poraroid sx-70 on 600 film

how're you guys?
i feel terribly bad.
i'v lost my voice for more than 5 days.
firstly i lost my voice in rome.
yes, rome in italy.
because of the bad air quality there, the tiredness, the allergy, having caught a cold passed by my husband ;P
so, i've just accomplished my second visit to italy, then i'm afraid that the third visit is never gonna come.
i'm not sure, but i'm just in that mood now.
i hope someday i'll totally forget this pain like a cheerful dog.

anyway, i'm so relieved at my home.
air is clear, my cats are lying down by me, bread is fluffy and moist, and coffee is mild.
i'm just happy to listen to my cat's meow sipping my daily morning coffee in a big mug.

and, i'm also happy to say hello again to my favorite marmalade jam.
i don't remember if i told you i went back to japan and stayed there for about 3 weeks before the trip to italy.
the day before i left japan, my 3rd mom sent me and my 1st mom 6 big jars of homemade orange marmalade!
then i took 2 jars and my 1st mom keeps rest of 4 jars.
as soon as i came back to the U.S., i couldn't resist to open that new marmalade despite i have another jar of marmalade i'd already opened before i went back to japan.
i totally fell in love with my 3rd mom's lovely marmalade.
fyi, i decided to call my aunt in law "my 3rd mom" after i got married.
the 1st mom is my original mother, the 2nd mom is my mother in law, and the 3rd is her.
i don't know if you believe this or not, but the 3rd mom is really important, really the necessity.
even though the thing that i dare not to tell to my 1st and 2nd mom, i can tell her that very honestly.
and she listens that with very calm and kind comments.
i love her as much as my 1st and 2nd.

the bitterness and the soft sweetness of the marmalade gives me a little smile.
a little is enough now.
i want to feel the happiness of my daily life like that.


dear the orange marmalade,
a spoonful of you, golden orange drop is the best medicine to me.
i agree with the saying "good medicine tastes bitter." ;))
sincerely yours,
tomily

p.s. wish me getting my voice back!!

the pizza sitting on a table other than mine

taken with mamiya m645 on ektar100

hi guys.
do you thinik i'm improved a bit?
do you think i finally became a frequent blogger?
i hope so.

so today's story is also from the one i had in portland.

do you remember that i have been looking forward to eating pizza on every sundays which my husband makes for me?
i really love that pizza, and i don't eat any other pizza than that..... oh, correctly, i had not eaten.
i committed the affair ;P
while i stayed in portland, my hubby and i went to a brew and pizza place.
there is a brew pub we've been fallen in love and whose name is "laurelwood".
there're two locations in portland, and we usually go to the one on 23rd street.
so we went there first as usual, but only found that it's gone!!!
we're so shattered and went to another one in hollywood district, and this one is the brew and pizza place where we went this time.
our soul was lingering on our favorite one, but at the same time we felt happy to have a chance to visit another one because we had been so much interested in their specialized pizza served there.
needless to say, we ordered 2 pints of our most favorite beer in portland, whose name is "free range red", and pizza margherita in 15 inch.

conclusion.
i prefer my husband's pizza.
i love his most.
beer was good as usual, pizza was also good, but i love his.

i asked the girl who brought a pizza to us what happened to our favorite place and she said that it had been under the reconstruction because of its oldness and planned to be reopened in this April (so, it must've been by now).
well, we love that place because the place was old, actually it had originally been someone's granny's small pretty old house.
i hope the renovation was limited to minimum.


dear my pizza,
now i really know where my pizza is.
i'll wait you on my table :))
sincerely yours,
tomily

my favorite in portland (or)

taken with mamiya m645 on portra400nc

hi.
as you've already known that, i've also known that i'm a bad blogger here.
and i don't have any recognizable reason for that, so i don't excuse for that.
simply, i'm sorry that i'm such an unimproved bad blogger, friends ;P

i wrote at the last post that i should've write something about my favorite winter fruit, persimmon for the next post, or correctly i should've write something before my favorite winter fruit went away.
and now, the season has apparently and totally gone away, you know.
so for today's post, i prepared some pictures about my habitual spring food event.
the name of the event is "visit portland, drink and eat something fancy!"
i think some of you've known that portland, oregon is one of the famous city for craft beer.
there're tons of micro breweries here and there, and it's so hard to tell which beer is the best.
i can just tell you my favorite, not the no.1.
by the way, why the event "visit portland, drink and eat something fancy" is my habitual spring event is this, the weather condition in my area usually doesn't allow me to go somewhere out of town in winter, and portland is the city which is the nearest big city to my area, and my naturopathic doctor lives in and i keep on seeing her twice a year.
to sum up all these reasons, portland is the symbol of spring for me :)

in this spring trip there, i went some of my favorite breweries to get fancy beer and food.
today's picture was taken at the bridgeport brewery in pearl district in downtown portland.
i went there for lunch of the 1st day of the trip.
my husband and i got up terribly early in the morning, drove damn 427 miles (683km), reached there just before noon with exhaustion.
before having lunch, i lightly strolled about the famous saturday market around the portland state university and took some pictures.
this is my favorite activity and during all the boring winter time in my town i had been looking forward to doing this.
then i went to the brewery.
so you can easily imagine how this glass of beer tasted!!
it was just nectar, and i felt that here's the obvious reason god loves us.
do you think i'm too much excited and exaggerate the thing?
wait, wait, and please understand my situation.
this happened all after the 4-months-cabin fever and the damn long drive!!

as i used to live in portland for 11/2 years about 5 years ago, i know the town very much.
and i still love there.
and i still have a secret ambition for buying our house there.....
anyway, this was not the first time for us to dine in at the bridgeport brewery.
i had been longing its homemade soft pretzels for long time and i ordered and shared this with my husband this time.
it came with 2 kinds of dippings, one is mildly hot cream cheese made with their beer, the other is their original mustard also had the hint of the note of their beer.
i loved the way this 3 small pretzels were served.
it was just the right way to be served along with their delicious beer.

other than pretzels, we ordered a fish tacos plate.
it was also delicious and fancy in color.
the reason why i want to return to this brewery restaurant is i can notice that chefs here select their ingredients carefully from fresh seasonal produce.
and i believe how much they add heat, process and season is limited to minimum range so that the fresh ingredients don't lose their original taste.
as a result, i think the eaters can appreciate the gifts from the earth, and feel as if they're told how to enjoy food and lives.
right food and drink should be like that, shouldn't they?


dear bridgport brewery,
i wish i lived on your attic!
seriously love you.
sincerely,
tomily



this is the fish tacos plate. two fish tacos (for each, grilled salmon with diced mango, fresh salsa and sour cream on 2 small soft corn tortillas) came with steamed white rice and black beans. a small cup of guacamole on the side.