Author: sweet surrender

Day 4: Quick Visit to Wakayama Castle from Osaka

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One of the Kansai prefecture is Wakayama. It’s quite easy to get there but does require a fair bit of time to reach there. You need to allocate at least 2 hours to be safe if you are using the public transport especially with the train as you need to take consideration of walking time to your station(s), waiting time for the subway and train depending on your starting point in Osaka. However, it is fairly easy as it is the same direction to Kansai International Airport and the train will be clearly marked with the name, Wakayama, once you are at Namba Station. You can take Nankai Line Express.


We departed from out hotel at around 10am and reached there around 12pm. In fact, we were not very sure where we should be going because there were too many places to visit there. My goodness! So many awesome places there from onsen to seaside to orchard to hiking trails and so much more! Check out https://en.visitwakayama.jp and you will be spoiled for choices. So we decided to just settled with Wakayama Castle as it is the nearest to the station and the easiest to go since we could only do half-day trip. Do spend more days here, maybe 3 to 4 days if you want to visit those places further away in Wakayama.


This is the castle we visited.

Wakayama Castle in Wakayama, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, sits at the mouth of the Kii River. Originally ÅŒta castle, home of the Saiga Ikki, it was captured by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1585, during the Siege of Negoro-ji; many monks from Negoro-ji sought refuge in ÅŒta, which was soon destroyed by flood. (Source: Wikipedia)


Left: We were silly enough to not see the main entrance and went further away from it and came across the back entrance. We didn’t use this entrance because it said that you might invite misfortune.

Right: So we walked further again until the carpark entrance and climbed this staircase with sounds of crickets in the background.


Once we were up at the castle ground, we could see view of the city but these birds on the trees attracted me. I zoomed in to take photos of them. Many of them flying around and rest on top of the trees.


Left: The view of the castle from the viewing spot.

Right: A key attraction in Wakayama Castle is Ohashi Rouka aka Ohashi Roka.


We went in Ohashi Roka and I kicked the plank, ouch! I didn’t realize the planks on the floor were not flat but has small steps and the slop is around 11 degree angle, so it is to prevent slipping. You need to take off your shoes. If you want to see how is the inside looks like, do check out my video at the end of the post.


This is Momijidani Garden, it’s just next to the bridge. I can imagine how beautiful it will be when autumn comes. From green to orange, red, and yellow. WOW!

We didn’t visit the the inside of the castle because we had other plan. If you want to visit the interior of the castle, you will need spend more time here, do come early so that you won’t reach Osaka too late in the evening or unless you want to have a full day here and go back to Osaka late in the evening.

The opening hours of the castle is 9am-5pm.

Here’s my Day 4 video, you will see more views of the castle and hope that you can subscribe to my channel too.


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Going Places, Land of the Rising Sun - Japan, Vlog

Day 3: A Visit to Cupnoodles Museum Osaka Ikeda

Posted on By sweet surrender No Comments on Day 3: A Visit to Cupnoodles Museum Osaka Ikeda

Cupnoodles Museum Osaka Ikeda (8-25 Masumicho, Ikeda, Osaka 563-0041, Japan) is a fun place for children and adults to visit when you are in Osaka. Not only you can learn about the history of instant noodles and Cup Noodles, you will also get to learn about the founder, Momofuku Ando.


The museum is not hard to find. Most importantly is that you need to get to Ikeda Station on the Hankyu-Takarazuka Line, then follow the signage or there will be people manning the information counter to tell you how to go there at the station. Admission is free.


You can make your own cup noodles and instant ramen by paying for the activities. Be prepared for the long queue. Weekdays are the best time to go, weekend will be crowded. However, it was quite packed that time when we went there because it was their summer holiday. Their opening time is 9.30pm-4:30pm daily except Tuesday(off day).


Here’s the pricing of the activities:
Chicken Ramen Factory
Elementary school students 300 yen
Adult (Junior high school students and older) 500 yen

My CUPNOODLES Factory
300 yen for each CUPNOODLES


If you wonder how does it looks like inside, do check out my travel vlog below…


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Food Porn, Going Places, Land of the Rising Sun - Japan, Vlog

Ayam Brandâ„¢ Community Care Campaign 2019: Get Healthy Malaysia, Start Now (Sarawak)

Posted on By sweet surrender No Comments on Ayam Brandâ„¢ Community Care Campaign 2019: Get Healthy Malaysia, Start Now (Sarawak)

After the successful Ayam Brandâ„¢ Community Care Campaign in 2018, they are now back with new theme, Get Healthy Malaysia, Start Now, that aims to empower children from 10 states in Malaysia with information to identify healthier food choices and equip them with skills to prepare their own Malaysian Healthy Plate meal. The program is open to children from eight years up.


This year, there are four charity homes from Kuching received two months’ supply of Ayam Brand™ products equivalent to 47,340 healthy meals for the total of 263 residents at these homes.

Ministry of Health Malaysia promotes Suku-Suku Separuh, the division of plate portion to a quarter for protein, a quarter for complex carbohydrates and half for fruits and vegetables. It is an easy way to portion out the types of food our body needs. Ayam Brandâ„¢ adopted this Suku-Suku Separuh concept for their annual Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme.

There were 20 children from Kompleks Kebajikan Laila Taib, Rumah Kanak-Kanak Toh Puan Hajah Norkiah Kuching, Salvation Army Kuching, SK. Batu Lintang and SJK (C) Chung Hua No 3 participated in the informative, challenging and fun ‘Ayam Brand™ Community Care Campaign 2019, Get Healthy Malaysia, Start Now’.

The event kicked off with an interactive introduction to the #sukusukuseparuh concept, followed by five teams of five children preparing a meal based on the 3S principles, within 30 minutes with minimal assistance from adults, using recipes that have been vetted by nutritionist.


While waiting for their Malaysian Healthy Plate meals to be evaluated the children were challenged with games that required Higher Order Thinking Skills to reinforce what they had learned on good nutrition.

Here’s the winning teams!

1st: Rumah Kanak-Kanak Toh Puan Hajah Norkiah Kuching
2nd: SJK Chung Hua No 3
3rd: SK Batu Lintang

Consolations:
Kompleks Kebajikan Laila Taib
Salvation Army Kuching

Want to help more communities? Visit the Ayam Brandâ„¢ e-charity at https://www.ayambrand.com.my/e-charity.html and purchase Ayam Brand products to be contributed to a charity of your choice. The Ayam Brandâ„¢ e-charity offers 15% off retail prices, and free delivery to make it easier for more charity organisations to Get Healthy Malaysia, Start Now.

Food Porn, Public Events

How to Find Mamee Monster Ghost Pepper Mystery Packet & Taste Test

Posted on By sweet surrender No Comments on How to Find Mamee Monster Ghost Pepper Mystery Packet & Taste Test

If you are wondering how to find the mystery Mamee, here’s a video I did for you 😉

Taste wise… If you cannot tolerate this spiciness, do not try those very spicy instant noodle, they will be too much for you. To me, this is not too bad, I can accept this level of spiciness but I definitely cannot stand those instant noodle. It’s not for people who cannot take very spicy food.

Happy hunting!

Food Porn, Review It!, Vlog

How to Eat Kushikatsu (aka Kushiage) the Right Way

Posted on By sweet surrender No Comments on How to Eat Kushikatsu (aka Kushiage) the Right Way

When you go to Osaka and you are in Shinsekai, you will definitely find many Kushikatsu or Kushiage eateries around.

The one we went was Kushikatsu Itiban 壱番 新世界本店(Japan, 〒556-0002 Osaka, Naniwa Ward, Ebisuhigashi, 2 Chome−6−1 パインフィールドビル). As you can see from the photo, Lawson is just next to it. It closes at 11pm.


I’m not sure how much these skewers cost as I didn’t order them and we ordered two rounds. The price range between Â¥80-Â¥300 per skewer depending on what you order. There are choices of meat, vegetables, seafood, and even dessert skewers to choose from.

What is kushikatsu?

Kushikatsu (串カツ), also known as kushiage (串揚げ), is a Japanese dish of deep-fried skewered meat and vegetables. In Japanese, kushi (串) refers to the skewers used while katsu means a deep-fried cutlet of meat. (Source: Wikipedia)

Now, let’s learn how to eat kushikatsu:
1. Dip the skewer once into the sauce container. NO DOUBLE DIPPING! Once the skewer is out of the sauce, even when it’s still not out of the container, no more second dip allowed.
(I wanted to dip the upper portion of the skewer, so I tried changing the position of the skewer by lifting it out from the sauce (skewer still in container) and my Japanese friends were horrified, they told me cannot do that, once out of the the sauce, it’s out *LOL* I’ve been reading about it but none mention such rule as they only mentioned about the one that you’ve put into your mouth.)
2. If you have eaten a portion and want to dip it again, you need to get the cabbage to scoop the sauce out instead of dipping your half-eaten skewer into it.
(Trust me, most likely you don’t need it after the first dip, it’s quite salty, one dip is really enough.)
3. Place the stick into the container for used sticks which you can find on your table.

There you go… It’s not that hard.

There are some of the Osaka specialties that we ordered while we dine at the eatery.

Left: Beef sinew stewed in miso (Â¥420).
Right: Takoyaki (Â¥380).

Here’s the other food from the menu:

Left: Dumpling aka Jiaozi (Â¥350).
Right: Japanese rolled egg with seasoned cod roe(Â¥420).

Hope you learn a thing or two from this post and don’t do a boo boo like I did hehehe… By the way, do check out my Kansai Prefecture Tripping series on my YouTube channel(https://bit.ly/lovebellbelle) and hope that you can also subscribe to it.


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Food Porn, Going Places, Land of the Rising Sun - Japan