I made this cute kitty avatar!
Isn't it cute!!!
You can create one of your own, here: http://neutralx0.net/tool/bnmk.html
はいはい、にゃあ～ (=゜ω゜=)
Isn't it cute!!!
You can create one of your own, here: http://neutralx0.net/tool/bnmk.html
はいはい、にゃあ～ (=゜ω゜=)
Singing has always been a big part of my life, and I always get excited to go to karaoke with my friends. Since last April, me and many of my friends that I've met through the maid cafe have been regularly going to karaoke together, a few of them which are amazing singers.
Left to right: Me (Jun), Yoko, Yukie at Gamba Karaoke for the first time, together. (-^^-)
Yukie is our local idol in our akiba-kei scene, and attends local conventions regularly to perform. Yoko is a lyricist in the Japanese music industry, who's been an amazing singer for a long time, and never fails to impress people with her voice whenever we go to karaoke. Both of them, good friends of mine that've pushed and inspired me to get better at singing, myself.
I've worked hard to practice singing as well as I do now, but my voice isn't particularly good. It's a little weak, and my vocal range is limited. Nonetheless, I practice my favorite songs whenever I can in hopes to someday become better at performing, myself.
Singing has been one of the only hobbies I've kept and been wanting to get better in since I was very young. When I first began, I feel that I was probably a terrible singer, much of my singing felt off-key and harsh, mostly due to physical limitations from lack of practice. After much practice, I became better, probably up to part with any normal person in a karaoke booth, but I had horrible stage fright. To remedy this, in the 10th grade, I entered a on-stage talent show at my school and sang in front of an audience for the first time.
Last year, the first year of me running Fanimaid Cafe, I scheduled an hour-long on-stage performance for all the maids and decided to try performing again. I had a lot of fun, though unfortunately, my singing and dancing skills were still very minimal. Not only that, but I felt much nervousness, and I was overwhelmed by Momoi cheering for us. ww
When Momoi invited me up on stage, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that blew me away. I was exhausted from cheering, singing along with the songs from the audience, and doing otagei, so I was very out of breath and even MORE nervousthat I had ever been! I look back onto the moment with fond memories, but I had only wished that I had an amazing voice then... because in reality, all the exhaustion made me sing terribly!
However, I have improved much since then, from either practicing on my own, or going to karaoke with my friends. Each time we decide to go is very exciting for me, and I look forward to each time after. Sometimes I feel sad for my voice being so weak and unimpressive, but I hope with all my hard work that it'll become better someday, and that I'll become better at performing for others.
Like Momoi, I have many talented figures to look up to. The amazing singers that my friends are, and all my favorite artists. I grew up for many years admiring Shiina Ringo's music, and jazz vocalists, but in order to perform well in those genres, I'd need a much stronger voice to carry out the soft, sultry lyrics that they do so well. Though, lately, I've been becoming more obsessed with singing enka-- particularly songs by Teresa Teng (and her covers) and Ishikawa Sayuri, which have proven to be very challenging.
I hope that I succeed in my endeavors, as I'll be working harder than ever to achieve it. I have many things to work upon, this year and on...
Wish me luck! （;´▽｀A``
Left to right: Me (Jun), Yoko, Yukie at Gamba Karaoke for the first time, together. (-^^-)
Yukie is our local idol in our akiba-kei scene, and attends local conventions regularly to perform. Yoko is a lyricist in the Japanese music industry, who's been an amazing singer for a long time, and never fails to impress people with her voice whenever we go to karaoke. Both of them, good friends of mine that've pushed and inspired me to get better at singing, myself.
I've worked hard to practice singing as well as I do now, but my voice isn't particularly good. It's a little weak, and my vocal range is limited. Nonetheless, I practice my favorite songs whenever I can in hopes to someday become better at performing, myself.
Singing has been one of the only hobbies I've kept and been wanting to get better in since I was very young. When I first began, I feel that I was probably a terrible singer, much of my singing felt off-key and harsh, mostly due to physical limitations from lack of practice. After much practice, I became better, probably up to part with any normal person in a karaoke booth, but I had horrible stage fright. To remedy this, in the 10th grade, I entered a on-stage talent show at my school and sang in front of an audience for the first time.
Last year, the first year of me running Fanimaid Cafe, I scheduled an hour-long on-stage performance for all the maids and decided to try performing again. I had a lot of fun, though unfortunately, my singing and dancing skills were still very minimal. Not only that, but I felt much nervousness, and I was overwhelmed by Momoi cheering for us. ww
When Momoi invited me up on stage, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that blew me away. I was exhausted from cheering, singing along with the songs from the audience, and doing otagei, so I was very out of breath and even MORE nervousthat I had ever been! I look back onto the moment with fond memories, but I had only wished that I had an amazing voice then... because in reality, all the exhaustion made me sing terribly!
However, I have improved much since then, from either practicing on my own, or going to karaoke with my friends. Each time we decide to go is very exciting for me, and I look forward to each time after. Sometimes I feel sad for my voice being so weak and unimpressive, but I hope with all my hard work that it'll become better someday, and that I'll become better at performing for others.
Like Momoi, I have many talented figures to look up to. The amazing singers that my friends are, and all my favorite artists. I grew up for many years admiring Shiina Ringo's music, and jazz vocalists, but in order to perform well in those genres, I'd need a much stronger voice to carry out the soft, sultry lyrics that they do so well. Though, lately, I've been becoming more obsessed with singing enka-- particularly songs by Teresa Teng (and her covers) and Ishikawa Sayuri, which have proven to be very challenging.
I hope that I succeed in my endeavors, as I'll be working harder than ever to achieve it. I have many things to work upon, this year and on...
Wish me luck! （;´▽｀A``
The past week has been filled with delicious food! What stood out the most was probably this delicious Carribean Tapas place on Haight & Ashbury called "Cha Cha Cha" my friend Yoko took me and Mei, and most of all, the delicious beef curry I madelast night. (-^□^-)
I failed to take a photo of my own curry before all of it was eaten, so this is a photo from the internet. (^▽^;)
Curry is one of my absolute favorite comfort foods (among probably many). I've only began seriously practicing cooking since the middle of last year, and never really thought to change anything from the basic recipe. We had a guest stay for dinner last night, and Mikey had felt like eating curry, and I just so happened to experiment a little. I felt that curry will be good no matter how to make it, since it's such a simple dish, it'd be difficult for it to taste bad.
But little did I know, just a few subtle adjustments and changes in the recipe can do wonders, and our curry last night ended up tasting very delicious. I had leftover bacon-fat from the day before, and decided to sautee the onions and beef with it. I didn't have enough time to marinate or tenderize the beef much, but decided to wash it with mirin for some sweetness, also in a lot of Asian cooking, using any sort of rice alcohol is good for getting rid of any "shin" taste. (I don't know how to explain this.) I poured in the water and brought it to a boil, spooning out any excess fat from the broth.
On a separate skillet, I simply grilled some negi in big pieces with a little bit of salt and added it. The flavor came out surprisingly well, as I was worried any taste left in them would disappear into the curry. The rest was just basic S&B brand curry blocks and a bit of shichimi togarashi.
I didn't add any carrots and potatos, as I didn't have much time to allow them to melt. I prefer them to melt into the curry before serving, rather than leaving them chunky, as the carrots taste too strongly. Next time, I hope to try new ways of tenderizing the beef. A friend suggested I try marinating them in cola, which sounds very interesting and will be something I'll do in the future.
I'm also not very familiar with Chinese curry, but I hope to try to experiment with a few Chinese cooking herbs (though, some are also used in Japanese cooking as well) when making curry. I'm also a fan of Thai and Indian curries, but that may be a project later in the future.
My cooking has improved substantially since I've began, and I feel that many people in my family seems to have a natural talent for it. My grandfather was a hardworking chef, and my grandmother is an amazing and resourceful cook. Even my stepfather cooks as a hobby, and often gives me tips and sometimes helps me out with dishes when he visits.
I haven't tried many cuisines, outside of Japanese and Chinese, and sometimes Italian, but I hope to learn many tasty dishes as I practice. So far, I don't feel that I've made anything that hasn't tasted pleasant, so once I become better at it, I hope more others are able to enjoy my dishes as well.
はいはい、カレー カレー (´ー｀)
I failed to take a photo of my own curry before all of it was eaten, so this is a photo from the internet. (^▽^;)
Curry is one of my absolute favorite comfort foods (among probably many). I've only began seriously practicing cooking since the middle of last year, and never really thought to change anything from the basic recipe. We had a guest stay for dinner last night, and Mikey had felt like eating curry, and I just so happened to experiment a little. I felt that curry will be good no matter how to make it, since it's such a simple dish, it'd be difficult for it to taste bad.
But little did I know, just a few subtle adjustments and changes in the recipe can do wonders, and our curry last night ended up tasting very delicious. I had leftover bacon-fat from the day before, and decided to sautee the onions and beef with it. I didn't have enough time to marinate or tenderize the beef much, but decided to wash it with mirin for some sweetness, also in a lot of Asian cooking, using any sort of rice alcohol is good for getting rid of any "shin" taste. (I don't know how to explain this.) I poured in the water and brought it to a boil, spooning out any excess fat from the broth.
On a separate skillet, I simply grilled some negi in big pieces with a little bit of salt and added it. The flavor came out surprisingly well, as I was worried any taste left in them would disappear into the curry. The rest was just basic S&B brand curry blocks and a bit of shichimi togarashi.
I didn't add any carrots and potatos, as I didn't have much time to allow them to melt. I prefer them to melt into the curry before serving, rather than leaving them chunky, as the carrots taste too strongly. Next time, I hope to try new ways of tenderizing the beef. A friend suggested I try marinating them in cola, which sounds very interesting and will be something I'll do in the future.
I'm also not very familiar with Chinese curry, but I hope to try to experiment with a few Chinese cooking herbs (though, some are also used in Japanese cooking as well) when making curry. I'm also a fan of Thai and Indian curries, but that may be a project later in the future.
My cooking has improved substantially since I've began, and I feel that many people in my family seems to have a natural talent for it. My grandfather was a hardworking chef, and my grandmother is an amazing and resourceful cook. Even my stepfather cooks as a hobby, and often gives me tips and sometimes helps me out with dishes when he visits.
I haven't tried many cuisines, outside of Japanese and Chinese, and sometimes Italian, but I hope to learn many tasty dishes as I practice. So far, I don't feel that I've made anything that hasn't tasted pleasant, so once I become better at it, I hope more others are able to enjoy my dishes as well.
はいはい、カレー カレー (´ー｀)