Bear Mountain Park

Not to miss the foliage, we hopped in a Zipcar and drove up to Bear Mountain in upstate. BTW, Zipcar is really awesome. Easy to use and cheaper than rental cars. Bear Mountain is just off the Peekskill and it doesn't feel like it's only 1.5 hours away from Manhattan. We drove a bit, enjoying the colors of leaves. Then we ran into the last day of Octoberfest. Lucky us! German wine, beer and sausages. It made Miko's hungry tommy happy happy. Bakc on the car. I insisted to drive, on a 25mil/hour road. I officially have both Japanese and US license. But I never felt safe driving. In fact, my boyfriend (current and old) rarely let me drive. But hey, we are in the mountain, I can do it. I drove for 2 minutes. Just keep the same speed is hard enough. 4 cars are making a line beind me. Panic. Give up. What's wrong with me?I loved the rocks. Huge rocks. Some with beautiful surface made by moss and water dropps. We did a bit hiking and found a small fall. The iron racoon-dog is actually a grill. How cute!

Wave Hill 2

We visited again the Wave Hill garden in Riverdale, Bronx. The last time was in early summer. It was a bit chilly but enjoyed the plants and flowers of this season. All the funny-looking plants give me inspiration for my drawing. Nature creates so many amazing shapes and colors. Simply amazing.

Korean Parade

I happened to be in Korean town on the day of Korean festival. A huge parade on the Broadway from 34th. While waiting for my friend, I totally enjoyed the parade. Interstingly yet rightly so since we are in NYC, there were non-Korean people in the parade. I wish Japan had such major event to celebrate our own culture.

Soba Dinner

Another evening by myself. Another chance to cook myself a nice Japanese meal. Tonight's menu is soba noodle soup and kabocha pumpkin. Soba is Kake-Soba style, just with scallion and tororo-conbu (slimy seaweed). Simple simple. Kabocha pumpkin is not like squash. More flavor and sweet. It's pretty cheap and easy to get at supermarkets. The skin is really tough when uncooked, but it gets soft and edible (actually taste really good) once cooked. Kabocha is perfect for pumpkin soup.

Butoh America

Japan Society has hosted another week of Butoh performance. This year commemorated the 101 birthday of Kazuo Ohno, the founder of Butoh, who is still teaching actively. Our first pick was the last performance by Kazuo's son, but it was sold out. So we went to a show directed by one of Kazuo's students. To my surprise, 6 female dancers in American Aparrelish costume. My body was stiff for the first 5 minutes. But then I began to feel the softness within the powerful movements. I really enjoyed seeing female playing—Butoh is normally known for male performers. 6 girls act completely different moves. How could the director come up with all these moves and how can they remember that? Finally, the director/choreographer Akira Kasai, who himself is a mid-aged man. The concept for this show was to produce a new Butoh that cannot be produced in Japan or Europe, but only in America. Next, I aim to see Kaisanjuku.

Apple Cider Season

Instead of coffee, I got a cup of fresh hot apple cider for pick-me-up. Many farmers have hot apple cider but this one was pretty good, a bit sour and lots of apple. $1,50. It's the orchard that sells famour juices. Nice way to start a Monday morning...

Adam's Rib

Desprate for some fun movie, I picked this movie, one of the highest rates on Netflix. Turned out this movie features a feminism—specifically the equal rights between Man and Women before the law. Story is simple. A love, mid-age, lawyer couple (Spencer Tracy and K Hepburn) gets assigned on a attempted murder case: A housewife finds her husband flirting with another woman in her apartment and shot him. Spencer on the husbund side, Hepburn defending the wife. Hepburn's eloquent and powerful approaches and her passion toward equal rights unfortunatelly brings inaccordance to their house. Besides the story itself, Hepburn's costume is so worth watching.

Scallop and Beets Salad

My boyfriend made scallop in cream sauce and beets salad with mustard dressing. He's always a good cook but this dinner was one of my favorites. So lucky to have a boyfriend who likes to cook.

The sallop was top-notch. He browned the scallop and cooked in the cream sauce which had shallots, butter, cream, garlic and white wine. Top it with fresh basil. His signature beets salad is the recipe he learned from the chef he used to work for as a waiter in Minnesota. Roast the whole beets. Cover them and cool. Peel and slice beets. The dressing is a mixture of olive oil, ground mustard, dijon mustard and a bit of honey. Top with sliced caramelized or roasted onion and some blue cheese.

Hofstra University Visit

I was invited to speak to a small group of students at Hofstra University. One of the students picked me up aa the LIRR Mineola station with his MINI. The group was small but they were all very nice. Creative advertising is not the main focus for these marketing students, but they were all well-mannered and listed to me without dosing off. This campus is a state arboretum as well. Seasonal flowers and plants are nicely planted throughout the campus. Evangelistic Miko enjoyed this one-day trip.

Natto Noodle

I was craving for Filet-O-Fish, hesitated to have junk food, went to Japanese grocery store and ended up buying an instant noodle (Nakisoba, stir-fried noodle in worcestershore-like sauce). I also picked up some Natto (firmented, slimy, stringy, stinky soy beans) to help myself with nutrition. The noodle's sauce was a bit too intense and I came up with a solution. Add Natto. I love tomato sauce pasta like Amatricciana with natto. I love natto. The result was above expectation. Natto make the sauce mild and balance up the saltiness. How about slimy yakisoba?!