lunch...the non-hot dog in a hot dog bun

The first picture is yakisoba pan. We had yakisoba for dinner last night. Basically it is chow mein noodles (soft) with carrots, cabbage, and onions smothered in Bulldog (essentially the Japanese version of Worcestershire or A1 steak sauce). It is topped off with benishoga (red pickled ginger), aonori (vivid green seaweed sprinkles), and katsuoboshi (bonito fish flakes). Yakisoba pan is a great to spruce up leftovers...kids love yakisoba pan, as do I!

The second picture is 'to go' caffe soy latte. I rarely go to Starbucks these days and ever since I heard about the 'latte factor' I stopped going as often. Have you heard of the latte factor? I never saw the Oprah episode in which this buzzword was born but the premise of the idea is that if you stop having those daily lattes and coffee breaks, it adds up and you can save a great deal of money. Suppose you drank a latte a day...at 3 dollars a coffee and another 2 for a biscotti, butterscotch scone or what have you...5 dollars per day at 5 days a week...4 weeks...100 dollars a month. I suppose the same can be said of anything - unnecessary snacks, chocolate (my ultimate weakness), chips, wine...oh no, don't take away life's little luxuries. I'll cut back on the coffee but don't count on my worrying about the 'chocolate bar' factor.

The last picture is egg salad in a hot dog bun. You know how hot dog buns are cut horizontally from the side back in North America? In Japan they cut a slit through the centre on top - at first I wondered why anyone would do that...but then I realized the bun help up well (did not break apart) and the egg salad contents did not fall out as I ate it. Innovative, those bun-makers!