Mixed Beans Soup - My Healthy Diet

I tell you a secret..(ehm..ehm..) I have been wanting to lose some weight. You know, for some people, spring is a good time to start dieting, so that when the summer comes, they will have good shape for swimming suits and tank tops. No no..not that I want to show off on bikini or tank tops during summer, here is the story... I went shopping for some new clothes and felt that no clothes were good enough on my body, flab here and there..(sobbed sobbed). Thus I decided to go on healthy diet and a bit of exercise (taking the kids to walk around the neighbourhood, I guess it's enough, don't you think?).
For Indonesian, it is normal to consume rice as our staple food. And I read that it is a big no no to consume white carb when you are dieting. So I switched my diet to lotta grains, beans, fruits and vegetables. And here is one of my healthy diet, mixed beans soup.

Ingredients:
200g of 15 beans for soup (store bought), soaked overnight
2 sausages (any kind, to your preference), cut
2 celery stalk, cut
1 clove onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 tsp of dried oregano
1/2 tsp of dried thyme
1 tsp of cayenne pepper powder
1 tomato, chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp of chicken broth powder
water (or you may use chicken broth instead and skip the powder)
salt
sugar

Directions:
Saute the chopped onion and garlic with olive oil until fragrant. Add water or chicken broth and continue to cook until boiling. Add the soaked beans and cook for an hour over medium low heat or until the beans tender. Add celery, bay leaves, dried oregano, thyme, cayenne pepper and chicken broth powder (if using it). Add salt and sugar to taste. At last add sausages and tomato, simmer for another 2minutes.

Caution: expect for more gassing when consuming this, as most beans produce flatulence.

Kyoto Japanese Restaurant - An Afternoon Play-date and Surprised Dinner

Yesterday was Friday, daddy went home from school and hurried us to go out for some play-date at park. So we went to Emily Murphy park and played with the kids at the playground.

They only have small playground there, and kids were quickly bored playing the same thing over and over. So we decided to leave after 20min playing.

Then we stopped at William Hawrelak park, where the kids ran around chasing birds and ducks.

It was quite amusing how the kids ran around and screamed to the max. I was screaming too to warn them not to get too close to the water, since I did not want them to fall into the water and get soaked. We left when they got tired with the birdies and duckies.

Daddy drove around the town and suddenly make a turn to an unexpected place, Kyoto a Japanese Restaurant. This is a small, busy, but fancy Japanese restaurant. I love the entrance where they have this calming fountain.

And the familiar interior items next to the reception and sushi counter.

They prepare fresh sushi and maki right in front of us, which I thought was very nice. And yes, the waitress and all the restaurant employees got to wear yukata, except for the reception (No idea why they don't).

They have two different seating areas. The ones with tatami and the ones with regular tables and chairs. Since we were with the kids, it would be so much easier for us to sit on the regular table and chairs. (Unfortunately I did not take a picture of the tatami one, since the place was so busy at that time).

So at first we were offered some drinks, our choice went for hot tea (indeed it was a very good one) and apple juice.

They have various kinds of appetizers, sushi and maki and cone, some udon soup, soba, rice dishes, and of course some dessert. They also have special menu of the day (we did not try though).

After the drinks we were served with some miso soup and one small plate of salad (I think this salad goes with daddy's order). To my note, the miso soup was very tasty, if only they put some seaweed, that would be perfect! It only has some tiny tofu and spring onion. But still it was delicious.

The salad was yummy too, it was lettuce, tomato, cucumber and celery with some tangy sesame dressing.

It was a bit hard for me to choose what to have for dinner, since I was not really hungry, but I know I got to eat something. So my choice was this tempura udon. The tempura consists of prawn, squid, sweet potato, eggplant and cucumber. The broth was tasty enough, but the tempura was bland.

Here is daddy's choice, chicken teriyaki dinner. He gave excellent mark for this dish. Jordan and I got to taste the chicken too, and indeed it was delicious.

We also had some maki (California and Dynamite rolls) and sushi (Smoked Salmon and BBQ Eel). As for me, the maki taste so so (or I might be too full by the time they served these), but the sushi were sooo good and fresh.

This is the dynamite maki with prawn tempura inside.

Overall, we were content with what we had for the amount of money we had to spend and definitely we'll be back again. So if you are in town, I recommend this Japanese restaurant, it is worth to try. Be prepared for some extra money to spend (compared to food court or franchise class restaurants).

Happy Mother's Day!

Kyoto Japanese Cuisine

Downtown: 10128 109St Edmonton, AB T5J 1M7

7804201750

University: 8709 109St Edmonton, AB T6G 2L5 (we went to this one)

7804146066