Prickly heat...aka.. 汗疹 (asemo)

Man, oh man....summer is on, which would be a really great thing for a sunlover like me....if, IF I wouldn't suffer from sweat itch, or what the American teacher calls prickly heat. What a cute name for this beast of dermatological diseases.

The funny thing is, that I never had such a problem, and I was fine even here in Japan until last summer. Then, for the first time I had it. When I went home to Hungary, I visited my dermatologist to save me. She was actually surprised, saying I have a children's disease, as in Hungary (probably due to the climate) it's quite unusual for an adult to have it. Great...

In Japan, however, it's not that unusual at all. I see people with sweat induced rashes all the time. Adults just as much as children. Now I know why they keep the air-conditioners on such  ridiculously low temperatures that your ears freeze off when you enter a room or a shopping mall. I would still opt for a milder 25C though. More than ten degrees difference in the outside and inside temperatures can be anything but healthy, not to mention you can't go anywhere without dragging a cardigan or a sweatshirt just in case.

I feel so depressed right now. Last summer I thought this itchy thing would be a one time experience, coz last summer was crazy hot. Turns out, I was wrong. I'm lucky coz I found an ointment my doc gave me last year, and applied it immediately. But if every summer I gonna get rashes, then my favorite season of the year will become my least favorite one. I can't believe it. Me?!?! Turning into a summer hater?!?!?!

I want to go back and live in Hungary...asap... (T_T)

FOOD!!!!...as promised aka Stinky shellfish and luxury restaurant

It's been a while since my last post, sorry. I got really busy with work and my hobbies, trying to keep stress under control. Not that my job is so stressful now, but being busy is tough at times. 

Sooooo....here we go. I promised I would write about food, so let me tell you the story of the stinky scallop. For those who are not familiar with scallop (I didn't know its name before either) it is a quite big, palm size shellfish. The kind you can see in Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus". My boyfriend bought them, trying to make his own recipe of seafood pasta. Most of the time his creative ideas in the kithen result in really delicious food...this time, well...it turned out a bit different. Also, I'm not a big fan of seafood, I especially hate the smell, but I put up with it for the experience.

They look nice...for interior decoration....

YUCK....

After they were fried, they learned how to swim in pasta sauce...

The result looked and tasted good, but it reeeeeeked...

It smelled even worse after being cooked...so he had to stay in the kitchen to eat, while I was eating in the living room. He was also condemned to eat a whole bar of chocolate to neutralize the smell of his breath...coz I just couldn't make myself kiss him!! However, he said it tasted good, but he won't try it again because of the smell...LOL

A few weeks after this experiment, we had the chance to enjoy a dinner course at a very expensive top floor resaturant at Swiss Hotel Nankai. It was weird coz I'm not used to such luxury. We went all dressed up, and got a table with a gorgeous nightview of Osaka...

Osaka, Namba

It's a waste of water and detergent to use so many forks, knives and spoons for one meal....

Welcome drinks: cassis juice and the restaurant's original cocktail with curacao.

To be honest, I'm not a big fan of courses either. I rather have soup and one maind dish than have tiny portions of so many different fancy stuff. Also, I was sceptical, coz sometimes fancy food doesn't taste at all that good as it looks. Fortunately, it did taste delicious, although too many different stuff made me kinda tired after a while.

Appetizer: marinated chicken.

Páté de foie gras...goose liver pate (aka libamájpástétom...cool) but why the huge plate???!!

A kind of bean soup...again...what the heck is this plate?!?!

Pumpkin paste lasagna :) Yummmiee with mushrooms.

Cheese risotto...the plate! THE PLATE!!!!!

Steak Rossini style...with foie gras on top.

Raspberry jelly with vanilla ice and mascarpone-rhubarb mousse filled rolls

It's not Japanese food, but for people like me, who don't like seafood and raw stuff, there is a great veriety of food to choose from in Japan. And it doesn't have to be a luxury restaurant. I just shared these pics, so you know that Japanese chefs are damn good at cooking western food too!

I'll post sometime soon again about food...and  it's going to be about weird and unusual food! :)