New Blog

I made new blog. I will introduce my Japanese life and good restaurants!

Mari @ Kumamoto, Japan
http://chanmari2.blogspot.com/

Farewell Party

3 of my best friends gave me a farewell party at one of their house. They prepared many kinds foods and sweets. We drank wine. I really impressed their kindness and was so happy. I have stayed in Albany Almost 3 years and will leave on August 2. Off course, I missed Japan. But I love Albany and my friends in Albany. I will miss all of them.

T.G.I. Friday's (American food)

When one of the lab member's birthday is coming, we have a lunch at outside, such as T.G.I. Friday's (http://www.fridays.com/home/welcome.aspx), Panera(http://www.panerabread.com/) or ICHIBAN(http://www.ichibanalbany.com/). Today we had a lunch at T.G.I.Friday's. The foods of this restaurant is cheap and big volume, and most of students are satisfied with these foods. I ate "half sandwich and soup combination" today. The volume is half but it was enough for me
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T.G.I. Friday's
40A Stuyvesant Boulevard #A
Albany, NY 12203
TEL (518)489-1661
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BBQ Party

Today I had a BBQ party at my adviser's house. This party was for 2 undergraduates students and me. 2 undergraduates students graduate in last May and I will finish my course this summer. It was a potluck party and I enjoyed eating so much!! Drinking beers, eating delicious food and chatting with my lab mates, it was really nice and made me so happy.

Potato croquette

Today I will have a potluck party in my adviser's house. Our lab members will join this party. It is difficult for me to decide which food I will bring every time because some one cannot eat beef, some one can only chicken and vegetables, some one cannot spicy food and seafood. Finally, I made potato croquette think morning. I mixed potato with onion and bacon. Then, I covered with crumb and fried. They look delicious ???

Apple cider doughnuts

Suddenly, I really wanted to eat "Apple cider doughnuts", then I went to "Indian Ladder farm(http://www.indianladderfarms.com/cgi-bin/ilf.cgi)" and bought them. Their doughnuts were so soft and simple tastes. I tried them several times but I cannot get tired of them. So, I can not stop eating...

Free Pastry Day

Today is "Free Pastry Day(http://www.starbucks.com/retail/print_free_pastry.html)" at the Starbucks. Enter the Starbucks before 10:30am and buy something to drink, then you can get any pastry you want!! Off course, I went there on the way to my lab and got the "raspberry muffin"!

New Chinese market

New Chinese market opened last Saturday at Central Avenue. It is the biggest Chinese market in Albany area, I think. It is big and clean, and these are many kinds of Chinese product. Especially, I like Deli corner and bread corner. Yesterday I only strolled in the market because there were many customers there and it took long time to pass the register. I will go there later again. Unfortunately, there are a few Japanese product there but I like Asian market and enjoy shopping.
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Asian Supermarket Corp.
家家楽超級市場
1245 Central Avenue,
Albany, NY 12205
TEL (518)438-8868
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Lunch Gathring at Hana Japanese Restaurant

I had a JLCC (http://www.freewebs.com/jlccsuny/) lunch gathering at "Hana Japanese Steak house and Sushi bar (http://hanaalbany.com/#/home)". There were 20 members joining this event. Last time I came there, I like the Sashimi (law fish) very much and this time I tried "Sushi Dinner($21)". Law fish was still good!
The gathering was so nice. Many Japanese and Americans who study Japanese talked together and enjoyed Japanese food. Unfortunately, I had a meeting yesterday and could not stay longer. But I enjoyed a happy time in this restaurant.

Professor Java's Coffee Sanctuary (Cafe)

I went to "Professor Java's Coffee Sanctuary(http://professorjavas.com/)" on the Wolf road. I am really interested in the name of this cafe. Inside the cafe is wide and very cheerful. Of course, there are many kinds of coffee but there are some tea and smoothie. Also, they serve sandwiches, cookies, muffins... This cafe makes me little uncomfortable because customers and shop person talks a lot and little noisy. So, I think it is difficult for me to read a book or write a report in this cafe. however, coffee is good. It is Deep-roasted and I love deep-roasted coffee very much.
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Professor Java's Coffee Sanctuary
217 Wolf Road Albany, NY 12205
TEL (518)435-0843
M-Th 7am-11pm
Fri.& Sat. 7am-Midnight
Sun. 8am-10pm
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Ragonese Import (Italian Deli)

This shop "Ragonese Import (http://alloveralbany.com/archive/2009/04/17/tiramisu-at-ragonese-imports)", is near the St.Peter's Hospital. The shop looks old and very small but many customer come there. One of my friends recommended me to try "Tiramisu" in this shop and I went there. I think Tiramisu are not made in this shop and keep in freezer. The price is $3.99 each and it looks little expensive for me. But taste was delicious! Also, it is put in the glass. This glass is pretty and I love it. I will definitely come and buy this Tiramisu again. Also, I bought tuna salad. This salad was mix with celery and very creamy. I put it in my sandwich and it match very good.

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Ragonese Import
409 New Scotland Avenue,
Albany, NY 12208
TEL (518)482-2358
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Cella Bistro (Italian or Frehch)

I had a dinner with my friend at "Cella Bistro (http://cellabistro.com/index.html)" in Schenectady. Inside the restaurant was very elegant and I like these taste. I ate duck and my friend ate mahimahi. The duck was so soft and the combination of source on the duck, which was made by wine, and duck was really amazing. I love duck and ate duck many times but I have a first time to eat such a tasty one. Mahimahi was also nice, especially the texture of side dish (sauteed mushrooms) was excellent! We really enjoyed dinner. Finally, we ate dessert; I ate caramel cheesecake and my friend ate crumble with raspberry. Unfortunately, they were not special (not bad but not good).
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Cella Bistro
2015 Rosa Road, Schenectady,
NY 12309
TEL (518)-381-2081
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Soda or Pop

When I ate lunch with my lab-mate, one of them called "Pop" to soft drinks. I call "Soda". It is so interesting thing for me. Then, I looked for interesting map in web site(http://gigazine.jp/img/2008/09/11/map_what_carbonated_beverage_called/popvssodamap.gif). Half of the area's people call "Pop". Uh... interesting!

The Jonesville Store (Cafe)

I went to get my lunch at "The Jonesville Store(http://www.thejonesvillestore.com/)" because one of my friend recommended to go this cafe. It is the one what I imagine the cafe in small American town. It's so cute. They serves sandwiches, bagels, salad, cake and so on. I bought quiche for lunch, Curry chicken salad for dinner, coffee cake for snack and meat loaf doe dinner. Quiche is kind of spinach, cheese and bacon. The pie part was so crispy and I like this texture. I got 1 piece of quiche but I thought I could eat 1 more piece. They have a lot of seats inside and outside the cafe. The terrace seats looks so nice in such a lovely day. Next time, I will stay longer and enjoy the lovely day.
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The Jonesville Store
989 Main Street, Clifton Park,
NY 12065
TEL (518)877-0507
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Dessert at Barcelona

I went to have a dinner with my friend at "Barcelona(http://www.barcelona-albany.com/)". I went there several times and I like their food. Today, we ate small portion of food because we wanted to eat dessert! We ate "Cheese cake with strawberry" and "Chocolate cake". Cheese cake was delicious but not special. I was little disappointed. However, Chocolate cake was really nice! Inside the cake, there was hot chocolate source and eat it with cold ice cream was really amazing combination and it was fascinated me a lot!

Pound cake

I got the pond cake from my friend. She made it for me. It looks Japanese cake taste, it means un-sweet. It makes me in the heaven.

Dinner at Cafe Madison

I went to "Cafe Madison(http://cafe-madison.com/)" several times to eat lunch but I have a first time to eat dinner. The atmosphere is completely different lunch time from dinner time. Lunch time is very casual and livery but dinner time is very posh and calm. I like both of them. We ate "Crab cake", "Vegetable spaghetti" and "Duck Ragu". Crab cake was crispy outside and soft inside. The combination was really good. There were many kinds of vegetables in Vegetable spaghetti and it tastes very soft. Duck ragu's taste was little thick for me. Also, the amount of pasta was too much and I took out to my house. During dinner, we talked a lot about our job and study because we have not met about 3months and we had many topic to talk. This restaurant made us relax and we forgot to time. I love "Cafe Madison"!

Alessi goods

I love "ALESSI(http://www.alessi.com/en/)" products. This time I bought the salt and pepper set. The design is unique and so cute! This design has other products, such as magnet, egg cup and key holder. I wan to get another one, too!

Eel

I got eel in Asian market and today's lunch was eel, which was mixed with cucumber and egg. It's Yummy!!! This eel is not bad but I miss delicious eel in Japan.

Bella Napoli Bakery (Bread & Cake)

I went to buy some cakes at "Bella Napoli Bakery(http://www.bellanapolibakery.com/)". This shop sells many kinds of cakes and breads. I was so surprised! I did not decided which one I will buy. I roamed this side and the other side for several times. Finally, I bought dozen of dinner roll, an Italian cheese cake, 2 Eclairs and 1/2 pound of Chocolate cream puffs. All of them were only $9.00!! Also, this shop has counter seats inside and we can eat pizza and sandwiches. I will try next time. However, why I did not know such a good shop ???
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Bella Napoli Bakery
Corners of Route 9 & 155
Latham, NY
TEL (888) 800-0103
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