Sunday, January 8, 2012

Collagen-infused Kaninabe

Kaninabe! No, no, it's not vulgarity even though it sounds like a common favourite in Singapore. 

In Japanese, kani is crab and nabe is steamboat or hotpot. Kaninabe (カニ鍋) is a popular winter dish in Japan. Winter is just the perfect season to sit around the table, eat nabe dishes and get toasty warm. 

When my Mister was here a month ago, we visited my host family. 

And they prepared kaninabe for us! YUMMY! 

So when my friend was here to visit, we decided to cook our own kaninabe! 

But first...
...guess what this is. 

It's a ball of collagen jelly! 
2000mg of collagen goodness to be infused into your nabe dish! 

I usually consume 5000mg collagen a day in powder form, but this collagen-dama is so interesting! 

Ingredients bought from Seiyu. 
Crab, veggies, my darling collagen-dama and a cheese-flavoured soup base! 

We don't have a 土鍋 (donabe - clay pot) that is usually used to prepare nabe dishes, so this steel one will just have to do! 

How the collagen-dama looks like. 

Just plop it into the soup...

...throw in the rest of the ingredients....

...and we're done! いただきます!

Rilakkuma New Year Photo Event

Don't you love the New-Year-themed Rilakkuma??? 

It is the year of the Dragon, so Rilakkuma and his friends are dressed up as the mythical creature and looking ridiculously CUTE! 

Chara Park (pronounced Kyara Paaku) at Kichijouji 

What is this commotion going on here? 

Every once in a while, Chara Park at Kichijouji will hold photo events for some of the popular characters such as Miffy and Snoopy. And for the New Year, guess who came to play??? 

King Bear himself! 

The crowd was crazy, but who could blame them? 
Rilakkuma plus one very cute Kiirotori dressed as a dragon. 

Brace yourselves for an overdose of Rilakkuma goodness! 

 
 
 
 
 

My failed attempt of trying to get a photo with him. 

Let's take a breather by looking at some new Rilakkuma goods

Time for Rilakkuma to return to his chambers.



One last wave to the crowd!