My mom's B-day

Today was my mom's b-day, so my dad took her to Nagano to snowboard. I woke up and watched the daily mrs. theatre (drama tv show) from 10:30am as my daily routine. Then my grandma called me saying that she was about to leave to return here at home (she was visiting her other kids outside of the city), so I quickly cleaned the living room and did all the laundry etc. Then I did 1 session of my yoga program and decided to put on my regular cloth to welcome my grandma. She came back around 2pm with my uncle. He wanted to bring some water back to his home (see, the spring water we get here at home is the best water ever!!!), so I helped him bottle some water to last his family for about 2 months. haha Then we went inside the house for a cup of tea and chat. After my uncle left, my grandma and I chatted for about 2 hrs. Then time was clicking, reaching closer to my parents's return, so I had to hurry up and start preparing the dinner. It took so much time to prepare, but we were abe to have supper by 8:30pm, so I think it turned out okay. What I cooked is posted on my cooking page, but since I want to put some comments here, I am going to post the same photos here too

Marinated Squid with Onion Soup and Parmesan Cheese

The onion soup turned out well. The black spots on the squid is its ink, which I purposely dried and added in the cooking oil, which I deep fried it. The brown triangle chip is made with onion. The recipe recommended to use Olive oil, but I want to use salad oil to have more crispy taste next time. If added a little more flour in the onion dough, it may turn out more crispy too.

Shrimp & Potato Cake

I was a little disappointed with how this dish turned out. No wonder. I was too focused on preparing the dish. I totally forgot that the recipe asked for sweet potatoes and not regular potatoes. I felt that the ingredients killed the beauty (texture/flavour/color) of shrimp that I minced and added in the patties. I hope to pick something more cheerful dish for my dad's b-day that is coming in a week! lol

Chocolate Mousse B-day Cake for my mom

For me to prepare two dishes and then Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Mousse, Creme Anglais and Chocolate Sauce in less than 4 hrs definitely was challenging (since the onion soup required a lot of preparation (low heat cooking for 2-3 hrs)). Anyway, when I realized that the chocolate cake did not turn well, my parents also came home. I was very disappointed as the rest turned out fine. To serve the rest of creamy flavour only would have been too rich, so I really wanted to have some sponge cake and a bit of brandy soaked in the cake with them. So after we finished dinner, I asked my dad to take me to a nearest grocery store, where I bought a sponge cake/snack bakery. I used it as a sponge cake and made a b-day cake for my mom quickly. I wanted her to blow off the candles just like a kid, you know? Anyway, my mom looked joyful and happy. So it made my day :) As for her, it seemed as though a b-day card from her English speaking friend brought her such surprise and immense joy, today! I still remember her reactions coming to show me in the kitchen all surprised: "oh wow, how did *** know how to write Japanese perfectly well like this??" LOL Well, thank you for your sweetness, my friend :)

I hope all of you have sweet happy Valentine's day!