Hanamachi Lights + Heathen Blog about Food, Bentos, Recipes and Beverages on a Budget

Photos: Japanese KFC Christmas Dinner (make-shift)

Dec 26

Posted by Faith in Holidays, Photos, Real Life, State of Mind, Treats, Try A Dish | No Comments

We tried something a little different this year. We thought it would be fun to do something that’s done in Japan these days, and that’s Kentucky Fried Chicken for Christmas!

My sis and I had a rare and welcome Christmas alone, which meant parade and movies, lighting the Christmas tree and playing records – no family drama, how sweet is that? But we didn’t want to have just your ordinary, everyday Christmas dinner. We decided to do it the KFC way, the way so many people celebrate in Japan.

Well, we can’t get to a KFC and we don’t know all the recipes, so we just had to find a recipe for corn salad and sort of wing it then buy the chicken and cake at Hy-Vee – here’s how it’s supposed to look:

Japan KFC Christmas

And here’s what our make-shift Christmas dinner looked like:

Our Version of a Japanese KFC Christmas

Pretty close, huh? Okay, not exactly – but it was fun and tasty!

Our Version of a Japanese KFC Christmas

Tags: Corn Salad, Fried Chicken, Japanese Christmas, Japanese KFC Christmas, Kentucky Fried Chicken, White Coconut Cream Cake

Bento: #0001 – Baked Chicken, Broccoli & Meatballs

Nov 23

Posted by Faith in Bento, Cookery, Photos | No Comments

I’ve decided to start counting my bento all over again in an attempt to get back into the habit of blogging them – let’s hope it sticks this time!

Baked chicken, broccoli and rice with stir fried peppers, sausage crabs and meatballs.

Tags: Broccoli, Meat Balls, Meatballs, Peppers, Rice, Sausage Crabs

Holidays with Zacapa Premium Dark Rum

Oct 13

Posted by Faith in Uncategorized | No Comments

This post brought to you by Diageo. All opinions are 100% mine.

Guess what time of year it is? Easter? No, try again! Did you say Spring Break…? Need a hint? It’s time for the holidays to roll around, along with all of those delicious desserts and perfect toasts that could use a little something special! There are several things I do differently during the holidays than others do. For one, I can’t stand pumpkin pie. It’s always too thick for me. How good can pie really be if you can’t stomach it without whipped cream? So, of course, I had to mess with it a little bit.

Not only do I fold in whipped cream in place of half of the evaporated milk, but I also get in about 3 or 4 tsp of warm, delicious premium dark rum to give it an extra pop of taste. I carry that rum over to my infamous pumpkin latte that doesn’t taste right without a little rum in it.

Zapaca rum, named for the town of Zapaca in Guatemala, is a beautiful premium dark rum made with quality sugar cane grown in fertile volcanic soil. They don’t use molasses to make their rum, they use virgin sugar cane honey as their base.

Zacapa premium rum is then aged in Quetzaltenango in an aging facility called The House Above the Clouds which stands at 2,300 meters above sea level and is one of the highest in the world. At The House Above the Clouds (don’t you love that name?) they use a 500 year old aging process in which each drop of rum passes through several casks and the rum derives complex flavors, not only from the slow aging process, but also from casks that were used previously for Pedro Ximenez wines, Olosoro sherry and – my favorite – American whiskey.

Interested in learning more? You might consider joining the Zacapa Society where you’ll be able to learn even more about Zapaca aged rum and might even be eligible for prize and gifts!

So, I’ve told you my secret for using Zapaca premium rum in holiday recipes – what’s yours?

Saving Some Pizza Dough

Aug 3

Posted by Faith in Uncategorized | No Comments

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Net10 for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

How I miss Kansas City! I was just looking over my choices of dinner and none of them sound as good as Dominos right now. But, alas, there IS no Dominos here. Or Pizza Hut, or Godfather – just convenience store pizza and, trust me, you don’t want it.

Where we lived in KC was the worst, though. Hubbs managed to find a house that’s not only too far from the shops (and on a busy highway, so no chance of walking unless you wanted to take a muddy shortcut), but he didn’t seem to notice because he has the ability to drive.

We were guests in someone’s home and, being the courteous guests that we are, we didn’t want to over use their phone for dumb things like ordering a pizza. Which is when, as luck would have it, our pre-paid came to our rescue. ( My mom made me buy it, it took me forever to see the Light! )

Net10 has a great unlimited plan. If you want to save pizza money, and I do, you want to get that nationwide coverage at as good a rate as you can.

I’m a big advocate of pre-paid phones. Why bother paying $80-100 every single monthly for practically nothing and be stuck in a contract that you were probably hard sold when you can get unlimited text, minutes and data with no contracts or extra surprise fees along with a name brand phone (like Nokia, Samsung, LG, Kyocera or Motorola loaded with features lie cameras and blue tooth capability) for only about $50 a month? Plus there’s no credit check and, if you so choose, you can grab a pay-as-you-go plan or a simple phone for under 15 bucks.

I thought they would be hard to refill, but you can do it on your phone or online and you can switch your plan out from one month to th enext without any fees or problems with Net10. Heck, even long distance is cheap at about 15 cents/minute to over 75 countries on calls from inside the USA. Plus there’s an international neighbors deally for Canada and Mexico, which is nice because one of my best friend’s lives in New Brunswick. In the program you get a special number that your friends can call and it’ll ring your Net10. But don’t take my word for it, hear it from a real NET10 customer.

I’ve been thinking of trading up to a QWERTY keyboard of slider, but honestly I really want a touch screen smart phone with app capabilities. I don’t even need the video camera or web access, really, but it’s all for under $60 so I may as well take anything they’re willing to throw in, eh? Why am I singing it’s praises when you can check it out for yourself on Facebook and Twitter?

So I have my phone, I saved enough money to buy the odd pizza here and there but I live in the boonies so I’m doomed to live without takeout! I suppose I can always make more of that Spa-Peggy and Meatballs!