Buying Halal Meat ハラルの肉を買うこと Hararu no Niku o Kaukoto

Hi everyone :),

I've enjoyed the weather here for the past few days (it's not too cold, max is around 13'C) but today, temperature started to fall and it's cold all over again (and windy too). Woke up late again and I cleaned my room today.. Borrowed vacuum cleaner from the dorm's office.. That's why "Word of the Day" for today is 掃除機 (soujiki - vacuum cleaner) ^^

Back to this entry's title, I will buy my weekly Halal chicken meat from Al-Flah Supermarket in Ikebukuro. 1 whole chicken can last for 1 week.. Yeah, I eat a lot.. Hehe.. Eating is always a great thing to do but cutting and cleaning the chicken is not that great.

Finding the supermarket for the first time is quite hard (took me 30minutes to find it). So, in today's entry, I will show the way to get to the supermarket from Ikebukuro station's West Exit :D

First, take the escalator at the West Exit to the ground level,

From Ryugaku 留学 - Jepun

Upon reaching the ground level, turn to your right and walk towards Matsumoto Kiyoshi pharmacy,

From Ryugaku 留学 - Jepun

Next, walk pass the pharmacy until you reach KFC and a street sign written "西一番街",

From Ryugaku 留学 - Jepun

Just walk through the street,

From Ryugaku 留学 - Jepun

Until you reach the end of it,

From Ryugaku 留学 - Jepun

Then turn left and walk for a few metres and Al-Flah Supermarket will be on your right, on 4th floor of 大野屋ビル (Oonoya Building),　

From Ryugaku 留学 - Jepun

From Ryugaku 留学 - Jepun

Here is the address,

Ohnoya Building 4F, 2-41-2, Ikebukuro,

Toshima-ku, Tokyo 171-0014

It's 4'C now.. Hu.. - -"

Goodnight!

Sunday morning.. 日曜日の朝..

Its Sunday again.. I can say that this week's Sunday is not quite the usual Sunday because I forgot that today is cleaning my room day but it will be ok since my autumn break is until Thursday.. I will clean my room tomorrow.. Hehe.. Oh, and I went to IVY Festa in Rikkyo's Niiza campus.. It was a nice experience going to a Japanese festival.. The food looked (since I can't eat it) great and it is truly an ideal carnival with lots of people, activities and foods.. :)

I start my day with an early morning shopping to buy eggs (the supermarket near my dorm, Daiei sell 10 eggs for 98yen (u.p 198yen)) and bananas.. I'm not a cheapskate kind of person but I did what I have to do, i.e. try to minimise my spending as much as I could.. I don't mind waking up early.. Really.. Here's what I bought:

From Ryugaku 留学 - Jepun

After that, I did the usual thing I do in the morning.. Checked my e-mails, Facebook, Twitter, my favourite blogs and the weather..

Since I arrived in Japan, it has become a habit for me to check weather forecast or 天気予報(tenki yohou) before going out. Today, I fully trusted the forecast and I didn't bring along my umbrella even though it looked like it was going to rain. Well, it did rain but only for 10-15 minutes.. I was glad I made the right choice. The other method to determine if I should bring my umbrella or not is by watching people who passed by my dorm, I watch them from my balcony and if many of them have umbrella with them, I will bring mine before going out.. This kind of method seldom fails.. Haha..

From Ryugaku 留学 - Jepun

After breakfast, I went out and my destination: Rikkyo's Niiza campus.. For the IVY Festa.. ^^

Homemade Food 自家製の料理 (Jikasei No Ryouri)

Konbanwa! It's Monday! Always had the Monday blues and I'm not feeling very well today, the temperature suddenly drop to around 15'C this morning. I caught a mild flu and my head hurts. Since it's only autumn I don't know if I can survive winter later! Huhu..

I love Sunday.. Well, sort of.. Hehe.. Sunday is the day I usually do my laundry, clean my room and the toilet.. After that, I will cook my lunch at the dining room and then do some preparation for next week's classes..

As a Muslim, I have the adhered to some food/drink dietary (I can't eat pork and consume alcohol). Even though I can eat chicken and beef, since in Japan, chicken and cow is not slaughtered according to Islamic ways, I can't eat those meats too.. Meat that came from animal slaughtered according to Islamic ways is called Halal meat. Luckily, there's a few online stores that sells Halal food stuff and I found one Indian shop near Ikebukuro station's west exit that sells Halal foods.

Buying from online stores requires delivery charge of 1200yen, so, I seldom buy from it. Only once, to be exact. That was when I first arrived here. They will deliver it by using the Takkyubin and I have to pay when the item is delivered (COD-Cash on Delivery). Below is the items I bought from the online store (www.baticrom.com),

I bought Thai rice (I will try Japanese rice after this.. Hehe..) This pack of 5kg can last for about 2 months,

From Ryugaku 留学 - Jepun

Items I bought (Beef, chicken, cooking oil, chili sauce, soybean sauce and mango drink)

From Ryugaku 留学 - Jepun

I will go to the Indian shop every week to get my Halal chicken for 367yen per kilo. 1 kilo will last for about a week. Ok, now back to the topic of homemade food.. I have to cook my own meal everyday and that means lunch and dinner. I don't have much problem about doing it, it's fun.. I can try different menu everyday.. My meals MUST contain rice, at least once (for lunch). It can help me survive well during the day at campus. Before coming here, a friend recommended me on Onigiri lunch but it's just to little for my body to handle.

Usually I start my day with cooking the rice like 6-6.30 am and then go back to sleep. Then, I will wake up and cook some dishes to go along with the rice or fry the rice. I will put some veges (carrots, potatoes, mix vege) with meat/egg. Here's some of my meals I prepared for lunch and dinner since I arrived:

This one is my favourite! Maggi's Instant noodles from Malaysia,

From Ryugaku 留学 - Jepun

Simple meal of mushroom soup, scrambled egg and bread,

From Ryugaku 留学 - Jepun

Beef soup and rice porridge,

From Ryugaku 留学 - Jepun

Chicken whole leg fried wit rice porridge,

From Ryugaku 留学 - Jepun

Chinese fried rice,

From Ryugaku 留学 - Jepun

Beef soup with rice,

From Ryugaku 留学 - Jepun

Black pepper fried vermicelli with chili sauce,

From Ryugaku 留学 - Jepun

Lunch, rice with beef fried with carrots, potatoes and black pepper,

From Ryugaku 留学 - Jepun

The part I don't like about cooking for myself is the after-cooking cleaning.. Haha.. Have to wipe the cooking heater (well, I can just leave it the way it is but it doesn't feel right and look so messy).. Well, that's what living alone is all about.. Jya..