Dykehouse Sensei

Vegips

2012-02-02T03:56:00.000-08:00

God have I ever found my new favorite side for lunch: Vegips. This newly-found delight is all sealed up in a pretty green package that boasts a picture of its yummy contents proudly.

In the package there are pleasingly crisp potato chips, airy, dissolve-in-your-mouth onions, and Japanese pumpkin with a subtle sweetness that really compliments the saltiness of the potato chips and onions.

Unfortunately they run about 138 yen a bag, which is a bit pricey considering the size. I can't lie and say I won't be buying them often, though! Have you found any new treats lately?

What the Heck is that Noise?

2012-01-30T03:19:00.000-08:00

Last night we were watching a movie when suddenly we heard a loud whistling tone. It kept getting louder and louder, leading us to run around to different windows to figure out where -- and what! -- the noise was coming from. I began to get a bit more frantic in my search, wondering if a factory was going to blow up or if it was some kind of earth quake warning I hadn't heard about.

In the end, it turned out to be nothing of the sort. It was a yakiimo truck selling roasted sweet potatoes! I ran down and took the video above (which is very poor quality, but can give you an idea of the sound we'd been hearing), and then bought a sweet potato for Chad and I--a whopping 500 yen!

The price was worth the experience I guess--it was cool to be able to take a picture of the guy's truck and get a sweet potato randomly at 10:00 at night. The guy even whistled to his dog to come to the front window! Then again, Chad pointed out that by buying a sweet potato from loud truck-on-the-move, I had also encouraged the guy to repeat his sales on other nights.

This is the back of the truck where the roasting is done--and where all the noise comes from!

Our great, big sweet potato

Delicious as the sweet potato turned out to be, I sure hope Chad isn't right about that noisy business coming up our little mountain again!

Slippers, Sweets, and a bit of the Strange

2012-01-29T00:18:00.000-08:00

I used to get really offended when Japanese people commented on the way Americans never take off their shoes when they get home because I always had to when I was growing up (then again, that was after we got new carpet). When such a conversation occurred, I was always sure to defend myself and say that each family is different, but that my family...well, you get the idea. In any event, what I couldn't say is that we have to take off our shoes anywhere else. In Japan, you take off your shoes and change into inside shoes/slippers as soon as you enter someone's home, but also when you enter a school, a gym, or sometimes even a restaurant. That, to my knowledge, is not at all an American custom.

We've gotten pretty used to wearing slippers indoors everywhere, to the point that my slippers had gotten worn out to an embarrassing degree. I finally got around to buying new ones the other day--one pair for home, and one for school.

What do you think? I got them at one of my favorite stores, Loft.

When I was searching for slippers, I couldn't help but notice some more Valentine sweets that I have to share with you! Rather than being kind of strange like the other ones I posted, these ones are just cool!

Isn't this turtle pretty?

Cute little piggies!

This detailed crocodile is too cool!

Darling Rilakkuma chocolates!

I would just like to drop a subtle hint to Chad about the chocolate turtle and Rilakkuma. As in they would be good for Valentine's Day. For me.

And before I go, since I did mention those unusual Valentine's gifts earlier, I'd like to point out these pet snacks. Is it strange to anyone else how similar these look to the fish bought for Valentine's Day that I showed you in my last post?

Interesting and Strange Finds for Valentine's Day

2012-01-21T20:52:00.000-08:00

By the beginning of January, most Japanese supermarkets had already set up displays full of sweet goods and loving intentions in preparation for Valentine's Day.

One of many rows full of fancy chocolates available to purchase for Valentine's Day

Some goods I've never seen (and might be surprised to see) at a supermarket in America:

A Macaroon-Making Kit

Dried Fish

Bottles Filled with Breast-Shaped Milk Chocolate

Sake-Flavored Chocolate

...and a Giant Meiji Chocolate Bar

Which do you wish you could purchase the most?

My Broken Boy

2012-01-21T05:52:00.000-08:00

Well, now that his momma has been informed, it's safe to let everyone know: Chad broke his foot last Wednesday playing futsal. Apparently breaking his collar bone in November playing Aussie Rules Football wasn't enough to make him take it easy!

I do feel sorry for him though. Not only does he have to deal with all of the things anyone with a broken foot would, but he also has to deal with living on a mountain. Anyone who has visited our apartment knows that getting to and from it is no no joke. We live up several flights of steep stairs and hills, and after all that, our apartment is on the 3rd floor of our building. Getting down from our apartment to the subway the other day took about 30 minutes (when it usually takes less than 10!). In the picture above, you can see Chad, dripping with sweat, wiping his face with my Totoro hand towel. That wasn't even to the bottom of the subway yet! (I told him he could just go ahead and hang on to the towel for now.) He physically cannot make it up to our apartment when he's coming home, so he has to take a taxi. That's right! CHAD IS TAKING TAXIS! The man who hates taking taxis.

...Not that he has a choice.

Anyway, the thing that I find most notable about this situation is Chad's amazing good humor. He can't play sports, he has to hop to get around unless using crutches (which is also pretty tough), and can't even get home without a taxi. But through it all he has been so positive and --mostly-- cheerful. That's one of the many things I love about him.

Amaou Strawberry KitKat

2012-01-20T05:08:00.000-08:00

One of my friends went to Kyushu and brought back a sweet souvenir for us! Amaou Strawberry KitKats!

I looked up Amaou in a really useful (and free!) iPhone app called iTranslate, and the app said it meant, "Getting too much." Upon trying the KitKats for myself, I wouldn't say that at all. But you know I can never get enough when it comes to sweets ;-)

Immediately after opening one of the KitKats, I was greeted with a very powerful smell that reminded me of the Nesquick Pink Milk mix. The KitKat tasted a lot like pink milk, too, except with a KitKat texture.

I took a bite before remembering to snap a quick picture. (And yes, those are my sweatpants that I set the bars on...because, what else would you wear while doing KitKat tastings in your bedroom at home?).

It's always fun trying all of the different flavors KitKat comes out with in Japan. Have you ever heard of or tried any crazy flavors (in or out of Japan)?

Tin Tin

2012-01-15T03:40:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite traditions growing up was getting books from my parents every Christmas Eve, and then toys and other kinds of presents from Santa on Christmas day. One year for Christmas Eve, I got a collection of The Adventures of Tin Tin, and I loved it. (Looking forward to seeing if the movie is any good.) Today we had a walk around Kitano and went in a few of the shops with our friend Yasu. In one of the shops I found a Tin Tin book! I was really excited to see that inside the book it showed the original comics in French, with Japanese subtitles.

I'll be interested to see if (and how) Tin Tin will get more popular in Japanese culture. I'll also be interested to see if Tin Tin will live up to the amazing standards Beard Papa has set for us.

They don't call me Beard Papa for nothing!

2012-01-14T00:19:00.000-08:00

On my way home from work today, Chad wrote me to say he was going to leave a cream puff for me in the fridge! Of course I was excited, but come to find out...I wasn't excited enough. Chad didn't just bring me an ordinary cream puff, he brought me a strawberry cream-filled one! I was so surprised after my first bite that I had to take a picture, and then as I ate it I actually closed my eyes so I could focus on the delicious flavor without distraction.

Like most Japanese sweets, this little delight had a subtle sweetness; however, the strawberry filling really rounded it out with a fresh, bright flavor. (Can we say cream puffs with fruit in them are healthy? Because I could definitely get my daily fruit servings this way!)

The store Chad bought it from is called Beard Papa's: fresh'n natural cream puffs. It's a chain that started in Japan and has spread all over the world. I found a rather entertaining video on the Beard Papa's website that tells the story of Beard Papa. Although the chain first opened in Osaka, Beard Papa and all of the customers inside look Caucasian. (Maybe they were having a foreigner's party? Admittedly, the customer in front of the shadowed crowd outside the shop appears to be Asian. Also, he isn't strangely shaped like the kids inside begging for Beard Papa to create a new delicious treat.)

My favorite part of the video is when Beard Papa is struck with the idea for cream puffs: "My fluffy beard! I'm going to fix up a cream puff with my own original recipe and make it just as fluffy and loveable as my beard. They don't call me Beard Papa for nothing!" It's also pretty ~~trippy~~ amazing when he holds up the completed cream puff to the world.

Unfortunately there aren't any chains open in Michigan yet, so friends and family back home in the mitten state might not be able to enjoy cream puffs from Beard Papa's anytime soon. I would definitely recommend the chain to those visiting or living in Japan, though. That strawberry cream puff I had today was the reason I got distracted from getting any work done over the last hour!

Catnip, anyone?

2012-01-10T04:02:00.000-08:00

Due to our flight schedule this year, we ended up in Detroit for New Year's Eve. I learned about a couple of interesting things that night: most notably that in the city of Detroit, gunshots are fired off at midnight all around the city to celebrate the New Year. Also of note, though perhaps less exciting, was the discussion we had after watching my sister-in-law's cat rolling around like a drug addict in some catnip. I learned that catnip is also an herb that is used in tea (sipped by humans, not kitty cats), and that it supposed to have a relaxing effect. (You can read more information about catnip here, if you like. Because that's what I did.) After being enlightened to the other uses of catnip, I put the information aside. That is, until I returned to Japan and saw a drink called Lemorea:

The ingredients on the front label include catnip, passionflower leaf, blueberry leaf, chamomile, lemon verbena and lemongrass. It also says it's low calorie, so I thought, hey, why not? I tried the sweet tea and hoped to feel the relaxation set in. I did feel sleepy soon afterwards, but I don't know how much of that can be attributed to jet lag yet. I also felt relaxed, but that could be because I had been really thirsty. So, the verdict is still up in the air.

Anyway, hope you've been finding ways to relax. We're in the third term of the year--a short one, but full of work nonetheless! Luckily, with sweet students and a wonderful husband to come home to each night, I think I'll get by just fine. One day at a time!

Kobe Luminarie

2012-01-08T17:00:00.001-08:00

Following the Hanshin Earthquake in 1995, Italy donated beautiful lights to Kobe to commemorate the tragedy. Now an annual event, the Kobe Luminarie attracts three to five million people a year. Before our visit home in December, we bustled through the crowded streets of Sannomiya with a couple of friends to see the illumination. (It was definitely on a different scale than Nabana no Sato!)

The first display was a tunnel of lights.

After walking through and seeing all of the lights, there were the usual yatai, or food stalls. Among yakitori and takoyaki stands was a stand with candied apples and mandarin oranges. I've never tried the candied fruits, but I've always thought they looked pretty!

Below is an okonomiyaki stand. It might be difficult to see, but I really like the smile on the man's face.

Going to see the Luminarie was a nice time, but unless you have friends to keep you company and patience for long lines, you might not be interested if you're in Kobe December next year.

Do the Dishes!

2012-01-07T20:47:00.000-08:00

When we got back to Japan earlier this week, we were happy to be greeted with a sparkling clean apartment (it actually smelled newer and nicer than when we first moved in!). In a desire to keep up with cleanliness, we decided to do the dishes as soon as we finish using them. And so far, we've been doing a pretty good job! Every time we're washing them, we say to each other, "Let's keep up with this!"

A clean sink is a happy one!

And so, without intending to, we made a new year's resolution. I always seem to be making resolutions, but while we were at it for new years, we decided to make another one. The entire time we've lived in Japan, we haven't decorated our apartments much because 1) there isn't much you can really do with a tiny apartment, and 2) we always told ourselves we weren't going to stay very long. Although those things still hold true, we figure we can at least do a few things to make our apartment a bit more comfortable while we're here.

We've hung our weekly meal plan board, a super cute clock Chad's mom got us from a 300 yen store when she visited last May, and a calendar. (Yes, I know we need a new calendar and that it's time to take down the Christmas touches. Actually, while in the states I meant to print this cute, free-to-print owl calendar, but somehow I forgot!).

We've also started to put up more pictures, like these fun ones we made at Oddsides during the Ugly Sweater Party when we were home. We had a few up, but we've decided it's time for more!

Other resolutions include being healthier, reading more for fun (I've started a list of books read in 2012 on my pinterest), doing more artwork, going for walks as often as possible, and appreciating every day! Do you have any resolutions?

Happy New Year!

2012-01-07T02:37:00.000-08:00

Guess what! We got a new computer! Which means (if all goes as planned) we should be able to update here much more often and with much less hassle! Hurrah! I know there are a lot of people who have been secretly reading our posts and were going crazy wondering the fate of this little blog, but rest assured clandestine readers! All is well on dykehousesensei and we're going to try and post more often.

Speaking of things going well, there are a few things besides a new computer I should mention. Firstly, as many of you know, we had a great time back in Michigan visiting friends and family in December. We were fortunate to have a generous holiday, but it seems no matter how long our break, it's never long enough--we miss you guys! The bright side to being back in Japan is 1) We've come back with loads of pictures to keep us chipper, 2) We have a job! And I got promoted!, and 3) We get to eat food like this:

By food I'm of course referring to what's on Chad's plate, not Chad himself (though he is pretty sweet!). Around a month and a half ago Chad found a restaurant near Oji Zoo in Kobe called Nanjaro?. The restaurant itself is very clean, and it has a really nice atmosphere and super friendly staff. On top of that, the food is very fresh and very delicious. The two times we went together, we ordered katsukare, which is basically curry and rice with fried pork cutlet on top. The curry is probably the best I've ever had in Japan, with a nice texture (not too soupy, not too thick) and pieces of beef that fall apart in your mouth. And despite being deep fried, the pork cutlet tastes really light. Looking forward to a future date there sometime soon!

The other thing I wanted to mention is that this is going to be a good year! You may have already known it, but I thought I'd say something just in case. It's the year of the dragon, which means it's supposed to be a successful and happy year. I've got a good feeling, and I feel encouraged with all of the decorations hanging around our neighborhood.

There are a lot of changes and challenges coming, and scary as that might seem, it's also pretty exciting, don't you think?

Taiyaki

2011-11-21T05:29:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, Chad and I were wandering around near HAT Kobe, and we found a cheap taiyaki shop in a supermarket. For just 50 yen, you can get a custard or sweet bean paste-filled pastry of deliciousness.

Lucky for us, it's about a thirty or forty minute walk to get there, so it's never an immediate temptation. Although I would go pretty far for taiyaki. Because I love it.

November Challenge:
1. Still drinking insane amounts of water (like...nearly 5 liters just at work today), but it's mostly because I'm still sick.
2. Walked today, although only for about 20 minutes so that I could pick up potatoes for a craft at school. And celery. For an experiment.
3. No gym today because I can't go more than 10 minutes without blowing my nose and I feel like crap.
4. As for sweets...does hot cocoa count? Do...Mento's count? Because. I may have had some mentos earlier...and some hot cocoa. *cough, cough*
5. I'm thankful for:

*Parties! I had fun at a ladies night at Outback Steakhouse on Saturday, even though they ambushed me with a birthday song and ice cream (though I wasn't complaining!). Looking forward to upcoming birthday and Thanksgiving parties.

*So many great (and free!) resources online for teaching. I've been able to gather so many ideas to keep my classroom activities interesting and challenging!

*Upcoming Christmas break. I can't wait to spend time with family in Michigan for a few weeks.

*Sweet deals. I picked up a pair of cute boots, brand new, for 690 yen! Weeeeee!

*The knowledge that one day, I won't have this cold anymore. Right? Right? Please?

*Sleep! Speaking of which...good night!

Day by Day

2011-11-18T17:56:00.000-08:00

I've been a bad girl. At least, when it comes to updating my blog as planned. Truth be told, I tried to update it, but our computer freezes so often and loads so slowly that it takes a lot more patience to make a simple post than I possess. We've been talking about getting a new computer as a Christmas present to each other. Or as a We-Can't-Take-It-Anymore present. In any event, I'm having luck with the computer this morning, so here I am!

Speaking of Christmas in the previous paragraph, Japan is ready. Little bits of Christmas spirit and decorations can be found everywhere, and I love that I can feel the magic and joy of the season, even a world away from Michigan.

Walking along the other day, I saw this Coca-Cola truck. I was surprised to see that the truck was not only decked out in holiday design and lighting, but that even the driver was wearing a Santa costume! Can you imagine being a truck driver and being told you have to wear a costume during your deliveries? I mean, would that actually fly in America?

Japan is just as talented as America when it comes to Christmas marketing, if not more. Each year, Japanese families and friends order detailed Christmas cakes far in advance to eat on Christmas day, generally spending at least 3000 yen on one cake. The cakes come in all styles, even with characters like Pokemon on them if the consumer so desires.

There are loads of other holiday treats and goods, such as the plastic snack-filled character Christmas boots, Pokemon goody bags, Meiji Chocolate Ginger Bread Houses, and Christmas-themed snack bags above. And like America, there are many sales. Though Japan doesn't have Black Friday, it does have a special sale for New Years in which people drop around $100 on grab bags full of "good" deals on clothes or other items. Not a sale we'll be taking part in, though we will be doing some Christmas shopping for our upcoming trip home soon!

November Challenge Update:
1. Been drinking ridiculous amounts of water...because I'm still sick.
2. Went for a walk 2 out of the 4 days that I couldn't post here. Work has been busy, so I haven't had much of a chance, but I know I need to keep trying to make it a priority!
3. Went to the gym Thursday, and had a great time at zumba! Usually the Thursday night class is beyond challenging, but last week I could keep up! It felt really good.
4. No buying or eating sweets while alone (though I've definitely been getting my fix!)
5. Been thankful everyday for so much! Some examples are:

* Touches of Christmas all around, like lights and music and decorations
* Every morning, when my train passes a woman on a bicycle with her baby in a riding basket. They are always waiting near the tracks for the train to pass by, and the woman takes her baby's arm to make him wave at the train. It always makes me smile!
*Good books! Right now I'm listening to "The Night Circus" on audio, and it's wonderful! Addicting to the point that it's actually difficult to force myself to turn it off when I get to work in the morning!
*Costco! Access to oatmeal and peanut butter is not something I take lightly (and neither does my weight haha).
*Havarti! I am lucky enough to have some in my fridge at this very moment!
*Days off. I love my job--so much so that Chad often tells me to stop talking about it. But that doesn't mean I don't appreciate days off! Relaxing and working on art, journaling, blogging, going to the gym or spending time with Chad. Definitely all things that I appreciate!

So... is it really only Monday?

2011-11-14T02:20:00.000-08:00

Had a really nice weekend that was super relaxing! After Saturday school, Chad and I headed home to make up a picnic for dinner. Then we left for Nunobiki Waterfalls to enjoy the scenery and eat! The video below isn't that great, but I can promise you it's due to my lack of talent rather than the wine I was drinking.

As for today, we woke up exhausted--Chad went to Yokohama on Sunday to see the Aussie Rules Grand Championship, and though I canceled last minute, I found lots of things that I needed to get done at home! And then today...Phew! Let's just say I'm glad it's almost over. And I'm thankful the rest of the night will be spent with Chad, which I am very pleased about after the long lonely day yesterday.

November Challenge:
1 & 2. Went for walks and to the gym over the weekend (also did the Shred!); walked today as well.
3. Drank 2 1/2 liters of water just at work.
4. No buying or eating sweets while alone.
5. I'm thankful for weekend picnics, to live so close to awesome waterfalls, for Chad (today and everyday! I love him so much!!), for health insurance (went back to the doctor because my body hates me and I've got yet another cough!), and for my sister Sarah, who's hopefully having a happy birthday today!

I was kind of grumpy, but taking the time to think about how well I'm doing on my little challenge, as well as forcing myself to realize how many things I have to be thankful for, has really made me feel better. To be honest, when I get started listing things for which I'm grateful, it's often hard to stop! Hopefully tomorrow I can keep a more positive mindset throughout the day!

Lucky (Pocky) Day

2011-11-11T05:03:00.000-08:00

It's 11/11/11! Which means we're supposed to be having a lucky day! Whether that's true for you or not, what is definitely true today is that it's Pocky Day--an annual celebration in Japan started because 11/11 looks like four of the snack sticks put together. It hasn't really gained too much popularity, but I never need an excuse to eat a few!

Japan has many Pocky and Pretz flavors. Above you can see the salad flavor in the green box, the roast flavor in the two red boxes, the super butter flavor in the yellow box, and the tomato flavor in the bag. I sometimes eat the salad or tomato ones and pretend they're healthy.

And then there are the Pocky sticks that I sometimes eat without pretending anything. Except perhaps maybe that I'm not too addicted to sugar? Wait...have I ever been able to pretend that? Let's face it, I like sugar, and I like Pocky.

Top: White Chocolate and Chocolate Twist Pocky; Chocolate Pocky
Middle: Two types of Chocolate Pocky; Salty Chocolate Pocky
Bottom: Hello Kitty Strawberry Pocky, Thomas the Tank Engine Chocolate Pocky, more strawberry Pocky and Panda Cookies and Cream Pocky

You can probably notice that there is about a hundred yen difference to get the sweet ones. It doesn't. stop. anyone. This includes Chad, who bought some for us to eat with a glass of wine (because we're classy).

November Challenge Update:
1. Water=2 liters
2. No walk because I was battling against computers in preparation for Saturday school.
3. Went to the gym (that's 3 times this week!) and cycled for a while. Not too hard core, but I'm still sick so I'll take it.
4. No buying or eating sweets while alone (I've been eating pocky with Chad, I promise!)
5. And I'm thankful for the following:

1. Strangers who smile at me warmly.
2. My coworkers who encouraged me today when I worried about the staff performance I'm teaching, or when I was frustrated with computer/Saturday school issues.
3. My kids at school who I love and who bring me so much joy every day.
4. Meeting random people who do kind things. Like a guy on the train today who claimed to have lived in Dearborn Michigan for several years while playing for the Red Wings. After briefly talking about Michigan, my weakening Japanese skills and what we're both doing here, he gave me a beer from a case he and his Japanese coworker had brought back after making a deal in Germany earlier this week. As I got off at my stop, he proceeded to shake my hand and then give me a hug (to which I responded out loud in surprise with, "Oh! Okay...?"). His coworker only shook my hand, which was much less awkward for me. Chad and I have yet to try the beer, but that--in combination with his warm wishes for me to have a nice weekend-- was really nice!

Red Romance

2011-11-10T06:38:00.000-08:00

Tried a new beer the other day that was similar to a Framboise. Add a punch of raspberry and it'd actually be pretty darn good, but at 105 yen it was still definitely drinkable! Plus it has a snazzy name.

November Challenge Update:

Yesterday=bad.

I mean, not that bad. But I was really busy at work, and then super tired and sick-feeling at night (I think my bronchitis is back for round two!), so I didn't go for a walk. And I was also lazy about drinking water. And I didn't go to the gym. But I didn't eat or buy sweets when alone, and I was thankful! Very very thankful!

1. I was (and am) thankful for pinterest, where I can keep track of teaching tools, projects and inspirations, and recipes (like this hearty soup we had with the leftover ciabatta bread from this paprika chicken ciabatta recipe (which we had with a side of Chad's guacamole!)! Yum, yum!).

2. Milk tea! In Japan, it doesn't really taste like tea because it is so sweet and milky, but it does taste like delicious. Especially when it's cold outside!

3. My lovely iPhone. Chad accidentally spilled tea on it, but it survived. And I'm so glad. Because I access pinterest on my phone. And I read the news on there, and I listen to smarty-pants podcasts on there (like the Splendid Table, the Jillian Michaels Show, or This American Life!). And I basically have put part of my soul in it because I am obsessed.

As for today, I drank my water, went for my walk, went to the gym (zumba!), and didn't eat or buy sweets while alone. I'm thankful for pretty Christmas decorations going up everywhere (I can't wait to go home to visit!) and long skype conversations with family (thank you technology! and thank you Ariel for chatting with me!). More tomorrow, which will be Friday! Woo hoo!

Walks

2011-11-08T04:19:00.000-08:00

I had the chance to take a walk around my school today and see some beautiful fall scenery:

I was surprised to come across this tree while walking through a park.

I am grateful for the opportunity to take walks in a country full of interesting things everywhere I look. I feel fortunate to experience solitary walks like the one I took today, walks with Chad, and walks with friends. Last month, I was lucky to have the opportunity to go for a 10 kilometer walk that supported breast cancer awareness.

It was called the Pink Ribbon Smile walk, and the 10K route went around some really neat parts of Kobe. We got the chance to see cool areas in Kobe, watch some neat festivals going on that day as we passed by, have good conversation, and support a cause we all believed in. I'm definitely hoping to participate again next year!

My friends Fumiko, Rachael and I before the walk

To mark the start of the walk, there was an explosion of confetti that fell all over the crowd!

There were plenty of cute things to look at in the starting area.

Here we are with Yasu after finishing! Phew!

I am thankful I could have such a meaningful walk while living in Japan.

November Challenge Update:
1. Went for a 38 minute walk
2. Day off from the gym, but going tomorrow
3. Drank 1 and 3/4 liters of water at school, and drank more at home.
4. No buying or eating sweets while alone
5. Recorded today's thankful thought!

Be back for more tomorrow!

November Challenge

2011-11-07T04:51:00.000-08:00

As is the case for many Americans, when November rolls around, so do thoughts of thankfulness. (Wait! I just said rolls! Rolls and turkey and pies and mashed potatoes and, and, and!)

...Anyway...

So I've been thinking about thankfulness (and food), and I've also been thinking how much I need to make little changes in the every day so that a big change can take place in my life. It's cliche, I know, but I need to be more mindful of my blessings each and every day. Also, I need to be more mindful of what I'm putting into my body and how I'm treating it and myself. I realize that I don't need to (nor do I want to!) go into my personal history of body/mind issues here for you to get the general idea, but I do want to make it clear that I often get these grand ideas of how I'm going to be a better person, and I inevitably never meet the standards I've set for myself. I'm aware that failure brings growth and learning, and I'm aware that --to quote Michael Jordan-- "You have to expect great things of yourself before you can achieve them." In this case, I'd like to expect just a few little things of myself, in hopes that they can spark bigger things! I'm getting rid of unmeetable standards and expecting to achieve just a little something. So here are a few of the little somethings I'm going to challenge myself with, from this day in November, until the end of the month (and who knows? Maybe even longer! But let's not get too ambitious here...):

1. Go for at least a 35 minute walk every day Monday through Friday.
2. Use my stupidly expensive gym membership 3-5 times a week, even if that only means walking fast for 20 minutes and then stretching.
3. Drink at least two 1 liter bottles of water during a workday, and then more later.
4. Don't ever, ever buy or eat sweets when I'm alone.
5. Write down one thing every day that I'm thankful for, and post it here with other challenge updates Monday through Friday.

I used to be amazing at going to the gym, but I need to get back into it regularly after having bronchitis, and I need to get back into working out better (without pushing myself too hard and then wanting to give up). I don't want to buy sweets or eat them when I'm alone because although I often do buy them when I'm hungry, I also have a lot of other hidden attachments (like I am sad or I had a long day or I ate really healthy and a little treat should be okay, etc.). This doesn't mean I can't have sweets, because let's face it--that's ridiculous. But it means I can't eat them when I'm alone, I can't buy them when I'm alone, and I'm going to be more accountable to myself. I want to be healthy, and to enjoy it. I want to stop gaining and losing 4-10 pounds every week and a half to two weeks. I want to set a healthier lifestyle for myself now so that it will be easier to set a good example when I have kids later. And I want to pay attention to things I'm thankful for because mindfulness goes hand in hand with being healthy, and because challenging myself to record such things here will force me to take the time to blog, which I love but never do because I make up reasons I'm too busy.

So, here you are (aren't you?) supporting me in this so that I stick to it. After a long post, here's a brief recap of today, which isn't too bad considering I just concocted this challenge about an hour ago:

I didn't go for a walk, but I did go to the gym. I drank 1 liter of water at work, and another one at home (almost got that one!). I bought and ate sweets while alone... *coughs with embarrassment* I'm thankful for these cute baby portraits hanging at a shopping center in Japan--especially the last one, which I feel really captures that randomness of this country. These made me smile and kind of laugh.

Be back with more tomorrow!

Halloween and Bronchitis

2011-10-27T04:58:00.000-07:00

After a crummy day/week/2 weeks, my knight in collar bone-padding met me at the Hanshin gates with a shu-cream, a smile, and a readiness to help me find a clinic nearby to see what was causing my ongoing ailments. That's right, Chad's got a fractured collar bone, and yet HE was meeting ME with a cheer-me-up present. *He's awesome*

After arriving at the clinic, I found out I have bronchitis, which is a serious bummer. Especially because I was supposed to be doing the Osaka Night Run tonight, and I really wanted to beat my time from last month. When I told the doctor that I was supposed to be running, he looked at me like I was crazy and told me not to exercise for at least a week. Guess I know how Chad feels now...except that instead of trying to watch what I eat since I can't work out, I'd rather drown my sorrows in the shu-cream he bought for me.

And so here I am, crumbs on my lips and typing in between coughs, writing a post I intended to write a few weeks ago. On the bright side, the post is about Halloween fun!

First, I'd like you to take a moment to admire my beautiful nails. This is 100 yen store action at its classiest: orange nail polish + Halloween nail stickers = 200 yen.

Next, I want to show you this:

1. Pumpkin Pudding Kit Kats (which I sadly didn't get to try)
2. Halloween Display (Halloween stuff was out way back in September!!)
3. Random Halloween Singing Thing
4. Super Cute Hat for a Costume

Next comes a place that dangerously awaits me every morning right inside the Hanshin Line gates: The Fresh Bakery.
This bakery has the most delicious mango pastries I've ever tried, as well as some pretty delicious blueberry ones. Walking by a few weeks ago, I couldn't resist trying one of their Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkin Pies. Chad and I split one and it was really nice! The crust was flaky and buttery, and the inside was filled with cooked-down slices of kabocha (Japanese pumpkin). Subtle sweetness and spice!

Every year, Halloween seems to get more popular in Japan. This makes me very happy as it's one of my favorite holidays, and because it's fun to share the fantasy and magic of Halloween with kids. At school my kids can't get enough!

Speaking of school and Halloween, I've got a big all-day Halloween lesson tomorrow with parents. Better get to sleep! Take care... <3

Nunobiki Waterfalls

2011-09-24T18:45:00.000-07:00

After all these months living in Kobe, we only just discovered how to get to the famous waterfalls nearby.

From Shin-Kobe station, you can start the climb up to the waterfalls, making sure to take note of the reminders not to litter:

It won't be long before you reach the lower falls:

As you continue walking up, there are several little shrines tucked into the mountain side.

I had never seen small, painted stones like this before in a shrine.

Only a few minutes more before you reach the next set of falls!

If you climb the stairs next to the falls, you can see a little shrine to your left at the top:

I was really interested in the little coiled snakes here. Not only were there some in the more focal part of the shrine, but off to the side hidden in the rocks as well--almost becoming part of the mountain. I looked up some interesting stories about snakes in traditional Japanese religion and culture (see this link, for example), but I think the one that might explain the snake coils at Nunobiki would be the ones that associate snakes with nature. Snakes are often believed to be in control of water, both granting it and denying it. They are also said to be in control of causing storms. It would make sense for the snakes to be in this little shrine, near the waterfalls. If you've heard any information in this regard, we'd love to hear about it!

The view from the top by the shrine.

On the way down, we were excited to spot a really neat temple. Here are some shots of what we saw:

I love how much was tucked into the trees or the mountain side.

We feel pretty lucky to live next to such an amazing temple and to such beautiful waterfalls. We've promised each other to make it out at least once a week throughout autumn, and we'll definitely post pictures of the changing leaves! Today we're off to hike Mt. Maya with some friends, enjoying the last day of a three-day weekend.

Cake Set at Saint Maria

2011-09-23T02:45:00.000-07:00

Near Sannomiya station there is a little cafe called Saint Maria. Although the atmosphere leaves something to be desired (it's kind of like a smoky 70's diner, without any of the kind of classiness you might be trying to imagine), the cake set was perfect for a rainy day.

It was only 500 yen for your choice of cake and your choice of specialty drink. We chose the berry cake with a caramel latte.

This week we had Typhoon Roke messing up all kind of plans for sports day at school and draining the sunlight and happy weather. Despite the gloom, it was a nice chance to catch up on busy work, calm down after such a crazy busy summer, and fall into autumn. We've had chances to try and break into a bit of reading and creative endeavors, do lots of exercise, and go on fun little dates like our trip to Saint Maria cafe. Luckily sunshine is in the forecast all weekend, so we can relax in brighter moods!

I Love Takoyaki Parties!

2011-09-19T05:33:00.000-07:00

We finally got around to buying a takoyaki maker, and decided it might be fun to make use of it for dinner on a rainy day like today! I've mentioned before that takoyaki means grilled octopus, but when using the machine at home, you can get really creative with what you put inside the batter.

We have the usual toppings here: octopus, cabbage, mayonnaise and takoyaki sauce. But, we've also got ingredients to make some with tuna, corn and cheese. We also thought we'd experiment with jalapenos and cheese to have something similar to jalapeno poppers! Yum!

As you can see below, the first step is to add the batter, overfilling the molds. Then, you can add whatever ingredients you like! As the balls cook, you flip them with a little skewer. Then, once they're finished, you pull them out, add mayonnaise and sauce, and devour!

I made sure to get a shot of Chad filling the machine for the fans of his ongoing shirtless activities.

We're considering making an entire calendar of shirtless Chad shots.

Many Japanese also add dashi (fish flakes) and green onions to their takoyaki, but it's really up to the person ordering/eating/making. Below you can see our jalapeno-yaki--delicious!

We're really into the idea of trying more and more ingredients in the future. Perhaps pizza flavors with bacon, cheese and pizza sauce? Or taco-flavored with beef, taco seasoning, cheese, lettuce, sour cream...? It seems to me Japan is excellent at making strange-sounding foods delicious, so why shouldn't we have a try? I've even heard about sweet versions using pancake mix and syrup. I'm foreseeing blueberry pancake balls, maybe chocolate chip ones dipped in chocolate and with sprinkles... the possibilities are endless!

Yakitori Flavored Doritos and news...

2011-09-17T07:42:00.000-07:00

Yakitori, or grilled chicken on a skewer, is a really popular food in Japan. And now, it's also a flavor of Doritos! Chad and I decided to try them, and they really had that yakitori taste! Can't say the taste did much for us with the texture of Doritos, but they were interesting to say the least.

In other news, despite the business of work we've been able to have a lot of fun with recent visitors. Jenna came out in August for a couple weeks for a beer safari, and David came over from Korea for a few days last week. Also, last night I ran a 5K race in Osaka with my coworker. It was raining really hard, so I didn't take any pictures of the castle as I ran by, but it was really cool! We're planning to run another one next month and beat our times.

Tomorrow Chad and I are going with some friends to the Great Sannomiya September Craft Beer Tasting, and Monday we have the day off to relax. Yay for national holidays! Time is flying by fast, and we're filling our days with as many fun activities as possible to make it go even faster before we come home to visit! Less than 3 months!

Yodogawa Fireworks

2011-09-05T04:36:00.001-07:00

It's been a while as Jenna was visiting for a couple weeks, but I still really wanted to post about the Yodogawa fireworks we were lucky enough to experience in August.

Our friend Mayu helped me get dressed in my yukata, and we were ready to see the famous show (supposedly shooting off over 30,000 fireworks!) in no time.

When we got to the station, hundreds of people were hustling down the stairs on their way to the fireworks.

We were generously given tickets that included seats at tables on the river, a bento (Japanese lunch box), a green tea and a beer.

Phew! 7000 yen!

Above, you can see some of the tables in front of the river and the view before dark, and below you can see some of us in our fashionable yukata!

Everyone had a lot of fun hanging out and eating bentos before the show.

We were also given these cute fans with pictures of wild boar on them--appropriate enough considering our nightly encounters with boar!

These fireworks are from the beginning of the show.

The pictures above, as well as the following video, were taken toward the start of the show. Needless to say that the beginning of fireworks in Japan are like our grand finales. Especially since I might have said that before?

These fireworks and our seats were amazing! Nothing will ever be able to compare to the great show we saw. We'll just have to hope to experience it again someday!

Kitano Starbucks

2011-08-07T06:58:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've been able to pursue my hobby of exploring local cafes, so I was happy when Chad asked if I wanted to go to Kitano to check out the Starbucks there. Obviously, I'm aware that Starbucks is hardly a local cafe. However, the Starbucks in Kitano has something special to offer. Kitano is a historical district in Kobe near our apartment, and Starbucks is located in one of the cultural properties there.

The building used to house Americans staying in the area, and has a really unique atmosphere.

There were many cozy rooms to choose from, and in the end we chose this little corner on the second floor. The building is one of a kind for Starbucks, but the flavors of their products were the same--reliably delicious! We had vanilla bean frozen frappuccinos, and then posed for a quick shot before reluctantly continuing on our way.

Something to think about...

2011-07-30T06:08:00.000-07:00

(We'll have to try this place sometime so we can live strong!)

Fukuoka Trip: Day 3

2011-07-17T21:07:00.000-07:00

On our last day in Fukuoka, I went window-shopping while Chad had a dip in an onsen, or hot spring. The main focus of the day was going to be the Hakata Gion Matsuri (festival), but we had a few hours to blow before it started. When we met up again, we were trying to think of what else to do. Then we looked at our Hakata map and spotted the Fukuoka Asahi Beer Factory! Ah-hah! We'd go on their free beer tour like we'd done in Nagoya! Woot!

We made friends with another couple on the tour

Needless to say, by the time the festival did start, we were feeling pretty good. We took the train from the beer factory to Gion and headed up the stairs to see crowds lined up for the festival. And my, my, what a festival it was!

From July 1st to 15th, hundreds of men and boys get together to race while carrying giant shrines. Wearing loose shirts, loin cloths and boots, they practice racing daily until the final, biggest race on the last day.

As the men raced by, many of them stopped to bow at the temple before continuing on

Everyone was (understandably) tired after their 5 kilometer race. On the final day, the men are supposed to run it in about 30 minutes while holding the 1-ton floats with as much grace as possible. Phew!

After the festival finished, Chad and I headed off for our anniversary dinner at a garlic-themed restaurant. We tried to make up for our breath by going for dessert at a taiyaki place. Unlike most taiyaki we've tried, this taiyaki was made with mochi, or rice cake, and it had chocolate inside! Served piping hot, the texture and flavor was wonderful.

Feeling full and sleepy, we were ready to pick up our stuff from our hotel and ride that horrible night bus back to Kobe.

What a wonderful trip to celebrate 3 wonderful years married~!

Now we're trapped inside, waiting for a typhoon to blow over and dreaming of those sunny days!

Fukuoka Trip: Day 2

2011-07-16T19:53:00.000-07:00

On the second day of our trip it was supposed to be rainy, but we got super lucky with sunshine all day! We decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go to a little island called Nokonoshima. First we took a 30-40 minute bus ride to get from Hakata to the ferry terminal, and then we hopped on the ferry (about 400 yen round trip).

Riding the ferry reminded us of our honeymoon in northern Michigan, and of Mackinac Island!

When we got to the island, it was very quiet without much happening and without many people. There were little shops near the ferry terminal, and a bus waiting to take tourists up to a flower park. We were a bit tired of riding bus, and we didn't want to pay 1000 yen to see the flower garden, so we decided to rent bicycles. After all, Nokonoshima is only about 5 miles round, and we biked around Mackinac Island (about twice the size) no problem. It would be fun...wouldn't it?

Turns out, the trails on Nokonoshima are almost all uphill. I don't know how it's possible--even when we were circling back, we went uphill the majority of the time. I'm not joking. Steep, steep hills for about 2 1/2 hours. We did have about a 10 minute respite of downhill on the way back, but that was it. Phew! I'm getting tired just remembering it.

We were also able to take a rest at a beach on the island. I was so excited--it had been a long time since we'd been to the beach to swim, and we've been so homesick for Michigan beaches!

From a distance, it looks quite beautiful! Unfortunately, the water was extremely dirty, but we made the most of it. One surprise for me was the taste of salt! I'd never swam in salt-water before, and it was pretty strange! (...and gross.)

To use the facilities, we would have had to pay 1000 yen (eek! They really try and get as much money as they can on this lonely little island!), so we decided to skip bathrooms and --as covertly as possible-- change right on the beach. It was a successful, albeit tricky, job.

There were gold flecks in the sand!

After hanging out at the beach, we finished our loop around the island. Just when I thought I couldn't take it anymore (I was getting sunburned despite sunscreen, and we were both super tired from all that climbing up and up), I spotted a pretty butterfly and was cheered up a bit.

When our hike was finally complete, we returned our bikes and headed to this lone cafe:

I loved the colors and the eccentric style of this cafe. We ordered Orange Floats with the Nokonoshima brand orange soda and orange sherbet. For 350 yen per float, it was a nice way to relax after all that work! Very yummy.

We had a good rest at the cafe, and caught the next ferry back to Fukuoka. It started to rain when we got back (we were so lucky it didn't rain earlier!), so we went shopping for a while and waited for the yatai, or street stalls, to open up and down the streets.

Fukuoka is famous for yatai, so we were sure to sample food from a couple of them. After that, we headed to Ippudo, a well-known restaurant selling Hakata ramen.

What a delicious meal after such a long --but good!-- day. I had the basic Hakata ramen (top), and Chad tried a spicier version. Both were soooo good. With full bellies and tired legs, we decided to call it a night.

Anniversary Trip: Fukuoka (Day One)

2011-07-14T05:14:00.000-07:00

For our anniversary this year, we decided to go to Fukuoka, a city located in Kyushu. We left Saturday night on a night bus, and after a really uncomfortable ride on the "relax" bus, we dropped off our bags at our hotel and headed out to explore.

Climbing Buddhas and Hakata JR Station

From Hakata station, we headed to Sumiyoshi Shrine. It was a nice shrine tucked away in the woods.

Map of the Shrine

Fish for your fortune!

From the shrine we headed to Rakusuien Garden. This garden is named after a merchant who helped with the development of Fukuoka City.

The clay walls are made from burnt rocks and roof tiles recovered after war

We couldn't resist feeding the Koi for 50 yen. They came right up to us even before we fed them!

After feeding the koi, we had Japanese matcha (traditional green tea) with wagashi (Japanese confections). My little flower sweet was pink, and Chad's was blue. The flowers were hard, with a taste similar to the decorative sugar shapes we put on cakes in the states, while the little triangles had a softer texture and a more subtle sweetness. It was nice to relax and look at the garden for a while before moving on to a huge shopping center called the Canal.

The Canal is like most malls, complete with shops, souvenirs and restaurants. However, there were a couple things that made the Canal shopping experience stand out for us. Firstly, this souvenir:

In Japan, even unchi, or poo, is cute. And it can encase candy. Yum!

Secondly, the Raumen Stadium:

So many choices!

Hakata is famous for ramen. There were lots of shops in the stadium, but after long consideration we were finally able to make up our minds and try our first bowl of the trip:

Pretty good!

From there, we waddled our full bellies over to Kushida Shrine, the Hakata Machiya Folk Museum and Tochoji Temple. At the shrine we chose fortunes, and both of us got "Moderately Lucky" (though, truth be told, they sounded like they weren't lucky at all. But hey, they're not really real...are they?). We couldn't take pictures at Tochoji Temple, which was unfortunate because it houses a huge wooden Buddha, but here are a couple pictures from outside the folk museum:

Teru Teru Bozu for keeping the rain away

A post box nestled in a small alley

After all that sightseeing, we were pretty ready to shower up and take a nap. Once refreshed, we headed out to explore the city. We decided to go to an Okinawan restaurant for dinner.

We tried garlic chicken and cheesy taco rice. Then we had salty chinsuko (a type of Okinawan cookie) ice cream for dessert! Forgive the first two pictures, everything looked too yummy to take a picture of before trying!

After dinner, it was off to bed before day two: a trip to Nokonoshima Island!

Lovely Chocolates

2011-07-13T02:11:00.001-07:00

We received some neat chocolates as gifts back in March:

Creamy Earth-shaped chocolate from our friend Joel

Adorable Hello Kitty chocolate from an old coworker

So why are these men running around violently in such small shorts?

2011-06-30T06:17:00.000-07:00

-overheard on a youtube video Chad was watching on Australian Rules football

Well, Chad's found a new sport. A sport that has a lot of rules, and a lot of injuries. He's started playing Aussie Rules with a coworker, and he loves it!

Australian Football seems to combine rules from several sports to create a rough, challenging game. This makes watching the game particularly exciting for fans (and slightly scary for a wife!). Chad played his first game a couple weekends ago. Funny enough, the game was between the Osaka Dingoes (the team Chad is playing on) and Nagoya! It was fun to talk to the people from Nagoya about Aichi and Mie.

The Nagoya team didn't have enough players, so they had to forfeit the game. However, the match was still full of excitement. I had never seen so much pushing and tackling in Japan--or imagined it--before the game.

Team work gets the goal!

The atmosphere around the stadium was pretty quiet, but there were some adoring fans in the audience:

Me, Chad, Jonathan, and Mayu

Chad and Jonathan

The Osaka Dingoes and the Nagoya Redbacks

The website for the Osaka Dingoes can be found by clicking here. We'll keep you updated on any games (and injuries)!

Akashiyaki

2011-06-18T07:01:00.001-07:00

Two of our friends came from Mie to visit, and they happened to know a delicious Akashiyaki restaurant in Sannomiya!

Akashiyaki is a lot like takoyaki, but softer and with much more of an eggy taste. Also, whereas takoyaki generally has octopus inside, Akashiyaki can have octopus or shrimp (at least, at this restaurant that was the case). We were excited to try it for the first time.

Akashiyaki is grilled in the same fashion as takoyaki

Unlike takoyaki, Akashiyaki doesn't come with loads of sauce and toppings. It can be dipped in mitsube, or Bird's-Foot Trefoil (a plant that looks similar to a clover). There is also sauce you can spread on top if the mitsube isn't enough, but we enjoyed the simpler version best. Akashiyaki was very light and yummy.

With friends (from the back): Kazu, Mafuyu and baby Chio

Walking Along I Saw...

2011-06-02T06:52:00.000-07:00

...a beautiful statue,

a building with Kobe love,

a lot of neat street plates,

graffiti,

and doggy prints in some of the stairs we take on our way home.

Nunobiki Herb Garden

2011-05-21T07:04:00.000-07:00

Waiting in line to take the Shin-Kobe gondola up to Nunobiki Herb Garden/View from the gondola

On a beautiful day during Golden Week, we decided to pay 1400 yen to see the Nunobiki Herb Garden in Kobe (rope way included!). After hustling through the gauntlet of souvenir shops that greet you as soon as you get off the gondola, we started seeing some of the lovely herbs promised. Before we got too far, we couldn't help but notice something else as well--the smell of Herb Burgers! Quint got one and let us each have a bite. I strongly recommend spending the yen on this one--it was delicious!

The burger left him speechless.

Before coming to Nunobiki, we had climbed a ways up Mt. Maya, a mountain neighboring Mt. Rokko. Suffice it to say we needed a little extra time to relax after lunch.

Chad even tried the foot bath!

Back on our feet again, we continued to explore all of the beauty Nunobiki Herb Garden has to offer. It was hard not to take hundreds of pictures.

Miss you guys!

Getting Beeped

2011-05-19T07:34:00.001-07:00

Yesterday on the train home from work, the subject of crêpes came up and two of my coworkers and I decided it was necessary to seek them out as soon as possible (which was today). From Sannomiya station, we began our short pilgrimage to Hysteric Jam, a crêpe shop I had seen while wandering around window shopping.

Above you can see the enticing window display in front of the store, as well as a close-up of the blackberry and raspberry crêpe with chocolate and cream (ordered by one of my coworkers), the store sign, and a close-up of the rare cheese cake with blueberry sauce crêpe (which I ordered!).

So yummy! I never had crêpes before coming to Japan, and it had been about 4 years since the last time I tried one. If you are like me, and lacking crêpes in your life, I sincerely suggest seeking them out.

Note: If you try typing crêpe in an iPhone message, auto correct changes it to "beeped," which--at least to me--can result in a rather humorous message.

Walking Along I Saw...

2011-05-08T01:24:00.001-07:00

...cute little octopus pictures on the ticket gates at Asagiri train station!

Thanks to directions from one of my lovely coworkers, we were able to enjoy amazing yakiniku at One Kalbi near Asagiri station (and also see these octopuses!). We had so much fun hanging out with Chad's mom and brother, and were really sad to drop them off at the airport today. Going to be lonely having our apartment all to ourselves after having such a riot with them over golden week!

Goodbye Mie, Hello Hyogo

2011-04-24T02:01:00.001-07:00

Huge going away party in Nagoya

About a week after coming back to Japan this March, we decided to take a job working at an international kindergarten in the Kansai area. This meant that we would finish work at ECC on a Wednesday night, and come to start our new job the next morning in Osaka. It also meant traveling several times back and forth between Yokkaichi and Osaka for work (a 3 1/2 hour commute one way). It also meant living out of a hotel for several days and trying to find an apartment every day after work. Not to mention getting used to a new job and working on closing our Yokkaichi apartment.

Chad's last futsal game in Suzuka

You can imagine we had more than one stressful moment where we were ~~screaming at~~ asking ourselves what we had been thinking leaving so quickly. However, after finding an apartment and getting settled, we're feeling very glad.

Here's a glimpse of our new place, located in Kobe!

We really like the layout of our new apartment, and also its location! It's so near to Sannomiya (a huge city with awesome shopping), to Kobe port, to Kobe China town, and more. Check out the awesome view from our balcony:

At night you can see the city lights and watch trains passing through, and during the day you can see Kobe port and listen to the boat horns in the distance!

We feel like there's not enough time in a day for all of the fun things we can see and do near our new home in Japan. Chad's already found several places to play futsal, and our to-do list keeps growing.

One thing I must mention is the inoshishi situation. And by that I mean wild boar. You would think that living in Mie, which is considered to be the countryside, we would've seen all kinds of interesting wildlife (well, I guess we did see suzumebachi). But we never expected that after moving to the big city we'd encounter wild boar! Our first week in our new apartment we saw two of them, and learned that it's a normal occurrence (especially at night--yikes!). There are even warning signs placed around garbage areas telling us not to put our trash out at night so the inoshishi don't get into it.

I get a little scared walking home at night by myself. Can you blame me?

Guess we'll have to be careful. Thanks for your patience over our lack of posting over the last couple of crazy months. Mom Dykehouse and Quint are coming to visit next week, and we're super excited. We'll try and keep you updated, and close with a lovely picture of the cherry blossoms in Ashiya.

These past two years...

2011-03-15T04:46:00.001-07:00

...have been full of so much excitement and joy, but also a lot of really hard, life-changing events. We are so thankful that we have been able to have the strong support of family and friends to lift us up in difficult times. We are also thankful that we have been safe despite the current tragedy in Japan. We plan on getting back to regular blog updates, but first we wanted to provide a few links that give information on what's happening in Japan and how you can help.

http://www.directrelief.org/Index.aspx

http://gimundo.com/news/article/simple-ways-to-help-victims-of-the-earthquake-in-japan/

http://www.justhungry.com/japan-earthquake-how-help?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+justhungry+%28Just+Hungry%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

Walking Along I Saw...

2011-02-18T03:32:00.000-08:00

...an old --but working!-- telephone booth:

There are a few of these telephone booths in an older part of Yokkaichi near our bank. I just love that area of town. I feel like I can get a glimpse of what was, like when we went to Decks in Odaiba and found an entire floor devoted to the 1950's.

Yokkaichi Sewer Cover

A couple other things that made me happy recently:

These AMAZING Anpanman cookies from our friend Joel. His lovely wife Yumi made them and they shared some! Aren't they cute?

Also, Comfort Food #8!

Yudofu (Boiled Tofu)

A student taught me how to make this simple dish. Put water, firm tofu (sliced), and a piece of kombu (kelp) into cold water and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling, turn off the heat and use a slotted spoon to scoop out the hot tofu. Add a little soy sauce (yes, I know it looks like our tofu is drowning a bit) and green onions on top. Serve!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-13T19:50:00.001-08:00

We've been working a lot lately (and will be working tonight!), so we decided to celebrate Valentine's a day early. After finishing work yesterday, I came home, made dinner and got dressed up.

We had grilled steak and grilled vegetables, both cooked after marinading in a Worcestershire Sauce Steak Marinade. We also had a side salad and chocolate covered strawberries for dessert!

In Japan, girls give boys chocolate on Valentine's Day, and the favor is returned a month later on White Day (you can check out our post from two years ago on White Day here). Look at the cute chocolates I found for Chad!

It was so nice to relax and have a date night after the last two hectic working months. Best of all, despite Japanese tradition, Chad got me chocolate too. Hope your day is lovely, and --at the very least-- involves chocolate!

Setsubun

2011-02-04T02:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Setsubun, or the Bean-Throwing Ceremony. On this day, Japanese cleanse themselves of the former year and try to drive away evil spirits. In order to do this, they throw beans our their windows at demons! In supermarkets and convenient stores, you can find bean sets like the ones below:

I've always thought Setsubun was kind of exciting because everyone participates, even adults. And they just decide at some point during the day to start throwing the beans. Apparently, some families actually schedule an appointment with nearby temples to send "demons" to their houses. The demons pull up and knock so you know they've arrived, and then it's time to get to business.

Luckily, I was fully stocked with beans because -- to my surprise! -- an oni, or demon, came to our apartment!

See how surprised I am?

You're supposed to shout the equivalent of "DEMONS OUT! LUCK IN," but in my fright I only shouted, "NO!"

After all the commotion, I settled down to eat some of the leftover beans. You are supposed to count out a bean for each year you've been alive, and add one for good luck in the next year.

A more recent addition to Setsubun tradition is eating eho-maki, an uncut sushi roll. While eating it, you're supposed to face the lucky direction for the year (this year it's south east) and refrain from speaking or laughing. Which -- to me -- sounds like an invitation for giggles! For now, we'll stick with the crunchy leftover soy beans.

Hope we've made ourselves some good luck!

Comfort Foods

2011-01-31T06:30:00.001-08:00

#7 Mikan

Oh the wonderful sweetness of Mandarin Oranges! Starting in October, we're able to enjoy fresh mikan for months. We probably overindulge. But it's fruit, and it's healthy! So...it's okay, right? Besides, we can definitely use whatever vitamins we can get--we've both been feeling under the weather for the last couple weeks (hence the lack of updates!).

Hope you're staying healthy and happy!

Walking Along I Saw...

2011-01-23T06:16:00.000-08:00

...a very whimsical garden!

Aren't all the little touches adorable?

Snow Day...

2011-01-16T01:49:00.000-08:00

Except...we still had to work! We woke up this morning to this:

And this:

And then trudged through it all to get to the nearest station (a little over 10 minutes on foot from our apartment depending on how you hit the traffic lights). We were only going to Kuwana, a train commute that usually takes about 12 minutes from Yokkaichi, but all of the trains were delayed.

What should have been a quick journey ended up taking over an hour and a half (not including our run through the snow to get to work after finally reaching Kuwana station!).

Keeping positive despite our shivers!

It's still really coming down outside, and the forecast isn't looking to change tomorrow. Considering last year it only snowed once in our area, this is quite surprising weather! Funny enough, it's making us homesick for Michigan snow :-)

We saw this cute snow bunny on our way home from work!

Now we're snuggling up in the warmth of our apartment with tea, hot chocolate, and good books.

Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu!

2011-01-12T07:30:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

Took a little break from updates while we were in Michigan, but now that we're settled back into our routine in Japan we'd like to wish you a very happy 2011!

One activity we were happy to get back to in Yokkaichi was going for walks together. We almost always stop by a local temple during our strolls, and on our latest visit we could see bits of tradition surrounding New Year's.

Firstly, we saw kadomatsu, decorations placed in pairs outside temples, shrines and homes around the New Year. These decorations are meant to welcome ancestors, bring good luck for the year's harvest, and even temporarily house Japanese spirits or gods.

Next we took a look at the ema, or prayer cards. These cards are filled out with goals, hopes and prayers for the year (these ones were still from 2010).

Next we came to a little tree in a fire pit. The papers tied around the limbs are fortunes for 2011. These fortunes are drawn at the temple, read, and tied around the tree (whether good or bad).

The kadomatsu, ema, and tree will all be burned together within a matter of days. The kadomatsu: to release and appease the spirits; the ema: to let go of changed goals, bad things, memories and things not yet achieved; the tree and fortunes: to erase the bad luck and make the good luck come true. It's very symbolic of what many of us do every year. We embrace what was good, try to let go of what was bad, and hope for the best in the New Year.

Hope you can Let Go and Embrace Hope, Happiness and Love in 2011.

Comfort Foods

2010-12-21T13:51:00.000-08:00

#5 and #6: Matsutake Mushrooms and Zenzai Mochi

Recently, we embarked on a mission to find Matsutake mushrooms. These mushrooms are usually really hard to find, making them an expensive fall food in Japan. Despite the price, many Japanese seek out these mushrooms for their wonderful aroma.

This is a Matsutake mushroom stand in Shiga. I was really surprised to learn that most Japanese think the taste of the mushrooms is just futsu, or ordinary, but that the smell is so good they're willing to pay upwards of $50.00 (or more!) for only a few. Contrarily, everyone seems to agree that Shiitake Mushrooms taste great, but the mushrooms sell for a much more reasonable, futsu price!

Yeah, I'm not joking. On the right hand side, you can see the four mushrooms available for purchase at over the equivalent of $65.00 USD.

So, are they worth the big bucks? We tried them in Matsutakegohan, or mushroom rice, and also in some soup and they were pretty delicious. Both of the dishes were prepared for us by some of our very generous friends, so we can't say we'd necessarily go out on our own and buy them. But hey, gotta' try everything once!

After we secured the mushrooms on our trip, we stopped at a traditional Japanese sweets shop to try just that--traditional Japanese sweets. The sweet we tried is called zenzai mochi, which is basically a sweet red bean soup with rice cake inside.

Yum! This sweet can be served both hot and cold, depending on the season. We had ours hot, and it was a very happy way to warm up in the fall weather.

Merry-Go-Round Cafe

2010-12-19T07:48:00.000-08:00

I am in love with a little children's bookstore near our apartment called the Merry-Go-Round. There are three sections in the store: In one small area, they sell imported goods from the Netherlands, in another, larger area they sell children's books, and --best of all!-- another area serves as a coffee and tea room!

Doesn't it look inviting?

This Christmas tree is so simple and adorable.

Here is a glimpse of the book area, as well as the opening to the coffee and tea room.

On the archway we saw this cute sign:

And to the left of where we sat we saw this:

To the right we saw this:

We were given this menu:

And we saw these cute signs, drank Chai tea, and got a cute yellow bill, stamped with a little bus!

To this day, I still feel joy when looking at children's books. There is just something so exciting about opening the covers and discovering the colorful adventures on each page. Combining that pleasure with specialty imports and a simple, comfortable cafe makes for a lovely little shop.

Ikebana

2010-12-12T19:39:00.000-08:00

I've heard that ikebana is a very precise, difficult art, but I thought it was important to get a peek into one of the most well-known aspects of traditional Japanese culture. Yesterday I got the chance to give Japanese flower arranging a try, and I made the basic upright structure.

First, my teacher taught me where to put the kenzan, or needlepoint holder, in the vase. The placement of the kenzan depends on the arrangement, and for this style it went on the left hand side, closest to me. Then she guided me through the placement of the flowers. Every angle for the main flowers is predetermined! I really came to understand the elegance of ikebana.

Once I finally finished my arrangement, I had to sketch it in my notebook, and then take a picture. Then, my teacher told me to take apart the arrangement and do it all over again. Yeah, that's right! One more time! After I finished again, she gave me a few suggestions, had me take it apart again, and told me to reassemble it as soon as possible when I got home.

It sure took a long time! However, I thought the flowers looked beautiful. This was a Christmas arrangement, bringing aspects of a relatively new holiday into a traditional art form. I'm not sure if I'll try Japanese flower arranging again, but we're definitely enjoying this little burst of festivity in our apartment while looking forward to the holidays in Michigan!

Walking Along I Saw...

2010-12-04T21:20:00.001-08:00

...a Thomas the Tank Engine-shaped kindergarten bus!

Kyoto Birthday Celebration

2010-12-03T07:01:00.000-08:00

The day before my birthday is a national holiday in Japan--a perfect excuse to go out and celebrate! Yasu and Tomo joined us for a trip to Kyoto. First on the agenda upon arriving was visiting a Japanese sweet shop to learn how to make otabe.

When we arrived at the shop, everything we needed was laid out for us:

To begin, we mixed a special rice flour with sugar and water. Then we poured the mix into a little wooden steamer and let it thicken into dough. While waiting, we watched a short video on how otabe is made on a larger scale to sell as one of Kyoto's most famous souvenirs.

Once the dough was ready, we split it into three equal-sized balls. In each ball we poked a small hole with our fingers, and put a tiny spoon of matcha (green tea) powder or cinnamon in the middle. After mixing it in, we rolled out the dough:

So far, so easy!

All that was left to do was make the flattened balls of dough into squares and add filling. We could choose from anko (sweet bean paste), kuri (chestnut), or goma (sesame).

Below you can see Tomo and Yasu finishing up their otabe, as well as the instructions we were given to keep. Yasu decided to bring his own style to the otabe, forming them into what looked like Christmas presents instead of the traditional triangle shape (whether he did that on purpose or not is questionable ^^).

Tah-dah!

Having successfully completed our otabe training, it was time to head off to see Kyoto's famous autumn leaves.

We walked along the Philosopher's Path, and then around a few temples. In the fall at night, Kyoto has really lovely night lights to show off the changing leaves. So beautiful!

To end the night, we headed to a yakiniku restaurant to try Kobe beef!

I've wanted to try the famous beef for a while, and it was definitely delicious (the bill wasn't so delicious, but hey, it was a birthday celebration!). Don't know if we'll ever indulge in Kobe beef again, but I'm glad we tried it.

Yum!

Our day in Kyoto made for a very memorable 25th birthday. What is one of your most memorable birthdays?

Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-30T19:10:00.000-08:00

We sure did! We had to work on Thanksgiving Day, so we celebrated on Sunday. I tried to work with what was available to me for our little feast, yet get some of the traditional tastes at the same time. What ended up on our table was Maple Syrup & Cayenne Pepper Grilled Sweet Potatoes, Bacon Braised Green Beans, corn, chicken, homemade chicken gravy, rolls and mashed potatoes. (What couldn't fit on our table: our kabocha pie!)

I couldn't find any canned pumpkin puree, so I mashed Japanese pumpkin, kabocha. Japanese pumpkins are much smaller and sweeter than American ones, and they're also green on the outside. I used the same recipe for pumpkin pie that I did last year, and Chad said it was the best dish of the night!

Add a little whipped cream and it's delicious!

I was really happy to keep the holiday spirit alive this year. It's a little difficult to make the same food for Thanksgiving here, but it's no challenge to be thankful. Can't wait to visit our Michigan friends in 3 weeks!

Comfort Foods

2010-11-26T04:56:00.000-08:00

#3 and #4: Nagano no Ringo to Ichijiku

I was lucky enough to get these beautiful apples from a friend. She picked them in Nagano!

The apples were huge! Perfect for an apple-loving girl--especially when they tasted so delicious!

I was also given some figs that very same week from someone else!

As with chestnuts, until recently I had mostly only heard about figs from Christmas songs (though I had tried Fig Newtons--does that count?). It's really too bad I missed out on them all those years! Figs are wonderful fruit.

After gently rinsing our little ichijiku, we decided to try them first as they were:

The flavor was lovely! It kind of reminded us of the texture and taste of plums.

Next, I threw together my own adaptation of a few recipes I saw online for figs. First, I cut each fig into quarters, leaving the quarters attached at the bottom. Then, I added a small tab of butter to the centers, drizzled them with honey and added a few almonds before toasting them in our oven. After warming, I served them with a bit of Greek yogurt. Divine!

(Yes, that's butter oozing out.)

Might not compare to the great dishes you created for Thanksgiving, but we sure found it a yummy treat! Have you tried making any new recipes lately?

Mori no Kichin

2010-11-20T01:48:00.000-08:00

I may have mentioned before that I love visiting little cafes, particularly locally owned ones with character. One cafe I've been longing to try out for a long time is Mori no Kichin, or Forest Kitchen.

The cafe sign alone looked cute, simple and inviting, and the atmosphere inside held up to be the same. Despite walking into a strong smoky smell, I was determined to give the cafe a chance. I hadn't waited this long to walk right back out (and, like I said, it was inviting).

The only customers aside from us sat right up at the bar, gossiping and laughing loudly. They even talked about us, wondering aloud where we were from and commenting on how great our Japanese was (yeah! we fooled them!). After a few minutes it was easy to conclude that they were all close friends--perhaps even family.

Chad and I ordered the lunch set of the day and hoped by the time it was served we'd be used to the smoke (and that we could taste our food!). To be honest, although it was nice enough, we were a little worried about how great of a meal we'd be getting.

Clearly, we shouldn't have wasted our energy on worrying! The lunch set was soooo yummy! Miso Katsu, or pork cutlet with miso paste, miso soup, rice, tsukemono (pickled veggies) and a sweet piece of melon. All for 780 yen each.

Will we be going back to the cafe? Maybe someday. But for now, I've got others on my list to try!

Comfort Foods

2010-11-18T06:16:00.000-08:00

#2 Kuri

Chad and I went treasure hunting for one of Japan's popular fall foods, chestnuts.

What a beautiful find! Unfortunately, not many chestnuts were left so neatly for the taking. We spent some time searching around trees, shaking them and hoping for little chestnut gifts to fall down to us. When they did, we used our feet or gloved hands to pull away the prickly covering and retrieve the nuts.

Our hard work paid off! Check out our loot above and below.

However, the work wasn't over yet. Many students told me I should try making kurigohan, or chestnut rice, so I thought I'd give it a try. The first step would be softening the chestnuts and shelling them.

I boiled the nuts for about ten minutes before draining the water from the pot. The shells were still quite difficult to remove--after a few patient minutes, I became impatient and decided to attack the task with a spoon.

From there, I added the nuts to uncooked rice in a rice cooker with a little salt and let everything cook. Meanwhile I grilled some salmon, fixed up a couple small dinner salads, and threw together a Korean cucumber salad as well. Below is the little feast from our afternoon toils!

The chestnut rice turned out pretty nicely, although I think a little soy sauce and sake would have brought the flavors out a bit better. There are many ways to make the rice, but after taking an entire afternoon to make ours, we decided buying it from a department store (as pictured below) might be the best future option for us. The kurigohan below had sweet red beans inside and was cooked with sweet sake. Pretty yummy!

Walking Along I Saw...

2010-11-12T06:34:00.001-08:00

Little vines and mushrooms creeping along...

Paint drippings on stones...

The biggest snail I've ever seen...

Fantastic paintings near a local temple...

A flower blooming out from the gutter...

And buds and berries.

Rainy days aren't always so bad in Yokkaichi.

Comfort Foods

2010-11-09T04:41:00.001-08:00

#1 Nashi

Crisp like an apple, yet sweet and juicy like a pear, Asian pears are certainly a fruit of the gods. Heading into November has left nashi season to fade away until next year, but that makes room for other comforts to come.

Oktoberfest and Tsukimi

2010-11-07T03:34:00.000-08:00

The wind has blown a warm yellow moon up over the sea; a bulbous moon, which sprouts in the soiled indigo sky, and spills bright winking petals of light on the quivering black water.

-Sylvia Plath

It was time for one of our favorite little celebrations of the year: Oktoberfest. We started the night with some German beer.

Then it was time to dig into the main course!

Apples with caramel apple dip, French bread, German Sausage Kettle, cheddar cheese and summer squash with onion, garlic, tomato and cheese. Yum!

Beer, apples and caramel apple dip

Close-up of the summer squash dish

Chad and Yasu, digging in.

Never realized until that moment that French bread actually makes Chad's eyes roll.

After eating way too much (and adding more German beer and wine to the festivities), we decided it was time to check out the moon. A less well-known celebration in Japan, Tsukimi, or moon-viewing, takes place in the fall to honor the autumn moon. I think this is a really sweet tradition, and falls in line with the cliche about stopping to smell the roses. We should stop and recognize the beauty of the moon every night, and Tsukimi is a nice reminder. And to top it off, part of the tradition includes drinking sake and eating mochi (rice cakes)!

We had some white mochi with a light sugary powder and anko (sweet red bean paste) inside.

This year, the night for Tsukimi fell on September 22nd, but at that time we were on a plane headed to Thailand. I had wanted to celebrate so badly that I checked the moon calendar to find out when the next full moon would be. Turned out it was the same night we had chosen for Oktoberfest, and despite the clouds, we got a great view.

By the way, you might know a tricky little cat (who doesn't know me anymore!) named Tsuki. Please remind him to be nice to us when we visit Michigan next month. We've got tickets to go home for two weeks!

Every day in Thailand...

2010-11-06T08:22:00.000-07:00

...we ate delicious food:

(...including fresh fruit! Mangosteens, rambutans, jack fruit, dragon fruit, pomegranate, papaya, banana, pineapple...)

Dragon Fruit

Pomegranate

Pearl Tea

...Saw interesting signs:

No smoking

No crazy goats, weapons, sex, dogs, alcohol, durian or smoking in this taxi.

A restaurant menu, including a mystery Quick Meal

A McDonald's advertisement for chicken porridge

Visited markets:

Saw very interesting, colorful streets:

(Tuk-Tuks, or auto-rickshaws)

Got massages, relaxed, and enjoyed traveling together!

That's it for Thailand, at least for the time being. We both had a lot of fun and really want to go back! For now, we're settled back into life in Japan, so our blog will be too! Get ready for updates on October and November, starting with our little Oktoberfest.

On our fourth (and last!) day in Thailand...

2010-10-23T18:27:00.000-07:00

...we took a riverboat to a floating market.

Many people suggested we take a tour since it is a little difficult to get to the floating market from Bangkok--plus many tours make stops at a coconut farm on the way. In our case, I can definitely say taking a tour is not a good idea, as it was ridiculously overpriced, there was a time limit, and--among other things--there was no coconut farm stop!

Despite the many failings of our little day package, we still had fun.

Here we are on the colorful riverboat headed to the market.

Below is the view from the riverboat.

After arriving, Chad's first impression was, "Ohhh, tourist trap." And I got that. It's hard not to with all the kitschy souvenirs and call-outs to foreigners. But at the same time, you could catch the tradition and community of the trade, and that was very appealing to me.

Above you can see some shots of the market, as well as a vendor who made us soup right from her boat.

Here, Chad is buying Thai coffee (it was very sweet!)

Ahhh, one of my favorite parts: coconut milk from a coconut cracked open right before our eyes!

On the long ride back to our hotel, most of the group fell asleep. It was quite surprising when suddenly, in the middle of Bangkok, the van driver pulled over on the side of the road and told us all to get out. In my sleepy confusion I just sat in place. Where were we? What was going on? Why wasn't he taking us back to our hotels?

He just kept saying, "Get out. I'm done here." Of course, everyone was pretty taken aback, not to mention pretty angry considering the amount of money we had all paid to be taken to and from the market. Chad convinced the man to pay for a taxi--thank goodness. (Our hotel ended up being about a 25 minute taxi ride from where the tour driver had stopped!)

All in all, it was a pretty interesting day, to say the least!

On our third day in Thailand...

2010-10-15T07:05:00.000-07:00

...we saw ancient ruins in one of Thailand's former capitals, Ayutthaya.

It was quite surprising to go from riding the very modern SkyTrain to riding a normal train in Thailand. There are three classes of trains, and we took a third-class one as it was the cheapest. The train was completely open-air--no air conditioning--and felt very old. As the train headed farther away from Bangkok and filled with more and more people, things got very crowded, hot and sweaty. Merchants walked up and down the narrow aisles carrying baskets of food and drinks, calling out to passengers to buy. One merchant took money from a passenger and stored it in her ear! She had quite the little storage spaces in her ears--a lesson to always wash your hands after handling money I guess.

When the train finally arrived in Ayutthaya (about 2 hours from Bangkok), we took a little river boat to cross over from the station to the city, and then we rented bikes. Cycling about and seeing the ancient ruins in Ayutthaya was one of my favorite parts of our trip. Below are some pictures from various ruin sites.

...Look closely.

I had heard so much about riding elephants in Thailand, and had seen many great pictures of friends riding along on them, that I was very excited when we took our own ride around the ruins atop of one of the huge animals.

Tree roots have grown around the head of Buddha. It is one of the most famous sites in Ayutthaya.

After hours of biking around and checking out the ruins, we turned in our bikes, rode the riverboat back to the station, and prepared for the long haul back to Bangkok. We definitely weren't excited about the train ride, but the overall experience was worth it. Also, when we were walking back to our hotel from the station in Bangkok, we passed a group of guys playing futsal and they invited Chad to play. Of course, that made his day (and he even scored a goal!).

On our second day in Thailand...

2010-10-10T03:12:00.000-07:00

...we made delicious food!

Turns out there was a great cooking school about a ten minute walk from where our hotel was in Silom, Bangkok. We registered for an afternoon class, and met the teacher and our classmates for the day at a local, open-air market (which was only a minute walk from our hotel!).

Above is our eccentric, ostentatious and humorous teacher, Lucy. He was telling us about the basic ingredients used in Thai cooking while filling baskets full of the fresh ingredients for us to use in the class.

We walked back to Silom Thai Cooking School and prepared the ingredients. When we were finished, Lucy arranged them in the basket pictured above. It looked so vibrant!

Here's where we did all of the cooking.

The first thing we did after preparing the ingredients was sit on a little bench with a coconut shaver on the edge. We took coconut halves and shaved the coconut meat into bowls. Although Thai people generally just buy coconut milk these days, it was neat to see how to make it yourself. After shaving the coconut, we added a little water and squeezed the pulp dry. The resulting milk was very sweet, and could be used for making sweets. However, we were going to be using it for main dishes, too, so we repeated the process with the coconut shavings one more time and combined the liquid for a milder taste. I was surprised to learn that coconut milk is used in many dishes and is an important staple of Thai cooking.

In this picture, you can see the preparations for Tom Yum Kung, hot and sour prawn soup.

Yum! The soup turned out to be so delicious!

Now to prepare the ingredients for Pad Thai, my favorite Thai food!

Man, I was happy. Savory, nutty, fried noodles with prawns, veggies, spices...I'm drooling at the memory!

Above is Northern Chicken Salad.

Chad is grinding down the ingredients to make green curry paste.

We brought the ingredients outside, fried them up with a little oil and coconut milk, and out came this:

Delicious Thai Green Curry

Last was dessert. Bananas with steamed coconut milk and palm sugar. By this point --as you might imagine--we were getting quite full, but how could we stop eating when we had this yummy dish as a finale?

Bellies full, our class huddled up for a group shot. With a New Zealander, Korean, three Austrians, four Americans (including ourselves) and a Scotsman, we had quite a diverse group. It was fun getting to know them while we cooked!

Overall, we cooked 5 dishes, eating in between each one. In total it was about a 4 hour period of cooking glory, and it turned out to be one of our favorite things about our trip.

On our first day in Thailand...

2010-10-08T05:23:00.000-07:00

...we saw amazing architecture.

This is Chad standing at one of the entrances to Wat Pho, a temple.

We were really impressed by the temple colors and detail. We were also impressed by the giant sleeping Buddha:

After Wat Pho, we headed to the Grand Palace.

It may be hard to see here, but there are mermaids in this mural. It was my favorite mural there.

(Toothless!)

Above is the entrance to the palace.

I know there are many pictures here, but it was very hard to eliminate any! We hope you find the pictures as interesting as we felt the sites were in person. And in our next post on day two, we hope you don't faint with hunger! Food awaits!

Weed Beer

2010-10-03T06:27:00.001-07:00

We live in a country in which drugs like marijuana are not only prohibited, but strongly stigmatized. So you can imagine our surprise when we discovered this:

It's called Cannabia, and it's weed beer--complete with a scratch n' smell label across the bottle neck. According to the website, it was only recently that Japan permitted importation of the product, but other products sporting a marijuana scent, taste or picture have been around for years. (We often see pot-shaped air fresheners hanging from rear-view mirrors, for example.) I'm guessing these things aren't a gateway to the drug, however, because many people are oblivious to the leaf's meaning. Not too mention marijuana's (in)famous reputation for inducing lethargy. Nobody wants a lazy salary man!

ただいま！

2010-09-27T07:28:00.000-07:00

We're home!

Our flight got in from Bangkok this morning a little after 7:00, and we got back to our apartment around 10:00. With only a few hours to rest up before work, we were two tired (but happy!) travelers. Thailand was amazing, and we can't wait to share our experiences with you as soon as we have a chance to settle back into things.

As for now, it's a rainy night, and I am reminded of a road patch I stumbled upon during a rainstorm on my way to Kuwana station a couple weeks ago:

Have you stumbled upon anything lovely lately?

~

Monday Mountain Climbing

2010-09-20T04:24:00.000-07:00

Today we finally got around to climbing Gozaisho Mountain. We took the middle path, which is an intermediate climbing course. It took us about 2 hours to get to the top, and it was both challenging and fun. I actually enjoyed the climb more than when we climbed Mt. Fuji because there was a lot more rock climbing (as opposed to the steady slog of Mt. Fuji).

Last year we took the ropeway up and saw a few hikers, so it was fun to be the hikers being seen from the ropeway this time around.

At the top, I met a really great musician:

After eating lunch at the top of the mountain, we headed to Yunoyama Onsen--an area of natural hot springs. I had been to sento, or public baths before, and was excited to finally go to a hot spring. We chose an onsen many of our students recommended called kibouso, which means something along the lines of "place of hope." It didn't disappoint!

We felt really relaxed, not only due to our hard climbing, but due to a very busy schedule over the past month. As those of you connected through facebook may have seen, we've been having many adventures, most of which happened in August with Tina. Picnics, beer gardens, karaoke, Akame Falls, a trip to Korea and fireworks made for a busy and fun month! (And also for an excuse as to why we haven't had a chance to update much here!)

Wednesday we'll be off to Thailand for about 5 days, but we'll be sure to keep you as up-to-date as possible after that!

Dreams Come True

2010-08-06T01:22:00.000-07:00

This isn't about the famous Japanese pop band. This is about a delectable desire becoming a sweet reality. The day we discovered Club Harie in Shiga.

Club Harie is especially famous for a German sweet called baumkuchen, but the location our friends brought us to featured something much more: a cake buffet. That's right, all-you-can-eat-cake for 90 minutes (and about 2100 yen!). Hope you have several napkins to wipe your drool.

Above is what we saw when we entered the French country-style bakery. First: the cake bar, lined with staff waiting to serve beautiful slices of cake. Connected to the cake bar was a drink bar with several coffee and tea choices, juice and water. In the second and third picture above you can see some of the accompanying goodies, ranging from brownies and sweet breads to delightful petits fours.

We sat at our table, anxiously waiting for our waitress to give us the go-ahead and noticed the following warning:

But that looks WONDERFUL!

Finally, it was time for round one. We headed to the counter, and came back with this:

And this:

Heaven!

When we arrived I thought for sure we'd give the place a run for its money. However, I was surprised to find that even I, a girl with a mouth full of sweet teeth and an insatiable saccharine desire, was slowing down before finishing even the first plate of cakes.

Chad, on the other hand, fell in love.

What a striking contrast between the red strawberries and his blue eyes! Amore!

Soon the staff brought out freshly made baumkuchen, still warm. Below you can see the cake on the spit (the bakers layer cake batter on the spit while turning it) and get a glimpse at the cute style of the bakery.

The cake was served with ice cream, banana cream and whipped cream. See the rings made from the layering of the batter? They resemble the growth rings of a tree, and give the cake its name (Baumkuchen translates to "tree cake").

Everything was delightfully displayed, and the flavors matched the presentation. Subtle, sweet, and oh-so-satisfying!

Maybe a bit too satisfying? We'll definitely never forget it, that's for sure!

Tokyo: Day Three

2010-07-25T03:54:00.001-07:00

Finally! It's here! Day three of our Tokyo trip...back in May. We've been super busy, and that's going to continue for a while, but I'll try my best to post some more fun from the last few months.

I feel like we did a lot of really cool things when we were in Tokyo, but day three might just have been my favorite. We started the day walking to the train station to head to Ebisu, and came upon this sculpture. It's famous, and often used in T.V. dramas.

When we got to Ebisu, we stored our luggage in some coin lockers and headed to the Yebisu Beer Museum. The museum was pretty nice, but unlike the Asahi Brewery Tour in Nagoya, you have to pay for a guided tour and there is a 400 yen charge per beer "sample." Below you can see pictures from the museum, the tasting room, and the tokens used to purchase the samples.

As you can see Chad was pretty happy (especially in the middle picture on the left where he's being cradled by the Yebisu logo).

After a refreshing Irish Cream Stout from the beer museum, we left for Odaiba, an artificial island in Tokyo Bay. The island has a lot of shopping and many restaurants, as well as a great night view. One of the first things I saw after getting out of the driverless, computer-operated train connecting the island to Tokyo was the Statue of Liberty. Kind of strange we haven't been to New York to see the real one, but there we were, in Japan, looking at this:

We wandered around a bit before finding a yummy pizza restaurant in Decks, a shopping mall with a view of the Rainbow Bridge from outside many of the restaurants and shops.

Kanpai! Sangria and beer--Cheers!

Top-view of my sangria, a Basil Mozzarella pizza, and a Carbonara pizza. Can you see the egg on the Carbonara pizza in the middle? In the bottom picture, the waiter is popping the egg and scrambling it over the whole pizza. The pizza is served piping hot, so the egg cooks immediately. It's actually really delicious!

Lovely salad.

After our late lunch we explored Decks a little more, finding a place where you can practice to be a Ninja Warrior, and a neat floor completely made to look like it's from the 1950's. This floor was probably my favorite part of going to Odaiba because I really love everything about that time period.

1. Check out the "penny" candy store, with old-fashioned treats
ranging in prices all below 100 yen.
2. Canned sodas with vintage designs
3. A general shot of the area
4. Chad and Yasu battling it out, playing an old arcade game

There was also a haunted house, a screen showing old-time cartoons, palm readers, and several souvenir shops. There were both fortune tellers reading palms and electronic ones, like the one pictured below:

(You put your hand in its mouth)

There were also fortune machines. Yasu seemed to be having bad luck over the trip when it came to drawing positive messages from fortunes, so he tried this one:

It totally reminded me of Zoltar in the movie "Big." Yasu put in money, and the dragon pulled out his fortune, did a dance, and then dropped it for Yasu to retrieve. It was cool to watch, but Yasu read his fortune only to find out it hadn't changed!

On the bright side to Yasu's fortune troubles, when we left the 1950's floor, we got to see this great view of the Rainbow Bridge:

Made us miss Mackinac!

It was getting late and we still had to pick up our luggage from Ebisu before catching our night bus, so we decided to head back. When we got to Yebisu, we decided to grab dinner at a ramen restaurant called Chabuton. We were intrigued by the sign on the door advertising "Veggie Ramen." Isn't that ramen blasphemy? We decided to check it out--little did we know that some REALLY amazing ramen awaited us!

Dinner is served! Beer, gyoza, and--for me!--Veggie Ramen.

Chad was jealous of my Veggie Ramen, and no one can blame him. I ordered the egg, but the basic ramen doesn't include it. This was seriously the best ramen I've ever tried. So vegetable-rich, and so yummy! We were sure to ask the ramen chef for details: was there really absolutely NO meat involved? Even in the broth? Why haven't more ramen shops started serving Veggie Glory?

His answers? Yes, the ramen has no meat, even in the broth. It's a vegetable broth, and the ramen recipe took over 10 years for the restaurant to perfect (which may be why other restaurants haven't started serving it. Or it might be because people don't believe in ramen without meat).

I left feeling like I had made a huge discovery, only to leave it behind...possibly for all time. But wait! The restaurant is a chain! And it is not only located in Ebisu, but very near to our company's headquarters in Kanayama! Hurray! Accessible Chabuton! I don't know what could have made a better ending to our Tokyo trip.

(Well... actually, a shinkansen ride would have been nice instead of the night bus, but you get the point.)

Tokyo: Day Two

2010-06-17T08:40:00.000-07:00

We lugged ourselves out of bed for day two of Tokyo--tired, but excited--and headed straight to Asakusa. We decided to wait for breakfast, but by the time we arrived in Asakusa it was nearly lunch time. There was a nice restaurant where Chad ate omuraisu, which is similar to how is sounds: an omelet with rice inside. I had a lovely obentou.

Next, we headed down the crowded streets to Asakusa Temple, one of the oldest temples in Tokyo.

Seeing the temple was well worth having to wade through the crowd. Pictures below include the gate to the shrine, Chad wafting away evil spirits with incense smoke, a pagoda, and some of the decorative work found inside the temple.

This was painted on the ceiling in the temple:

The gate to the shrine is called the "Thunder Gate," and it is guarded by the god of wind on the right, and the god of thunder on the left.

Before leaving Asakusa, we made two very important stops. First:

Taiyaki glory.

And second:

Afternoon Sangrias.

From Asakusa, we decided to leave Tokyo and go to Yokohama, Japan's second largest city. When we arrived, Chad was taken over by excitement and suddenly became part of Dragon Ball Z.

Then he got to use a big boy rocking chair!

Yokohama is famous for being one of the first ports in Japan to be opened to foreign trade, but it's also famous for its China town. You can bet that as soon as Chad recovered from his fireball throwing and rocking chair fun we headed toward the luring streets of Japan's largest China town.

Discovering Yokohama China Town

After an expensive dinner in the China Town (yeah, what? I thought Chinese food was cheap!), we went back to Shinjuku. Night had fallen, but we weren't finished yet!

Above you can see what happens when you enter a SMAP izakaya, and below you can see Shinjuku's awesome night lights and the side of a Tokyo cab.

Almost time for bed, but not without one final question:

Day Three coming soon!

Three Days in Tokyo

2010-06-05T05:39:00.000-07:00

We've been busy little bees, flitting from one job to the next and trying to fit in little trips in the meantime. Sorry for the delay in posting, but I hope this post -- the first in a series of three on our trip to Tokyo -- eases any feelings of bitterness/anger/depression you may have been feeling. Because I know how important reading this must be to most of you ;-)

DAY ONE

Chad, Yasu and I took a night bus to Shinjuku and arrived at about 5:30 AM. That's right, 5:30. You probably remember what a chipper morning person I can be, so I'm sure you can imagine how (un)happy Yasu and Chad were as I forged into the city in search of coffee. Luckily it didn't take too long to find a cafe where we could eat breakfast and hang out for a couple hours while we waited for things to open up. We were also lucky that it was such a beautiful day and that we were surrounded by interesting buildings like this one:

After breakfast, we left to drop off our stuff at The Washington Hotel.

After stopping at the hotel, we were off to Harajuku -- making a quick stop at Meiji Shrine first. It was really tough to pick only a few pictures of Harajuku, but here is a peek at some of what we saw in the famous city:

It was super crowded, and mostly with teenage girls! There were some interesting sights (and people!), but my favorite part of Harajuku was a little restaurant tucked away called Blue Garden.

(Left to Right)
1. Chad and Yasu thinking about where to go after lunch
2. Salad from an awesome salad bar, and a 100 yen beer (about $1.00 USD)!
3. Pizza-in-a-Cup
4. Cool guys
5 & 6. Carubonara Raisu in a stone bowl (it continued cooking after it was brought to the table!)
7 & 8. Chad's Curry Rice dish -- so yummy!
9. Eating fondue
10. Yeah, did I mention fondue in #9? Because it was part of the salad bar. And it was amazing.
11. Once again, amazing.
12. Flowers to celebrate the restaurant's recent opening

After a really wonderful lunch, we headed to Yoyogi Park. We got to see some pretty interesting people around every corner, including dancing Elvises (Elvi?).

Pretty sure this was a man...

We thought this girl's look was pretty impressive:

This guy was a mime-rabbit:

And these guys were the two most interesting people in the park that day!

We had been walking for hours and it was quite hot, so we headed back for a nap and a shower (finally!) at our hotel. After a brief respite from Tokyo-overload, we headed out for a little shopping and dinner. Sorry to report that I've forgotten the name of the ramen restaurant we went to and where is is exactly, but I feel like you can still take some time to drool over its glory. Chad's ramen is pictured on the left in the middle, and he says it was the spiciest ramen he's ever eaten (see his picture directly below the ramen--he's sweating!). I ordered salt and butter ramen (pictured on the right in the middle). So healthy! ;-)

And so came the end of our first day. There was so much to take in, we couldn't imagine what lay in store for us on day two. Can you? We'll be posting soon to let you know!

Taiyo no Cafe

2010-04-25T05:58:00.000-07:00

There are many interesting little cafes tucked away in Yokkaichi, and one of them is Taiyo no Cafe. Taiyo means "sun," and the warm feeling sunshine brings is definitely reflected in Taiyo's atmosphere. It is a very simple, open, laid-back cafe in which French, Bossa Americana music and more is played to set customers at ease. (For an example, check out this pretty little version of "Jambalaya" sung by Lisa Ono.)

I love the painting on the main wall:

I've been to the cafe twice now, and both times I ordered the tuna egg salad sandwich that comes with a side of mixed fruit and jello cubes. So yummy! They also serve all-you-can-eat-parfaits for an extra 420 yen, but I've never tried them. Some friends say the parfaits are addicting, so I guess it's safer that I stay away from that option for now! ;-)

Hope you've been able to enjoy some sunshine out your way--it's been rather rainy and overcast lately here (but at least today was sunny!).

Nakagawara Station

2010-04-15T07:37:00.000-07:00

Our nearest station is easy to miss. It's quaint, quiet, and quite pretty on sunny days:

Alongside the station are these paintings:

Who wouldn't want to ride a magical, colorful, inviting train like the one painted here?

The rail crossing on the main road before making a right to get to the station.

We usually don't use Nakagawara station because it takes just about as long being on time and waiting for the train as it does to bike to our next nearest station (plus that saves us a few yen). On rainy days or super busy days, though, it's our definite go-to. We'll miss awesome public transportation when we move back to the states, but it's better than missing all of you! :-)

Size Matters Not. Judge Me By My Size, Do You?

2010-04-08T05:41:00.000-07:00

So what's really awesome (and often confusing) about Japan is that it can be very random. Like when you're walking around Sakae in Nagoya, trying to find somewhere to eat, and you spot this:

We got off the main road, and along the curve there were little Star Wars figurines set up in the grass. No one was around. There weren't any signs. Just. Star Wars. I feel like in America someone would steal all of these. But not in Japan.

Easter Sunday

2010-04-06T08:04:00.001-07:00

Late March and early April is a busy time of year in Japan. Luckily, amidst the flurry of meetings and trainings, there are also flurries of cherry blossoms! Taking the time to relax and appreciate the beauty of spring -- especially with good food and fun friends! -- has been really wonderful!

This Easter Sunday, Chad and I went cherry blossom viewing with a woman from my gym and her granddaughter. The weather was perfect, and the cherry blossoms were just bursting with beauty. Below, our fine feast is pictured:

Top Left: Karaage (Japanese-style fried chicken)
Middle Row: Tempura, more Tempura, and Onigiri (Japanese Rice Balls)
Bottom: Deviled Eggs, Carrot Cake Cupcakes, and Huge Oranges!
(Can you guess who made what food?)

Relaxing with full bellies!

Volleyball shots:

After about three and a half hours of relaxing at the park, we headed home. What a wonderful way to spend Easter!

Hope your Easter was as blessed with food and friendship as ours was ~~!

Appreciate Your Melons...

2010-03-28T21:20:00.000-07:00

'Cause in Japan they're a lot more expensive! At approximately $38.00 USD per melon, you'd better enjoy every bite slowly and happily.

(You knew we were talking about fruit in the title...right? ^^ )

Day Trip to Osaka

2010-03-24T21:21:00.000-07:00

Last Friday we headed out to Osaka for the day so Chad could finally get a chance to see Hirakata and my old university, Kansai Gaidai.

Osaka feels quite different from Mie. Whereas Osaka is one of Japan's biggest, most well-known prefectures, even many Japanese aren't sure where Mie is! (Not to mention Osaka has a larger population and a louder personality and style.) Something we noticed quite quickly was how the Keihan trains looked in comparison to those of the Kintetsu line. Aren't the colors cool? Below are some other highlights from our day.

An obentou (Japanese lunchbox) shop near my old dormitory
Realistic plastic food models to help customers choose what to order.
Chad's lunch: mayo noodle salad, Japanese pickled vegetables, tonkatsu (pork cutlets), and rice with sesame seeds
Caitlyn's lunch: mayo noodle salad, Japanese pickled vegetables, steak and veggies, rice with sesame seeds

Time for a Picnic!

The above picture was taken in the park at which we had our picnic. It's actually right around the corner from the dorm I lived in for a semester. (How convenient! A liquor store and a park right near a college dorm!)

After our picnic, we headed to Namba to do some shopping. One famous landmark in Namba is the Glico man, a mascot of the confectionary company that makes famous products like Pocky.

One of the shopping streets:

Osaka is famous for Takoyaki! Yum, octopus balls!
Of course, when Chad sees dango it's a necessary stop. This shop also had Ichigo Daifuku, which is mochi with a cold strawberry inside. So delicious!

Nothing cooler than a bike with two kegs on it ;-)

Lastly, Chad posing as Mario:

Which Would YOU Choose?

2010-03-16T17:23:00.000-07:00

Option #1: The Squatter

Option #2: Space Toilet (featuring a music button, a bidet, flushing sounds and more)

茶道

2010-03-11T08:43:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday, Chad and I went to Suzuka for a traditional Japanese dinner and tea ceremony. Months ago, we were able to join a very informal tea ceremony, so we were interested to see what kind of dinner would be served and how a formal ceremony might be different.

When we first arrived, we sat in a little waiting room for several minutes, before being asked to wash our hands in a little basin (just like washing one's hands before entering a shrine). Then we proceeded to the room in which the ceremony was going to be held. Everyone bowed to a scroll on the wall, a little tea cabinet, and a little hole in the tatami that held ashes to prepare coals for heating water. Then, we sat around the edges of the room...on our knees. Japanese people have a profound ability to sit on their knees for extended periods of time. We were about to discover how difficult it is to pull off such a feat.

The master of the ceremony brought out this beautiful basket with tools for stoking the coals. We were so impressed with the colors!

Next, she lifted the kettle onto the embers. When the lid was pushed to the side, we could hear steam sizzling out. Each kettle has a different sound, and different kettles are used depending on the theme of the ceremony. Our ceremony theme was "Early Spring."

It was time for the first course (see above). We lifted the lids off the rice and miso soup at the same time, setting them aside. In the top bowl you can see raw fish. And see that beautiful ball in the middle of the soup? It's meant to look like temari, a beautiful toy ball made from the silk of kimonos. Don't be deceived by its beauty as I was--it had wasabi inside! (I'll have to share my previous, unfortunate wasabi experiences another time...)

Several more courses were brought out, including the most delicious salmon of my life. (I'm wondering if it was similar to this recipe for grilled miso salmon...) There were also periodic interjections of sake drinking ("A very expensive, classic brand," we were told). After a little dessert, it was time to bow to everything again and leave the room. At this point, we had been sitting for about three hours.

We enjoyed a brief respite from all that knee-sitting in the waiting room before washing our hands again and --ah! our poor knees!-- going back into the ceremony room. More bowing, then...more sitting. We were able take our minds off the pain a bit when silence filled the room and the master began her ritual. For the most part, the room was filled only with the sizzling of the kettle, the occasional soft grating of metal from the kettle lid, and the clicking of her tools.

See the thick, green matcha?

Notice her attention to every detail. There are over 100 rules for tea ceremonies, including that one must appreciate every nuance of the ritual (from the way the tea is prepared to the container in which it's served). We were served tea twice: the first time, thick green tea; the second time, thin green tea. Between servings, beautiful wagashi, or traditional Japanese confectioneries, were brought out (see below).

After the ceremony was complete, Chad and I were allowed to have a go at making the tea. Then, we bowed to the scroll, the tea cabinet and the kettle before exiting the room the final time. Overall, there weren't many differences between the informal and formal tea ceremonies, but the procedure took much longer in the formal version. Additionally, we endured a lot more pain for the beauty of it! In their entirety, the dinner and the ceremony lasted over four hours. With an 8000 yen price tag (about $80.00 USD), we probably won't be doing it again; however, we are certainly glad for the experience.

(Then again...that wasabi killed me!)

Osaki ni! (After me!)