Walking Along I Saw...

...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!

~

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

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!