Care Package Equality

We get lots of stuff from Tigerpapa`s side of the family too. Every month or so my MIL sends some kind of care package. Usually it`s full of Japanese foods ie. 30kg bags of rice*, different kinds of pickles, dried fish, furikake, and fruit. And, once in awhile, it has a lovely gift for me like these gorgeous dolls that my MIL made herself:



* MIL`s brother owns a rice field so she gets it free and unprocessed. Yay, brown rice!

Garbage days

And I do mean DaySSSSSSS. We have a myrid of different ways to dispose of our garbage. It can be a tad confusing. Here`s the chart:



Today was "sodai gomi" day which meant that we can throw out large items like strollers or computer monitors. Since I had a lot of these items piling up on the balcony over the past year, I decided to go for it. I got the stickers I needed last night at the grocery store and checked (with Tigerpapa`s help) the chart to make sure I had the right day. Then, this morning, I took five large items down to the garbage disposal area in front of our building. Feeling good about finally getting rid of these items, I confidentaly walked over to the bus pick-up area with the kids and said to one of the other mothers, "Today is sodai gomi day, right?". You know, just to be safe. She nodded and said yes and then,"DID YOU CALL THE GARBAGE COMPANY LAST NIGHT?" What? You have to call? Crap! Once again I had failed in one of the mundane daily tasks that need to be taken care of in Japan. Thankfully, the company accepted the call this morning and they were able to come and get the stuff. Phew, disaster averted.

Do you like my new ketai strap? It took me many months to find one that I liked. This one is not only cute but it`s useful as well. If ever I need to fillet a fish and identify the right sashimi parts, I can just consult the diagram on my fish. Woohoo!





Ja ne.

Belated Christmas Cheer

Make an online slideshow at onetruemedia.com

Obento woe

Sometimes you have a day where you wake up and realize that today is an "obento day" and you are NOT READY! Meaning, you do not have the requisite 4 colours of food or a good protein source and there`s no fresh rice, just old stuff leftover from the day before. What do you do? You improvise of course and hope that the children don`t show their teacher your sad little obento:



And then there`s the days where you wake up ready for the "obento day" and realize that your FH (Flippin` Husband) had to eat the 5 green beans in the tiny little tupperware container that you had set aside for the next days obento as well as use the last 2 eggs needed for the tamagoyaki for his MIDNIGHT SNACK!

Thankfully these two incidents happened in different weeks and I was saved from 2 bad bentos in a row. Phew. Today`s obento was pretty good but it`s missing one thing. Does anyone know what that one thing is?

Sistahs!

You might think that living miles and miles away from your home country would be difficult. You might think that it would be lonley and sad. You might think that it would be stressful and annoying. And you`d be right it CAN be all of those things.....unless you happen to have fabulous sistahs like I do. Than it`s not always so bad.

Witness Exhibit A:



And Exhibit B:



Those two pictures are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to care packages that I have received in the last 5 years. I`ve had so many nice packages sent to me since I moved here that I`ve seriously lost count (not just from sistahs either...mom and dad, brothers, and friends too!) and I hope you all know how much it means to me to receive them. And not just because I get stuff. It`s the love and thoughtfulness that goes INTO the packages that give me such joy. The fact that one of you remembered that I like "Moleskin" notebooks and sent an article about them. The fact that one of you read my blog and saw that I was running out of coconut milk powder so you went and got me TWENTY FIVE packs of the stuff to tide me over! The fact that one of you knew I needed some spiritual guidance and so you sent me a gorgeous handmade (by YOU) rosary. Oh, and the fact that ALL of you almost always remember my deep need and love of all things chocolate......and caramel.......or chocolate AND caramel or...well, you get the picture.

These packages are just one of the reasons (there are many others!) that I don`t feel so very far away from all of you. So I thank you for taking the time to think of me and for making my life over here less lonely. Arigatou ne!

Me and My Panta

This is the Panta that a dear (and talented) friend made for me. It helped me survive the cold, cold weather I encountered on my trip to Mainland Japan:



Fuji-san and Panta-san:



Another day with more glorious panta protection:



Thank you for my Panta, Jan. I love it and I will wear it every chance I get!

My Lunch Excursion

Forget Fuji! You guys are going to get to come along with me on my lunch excursion (a request from sister K). Doesn`t that sound fun?!

Here`s our elevator. I am about to get inside:



Phew, no earthquakes so I`m NOT stuck in the elevator. Here is the foyer of our building in which resides this lovely "name plaque". I`ll give a prize to whomever can find our name on the list (none of you proficient in kanji are allowed to play!):



This is my lovely Scottish friend and lunch-excursion-co-star:



Here we go down the hill and onto the road....WEEEEEEE:



I tried to capture the view from the top of this hill but was a little late taking the picture. Off in the distance are the Kerama Islands and, if you look closely, you can see 2 airplanes. One is on its way to land at the airport and the other one is flying up above it:



Here`s where things get interesting. I had to watch for the oncoming traffic whilst my partner in crime quickly accelerated to pass the farmer. I TOLD you I lived in the boonies:



This is one of the kids favourite parks. They beg to stop and play here EVERY SINGLE TIME we drive past. My friend only had to say "no" to me once before I gave up asking:



We arrive at our destination. And NO it is not a brothel. That is a picture for the spa that operates on the second floor. We are going to the Thai restaurant down below:



YUM:



YUMMIER:



YUMMIEST:



Then my camera battery died so I can`t show you the awesome interior of the restaurant nor the bill that was only 1350 yen each!

It was a fabulous afternoon and not just because the food was so good. The best part of the excursion was the company. Thanks Y!

Edited to add: There are in fact TWO pieces of cheesecake on my plate but if you knew how teeny tiny they were you would understand that it was necessary....and also necessary to eat my friend`s remaining cheesecake 10 minutes later.

I love these

A meme I found somewhere on the internet:

1) Grab the book closest to you
2) Open to page 123, go down to the fourth sentence
3) Post the text of the following 3 sentences on your blog
4) Name the author and book title
5) Tag two people to do the same

1.) I almost cheated and went looking for something that would make me look smarter or more sophisticated. Then I realized that, although I am relativley smart, I`m not very sophisticated so why would I want to misrepresent myself. Ha! Good thing I finished that book about "detective cats" (really...the cats were detectives) last month! ANYHOO, the book closest to me is called, "Special Forces, War on Terrorism in Afghanistan". WAIT! That`s Tigerpapa`s book. I don`t think it counts so I will continue the search.* Hold on. Here it is; "But Not the Hippopotamus"...WAIT! That`s Tigergirl`s book. Hmm....more hunting. Okay, I found my book.

3.) "Mr. Briscoe, adrift, had expected to die. But he did not die. He did not freeze to death and he was not bashed into particles of fish food and shredded survival suit on the jagged rocks of the mainland.**

4.) The book is, "Lighthouse" by William Monahan.

5.) I will tag Gina and Lily!

*The fact that I had to go searching is a bit disconserting as I`ve always thought of myself as an avid reader. Will have to get back to reading methinks!

**Aren`t you really curious as to what happened to Mr. Briscoe?

Dinner

This is what I came up with:



I was trying to use up all the odds and ends in the fridge and ended up with a pretty good dinner. The saving point was the sashimi I picked up at the grocery store...it spiffed things up quite a bit. I love, love, love pine nuts but rarely buy them here as they are so ridiculously expensive. Luckily, we got a huge bag at Costco in Tokyo that we lugged all the way back with us to Okinawa. They make an ordinary salad delightful. Yum!

Check out the wonderful chocolate my sister K, in Victoria sent me. I certainly wallowed in it. haha!



The kid`s bento from Friday:


Yes, that`s the meat you saw in our sandwiches from the picture of our dinner...I told you it was a leftover dinner!

I`ll be posting about our trip tomorrow.

Mata ne.

Where to Begin?

We had a great trip to Yokohama and a wonderful time at Fuji and Nasu. Mt. Fuji is really something when you see it in real life. So majestic and powerful. Unfortunately, my pictures do not do it justice. You`ll just have to use your imagination!

Well, I just went looking for the pictures and they are still on our memory stick which is in Tigerpapa`s possession so I`ll leave you with our final lunch at the in-law`s house. YAKINIKU! The interesting thing about this yakiniku is that it consists of wild boar and 2007 is the year of the boar. I`m not sure if it`s lucky or not but it sure was good.



Oh, and an interesting car parked next to me at the grocery store a few weeks ago:



I`ll be back.

Gabbling housewife is me!

You will be happy to know that "blathering" is, in fact, a word and a GREAT one at that. It is probably the best word to describe my writing most of the time:

Blathering: talking idly or incoherently; "blithering (or blathering) idiot"; "jabbering children"; "gabbling housewives"; "a babbling hospital inmate"

Phew!

I lost my blog for a couple of days there. How does one lose a blog? I`m not exactly sure but I found it and now have a back-up on cd just in case!

We are still in Yokohama and will be until Monday so I probably won`t update again until we get home. Then you will get tons of pictures, inspirational musings, and deep thoughts on the New Year. Well, tons of pictures for sure....and maybe some general blatherings (is that a word?). Hahaha.

"See" you next week!