You are all wonderful and encouraging friends! I don't feel like such a dolt - unable to balance the needs of others in my family and feeling selfish for wanting to cram 36 hours into each single day hoping for more time with all of them!
Things have evened out a bit. Mom and Dad depart tomorrow. We've been all over in the last week or so. We spent several days in Leavenworth, WA enjoying the sunshine, sausages, and goats that live across from the hotel. Peanut *loves* goats and couldn't get enough of them! On our way home, we stopped near Wenatchee at a farm stand where we stocked up on tons of fresh peaches and apples and corn. There were lots of activities for little kids and since Peanut was the only kid around, she had the place to herself. We had an impromptu picnic and have been gobbling up the last days of beautiful summer weather along with her bounty!
Today we're hoping to head over to the local Aki Matsuri - a fall fair or festival celebrating performing arts, crafts and martial arts from Japan. There's even an enka performance at 4pm. Peanut *loves* enka!! She's like a 60 year old man trapped inside the body of a toddler. Additionally, I'd love for my parents to get to experience some of the Japanese cultural activities there as they've only been to Japan once and I don't expect that they'll visit again anytime soon.
As for me...while I've been terrible about practicing any Japanese or calligraphy since we've been back in the U.S., I find myself longing for bits and parts of our life there. Several of you suggested it might happen (the whole "grass is greener on the other side" syndrome that is) but I truly couldn't see it coming. Now I'm looking forward to a bit of Japan again. No sushi please. I like sushi but I had more than enough during our last stay there! But some tempura, a little enka, and a taiyaki would be more than welcome!
Showing posts with label activities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label activities. Show all posts
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
Mt. St. Helens Trip
Since a few people have asked about pictures from our trip last week, I dug through to see what we actually managed to photograph. Here's the best of the bunch:
This first picture is from the Hoffstadt Bluffs Visitor Center. We stopped to have lunch there and opted not to take a helicopter tour (although it sounded cool!). But if you look, you can see where the vegetation still isn't - down there in the valley - the lava cut a mighty swath through there 28 years ago and the devastation was still clearly visible.
We then went up to the Johnston Ridge Observatory and got far closer than I ever thought possible. I think of the title of this photo as "Are you taking the picture yet? It's 90+ degrees out here and we may pass out from heat exhaustion if you don't hurry up!" I love my husband and all of his quirks - one of which is the apparent inability to give me any warning about when he's going to take a picture. The result is that I often look confused about where I am.
Finally, a shot of the volcano (we call it Mt. St. Helens and I think of it as a mountain but it is a very active volcano after all!). The last few years have been quite active. In late 2004 an earthquake(s) triggered some lava flow and it was only in early 2008 that the new lava dome stopped growing. Get this: "From October 2004 to late January 2008, about 125 million cubic yards of lava had erupted onto the crater floor to form a new dome—enough to pave seven highway lanes three feet thick from New York City to Portland, Oregon." Can you even believe that? For more details, read here.
This first picture is from the Hoffstadt Bluffs Visitor Center. We stopped to have lunch there and opted not to take a helicopter tour (although it sounded cool!). But if you look, you can see where the vegetation still isn't - down there in the valley - the lava cut a mighty swath through there 28 years ago and the devastation was still clearly visible.
We then went up to the Johnston Ridge Observatory and got far closer than I ever thought possible. I think of the title of this photo as "Are you taking the picture yet? It's 90+ degrees out here and we may pass out from heat exhaustion if you don't hurry up!" I love my husband and all of his quirks - one of which is the apparent inability to give me any warning about when he's going to take a picture. The result is that I often look confused about where I am.
Finally, a shot of the volcano (we call it Mt. St. Helens and I think of it as a mountain but it is a very active volcano after all!). The last few years have been quite active. In late 2004 an earthquake(s) triggered some lava flow and it was only in early 2008 that the new lava dome stopped growing. Get this: "From October 2004 to late January 2008, about 125 million cubic yards of lava had erupted onto the crater floor to form a new dome—enough to pave seven highway lanes three feet thick from New York City to Portland, Oregon." Can you even believe that? For more details, read here.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
While you were out....
Okay *we* were out. It has been, as I'm sure many of you have heard, unbelievably hot here in Seattle. It reached 100F (I've even heard 103F) the other day. Our main living area is on the 3rd floor and we have no air conditioning of any kind. Needless to say, we decided it was worth it to get out of town for a night. We headed down to Long Beach, WA to enjoy some cool, fresh ocean air and a decent night's sleep!
On the way back we stopped at Mt. St. Helen's. I was astonished by how close we were able to get to the mountain (volcano!!) itself. It's no longer spewing lava - apparently that stopped in early 2008 after it was triggered by an earthquake in the fall of 2004. Still, there was plenty of amazing natural beauty and the effects of Mother Nature to stare at in awe.
This weekend we're looking forward to watching the Blue Angels (the navy flight demo squad) perform as part of Seafair. Every year part of the flight path for their airshow goes right over our house. We're able to sit on our tiny deck and watch them pull off some incredible stunts. It's loud but never dull and it's one of the reasons I love Seattle in the summer.
We now return to our regularly scheduled program.
On the way back we stopped at Mt. St. Helen's. I was astonished by how close we were able to get to the mountain (volcano!!) itself. It's no longer spewing lava - apparently that stopped in early 2008 after it was triggered by an earthquake in the fall of 2004. Still, there was plenty of amazing natural beauty and the effects of Mother Nature to stare at in awe.
This weekend we're looking forward to watching the Blue Angels (the navy flight demo squad) perform as part of Seafair. Every year part of the flight path for their airshow goes right over our house. We're able to sit on our tiny deck and watch them pull off some incredible stunts. It's loud but never dull and it's one of the reasons I love Seattle in the summer.
We now return to our regularly scheduled program.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Meltdowns of all kinds
It's a blazing 89F right now and only projected to get hotter over the next few days. The sun is shining and even at night our usual Seattle cool isn't returning. This combo is proving to be a deadly mix when combined with a toddler who is touch-and-go on the early morning sleep. Peanut was awake at 5am this morning after a short-ish night. We had a pretty good morning tho she didn't eat all that much for breakfast, but that's par for the course these days.
By 8:30 am I had packed her up in the car and off we went to participate in a research study at the local children's hospital. Peanut is part of the control group which means that we go in for 3 different visits during the course of the first several years of her life and they have her play games (like peek-a-boo, doing puzzles, naming objects, stacking blocks, etc.), and do various tasks in order to get an assessment of how she's developing (can she figure out how to get the duck out from under a piece of clear plastic with one side open?). Then, similar aged children with plagiocephaly are given the same assessment and the two groups of kids are compared in order to learn more about the causes of plagiocephaly as well as the development of kids with plagiocephaly. Peanut seemed to really enjoy her "assessment" last summer and we were looking forward to more games today. She did really well for almost 2 hours and we were close to wrapping up when the meltdown occurred.
I should have been prepared for it - less sleep than ideal, hungry baby (despite the snacking she'd done all morning), heat, and then just the exhaustion from "playing" and "working" so hard with the doctor. But when the doctor kindly took away the piggy bank and coins that Peanut had been playing with (not before allowing her several chances to play with it and not before offering her a fun alternative) my daughter snapped. She pitched a full-on temper tantrum the likes of which I have never seen. She cried, she crawled on the floor, flailed on the ground, whined and refused any solution I might offer "Do you want me to hold you? Do you want to nurse? Water? Toy?" Everything was no- no- NO! The poor thing was in total meltdown mode and was sweating despite the A/C because she was so worked up. Needless to say we stopped for the day, I finally got her calmed down and we came home ASAP. Our participation was really conditional on her enjoyment of it and clearly the fun was over!
I would say that she is finally, *really* starting to assert her independence and wanted to be very clear that we understood how angry she was that she couldn't play with the piggy bank anymore. I brought her home, fed her a big lunch and put her down for her nap. Would you be surprised if I told you she passed right out?
By 8:30 am I had packed her up in the car and off we went to participate in a research study at the local children's hospital. Peanut is part of the control group which means that we go in for 3 different visits during the course of the first several years of her life and they have her play games (like peek-a-boo, doing puzzles, naming objects, stacking blocks, etc.), and do various tasks in order to get an assessment of how she's developing (can she figure out how to get the duck out from under a piece of clear plastic with one side open?). Then, similar aged children with plagiocephaly are given the same assessment and the two groups of kids are compared in order to learn more about the causes of plagiocephaly as well as the development of kids with plagiocephaly. Peanut seemed to really enjoy her "assessment" last summer and we were looking forward to more games today. She did really well for almost 2 hours and we were close to wrapping up when the meltdown occurred.
I should have been prepared for it - less sleep than ideal, hungry baby (despite the snacking she'd done all morning), heat, and then just the exhaustion from "playing" and "working" so hard with the doctor. But when the doctor kindly took away the piggy bank and coins that Peanut had been playing with (not before allowing her several chances to play with it and not before offering her a fun alternative) my daughter snapped. She pitched a full-on temper tantrum the likes of which I have never seen. She cried, she crawled on the floor, flailed on the ground, whined and refused any solution I might offer "Do you want me to hold you? Do you want to nurse? Water? Toy?" Everything was no- no- NO! The poor thing was in total meltdown mode and was sweating despite the A/C because she was so worked up. Needless to say we stopped for the day, I finally got her calmed down and we came home ASAP. Our participation was really conditional on her enjoyment of it and clearly the fun was over!
I would say that she is finally, *really* starting to assert her independence and wanted to be very clear that we understood how angry she was that she couldn't play with the piggy bank anymore. I brought her home, fed her a big lunch and put her down for her nap. Would you be surprised if I told you she passed right out?
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Over-stimulated much?
I've been wondering if Peanut is over-stimulated. We're having a devil of a time getting her to sleep these days - bedtime and naptime - oy. But that got me thinking about how under-stimulated I was when we were living in Japan. In part it was because we were living in someone else's space with minimal stuff. With everyone pitching in to do all the cleaning, the house work was minimal. Another possible culprit, lack of comprehension in the Japanese language area. Since I couldn't understand much beyond the basics, it made stimulating conversation really, really hard to find. Thank goodness, once again, for the AFWJ ladies. I don't know what I would have done without them. Being able to gab and catch up on pop culture, world politics, books, even national politics (Japanese or American) was a blast. The major problem with not being able to understand all that much is that I couldn't read for pleasure - my number one hobby. But beyond that, I couldn't even read the newspaper or bulletin boards for local events. Well I could sometimes read a sign on a community newsboard, but it might take me 5-10 minutes to decode the thing. It's not the same when we're here in the U.S. I've got dozens of local newspapers, magazines, and websites to check out for upcoming events and community activities. Needless to say, we're not lacking for things to do over here. But all of this activity highlights for me the *inactivity* of living in Japan.
I had this vague sense of ennui while we were living there, but I realize now that I was totally bored out of my noggin most of the time that we were in Japan and I couldn't find a way to put an end to it. Local parks were few and far between. Here I walk 5-20 minutes and I can be at one of easily a dozen parks and 2 different library branches. English-speaking friends were remote (at least an hour by train & bus and that was hard if it was my turn to watch Peanut which generally it is since I'm a SAHM). Japanese friends were hard for me to find. Most people wanted to talk to me about my Japanese language skills and why I was living in Japan. This tends to get boring for me quickly since I've had the same conversation countless times. But to be fair to the questioners and potential friends, it was also some of the safest area of conversation I could have. My Japanese as I've said seems pretty limited. In spite of the exhortations of nearly every Japanese person I've met who says, "Your Japanese is great!" I've also lived there long enough to know that it's a pretty standard response to foreigners speaking Japanese and doesn't really mean anything. It's the polite thing to say.
Needless to say, I realize that things could be better the next time around. I'm not sure what kinds of things I'll do differently upon our return to Japan in the end of December - I'm open to suggestions. But in the meantime, I realize that keeping up with my Japanese studies would be really useful in order to further my goal of making more Japanese friends over there. Now if only I could find the time!
I had this vague sense of ennui while we were living there, but I realize now that I was totally bored out of my noggin most of the time that we were in Japan and I couldn't find a way to put an end to it. Local parks were few and far between. Here I walk 5-20 minutes and I can be at one of easily a dozen parks and 2 different library branches. English-speaking friends were remote (at least an hour by train & bus and that was hard if it was my turn to watch Peanut which generally it is since I'm a SAHM). Japanese friends were hard for me to find. Most people wanted to talk to me about my Japanese language skills and why I was living in Japan. This tends to get boring for me quickly since I've had the same conversation countless times. But to be fair to the questioners and potential friends, it was also some of the safest area of conversation I could have. My Japanese as I've said seems pretty limited. In spite of the exhortations of nearly every Japanese person I've met who says, "Your Japanese is great!" I've also lived there long enough to know that it's a pretty standard response to foreigners speaking Japanese and doesn't really mean anything. It's the polite thing to say.
Needless to say, I realize that things could be better the next time around. I'm not sure what kinds of things I'll do differently upon our return to Japan in the end of December - I'm open to suggestions. But in the meantime, I realize that keeping up with my Japanese studies would be really useful in order to further my goal of making more Japanese friends over there. Now if only I could find the time!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Summer projects
Every time I get a few moments in front of the computer, I can't remember a darn thing I was going to tell you all. For instance, right now all I can think about is why my Yahoo homepage was showing me that the current temperature is 93F. It's not anywhere near that warm here right now (sorry to all my friends in Japan but it's a lovely and cool 66F right now). And why is that I can't think uniformly in metric or non-metric systems? In the U.S. I can only think of the temperature as Fahrenheit and when in Japan I can only assess in Celsius. It's maddening to me! I simply can't do the conversion easily so I don't bother. Anyone have a shortcut for approximating the conversion? When I lived in Australia I used to do something like "double the Celsius temp and add 32" - could that be close?
What else? We've been doing our best to catch up with old friends but it's not always that easy. It's especially hard if you have to account for travelling on a ferry with a small child. We tried to go visit a friend over on the other peninsula on Saturday and we went by ferry. But we were late for the ferry we had intended to catch meaning we had to wait in the parking lot for nearly 45 minutes. Luckily, Peanut is getting really good at entertaining herself in the car (esp. if she doesn't need to be in her car seat) so even though we could get out and walk around she was actually just as happy to sit in the car and play peek-a-boo with us. But all told, we spent over 2 hours getting from our place to our friend's house and by the time we got there, we had about 2 hours to visit and grab some dinner before we needed to return.
Recently, Peanut and I also had a chance to meet up with Sunny and her adorable son Bean. She has my eternal gratitude for introducing me to a new and delicious cupcake joint. I am still luxuriating in the ability to have cupcakes and American style sweets whenever I want them!
I've also got about 30 books checked out from the library. I went crazy when I kept finding books (in English!) that I want to read. I'll let you know if I find anything good. Lately nothing terribly interesting. I also decided to get a few books about baking. I'm determined to learn more about baking this summer. When we're back in Japan this winter/spring, I want to know how to work with what I've got. Not sure how well this project will pan out (I'm a great one for starting and not completing projects), but it's produced one tasty yellow cake already. I should have taken a picture! Next time.
As for unfinished projects, I started a counted cross-stitch project for Peanut before her arrival. I couldn't finish it before she was born (1) because I ran out of time (2) we didn't know if we had a he or a she and therefore didn't have the name to stitch onto the wall-hanging. I'm hoping to maybe get it finished this summer! Wish me luck....
What else? We've been doing our best to catch up with old friends but it's not always that easy. It's especially hard if you have to account for travelling on a ferry with a small child. We tried to go visit a friend over on the other peninsula on Saturday and we went by ferry. But we were late for the ferry we had intended to catch meaning we had to wait in the parking lot for nearly 45 minutes. Luckily, Peanut is getting really good at entertaining herself in the car (esp. if she doesn't need to be in her car seat) so even though we could get out and walk around she was actually just as happy to sit in the car and play peek-a-boo with us. But all told, we spent over 2 hours getting from our place to our friend's house and by the time we got there, we had about 2 hours to visit and grab some dinner before we needed to return.
Recently, Peanut and I also had a chance to meet up with Sunny and her adorable son Bean. She has my eternal gratitude for introducing me to a new and delicious cupcake joint. I am still luxuriating in the ability to have cupcakes and American style sweets whenever I want them!
I've also got about 30 books checked out from the library. I went crazy when I kept finding books (in English!) that I want to read. I'll let you know if I find anything good. Lately nothing terribly interesting. I also decided to get a few books about baking. I'm determined to learn more about baking this summer. When we're back in Japan this winter/spring, I want to know how to work with what I've got. Not sure how well this project will pan out (I'm a great one for starting and not completing projects), but it's produced one tasty yellow cake already. I should have taken a picture! Next time.
As for unfinished projects, I started a counted cross-stitch project for Peanut before her arrival. I couldn't finish it before she was born (1) because I ran out of time (2) we didn't know if we had a he or a she and therefore didn't have the name to stitch onto the wall-hanging. I'm hoping to maybe get it finished this summer! Wish me luck....
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Art for the People (or just me)
You are all such thoughtful readers! I love to hear what you have to say about books, what scares you, what home means to you...Thank you for the food for my thoughts.
I'm working on a little something at the moment. A "to-do" list to end all to-do lists. And it's really taking all my attention at the moment. Well, that and the fact that Peanut still isn't quite napping with any regularity. At the moment she's been asleep for nearly an hour, (a record of late!) but living in the eternal "what if she wakes up in two minutes?" makes it hard for me to get into any deep thoughts or blog posts.
But now that I think about it, I do have a question: What's art? I've never taken any art classes beyond what was required of me in middle school and one in high school. And none of those addressed fine art and the kind of stuff you see in museums. This weekend we went to the Suntory Museum and saw a variety of modern art "pieces" many of which included or were exclusively comprised of digital videos. I found several of them to be really engrossing.
But then I began to ponder. How is this different from a short film that you might find in a film festival? What's to say this film gets exhibited in a film festival and that film goes to a museum? And I'm not judging here because frankly I like some stuff and don't like other stuff and it doesn't seem to matter where I'm seeing it (cuz that's how I roll). But *someone* has made the determination about what's allowed to be exhibited at the museum. How have they defined art?
Discuss.
I'm working on a little something at the moment. A "to-do" list to end all to-do lists. And it's really taking all my attention at the moment. Well, that and the fact that Peanut still isn't quite napping with any regularity. At the moment she's been asleep for nearly an hour, (a record of late!) but living in the eternal "what if she wakes up in two minutes?" makes it hard for me to get into any deep thoughts or blog posts.
But now that I think about it, I do have a question: What's art? I've never taken any art classes beyond what was required of me in middle school and one in high school. And none of those addressed fine art and the kind of stuff you see in museums. This weekend we went to the Suntory Museum and saw a variety of modern art "pieces" many of which included or were exclusively comprised of digital videos. I found several of them to be really engrossing.
But then I began to ponder. How is this different from a short film that you might find in a film festival? What's to say this film gets exhibited in a film festival and that film goes to a museum? And I'm not judging here because frankly I like some stuff and don't like other stuff and it doesn't seem to matter where I'm seeing it (cuz that's how I roll). But *someone* has made the determination about what's allowed to be exhibited at the museum. How have they defined art?
Discuss.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
A long weekend in the sunshine
The upside to having a toddler who can't nap with any regularity or for any great length of time, is that there's really no good reason to state at home for nap time. In the past, because Peanut seemed to operate at her best if she was able to sleep in her crib for her morning and afternoon naps, we'd generally try to have her at home during those time frames (she was never a good car or stroller napper and without those naps - meltdowns were inevitable). Now however, we see now reason not to hit the road with her in tow since the lack of daytime sleep doesn't really seem to predict meltdowns and well, she can *not* sleep at home just as easily as she can *not* sleep at a park.
Over the weekend we went to several nearby parks. First we went to Hamadera Koen. It's a big park with lots and lots of playground equipment. The slides and jungle gyms that I've seen here in Japan are the kinds of things that I remember from my childhood in the U.S. Remember all the cool stuff that was a legal liability and was removed from playgrounds? They've still got a bunch of that stuff here and it's cool! I'm talking about huge slides, monstrous climbing gyms, etc. Peanut is too small for much of it, but the sheer volume of fun stuff to play on drew lots of families to the park on Saturday (combined with temperatures in the mid 70's F) and the people and kids alone are entertainment for Peanut.
On Sunday we ventured out to ExpoLand to see the tulip garden. Japan has a long history of trade with Holland (even during the 200 or so years that Japan was closed to trade with other countries). Hence, the tulip garden is a celebration of that long and prosperous history of trade. The colors were vibrant and we enjoyed eating our lunch near thousands of tulips on a perfectly warm and sunny day.
Monday the weather promised to be warm and sunny once more. We decided to take advantage of it to head up the mountain in search of the last cherry blossoms in this area. In Yoshino, we found dozens of small vendors selling all kinds of foods and other goods but by far my favorite was the sakura (cherry blossom) soft serve ice cream - delicious! We had a short hike up the mountain side, but with vendors all around us, the time passed quickly. If you've never been to Japan, you need to understand that the Japanese have a gift for building temples, shrines, etc. at the top of mountain, paving a bit of road or walkway to get up there, and then populating the road with vendors so that tourists can shop all the way up and down the mountain. I've seen buildings perched on the side of mountain where you couldn't possibly imagine a bar or ice cream shop could exist, yet they do! Anyway, the view from the top of this little mountain was lovely. On the way back down, we stopped in a noodle shop with a view of the mountainside and blossoms. I'm not the biggest fan of udon soup (there are plenty of other things I'd rather eat) but the view alone made it worthwhile to eat in our restaurant of choice.
Peanut was an angel each and every time we got in the car (unusual for a kid who has pretty much screamed her head off in the car since she was born) and every day we went out she far exceeded her usual one hour of stroller time limit. There's really no way around it; the weather was perfect, the company was unsurpassed and we couldn't have had a more lovely, long weekend.
Over the weekend we went to several nearby parks. First we went to Hamadera Koen. It's a big park with lots and lots of playground equipment. The slides and jungle gyms that I've seen here in Japan are the kinds of things that I remember from my childhood in the U.S. Remember all the cool stuff that was a legal liability and was removed from playgrounds? They've still got a bunch of that stuff here and it's cool! I'm talking about huge slides, monstrous climbing gyms, etc. Peanut is too small for much of it, but the sheer volume of fun stuff to play on drew lots of families to the park on Saturday (combined with temperatures in the mid 70's F) and the people and kids alone are entertainment for Peanut.
On Sunday we ventured out to ExpoLand to see the tulip garden. Japan has a long history of trade with Holland (even during the 200 or so years that Japan was closed to trade with other countries). Hence, the tulip garden is a celebration of that long and prosperous history of trade. The colors were vibrant and we enjoyed eating our lunch near thousands of tulips on a perfectly warm and sunny day.
Monday the weather promised to be warm and sunny once more. We decided to take advantage of it to head up the mountain in search of the last cherry blossoms in this area. In Yoshino, we found dozens of small vendors selling all kinds of foods and other goods but by far my favorite was the sakura (cherry blossom) soft serve ice cream - delicious! We had a short hike up the mountain side, but with vendors all around us, the time passed quickly. If you've never been to Japan, you need to understand that the Japanese have a gift for building temples, shrines, etc. at the top of mountain, paving a bit of road or walkway to get up there, and then populating the road with vendors so that tourists can shop all the way up and down the mountain. I've seen buildings perched on the side of mountain where you couldn't possibly imagine a bar or ice cream shop could exist, yet they do! Anyway, the view from the top of this little mountain was lovely. On the way back down, we stopped in a noodle shop with a view of the mountainside and blossoms. I'm not the biggest fan of udon soup (there are plenty of other things I'd rather eat) but the view alone made it worthwhile to eat in our restaurant of choice.
Peanut was an angel each and every time we got in the car (unusual for a kid who has pretty much screamed her head off in the car since she was born) and every day we went out she far exceeded her usual one hour of stroller time limit. There's really no way around it; the weather was perfect, the company was unsurpassed and we couldn't have had a more lovely, long weekend.
Monday, March 23, 2009
It's all fun and games until I lose
Can I just mention how annoying the announcer on Wii Sports is? Peanut is obsessed with Wii Sports lately (watching others play it more than playing it herself) and in an effort to pacify her (or perhaps melt her brain cells as I'm sure I'm doing - ack tv for an under 2 year old!) I have been playing 10 minutes of Wii tennis at a time. And that announcer? He sounds gleeful every time he announces the score which is often not in my favor. To be fair, how can I be expected to concentrate and to exert my best athletic effort when I'm always watching Peanut scale some furniture while I'm playing?
Even my Wii bowling is taking a hit. I can't bowl much above a 70 with real pins in a real bowling alley, but give me a Wii-mote and look out! I'm likely to break 150 with multiple strikes. But of late, I find that it is challenging to bowl and baby monitor and as a result, my scores are limp, somewhere down around 130. Again, it might have something to do with the fact that Peanut pauses the game repeatedly in the midst of my game-play and she likes to wiggle round and round my legs while she watches my efforts on the tv. I'm sure it won't be long before she figures out how to reliably use the remote and insists on playing all by herself.
Even my Wii bowling is taking a hit. I can't bowl much above a 70 with real pins in a real bowling alley, but give me a Wii-mote and look out! I'm likely to break 150 with multiple strikes. But of late, I find that it is challenging to bowl and baby monitor and as a result, my scores are limp, somewhere down around 130. Again, it might have something to do with the fact that Peanut pauses the game repeatedly in the midst of my game-play and she likes to wiggle round and round my legs while she watches my efforts on the tv. I'm sure it won't be long before she figures out how to reliably use the remote and insists on playing all by herself.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
When in Rome, Bake Bread
Have I mentioned my culinary feats lately?
Being in Japan means learning to live without certain staples from home. Back in Seattle we bought several loaves of "artisan" bread each week. When I couldn't reliably find good, crusty bread here in Japan, I knew I had to find a solution to the problem; living without good bread is just too much to bear! Since the ingredients are easy enough to find, I decided to make some. I heard about the 5 minute artisan bread and had to try it. The dough requires NO kneading. Kneading is just beyond me at this point in my life. I may learn how to do it and love it someday, but right now, leaving out the step that requires kneading is key.
Trust me, making bread this way is as easy as it sounds, and the crust is unbelievable. Did I mention that you can store the dough in your refrigerator for up to TWO weeks and it's only supposed to improve with age?! I haven't left it for quite that long, but after a few days in the refrigerator I can attest that it's still delicious.
I also made some orange marmalade recently. I used this very simple recipe which doesn't require any pectin or special directions for making homemade pectin before making the marmalade. I can't believe I haven't tried any on my homemade bread yet! Perhaps because Gboy loves the bread so much he eats an entire loaf (I make them fairly small) all in one sitting. He also insists that I use some of the dough to make calzones and suddenly, our dough is gone!
The marmalade was made from a mixture of the oranges that my FIL grows. We've got so many oranges that they can't make juice fast enough. I used less sugar than the recipe called for because we're not really going to "preserve" it or save it for long and I was concerned that too much sweetness would make it inedible for my in-laws. It turned out perfectly, sweet yet quite tart and it's disappearing fast.
Finally, I attempted a second banana cake the other day. The first banana cake was for Peanut's birthday. It was a little wetter and more dense than I would have liked and Peanut was too tired at the time to really enjoy her cake. Additionally, we had some very, very ripe bananas here at the house the other day and my MIL was going to toss them into the compost pile. Luckily Gboy rescued them and explained to her than when the bananas get spotty I bake with them. She was incredulous and surely thinks I'll give them all salmonella or botulism or whatever it is that might come from spoiled foods. However, I forged on. I found a yellow cake recipe that I tinkered with and after adding the bananas the consistency was sort of like wallpaper paste; I was concerned. After baking and taste testing though, I realized my fears were misplaced! It was not only lighter and more cake-like to my way of thinking (rather than banana bread-like) , it was delicious. Peanut ate some, my Japanese class students with whom I shared it also enjoyed it, and my MIL said it was delicious.
Next up: cannoli
Being in Japan means learning to live without certain staples from home. Back in Seattle we bought several loaves of "artisan" bread each week. When I couldn't reliably find good, crusty bread here in Japan, I knew I had to find a solution to the problem; living without good bread is just too much to bear! Since the ingredients are easy enough to find, I decided to make some. I heard about the 5 minute artisan bread and had to try it. The dough requires NO kneading. Kneading is just beyond me at this point in my life. I may learn how to do it and love it someday, but right now, leaving out the step that requires kneading is key.
Trust me, making bread this way is as easy as it sounds, and the crust is unbelievable. Did I mention that you can store the dough in your refrigerator for up to TWO weeks and it's only supposed to improve with age?! I haven't left it for quite that long, but after a few days in the refrigerator I can attest that it's still delicious.
I also made some orange marmalade recently. I used this very simple recipe which doesn't require any pectin or special directions for making homemade pectin before making the marmalade. I can't believe I haven't tried any on my homemade bread yet! Perhaps because Gboy loves the bread so much he eats an entire loaf (I make them fairly small) all in one sitting. He also insists that I use some of the dough to make calzones and suddenly, our dough is gone!
The marmalade was made from a mixture of the oranges that my FIL grows. We've got so many oranges that they can't make juice fast enough. I used less sugar than the recipe called for because we're not really going to "preserve" it or save it for long and I was concerned that too much sweetness would make it inedible for my in-laws. It turned out perfectly, sweet yet quite tart and it's disappearing fast.
Finally, I attempted a second banana cake the other day. The first banana cake was for Peanut's birthday. It was a little wetter and more dense than I would have liked and Peanut was too tired at the time to really enjoy her cake. Additionally, we had some very, very ripe bananas here at the house the other day and my MIL was going to toss them into the compost pile. Luckily Gboy rescued them and explained to her than when the bananas get spotty I bake with them. She was incredulous and surely thinks I'll give them all salmonella or botulism or whatever it is that might come from spoiled foods. However, I forged on. I found a yellow cake recipe that I tinkered with and after adding the bananas the consistency was sort of like wallpaper paste; I was concerned. After baking and taste testing though, I realized my fears were misplaced! It was not only lighter and more cake-like to my way of thinking (rather than banana bread-like) , it was delicious. Peanut ate some, my Japanese class students with whom I shared it also enjoyed it, and my MIL said it was delicious.
Next up: cannoli
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Sumo locker room....
Or is it? Okay, it's not the sumo wrestlers' locker room. In fact, 3/4 of the room was the dohyo (or practice ring) and the spectator area and the other 1/4 of the room was the kitchen. I kid you not, the only thing separating the two for a while was a flimsy curtain.
How did I end up there? Good question! Some friends of my husband's family own a sushi restaurant and they're big sumo fans and some of the sumo guys are regular customers when they're here in Osaka. The Osaka tournament will start soon meaning the guys are here already practicing. Our friends managed to get us into a semi-private practice session; there were maybe 75 spectators there including a few members of the press, friends/family etc. After the practice, we got to sit down and enjoy a little chanko-nabe in the same place the sumo wrestlers would be eating (after actually hitting the "locker room"). I saw some of the food they'd be eating and it was impressive. I've never seen that much kimchee all in one place, never mind all the other katsu, rice, noodles, and donuts too (by the dozen!).
Over the last several months I've become something of a sumo fan. When the tournaments are on tv, I love to watch and I'm sad if I miss a day. I confess I still don't know all that much about it, but the basic rules are fairly straightforward making it easy to watch and enjoy.
Oh and to give you some idea of how big this guy is, I'm about 5' 8" tall and weigh about 120 pounds - this guy weighs nearly 3 times as much!
Thursday, March 5, 2009
My life in list-form
I can't even think to make a coherent post right now. Instead, I'm going with a list instead:
- Saturday one of my sisters-in-law here in Japan made a trip to the hospital to get confirmation of her pregnancy after a positive EPT. I've talked about this before and on the one hand was a tad frustrated by the whole thing(with the mixed emotions that many folks who've struggled to get pregnant can surely understand) . Then they told her that the pregnancy might not be viable but it's too early to tell. The hospital also told my sister-in-law that she couldn't deliver at their hospital even if it IS viable. She came home upset by some/all of the news. The family spent all weekend agonizing over this - trying to get her a slot at the hospital of choice. FIL finally pulled some strings and got her in. We're waiting on a second ultrasound this weekend to find out how things are looking (as far as my SIL can tell things are going just fine). What a tangle.
- Saturday we also got word that a friend of the family was in a car accident. Or rather a car hit her while she was on her motorbike/scooter. She was knocked to the ground and sustained injuries including a broken collarbone and shoulder. The hospital she was taken to doesn't have a great reputation but she stayed and had the surgery there. She regained consciousness as they were finishing the surgery and although the local anesthesia was still working so she felt no pain, she had some sensation of what the doctors were doing and found it both unpleasant and scary. We've been making visits to check on her and make sure she's doing well until she can leave what looks like one of those hospital from horror flicks (old, rundown, creepy). ugh.
- Sunday was the memorial for Gboy's paternal grandmother. Lots of family, food, enjoyment of fine weather.
- Peanut has an 8th tooth coming in. This could explain some of the sudden uptick in wanting to be on or with Mama. I confess I love it. She smiles, runs to me, clings to my legs, generally wants to be with me. Doesn't really seem to be serious separation anxiety. Instead, she's really getting into hugs and snuggles and I had started to think I might not get many since she's always on the move and didn't seem to have the attention span for any of that.
- Peanut is starting to know her own name and is working on pronouncing it. SOOO cute.
Gratuitous cute kid picture (enjoying aforementioned sunshine and good weather this weekend).
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Danjiri!
Have you ever heard of a danjiri? Me either! At least, I hadn't heard of one until a couple of years ago. This video gives you an idea of what it looks like - a big wooden cart of sorts - being pulled along by dozens, maybe even hundreds of people. Kishiwada, a small city not far from here has a big Danjiri Festival each fall. I've never been to the festival in person, but I hear the streets are packed with on-lookers. Sometimes if the danjiri are being pulled too quickly as they rush around a corner the danjiri doesn't quite clear the corner resulting in property damage and occasionally injury. Gboy and I like to think of it like a kind of "running with the bulls". Only without any animals.
Anyway, this past weekend we visited the Danjiri Museum. It's a small museum, but their interactive components made the trip totally worthwhile. Not only did I get to "play" some of the instruments that are on the bottom half of the danjiri, I got to experience what it might be like to stand atop the danjiri (at about half the actual height and minus any movement)! I can safely say that I'd be too chicken to try it for real, but that's the beauty of a museum with interactive elements, I can pretend I have the guts to do something wild and still keep all my teeth (knowing me I'd fall off the thing and lose a tooth!).
Can you tell I was having fun?!
Anyway, this past weekend we visited the Danjiri Museum. It's a small museum, but their interactive components made the trip totally worthwhile. Not only did I get to "play" some of the instruments that are on the bottom half of the danjiri, I got to experience what it might be like to stand atop the danjiri (at about half the actual height and minus any movement)! I can safely say that I'd be too chicken to try it for real, but that's the beauty of a museum with interactive elements, I can pretend I have the guts to do something wild and still keep all my teeth (knowing me I'd fall off the thing and lose a tooth!).
Can you tell I was having fun?!
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Isn't February supposed to be dull?
Truly, it's been chaos around here for pretty much the entire month of February thus far with little chance of a change in the near future. We just got back from Okinawa and my sister-in-law arrived with her son (5 months older than Peanut). They stayed for one week and then departed a day and a half ago. This afternoon the 12 year-old daughter of a friend of ours (they live in the US) will be arriving for a one-week stay. I'm not interested in baby-sitting her, but hopefully she won't require much attention as she's a fairly mature girl for her age. She'll be gone for just about one week before sister-in-law returns with her family for the one-year anniversary celebration/memorial for grandmother. We've got our work cut out for us for sure.
I did manage to sneak off to see Mamma Mia! earlier this week with several other foreign wives here in Osaka and let me just say, it rocked my world. I enjoyed getting out with other ladies, going to the movies, reminiscing about ABBA and generally having a bouncy and happy good time. I loved Meryl Streep's character and how full of life she and her girlfriends were even in middle age. That's how cool I want to be when I get older. Sometimes it's easy for me to get caught up in being responsible because I'm someone's mother. But that can be incredibly weighty. What I really want is to balance that with being able to celebrate life all the time - dancing and singing and feeling young!
I did manage to sneak off to see Mamma Mia! earlier this week with several other foreign wives here in Osaka and let me just say, it rocked my world. I enjoyed getting out with other ladies, going to the movies, reminiscing about ABBA and generally having a bouncy and happy good time. I loved Meryl Streep's character and how full of life she and her girlfriends were even in middle age. That's how cool I want to be when I get older. Sometimes it's easy for me to get caught up in being responsible because I'm someone's mother. But that can be incredibly weighty. What I really want is to balance that with being able to celebrate life all the time - dancing and singing and feeling young!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Show and tell
Mel is hosting Show and Tell again this weekend. I've never had anything I wanted to show, but I've enjoyed seeing what others post about and finally, finally it's my turn! I've got something!
I've mentioned before that I'm taking a weekly calligraphy class. My instructor is a wonderful, calm and patient man who is retired and is doing this strictly for the fun of it. He's a friend of the family and I'm incredibly grateful to him. He teaches me entirely in Japanese. This cannot be an easy thing for him since my Japanese is, well, a work in progress. As such, I'm sure it's difficult for him to convey some ideas to me, although the "watch what I do" technique has worked quite well for us thus far. And it surely helps that I'm getting one-on-one instruction.
That's the telling, now on to the showing. My work is on the left and my instructor's work is on the right. I still need quite a bit of practice but this is my best work from my class the other day:
Updated to add: I've been asked about what the words mean. Good question! It's actually part of a larger phrase. Thus, on it's own, this segment doesn't really mean anything. However, it's my understanding that starting from the top right and reading counter-clockwise the characters individually read as: world, taste, usual and gate. As is the case with reading these characters in Japanese, sometimes you combine two words and get a third (often related) new word. Oddly enough, in my Japanese class I find it easier to read than write the Kanji I study, while in calligraphy class I find it easier to write than to read. I'm all a-jumble!
I've mentioned before that I'm taking a weekly calligraphy class. My instructor is a wonderful, calm and patient man who is retired and is doing this strictly for the fun of it. He's a friend of the family and I'm incredibly grateful to him. He teaches me entirely in Japanese. This cannot be an easy thing for him since my Japanese is, well, a work in progress. As such, I'm sure it's difficult for him to convey some ideas to me, although the "watch what I do" technique has worked quite well for us thus far. And it surely helps that I'm getting one-on-one instruction.
That's the telling, now on to the showing. My work is on the left and my instructor's work is on the right. I still need quite a bit of practice but this is my best work from my class the other day:
Updated to add: I've been asked about what the words mean. Good question! It's actually part of a larger phrase. Thus, on it's own, this segment doesn't really mean anything. However, it's my understanding that starting from the top right and reading counter-clockwise the characters individually read as: world, taste, usual and gate. As is the case with reading these characters in Japanese, sometimes you combine two words and get a third (often related) new word. Oddly enough, in my Japanese class I find it easier to read than write the Kanji I study, while in calligraphy class I find it easier to write than to read. I'm all a-jumble!
Monday, January 12, 2009
President Obama's Big Day
Since the inauguration will be broadcast live at something insane like 1:30 a.m. Osaka time (okay it's insane if you have an infant and are grateful for 6 hours of sleep at night) I don't think I'll be staying up to watch it. However! I missed any and all Election Day festivities here in Osaka so I'm thinking it's time to do it up big! I'm thinking of cake. Or pancakes for breakfast (living on the edge Osaka style!). Maybe some balloons?
I'm desperate for ideas of ways or places to celebrate in or around Osaka. Thoughts?
I'm desperate for ideas of ways or places to celebrate in or around Osaka. Thoughts?
Monday, January 5, 2009
Back from beyond...
Back from a weekend at Hamanaka. I couldn't even tell you where we were for sure. I truly need to learn my geography here! What I do know is that the resort was lovely and amazing. The weather was very windy, but otherwise quite lovely (especially for enjoying the scenery and onsen!) while we were there. The whole family trekked over there after New Year's Day. My BIL and his wife and kids, along with my FIL and MIL all caravanned with us from Osaka while my SIL, her husband and son headed there from Tokyo. Our group included four kids under the age of 2 1/2 years old. On the one hand, they entertained each other at times which was great. On the other, this made for a lot of childcare work for all adults involved!
Peanut enjoyed her first plunge in the "big bath" quite a lot. I'm a pretty modest and shy person in general, especially when I'm in the U.S. But after being introduced to the Japanese onsen, I've discovered that I have no real qualms about sharing a public bath with a bunch of women. There's something quite convivial about the experience, and frankly it makes washing a small child much easier when you've got a lot of experienced mothers helping out! I'm still afraid of making some social faux pas (using the wrong soap for instance, or not rinsing at the proper time etc.). However, as a relatively new mom (when does that title wear off?) I feel that the relaxation from enjoying a nice spa day like that is well worth any potential embarrassment!
Here is Peanut enjoying some of the scenery:
Back to regular life and the start of 2009!
Peanut enjoyed her first plunge in the "big bath" quite a lot. I'm a pretty modest and shy person in general, especially when I'm in the U.S. But after being introduced to the Japanese onsen, I've discovered that I have no real qualms about sharing a public bath with a bunch of women. There's something quite convivial about the experience, and frankly it makes washing a small child much easier when you've got a lot of experienced mothers helping out! I'm still afraid of making some social faux pas (using the wrong soap for instance, or not rinsing at the proper time etc.). However, as a relatively new mom (when does that title wear off?) I feel that the relaxation from enjoying a nice spa day like that is well worth any potential embarrassment!
Here is Peanut enjoying some of the scenery:
Back to regular life and the start of 2009!
Monday, December 22, 2008
It's a roller coaster of holidays around here
On the upside, I had TURKEY yesterday. I went to a Christmas party with actual holiday music, a tree, and a turkey. And I got to meet a bunch of really fun people!!! Can't beat that this time of year. It gave me a real lift in my spirits and I basked in that glow for hours.
Now I'm trying to stay upbeat, but it's hard. I'd LOVE to bake some cookies on this cold rainy day, but honestly, we're back to the problems of 1) no mixer (creaming butter and sugar by hand is time consuming but possible though so okay) 2) no butter (I'd have to go to the store) 3) no rack in the oven so it will take me twice as long to bake the recipe on a single layer with no baking sheet....By the time I do all this, Peanut will be awake and baking will be impossible. Meanwhile my parents are visiting with my sister and brother-in-law right now. They're doing puzzles, baking cookies, watching Christmas movies and generally doing all the things that I'd really like to be doing. *sigh* I'd love to write about anything else besides how bad I feel for myself, but it's hard for me right now.
Thankfully, I've got an AFWJ Christmas party tomorrow. Did I forget to mention that I joined AFWJ?!! Thank heavens I did! I have no idea what I'll take to the party since I can't begin to imagine what to bake/cook in this kitchen without my favorite ingredients or tools, but at this point, I'm just excited to have the opportunity for one more dose of Christmas cheer!
Now I'm trying to stay upbeat, but it's hard. I'd LOVE to bake some cookies on this cold rainy day, but honestly, we're back to the problems of 1) no mixer (creaming butter and sugar by hand is time consuming but possible though so okay) 2) no butter (I'd have to go to the store) 3) no rack in the oven so it will take me twice as long to bake the recipe on a single layer with no baking sheet....By the time I do all this, Peanut will be awake and baking will be impossible. Meanwhile my parents are visiting with my sister and brother-in-law right now. They're doing puzzles, baking cookies, watching Christmas movies and generally doing all the things that I'd really like to be doing. *sigh* I'd love to write about anything else besides how bad I feel for myself, but it's hard for me right now.
Thankfully, I've got an AFWJ Christmas party tomorrow. Did I forget to mention that I joined AFWJ?!! Thank heavens I did! I have no idea what I'll take to the party since I can't begin to imagine what to bake/cook in this kitchen without my favorite ingredients or tools, but at this point, I'm just excited to have the opportunity for one more dose of Christmas cheer!
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Where is Santa?
We're going to spend the next few days looking for Santa Claus. Just the other day it dawned on me that this is really and truly Peanut's first Christmas. You only get one "first". And I have dozens, nay surely there are hundreds, of Christmas pictures from my childhood. Pictures of the beautiful tree with gifts under it. Pictures of the decorations around the house. Pictures of the delicious holiday dinner. Pictures of me with Santa. Pictures of lots of people filling the house to eat cookies and drink egg nog. And I'd like for Peanut to have some of those pictures and memories. Only it's difficult when no one in her family here in Japan celebrates Christmas, and my husband is only sorta into it, and Santa Claus is much harder to find than he is in the U.S.
Needless to say, when I realized this, and thought, "Gosh it would be nice to have a picture of Peanut with Santa" I made it my mission to find her a Santa Claus. In the next few days I have a couple of good leads and I've decided since I don't have any family to entertain for this holiday, I'm not having a party, etc. this will be my mission. Updates will surely follow...
From the VIRTUAL KITCHEN:
One of my favorites for the holiday is a recipe similar to this one for candy cane cookies. I confess I've never actually used any peppermint flavoring on or in them. I just *love* almond flavoring and have relied on that and the beautiful color and shape to make them festive and delicious. But having read the optional note at the bottom about chocolate and crushed peppermints, I'm thinking that's the wave of the future!
Needless to say, when I realized this, and thought, "Gosh it would be nice to have a picture of Peanut with Santa" I made it my mission to find her a Santa Claus. In the next few days I have a couple of good leads and I've decided since I don't have any family to entertain for this holiday, I'm not having a party, etc. this will be my mission. Updates will surely follow...
From the VIRTUAL KITCHEN:
One of my favorites for the holiday is a recipe similar to this one for candy cane cookies. I confess I've never actually used any peppermint flavoring on or in them. I just *love* almond flavoring and have relied on that and the beautiful color and shape to make them festive and delicious. But having read the optional note at the bottom about chocolate and crushed peppermints, I'm thinking that's the wave of the future!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
The postman always rings AT LEAST twice
I had an idea. I was going to blog about....something. That idea is now nothing but a faint memory. Once the doorbell rang (for the THIRD time today) I completely lost my train of thought. And here's the thing: the doorbell is always ringing. I mean, on average I'd say the doorbell rings at least once a day, but maybe more and today is certainly not atypical. I'm not sure that in the U.S. I ever heard the doorbell ring so much in my entire life. In the U.S. delivery people often leave packages on your doorstep and go. I'm not sure how the Japanese culture continues to function if everything is dependent on someone answering the door at home and often in the middle of the day. And what amazes me is that it's not just the post office and other private parcel delivery services, but it's the water distributor with this month's box of bottled water, or the egg man with 3 dozen eggs or the fish guy... I'm amazed at the steady stream of deliveries and the frequency with which I see delivery trucks in our little neighborhood.
Anyway, you'll have to trust me when I say that my original idea for a post was clever/funny/interesting and surely thought-provoking. But I have no idea what it was about.
Anyway, you'll have to trust me when I say that my original idea for a post was clever/funny/interesting and surely thought-provoking. But I have no idea what it was about.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)