What's for Dinner? What Jen Made

My sister-in-law posted this recipe on her website from another website so Glenn and I tried it out.

 

It turned out great! Thanks for the recipe Jen!

Poo Game

I figured the title would get your attention and then you would think I was kidding, but alas, Japan is awesome and it is true. Found at a nearby arcade, it is a basic claw arcade game, but you get a lovely stuffed poo. If you click on the picture and look at it bigger you can see the yellow poster on the back. All different kinds. And just in case you think I'm kidding, I had a Japanese friend with me who verified that it does in fact say poo. Lucky poo no less.

We were at the arcade on our quest for Lady Gaga tickets that went on sale this morning. We were at the convenience store 20 minutes before they went on sale, we were ready, and the tickets sold out in 5 minutes. Sad! Who knew the Japanese were such fans of Gaga??

AP is not the same as PA

One of the absolute joys of living overseas is shopping online and attempting to 1.) determine when/if it will arrive and 2.) entering your billing/shipping address.

Today while attempting to register a gift card (lame) so that I could use it online, I ran in to the ever so common problem that "AP" is not listed as an option in the pull down menu for the state.

I called customer service and her suggestion (from her supervisor no less!) was to enter "PA" cause that is close to "AP". I'm sorry, ma'am, do you need a geography lesson? PA is Pennsylvania! Not Armed Forces Pacific. Pacific lady! As in that other ocean not close to Pennsylvania. Grr.

Credit card companies, online merchants and customer service representatives- we live over here. I would like to spend my money. Why do you make it so hard!?

You can't put a duck there. It's irresponsible.

Glenn and I haven't found a blog that make us laugh as hard as Fail Blog, but Sleep Talkin' Man comes pretty close! I saw a clip about it on Good Morning America (which plays at 9 pm here, btw) and had to check it out. Hours of entertainment reading what this Englishman says in his sleep. His wife has a voice activated recorded that she then transcribes on her blog. Enjoy!

Badgertastic!

Tim & Cheryl Visit Japan - Sumo Tournament

Cheryl and I attended my monthly Japanese American Friendship group with me on Tuesday while Glenn and his dad had lunch and checked out the squadron and the airplanes. Afterwards, we headed to Tokyo for the annual sumo tournament. We got there a little later than expected, but still got to see several rounds of the tournament. I don't know why I like sumo, but it always manages to keep my attention. Probably because there is lots of drinking and each match lasts about 5 minutes. Easy to follow along!

I was really surprised how full the stadium was on a Tuesday afternoon! I guess since it is only in Tokyo in January, May and September for two weeks each time, you have to go when it is around!

After dinner, we went to a yakitori (aka meat on sticks) restaurant where I ordered natto (fermented soy beans) for Tim, Cheryl and Glenn to try. By the name alone, I'm sure you can tell that they were not fans! I can't blame them though, it smells like feet.

Thanks for coming to visit, it was a quick but wonderful trip!

Tim & Cheryl Visit Japan - Yokohama

On Monday of Tim and Cheryl's visit, we started the day with the Vikings game (which we DVR'd since it started at 3 am our time...). Go Vikings! I started the day with a curb check while returning the rental van which destroyed the hub cap. Awesome. There went 2 hours of my life and $100.

After the game, we headed to Yokohama to check out some sights and have dinner in Chinatown.

Tallest building in Japan? Check.

Obligatory Hello Kitty! picture? Check. (In a panda suit no less)

Seeing a temple/shrine in Japan? Check.

 

Learning to navigate and ride the Japanese trains? Check!

A successful day out and about in Japan!

Tim & Cheryl Visit Japan - Skiing in Nagano

Now that all the baby business is over (for a bit, still 1 more to go), I can tell you about our second group of visitors- Glenn's parents! Tim and Cheryl got in on Thursday night and on Friday we headed to Nagano prefecture to go skiing on the squadron's annual ski trip. This year we stayed at a new place and tried out some new mountains.

We got to Nagano around dinner time and tried out a soba (buckwheat noodles) restaurant since Nagano is famous for it's soba. It was great, but I think Cheryl needs some more practice with her chopsticks! :) Also, I don't understand why most Japanese homes don't have dishwashers because they use an excessive number of dishes with every meal.

The parents didn't last too long the first few nights they were here because of the jet lag, but they were up bright and early for breakfast and skiing. We skied at Hakuba 47 the first day. It's been awhile since I've been skiing (last February) and I forgot all the muscles that skiing uses! Next year, a helmet is a must!

The good thing was Hakuba had some great snow. We even had to put the snow chains on the van on the way up (of course by "we" I mean Glenn and Tim, someone had to eat the Twizlers and supervise). Saturday's skiing had some great powder snow. Most places had 2-3 meters of snow!

Tim and Cheryl got to experience ordering lunch from a vending machine. The food doesn't come from a machine, but you order and get get tickets from a machine. I just picked something called "Big Naan" and this is what I got-

60 cm of bread, 100 cm of hot dog with salad, peppers and marinara sauce on top? Why not!

After about 5 or 6 hours of skiing for two days, we were beat! I know how you feel Cheryl. We drove back home on Sunday night with a few others who needed to be back to work on Monday. A great first few days in Japan with the in-laws!

My niece and nephew!

Here is Connor right after he was born on 12/13/2005

Here is his sister, Brooke, born 1/21/2010

They look so similar! Although Glenn would say, they're babies- they all look the same...

She's Here!

Welcome to the world Brooke Aubrey Lawson!

She was born at 12:13 pm on January 21, 2010.

She's 6 lb 1 oz and 19.75 inches long.

She's a tiny one!

 

Congrats Adam, Laura and Connor!

I got to Skype with everyone from the hospital and she is just beautiful. Big brother, Connor, couldn't stop stroking her head and showing me all her fingers and toes. She has lots of dark brown hair like her mom and looks like Connor did when he was a baby. Same nose and chin. I can't wait til I can meet her one day!

If I had $315,000....

Ok, so it doesn't quite have the ring of a million dollars, but either way, if I had that money and I were moving to Nofolk, I would be buying this.

Our friends, the Klaibers, are selling their condo in downtown Norfolk. If you're moving there, take a look! It is in a great area! Or, better yet, if you have $315,000, you could give it to me and I will buy it! It's so pretty!

Tomorrow!

Continuing the baby series, my niece will be born via c-section on Thursday January 21st! That's noon Louisiana time and 3 am Friday my time. I can't wait to see her via Skype! It's going to be a little while til I get to meet her in person. Congrats Adam, Laura and big brother, Connor!

Congrats Jenny & BJ!

Another cousin, Jenny, and her family, BJ and Alyssa, welcomed a baby boy to their family!

Gage Robert Massey

January 19th, 2010
1:41 pm, 8 lb 5oz, 20in

Congrats!

I know how you feel buddy...

Congrats Lindsay & Justin!

My cousin, Lindsay, and her family, Justin & Jace, welcomed a new baby boy to their family:

Parker James Kendall

January 14th, 2010, 7:17 am was 9lbs 5oz 21 inches

Congrats!

Tim & Cheryl Visit Japan

Glenn's parents arrived yesterday and are here for about a week. If I don't post for awhile, now you know why! We're off to Nagano to go skiing for the weekend. Have a good one!

This is an old picture from our wedding, but the first one I could find with all 4 of us. Soon to change though!

Best 100 yen I've spent yet...

If I haven't written about 100 yen stores yet, I apologize. You are missing out. 100 yen stores are the greatest shopping deal in Japan. You can find just about anything and it is not always the cheapo junk that you find at US dollar stores. Most of the time, you don't know what you are looking for until you find it and then you are all, "this is exactly what I need right now! How did I not know this exists!"

Well, my last trip to the 100 yen store I actually knew what I was looking for. My friend had bought a particular thing and I was all, "that's exactly what I need! Where did you get it!"

Two stores later, I was the proud owner of this:

Which looks like a weird enough thing, but now it means I can finally rinse the corners of my giant sink! And rinse dishes with a "sprayer".

It's the small things in life, really. :)

Rollin' the dice!

Laura- this picture is for you! Yay for getting internet in your California house today!

Happy Birthday Blair!

Happy Birthday Blair! Remember when you were so hung over from our rehearsal dinner that all you could eat were those Famous Amos cookies? Good times, good times. :)

Yearly Planners are a Bad Idea

When I start to look out a the upcoming 2010, I can't help but look at all the weeks with -----------------------------  drawn through them.

Glenn leaves for XXX -------------------- Glenn home from XXX

This morning I made the mistake of counting those weeks. Do you even want to know the grand total?

27.

As long as everything goes as planned. 27 weeks. Granted I will be seeing him for more than the remaining 48% of the year because I'll be flying all over this hemisphere to see him, but 27?! Really?!

I know many a spouses who are spending their 2010 the same way. I guess I'm feeling a little bitter though because of a few reasons. Excuse me while I have my own pity party-

1. I did this last year.
2. I'll do this again next year.
3. My family is coming to visit soon and Glenn is being sent to California smack in the middle of their trip. Awesome.
   

Now is when Glenn people say 'suck it up.' Alright, alright, I'm working on it.

The end.

ZED

Cirque du Soleil is amazing! Glenn and I went with Gizelle and her date. Chris was suppose to come, but Nicole filled in instead. I haven't been to the circus since I was a kid, but this was just like the circus for adults, although kids would love it just as much.

The stage was amazing with all of the different levels and trap doors - so fun. My favorite performers were the trampoline and poles. These men crawled up and down the polls like gravity didn't exist and the trampoline in the center made it even more incredible.

My other favorite were the "man to man" performers which were essentially professional cheerleaders. The main girl must have weighed about 85 pounds though because they could catch and throw her all of the place.

If you have the chance to go see Cirque du Soleil. I highly recommend it!

Keepin' up with the Jones

Well the Dragons are all gone (still sad...) but now we have the Eagles (the other 115). With the Eagles, came Kyle and Cassie Jones. We knew Kyle and Cassie in Kingsville and in Virginia. Cassie is the pregnant one in the picture taken a couple weeks before I left Virginia. Of course, no longer pregnant now, baby Haley is with them too. I'm excited for them to be in Japan! Yokoso Japan!

PS. In the picture, Cassie is pregnant, now the other two (not me) in the picture are pregnant! Congrats Christene and Shannon on babies #2!

What's for Dinner? Croque Monsieur Mac n'Cheese

 Glenn made this yummy recipe from Food Network magazine a few nights ago. We had a bunch of leftover ham from Christmas dinner and we were looking for recipes to use some of it. Glenn tore this recipe out months ago and we decided to make it this week. It was delicious!!!

My favorite part was the topping. Two eggs, 3 slices of white bread (cubed) and some milk and cheese. It made the best soft but crunchy on top topping. I'm going to put it on everything!

Vending Love

I know I've mentioned this before, but the Japanese have an obsession with vending machines. You honestly cannot walk more than 20 yards and you have another one! Most of the time you can only purchase drinks, but you do have the option to choose both hot and cold drinks which is nice. Iced coffee or hot coffee? When we stopped at a highway rest stop the other weekend, we saw a few new ones that I thought were fun.

Frozen to freshly fried in just a few minutes?

Or perhaps you'd like to see your coffee being freshly made on the video screen? There is a camera inside that shows the coffee being poured and the sugar/milk being added.

This one is my favorite- an ice cream machine!

Pachinko!

When Hillary was visiting in November and we went to Enoshima, we came across an old pachinko parlor. Most of the pachinko places in Japan are huge casino-like establishments, but this tiny little place was so cute. I had to stop and take a picture because this pachinko machine reminded me exactly of the one that my brothers and I used to play on in my grandparents basement. We used to pour a big tub of steel balls in the top and then play for hours. I don't even remember how the game works, we just used to hit the lever until we won more steel balls. I wonder what happened to that machine?

Update: I got an email from my Grandma and this is what she said:

We read your blog this morning and thought I would tell you about the Pachinko game.  When we were getting rid of things before we moved to NC, Jeff took it. It is in his basement in CO. 

 

When Cindy's boyfriend, Mark, was in the Navy in Japan, he bought one for us.  Grandpa says he took some of the pins out so that it was easier for you kids to win the balls.  He says that in Japan they buy the balls to play the game.  Then they try to win more balls.  It was a fun game for you all to play, but you didn't win any money.

Miyagase Lights!

I had signed Glenn and I up for a tour a few weekends before Christmas to check out the Christmas lights display in a town about an hour away. Well, it turns out Glenn got home that day and the last thing he wanted to do was go on a tour, understandably. He promised we would still go, so the day before Christmas Eve, we made the drive ourselves and since we drove, Stella got to come too!

There were beautiful lights in Miyagase, several large Christmas trees, food vendors, restaurants, dancing and musical performers. There was even an appearance of Santa! I was hoping he would be an Asian Santa, but no luck.

We got there right around 5 pm just after the sun sets. We walked around, had some yummy food and attempted to take several family photos with Stella. She's not very cooperative since there were so many people around. It was a Japanese holiday (the Emperor's birthday) so it was pretty crowded.

My favorite part of the lights was the long suspension bridge that was covered it lights to make a long tunnel. You can see a good picture of it in the first picture.

Stella on the other hand was not a fan. The swaying and moving of the bridge brought her to a stop and Glenn had to carry her the rest of the way. She clung on to him and shook most of the way across the bridge. Poor Stella B.

It was a wonderful way to get in to the Christmas spirit! If you go next year, it is an easy drive. Route 246 to 412. Turn left at the blue Miyagase sign and then turn right on 512 and follow the crowds from there! The last 20 minutes or so are a beautiful drive through the tunnels and next to the dam.

Baby B

Adam sent me this picture of my niece. Only about 4 more weeks til she's here!

Shizuoka Prefecture - Oranges & Hiking

Over the weekend, Glenn and I went on an MWR tour to Shizuoka Prefecture. Shizuoka is west of here and south of Mt. Fuji on the Izu peninsula. Because of the abundance of coastline, this is a popular tourist destination for the beaches and onsens. It took about 3 hours to drive there by bus and our first destination was orange picking!

They were technically more like tangerines or clementines. In Japanese they are called mikan and pikan. The mikans are smaller than pikans, but Glenn and I both liked the taste of the pikans better. We were allowed to pick and eat as many as we wanted and then we had a bag that we could collect some in and pay for later (by weight). Glenn and I left with about a dozen oranges which cost us about $7, but another group on the bus bought about $60 worth. What are you going to do with that many oranges?!

I don't think going on a tour was really what Glenn wanted to do all day Sunday, but he seemed to enjoy picking the oranges. It didn't hurt that it was a beautiful day and we sat in the sun for awhile enjoying the view of the ocean.

The next stop was Kawazu-nana daru. This area of Shizuoka is famous for it's waterfalls. We hiked for about an hour and a half and enjoyed the 7 waterfalls.

#5

 Next to #1

Making a wish. For $1, I tried to toss 3 rocks in to the "basket" on the top of the rocks. They say my wish will come true if I get one inside. I guess we won't be winning the lottery...

Our last stop on the tour was to Mt. Omuro. This mountain is actually a volcano with a giant crater on the top. What is the giant crater used for now? Archery practice of course. To get to the top we took a ski lift for about 5 minutes. About 10 yards from the top, a little camera talks to you and takes your picture (like on a roller coaster) and by the time you get to the top 30 seconds later, the picture is already printed and ready to purchase (for $10!)! These Japanese are crazy fast! Glenn and I laughed at times because we could touch the grass with our feet from the ski lift. At other times, they actually had to dig a trench so your chair wouldn't hit the ground, but I'm glad we weren't hiking up this steep hill!

After a hike around the top of the crater, we loaded up the bus and headed home. It was a great tour!