New addition to the Smith household...

New furniture! What? Did my title make you think of something else? Weird.

There was a furniture bazaar at Camp Zama (the US Army base near by) and I went without Glenn and a wallet full of yen. I didn't really plan on buying any furniture since I've bought 4 other pieces since we've been here, but this little guy was so cute and I fell in love with the wood grain on it. Most of the pieces I've bought have been painted except for the buffet in our dining room, so I thought something different would fit in the mix. What do you think Glenn? The up close pictures make it look more orange-y because of the flash, but the room picture is a better representation of its true color.

The doors all slide and are removable as well:

Happy Memorial Day!

Memorial Day here doesn't feel quite like it does in the States. No picnics, no parades, the pool is opening, but it was in the 50's yesterday so I don't think it will be a big hit. I guess when I was little it is a turning point for summer- only a few weeks of school left. Here, it feels much different.

Being here, on a military base, reminds me exactly why we have Memorial Day. I'm very proud of Glenn and what he does for our country. Today is for him and all the other men and women who fight for our country and have fought for our country. I miss you babe.

What's for Dinner? Mango Sticky Rice

I was inspired by Annie to make Mango Sticky Rice because she said it is her favorite dessert of all times. I've been wanting to make it for awhile, but mangoes are finally back in season around here so I could afford to buy them. I followed allrecipe.com as well as Annie's suggestions. The results: meh. I think I'll let the Thai restaurants make it for me from now on!

Hibiya Park Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest? Yeah, it's May. Oh well, the Js love a good party regardless of the month I suppose. Last weekend, I headed to Tokyo's Hibiya Park with some friends to check out the German beer, food and music!

Yes, the girl on the left is with our group. Angelica? What are you standing so far away? :)

 My lovely beer there- that guy cost me 5000 yen. Yes, it is giant, but I didn't want to stand in line twice so a 1 liter beer it is! 2000 yen of that cost is a glass deposit though so when you are finished you have to go stand in line anyways and get your money back. On the bright side though, at the end of the night when all the drunk people leave their glasses lying around, you can get their deposits back too.

Towards the end of the evening, we moved under the tent where the livelier crowd was. We met fun people from Australia, America and all those other fun English speaking countries. Here is a new friend. I named him Mao. I was going for the really tall Chinese basketball player, Yao, but it seemed close enough at the time.

Here's my favorite pictures from the day (keep in mind, we were there from noon til around 10 pm):

Notice Angelica's fistful of cash. That would be from the beer glasses we returned. Our friend, Aya, had a date that night with the guy on the left. We convinced her to have him meet us at the beer festival. Not sure that was the best idea. :) Hope your date went well!

This is how you should eat Chili Crab

When Glenn and I were in Singapore last month, we didn't realize you were suppose to ASK for bibs. Wow, did we make a mess of our shirts! Well on Tuesday when my friend, Nicole's, dad was in town and we went to a Singapore restaurant, we made sure to have bibs!

 Thanks for dinner! We had a wonderful time!

Vonage Forwarding!

I finally figured out how to set up my Vonage account to forward to my cell phone. Now if you call our Vonage number, it will ring for 20 seconds and if we don't answer, it goes to my Japanese cell phone! Yay! No more missed calls from friends and family.

Also, in case you didn't know already, Glenn is gone. He might be gone for a little while, it might be a really long while, we aren't sure yet what their schedule will be. He can longer check his hotmail email account or his fe.navy.mil account. Please email Glenn at Glenn.Smith@cvw5.navy.mil. He usually checks his email late at night (our time) about once a day so it might take him awhile to respond.

He always loves letters and care packages as well! :)

Wordless Wednesday: She's from Texas, she can't stand the cold.

Gathered Clutch

I saw this tutorial a few weeks back and I knew I wanted to try it. I've never attempted anything like this but the directions seemed to make sense. The hardest part of the project was finding interfacing in a Japanese craft store. I wondered around til I found something that looked about right. It turned out to work great! I've never used interfacing for a project so I wasn't sure how it worked, but for thinner fabrics, it is a must! I made the black and white one first so it has a few mistakes but the blue striped one turned out much better. Plus I used thinner fabrics which were MUCH easier to work with.

The longest part was cutting the fabrics to size, but the actual construction doesn't take very long. The first one took me about 4 hours from start to finish, but the second one, only about 2.

This picture makes me realize that my blue stripe is crooked. Oh well. I also put little pockets on the inside.

For never haven sewn anything this complicated- I'm pretty happy with it! I have a whole box full of old scraps from our pillows, roman blinds and curtains. I'm excited to make more!

Baystars Baseball Game

Glenn had a list of things he wanted to do and food to eat before he left on deployment. We were able to get to a few things on his list as well as a few on my list too! See a baseball game was one of those things for Glenn. I think he's missing his Twins and that new stadium. As soon as he got done with work last Saturday, we hit the train station and headed to Yokohama. The Baystars got crushed, 3-12, but it was a beautiful day for a game.

Nokogiriyama and the Temple of Doom

I insisted that Glenn and I get out and about during his last weekend here. I see plenty of Japan, but very little of that is with him. I've been wanting to go hiking in Chiba after several of my friends had made the trip. We were going to go on Saturday, but most of the squadrons here have been working on the weekends to get everything ready for deployment. Sunday rolled around and he had the day off!

I packed a lunch, grabbed the dog and... the phone rang. Work. Ok, so a short stop at the squadron and then we were off! We decided that since we were taking the dog, it would be easier to drive all the way to the ferry port instead of taking the trains or a train/bus combination. We had never driven to the ferry port, but our GPS led the way (after only turning around twice! (that's pretty good for Japan)).

It was a beautiful day for the ferry ride and since Japan is so dog-friendly, Stella was allowed to roam the decks of the boat as long as she was on a leash. She's always a big hit with the Japanese too- "kawaii wan-chan!!" "Cute puppy dog!" (Note: "inu" is "dog" but "wan-wan" is the sound a dog makes (as well as a baby) and "chan" is the title for a small child). Stella wasn't so sure about the boat though. She stayed back from the edge and just leaned over to look-

That is Chiba prefecture behind me. Chiba is the "state" next to ours (Kanagawa). It is a peninsula so instead of driving around Tokyo Bay or taking the Aqualine under the bay, we decided to take the 40 minute ferry ride. We brought our car on the ferry as well so we could drive to the parking lot. We had a picnic lunch on the ferry and enjoyed the view.

Once we got to Chiba, we followed our map to the free parking lot. Why is the lot so empty? It's free! Well, when we saw this, we realized why-

I should clarify that by "hiking", I mean stair climbing. From the other side of the mountain, you can take a ropeway to the top. From the free parking lot, you climb. We climbed for a bit and then found the largest stone Buddha in Japan coming in at 31 meters (the big buddha in Kamakura is 11 meters).

More stairs, snack break, more stairs and the observatory. Great views of the bay and Boso peninsula. That's me and Stella on the overhang. Glenn opted to take the picture. :)

We hiked down the other side of the mountain and found the Temple of Doom. Or at least that's what it looked like to us. Sadly, no Indiana Jones.

We hike for a bit longer and finished the "loop" around the mountain. We found our way back to the parking lot and Stella was exhausted. Lots of steps for her little legs. We stopped at a shop on our way home and bought a few things. Chiba is known for their biwa (apricots) and peanuts. Who knew? The biwa ice cream was delicious! Another beautiful ferry ride and car ride and we were home.

PS. Anyone know what kind of flowers these are? They were everywhere in Kurihama!

For those driving from Atsugi base, head towards Yokosuka on Hwy 16. Pass Yokosuka (exit 7) and exit at #9. Follow the signs for Kurihama (left out of the exit and then a right a few lights later) and then the signs for the Ferry Port. You'll make a left turn after the Cainz Do It Yourself store. You can either park your car at the ferry lot and ride the ferry on foot or take your car (take your smallest car because you pay for it by length). If you go on foot, you can walk towards the ropeway from Kanaya port. You can also take the train to Yokohama to Yokosuka to Kurihama and catch a bus to the ferry port.

What's for Dinner? Red Wing Burgers and Corn Avocado Salad

Jen posted a Rachel Ray recipe a few weeks ago that they loved so Glenn and I just had to try them as well! She was right, they were great! I'm not usually a blue cheese fan, but with the hot sauce and the sweet pickle relish, it was just a perfect combination of salty, spicy and sweet. I can't wait to make them again! We kept all the quantities the same except I only thawed out 1 lb of turkey so we just made 3 burgers instead of 4.

For the avocado corn salad, I looked at a few recipes online and then just made it up. I'm approximating the following ingredients:

   1 1/2 avocados, diced
   2 cups frozen corn, thawed
   1/2 black beans, rinsed
   1/2 red onion, diced
   1 handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
   several dashes of red wine vinegar
   several tablespoons lime juice
   season with salt

I thought it turned out great. You could add more black beans, but that's what we had left over in the fridge from breakfast tacos. Yum!

Glenn loves being in my pictures so when I told him this picture was not acceptable...

this is what I got... thanks love.

Farewell Bill and Lisa!

On Friday we had a Hail & Farewell at a local bar to say goodbye to Glenn's boss and his wife. Bill has been a great mentor to Glenn and I enjoyed having Lisa as a friend. They are headed back to Pax River, Maryland with their adorable boys. We'll miss you guys! Here are a few pictures from Friday night.

Glenn and Bill.

Catherine, Gizelle, Me and Lisa on the train on the way home.

Bill, Lisa, Gizelle and Skipper.

5 stops is so far!

A Perfect Saturday

My hubby is home still.

Beautiful weather and a picnic in the park.

Afternoon naps.

Enjoying our time together while we still had it. Miss you baby.

Wordless Wednesday: :(

Happy Birthday Tim!

Happy Birthday Tim!

Lupicia Tea Class

So in case you didn't know this already, I'm a housewife. Yeah, I teach English about 10 hours a week, but otherwise, I work out, I cook, I clean the house. Luckily, most of the wives on base are also housewives, so we find fun things to keep ourselves entertained. Last Tuesday, we headed to Yokohama to attend a class on how to make Chai tea. Fun times!

My favorite tea we learned how to make was the masala chai tea. First you grind the spices-

Boil with water for a few minutes then add the milk.

Strain.

Cheers!

Then enjoy a wonderful lunch and shopping at the tea store.

Thanks for a fun day ladies!

Connor and Brooke

This picture makes me see how big Brooke is getting and I've never even met her yet! She's now 4 months old and has the biggest bluest eyes. Can't wait to meet you baby girl.

Stella's New Friends

At the Kite Festival last week, my friend, Keiko, insisted that I play a carnival type game. I didn't really want to play, but she had paid the man before I could even stop her. What did I win? Two goldfish.

One of them didn't even make it home because the tiny bag of water got too hot in the sun. The second one is doing pretty well and now he has some friends cause you can't just have one goldfish, he looked so lonely.

So now I have 3 goldfish and a cute little goldfish torii gate. I'll have to give them away to someone in a year or so when we move, but for now I kinda like them. Stella is still not so sure what is going on up on that table.