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.

What's for Dinner? Sushi

Glenn and I finally made sushi for dinner like I have wanted to for a long time. We somewhat perfected the sticky vinegar rice that is used for sushi, but I think we used too much for some of the rolls. Either way, it was nice to have some American style maki (rolls) sushi for dinner!

We made philly rolls (salmon and cream cheese), california rolls (crab, avocado, cucumber), spicy tuna and a few others. We definitely had some leftovers!

I had an iPad for 3 hours...

One of my students is obsessed with Apple. Ridiculously obsessed. To the point that he couldn't wait an additional 4 weeks for an iPad after the release date in Japan was pushed back. His solution? Ask me to order one from the US. Which has all English apps, requires use of American itunes (which requires an American credit card and mailing address). He went through all that for an iPad 4 weeks early. Ok! So here's the iPad I had for 3 hours...

He of course paid me back for the iPad, shipping, taxes, forwarding service (since Apple won't ship to FPO addresses..boo!) and my trouble, but when we made the exchange, he brought me the cutest Japanese cakes. That is true Japanese style. Do something for me, I will give you something wonderful or edible. Or wonderfully edible.

PS. Did you notice it has a little ice pack since it was hot out last week. So smart. So J.

Thanks Osami! And no Annie, I didn't take his picture, but I wish I would have! He was very excited! He drove all the way to base to pick it up!

Wordless Wednesday

What's for Dinner? Brunner

Brunch for dinner? Dunch? Drunch? Either way, I had breakfast for dinner. Typically when Glenn is deployed or gone, Friday is Pancake Friday. I make a big batch, freeze them and then when Friday rolls around and I want something easy and quick before I go out to meet my girlfriends, pancakes it is!

Well, earlier this week, I hosted our monthly spouses club meeting. I had leftover food from the meeting and figured it would be perfect for Friday night dinner. I guess, I didn't really plan that, but when 6:00 rolled around on Friday evening, that's what I saw when I opened the fridge. Brunner was born! I say brunch for dinner because I had a glass of wine with it. Breakfast only includes mimosas, brunch includes wine! Plus dinfast and breakner just don't sound as good.

For the OSSG (Officer Spouses Support Group, I know we sound like an AA group or something) I made mini quiche things based on this recipe. I added some sausage, used green onion instead of a grated onion and followed the first suggestion and used phyllo dough on the bottom instead of bread. I also made this monkey bread recipe. It is a great recipe for brunches and breakfast potlucks because it looks pretty, is easy to serve/separate and it goes over great!

Glenn's only been gone 3 days, but the not buying grocery game has already begun! I think I probably save hundreds of dollars over the summer by just using what I already have and being creative. Although last night I had leftover buffalo chicken dip and mac n' cheese for dinner. Oprah would not have approved of that dinner! Meh!

Yokohamaya

One of Glenn's favorite restaurants in Japan in Yokohamaya, a ramen shop. It is a chain restaurant that we called shinshinmen for the longest time because we didn't know the name and that was our favorite thing on the menu. Now when we go, we don't even have to look at the English menu, we always order the same thing!

     "Ichi shinshinmen betsu betsu, set B to gyoza. Arigato!"
     "One spicy ramen, split with fried rice and friend dumplings. Thank you!"

It was one of Glenn's requests to go here before he leaves for deployment so we went last Monday before I went to Bingo night with Nicole. Always delicious.

Notice that Glenn is now sporting his "cruise" haircut. I gave him a buzz cut last weekend before he left for Iwo Jima. Easier when you're wearing a helmet every day I suppose!