Cheese Roll House

Everyone on base has been talking about this restaurant, The Cheese Roll House and we finally found it!   This place is known for their yakisoba and of course, their cheese rolls :).

And the best thing is, it's walking distance from the front gate of base.

Two sisters run this place and it's definitely a favorite of ours already!

{better than fried mozzarella sticks}

{gyoza is one of our absolute favs!}

{chicken yakisoba}

Somber blogging

Last night, I was going to tell you all about this awesome dinner we had this weekend, but instead I decided not to blog at all.

Jeff came home with an update on the young women who he helped on our flight over.

Last we heard, she had a stroke on the airplane, was in a hospital here in Japan (off base) and was in critical condition.  The oral surgeon came to work yesterday and updated Jeff with more information.  The young women is now in a hospital back in the US.  She had an issue with her heart, where the valves did not completely close when it pumped.  Apparently, this was a birth defect that went undetected all her life.  Because of this, she ended up getting a blood clot that went to her brain, causing the stroke and the epileptic seizures she experienced on the plane.  She is most likely brain dead and according to the surgeon, will not make it much longer.

The worst part for me is that this young women is there alone.  Her father is non existent and her mother is in prison.  Apparently, she has a sister who couldn't make the time to go see her.   My heart breaks for her....

Our time on this earth is way to short as it is.  Take in every moment.

Love you guys.

Peach Picking

Yesterday-Saturday-was peach picking day!

I've never done anything like this...apple picking, strawberry picking, etc, so I was excited for something new.  

First of all, the directions we had weren't that great so I turned to google maps for more assistance.  

Google maps does work well here if you have GPS coordinates (which I had!), but half the directions are always in English, the other half in Japanese.

Nice.

For example:

So off we went to Nanbu town!

 The process was a little different than we expected.  You first go to the tourist info center, tell them what fruit you want to pick (right now it's either peaches or pears) and they call a local farmer.   The farmer drives up and you follow him to his farm.  

{following the farmer}

You pay 500 yen per person to eat as many peaches as you want for an hour. 

This sounds like a great idea, but really how many peaches can one person eat!  We each ate more than one to get our moneys worth. :)  

{our workstation}

{cheese}

We decided to buy a box to bring home.   Looks like peach cobbler is in our future.

I'd like to go back when it's cherry or strawberry season.  And we'll make sure to bring our own shortcake and cool-whip too.

McDonald's

Not far from base sits those golden arches.
Although I can't tell you the last time I actually ate Mickey D's, I just had to try it here.  It always seems to be different in other countries, usually better, so we went last week to see what it was like.

The menu is almost exactly the same as home except for a few additions.
They offer 2 burgers we do not:

ebi (or shrimp) burger

and

teriyaki burger

Jeff just went for the quarter pounder..boring!...and I settled on the teriyaki.  

It tasted exactly like you would expect: a burger with teriyaki sauce.

Now although it was good, I don't expect us to make another trip to this fine establishment in the near future.  There are too many other great restaurants in the area!

And besides, I'm more of a taco bell girl. :)

Sushi date night

Last night was the first time for sushi by ourselves.  We went to a place right off base that came recommended: Kiku Zushi.  It's a little intimidating at first since we don't know much of the language, but they are always so nice and accommodating.

Most restaurants here have a button on the table that you ring when you need a waitress.  Genius!  

They also give you your check right after you order...even before your food comes!

Our first tempura here.  

Prawn

green pepper

potato 

and that's a leaf in the front.  yep.  a fried leaf.

We also got shrimp, crab and salmon sashimi along with miso soup, a tuna roll and cucumber roll. 

The sushi rolls are not like home.  No sauces or spicy mayo!  

Yellow tail...my favorite!!

We tried red snapper sashimi...pretty good, mild.

The beer isn't a Sapporo.  If you want beer in a beer mug you order just that: beer mug.  So who knows what kind of beer this is.

I have a feeling we will be eating a lot of sushi over the next three years. :)

Tabemono wa oishikatta!!

(The food was delicious!!)

Jellybean or Toaster????

One of my favorite things about Japan so far....their cars!  I'm constantly talking about them or taking pictures of them...which Jeff just LOVES that I do ;)...but I can't get over it!  They all either look like a jellybean or a toaster. :)   I can't believe they drive these in the snow here!!!  The tires have to be only about 14"...crazy small.

I really wanted one, but they aren't that easy to come by unless we buy new.  Oh well!

This is a mini-van!!

Japan nights

As we were leaving for date night last night I had to take a picture of the sky out our back window.

It's so beautiful here!  These pictures do not do it justice.

Enjoy!

These are from our drive out: