Friday, October 25, 2013

Yoshino's birthday dinner

It was fun turning 30…for the fourth time. ;)

Jeff surprised me with dinner at one of the best places here…a hibachi restaurant called Yoshino's.  They only have 10 available seats around one large hibachi grill so the 7 of us pretty much had the entire place to ourselves.

Here are a few pics of our food….totally forgot to take pics of us!  I know…terrible.

{potato salad w/caviar & crispy beef appetizer}
{best shrimp & scallops ever}
{Aomori beef (from our prefecture) & Australian beef}
{my dessert-fried ice cream!}
{ingredients for Jeff's dessert}

{fire!}

{wait…wasn't it MY birthday?!}


It was a fun night, with amazing food and great company.

34 is going to be a great year!


Monday, October 14, 2013

Just call me Bob Villa

I've been following a few blogs lately that are dedicated to DIY furniture and other wood crafts and I thought I really should try some things myself.  After all, how hard can it really be!? ;)

Our wood shop here on base has access to all sorts of power tools and you can even buy various types of wood right there.   

For my first project, I wanted to start with something simple to get familiar with the different types of saws and just to become more comfortable with the wood shop itself.   Every time I go in, there are always a few men working who know exactly what they are doing and it can be intimidating.  
But, the man who runs the shop is a sweet Japanese national named Kashi, who has worked there for over 15 years, and he's been a huge help!

So onto making my iPad stand.  I bought all supplies from Homac, similar to Lowe's.  One part was already cut the size I needed so that was a bonus.





I've been working on another, much bigger, project which I should finish this week.

Stay tuned.  :)


Monday, October 7, 2013

Garlic is King


Jeff and I have lived here 6 weeks now and are really trying to take advantage of this opportunity.  We figure we have two choices on the weekends: stay at home or explore!!
Exploring sounds way more fun. :)

Now as you know, the Japanese love to celebrate.  And beef & garlic are no exception.  The Beef & Garlic festival is an annual event located about 2 hours away in Takko (taco) town, so we tagged along with some peeps from the dental clinic and off we went!

You may be thinking how can you possibly celebrate beef & garlic!?
Well, the process is pretty simple:
1) buy meat and veggies
2) cook everything
3) enjoy!

:)

The festival is located at the base of a mountain that serves as a ski lift in the winter.


You can purchase meat a few different ways-already cooked from a rotisserie or packaged raw meat to cook yourself.  Cooking everything yourself is a major part of the experience, but we just had to try the rotisserie beef as well.





{that was an entire cow at one point}

They had indoor grills available to use, but we wanted to be outside where all the action was happening. :)







{our own hibachi}


{these guys were serious}

This group had an amazing set up.  Along with the beef and veggies, they brought their own prawns and whole fish!  A lot of people brought chairs and coolers too.
Now we know for next year. :)



When we were finished grilling, we walked around the festival to see what vendors were there.  They were selling everything from garlic (duh) to french fries to carnival toys.  I also loved seeing the mascots that were roaming around!


{little girl photobombed my photo op}

{happy garlic}

{hope there's no radiation in those scallops}

{fried balls of octopus-not bad}

{black garlic}

{garlic is king}


{sweet kid}



This event was so much fun; we'll definitely be going again next year!  










Monday, September 30, 2013

We finally got our stuff!!!!!!

I'm sorry for not blogging lately....but we've been busy unpacking!!!

I didn't think I'd ever be so happy to unpack boxes in my life.  It's been over 2 months since we've slept in our own bed so this was a very exciting day!

The movers were scheduled to come at 8am and the other company who handles the temp furniture we've been living with gave me a window of 7:30-11am, so we knew there would be a little overlap, but we didn't care...we just wanted our things!!

The day started great....the moving truck pulled up around 7:40am and they waited until exactly 8am to ring our doorbell.

And after 2 cups of coffee-
I. was. ready.

and so were they....
{this was 1/3 of the guys who showed up to move-they brought 10!}

{sayoonara temp furniture}

{1st item I saw = broken}

{oops}

{sweet Japanese guys fixed it!}

{packed guest room closet}
{most boxes gone-let the organization begin}
Other than what you see here, only a few things came broken, so we were relieved.  All the major things (aka-things we really care about) came in one piece.  It probably looks like a disaster, but we are actually almost completely done!  

These guys ROCKED.  
I've never experienced a move like this-10 guys moved all of our stuff in 3 hours.  Break included.
Simply amazing.  



I'll post pictures once everything is organized and finished. :)


Sunday, September 29, 2013

Tiger, Tiger Woods y'all!

We had a BEAUTIFUL weekend here in Misawa!  Fall temperatures are here and we're loving it.

My new friend Erin asked me last week if we play golf.
Hmmmmmm.....well......if by we, you mean Jeff and I, you all know that's a no.

Jeff does.  I've attempted.  I think I'm better at being the cart girl.  :)~

But I'm definitely up for anything and knew we would have a great time!


{At least I look the part}

{here we go!}
{putting pros}
{watch out Tiger}
{no problem}


{fore!}

{it was a beautiful day for golf}


BTW-Erin and I discovered they give FREE lessons-she doesn't need them AT. ALL.-so watch out Tiger, we're coming for you!!

It was an amazing day and we'll definitely be going again!





Monday, September 23, 2013

I'm so crafty

Ok, so the title of this post is just hilarious.

I mean, I love Pinterest as much as the next person, but not everything turns out exactly like I've planned it in my head.

We have an arts & crafts center on base that allows you to do small projects such as scrapbooking, canvas painting, drawing, pen making (is exactly what it sounds like it is) and..... painting ceramics! :)
They have a variety of things to paint: dishes, mugs, piggy banks, vases, etc, etc.

I chose mugs....shouldn't be too hard right?!  I've never painted anything in my life and this definitely made me feel even less artistic than I knew I already was!   But overall, they turned out okay and I actually think I'll go back and do more.  Taking orders now. :)

{before}


{after-almost perfect. boo}



{sic em bears}

I just saw they got in some skulls so I might be starting to decorate for Halloween.  My favorite!  And they have a set of plates with skull & crossbones on them...would be awesome for a Halloween dinner party!!
We just need some more friends to invite. ;)