Oh My Gee's... Life in the Land of the Rising Sun

Returning to the blog...

2012-01-25T05:41:00.000-08:00

Hello blog... it has been so long. I am sorry I have neglected you for so long. Sometimes I do something so much that it is no longer fun or interesting... so I stop. Then eventually down the road I wonder why I ever stopped... then I remember... oh yeah its because I no longer had time to wipe my own butt cause real life was so crazy... so I started cutting at my virtual life. But now... maybe I just have more time on my hands because Derick is gone, I miss the blog.

So I have returned.... Alot has happened since I left you last spring. We found out we are moving to Missouri this summer. Derick is going to a super great school for his career and I am now hanging out in Japan alone. Not complaining.

I hiked ALOT this summer... with my fabulous friend Kendall who turned out to be a super kick ass adventurer (I had no idea)! I rock climbed a fair amount with my Uh-Mazing climbing "coach" Kate! Derick and I visited Hawaii (he had a conference for work). Camped a couple times... then Winter was like POW and now we have two feet of snow and I ski almost every weekend and have started to learn ice climbing.

Maybe I feel like blogging again because I feel a recent shift in myself. Maybe I just finally have something to say again because I figured out again who I am. Something which is kind of elusive and constantly shifting. My friend Caitlyn said something once which I thought was Amazingly profound and super true... that its okay to have opinions that don't add up, you can love something and hate it at the same time... you can feel, think and believe something one day and you don't have to feel, think or believe the same thing the next day... that its okay to be "multifaceted." This is a comment that I have mulled over in my head so many times, had so many conversations with close friends about. Its something that I believe and live by. Not because its easy to be wishy washy but because we I am not a stagnant being. I am constantly shifting and changing. Challenging myself and what I believe. And sometimes I believe multiple things. I can see more then one view and agree with both, and they can live harmoniously inside me.

Anyways... I am back! (for now)

弘前さくらまつりHirosaki Sakura Matsuri

2011-05-23T16:14:00.000-07:00

弘前さくらまつり

Hirosaki Sakura Matsuri

Hirosaki Cherry Tree Festival

I loved this festival! There was great food, great atmoshphere, great flowers! I did go into it knowing it was going to be PACKED, so I was expecting that. I think if you didnt know that you might freak out... there were people everywhere. I dont think I will be saying much, the photos say it all... enjoy!

Spring on the Nature Trail

2011-04-27T15:52:00.000-07:00

These are some photos from the Nature Trail here. It is early spring and stuff is alive and I love it! This is at the beginning of the trial where the ground is alot higher and dryer... later the pictures will be more from a swampy boggy area. This misty rainy look is really what spring is like here, we have a few days of sun scattered in but it is always misty rainy and foggy. We had an essay contest at the youth center and one of the kids wrote that what she loved most about spring was the rain, because it means summer is right around the corner.

Remember to look at any photo full size just click on that photo

There were tons of fern emerging on the trail, it reminded me of New Zealand except of course they are not the size of my face.

Thick Stemmed Wood Fern

This is down in the swampy boggy area

Nodding Anemone

Red Trillium

Asian Skunk Cabbage

Japanese Mountain Fern

Eastern Skunk Cabbage

Vidal's Lady Fern

False Hellebore

Scarlet Leaved Vibernum

Pine

Sakura Yabusame (Cherry Blossom Horseback Archery)

2011-04-25T22:27:00.000-07:00

Sakura is the Japanese word for Cherry Blossom and Yabusame is a type of mounted archery in traditional Japanese archery. An archer on a running horse shoots three special "turnip-headed"arrows successively at three wooden targets. Every spring there is a Sakura Yabusame festival in Towada (about 45 min. from Misawa). In the two years we have lived here we never made it to this festival so I really wanted to go this year. Unfortunately it has been a fairly cold spring and the cherry blossoms were not quite out yet. All the pictures look kind of bland and brown but imagine this crazy warrior woman archery on horseback in a sea of pink blossoms... petals blowing in the breeze and coving the ground almost like snow! It would have been amazing. It was still cool but not quite what I was hoping for.

So like I said earlier each rider gets three shots... there are three targets down this path they ride, after each shot there is someone with an umbrella... a closed umbrella means a miss and an open umbrella means a hit!

I thought this girl was very pretty and she looked so happy and proud to be competing!

After the first few passes I decided I wanted a better view so I climbed a tree! Surprising? No.

Me in my tree

This lady was really good! Bullseye!

After watching out fill of Yabusame we wandered around the rest of the festival... it was pretty small so I am talking like 5 minutes of walking... but the first thing I found was a SAMURAI!!! I called me up to him and but his headdress on me and we did a warrior pose!

Then he decided to cut Derick in half!

We then visited the horses... I think this was Derick's favorite part.

The Green and Gold Harar Coffee... straight from Ethiopia

2011-04-21T17:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday at work my friend and coworker Kimmy gave me this bag of coffee she said her brother sent her from Africa... he sent like 10 bags and she is only a casual coffee drinker so she shared the love!

If that is not the coolest looking bag of coffee I don't know what is... Based on the look of the bag in my mind this coffee was dried on some rocks in the hot African sun and packaged by children earning money for their families. Upon a little research I learned I was right in at least on part... heres what I found on google about this coffee...

Harar Coffee (Sundried only)

It is produced in the Eastern highlands and is exported from the town of Dire Dawa. The bean is of medium to long pointed size and has a greenish to yellowish/golden color. Harar coffee has medium acidity, full body and the distinctive deep mocca flavor. It is one of the finest premium coffees in the world and is grown at an altitude of 2000/2750 meters. Recent laboratory cupping by Mr. Bahalwan for Ethiopian Specialty Coffee Ltd., USA show excellent results for the use of expresso coffee because it produces a foamy "tigretto" type cream.

From EthiopianSpecialtyCoffee.com

Now... I have to be honest. I was a little scared to try this coffee... you know when you open a bag of Starbucks coffee... or walk down the coffee aisle at the grocery store and you are enveloped by the sweet nutty calming smell of coffee... this did not smell like that... it is so strong it smelled like straight burnt ass. But I have never been one to let something like a little fear (especially over coffee) slow me down. So this morning I promptly... or not so promptly depending on your definition of early opened the amazing bag of coffee... which wasn't hard it was only held closed with a couple of staples... I knew then this was going to be epic... just look at those grounds!

I put the grounds into my Moka Pot... if you don't know what that is I will tell you... its a stovetop espresso maker invented in Italy in the 1930's and commonly used in Europe and Latin America. It has a water chamber in the bottom and a grounds chamber in the middle... as the water heats up it pressurizes sending hot water through the grounds and up into the upper chamber... it is fantastic!

I added the super dark espresso from my pot into a mug of frothed milk...

BEST LATTE EVER

Not even kidding this was the best coffee I have ever had!

Now I really want to travel to the town of Dire Dawa in Ethiopia!

Dangers of Scooters

2011-04-14T17:15:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I was working and racing the kids at the youth center on the scooters... medium length story short I was going very fast cause I HAD TO WIN... against 9 year olds... and my scooter ran into the wall and my leg ran into the scooter... I thought I was going to die... it hurt so bad at first I really thought I was going to puke... but I wanted to show you guys what this all really means

this is a scooter

These are kids playing nicely on scooters...

we don't play on them like this at the youth center...

that would be lame

Now that you know what a scooter is and how it works...

this is what they can do...

Battle wound Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Yes that bruise extends from my butt to my knee... wicked!

Easter Eggs

2011-04-11T15:30:00.000-07:00

This is a project that I started over a year ago... I wanted to make some really cool easter eggs that I could use for a couple of years so I wouldn't spend tons of time every year making really intricate eggs... My thoughts were make some super fancy ones and then every year just makes some simple ones to go with them.

sooo...

I figured I could just blow out some eggs and use them for a while... blowing out eggs is a lot harder then people say... or maybe I am just bad at it... well now that I think about it everyone and everything said it is hard... but stuff that normal people say is hard is normally pretty easy for me... not this... it was hard.

AND this was all happening about a year ago... because of course I am always late... I started this right before easter... not enough prep time... and then Derick shattered his leg and spent two weeks in the hospital and 2 months on bed rest... so I had a bowl of blown out eggs sitting in my studio for a year... lame.

BUT the good thing is this allowed me to travel back to the states (for my sisters wedding) and purchase a sheet of vinyl while I was there... which was critical in my egg decorating plan... so here is what I did... I chose two different designs for my eggs... I chose plaid and blossoms... I was planning on dying them two different colors so I put on one set of vinyl stickers... like so...

I used a craft punch on the sheets of vinyl for the blossoms and then just cut some electrical tape into small strips for the stripes

Dipped them in yellow dye (20 drops yellow food coloring, 1 cup hot water, 1 tsp vinegar) And then I let them dry... took those stickers off put on a new set in new spots overlapping parts of the old spots... and put those in pink dye (5 drops red food coloring, 1 cup hot water, 1 tsp vinegar) but I only left them in the pink for a few seconds because it was so much stronger then the yellow. Let that dry then added a few touches of glitter!!!

Spring in the Garden

2011-04-09T23:51:00.000-07:00

I am frustrated... a guess its a good frustrated... I have more adventures and sweet photos then I have time to blog about. Its better then having nothing to blog about... but still sad. There are so many cool things that happened this winter that I still have not posted about... and now its spring... and I cant bare to talk about winter anymore because I am SO EXCITED about spring that you guys will just never know what else happened this winter... oh well...

and on that note... ITS SPRING... here is look at whats going on in my garden!

(everything is coming back from last year besides the pansies)

Pansies in a pot

Sedem

Lime Green and Black Clover!

More pansies

Hyacinth breaking through

Hachinohe Port Tsunami Clean Up

2011-03-17T07:58:00.000-07:00

Well... I know now that a housewife is something I can never be... maybe a mom/housewife... but I am still not sold (not dogging the people that are housewifes... just not for me). The Youth Center has been closed all week and I have been sitting at home... cleaning and lame things like that... so when I heard about this opportunity to go to Hachinohe to help clean up the port I was TOTALLY STOKED! First some some pictures of the devastation on the way into the port then pictures of us helping clean up after the tsunami.

Here is the first view of the port we had... two giant boats on docks... not where they should be...

This was on the main road... just hanging out...

Here is our group getting our instructions of what to help with... we basically picked up and sorted all the trash, metal & wooden pallets

After we were done with this area... and yes it was snowing...

Here we are digging sand out of gutters so that if another tsunami comes through or it rains the water has somewhere to go...

I was so happy to be apart of something to help the country and people that I love so much... I am sure we will be helping until there is nothing left to do... I love you Japan!

Misawa Port -Post Tsunami

2011-03-15T17:24:00.000-07:00

These are images from the Misawa Port just days after the Tsunami struck... I don't have much to say... they are too sad... some clean up had already started (like plowing the foot of sand that covered all the roads) but when I got there, no one was around... it was really creepy and really really tragic... this place was utterly destroyed.

I thought this was powerful... coca-cola... something we all can relate to

Some how a light bulb managed to survive...

This slab of concrete was massive... just thrown around like nothing

a buoy... maybe from out in the ocean, maybe from in the port

A road used to go across here connecting the swimming beach to the port

This huge boat is hundreds of feet from the water

Miss Veedol Beach Post Tsunami

2011-03-14T23:15:00.000-07:00

We have a beach about 10 minutes up the road called Miss Veedol Beach; there is a replica of a plane and a huge tower at this beach. One of the pilots who flew in after the tsunami said he didn’t see the tower anymore so I wanted to go check it out. I parked the car clear of the tsunami debris and walked down to the beach. There were signs wrapped around trees… all this area used to be grass, now it is buried under a fairly deep layer of sand…

This used to be where the road went to the parking lot…

The tower was still there but not the plane. This is where the replica of the plane sat… just the support pillars are left… below is what this spot looked like before the tsunami

After Tsunami

Before Tsunami

This is all that was left of the plane… a chunk of the side… and you can see one wheel off on the fence in the distance…

This is a big concrete area where people would come and fly model planes… these cracks might be from the earthquake but my guess is they are from the tsunami… you can also tell that big crane in the background is all falling forward…

I wonder if the claw from the crane crashed into the concrete there and then got pushed sideways from the tsunami or if the tsunami put that hole there?!?

First Trip to the Beach after the Tsunami

2011-03-14T21:51:00.000-07:00

This is the beach I often go to surfing, walking with Kona, and for bonfires… it is 5 minutes from base… the closest one to base. It was the first place we went to see what kind of destruction was left in the wake of the tsunami. From what I know of this stretch of beach there were no people living here but there were a lot of fishing boats and shacks with supplies up behind the sea wall… This tangle of rubble is maybe 300 feet from the ocean… finding a glass float just wasn’t the same with all this behind it…

Here is where the water rushed over the sea wall taking out part of the wall as it went… just ripping through steel and concrete!

A little further down the sea wall this is where the biggest shack on the beach stood. You can’t even tell anything used to be there except for the lack of trees… there is a before picture below this one…

After

Before

This is where we would drive our cars out onto the beach to surf or have bonfires… now it is a 6-foot drop off in some places

Back up in the trees… here is a boat that was left up in a tree, 15 feet off the ground…

And that shack I showed you that just disappeared… well I found it… 100 feet away…

If this is what it is like here… where these were no people and only small fishing shacks it hurts me to think about super populated areas and villages right on the sea that were just demolished…

Life Post Quake

2011-03-14T20:18:00.000-07:00

I wasn’t able to get home until a couple hours after the big earthquake… so I was kind of nervous to see my house not only post big earthquake but we already had quite a few sizeable aftershocks… AND my poor puppy Kona, AND we were dog sitting our friends two dogs...

Driving home… for the first time the gravity of the situation sunk in, and I freaked out a little bit… we had ceiling tiles crashing down on kids… would our kitchen still be together or would everything be broken on the floor, would our tv still be standing, would our bookshelves be toppled over, would the TONS of picture frames I have on the walls still me hanging?!? Worrying and freaking is no good… ever… especially not in a natural disaster situation... SO… to stop thinking about what could have happened I started making a list in my mind off all the stuff to do before it got dark, since we had no power… Still when I pulled up in front of my house I had to take a few breaths to calm my heart before walking through the door…

And then much to my surprise and gratitude my friend Sara was standing in my doorway when I opened the door!!! Things never seem quite so bad when you have a friend… apparently… after the quake Derick suggested to go check on the wives at home and make sure everyone was okay, he got the north area and I am sure other people got main base and off base… when Derick got to Sara’s house (on the 6^th floor of a tower) Derick asked if she was okay… she said yes… Derick said really cause you don’t look okay” and then she broke down and said she didn’t want to stay up there alone… Which I don’t blame her… the towers are crazy during earthquakes because they sway SO MUCH! So Derick sent her and the two dogs to our house. Our house was relatively untouched by the quake… 5 picture frames fell and a huge log I found at the beach that I haven’t done anything with yet fell over and that was it… some stuff was close to the edges of table… but not quite off… Sara’s house however was much worse off… her bookshelves fell over; glassware cabinets opened and glasses fell and broke.

So when I got home there was a pack of 5 dogs roaming my house! It was awesome! Sara and I hurried to prepare for a night without power… keeping the fridge and freezer closed as much as possible to conserve their chilling ability… digging out my grill and charcoal… gathering as many candles as possible… finding board games. And building snow lanterns to light my house!

That first night we ended up having 10 people, 5 dogs, and a crazy game of catch phrase… we grilled steak over charcoal… until it died out (there wasn’t very much) then I used old pizza boxed, and had steak & cheese sandwiches on bagels with grilled veggies… for desert we had berries with homemade whipped cream (thanks to Sara’s extreme whipping skills!).

It was the next day I went into little house on the prairie survival mode… I didn’t know how long we would be without power, how long our running water would last… and didn’t want to wait to find out. Better safe then sorry… I took our clothes that had just been washed but not dried and made a cloths line and hung them out to dry…

Since we didn’t have a big cooler I took Rubbermaid containers from a storage thing and filled them with snow from the back yard and packed everything from our fridge and freezer into the snow. I filled our big 5-gallon camping water container with water. As long as we would be getting rations of food and water I could have lasted weeks… or longer…

The base had hot meals provided 4 times a day at the dining hall, and hot showers at the gym for anyone that needed them. I of course felt like that was cheating… and didn’t want the food we had to go bad so I made all our meals for us. We stopped by the lumber yard off base that first day after the quake and bought a couple bundles of fire wood so after that I just built fires in my grill to cook, and now I really love my cast iron skillet!

We were only without power for 3 days, two nights… and had running water the whole time so it wasn’t bad… but it was fun… I was kind of disappointed when the power came back on… Derick wasn’t… first thing he did was vacuum… not even kidding… But I guess it is always better to be safe then sorry… a long time ago (rumor has it… and a I cant look it up cause I don’t have internet right now) that there was quake that was bigger up here in Misawa and the base lost power for 2 months with no running water for 1 month. I have learned lessons from this experience… no longer will I scoff at emergency preparedness… we need to be ready at all times for anything.

During the Earthquake

2011-03-14T18:53:00.000-07:00

When the big earthquake hit I was at work… we only had about 15 kids because school had just gotten out and most were still walking to the youth center. At first the earthquake was just a gentle rolling and had everybody just stay still and calm, then after about 15 seconds it got rough, I told the kids to calmly get underneath a table or in a doorway… kids were diving under the pool table, I had about 5 in the doorway with me… Doors started slamming, I had a hard time standing up because the pitching of the earth was so violent. Ceiling tiles started falling all over the building and parts of the ventilation system came crashing out of the ceiling…

I was talking to the kids the whole time… “Everybody stay calm… its almost over… you guys are doing so good… we are perfectly safe” and inside I am freaking out because this is one of the coolest things I have ever felt. About halfway through the quake we lost power… and then about a minute and half after it started it was over… kind of… over enough to walk and not fall over… we had all the kids grab their coats and go outside… since our ceiling was falling in. Outside a new group of kids had gathered… many had banged up knees from falling while walking because the quake threw them to the ground. Outside it was cold and the ground was wet from melting snow, I had my yoga mat with me and brought that outside. The kids that were freaking out the worst were sitting with me on my mat… mostly with their heads buried in whatever portion of my torso they could find and crying. The rest of the staff was walking around taking roll and comforting the kids as best they could. A lot of the kids were fine however and running around and playing, making silly dances to try to help the scared kids forget. It was so cold outside… and within 20 minutes the first big aftershock came, and during that aftershock we heard crashing like a building collapse… all the kids stopped moving, got really quiet and looked at the staff with pure panic on their faces… I knew I had to keep them calm so I just said it was probably part of the exercise that was going on base (during which explosions are not uncommon) and that seemed to calm them… while I however started to freak out just a little because that was definitely not a good sound. Sitting outside over the next hour we probably had 5 big aftershocks and countless little ones. We of course had to keep the kids out of the building, since we were not sure if the ceiling tiles would hold, and we got a buckle in our floor…

Staying in the building was not something worth risking, so we called all the parents to come get their kids, many were already on the way… some just couldn’t understand why their kid couldn’t stay… umm… our roof is falling in… about an hour and a half after we evacuated the building we got a heated bus to park in our parking lot that we could stick the kids that were left on so we didn’t all freeze to death. About 5:30 or two and half hours after the quake all the kids were with parents or emergency caretakers and we locked down our building and went home to see what was left at our houses …

Otaru Lantern Festival

2011-03-08T16:24:00.000-08:00

Otaru "is a city and port in Shiribeshi, Hokkaidō, Japan, northwest of Sapporo. The city faces the Ishikari Bay, and has long served as the main port of the bay. With its many historical buildings, Otaru is a popular tourist destination." ~ Wikipedia

This is the Otaru Canal. "Otaru Canal (Otaru Unga) used to be a central part of the city's busy harbor in the first half of the 20th century, when large vessels had to be unloaded by smaller ships, which then transported the goods to warehouses along the canal. The canal became obsolete, when modern dock facilities allowed for direct unloading of larger vessels. Thanks to a citizens' movement, however, a part of the canal was beautifully restored in the 1980s instead of being landfilled, while the warehouses were transformed into shops, cafes, museums and restaurants." ~Japan-guide

And now you are about to find out why this is my new favorite city on Hokkaido... maybe in all of Northern Japan... maybe in all of Japan...

Otaru Canal

Otaru is famous for its glass works. There were a handful of shops where people were actaully blowing glass and you could make your own beads. This was one of those shops, they have the rods of colored glass to pick from then then you sit at these tables and they help you make your own beads.. this kid looks like he is making one for his girlfriend... he looked pretty stressed out!

There were also dozens of shops that sold the glassworks. Shelves and shelves and more shelves of super delicate tiny glass things... they made me nervous... plus I had a camera bag and a tripod strapped to my back so I was sure I would crash into something... luckily I did not.

This was on the main strip of shops, art galleries and restaurants right next to the canal... they called it snowman street because every shop had a snowman or two or three built outside... It was the cutest thing. Just imagine you are walking downtown or in your neighborhood and in front of every building there was a little wonky snowman... all lit with candles. It was so cute and intimate and I felt like I belonged.

This was in front of another building... snow shelves with mini snowmen and ice lanterns. This is why the festival is called the lantern festival... Because everything is aglow in soft candle light. It was so amazing.

More ice and snow lanterns but these were located right on the main canal.

Nighttime Otaru Canal... it was so romantic

This is all on a third street in Otaru with glass floats ablaze and snow sculptures everywhere... they however weren't big like the Sapporo ones, they were small and intimate and really cool, the kind of cool that makes you think... "hmm next time is snows I am building this on my porch"

This is why this is my new favorite city!

Reasons Why I Loved the Otaru Lantern Festival:

Romantic Intimate and charming city

Really Delicious Food!!!

Felt a personal connection like I was a part of the festival not just observing

Super easy to get to from Sapporo via Train

Reasons Why I Didn't Love the Festival:

None

Sapporo Snow Festival

2011-03-07T16:59:00.000-08:00

The Sapporo Snow Festival is "one of Japan's largest and most distinctive winter events. In 2007 (58th Festival), about two million people visited Sapporo to see the hundreds of snow statues and ice sculptures." ~Wikipedia

The Snow Festival was cool, literally it was pretty cold... especially at night! No... but really it was. It was interesting as well... I had never thought of snow sculptures as opposed to ice sculpture but these were definitely carved out of snow. They had some ice here and further across town they had a whole exhibit of ice sculptures (post to follow). I think it was really interesting to see the juxtaposition of natural and big city, modern and childish.

Snow Sculpture in Central Sapporo

These things had crazy details and they were SO BIG! There were probably 10 different sculptures that were part of giant snow stages! They were crazy. I felt as though it was almost hard to relate to on a personal level. Everything was so big and imposing and overwhelming. You will see a significant difference when I post the smaller more intimate festivals of Otaru and Chitose.

"Tourism of Hokkaido"

There was a ski jump in the middle of the city!

This is another one of those giant stages but out of ice!

This is a family of a popular japanese cartoon show. It makes me think of the Japanese version on family guy.

This was part of the International Snow Carving Competition. Countries from all over the wold came and sculpted in front of crowds under a time limit to create a winning design... it was like those sugar sculpture contests on the Food Network! Intensity!

There were at least as many food vendor as there were snow sculptures, I really liked this one cause of the floats they hanging from the roof.

Chu-Hi in front of the Snow Temple...

These guys were just creepy....

This was a "designated smoking area" made out of ice blocks... I thought it was gorgeous!

View of Sapporo at night from the TV Tower

So basically I think you have to take the Sapporo Snow Festival at face value... what you see in the pictures is what it is... only alot colder. If I went back I think I would stay only one night in Sapporo, one day and night is all you need to see everything, then I would spend a couple days in Otaro... cause its so cute and then travel around the rest of the island. I think part of an overall trip the Snow Festival would be great... but not worth the trip if that is all you do.

Reasons why I loved the Sapporo Snow Festival
Crazy sculptures bigger then I ever imagined possible carved out of snow. 
It was fun to be in a big city for a little while 

Reasons why I didn't love the Festival
I dont really like big cities
SO MANY PEOPLE... and the kept touching me
So big and ridiculous it was hard to related to on a personal level.

Sapporo Chocolate Factory

2011-03-05T15:18:00.000-08:00

Another exciting Sapporo attraction is the Chocolate Factory! They had a little museum-ish thing and you could look down at the processing floor from above.

Sapporo Chocolate Factory

Inside the Chocolate Factory...

18th Century Vintage Hot Chocolate Cups

I really really really love the colors in this room! Its kinda busy, but I like it, I would like to paint my garage (if i had one) to look like those tiles!

19th Century Vintage Tile from UK

Family Self Portrait

The Shiroi Koibito Cookie Production Line. We got to sample these cookie, they were pretty good. They are two thin almost sugar cookie slabs with creamy white chocolate in the middle. This production line showed everything from the cooling of the cookie, introducing the chocolate, packaging, printing the best by date, and even a quick x-ray to make sure no foreign objects found their way into the cookies!

Shiroi Koibito Cookie Production Line

And if there is somewhere you are going to eat... it should definitly be a chocolate factory! My parents and I each got hot chocolate, a white, dark, and regular hot chocolate so we could all try all three. Best Hot Chocolate of my LIFE!

Hot Chocolate & Orange Liquor

And we got Fondue!!!! AMAZING!

Fondue at Sapporo Chocolate Factory

Ferry and Sapporo Brewery

2011-03-03T15:42:00.000-08:00

My parents, some friends, and I all went to Sapporo for the Sapporo Snow Festival. Sapporo is located on Hokkaido, the island just north of us on the main island. There are a several ways to reach Hokkaido, we chose to go via ferry. The ferry like all Japan adventures is interesting and fun! We weren't sure how full it would be with the Snow Festival going on (in 2007 about 2 million people attended the snow festival) so we made advance reservation (through Misawa ITT), I think this was not necessary the ferry was pretty empty, although some other people that went had different ferry experiences... It was only a 7 hour ride... overnight... but just in case you HAVE to shower it did have an onsen!!!!

Hachinohe Ferry Onsen

An Onsen is a public bath... I was able to sneak a picture since noone had gotten in yet... There are the little shower areas where you wash off first then everyone goes and soaks in the pool of water behind. I think the Onsens are going to be what I miss the most about Japan. Most onsens including this one are only Male or Female but there are some that are co-ed. The nicer onsens have multiple baths of different temperatures, including cold baths, many have outdoor baths which are awesome in the snow, and some even have specialty baths... like wine... or coffee.. or natural sulfur water.

View of Hachinohe Ferry Terminal... from the ferry

We drove to Hachinohe (1 hr) to take the ferry to Tomakamai (7 hr), and then a bus to Sapporo (2 hr). My parents wanted a private room so we got a first class room, that comes with four beds to a room, a sitting area, green tea, pajamas, and toothbrushes. Some of our friends however got the 2nd class room with bed, which was also really nice, there were 18 people to a room but only 4 beds were in each little section and they all had privacy curtains. The third ferry option is the tatami mat room... thats what I did over the summer, for pictures of our summer Hokkaido trip click HERE.

2nd class room with bed on Hachinohe Ferry

There is a bit to do in Sapporo besides the snow festival (which is next on the blog agenda) including... a brewery and chocolate factory. The Sapporo Brewery founded in 1876 is located in... Sapporo... shocking I know. They have a museum, tasting area and a restaurant.

Sapporo Brewery

And even though I hate beer, I figured I had to have at least one... since I was in Sapporo and all... so I got a Sapporo Beer... it was gross... but they gave me cheese too so I was happy!

Sapporo Brewery Tasting

After my super awesome beer (not) we went next door to the restaurant for a bite to eat. The buildings of the brewery were really pretty... especially at night.

Sapporo Brewery Restaurant

The restaurant was Yakiniku style... which means it served raw meat and veggies with grills in the middle of the table and you cook the food to your liking... dip it... and eat it! Delish!!!! Kendall and I had lamb and mixed veggies.

Yakiniku

Not only did we have a delishous Yakiniku dinner at the Sapporo Brewery... we were also serenaded! This guys was busting it out! This picture also shows the whole atmosphere of the restaurant, low light, kinda smoky from everyone burning thier food... it was cool!

Piano Accordionist at Sapporo Brewery

And a final shot of the Brewery before we headed back to our Ryoken.

Sapporo Brewery

Towadako Snow & Light Fantavista

2011-02-22T20:14:00.000-08:00

Winter festivals take place all over Northerns Japan starting in Late January through Mid February... in the depths of winter up here in Northern Japan... I had yet to see any so this year I tried to go to as many as possible... Towada is the first of five... also I am sad to say my least favorite. And I say that with all the love I can because I love the Lake Towada area... and I am not saying least favorite in that you should not go... but least favorite in that if you can only go to one maybe pick Hirosaki instead. But I will show you everything and let you decide.... Or you can be like me and just go everywhere!

We arrived slightly before sunset (most winter festivals are night events). Just enough time for a walk by the lake, and to realize maybe we didn't wear enough layers... oops. It was cold... if you decide to go to a winter festival... especially at night... bring more then you would ever think to need... cause you can always take off layers.

Lake Towada at Sunset in February

We then heading into the festival grounds and decided to get our dinner on! Festival food is sneaky... some is really really good... and some was warm three hours ago when they put it out but not so much when you bite into it.

This is a large bathtub of Ramen... are they really gonna sell all that by the end of the night... or is it just for show?!? I dont know. Here is a fun Japanese fact... that red banner right between the two ladies says "ramen"... sideways triangle with a line over the top... dash... x... sideways line with a dot... that is about the extent of my reading in Japanese...

Giant Vat of Ramen

Festival Food on a Stick

The Towada winter festival was the "Towadako Winter Story Snow & Light Fantavista" That is pretty good as far as engrish goes. There were these blue trees everywhere but this particular tree had chimes all hanging off of it that you could walk up and play.

Tree with chimes

There were igloos everywhere... well they are technically not igloos but snow caves... since they are carved out of a pile of compressed snow instead of being built out of snow blocks... BUT that is not important... these snow caves had various things inside... some had nothing, some had carvings out of the snow... some had bars... this one had a table and chairs

Sitting in the Snow Cave

There were lanturns everywhere and they looked so cute, gave the whole place a really nice ambiance.

Snow Lanterns

This is the inside of the Sake Bar. It smelled like Sake inside... it was pretty potent... I am not the hugest fan of Sake but it was a cool place.

Sake Bar in Snow Cave

This is the inside of a snow church... a Christian church, with a cross on the outside and everything... something I found interesting since only 2% of Japanese people identify as being Christian (according to a 1997 Agency of Cultural Affairs Publication) AND there are Shinto Omikuji (Forturne Papers) tied up in the church... Japan cracks me up!

Snow Cave Church

Group Picture... Egyptian Style

After we left the festivial grounds we headed the the sweet shinto shrine just off in the woods which also happens to be the path to the "statue of the two maidens". I dont particuarily like the statue so I wont be showing it to you. BUT the path was lined first with snow lanturns and then closer to the end it was lined with these super awesome glass float... used by fishermen in Mutsu Bay to hold up nets.

Glowing Japanese Floats

Night Time Torii Gate and Snow Lanterns

Lisa in the Snow Lanterns!

Reasons why I loved the Towadako Winter Story Snow and Light Festival

The super awesome path to the shrine was gorgeous... full of anciant trees and magic.

The festival food was really good and a good variety.

Reasons why I didn't love the Festival

I was not prepared for the cold.

It was kinda small and not much to do... except sit in a snow cave and drink.

Almost everything was lit with bulbs not candles which made it feel less intimate and more industrial.

Shimokita

2011-02-12T17:47:00.000-08:00

Shimokita is the furthest northern reaches of the main island of Japan. It is remote and wild. I love it. Here are some photos I took on a recent visit this winter.

There is something really magical about the beach. I love it. I could go everyday and find new things to entertain me. I really love the beach in the winter with the snow. I love the relationship between the snow and the sand and the water. The water melts the snow leaving a mark of exactly where its been. The snow mimics the past shape of the water. And the contrast of the black sand on white snow makes an even bigger statement. No matter how much it snows there is still that black strip of beach where the water overtakes it.

Snow Mixing with Sand on a beach near Misawa

Something else really magical happens in the winter... swans from Russia migrate to Northern Japan to escape the harsh siberian winters. So everywhere you look near fresh water you find swans... they just appear... a few at first... and then hundreds...

Swans swimming at Rokkasho

The drive up the coast of Shimokita is one of my favorites... I love that stretch of 338. There are so many cool places and magical spots and of all of those magical spots this is my absolute favorite.

My favorite secret spot on the way up the coast

Squid fishing is really big up here in Northern Japan. In almost every small fishing village you can see squid fishing boats like this one... they are so interesting to me because of their giant lights! They go out at night and shine their lights to attract the squid! And I also find those giant lights washed up on the beach all the time... intact!

Squid boat at Cape Shiriyazaki

All the way at the north eastern tip of Japan is Cape Shiriyazaki... and at Cape Shiriyazaki are "wild horses" these horses are less wild and more... not owned... they are super tame and super friendly. I love them. They are so fluffy cause they have to survive the harsh winters on the windy cape. I think this one should be a unicorn

"Wild Horses" at Shiriyazaki

Kona also loves the cape... she loves to be wild and run to the cliff tops and feel the wind flop her ears around...

Kona roaming Cape Shiriyazaki

Shiriyazaki Lighthouse

Why so lame?!?

2011-01-13T06:28:00.000-08:00

Well the reason I havent posted lately is I have reached my photo limit... I need to buy more storage space if I want to keep uploading photos... which is fine its like $5 a year... but it just threw me off my rhythm... so maybe one of these days I will do it and start amazing you guys with me sweet photos again... but for now check out this link to see what has been happening lately Facebook album: "Its a new year... agian"

First Ski of the Season

2010-12-27T04:49:00.000-08:00

So... I have three more days of New Zealand to go but as you can tell... I have gotten bored of that and quite posting stuff all together for a second. Things have been a little crazy here. But they have come back around to what we call normal and this is our latest adventure. After a fantastic Christmas full of much merry making and fun with friends... I needed adventure... Derick would be happy if he could hang out with his friends and chill all the time... not so much for me... I need epicness... and wind... and speed... and outside. So Derick knowing this made it a point to take me skiing over Christmas. Northern Japan has been a little behind the curve on the snow... Two days before Christmas Hakkoda (my favorite ski spot) only had 45 cm... BUT then three days later they had 120 cm!!! Sweet Nectar of Powder I just had to get out there! We drove the two hours late on a Sunday morning and skied a glorious afternoon!

You can see the snow wall on the side of the road is already starting to form!

On the gondola on our first run! LOOK AT MY NEW COAT!!! Its from New Zealand!

"Snow Monsters" at the top of the mountain... one of the few places in the world that they form!

Low visibility... HIGH POWDER!!!

It looked like Narnia in the reign of the White Witch

I love Japan...

New Zealand Day 13: Hobbiton & Hot Water Beach

2010-12-15T17:53:00.000-08:00

So on this day we left the glow worm caves behind and drove up to the Coromandel Peninsula. (With a small stop at Hobbiton which I am under legal obligation not to show you pictures of since they are rebuilding for the set of the movie "The Hobbit"!!!!) This drive was super windy and crazy cause we had to go up over the mountains in the middle of the peninsula. But it was well worth it, the area on the east side of the mountains was SO beautiful, it kinda reminded me of California... a little more tropical then what we had been used to so far. We stayed in a town called Hahei in a hotel called The Church because it is made out of an old church! Super Cool!

That evening we went to Hot Water Beach! A beach with a magma chamber so close to the surface it heats up the ground water which comes bubbling to the surface of the beach so at low tide you can dig yourself you own hot tub! SO COOL! The place we were staying even let us borrow shovels and beach towels!

New Zealand Day 12: Waitomo Glowworms

2010-12-09T04:12:00.000-08:00

After we left our little cottage in Taupo we headed west to Waitomo... but I will get to that in a minute... on the way we went to the Orakei Korako Geothermal Field.

New Zealand is a super active place in terms of volcanic and seismic activity. This was a place that was just super full of geysers, sulfurous flows, fault scarps, and silica terraces. And since I love geology this was the place for me!

There was also tons of native forest with fern trees and roots and vines and lots of I love everywhere.

And boiling mud pits... what could be better?

In all actuality I was very sick this day, I came down with a cold or flue or something and my throat hurt, I couldn't really breath, and I had no energy... so I was kinda miserable the whole time and it was very sad... but I didn't really have time to be too sad cause our next adventure was just around the corner. We continued on our way to Waitomo like I said earlier... which is famous for its GLOW WORM CAVES! Derick and I took tour through the glow worm caves (which are filled with water) on TUBES. We got wetsuits and inner tubes and floated through the most magical world I have ever seen. There were places where we had to walk, other where we had to jump off waterfalls, and still others where the guides tricked Derick into standing up where it was really deep and he went under in pitch black, freezing cold, eel infested waters! But mostly we just floated with cathedral ceiling aglow in a ethereal blue light! AMAZING! We did our tour through the Backwater Rafting Co. and although we were not allowed to bring cameras "for safety reasons" (which means they want us to buy a cd of their photos) I stole these off the internet!

So in the end all drugged up on Ibuprofen and Pseudoephedrine I had a fantastic three hours exlporing the Waitomo Glowworm Caves!

This is what the glowworms look like up close... they are a bunch of fly larva on the ceiling that produce bioluminescent mucus... to attract prey which they catch in their glowing snot string!

But this is what they look like from the tubes... like the heavens!

New Zealand Day 10 & 11: Honey Hive and Huka Falls

2010-12-03T17:05:00.000-08:00

Well all of day 10 we spent exploring Wellington, and I gave my camera a break for the day. But we shopped at the "bohemian heart" of Wellington... very disappointing... not what I would call bohemian... I would just call it the retail heart. We went to Weta workshops where they built props for and lots of other stuff for movies like Lords of the Rinds, Narnia, Avatar. Just really cool stuff! We ate dinner at a brewery that had hard cider on tap- AMAZING! And we went to the cultural museum that I talked about yesterday. So over all a day full of urban exploring is not my favorite but it wasn't bad either.

Now for day 11. We had a long drive this day. We drove like half of the North Island in one day. So after we got to Taupo, almost straight north from Wellington by a big lake, we settled into our cabin (which was really cute) and set off exploring the town town...

This is Mt. Ngauruhoe and behind it Mt. Tongariro both active volcanos

This is in the Rangipo Desert... what you cant tell is sand is blowing EVERYWHERE!

Mt. Ruapehu another active volcano

Huka Falls north of Taupo

And then we went to the Honey Hive... full of local honey products

honey mead and liqueur

New Zealand Day 9: Dolphin Swim & Ferry

2010-12-01T15:12:00.000-08:00

The next morning Derick and I work up at 4:45 to get ready and be at the dolphin place of 5:30. We did the early swim because one the guides said the dolphin activity is betting in the early morning and two this way we could swim and still make our 1:30 ferry to the North Island. Derick and I were not really excited this morning. The seals had been okay but not AMAZING, and it was so early and the water was going to be so cold. But neither of us said anything (I think if one person would have said "I dont want to" the other would have jumped on that real fast and been like "okay back to sleep") and we went to the Dolphin Encounter building on got all suited up for our trip. While the seals were a mom and pop kinda thing, this was a super stream line high tech kinda thing. Which on one hand was kinda nice... there was a hot water hose on the boat so if you got too cold, just stick this hose down your wetsuit, a bathroom on the boat, we watched a safety video, and they fed us cookies and hot chocolate, but on the other hand I kinda just felt like a number. Where as with the seals, there was no hot water, no hot chocolate, no bathroom, but I felt like we got treated as individuals.

Over I all I would suggest doing both the seals and dolphins if you go to New Zealand... especially if you go to Kiakoura. We had people in out seal group the did the dolphins the day before and said the seals were way better... but one day later when we went to the dolphins the dolphins were way better. I think since these are completely wild animals and are not enticed in any way that they do what they want and some days will be better then others.

There are the Dusky Dolphins that we went swimming with. They are highly curious and highly acrobatic. Since these are entirely wild dolphins playing with us of their own free will the guides told us they will stick around longer in they have good entertainment. The dolphins like when you make dolphin noises through your snorkel, make eye contact and swim in circles, and dive down. Any time I did any of these things there were immediately 1-5 dolphins by my side. It was amazing. They were inches from me.

Check out my video!

While we were swimming in the ocean we were with a pod of about 300 dolphins, and later when we got back on the boat, that pod joined another pod to make over a thousand dolphins. There were everywhere... from horizon to horizon!

After the most amazing experience of my life we left the south island to go to the North Island on the Inter islander Ferry. Our rental car came with free ferry tickets for the 1:30 sailing which worked with out schedule so we went with it. It was so nice just being able to drive on, hang out for four hours and drive off without having to get a new rental car, moving bags, and all that lame stuff. We got our car through Apex Rentals by the way.

This is leaving Picton Harbor and traveling through Queen Charlotte Sound.

This is emerging from the sound out into Cook Strait.

So for our first evening in Wellington we explore the city including their botanical garden. And if you know me then you know I am a sucker for botanical gardens. They had a really beautiful rose garden.s

After the botanical garden we continued our explorations through the downtown to the cultural museum (which was already closed) but we went in for like 45 min. before it closed the next day and it was SO COOL! If you go to Wellington go to Te Papa Tongarewa it was the coolest interactive hands on museum ever! Anywho these are some sweet sculptures outside the museum.

And this is looking out from our hotel at night. If I had to do it again, the hotel we stayed at wasn't bad, but the city is a little hard to navigate and we ended up having to drive most places anyway so I wish we would have stayed out in the country instead of the heart of the city so kinda get away from the rush. But I have never been a city girl.

New Zealand Day 8: Kaikoura Seal Swim

2010-11-29T17:09:00.000-08:00

We left Christchurch quite early to drive two hours to Kaikoura. We had to get to Kaikoura early for our seal swim. I talked to the tour people and they said the earlier tours are better for tidal conditions so we went with it. We got there about 30 minutes before our tour started and explored the beach a little bit.

The beach was all pebbles and when the waves crashed and went back out is sounded like a thousand little chimes. It was SO beautiful. As you can see there was some fog that morning but the sun started to burn it off and it was like a picture window to the mountains.

The reason Kaikoura is such a good spot of Whale, Dolphin & Seal watching is because the mountains are so close to the sea and that topography continues underwater...

"The Kaikoura Peninsula extends into the sea south of the town, and the resulting upwelling currents bring an abundance of marine life from the depths of the nearby Hikurangi Trench." -Wikipedia

SO here we are all suited up to go swimming with the seals. We used Seal Swim Kaikoura. They were a family run Father, Daughter, and I think even Grandfather business. They were really awesome. Since the tours are totally out in the wild they can be unpredictable so for people that reserve in advance if the weather is too bad to go you get a full refund, and if you go out there and there are no seals, or due to tide, weather, or seal behavior you can't swim with them you get most of your money back, they just keep a small fee to cover the cost of what they did do.

The water was really cold, but it was so exciting to swim with the seals I hardly noticed. We got a little waterproof camera bag called a DiCaPac for Dericks little camera and it worked SO well... with the exception of a little bit of black on the corner of some the pictures it was awesome and only like 25 bucks!

There was Kelp everywhere... I felt like I was swimming through a kelp forest. Unfortunately some of the fog hung around and it kept the temperatures cooler and the seals usually get in the water during the day when they are overheating... so we only got to swim with like 5 different seals. But it was still awesome... but I was a little sad. But I knew we were swimming with dolphins the next day so I kept my hopes up!

This was the view from our hotel. We stayed at the Panorama Motel which was a little bit older but really nice. We had a two bedroom apartment with a kitchenette and sea views!

And I of course am out there exporing the ocean every chance I got. I love the ocean SO much!

How to make the Perfect Turkey...

2010-11-28T04:57:00.000-08:00

This makes a seriously good bird... I have used this recipe the last two Thanksgivings and everyone says its the best turkey they have ever tasted... It is adapted from a Martha Stuart Recipe... in her November '08 Magazine... I have changed a few things but its mostly the same (my notes will be italicized) ... its super easy... but you do have to start like a week out... IT IS SO WORTH IT... okay, here is what Martha (well actually Ed Bruske... but he works for her) says about the Dry Brine meathod:

"The (salt) encrusted turkey is bagged and refrigerated for two days, allowing ample time for osmosis to act in miraculous ways: tenderizing the meat to its core, retaining its precious juices, and accentuating, but not overshadowing, its inherent flavor-minus the heavy lifting of a wet brine. Put simply, it ensures a perfect, pleasingly plump bird that will transcend everyones expectations."

Roasted Dry Brined Turkey
Serves 12-14

Make ahead tip: Salt the turkey and make giblet stock two days in advance. Make sure you take your turkey out of freezer in plenty of time... usually 5 hours per lb. to defrost in fridge... I take let mine defrost in fridge for 5 days... that means taking turkey out of freezer 7 days before cooking.

FOR THE TURKEY

Course salt and freshly ground pepper
14 dried bay leaves, 12 crushed, 4 left whole
1 whole fresh turkey (22 to 24 lb..) I use frozen cause that is our only option here in Japan, giblets and neck reserved for Simple Giblet Stock (recipe follows)
8 ounces (2 sicks) unsalted butter, softened plus more for baking dish if needed
1 cup dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc I used white cooking wine once cause I forgot and it still was good
Two crisp sour apples (granny smith, jonagold) and 1 onion all cut into 8ths
1 cup water plus more if needed

FOR THE PAN GRAVY

Pan drippings, reserved from turkey
1 cup dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc
1/4 cup all-purpose flour (I use whole wheat)
Simple Giblet Stock (recipe follows) or 4 cups homemade or store bought turkey or chicken stock
1 ounce (2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Course salt and fresh ground pepper

1. Make the turkey: Combine 2/3 cup salt and 10 crushed bay leaves in a small bowl. Rinse inside and outside of turkey, and pat dry with paper towels. Rub 2 tablespoons salt mixture evenly inside turkey cavity, 2 tablespoons on each leg portions, 1 1/2 teaspoon on each wing, and 2 tablespoons on each breast. If you have extra salt just rub wherever looks empty. Place turkey in large oven bag and seal tightly, removing any trapped air. Place in a rimmed baking sheet, and refrigerate for 48 hours.

2. Remove turkey from bag, and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour. Combine 1 stick butter, the wine, and whole bay leaves in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to simmer, then remove from heat.

3. Preheat oven to 425 with rack in lowest position. Rinse inside and outside of turkey, and pat dry with paper towels. Gently work hands between breast and skin on top of turkey separating the two. Take 1/2 stick of softened butter, add two crushed bay leaves and fresh cracked pepper. Take butter mixture and spread in-between the breast and skin on the top of the turkey. Fill cavity with apples and onions and then tie the legs securely with kitchen string. Then tie the wings down by taking a string from the neck cavity around the sides and down to the legs securing them to the body of the turkey. Place turkey breast side down on roasting rack. Rub the remaining 1/2 stick of butter on the turkey and season with salt and pepper. Pour water into roasting pan.

4. Place turkey legs first into the oven. Roast for 30 minutes, then baste with butter-wine mixture. Reduce temperature to 350, and roast, basting with butter-wine mixture & rotating turkey every 30 minutes for 2 hours. (Add more water to roasting pan if necessary to prevent pan dripping from burning.) After the 2 hours flip turkey breast side up and continue roasting and basting until skin is golden brown and thickest part of thigh (avoiding bone) registers 165 degrees, 45 to 1 hour more. Transfer turkey to a rimmed baking sheet, reserving pan juices and roasting pan, and let rest for 30 minutes breast side down before carving.

5. Make the pan gravy: Pour reserved pan juices into a glass measuring cum or a gravy separator, and let stand until fat rises to the surface, about 10 minutes, pour or spoon off fat.

6. Place reserved roasting pan on 2 burners over medium heat. Add wine, and bring to a gentle simmer, scraping browned bits with a wooden spoon. Whisk flour and giblet stock in a large bowl until combined. Add defatted pan juices, whisking to combine, then pour to roasting pan. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until reduced by half and thickened, 10 to 15 minutes.

7. Remove pan from heat, and whisk in butter. Strain through a sieve, and discard solids. Stir in parsley Season with salt and pepper if desired.

SIMPLE GIBLET STOCK

makes 4 cups

Giblets and neck reserved from 1 turkey
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 celery stalk, coarsely chopped
1 carrot scrubbed and coarsely chopped
4 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 fresh bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
6 cups cold water

Put all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring all to boil. Reduce heat, cover partially, and gently simmer, skimming foam from surface as needed, until reduced to 4 cups, about 2 hours. Stain, and discard solids. Use immediately, or cover and refrigerate for up to 1 week.

YAY for turkey. I hope you try it... Let me explain the two biggest things I changed...

1. not putting stuffing in the turkey... stuffing cooked in the turkey is often not done when the rest of the turkey is so that means an extra step taking it back out and putting it in a dish and then cooking it some more... or an overdone turkey... so instead I put apples and onion to enhance the turkey and make extra giblet stock to use in the stuffing (cooked separately) to enhance it.

2. I roast the turkey breast side down for most of the time so the juices rest in the breast... this is also why I let it rest breast side down... trust me it works... when I go to check the temp of the breast and pull the thermometer out the turkey usually squirts juice across the room!

New Zealand Day 7: Godley Head & Central Christchurch

2010-11-27T21:59:00.000-08:00

While the Wentzels went on the Trans Alpine Train Derick and I decided to go hiking in the hills around Christchurch. We drove out past Littleton to the Godley Head... which is a peninsula on Pegasus Bay about 45 minutes from the center of Christchurch.

There were a whole bunch of old WWII lookouts and gum emplacements. We hiked the hills, explored the ruins, were whipped by the wind and breathed in the fresh sea air! It was AMAZING!

This is Cathedral Square in central Christchurch

After dinner at a Mexican Restaurant we walked to the other side of the city of go to the "best dessert" place in the city, another hint from a local! On the way we found Narnia... something that seemed to happen alot on the trip!

The walk was longer then we thought but it was SO worth it!

This is my amazing Chocolate Desert from Strawberry Fare

New Zealand Trip Day 6- Drive to Christchurch (Steepest street, Maeraki Boulders, & Mt. Cook)

2010-11-26T20:50:00.000-08:00

We decided instead of going straight to Christchurch from Dunedin to go out of the way to see the Mt. Cook Lookout and some awesome scenery. While it turned out the Mt. Cook Lookout was nice, and the water was freaking crazy I dont think I would have done it if I had to do over. It added quiet a bit to the drive, which made it a really long day.

Before we left Dunedin we went to Baldwin Street. This street holds the world record for the steepest street. We drove up and down it... it was pretty steep... I might have been freaking out in the backseat.

We then stopped along the ways to see the Maeraki Boulders... These crazy random boulders that appear to be washed up on the beach... they are perfectly round and come in two sizes... 1 meter and 3 meters! They were actually formed in the muddy soil next to the ocean through time and pressure and as the beach erodes they are "birthed" out of the side of the hill... They then get these cracks that crystals grow in and eventually break to boulder into these crazy pieces... it was really cool.

We then continued to Mt. Cook... well actually the Mt. Cook lookout... this is the real color of the water... it was so crazy looking, it looks that way cause there is glacial silt suspended all in it and it is super reflective... it looks like somebody poured milk in it and dyed it crazy blue!

New Zealand Trip Day 5- Dunedin (Albatross, Seals, Sea Lions, Penguins and of course Sheep)

2010-11-24T16:53:00.000-08:00

After our fantastic day exploring the landscape and flora of Milford Sound we were off to discover the fauna of the East Coast. We drove 4 hours across the lower southern island to Dunedin. A medium sized collage town... it reminded Derick and I a lot of Columbia. And while out accommodations were adequate they were not fantastic so I wont give them a shout out... but the place we ate for lunch was AMAZING! We ate at a little place called the Governors Cafe... started by a collage drop out it became ridiculously successful and still is, it was hard finding a table at 1:30 in the afternoon! I had the special of the day mushrooms with toast (but it sounded fancier on the menu) and it was INCREDIBLE!!!! And of course like everything else in New Zealand the food was very fresh and it looked as if the menu changed with seasonal availability... sigh I love New Zealand.

ANYWAY so after lunch we went back to our place to get ready for our wildlife tour... Here is the thing I am not a big fan of other people planning stuff for me, thats why I do all the research and plan my own trips. And I don't like tours... BUT in this one instance I decided it would be a good idea because... there was so much wildlife to see and we only had one afternoon, alot of the good places to see penguins are on private property and the tours get permission to go & I didn't want to get trampled by a Sea Lion! So I emailed around asking for recommendations for the best tour... we were told by several locals to go with Elm Wildlife Tours. And I am really glad we did. Our guide was SUPER knowledgeable, he had a degree in zoology. This company is all about preserving the animals habitats, and has even been helping reestablish native plants in areas by the beaches to create more penguin habitat.

First stop was the Albatross Colony... not really my thing but they were HUGE... we only saw them flying and they look like a normal bird in photos... but they were massive. I would not have gone here if it wasn't on the tour... if you really like birds then sure... but I thought it was just okay.

Oh yeah, but the tour people did give us some pretty sweet binoculars... I was excited!

This is our second and final stop, on one half of this little peninsula there are New Zealand Fur Seals and on the other half there are Sea Lions and Penguins. We had to drive through like 5 peoples land to get out here and go through locked gates... Definitely could not have gotten here on our own... and they had some pretty sweet blinds built so we could view the animals without disturbing them... but the landscape reminded me of what I would imagine Scotland would look like... I LOVED IT

There were about 20 people in our group but when we got here we broke into two groups (we had two guides) so we only had 10 people in one group so it didn't feel too crowded. These are New Zealand Fur Seals... they were SO CUTE... these first two are both about a year old and the last one is maybe two... cause I am an expert and seal age... no the guides told us!

Sheep... there are SO MANY SHEEP! This guy got stuck on the wrong side of the fence... and then a cliff right behind him... and when we walked by a second time... there was another sheep over there with him, both stuck... They are so stupid!

This is a Sea Lion. They were SO SLEEPY!

And on to my favorite PENGUINS!!! We saw a couple little blue penguins in their nests... but we could only really see feathers but then we saw alot of Yellow Eyed Penguins... Since these birds have no natural land predators... they live in the forest... so every evening they pop out of the ocean and climb the hills at the shore... and when I say climb I mean hop the hills... and go to their nest in the brush at the top! And they get hot while they are hopping and need to hold their wings out to their sided to cool off! Here is a penguin egg & one popping out of the ocean!

And going to start hopping!

Where else in the world can you see penguins and sheep hanging out?

New Zealand Trip Day 4- Fiordlands & Milford Sound

2010-11-23T16:34:00.000-08:00

On our next day we spent the whole day driving to Milford Sound (here is a really helpful site)... which actually means we spent the whole day... Hiking, chasing alpine parrots, playing, and being awed and the ridiculous scenery! This was definitely one of the best drives of the trip! We left a little later in the day, maybe 10, maybe 11... to miss all the tour busses driving in from Queenstown... and sure enough as we were headed in we passed tour after tour after tour of busses leaving... and even one dude that got left by his bus : (

I think spring is the perfect time to go to New Zealand! The tourists are not very bad, we had most places in the country almost completely to ourselves! The weather is GORGEOUS! Sure jackets at night, and a few days were kinda cold... but it was awesome! AND there was still snow on the mountains... which just made everything look more epic!

This is a Kea...he is a crazy alpine parrot known for his curiosity and intelligence... you are not supposed to feed the Kea... he tried to go in our car to eat my sandwich... RUDE... I have even heard storys are these dude eating the weather stripping on windows of cars to try to get in. They look cute at cuddly but they are like a foot and a half tall (19in) and run at your face when taking pictures! I love them! AND they have orange feathers under their wings...

This is as some random rapids we found on the way... there was swinging bridge that Kim took my Yoga pose picture from. The color of the water was awesome!

This is a giant waterfall that we hiked to... well this is the closest we got... anyways its called Humbolt Falls

And like always... I love grass

This is actually in Milford Sound... The tide was out to we were able to walk a little ways out into the sound.

This is at the Homer Tunnel Nature Track... We went for a short hike here... or shall I say TRAMP, they call hiking tramping, so we would always get questions like "have you done any tramps"... um yes please... where are they?

This is Mirror lakes, one of the first things we did during the day... but it was too windy so we stopped by on our way back out.. and sure enough it was WAY MORE MIRRORY! YAY

We ate dinner at the Redcliff... the restaurant that the cast of LOTR hung out at when filming in the area... and I know why... the food was AMAZING! I think the best we had the whole trip... you can tell by how we ate EVERYTHING!!! I love Kim's face in this photo!

Another traveling to New Zealand helpful tip... it took us dining out three times for someone to finally tell us how to really pay for the food, everyone was too nice to tell us we were doing it wrong. Every single place we ate you leave your table when ever you want and go to the cash register, alot of times at the bar to pay, they already have your ticket and they can almost always just split the bill at the register... oh and always call it a bill not a ticket... they will look at you like your as dumb as a sheep... like my sheep joke!

Thanksgiving Menu

2010-11-21T22:47:00.000-08:00

I have spent all morning deciding what delicious things to eat for Thanksgiving... the best part is that we did Thanksgiving shopping yesterday... So now I have to find things to go with the food that we already bought! Yep thats how I roll...

so after much flipping of the Martha Stuart Pages

This is my menu...

Dry Brined Roasted Turkey (stuffed with apples & onions)

White Wine Reduction Gravy

Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes

Cornbread, Bacon & Leek Stuffing

Baked Artichoke Hearts

Fresh Cranberry Sauce

Deviled Eggs

Spicy Sautéed Green Beans

Apple Pie

Pumpkin Pie with Fresh Whipped Cream

Right now I am making turkey stock out of the neck and giblets of my freakishly large turkey... I feel really bad eating this obviously massed produced bird and when I move back to the states vow to raise my own or eat wild turkey. And just finished making my cranberry sauce that will hold fine in the fridge till Thursday. Tomorrow I start the dry brine on the freak bird and make the pumpkin pie, Wednesday I make the apple pie... and everything else on Thursday...

ITS GOING TO BE SOOO GOOD!!!

And Derick and I both have off work on Friday! BOOYAH! Now all we need is a fire place to cuddle in front of and sleep off our food coma!

New Zealand Trip Day 3: Bungy Jump

2010-11-21T18:37:00.000-08:00

Bright and early the next morning Derick and I walked downtown to the bungy jump headquarters. I did was doing my jump on the Nevis Bungy... which is a 134 meter 8.5 second free fall... that is over 400 feet. They bussed us up to this canyon where the jump was located... I WAS FREAKING OUT!!!

Here is where the magic happens... they take you out to the platform in the middle of the canyon that you jump off of...

This is out on the platform looking down... Still freaking out!

In the chair getting the bungy strapped to my harness and legs... SUPER FREAKING OUT! I was really afraid that when it came down to it I wouldn't jump and just be a big pansy!

I told the dude... just tell me when I get to the edge of the ledge cause I don't want to look down... but he just kept saying... scoot forward... keep going... keep going... AND THEN I LOOKED... oh my gosh I almost died... getting all the way out on the ledge was the hardest part!

And then everyone counted down 3, 2, 1, JUMP and I just jumped... I didn't even have to think about it... jumping was the easiest part... but I really wanted to look epic doing it so I made sure I did it right...

With a super awesome swan dive!

And I just fell like that... parallel to the ground... almost the whole way down... felt like I was flying! I had so much fun while falling... except that I couldn't breathe!

It was a long way down!

After we got back from Bungy Jumping we met the Wentzels ate super delish burgers at Ferdburger... and drove to the "Gateway to the Fiordlands" Te Anau. We stayed at a cabin out of town called Glacial Rock. Our kitchen was stocked with fresh Milk from their dairy cow and eggs from their free range chickens! AMAZING! and the views!!! This is me on the back porch of our cabin!

Right out our back door...

After we settled into our cabin we explored the town a little bit... watched a film called "Ata Whenua: Shadow Land" at the tiny local movie theater: Fiordland Cinema. It was a gorgeous short film of Fiordlands World Heritage Wilderness that few get to see set to music. It was "filmed across extremes of season, climate & terrain" so we got a really good idea of what this amazing place was like all year around in places normally unreachable by humans! To see the trailer click here!

After the movie we went back to the cabin and cooked a delicious dinner of venison, lamb & beef local from the butcher in town, and fresh vegetables from the market! AMAZING!

New Zealand Trip Day 2- Queenstown Gondola & Luge

2010-11-20T19:56:00.000-08:00

So the next day we flew from Tokyo into Auckland, and then took a domestic hop down to Queenstown... our plan was to start at the bottom of the country and drive all the way back up to the top! So we picked up our rental car and made our way to our first Hotel. We stayed at the Rydges Hotel & Resort, the same hotel that the Lord of the Rings Crew stayed at while in the area. The hotel was situated on the shores of Lake Wakapitu with maybe a 7 min walk to the town center. We got upgraded to lakefront rooms when we arrived so we had a sweet view of the lake and the town.

View from our room during the day!

View at night!

Right after we got into town we headed up to the Skyline Gondola on Bob's Peak. The views were amazing! This is looking down on Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables Mountain Range.

From the top of the gondola we headed to the luge track. We had to take another smaller lift to the top of the luge and then of course luge back down... we went twice... since I heard once was never enough...

This is looking at the luge track, there is a beginner and advanced course... everyone had to do the beginner first, I was a little disappointed looking at the track cause it looked so easy... but is ended up being SO fun, you go SO fast, I almost died a couple times... Derick and James had alot of fun racing!

After the Luging and Gondola, we walked around town and ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant, we then were off to bed tired from traveling all day and I had to get my rest before

BUNGY JUMPING the next day!

New Zealand Trip Day 1- Tokyo

2010-11-19T21:20:00.000-08:00

We were flying out of Tokyo for our trip to New Zealand but Derick had some stuff to take care of in Tokyo so we ended up going down a day early and had some extra time to hang out! We stayed at the New Sanno Hotel a hotel for military members that offers super good rates in the heart of the city. While we were there we went to the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, a garden that was created as an imperial garden in 1906!

Not only was the garden beautiful they were also have thier annual fall chrysanthemum exhibition... what they can do with these chrysanthemums is crazy!

Ozukuri (thousand bloom) Bed

They create this massive dome shaped chrysanthemum plant by a unique technique of pinching and training. You can tell how but these are cause that is Derick standing by the plant in the background.

Kengai (cascade) Bed

This is a training technique where they try to make small flowered chrysanthemums to look like wild chrysanthemums flowering on a cliff.

Ichimonji (imperial crest) and Kudamono-giku (spider) Bed

These things were as big as my face... and super perfect.

Ogiku (large-flowered) Bed

These were definitely as big as my face... look at one compared to this old Japanese man taking a picture with his phone!

fall... sigh...

2010-10-31T16:34:00.000-07:00

I love fall, so does Derick. We did not want to miss all the fall leaves since we are leaving TODAY for New Zealand, so yesterday we went out with our friends the Nation's to see the leaves in Oirase Gorge... it was SO worth it!

Kuji Sea Cliffs

2010-10-25T05:46:00.000-07:00

My friend Kate took me rock climbing at the Kuji Sea Cliffs. I did my first lead climb.

"Lead climbing is a climbing technique used to ascend a route. Lead climbing is an advanced aspect of rock climbing and is not often practiced by novice climbers, and involves a lead climber attaching themselves to a length of dynamic (elastic) climbing r ope and ascending a route whilst periodically attaching protection to the face of the route and "clipping in" to it. The lead climber must have another person acting as a belayer. The belayer has multiple roles: holding the rope in the event of a fall, and paying out or taking up rope as the climber moves."

The scarry part about lead climbing is you have to climb above the spot that you are clipped into until you reach the next clip. On this climb there were spots where the clips were maybe 10 feet apart, so if you fall 10 feet above the last clip you really end up falling 20 feet before your belayer can catch you! Dont worry Mom, Kate let me wear her helmet!

Here is Chris doing the same rout I did as a lead climb.

It is rated an 8... or 5.8... I dont know.

I think the coolest part about this area is that the ocean is crashing in on the cliffs as you are climbing...

it was so epic feeling!

Here I am climbing a 10a... but I am top roping it, which means the rope connected through an anchor at the top, so I cant really fall... hopefully a couple more times top roping this route and I will be able to lead climb it!

Beachy Beach

2010-10-24T04:54:00.000-07:00

Some pictures of one of our many family excursions to the beach... well, we left Sabastian at home... but he hates water anyways!

I am going to be so sad when we don't live by the ocean anymore, especially a freaking awesome ocean with great surf, great sand, and NO PEOPLE!

I have a new found love of feathers... Someone told me once they were full of nasty bird bacteria... so I was always scared to touch them... but I have changed my mind and I always come home with at least one!

Kona loves her beach time! Her life is SO hard!

I love our beach time too... my life is SO hard!

Derick... well... his life is SUPER hard!

Look at Kona's face! She loves to play fetch... especially when water is involved!

The waves don't even phase her!

I love how in this picture Derick is looking at Kona and Kona is looking at Derick!

Korean Bar

2010-10-21T17:17:00.000-07:00

We just had the "Far East Bazaar" here at Misawa (where vendors from all over the world come and try to get us to buy their crap)... this is HUGE event that alot of my friends worked A LONG time on to make happen! I however only donated 48 muffins so I could go to the pre-sale... Anyways when we first got here we saw these bars that are pretty cool, they are on wheels so you can roll them to where ever you are needing some drinks and keeps everything in one convenient location! So we decided we wanted one before we leave, and since we are not sure anymore when we are leaving we decided better safe then sorry and went ahead and got one. Most were super ornately carved and had lots of detail... not my thing, this was the only one that was simple plain and fantastic!

AND here it is... this is why I had to get the mirror on the wall... So I could fit our bar where it had been leaning... but now I don't know where the christmas tree is going...
I'll figure that out when the time comes!

This is what it looks like all opened up... we obviously need more wine... The doors open all the way and the top folds over on top to make a large bar/ serving area!

The red wine glasses in the center are on a panel that rotates so that would normally just be a wooden panel unless you rotated it to get a glass.

Ocean Rage!

2010-10-08T16:50:00.000-07:00

We went camping on a Friday night with our friends the Nations with the hopes to surf the next morning. It was a gorgeous night but the next day was gray, rainy, the the ocean was bigger then I have ever seen it before... and not in a good way... it was just solid whitewater. So we thought... lets try again Sunday. These pictures are from Sunday... the ocean was still just as big. We later found out there was a typhoon!

New Living room Feng Shui

2010-10-04T03:49:00.000-07:00

I have always loved the idea of Feng Shui... although I probably have a simplified understanding of the concept I still enjoy it...

Feng shui is an ancient Chinese system of aesthetics believed to use the laws of both Heaven (astronomy) and Earth (geography) to help one improve life by receiving positive qi.

Anyways sometimes I find myself needing to change everything, or at least some things... I arrange my furnature and painting and photos how I think they look best and enjoy them like that until one day I just think "THIS IS SO WRONG" and I know exactly what to do to fix it... Maybe its good that I have to move every three years and get to change EVERYTHING! I think if i lived in the same house for 20 years I would end up repainting and changing everything about every three years anyway.

BUT the whole point is I changed my living room... I realize now... looking for old photos of my living room, you guys never really saw it... so I will tell you what changed... cause it looks WAY better!

I hung up my Thailand Paintings, hung up my shelf I made out of a piece of a shipwreck, moved some glass bottles onto it, hung up my mirror on the right and moved the splatter paintings from the right wall to the left wall... I think they look better against the red!

I found this piece of wood at shipwreck beach, I think it used to be part of one of the shipwrecks... I sanded it down, dug out all the rotten parts, and mounted it on these brackets I found at Homac... Those bottles are all bottles I found on beaches here in Japan and I want to put some sand in the clear ones... probably some black sand from the beach right by us.

On this wall is where the splatter paintings used to be and the mirror was leaning on the wall by the door to the kitchen... I finally got the balls to try to hang this thing... it is so heavy and we don't have wooden studs.. we have metal ones... SO our friends the Nations were over while I was contemplating what to do, he saw me measuring and marking and measuring and thinking, and asked what I was doing... he eventually told me about butterfly screws where you put he scew in the wall then it expands behind the wall so you can mount heavy things on the wall without studs... SCORE... so another two trips (I got the wrong ones the first time) to Homac later... the mirror is hung.

Where the splatter painting are now is where our diplomas used to be. Our diplomas are now above the computer... that door is where the mirror used to sit on the floor. We want to buy a bar (they look kinda like THIS) at the Bazaar and we want to put it behind the couch, so good thing the mirror is gone!

There is a giant blank spot on the wall cause that is where our clock was supposed to go but I hung it before I hung a couple other things and when I was hammering it fell off and shattered everywhere... it had a glass face... I think I still have glass embedded in my foot... my bad.

Beef & Garlic Festival

2010-10-03T04:48:00.000-07:00

Pulling up to the Beef & Garlic Festival there were all these scarecrow looking guys with garlic faces... this one had a garlic face painted like a cow that is licking its face... so weird..

Inside the main grilling building... it was pretty smokey. They were also grilling half a cow on a rotisserie thing in here... it was huge!

Since it was so smokey we grilled outside! It was such an awesome fall day, cool, cloudy, and super fun!

LOOK AT HOW BIG THOSE GARLICS ARE! One of those giant weaves of huge garlic is 9,000 yen... or about $110!!!!

Masks from a vendor at the festival

To see the rest of the photos click HERE

Thailand Paintings... Finally

2010-09-30T17:21:00.000-07:00

So while we were in Thailand we bought these awesome elephant paintings... but to get them home we had to take them off their frame supports and roll the canvas up and put it in a shipping tube in Dericks suitcase... well the lady at the gallery took them off off packaged them up and we put them in Dericks suitcase...

And as of yesterday there were still in the tube... BUT now that Derick is home and have been revitalized to do projects... I have like 5 going on right now... I am sure they are driving him crazy (he hates disarray) but he doesn't say anything cause he know how much I love to projectsize all over the house!

So I went to "HomeEc"the Lowes of Japan and bought wood... I then took it to the wood shop since I have no saw (except a hand saw and hell no to cutting 45 degree angles with that) and told the dude what I needed and two hours and $10 later I had all my wood cut.

This is me assembling the frames... Derick was asleep on the couch so I had to use my feet to hold the stuff in place, it probably worked out better this way anyway... cause I got to do everything how I wanted with out his "help" ; )

I just built a frame like you see here using those little middle metel peices to support it before I screwed the wood together for real support, then I added support beam across each corner and strung and wire in the middle and stretched the canvas across....

NOW THEY ARE ON MY WALL!

FINALLY!

Air Force Ball 2010

2010-09-25T20:59:00.000-07:00

Derick and I at the ball... he always looks so good in his mess dress, and it reminds me of when we got married!

Special thanks to Haley for the fantastic dress! It was perfect!

I had "plumage" in my hair... i walked out after I did my hair and Derick was like "really... more feathers?"

DUH! I love feathers!

Here I am with some of girls from our squadron, they are all fantastic!

Our place cards... "Oar" Gee... so classy

Derick in his new party shirt he had made in Korea...

M I Z... Z O U

Everyone from our squadron that was there. WOOD!

Underwater Hokkaido Pictures

2010-09-23T17:28:00.000-07:00

These are photos I nabbed from my freind Kelly who has an underater camera... they are all from Hokkaido.

This first group is from Shiritoko National Park, there is a "hot waterfall" where all the geothermal activity heats up water and it come up out of the ground and forms this waterfall... it was fun, although we couldn't hike as far up the waterfall as we wanted due to falling rocks.

and we were the only people lounging in the pools of the falls... everyone was looking at us like we were crazy.. it was awesome

These photos are also from Shiritoko but from the very northern point you can drive to... we got out even though it was rainy and explored.. it was really cool

WWHS (whole wheat honey sweetened) Cream Cheese Marble Brownies

2010-09-19T06:15:00.000-07:00

Here is another one of Derick's favorite recipes! He LOVES brownies and has missed them since he went on his diet four years ago... SO being a super awesome wife I adapted this recipe for his birthday last year... and now I am sharing it with you... enjoy... guilt free!

Cream Cheese Marble Brownies
Adapted from "Cookies Brownies & Bars" by Elinor Klivans p.84

for the brownie batter
1/4 cup butter at room temperature
4 oz. chocolate semi sweet chocolate mini chips
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cut honey
1 tsp vanilla extract

for the cream cheese filling
6 oz cream cheese at room temperature
1/4 cup honey
1 large egg
1tsp vanilla extract

1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325. Press a piece of aluminum foil onto the bottom and over the sides of a 9x9x2 inch baking pan. Butter the foil.

2. To make brownie batter, in a metal bowl (I used glass) that fits the on the rim of a saucepan, combine butter and chocolate. Place the bowl on the saucepan over, but not touching, barely simmering water. Heat, stirring often, until the chocolate is melted and smooth, 3-4 minutes. Gently lift out the bowl and set aside to cool slightly. In a small bowl sift together the flour and baking soda; set aside. In a large bowl combine the eggs and honey and whisk to blend, about 1 minute. Add the slightly cooled chocolate mixture and the vanilla and whisk until the mixture is evenly colored. Whisk in the flour mixture until just incorporated.

3. To make the cream cheese filling, in a bowl, stir together the cream cheese, honey, egg, and vanilla until smooth.

4. Pour two thirds of the batter into the prepared pan. Spoon the filling over the batter, Pour the remaining batter over the filling and, starting in 1 corner swirl a spoon through the batter and filling creating a marble pattern. Repeat starting from another corner.

5. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes our with moist crumbs attached, 35-40 minutes (mine took 50 minutes). Transfer to a wire rack and let cool until the top is room temperature, about 1 hour. Holding the ends of the foil, lift the cooled brownie onto a cutting surface. Using a warmed knife to cute the brownie into 25 squares. Store the brownie in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Surfing

2010-09-18T05:10:00.001-07:00

I LOVE SURFING!

I love feeling the pull and swell of the waves... the rush of them crashing beneath you and the feeling of flying over the water when you catch one! I love the feeling of your arms being SO tired from paddling you can barely move them but you want to catch just one more... always just one more! I love fighting to get into my wet suit and then peeling it off when I am done like a banana! I love sitting and waiting for the perfect swell, and I love when I see my shadow on the bottom of the ocean and it freaks me out cause I think its a shark! IT IS AWESOME! I have done quite a bit of surfing this summer with my friend Kelly! She is fantastic and loves adventure just like me. AND she just got an underwater camera! here are some photos from one of our surfing adventures...

Here I am waiting for a swell... I look pretty serious

We went out after I got off work and the sky was gorgeous!

Catching a wave!

Kelly dug herself a hole and I am making a sand angel! What could be better?

and it finally got too dark to do too much more surfing

and we finished off the day with the perfect post surfing meal... SUSHI!

Whole Wheat Honey Sweetened Banana Bread

2010-09-08T04:37:00.000-07:00

This is one of Derick favorite things I make... he has many favorites... but I think this one is pretty high up there... on his diet he eats only 100% whole wheat and no processed sugar... so I adapt my favorite recipes with whole wheat flour and raw honey. They usually turn out delicious! When cooking with whole wheat I often find my recipes turn out dryer and more crumbly... but throw in honey... and they are moist and tasty! Whole wheat and Honey are the perfect marriage of ingredients.

This bread is more hearty and filling then its bleached flour cousin... also if you are not used to eating whole wheat it might taste a little denser and have a stronger wheat flavor. Derick and I both prefer whole wheat now that we have made the transition... I think it tastes more real... like I could be in the Little House on the Prairie and eat this bread...

Anywho... the inspiration: These beautifully ripe bananas I found at the Commissary for a buck!

Secret Ingredient (besides whole wheat flour and honey): Fresh Ground Nutmeg. I love nutmeg and this fresh ground nutmeg I found at an international foods store here in Japan is AMAZING!

Whole Wheat Honey Sweetend Banana Bread

(Adapted from Better Homes & Garden "The New Cookbook")

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 eggs, beaten

1 1/5 cups mashed ripe banana (5 medium)

3/4 cup honey

1/4 cup melted butter

1/4 chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven 325. Grease 1 inch up sided of loaf pan and line bottom with parchment paper. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl combine flour, baking power, baking soda, salt cinnamon, and nutmeg. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture; set aside.

3. In a medium bowl combine eggs, banana, sugar and butter. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy). Fold in nuts.

4. Bake for 45-55 min. or until a wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean (if necessary cover wit foil the last 15 minutes of baking to prevent over browning).

5. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 min. Remove from pan. Cool completely. Wrap; store overnight before slicing.

Tanbo Art

2010-09-06T00:40:00.001-07:00

In 1993, the people of Inakadate, Aomori were looking for a way to revitalize their village. Archaeological exploration led to a realization that rice had been grown in the area for more than 2000 years. To honor this history, the villagers started a rice field behind the town hall. With the paddy as a canvas, the villagers cultivated and used four different types of heirloom and modern strains of rice to create a giant picture in the field. To allow viewing of the whole picture, a mock castle tower 22 meters high was erected at the village office. In 2006, more than 200,000 people visited the village to see the art. ~ Wikipedia

For the whole days adventures...

which include a Buddhist Temple and a drive up death road click HERE

Here is the view from the City Hall Tower... it covers multiple rice patties and is AWESOME

View of the tower from the ground

Close up of the rice

Directions to Inakadate from Misawa:

so it is right before Hirosaki, we got there by going to Lake Towada and then following 102. So just go out the POL gate straight (there is a small y when entering Towada stay left) until you get to a do not enter sign in Towada... turn left over a bridge. Follow the street signs for 102... it will be a right turn. When you get to the lake turn right to keep following 102. About 5km outside of Hirosaki is the town of Inakadate... its going to be on the right side of the road and look for a really tall black and white pagoda building... you cant see the paddies from the main road but there are flags and lots of cars! And its free but they take donations!

if you google map Inakadate Japan you can see the location on a map!

I hope this helps!

Misawa Costume Festival

2010-09-05T16:54:00.000-07:00

I dont even know if there are words...

I will let the photos speak for themselves... Here are a few...

for the whole album click HERE

Super cute little Kids playing instruments

Super cute little kids dressed up as astronauts doing a space dance!

Men dressed as women holding hands.... wait WHAT?

Sumo wrestlers.... for the other view click on the link above ; ) YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO!

4 Michael Jacksons doing thriller along with a man with gorilla hands and Nipple star Rocky!

Beach Love

2010-08-28T07:09:00.001-07:00

I love Japan and I love the beach! I am going to be so sad if the next place we move doesn't have a beach... Well I am sure I will be fine... but I will miss it. Here are some photos from my latest adventure...

That is a lie... my latest adventure I took three dogs and decided to leave the camera... and I found a SHARK FACE! I want to go back and see if it is still there to take a picture... it was super gross and stinky and it still had one fin... gross... and it was oozing green!

Antlers

2010-08-24T02:22:00.001-07:00

So I heard that antlers are great for dogs to chew on... especially dogs that inhale rawhides... so while I was in Colorado I was on the lookout for some.... I found this antler at an antique shop for $10 score... and I knew Kona would love it!

I am such a great Mom!

PHOTO UPDATE!

2010-08-22T23:35:00.001-07:00

K... I am going to bring you all up to speed real fast... get ready for PHOTO OVERLOAD!

I am going to start with the oldest and move forward...

(just click on the title of the album and it will send you to a page with all the photos on it... then if you want to see individual photos larger just click that photo)

Destination: San Francisco

Well work sent me TDY (aka free vacation with stipulation of going to a conference) to CYFAR (child, youth & family at risk) conference to San Francisco... this is my journey to San Francisco and no sooner had my plane landed (at 7 am) and I dropped my bags off at the Hotel I hopped on the public bus and rode all the way to the Marin Headlands and went Hiking! It was awesome! AND then after the headlands I walked to Sausalito and looked at all the galleries and shops and took a ferry back to San Francisco!

The Grand City of San Francisco

all over the fanstastically interesting town of San Francisco... sorry the album is so big... but they were all so interesting!

Across "The Gate" and back

walking across the Golden Gate Bridge and back, who would have thought a bridge would be so much fun?!?

Nanohana Festival

Nanohana or "Rape Blossoms" are grown and harvested for their seed which contain Rapeseed oil most famously used in Canola oil. But here in Japan they are CELEBRATED! So we decided to check out the Nanohana festival about an hour and a half from Misawa.

Surf, Sand, and a Mutsu Monster

just another day at the beach!

Tsutsuji Matsuri (Azalea Festival)

Thanks to our great friend Beth we has SUPER directions to this great festival celebrating the ancient mountain azaleas at this shrine in Shichinohe!

Shipwrecks and Cherry Blossoms

just having fun exploring shipwreck beach with my family and pictures of our awesome cherry blossoms! I love Japan

Shimokita- Part 1

We drove up the east side of Japan up to "the hatchet" we visited the wild horses at Cape Shira and camped in the Yagen Valley. The next day we spent time at Oserezan the mythical entrance to hell and took naps in our hammocks... it was AWESOME!

Shimokita-Part 2

we found paradise in northern Japan... it was awesome

Spring Hakkoda Day Hike

Well I just had to take my family on a hike in the Hakkoda's we rode the ropeway to the top, summited two peaks and made our way back down to Sukayu Onsen and had a soak... it was fantastic... and we had surprisingly great weather... which... equals AMAZING views!

Leafy Green Goodness

Day hike with the family!

Used & Modern

Took my mom and sister to the Used Kimono shop and Modern Art Museum in Towada

Like the Sea After a Storm

Left on a gorgeous sunny day in Misawa arrived to a super foggy beach at Shirihama... no worries we had fun anyways and then next time we returned with wetsuits!

Goin out WEST!

My mother, sister & I went on a 1 day road trip all the way to the Western coast of Japan by the Sea of Japan and up the peninsula up north on the western side... very cool!

4th of July weekend AWESOMENESS!

Well it was Dericks last weekend before he deployed... the 4th of July... and cherry season... so we picked cherrys... the fireworks got rained out so we had our own on the beach... real fireworks the next day... and a trip up north to the "wild horses" and oserazen... overall successful weekend!

The Farm

Caitlyn and I only had a few hours to spend together... and what better way then the farm? Let me tell you now... there is no better way on earth!

Beccas Wedding Weekend

Well Becca got married and it was Magical! I dont have many pictures of becca... she was very much in demand or of the ceremony since I was the maid of honor... I can't wait to see the real pictures but here is a sneak peak!

Colorado-ish

I stopped by Dericks Mom's house in Kansas on my way to Colorado... had a great night there, then a couple awesome days in boulder with Malinda and then a great week in the mountains... unfortunately my camera died after the first couple of days (I forgot the charger in Japan)

WE PLAY IN TEAM! ocean edition

basically i love living 5 k from the ocean... and i love kellys new underwater camera!

So as you can see... I havent been posting because I havent been doing anything... I havent been posting cause I have been so freaking busy!

ITS BEEN SO LONG!

2010-08-12T13:23:00.001-07:00

I know it has been so long... life gets crazy... shattered legs... family visiting... trips to the states... marriages... phew... so now I am catching my breath! Dont get me wrong, I love it... well maybe not shattered legs... but I love being busy, but sometimes blogs fall by the wayside : (

SO an update... We got a new desktop computer that makes uploading pictures to facebook WAY faster then before so thats why I have been keeping up there... but dont worry all you facebook haters I am going to post links for all my old albums (too many to go to make up posts for) onto the blog... so you just have to click and you can see all the pictures!

AND... we are busily planning our next BIG adventure... NEW ZEALAND! We are SOOOOO excited!

We are still not pregnent... for all you crazys out there that want that to be true!

We have two years left in Japan... we leave May 2012... tentatively

We would still love visitors!

Oh yeah and my Mom and Dad are coming out in February to go to the Ice Festival and Skiing!

So thats about all... I will get those pictures up soon... I promise!

Love you!

Lisa

Beach Bonfire

2010-06-20T20:05:00.000-07:00

So when I heard we were going to a beach bonfire I was excited... and not just because it was a bonfire on a beach!!!! which is awesome all on its own... but I had been wanting to take nighttime photos of a fire... to practice my long exposures... I brought by tri-pod and this is what I came out with...

I think this one turned out really cool especially with the sparks and that pink streak in the sky

The couch we put in the fire... before we put it in the fire

The couch in the fire... you can the back and the armrestSparks from the fire!