Yikes!! It's been a long time since I posted a blog! I promise to post more often! Let's get to it...
Monday last week, I met Miwa to go to the Nail Expo in Tokyo. We decided to meet on the platform in Azamino station, which is on the line we were taking to Tokyo. I got there about 15 minutes early, so I sat down and read my book while I waited for Miwa. Periodically I would look up and scan the crowd for her, and then not seeing her, would go back to reading my book. After about 15 minutes, a train pulled up and I heard "Stacy Stacy Stacy! This train! This train!" -- it was Miwa. :) I had to jump out of my seat and run for the door, and I just barely made it because the doors closed onto me, it was pretty funny! We rode the train past Shibuya to, I think, Otemachi (is that right, Miwa?). We then took another train, that was more like a monerail, to some man-made islands in Tokyo.
The train ride was really cool because it takes you through this virtually empty land right in the heart of Tokyo, so you can see the skyscrapers and buildings all around, as far as the eye can see!
The Expo center is located on one of these man-made islands and is enormous! There were tons of younger ladies there, all dressed in high heels and tons of makeup with long, fancy nails. The inside of the expo smelled like nail polish remover and acrylic -- how delicious, so we thought we would get lunch :) The food was less than mediocre, and we decided our best bet would be a couple of hot dogs. I squirted the standard ketchup and mustard on mine, but I didn't know the mustard was light-your-rear-end-on-fire-hot mustard, this does not taste that great on a hot dog... After lunch, we walked around for a bit, made a few purchases (face shimmer for both of us, and nail polish for me), and left. I told Miwa I needed to find an ATM as our cash supply was in dire need of replenishment, so we spent the rest of the day trying to find a Citibank ATM, after the ATM machines in the Expo center (including the post office one) would not take my card. After we finally tracked one down and I took out money, we were exhausted and, at that point, were late meeting up with Marion in Omotesando for shopping and tea. I called Marion and we arranged to meet in Azamino for coffee instead. The first few days last week I felt like I was coming down with a cold, and on the train ride to Azamino, I was feeling increasingly tired, so instead of meeting up with Marion, I went straight home and Miwa went on to meet her for coffee.
Tuesday I just laid low and rested, trying to fight off the cold.
Wednesday, I was feeling better, so I went to teach HK5. This week was Yuri's last week -- she is moving to Boston on the 30th for two to three years. She asked me if it was possible to find breadcrumbs, so I explained to her the container (you know, blue cylinder with a piece of chicken on the front) and I gave her my email address in case she has anymore questions like that. There were three other ladies in class this week, and we all talked about our week and what we had done. They also told me about a famous horse in Japan, called Deep Impact, which they apparently shipped to France to race in a big horse race there, but he came in 3rd -- I wonder if he will become dinner now? (more on that later...) We ate lunch at our usual bagel place, and I shopped around the mall for a bit afterwards. I found Nick a Christmas present, and went home.
Thursday was Thanksgiving!! While I was out shopping for food on Tuesday, I found a little poinsettia to get me in the holiday spirit! I started cooking around 3pm. I was not able to find turkey, but I was able to find a small chicken, which I thought would be small enough to fit in my shoebox-sized oven, but I was wrong, it was still too big.
So, as my mom suggested, I boiled it instead. While the chicken was boiling, I prepared and cooked the pumpkin pies (mini pies, so they could fit in my oven -- crusts made from scratch, pumpkin from a can). Next, I peeled the sweet potatoes and put them on to boil (the whole time wondering if they were actually sweet potatoes -- they didn't look normal). After the chicken was done boiling, I took it out and put it in a bowl of cold water to cool it off enough to pick the meat from it. I then peeled the potatoes and put those on to boil. Next, I prepared the stuffing (from scratch), and took the pies out and put the stuffing in. When the sweet potatoes were done, I mashed them, added some butter, sugar, and cinnamon, and spread them into a pan, then covered them with marshmallows. When the stuffing was done, I took that out and put the sweet potatoes in. Then, I picked the chicken, and about halfway through that, Nick called to say he was on his way home. After the chicken was nearly picked, I made the gravy (also from scratch), and heated up green beans and corn. When the sweet potatoes were done baking, I took them out and put the chicken in a pan to heat it a little before Nick got home. For the finishing touches, I opened a can of cranberry sauce and put out rolls, water, and a bottle of wine. This process took 4 and a half hours. We sat down to eat around 7:45p. It was a glorious feast, and the sweet potatoes tasted fine, even though they were green!
Friday, I recovered from my half-day cooking marathon. After dinner, we went to Outback for some drinks.
Saturday, we had our first Japanese lesson, which was great! We really like our teacher, and we have been studying really hard since then. Japanese is much harder than Spanish was to learn, but I think we will pick it up in no time! After our lesson, we met up with Nick's co-worker, Mahesh, and went scooter shopping. We found one for a really good deal, but Nick wanted to check with his boss before buying it, so we do not have it yet. After a quick stop off at Cafe du Monde, we returned home for an hour before heading out to Shibuya to pick up our laptop.
Shibuya was, as it always is on a Saturday night, ridiculously crowded. We fought the crowd to the Mac store, picked up the laptop, and took the train to Center Kita, where we met up with Ken and some of the students after their movie night (they were watching "Miracle on 34th Street"). After meeting up with them at HKE, we walked to a Japanese-style restaurant (where you must take your shoes off to sit at the table). Ken and the students ordered Nick, Ben, Marion, and I all kinds of interesting food, as well as reading items off the menu that were disgusting, just to see our reaction (this included, chicken testicles, horsemeat, fish prostate, etc.)
We had two tables in the restaurant, and after a bit, Ben made friends with the next table, who were dining on Turtle risotto. They offered us some, and Nick tried it, but didn't like it.
Nick and Ken
After a few drinks, someone decided to order up some chicken testicles. Nick and I were feeling brave at that point and tried some. They were crunchy, and not in a good fried kind of way. I refused to spit mine out though, and we both swallowed them. That is something I will not be trying again! We were having a fantastic time, and didn't want to leave, but at 11pm, we had to leave to catch the last trains back to Zama.
Sunday, we slept in late and stayed in all day -- I worked out, and that's about it.
Yesterday, I worked out, hung around the apartment, and went grocery shopping (very exciting, I know).
Today, it is raining, and I have no plans to leave the apartment today either. It is pretty miserable to try to travel around by bus and train when it is raining, so I will just get some things done around the apartment today. Tomorrow I have HK5 and our Japanese lesson! Nick is excited because one of his friends from his work in Michigan is coming this weekend for two weeks. I think he will be happy to see a familiar face!
Monday last week, I met Miwa to go to the Nail Expo in Tokyo. We decided to meet on the platform in Azamino station, which is on the line we were taking to Tokyo. I got there about 15 minutes early, so I sat down and read my book while I waited for Miwa. Periodically I would look up and scan the crowd for her, and then not seeing her, would go back to reading my book. After about 15 minutes, a train pulled up and I heard "Stacy Stacy Stacy! This train! This train!" -- it was Miwa. :) I had to jump out of my seat and run for the door, and I just barely made it because the doors closed onto me, it was pretty funny! We rode the train past Shibuya to, I think, Otemachi (is that right, Miwa?). We then took another train, that was more like a monerail, to some man-made islands in Tokyo.
The train ride was really cool because it takes you through this virtually empty land right in the heart of Tokyo, so you can see the skyscrapers and buildings all around, as far as the eye can see!
The Expo center is located on one of these man-made islands and is enormous! There were tons of younger ladies there, all dressed in high heels and tons of makeup with long, fancy nails. The inside of the expo smelled like nail polish remover and acrylic -- how delicious, so we thought we would get lunch :) The food was less than mediocre, and we decided our best bet would be a couple of hot dogs. I squirted the standard ketchup and mustard on mine, but I didn't know the mustard was light-your-rear-end-on-fire-hot mustard, this does not taste that great on a hot dog... After lunch, we walked around for a bit, made a few purchases (face shimmer for both of us, and nail polish for me), and left. I told Miwa I needed to find an ATM as our cash supply was in dire need of replenishment, so we spent the rest of the day trying to find a Citibank ATM, after the ATM machines in the Expo center (including the post office one) would not take my card. After we finally tracked one down and I took out money, we were exhausted and, at that point, were late meeting up with Marion in Omotesando for shopping and tea. I called Marion and we arranged to meet in Azamino for coffee instead. The first few days last week I felt like I was coming down with a cold, and on the train ride to Azamino, I was feeling increasingly tired, so instead of meeting up with Marion, I went straight home and Miwa went on to meet her for coffee.Tuesday I just laid low and rested, trying to fight off the cold.
Wednesday, I was feeling better, so I went to teach HK5. This week was Yuri's last week -- she is moving to Boston on the 30th for two to three years. She asked me if it was possible to find breadcrumbs, so I explained to her the container (you know, blue cylinder with a piece of chicken on the front) and I gave her my email address in case she has anymore questions like that. There were three other ladies in class this week, and we all talked about our week and what we had done. They also told me about a famous horse in Japan, called Deep Impact, which they apparently shipped to France to race in a big horse race there, but he came in 3rd -- I wonder if he will become dinner now? (more on that later...) We ate lunch at our usual bagel place, and I shopped around the mall for a bit afterwards. I found Nick a Christmas present, and went home.
Thursday was Thanksgiving!! While I was out shopping for food on Tuesday, I found a little poinsettia to get me in the holiday spirit! I started cooking around 3pm. I was not able to find turkey, but I was able to find a small chicken, which I thought would be small enough to fit in my shoebox-sized oven, but I was wrong, it was still too big.
So, as my mom suggested, I boiled it instead. While the chicken was boiling, I prepared and cooked the pumpkin pies (mini pies, so they could fit in my oven -- crusts made from scratch, pumpkin from a can). Next, I peeled the sweet potatoes and put them on to boil (the whole time wondering if they were actually sweet potatoes -- they didn't look normal). After the chicken was done boiling, I took it out and put it in a bowl of cold water to cool it off enough to pick the meat from it. I then peeled the potatoes and put those on to boil. Next, I prepared the stuffing (from scratch), and took the pies out and put the stuffing in. When the sweet potatoes were done, I mashed them, added some butter, sugar, and cinnamon, and spread them into a pan, then covered them with marshmallows. When the stuffing was done, I took that out and put the sweet potatoes in. Then, I picked the chicken, and about halfway through that, Nick called to say he was on his way home. After the chicken was nearly picked, I made the gravy (also from scratch), and heated up green beans and corn. When the sweet potatoes were done baking, I took them out and put the chicken in a pan to heat it a little before Nick got home. For the finishing touches, I opened a can of cranberry sauce and put out rolls, water, and a bottle of wine. This process took 4 and a half hours. We sat down to eat around 7:45p. It was a glorious feast, and the sweet potatoes tasted fine, even though they were green!
Friday, I recovered from my half-day cooking marathon. After dinner, we went to Outback for some drinks.
Saturday, we had our first Japanese lesson, which was great! We really like our teacher, and we have been studying really hard since then. Japanese is much harder than Spanish was to learn, but I think we will pick it up in no time! After our lesson, we met up with Nick's co-worker, Mahesh, and went scooter shopping. We found one for a really good deal, but Nick wanted to check with his boss before buying it, so we do not have it yet. After a quick stop off at Cafe du Monde, we returned home for an hour before heading out to Shibuya to pick up our laptop.
Shibuya was, as it always is on a Saturday night, ridiculously crowded. We fought the crowd to the Mac store, picked up the laptop, and took the train to Center Kita, where we met up with Ken and some of the students after their movie night (they were watching "Miracle on 34th Street"). After meeting up with them at HKE, we walked to a Japanese-style restaurant (where you must take your shoes off to sit at the table). Ken and the students ordered Nick, Ben, Marion, and I all kinds of interesting food, as well as reading items off the menu that were disgusting, just to see our reaction (this included, chicken testicles, horsemeat, fish prostate, etc.) 
We had two tables in the restaurant, and after a bit, Ben made friends with the next table, who were dining on Turtle risotto. They offered us some, and Nick tried it, but didn't like it.
Nick and Ken
After a few drinks, someone decided to order up some chicken testicles. Nick and I were feeling brave at that point and tried some. They were crunchy, and not in a good fried kind of way. I refused to spit mine out though, and we both swallowed them. That is something I will not be trying again! We were having a fantastic time, and didn't want to leave, but at 11pm, we had to leave to catch the last trains back to Zama.
Sunday, we slept in late and stayed in all day -- I worked out, and that's about it.
Yesterday, I worked out, hung around the apartment, and went grocery shopping (very exciting, I know).
Today, it is raining, and I have no plans to leave the apartment today either. It is pretty miserable to try to travel around by bus and train when it is raining, so I will just get some things done around the apartment today. Tomorrow I have HK5 and our Japanese lesson! Nick is excited because one of his friends from his work in Michigan is coming this weekend for two weeks. I think he will be happy to see a familiar face!
posted by Stacy Bee at 8:56 AM
7 Comments:
Good looking dinner!
Thank you for the compliment on the earlier Blog posting, Miwi!
What does Kawaii mean? Obviously not Hawaii spelled wrong! ;)
That was a very long blog - must have been difficult to remember such detail!
Kawaii means "cute" or "sweet" in Japanese - the schoolgirls say it about EVERYTHING -- "Kawaii heeheehee".
It is hard to remember the details, that's why I need to update more often :)
why do Japanese girls laugh after they talk?
who did all the dishes from all the cooking? not men's work ( at least at nana's house)
To get to the Nail Expo, we changed to another train at Nagatacho, where the Capitol("Capitol" is my new English word. Stacy taught me the word on the train. Thanks,Stacy!:))and the headquarters of all political parties are located, that is the heart of Japanese government.
Dinner sounds great. I admire your cleverness at managing with the small oven. I cooked a turkey dinner Saturday (for the leftovers) in a regular oven and was exhausted by the work. We always spend Thanksgiving with Barney's sister and there are 4 or 5 women sharing the work. I forgot how much there was to do my myself.
Great pictures.
I ate boston market, and di my own dishes.
I did the dishes, but Nick often helps -- not that day though, he was too full!! :)
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