My Apron

Some of you have commented on my apron in my last post. If you are interested in one, let me know and I can point you in the right direction. My friend and former colleague started Scarlet Threads. The apron is made by women in China and the costs of the apron helps them to make fair wages and also goes to help local poverty-fighting efforts in China. They also make purses as well. Check out www.scarletthreads.org.

Monja World Cup

Yesterday my friend from class and I went to a free Monjayaki Cooking Class through our ward office. The area of town we live in, Tsukishima, is known for this food called Monjayaki. It is said that Monjayaki originated as a snack for children. However, Kan was told it also became popular during WWII when food and money was scarce and they needed cheaper meals to eat. It it like a pancake type food and you can put whatever you like in it. It is cooked on a special skillet, like a griddle, and eaten with these tiny little spoons/scrapers. You literally eat it off the skillet and everyone at the same table shares the meal together. Some typical ingredients included in the pancake are cabbage, shrimp or squid, dried fish flakes, seaweed...really whatever you like. From our apartment we can walk to what is called "Monja Street" where you will find tons of restaurants serving this special Tsukishima dish. People come from all over to eat this food in our neighborhood. Pretty fun.

So, I went to a class to learn how to make Monjayaki. It was sponsored by "Bulldog", a company that makes a special sauce served here in Japan. They also make packets where you can prepare Monjayaki right from your home. When the class first started, I thought it was going to be a long day as we had to watch a 15 minute video from our sponsors showing us how Bulldog is made. But once we started cooking, it turned into a lot of fun.

We were divided into groups and each group had a country assigned to it. The first Monjayaki we made was a typical Japanese kind. After cooking, we sampled! Then the "Monja World Cup" began. You were supposed to make Monjayaki specific to your country. I was assigned to the Ghana group. We added chickpeas, couscous, tomatoes and a chili type powder to our Monja to make it Ghana-like. The other countries represented were Italy, China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Mexico, and Australia. After you made your country Monjayaki, you were supposed to go to the different tables and try the different kinds of dishes. At the end, everyone voted on their top two. Obviously I voted for Ghana...how can you not vote for your own group? I also voted for Korea - I liked the spicy Monjayaki. Third place went to Italy, second place went to Japan, and first place went to Mexico. I was a bit surprised. I was not too crazy about the Mexican Monjayaki as I typically do not eat hot avocado, but they took home the grand prize. As we walked out, we received a packet of Bulldog Monjayaki to take home and fix on our own. I think I will try it with our friends who come visit next week as it appears to be much easier to cook it at home than eat it at a small restaurant in front of a very hot table (they cook it at your table in the restaurants) with two toddlers!

Our First Visitor

Today we had our first visitor from the US for a grand total of 2 hours! Our friend from our home church was flying through Tokyo on his way back to the US. He had a 5 hour lay over and took the train in from Narita to hang out with us a bit. We met him at Tokyo station and walked to the Imperial Palace. We thought we would walk around but unfortunately it is closed on Mondays and Fridays. Oh well. We then took a cab to Shibuya. Shibuya is known for the big intersection you see on travel channel shows about Japan with what feels like millions of people crossing in all directions at one time. We enjoyed a Baskin Robbins ice cream cone, walked around a bit, and before you knew it, it was time for our friend to catch the Narita Express back to the airport so he would not miss his flight. I do not think his wife at home with three children would be very happy with us if he had missed his flight! It was fun to see a familiar face, even if only for two hours.

We had a pretty scary adventure in our cab ride from the Imperial Palace to Shibuya. Miyako was getting a bit hot in the car so Kan asked the driver to turn the air up a bit for us. The driver realized we were in a bit of a hurry so he decided to take it upon himself to FLY through the lanes of traffic, cutting a very angry man off in the process. At the stop light, the man our cabbie cut off got out of his car, came to the driver side of the cab, and started yelling at our cab driver. He even reached in the cab and turned the car off. In the six months I have been here, I have never once felt a bit scared or nervous, even in the largest city in the world. Today I was a bit nervous. I thought the man was going to take the cab drivers' keys and we were going to be sitting there in the middle of the road. They yelled at each other (I have never seen Japanese people yell) and then went on their way. Our cab driver was driving way too fast. Kan retrieved his name and plans to make a complaint with the company. Never a dull moment huh? We just wanted to give our friend a different experience. Thankfully Miyako handled it just fine as I held on to her for dear life. I was glad to be in the car with both Kan and our friend, thankful that I was not by myself. It just is so uncharacteristic of Japan so it really caught me by surprise.

We did take some pictures today with our first visitor, but they are on Kan's phone. I forgot my camera. :(

Pasta with Fresh Clams and Pesto

This past Sunday my dear friend from class went "clamming." She asked to borrow a bucket for her adventures. Little did I know she would return the bucket with some fresh clams. I have never cooked clams before but she told me how (via google) and the result was a wonderful dinner. I steamed the clams in a little bit of water and olive oil with garlic for about 10 minutes as the pasta cooked. Once the clams were finished I took them out and added them to the cooked pasta and put some zucchini in the leftover clam broth to cook. I added the cooked zucchini to the pasta with some pesto and there is our dinner! I forgot to take a picture but it was mighty tasty. Miyako even ate one little clam! I sometimes feel like I cook the same things so it was nice to do something a little different...add some spice to our lives.

I thought I would take this time to give a little Miyako update. She is getting so big and starting to talk a bit more...not much, but a little bit. She will open and close her bedroom door and say "hi" and "bye" to you. She knows all animal sounds and loves pointing to the "ruff ruff" (dogs) and "bu" (bus) as we take walks. There are plenty of ruff ruffs and bu to point at here in Tokyo. The other day she went up to her alphabet magnets on the fridge, pointed to the letter "Y" and said "Y." We made a huge step tonight and she actually sat and played in the bath tub. In Japan we have a separate shower area from the deep deep bath tub. Because Miyako has never really sat and played with her toys in the bath, I have been washing her in the shower area and just letting her stand. Tonight I tried putting her in the tub and after about 20 minutes of standing in it while I bathed her, she finally sat down and splashed a bit and played. It was very cute.

The rainy season is upon us here in Tokyo. It seems to rain one day for a long time and then the next day be stifling hot and humid. Can we say "frizz hair" is the new style I am trying to support? I think my hair will be pulled back every day from here until October. So not worth the effort to dry it only for it to frizz by 9AM. Well, a bit of a boring blog, but I was excited about my dinner so I thought I would share. Here is to my friend and her clamming adventures. It was nice to partake in the clams without having to get up at 6AM to actually retrieve them from the ocean!

Imperial Palace/Hibiya Park

Yesterday Kan met a buddy to go running around the Imperial Palace. Miyako and I decided to tag along and walk around the area. I was excited to learn this running path is not too far from us, only four stops by train. Our buddy said it is 3.2 miles around and I thought it would be a great place for an early morning run for myself one day. Unfortunately they were meeting to run as the Imperial Palace was closing, so Miyako and I did not get to go in. I did get some fun shots outside of it. It is beautiful and I look forward to exploring inside at another time and checking out their gardens. I heard it is beautiful. Miyako and I explored the area and heard live reggae music. We followed it and found ourselves in Hibiya park. It felt a little bit like the Japanese version of a Reggae Woodstock, but we did enjoy a snow cone, found some swings, and heard the live music from afar. It was a really cool park with lots of shade which is nice on these hot summer days in Tokyo. I did not realize so many Japanese people were into reggae. The bands sounded like native English speakers, so it was fun to listen from the distance.

Grapes and Rain Boots

So, the following pictures detail two things...one is a picture of grapes. Grapes you ask? Why on earth would you take a picture of grapes? Well, the grapes here are delicious. Better than any other grapes I have tasted. I do not know what it is because they are very small and very expensive. I paid a little over four dollars for these grapes and this was at a discounted price so that is why I bought them. Normally I see them for a little over five dollars. But they taste like candy. Not kidding. So, I love the grapes here in Japan. I wonder if I would feel the same way about a $10 watermelon. Right now, I am not willing to try it.

We are getting ready to enter the rainy season here in Tokyo and I needed some rain boots. Unfortunately my feet are "larger" than the average Japanese woman's...for that matter they are probably larger than the average Japanese man's foot. My feet are not huge people. I wear a size 8.5 US, which is a bit big, but not mammoth size. Anyways, I could not find rain boots here in my size or if I did they just were not cute. I wanted some cute fun rain boots. My mom found these from Target and sent them to me. Very cute! And Miyako thinks so too. She had trouble at first getting into them but when I helped her she was loving the rain boots! So cute. So fun. Enjoy Pebbles in her polka dot rain boots.

My Favorite Things

So, when your hubby is putting in those long Japanese work hours, you need to remind yourself of your "Favorite Things." I decided occasionally to do a "My Favorite Things" post to remind myself of all the blessings in my life. Here are a couple of pictures of "My Favorite Things"...the roses in bloom at Yoyogi Park on Friday afternoon, a sweet little girl in pigtails with her new "ruff ruff" from Ikea, and a walk along the water this morning with a good friend and a great view of our building. Sigh, life is good and our family is truly blessed. I feel better now, but still wish my hubby would get home soon. I know he does too.