Emily Eats Everything

Chicken salad with guacamole and the world's ugliest squash dish

2012-01-11T10:01:00.002+09:00

Well, I managed to screw up Mark Bittman's delicious squash recipe tonight. I'm so mad at myself - I peeled, seeded, and diced a huge local butternut squash during the kid's first nap this morning, so I braised and glazed a big handful in the afternoon for his (early) dinner. Practicing the dinner recipe = guaranteed dinner success, right? Not so much.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. For dinner last night, we turned to Rick Bayless for

Grilled Chicken Salad with Rustic Guacamole, Romaine, and Queso Anejo

For the dressing
1/2 c vegetable oil, plus a little
4 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
Fresh hot green chiles to taste (Bayless recommends 2 serranos or 1 jalepeno, I used a dried chile de arbol because we didn't have fresh)
1/2 c fresh lime juice (or a little less, or fill it out with bottled lemon juice)
3/4 c loosely packed cilantro (Bayless says roughly chopped, I didn't chop it)
1/4 t ground pepper
salt

For the salads
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 medium onion, cut into 1/2 inch slices
2 ripe avocadoes
2 medium romaine hearts, sliced into 1/2 inch ribbons (about 8 cups)
1/3 c grated queso anejo or another garnishing cheese

Heat oil in small skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and chiles; cook, stirring frequently, until garlic is soft and lightly browned (usually 1 to 2 minutes). Pour oil, garlic and chiles into blender jar or food processor. Add lime juice, cilantro, 1 scant teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Process until smooth.

Pour 1/3 of dressing over chicken breasts, spreading it evenly over all sides.

Heat a grill pan or gas grill to medium to medium-high heat (or start a charcoal fire and let it burn until coals are medium hot and covered with white ash). Lightly brush or spray onion slices with oil; sprinkle with salt. Lay chicken and onion on grill pan or grill. Cook until chicken is just cooked through and onion is well browned (3 to 4 minutes on each side). Chop onion into small pieces and scoop into bowl.

Pit and peel avocados, scooping flesh into bowl with onion. Add another 1/3 of dressing, then coarsely mash everything together with old-fashioned potato masher, large fork or back of spoon. Taste and season with salt (usually about ½ teaspoon).

Scoop the sliced romaine into large bowl. Drizzle on remaining 1/3 of dressing and toss to combine. Divide between 4 dinner plates. Scoop a portion of guacamole into center of each plate. Cut each breast into cubes and arrange over guacamole. Sprinkle each plate with garnishing cheese. Serve.

As you can see from my notes in the ingredients section, I didn't make this entirely according to the recipe. In fact, neither Josh nor I felt like dragging out the grill despite the fact that it's been in the 50s, in the Midwest, in January, so we cooked the marinated chicken breasts and the onions under the broiler and it worked beautifully. We didn't add cheese either, since I hadn't thought to buy any over the weekend.

Still, this remains one of our favorite salads. The dressing is flavorful and tart, the chicken stayed moist despite the broiler, and the roasted-onion guacamole adds a richness and sweetness that makes this salad feel like a great main course. Yum.

Now, back to the Braised and Glazed Butternut Squash with Pesto (click for the recipe). This recipe is genius. You simply cook a butternut squash, cut into cubes, in a little simmering stock in a skillet, then turn up the heat, remove the lid, and let the heat and the little bit of oil you used in the beginning turn that sweet squash into crispy, browned, lovely little bites of winter. Adding pesto, I thought, would bring enough complexity to the squash that we wouldn't feel glum having just a vegetable as a main course without much fanfare. The baby's version, sans pesto, was EXCELLENT, and I couldn't wait to show off for my husband.

So I got cocky. "I'll put the baby to bed, dear, just keep an eye on the stove and turn off the heat if the squash is fork-tender." I added too much stock, stayed away too long, and by the time I came downstairs a wet pan of overdone cubes awaited me.

It still tasted great! But imagine adding half a cup of pesto to the skillet I just described. The finished product looked, well, looked like it had already been to the digestion rodeo. Notice there are no pictures again? You'd be angry if I had posted any.

Accompanying dinner tonight was a pan of roasted broccoli and one of roasted zucchini coins, each cooked at 375 with a little olive oil and seasoning until finished. I threw a couple Spanish olives on the plate to bring some salty punch to the squash and Josh and I agreed that it was delicious - but this recipe is coming back, and I'm going to do it right next time.

Pork tenderloin review and a bonus green bean recipe!

2012-01-10T07:24:00.008+09:00

I'm out of the habit of taking pictures while I cook, so you'll have to trust me that last night's Pork Tenderloin a la Mexicana was delicious and beautiful. Rick Bayless has done it again, and you should go buy his book right now. Mean it.

As you can see at the recipe link (or in your new copy of Mexican Everyday that you just bought), the pork tenderloin is cut into one-inch cubes, browned, and then set aside while you build a sauce of roasted poblano pepper strips, canned tomatoes, garlic, broth, and a couple herbs. It's a very simple, quick dish, as are most in this book, and it doesn't taste like much until the pork and the cilantro go in at the end. The meat was tender, the sauce was warm and satisfying, and it was all so lean and healthy that I didn't mind helping myself to seconds.

But even given all that, the real star of last night's meal was the garlicky green beans we had as a side dish. I struggle with green beans sometimes - we like them roasted, but that gets boring and I didn't want to turn on the oven. Spicy in a skillet is good but I really want fresh garlic, and it always burns. Plus my skillets are too small for a couple pounds, which we'll easily eat in a day or two. My solution was to brown thin garlic slices in oil with crushed red pepper flakes, remove all that from the oil and add two(ish) pounds of beans to the hot pot, and then just stir them around over high heat while the rest of dinner cooked.

It was amazing. So here's my first recipe of the revamped blog. Probably not original, but it's

Our New Favorite Green Beans

Cooking oil
2 lbs. trimmed and washed green beans
4 large cloves garlic
sprinkle of crushed red pepper
salt

Heat a wok or pot (like this one) over medium-high. When it's hot, add a big drizzle of cooking oil - not extra virgin olive here because of the high temps. Slice your garlic thinly and add it to the hot oil, along with crushed red pepper to your desired heat. I used about 1/4 tsp. Stir the garlic around constantly until it's pretty uniformly brown, and then remove it with a slotted spoon.

Add the green beans to the still-hot oil, turn the heat to medium, and stir or toss them every few minutes or so while your main dish cooks. Color is good here - the little ones at the bottom of the pot were almost black, and they tasted great. Once everything else is ready, just salt your beans to taste, toss in the garlic chips, and serve. Bon appetit!

This week's meal plan

2012-01-08T07:41:00.004+09:00

In an attempt to stick with meal planning and sensible eating, and to return to blogging, I've decided to publish this week's meal plan and give you updates during the week. Please comment on this format and let me know what you'd like to see!

Following the typical holiday indulgences and a renewed focus on sensible budgeting, Josh and I are eating differently these days. More vegetarian meals are in the plan (to help with weight loss and savings), but simple carbs and processed foods are out. This includes bacon, which is a loss we mourn. Here's the plan for this week:

Sunday: Pork Tenderloin a la Mexicana, from Rick Bayless' "Mexican Everyday." This is my #1 go-to cookbook, and this recipe finds pork tenderloin cut into chunks and sauteed with roasted poblano strips (which I've got in the freezer) and canned tomatoes. Serving with garlicky green beans in the skillet.

Monday: Cilantro chicken salads with guacamole, also from Mexican Everyday. Yum!

Tuesday: Braised and Glazed Butternut Squash with pesto, from Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian." Here's my go-to cookbook for vegetarian inspiration, as well as for condiment recipes. I love his hummus and homemade ketchups, but this recipe will be a new one for us. Cubed squash is browned in a skillet, braised in broth, then glazed in the pan. I'll toss in a half cup of homemade walnut pesto, also from the freezer, during the glazing stage. Serving with roasted zucchini.

Wednesday: Braised Kale with Black Beans and Tomatoes, from food.com. We made this on a whim last week and loved it! Trim, tear, and wash your kale during a quiet daytime moment and keep it in the fridge in a mesh bag, and this recipe is a breeze. Serving over a cauliflower and celeriac puree - that last part is new, but celeriac was on sale at the farmer's market, so why not?

Thursday: Pea and Tofu Curry with parsnips, from Bittman's Vegetarian again. This is a total whim, and I'll use curry paste instead of powder. Wish me luck. One-pot meal, although I'd add rice if we weren't off carbs.

Friday: Crock-pot chili, a recipe I'll likely make up on the spot, with grass-fed beef from the grocery store and home-cooked beans. Yum.

Saturday: Fresh from the farmer's market again, we'll make the usual rosemary-roasted pork shoulder and rosemary-roasted potatoes, with a vegetable to be determined by what's fresh and gorgeous. This pork recipe is a winner if there are grapes at the store, but a lot will depend on what Joe and Maggie feel like eating.

So that's week one! I'll publish some more updates as we go, and please let me know if you start following along!

Heads up!

2011-04-07T12:30:00.005+09:00

I can't believe it. My son is more than two months old now, and everything has changed.Wait, what? Let's try that again.There we go. Look at that! Lincoln has gotten so strong in the past few weeks. He's holding his head up 90 degrees during tummy time now, seeing toys, and babbling like crazy. And one day this week, he did something incredible.
MY BABY CAN ROLL OVER. It was a revelation! It's, like, the first thing he's ever done! He just leads with that big head of his, kicks a leg a bit, and over he goes! Clearly he is gifted.

And speaking of BIG. Lincoln had his two month pediatrician appointment last week, and of course he impressed everyone. He is quite literally off the growth charts, at 100% for weight and height and 95% for head circumference. At first the doc's eyes bugged out a bit, but once he examined him he declared Lincoln to be just perfect. "Keep doing what you're doing," he told me, which was lucky because I don't know what else we could do!

And then came The Shots. As far as I'm concerned there is no question about vaccinating infants and children: herd immunity doesn't protect a kid when their classmate's parents bring mumps back from an overseas vacation, and there is absolutely no evidence that vaccines cause neurological problems other than in extremely rare cases or when a fever gets out of control. So at the end of Lincoln's appointment two nurses came in, asked me to look in his eyes and hold his arms, and at once they each plunged a needle into one of his thighs.

And he SCREAMED. He stared into my eyes, beet red, shocked, and in pain, and screamed like I'd never heard before. My heart broke for him and I understood why the nurses bolted from the room, because I wasn't feeling very friendly toward them at that point. Fortunately it was only a few minutes before Lincoln was calm enough to leave, and he fell asleep in the car on the way home.

The evening was a blur. He was just fine when we got home, playful and happy. He never developed a fever, thank God, but by dinner time he was just distraught. I know now he was overstimulated, exhausted, and in a little pain at the injection sites, but at the time I was sure he was in terrible agony and would never recover. For the first time since the birth, I asked Josh to take care of Lincoln overnight while I slept alone in my room. I just couldn't take it! Even though he was sleeping peacefully long before I went to bed, the emotion of the day was just too much.

The next day, everybody woke up refreshed and recovered. (Lincoln and I at 6, Josh at 10:00. He deserved some extra rest). And since then he's been just awesome, sleeping in his crib now and smiling and cooing more every day. What a crazy ride these first two months have been! Thank goodness there will be more exciting milestones than there will be innoculations.

Generations

2011-03-28T09:38:00.004+09:00

I must be the luckiest person on the planet. Or at least in the Northwest, at the moment - no, the planet. I've got a great husband, an incredible, miraculous baby, financial stability, good food, cute pets, and some of the best friends around. And then there is my family, who are generous, kind, supportive, enthusiastic, and brilliant, almost to a person. And this week we were lucky to have two of them come to town.On the left is my cousin Lizz, my mother's sister's daughter, who was born when I was 12 and was the first girl cousin who lived nearby. Thus I was her biggest fan then, and continue to be now that she's a thoughtful, accomplished young woman. In the middle is my dear Grammy Atwood, my mother's mother, who has been a fixture in my life since before my birth, I'm sure, and who continues to inspire me. They flew out from Maine midweek and it has been a joy having them both.Lincoln has never napped so well! Having a comfy Great-Grammy who'll help soothe him when his inevitable gas cramps take over is a gift beyond measure.

Lizz and Gram brought the blessed sun with them from Maine, it seems, so we tried to get out every day. On Wednesday I drove the lot of us to Fay Bainbridge State Park, which is a family favorite. The afternoon haze kept us from spotting Mt. Ranier, but we enjoyed the cool walk and views of the Cascades.

Lincoln slept peacefully in his Ergo baby carrier, and thank goodness he likes it. I'd be lost without the thing, which supports his weight safely on his legs and distributes it over my hips. Some carriers dangle the baby by his crotch and my shoulders, but this one rocks.
What a delight to walk and talk and enjoy the outdoors with adults whom I love and admire.

The rest of their five days here was taken up with walks downtown, communal naps in the living room, fresh local seafood and lots of priceless quality time among family. Josh took part in the fun and we all delighted in the weather and one another - and last night, the ladies watched the baby while Josh and I stole an hour for dinner out together. What a gift! I cannot wait to introduce him to the rest of the clan.

Seven weeks

2011-03-20T02:19:00.007+09:00

Time goes so quickly! I mean, I am so, so glad to be past those first few weeks when everything was unknown, but I kind of can't believe how big and different Lincoln has become.

I'm not kidding about the big part, either. This little man has gained almost half his birth weight over again! Earlier this week, Lincoln had a little potty incident (read: peed all over his outfit) and the only spare PJs we had downstairs were six month size. Josh decided to go ahead and try them on, even though I was sure they'd be far too big. Guess what? In our family, six weeks = six months, apparently.

We have had a great couple of weeks. I'm feeling more capable and human every day, so we invited a few friends over last weekend. Their daughter is three, and she led Josh around the house by the hand, playing and talking up a storm while the rest of us played with the baby.
I'm really going to miss that outfit! It's a little too tight now, but it's just so adorable that I might try to stuff him into it one more time.
We are so lucky to have found great friends in all the places the Navy has taken us. This family (I don't want to use their names without permission) gave us a BUNCH of baby supplies from their stockpile, including a diaper bag and two big bins of cloth diapers! They showed us how to fold and use them this week, so I'm hoping to transition to cloth in the next couple weeks.

A few days later, Irish came over with her daughter. Madi is seven months old now, crawling and cooing and eating real food - and wearing the same size diapers as Lincoln. Yikes! She's also just the most beautiful baby you've ever seen. Besides Lincoln, of course.
Those cheeks! Those eyelashes!
Irish got in on the Lincoln cuddling action, and remarked how much smaller than Madi he seems - he's still got that little baby tendency to curl up and be all soft and sweet. When he's not screaming his fool head off, of course.

Irish and her family have handed down a LOT of great baby things to us too, and this visit was no exception. She brought along an A-frame play gym and some rings and toys to dangle from it - Lincoln is old enough to look at the toys and even bat at them now! And the best part is, it gave me an excuse to take more pictures in another cute outfit. The onesie and pants are NINE month size. Hoo boy. And that beautiful sweater was hand knitted for him by his great grandmother, my Grammy Meixell. I am so glad we'll be visiting them in Maine this spring.

Look at that eye contact! That toy has been a HUGE hit. The next day, Daddy got in on the action.
I didn't catch it with the camera, but he actually got his hand around Pooh Bear's leg at one point. Lincoln is a genius.

So it's his seven week birthday today, and our fella weight 14 pounds, 7.5 ounces. He's growing great, and his weight is actually evening out a little - no more two ounces per day, thank goodness. I'll post sometime soon about what he's eating, since just like the birth, it hasn't gone the way we imagined. In the meantime Josh is off to bring home the bacon, and I'm off to marvel at Lincoln's impressive motor skills. Who's up for a visit?

Five weeks old - bath time!

2011-03-13T05:08:00.005+09:00

I wish I had more time to write! Most of my days are spent nursing, bottle feeding (more on that later), shushing and cuddling the baby, with a healthy amount of cooking, laundry, tidying up and even a little yard work mixed in. On days when he takes good naps, that is.

So here are some photos from a bath during Lincoln's fifth week. This little guy gets cuter - and bigger - every day.Josh and I usually bathe Lincoln together, but we're getting good enough at it that one of us can hold the camera while the other takes care of the baby. This time I got the fun job!He is so aware and pleasant, especially for such a young baby! Thank goodness he likes the bath.

I'd like to say that Charlie was in there with us for bonding, but the fact is that our pup cannot be trusted unsupervised, even at a year old. So we drag him into the overheated bathroom, and he is just grateful that it's not him in the tub.Bliss.

Birth

2011-02-21T13:44:00.012+09:00

Well, this isn't the story I thought I'd be writing. Let me save you any bothersome anxiety: at the end of this story, here's what I got.He is beautiful, healthy, and perfect, and his birth was an honest-to-god miracle. But as I imagine most miracles do, this one came about in exactly the ways we'd sworn it wouldn't.

My son was conceived last April and due on January 13th, 2011. I stopped working before Christmas, my mom traveled cross-country to be here for the birth on January 7th, and at 200 pounds with insomnia, carpal tunnel syndrome and a host of other discomforts, I was READY to deliver.

So much for that! I spent the month of January soliciting advice to bring on labor and subsequently eating spicy food, bouncing on a ball, drinking coffee, walking miles, driving an hour away (sometimes inconvenience is the key, I'm told), eating pineapple, and spending a little "special time" with my sweetie - all to no avail. On the 18th the doc stripped my membranes and assured me that I'd be in labor that weekend. We flew my dad out from South Carolina.

A week later, and nothing. Let me stress that having a healthy baby was my #1 goal, and I was prepared to let him come in his own time. The tests all showed that he was strong and healthy in utero and didn't need to come out, but by the 25th of January I was ready. READY for baby. We went back to the OB for more monitoring and to create a plan. We saw him on ultrasound for the third time and the babe was in the right position, moving and practice-breathing and looking great. We held our breaths as the technician estimated the birth weight:

TEN POUNDS, THIRTEEN OUNCES. TEN. THIRTEEN. TENFUCKINGTHIRTEEN.

At this point, I was a little more willing to consider induction than I had been. See, Josh and I were very clear about our ideal birth. We took classes from Amy Hoyt of Wholly Mama Birth Services, becoming versed in the Bradley Method of natural childbirth. We were prepared for anything, but hoping for a medication-free, powerful experience coached by Josh. We hired a doula, wrote a plan, and spent the pregnancy eating healthy and doing big strong exercises to prepare. I should have known things would not go according to plan.

So after taking castor oil and cohosh, walking forever, bouncing on the birth ball and participating in a theta energy healing session by phone, I was having weak contractions during the day that died out overnight. I saw the doctor one more time, consulted with the doula, and decided this was it: it was time to coax the little angel out. Bring on the Pitocin. And on Friday night, January 28th, we did.
That's a labor gown I bought from Amazon.com - it says "I dream of sushi," in case you were wondering.
They strapped me up around 8pm, Mom and Dad went home to get some sleep around 10, and Josh and I tried to rest and hoped the Pit would kick in overnight.

It didn't, of course. In the morning my crew (that's Mom, Dad, the doula, and a friend) returned as Josh and I were pacing the halls trying to move things along. Finally around 10:00 a.m. I asked my new nurse Lin to crank the Pitocin to 11, as it were.

That was when it hit. I was standing next to the bed sometime after 10:30 when I felt something break in my pelvis. It knocked me over and I was bent double clutching the bed before I knew what had happened - turned out that was my water breaking. From that moment on I had huge, painful, earth-shattering contractions every few minutes, and despite all the classes and practice and videos we'd been through, I was completely unprepared for that kind of pain. Here I am at 10:45:
and again at 11:00:I still can't believe how it felt. Women have tried to describe this experience for thousands of years, and all I can add to that record is that when I said I thought I was going to be ripped in half, I meant it.

After two hours, a lot of groaning and complaining, the removal of the IV and monitors ('cause boy oh boy, I didn't need any help contracting any more!), I felt the need to push at 1:00 p.m. Lin confirmed that I was fully dilated, and the real work started.

It's difficult for me to remember the first few hours of pushing. It took longer than I expected to learn how to push properly, and each contraction seemed stronger and more painful than the last. The pressure was so intense I thought for sure Lincoln was ready to be born with every push. Mentally and emotionally, I went down a rabbit-hole. All I could see was Josh's face, and I focused on him like never before.

Let me just take a moment to sing an ode to my husband. The man did not eat, drink, or rest from the moment we woke up on Saturday morning until we went to bed that night, hours after our son was born. He never left my side, never lost faith in my ability to handle the pain, and remained brave and strong when I was in utter despair. His face got me through the most difficult moments of my life, and I will never forget that. And he didn't flinch at the icky bits, either. Oh, I love this man.

Anyway, back to the pain. I pushed for hours on end. My doctor checked in a couple of times and encouraged me - the baby was at minus one station, my pushing was great, keep it up. When I told her I didn't think I could do it, she asked me to try for another hour. So I did.

Finally around 5:00, after four hours of pushing, I used my code word that meant I needed pain medication. The anesthesiologist came in and did an epidural, and for the first time that day I felt like a failure. Worse than thinking I'd lost my fight for a natural childbirth was realizing that the epidural had made my legs numb and my face tingly, and had done absolutely nothing for the pain of the contractions. Nothing. Nada. So I kept pushing for one more hour, when my doctor came to check me again.

The baby was still at -1 station. I'd been pushing, hard, for hours. My whole body was swollen beyond recognition, my face was covered in broken blood vessels, and my left eye had hemorrhaged and was bright red with blood. The doc, who I had been seeing for a year and a half and whom I immensely respect, told me that I needed a c-section.

At this point, I was too tired to do what I wanted, which was to sob with my whole body for the loss of the natural birth I'd dreamed of. I wanted a break from the contractions, just long enough to catch my breath and my brain and cry for a while. But since I couldn't have those things, I polled the room. Everyone told me to do what I knew was best - until I got to Josh. Terrified, angry, exhausted, and in pain, I looked into my husband's eyes as he told me it was time to have the surgery. I let the tears come and nodded at the doc, and they prepped us for the OR.Being wheeled from the labor room to the OR, and then having the spinal block anesthesia put in, was probably the hardest part of the whole experience. The contractions were still rocking through me like a Mack truck, but now I was flat on my back and couldn't push. Once the kind, calm anesthesiologist administered the block, I melted into the operating table and actually lost consciousness for a few minutes. Josh and the anesthesiologist stayed by my head and kept me company while my doc did the surgery, and then I heard them say "Daddy, stand up. You don't want to miss this."

And then I heard my baby cry for the first time.

And my heart burst open in a million pieces, growing in an instant and filling my chest, my body, the room, the world, with love.

Sweet!

2011-01-15T15:37:00.005+09:00

Ah, January 15th is here! When I learned last spring that I would be due to deliver on January 13th, 2011, I was careful not to get too excited about that date in particular. First-time moms usually deliver late, so I knew I could go as late as January 27th and still have a healthy baby. I was ready for the long haul.

Well, it's a little tougher now that it's here! I mean, I am 100% committed to as natural a birth process as is safe and plausible, and I'm glad our wee boy is growing and moving well, and I am convinced that he and my body will prepare and deliver at exactly the right time. But week 39 (10 days ago now) brought a host of new, uncomfortable symptoms including carpal tunnel syndrome and a Herculean resurgence of overnight heartburn. I'm not sleeping, I weigh a LOT, and every Braxton-Hicks contraction has me a little more hopeful that labor is on its way.

So a little self-medication has been in order, lately. My birthday was a great salve - a couple of girlfriends took me to Tacoma for a great Thai lunch and an epic trip to Trader Joe's. Then one day I saw a recipe for homemade Oreo cookies and ended up with this:
Oh. My. The cookies are deep, dark chocolate, and the filling is the super-sweet white cream you'd expect from an Oreo - but I used butter and coconut oil rather than hydrogenated shortening. At first I thought the cookies were too sweet overall (despite my having reduced the sugar by quite a bit), but then, imagine! They kept disappearing!

Then it got even better - Mom came to town! She's been such a trouper, cooking dinner for Josh and me, getting me out to walk around, and coming along to the doctor earlier this week. And then best of all, earlier this week, Mama (Nana!) made a Deep Dark Chocolate Cheesecake. Hoo, nonny.It was so delicious I forgot to take a picture of a slice. And there are no slices left.

So just as long as the baby's signs remain strong, I am fine to handle whatever petty discomforts come along with an overdue little one. I'm content to know that sometime within the next twelve days I will be holding my perfect new baby boy - and in the meantime, I'll tide myself over with chocolate.

The other Portland, part 2

2011-01-03T14:37:00.006+09:00

Customer service sucks in the United States. I don't like saying it, but in general, that's what I've found. In Japan, I never once doubted that the people working in each restaurant, shop, hotel, and train station were doing their best to make me welcome and comfortable - and that was doubly impressive, considering that I didn't speak the language or understand the culture. In this country, I doubt that all the time. So it is always with a little trepidation that Josh and I embark on mini-vacations. Why spend the money to be treated badly and eat mediocre food? I had hopes that Portland would be different.

Well, it was.

I mentioned in part one that our drive down was stressful. When we finally arrived at Hotel Monaco, dropped the car with the $33!! valet, and made it to the front desk, we learned that our room, which was prebooked, prepaid, and due to be ready 40 minutes earlier, was not ready. Josh and I sighed and exchanged knowing glances as we settled into a chair in the lobby - here we go. But it wasn't two minutes later that the front desk clerk walked over to us and let us know that no, the room wasn't ready - so they would be happy to upgrade us to a suite on the top floor that is ready to go now.

Well, color me flabbergasted. Even more so when I saw that the manager had sent up a bottle of sparkling cider with congratulations for our impending birth. Unreal.

This hotel delivered in a BIG way, and I heartily endorse the Monaco and the Kimpton brand.

But it didn't end there! After our delicious doughnut adventure we set out to find real food and landed at Mother's Bistro. One of the drawbacks to living in a small community is the lack of fine dining. It was so refreshing to have a meal that was well thought-out, delicious, and as-promised. Our server knew the menu, didn't hover, and didn't have to write our orders down. The meal, and our evening, was lovely. So much so that I didn't even pause to take photos of my crab cakes or Josh's pot roast.

It was still raining, of course, so we turned in early and enjoyed a couple of doughnuts for dessert in our cozy suite.

The next morning, we found the last culinary stop on our little babymoon. It was one I found on the web which bore the magic words: grass-fed beef. See, cows aren't made to eat corn and they can't digest it, which is where we get e. Coli! Cows that eat grass take longer to grow, have less fat, and are absolutely e. Coli free - which makes them tastier, safer, and much more expensive. Josh and I eat grass-fed beef exclusively at home, but it's almost impossible to find in restaurants. Except Urban Farmer!

Oh, what a place! This restaurant walks the local, sustainable, organic walk. And we woke to a blue, sunny sky, so you know the camera joined us for breakfast. Josh ordered the grass-fed steak and eggs, and I ordered a less photogenic but equally delicious plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, and whole grain toast with freshly squeezed orange juice.We ate, we drank, and we thoroughly enjoyed our leisure. I do still miss my caffeine a bit, though. Does it show?

We're counting the time until the due date in days now, rather than weeks, and I am so ready to meet our son. This precious baby, made up of Josh and me, is an awesome expression of our love and commitment to one another - a commitment that I know we'll need to work on as baby takes over our lives. This little trip was a great beginning to this, the next phase.

The other Portland, part 1

2010-12-31T13:45:00.006+09:00

Two weeks to go! It seems so recent that I took a home pregnancy test, visited the doctor, and commenced worrying that this pregnancy would end abruptly and too early, like the three before it. But all that was back in May, and now I'm big and healthy and full-term-pregnant with a squirming, bouncing, kicking little miracle. I am so grateful.

...and a little uncomfortable. I admit it! As much as I'm in love with this baby and this pregnancy, I of course suffer from all of the (relatively minor) complaints of the last trimester. We're talking heartburn aka Throatferno, insomnia, pinched nerves in my back, and a bunch of general discomfort when I attempt athletic feats as ambitious as, say standing from a seated position. So in order to distract me and to celebrate our last few weeks as DINKS, Josh and I dropped off the troublemaker at Doggy Day Care, fed the cat, and headed south to Portland this week. Our destination?

VOODOO DOUGHNUT!
See, a while back Josh and I saw this clip of Anthony Bourdain in Portland, OR, visiting a doughnut shop. You can watch the two minutes if you want, but there is really only one thing to take from the video. Voodoo Doughnut makes a maple bacon bar. A risen, glazed bar, dipped in maple glaze and pressed with two thick, crispy slices of bacon.

It had to be mine.

As my relatives back East can attest, doughnuts are a major lifestyle component of living in New England. There's a Dunkin Doughnuts on every corner, where you can get mediocre coffee, terrible espresso, and absolutely transcendent doughnuts! In the Seattle area? Top Pot. I admit I've never actually been there, but look at that list. Plain, plain, plain Jane doughnuts, perfect for delicately consuming with a knife and fork while reading The Economist and lamenting the rain. Hey, Uptight Seattleites! THAT'S NOT WHAT I'M AFTER THESE DAYS.

What is it I'm after? This.
That's four of the five doughnuts we bought immediately upon arriving in Portland. The fifth was a plain glazed, which I bought expressly so I could eat one on the way home and not feel guilty about not photographing it. It was heavenly. There's a maple bacon bar, of course, a Mexican Hot Chocolate (old fashioned, rolled in cinnamon, chocolate, and chili pepper), a raspberry filled, and an Old Dirty Bastard - a raised and glazed plain, topped with crumbled Oreo cookies and drizzled with peanut butter.

My life is complete.

Seriously, these are some of the most delicious treats I've ever had! Which should be doubly apparent by the fact that I haven't yet described what we had to do to get them. UGH. Here's how our drive to Portland looked. Let me say again that I'm 8 1/2 months pregnant, hormonal, and did I mention neither of us is sleeping because in the 20 minutes or so I sleep each night, I snore so badly that Josh has to leave the room? We were kind of at our wits end by the time we arrived. Then our room wasn't ready (which the awesome hotel actually handled really well, more on that in part 2), we walked six blocks in the cold rain only to find a 45 minute, uncovered outdoor line for the doughnut shop. By the time we got inside, we were soaked, freezing, a little irked, and my back was incredibly sore. But the smell of doughnuts took all the pain away.
Josh is still learning the camera.

Since most other vices are strictly prohibited during pregnancy, this trip was all about the food. When we got back to the hotel it was about 6pm, and Josh and I traded bites of the bacon bar and ODB before heading out to find real food for dinner. The rest of our little overnight trip did not disappoint, even though we peaked a little early with the doughnuts.

"Portland" has always been Portland, Maine for me. Lobsters, lighthouses, fine dining everywhere, and local beer jump to mind when I hear that word, as do the childhood memories of The Maine Mall, drives to Boston, and visits to my more metropolitan aunts in the big city. (Yes, I'm still talking about Portland, Maine. Hush.) But after this little overnight, and considering my home address, the original Portland's namesake is carving out its own little place in my heart - a place shaped, of course, like a doughnut.

Thanks, but no thanks

2010-12-28T15:25:00.003+09:00

Let me begin by saying that pregnancy, miscarriage and I'm sure birth, have a near-total deadening effect on modesty. Working for March of Dimes accelerates that process even further! I've had incredibly detailed conversations with strangers about timing sexual intercourse, labor positions, vaginal tearing and surgery, and much, much more. It takes a lot to shock me - and today, that standard was met.

See, Josh and I went to get adjusted at the chiropractor today. I've been having some shooting pains down my lower back and leg (hello, little baby medicine ball), and Josh is a big time weight lifter now, and we've both had good luck with chiropractic in the past. This time was a new guy, a man we've both met but hadn't been to for adjustment before. We were glad to get in to see him, since I got a super creepy vibe from the other practice I've been to here, and we both have a great feeling about this guy. We'll call him Dr. B.

So we walk in, get into the system, and meet for our consultation. Since I've had several creepy experiences with body care professionals in the past, I was glad that Josh and I would be evaluated and adjusted together. After a short wait, Dr. B. comes in and starts asking me questions. Pretty basic questions: how far along are you, age, weight, normal weight, have you been having any pain or headaches, etc. We're going strong. And let me repeat: I'm there to get my back and neck cracked, and my posture evaluated. That's all.

Well, Dr. B. has plans to assist me further, as it turns out! He starts talking about pregnancy-specific techniques to relieve pain, has me lift my shirt (showing belly only) and teaches Josh how to massage the round ligaments around my hips. No biggie - that's not really what I was after, but I don't mind. Then, out of nowhere, he starts talking about how he knows a really great technique to massage the perineal floor to prepare it for birth. See, your perineum plays a huge part in crowning and pushing, hence the near-universal Kegel advice during pregnancy. Makes sense that a health professional would know about that and perhaps offer tips, right? Stay with me here. Still waiting to get my spine worked on.

"So, let's go to the other room and I'll show you on the dummy what this looks like." We follow him, he pulls out a model spine and pelvis, and flips it upside down.

"Here's the base of your spine, the tailbone, and this is where the baby comes out. Here's where your anus would be, your vagina, your urethra. So if this is your anus," he says, making a little "OK" sign with his left hand, "I'm going to put pressure here," (a quarter inch from Ground Zero on the left) "and here," (the right).

At this point I'm completely flabbergasted. Surely, surely, this neck-snapping witch doctor is not suggesting that I GRANT HIM ACCESS TO MY BUTTHOLE. Right?! That would be absurd. I AM HERE FOR MY NECK. But just in case it's not completely, 100%, crystal clear, he keeps elaborating! "So for this procedure we'd take your pants down to your thighs, you'll lay on your side, and I'll start and then teach Josh how to do the technique so you can do it at home. Remember, this is your anus" (ok sign) "and I'll be pressing on either side to loosen the tension of your perineal floor. Let's see which side is tighter."

At this point, naturally, whether to do the procedure is moot, as my perineum has clenched into my ribcage. But for some reason I'm not saying anything! When he has me stand up so he can evaluate the tension around my hips - through pants, thank God - I glare at Josh with pleading eyes and vigorously shake my head NO!

He, I later discovered, was using all of his available faculties to avoid cracking up at the absurdity of it all, and at my discomfort. In fact, if you want to make Josh laugh at inappropriate times, just say "now here's your anus" and you've got him. He did not jump to my rescue.

Still, despite my overpowering and misplaced sense of politeness, there was no way this guy was getting my pants off. Finally I said "I need to wrap my mind around this before I try it. Do you have a brochure?" He produced one, reminded me that his wife used to model this procedure in front of 20 students at a time, and then gave me and Josh each an effective, helpful, simple little chiropractic adjustment.

I have developed finely honed radar for creeps, perverts, and opportunists, and Dr. B. truly does not seem to be any of those. He has a new baby and like many alternative medicine pros, he is kind of an evangelist about what chiropractic can do for the human body. He was so painfully earnest about the whole thing that I will probably return next time I need and adjustment - but I'll go with Josh, and I intend to be very, very clear about the services I'm interested in.

And if, at my regular cleaning next month, the dentist offers to check my breastmilk, I am never seeing another doctor again.

Christmas!

2010-12-26T10:47:00.007+09:00

Let's just get right to it: I got a new camera!! My dear husband - remember him? - got me a Canon digital SLR, which I've been pining after since before we knew there was a baby on the way. Once there was a baby in the picture (har har), my desire for a decent camera began approaching the insane. And here it is! So far it is easy to use in auto mode, takes fantastic pictures despite my utter lack of knowledge or skills, and has potential for greatness! Josh's Christmas present is somewhat related, despite the fact that mine was a surprise - he wanted a new barbell and a weight vest. Connection: he's going to keep looking better and better, and now I can take lots of pictures of him. :)

I'm less than three weeks from my due date now, so traveling to the East Coast to see my family wasn't an option this holiday season. We are so lucky to live close to our Sullins relatives, and so we made plans to have a Christmas lunch with Grammy, Papa, and Bum (Josh's great grandmother). I don't have a tripod yet, so here's a couple shots of the whole crew:
Look at that belly! Holy cows!
Don't you just love those? Charlie had a great time visiting, as always, and was a hit with the staff at Bum's new home. At one point it seems someone told him a joke...
...which he tried to repeat to Fuji, with decidedly poor results.
Christmas 2010 is exactly what we've been hoping for ever since Christmas 2007 - the first time we became pregnant, and lost the pregnancy almost immediately. As the day and the season wind down, I am filled more and more deeply with gratitude for this baby, for our comfortable life and for our unbelievably dear family and friends. Love is everywhere.

Relapse

2010-09-01T07:20:00.003+09:00

What did you eat or avoid during pregnancy? I find it kind of ironic that just a few months after starting a blog called "Emily Eats Everything," my diet became restricted in all kinds of interesting ways. Bacon is in the subtitle of this blog, and now it's off-limits because of nitrites. (Nitrites, by the way, are apparently horribly poisonous and also breathtakingly delicious. Luckily I am able to find and indulge in nitrite-free bacon and pepperoni occasionally, thanks to Central Market and Trader Joe's.) Here are some of the items I'm avoiding during pregnancy:

Processed meats containing nitrites
Lunchmeats (even the all-natural ones)
Large fish
Unpasteurized dairy, which vexingly includes all gruyére cheese
Caffeine
Alcohol
Undercooked meat
Undercooked eggs
Ginger
Most herbal teas
Sprouts
Anything cooked by my friend Irish's friend, who thinks that basting nearly-cooked meat in raw chicken marinade is delicious.

Okay, now I'd be avoiding that last one anyway. But two things have surprised me about the pregnancy diet so far: 1, I can still manage to eat really unhealthfully and often do, and 2, I'm pretty much a damn semi-vegetarian again!

That's the relapse part. I was so delighted to have rediscovered good quality (grass-fed, organic, sustainably and humanely raised) red meat and especially pork in the last year or two, and now here I am avoiding it. I can still eat red meat, but the other night I had my first pregnancy aversion. It wasn't coffee or bourbon or something I'd LIKE to have lost my taste for*, no. It was filet mignon.

Filet mi-freaking-gnon. We buy our fancy beef from US Wellness Meats, and let me tell you, they sell a top-notch filet. We've had it once before, and ordered two more last month for a special occasion. So a couple nights ago I made baked sweet potatoes, roasted popcorn kale, and two big, gorgeous steaks. I cooked mine to 145 F, to be safe, let it rest well, and sat down ahem, in front of the TV,. One bite and I thought the meat must have been bad. Turns out I can't handle any hint of undercooked beef anymore, and really? If you have to cook your beef to death? Not so much worth eating the beef.

So I've relapsed completely. Yesterday I had a PBJ english muffin for breakfast, vegetarian double-mushroom soup for lunch, and a truly transcendent bowl of palak paneer from a local Indian restaurant for dinner. The day before it was cereal with peaches, my biweekly tunafish sandwich, and and the beginnings of that same mushroom soup.

But! I'm not being entirely forthcoming with that list, am I? Doesn't sound so much like the unhealthy diet I was describing does it? Well, let's just say that dinner the night BEFORE was about a pound of curly fries and a couple fatty bites of ribs from the county fair. And there has been one other small relapse too: yesterday I had a single, blessed shot of regular espresso. That worries me more than the fries, by far, since caffeine is a miscarriage risk. But all the doctors and studies say a little occasionally is fine, I'm well into the second trimester, and this little baby is a fighter, so when I'm going to treat it like that tunafish sandwich - only one, only once a week or two.

Now that I'm really and truly showing, I'm sure I'll be getting more long looks and "advice" when eating in public. Maybe on this post, too. But for now, I'm happy with my healthy/unhealthy diet, and looking forward to a half a glass of wine in my future.

*No, I haven't had any bourbon while pregnant. But I sniffed a couple bottles from our liquor cabinet to see if nature would be kind and make them repellent to me. It wasn't, they weren't, and I think Baby loves good gin, tequila, and whiskey, in that order.

Hey, baby

2010-08-21T05:49:00.004+09:00

Well, it's happened: not the six months between posts, that's happened for sure, but more importantly I am PREGNANT! Nearly five months along now, healthy and feeling great, after a very difficult journey and a lot of tears along the way.

The feeling is surreal. I was in denial for several weeks, then terrified for much of the first trimester that something would go wrong. Sometime in week five, we had our first ultrasound and saw the miniscule little heart beating, and I fell in love more deeply than I can possibly describe, and ever since we've reached the second trimester that love just keeps growing. Along with my belly!I'm gaining weight slowly and really enjoying this belly, leading the way into the world for me.

It's not all great - the one hour commute to work is much more trying now that I'm tired all the time, I've had a little nausea and some headaches, and Josh is having to do a lot more chores around the house. Our other baby, Charlie, is still getting lots of attention, especially since I spend so much time on the sofa and in bed!

I'm way out of the habit of writing, but I'm hoping to bring this blog back now that we've got an expanding family to share. Big things are afoot - and I hope next time I write, I'll be able to tell you about the first kicks!

Valentine's Day and Anniversary

2010-02-17T14:07:00.003+09:00

So, one post every three months, eh Internet? And I still owe you like ten posts about our amaaaazing Mexico vacation, I know. Kinda thinking that's not going to happen at this point - but I have related food news to share! Good enough? No?

I think it's a testament to the incredible teachers at Mexican Home Cooking school that we have cooked half a dozen recipes from our dandy little books since returning home, and enjoyed every one. We have a jar of preserved chipotles in the fridge, ready to be chopped and mixed with cream cheese at the first sign of company. Josh's incredible grandma Sylvia's 90th birthday was a couple weeks ago, and we took the day off and drove North with bubbling pots of arroz con pérejil (parsley rice), frijoles negros (black beans), and pipián rojo con pollo (chicken in a mild red sauce with cinnamon and clove), plus tortillas and suspiros de novia (sighs of the bride, fried flour cakes soaked in lime syrup. Dinner with Bum (funny nickname, I know!) and Josh's parents was lovely, and everyone seemed to like the food.

Then came our anniversary, and the one restaurant we actually wanted to try was closed - for the whole week of Valentine's Day! Who does that?! So since it was a weeknight we decided to cook in. I headed to Central Market for the fixins of a quick, but luxurious weeknight meal: scallops (thanks for the tips, and freebies, Seafood Guy!), Swiss chard, chocolate truffles, and BACON! Here's how it went down: Josh cooked bacon bits while I seared off the scallops and put a salad together. Then he took the bacon out of the pan and I added the clean chard, dressed the salad with homemade ranch, and we set the table together - including a bottle of the wine we drank at our wedding four years before.

The food was delicious, if I do say so...scallops cooked perfectly, simple chard with bacon bits, and a salad that tasted like a BLT. But there was something else, too, something about being in our house, in the Northwest, in the U.S.A., with no plans to move any time soon - this was the first time we've had that in our marriage. It felt settled and lovely and calm, and was definitely the best anniversary we've had yet.

Three days later comes Valentine's Day, like clockwork. We decided to avoid the restaurant crush (well, I reluctantly agreed when Josh promised to make my Mom's famous key lime cheesecake for me) and eat in. It being a long weekend, and a special day, we decided to make mole poblano.

Mole poblano. moh-leh-poh-blah-noh. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm...you've had this, right? This sweet and spicy, deep dark meat-in-sauce Mexican tradition, complete with a bar of abuelita chocolate? Holy majoley. It was one of the best dishes we made and ate in Tlaxcala, and hey - meat and chiles and chocolate? Perfect for Valentine's Day.

Thing is, those flavors are complex because they're made of a zillion ingredients, each requiring its own step in cooking. Here's a smattering:
*wipe down, cut open, seed and flay fourteen dried chiles
*fry each of the following, individually and quickly, in the same oil: plantain slices, raisins, toasted sesame seeds (you did remember to toast those, didn't you?), cumin, anise, clove, cinnamon, peanuts, almonds, and more..
*puree those with toasted tortillas and bread, then fry the puree and stir constantly for half an hour
*puree the chiles in stock and stir it into the other puree, then stir for half an hour
*stir some other crap in there and stir for six days
*add the chocolate and repeat

Okay, so it's not six days. But while Josh occupied himself otherwise, I did end up standing at the stove, stirring, for the better part of two hours. But Internet? It was worth it.I can't describe the deliciousness. It's not the easiest dish to photograph, but the combination of those quick-fried and long-simmered nuts, seeds, and spices with the delicate heat from ancho and mulatto chiles and the depth of the chocolate - all we added was a little shredded lettuce and a corn tortilla, and our Valentine's luuurve was doing a little simmering of its own.

And the cheesecake? We shall not speak of the cheesecake. Suffice to say that it is NOT Mexican, it is NOT healthy, and it is NOT in the house anymore since we ate every last crumb of it almost immediately.

Salud, people.

Aprendemos cocinar, part 3

2010-01-11T12:07:00.006+09:00

In December 2009, Josh and I learned to cook in Mexico. Here's the latest installment of our story.

We arrived at our vacation destination not at 7pm on Christmas, as planned, but around 1:30am December 27th, thanks to Aeromexico. Well-fed and relieved to have arrived, we drifted off into a deep sleep, with an alarm for 8:30 and a 9:00 start time. For some reason, Maria (Jon and Estela's household helper) brought coffee to our room at 6:30 in the morning, so we thanked her and went back to sleep. Just half an hour later, Jon came in to tell us that breakfast was served - turns out in our exhaustion we'd forgotten to change the time zone on our phones. WHOOPS!

Still, everyone was quite forgiving. We beat feet to the outdoor breakfast table, not knowing what to expect. Here's what greeted us:Ham and cheese between two tortillas, with salsa verde, avocado, onion, and kiwi on the side. YUM.

But before long, eating gave way to cooking (with more eating to come, of course). We walked in to the kitchen to see an incredible spread laid out for us. It was unbelievably beautiful and inviting - and have I mentioned lately that you should visit www.mexicanhomecooking.com? Cause you should. Or you can find them on Facebook. Here's what's in store:

I'm sorry my camera and my photography skills aren't better, because that kitchen is so gorgeous and the photos don't do it justice.

On to the food! We made seven or eight recipes every day, and the first day included a couple really fun ones. We began with nopalitos, which are cactus leaves grown right on the property. They are spiny and irritating, but delicious and healthy to eat.
You start by laying a knife flat against the leaf and moving it from side to side to remove the spines, being careful to impale each of your fingers individually with the barbs. Okay, just kidding - but I recommend buying them cleaned. We made ensalada and sopa de nopalitos before moving on to the heavy lifting.
When was the last time you cooked a squash blossom? We used them several times, and lamented the, you know, seasons of Washington - gorgeous, floral produce is available year-round in Tlaxcala.

Next up? Tortas de Papas con Espinaca, or potato pancakes with spinach. Only instead of spinach we used shrimp! FLEXIBILITY, people.
Jon taught us the prep techniques while Estela ran the frying, charring, and sauteeing station at the stove. Oh, and by the way, the torta recipe is available for free on the website!

On day one, we also made an almond chicken dish with tortillas blended right into the sauce, and mushroom soup, and these incredible fried flour dough cakes with vanilla sugar pressed into them. We ate lunch with our compadres and co-students - Tim and Athena from Santa Barbara, and Robin and Diane from Sitka, Alaska - before heading out to the Xochitecatl and Cacaxtla archaeological sites for the afternoon. And at the rate I've been posting these stories, you should hear about that in midsummer.

Aprendemos cocinar, part 2

2010-01-07T14:14:00.005+09:00

It's Christmas Day. Christmas morning, that is - 7:00am. Josh and I have been up since 4:00, all packed up, passports in hand, having ridden a shuttle bus two hours to the airport. We're at the Aeromexico check-in counter...

and we're alone. There's no line, no one milling about, no employees behind the counters. Just Josh and me and signs with the Aeromexico reservation hotline. Which I call, asking when we can expect to check in for our 9:00 flight.

"Um, we don't have any departures leaving Seattle today."

"Well, I'm holding a flight confirmation that says we're going on vacation to Mexico City. Confirmed November 18th for departure today, Christmas, at 9:00."

"Oh, that flight was changed. You're leaving tomorrow."

"Changed when?"

"December 11."

*Head explodes.*

I mean, seriously. SERIOUSLY! It is the two-thousandsies, and the airline had my credit card number, email, cell phone, and (presumably) access to Google and Skype. But they just cancel a flight and don't let us know. Luckily, our friends at Mexican Home Cooking are incredibly flexible, and the airline was at least willing to make our return flight one day later as well. We'd get our whole vacation. But the bus home cost more than a hotel room at the airport, so we checked in for the night and set about trying to enjoy Christmas Day in Seattle.

First up was to hop on the city's newest attraction, light rail from the airport to downtown.We had the (new, clean) car to ourselves, and $2.50 and 30 minutes later we were in Chinatown. The lines for dim sum were outrageous, and we waited 45 minutes, standing smashed against hungry Chinese-American, Jewish, and all-around heathen masses, before we sat down to some good old fashioned fa-ra-ra-ra-ra.
He's, um, smiling at me!

The rest of the day was pretty boring, as we waited out our sentence. The next morning started early again and we were glad to see staff at Aeromexico. We checked in and passed through security, no problem, and got right on the plane, on the tarmac.

And stayed there. First, there was an indicator light on that wouldn't go off. Out to the runway, back to the gate a couple times. They fixed that, or so they said, and then had another little problem - some little insignificant part wouldn't work. It was called, um, the STARTER.Okay. End of rant. We got off the plane and finally took off six hours past schedule, flew five hours with no food and one drink service, and landed in Mexico City long after the last bus to Tlaxcala had departed. We called Jon (our home cooking host) with a calling card and he directed us to an authorized taxi to Tapo bus station. An unofficial taxi driver tried to scam a fare out of us, but Josh stayed strong and we found the ticket counter. We didn't find any food though, as the bus was leaving five minutes later and we couldn't miss it. On the bus we got to see Enemy of the State in Spanish, but we didn't get to see any toilet paper. What's up, Subway napkins?!

The bus got us to Tlaxcala station, where we called Jon again and he told us his taxi driver would meet us inside in 15 minutes. We were so hungry though, too hungry to take photos in the shut-down bus station - not a bad way to start a culinary vacation, but still - hungry enough to poke our heads outside the door and see a hot dog stand. I knew enough Spanish to say "Uno con todos, por favor," and Josh and I tucked into the best hot dog of our lives. It had tomatoes, and onions, and mustard and mayo and, best of all, bright green pickled jalepeños right on top. We just died and went to heaven.

Soon we saw a short man holding a sign for Mexican Home Cooking. We were reasonably certain he wasn't after our kidneys, but that certainty faded when we turned onto the second of three dirt, um, roads? Pothole collectives would be more accurate. Turns out the driver was our buddy Yair, who took us all over creation that week, but at the time he was a wee bit scary!

You've already seen some of what we arrived to. Jon welcomed us with a fire in the fireplace of our room, and when he heard we hadn't eaten he produced bowls of creamy oyster soup, then spicy beef stew with the bones still flavoring the broth. And immediately, we were transformed. Those spoonfuls of homemade dinner melted the terrible travel right off our skins, and brought us back to Earth.

And that's why we chose this kind of vacation in the first place, because cooking and eating is so fundamental to the kind of joy we want to bring into our lives. A cup of the right soup, or hot chocolate, or a bite of Mom's macaroni and cheese* can make a bad day beautiful, and our trip was gorgeous from there on out.

*with collard greens! HOLLA!

Aprendemos cocinar, part 1

2010-01-04T10:42:00.005+09:00

Well hey there, Internet. What's up? I'm sorry I haven't responded to your emails lately, or your calls. I've been following you on Facebook but just not up to chatting. Life is crazy now, with a new job and the holidays, and Fuji the cat and lots of hopes for a baby. But most of all, I just haven't felt like sharing. On the good days, life is pleasantly boring: chatting with friends on the way to work, learning to navigate my new job, cooking dinner and spending time with Josh. Boring! And when life isn't good, well, I just don't want to advertise that to the world.

Which brings me to Christmas Day, 2009.

NOT. BORING.

Josh and I have never had a vacation. Thanks to Mom and Dad we had a couple days at a nice B&B after our wedding, and we've taken weekends in Kyoto before, but never a full-on vacation, until now. After the turmoil of the last year, and much-needed visits with our parents in November, we decided to use some of our savings to get away for Christmas.

Where to go was an easier decision than I expected. See, we're not really beach people, Josh not liking bright sunlight, and when we've had time off together before we've ended up wondering what to do with ourselves. Especially in a strange city, everything is a bit expensive and confusing, right? So I wanted a pre-arranged trip. And since the only thing we both really like to do is cook and eat, a culinary vacation was the way to go. With just a little research, we found our heaven away from home: Mexican Home Cooking in Tlaxcala, Mexico.Ahhhhhhhhhhh. Don't you feel more relaxed already?
Me too. We had tickets to arrive on Christmas and leave New Year's Eve, with five days of relaxation, morning cooking classes, and afternoon sightseeing in between.And we got those five days, in spades! I have tales of dozens of chiles, tortillas with ham and salsa verde dripping with fresh cheese at breakfast, stories about which dishes enhance "marital function" according to Madame Estela. Sadly, first come stories of cancelled flights and Seattle dim sum - and a bus station in Ciudad Mexico around midnight.

It was all worth it, though, and you can see why for yourself. Check out a couple more pictures, and Jon and Estela's web site (www.mexicanhomecooking.com, if you haven't been there already!), and I'll share more soon.

P.S. Happy New Year everybody. Here's to sabor (flavor,) especia (spice,) and amor in 2010.

Fuji climbing

2009-10-28T11:50:00.004+09:00

Remember when Josh climbed Mt. Fuji? It wasn't that long ago, just over two months, when he got up at 3:00 and headed off to conquer the mountain.

Well, Fuji is back, and this time Fuji-san is doing the climbing. Internet, meet Fuji the Cat.I realize it might look like he's trying to get down, but the handsome kitty spent about five minutes up there, kneading Josh's shoulder and purring. Fuji-san knows he's a climber! Here's how he looked up until Monday, ever since his original owner passed away. Before Josh and I moved to Japan, we had a little cat named Luna, a stray who adopted me without mentioning that she was pregnant, and had a seizure disorder. We loved her to pieces though, and were sad to have to leave her behind with a friend when we moved. Luna's gone now, and we knew we wanted another grownup cat. I walked in to the Kitsap Humane Society and saw him right away - for both Josh and me, it was love at first sight. Please spay or neuter your pets, give to the Humane Society, and consider adopting an adult cat instead of a kitten!

I suppose I should apologize here for not blogging more, and I really am sorry. It's just that I haven't felt like writing these last few weeks. I'm trying like hell to get a job and pick my career back up, with incredibly frustrating results - of the two positions I've interviewed for, I've come in second both times. I'm facing the possibility of 20 hours/week commuting, or finding a job outside my career in the area just to pay some bills.

And yes, I know how incredibly lucky I am. We've got a nice house and a nice car, savings in the bank and a couple 401Ks and IRAs to our names. Our healthcare is comprehensive and free (thanks for those tax dollars!) and we've got good friends and supportive families to buck us up when we get discouraged.

But of course I do still get discouraged. I've got a bunch more cover letters to write and resumes to send tomorrow, and I'm sure the right thing will come along in the end. For now, though, I'm going to go curl up with the cat.

Emily Roasts Everything

2009-10-19T13:16:00.003+09:00

So Costco. I had been to this place, this giant Buy 'N Large, this magical warehouse of the two-gallon mustard jug. There's one near the house and I visited with Irish, and figured out that I could get some good deals. We made a plan to go back together this weekend to stock up my pantry.

Then I got there and paid for a membership, and realized I needed to give Irish and Steve permission not to witness my consumer freakout. I must have spent three hours wandering around that store, and I filled one of those giant carts. I got rolled oats and tomato paste, band aids and deodorant and hydrogen peroxide, pepper jack cheese and butter and fifteen POUNDS of OxyClean. (This house needs it). And then I got to the produce section. And I go nuts.

See, we're both going to be working soon, God willing, and we still want to eat healthy. I need to break the habit of spending two hours a night cooking dinner, but I don't want to sacrifice our fresh veggie standards. So at Costco today I bought two pounds each of Brussels sprouts, haricots verts, and sugar snap peas; twelve Honeycrisp apples, and three pounds, yes three POUNDS of garlic. And then I got home and turned on the oven.I started with roasted garlic, of course, and only got to about half the bulbs in there. I did twelve in muffin tins with just a tiny drizzle of olive oil, and four bulbs poached in olive oil so I could save the oil too. The oil-poached ones are beautiful, and delicious.
Gorgeous, right? I took the cloves out of all SIXTEEN HEADS, ugh, and ground them up into a garlic paste for dressings, marinades, and spreads this week. Yum!

Then with the oven still roaring, I roasted half of the haricots verts with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and stashed them in the fridge for dinner tomorrow. I remembered I still had some regular green beans, trimmed and washed them and roasted them with red onion and (yes, more) garlic. That mixture ended up in a whole wheat couscous salad for tomorrow's lunch, with tomatoes, sugar snaps, and leftover mustard sauce - more on that later.

But I still hadn't made anything for tonight's dinner yet. So out came the three pound salmon fillet, also from Costco, and a quick glaze of mustard, soy sauce, roasted garlic paste, honey, paprika, thyme, and rosemary. I glazed a third of the fish with half the sauce and tossed the rest into the couscous, then prepared all the Brussels sprouts for a quick roast. They burned a little, but tasted great as usual. I'm not very good at cooking fish, but this salmon was delicious and I hope I can find good recipes for the rest of it.
Once again, my photos are not so good - apologies there. For now it's time for me and the oven to take a break, and reap the benefits tomorrow.

Sloppy Jogindra

2009-10-18T13:58:00.003+09:00

I'm bummed I didn't take photos of the first meal I made in our new house. Josh and I have gotten a little, um, fluffier during this move, so we're trying to stick to lots of vegetables and lean proteins for the next couple weeks. Lame for an "eats everything" blog, I know, but bear with me.

So last night was spicy buffalo-style chicken strips sauteed with red onion and served on top of a big spinach salad. I made buttermilk dressing with just a little mayo to make it tasty. But I was tuckered out from moving, so we just ate and went straight to bed.

Which brings me to tonight's dinner, and the silly title of this post - I made soy sloppy joes flavored with garam masala, one of our favorite meals. Figures I took photos of possibly the most unappealing, unphotographable meal I ever cook and passed up the gorgeous colorful salad, huh? Ah well. Might as well get it out of the way: Kinda looks like somebody booted on our hamburger buns, doesn't it? Big old pile of vom. I SWEAR it's delicious. Just to clear your visual palate, I offer the roasted broccoli, roasting:
That's better, right?!

I really am sorry I can't get a better photo of this meal. It's so filling and nutritious, and sticks to your ribs more than many vegetarian sandwiches. The flavors are warm and spicy and sweet and comforting, and it comes together in less than half an hour. So if you don't mind closing your eyes, try this sometime.

Em's Garam Masala "Sloppy Joes"
2T olive oil
1/2 red onion, diced
5 big mushrooms, sliced thin
3 cloves garlic (or more if you love it), minced
1-3t garam masala, or to taste
1t smoked paprika
1/2t marjoram*
1 package Morningstar Farms Grillers, still frozen is fine
Big splash of red wine
1 8oz can of unsalted tomato sauce
1 6oz can of unsalted tomato paste
1-2t jarred hot sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil over medium and add the onion, mushrooms, and garlic. Saute 5 minutes or until onions and mushrooms are softening and garlic is fragrant. Stir in garam masala and cook 1 more minute, then add the marjoram and soy "meat." Cook a few minutes or until soy grillers are thawed and cooking, then pour in a glug of red wine and stir well.

Once the wine has almost completely reduced (there should be very little visible liquid), add the tomato sauce and paste and stir to incorporate completely. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to low and let simmer for at 5 minutes.

Season to taste with salt, pepper, and as much hot sauce as you like - I shook in about 5 glugs and it had a nice spicy kick. Serve hot over whole grain hamburger buns or toast - yum!

*Strange, right? But I had marjoram in my spice drawer and I never use it, and just a pinch tasted great in here.

The house, and drama

2009-10-15T11:39:00.004+09:00

WE HAVE A HOUSE!!!

Well, sort of. See, here are some pictures from our new abode. First we have the living room...then the kitchen,
the deck and fenced backyard (for little doggie-to-be-ours),
the family room with wood-burning fireplace,
and last but not least, the unevicted tenants.
Okay, so that last picture isn't from today. It's from here, actually, but the five bites on my ankles and tummy come direct from el nuevo casa de Sullins. Ugh. The good news is that there is a guy over there right now, cleaning and spreading flea treatment, and we SHOULD be bug-free by 8:00 tomorrow morning when the movers show up. Josh and I are getting a couple days' worth of prorated rent back out of the big check we wrote today, and we're hoping for a smooth transition tomorrow.

Still, between the thousands of dollars paid, the dirty house, the fleas, and a (great! but inconclusive) job interview today, I'm beat. Tomorrow plans to be another doozy, and we're gearing up with wine and our buddies tonight. Man, the hits just keep on coming.

The move-in

2009-10-14T04:49:00.002+09:00

Tomorrow we get the keys to our new house, and later this week our big household goods shipment will be delivered. Of the several thousand pounds of possessions we've been missing, here is a very abridged list of what I have missed the most.

1. Our big, comfy mattress.
2. The bookcase.
3. My yarn stash and knitting books.
4. The piano.
5. A big soapstone Dutch oven.
6. My cast-iron skillet.
7. I'm not going to lie, people. The TV.

Just a few more days until we start rebuilding Casa de Sullins on yet another coast of yet another continent. When you move, what do you miss the most?

Feast!

2009-10-13T11:57:00.003+09:00

Did I mention we've been staying with friends? Well they have been amazingly generous, managing to hang out and be friendly while still giving us lots of privacy and time to ourselves. Still, we're all glad to hear that Josh and I will be moving into our own place this week, and receiving our household goods shipment Thursday. It's time to be grownups again, and regular old friends with Irish and Steve. So tonight they made us a feast, to see whether I'd eat steak.

See, I'm not much of a beef person. After fifteen years eating no mammals, I've become quite fond of pork in its many forms, but after trying roast beef, sauteed beef, and a nice chuck burger, I had no passion for le bouef.

Until tonight.

See, tonight we didn't have your garden-variety beef. We had dry-aged, grass-fed good stuff, grilled to medium-rare perfection by Steve and accompanied by an incredible spread of marinated shrimp, wilted spinach, Alaskan king crab, and excellent wine. It was, well - see for yourself:Pretty great, huh? We added some spelt bread from a bakery in Tacoma and, well, you can tell I was enthusiastic.
So now it's my third-to-last night at Casa de Jordan, and I've got a full belly and a woozy winey head and a lot of hope for a successful move this week. It's time for sleep, and a long day tomorrow.

Emily Eats Everything

2009-10-11T12:18:00.004+09:00

Welcome to my new digs, friends. Thanks for all your great blog name suggestions this week - there were some great ones, but you know how I can't resist food. Now that I won't have any new Japanese adventures to share, I've decided to use this space to write about food and cooking, and how it creates and effects my life.

See, we've been in this crazy situation for about three weeks now, taking advantage of our friends Irish and Steve's generosity and living in their guest room. We've found the house we want and our household goods should arrive next week, so we hope to be in our own place soon, but in the meantime we've been enjoying their company and trying not to be too irritating.

One of the major perks has been talking to Irish about school. My girl got out of the Navy last year, and she started culinary school last week. I'm getting the benefit of her experience, learning about classic mirepoix, the Holy Trinity, the Asian Holy Trinity, and brown vs. white stocks - and that's after only two days. I've been job hunting and house hunting and trying to stay sane in the meantime, but cooking and talking about food is where I recharge my mental batteries.

But I don't want to cook professionally, don't get me wrong. I have no desire to work the hours of a chef, in the heat of a kitchen, or to deal with the massive egos involved in the restaurant business. I just want to cook and eat delicious, wholesome and mostly healthy food and make sure the kitchen stays the heart of my house.Here's my second weekly haul from the Poulsbo Farmer's Market - that's Washington Honeycrisp apples, leeks, cherry tomatoes, delicious rainbow chard, a red onion, beets, baby potatoes, and eight delicious pluots, a plum-apricot hybrid.

What's a recovering vegetarian? More about that later, but let's just say that after fifteen years of no red meat, I have discovered a deep love of all the salted cured meats. (Remember pepperoni?) At the same time, I've moved to the land of the locavores, the organic farms, and the raw foodies, some of whom work with Josh.

So that's my plan for this blog, dear readers, and I hope you'll keep reading. We'll talk about Smitten Kitchen, I'm sure, and raw food and whole grains and, oh yes, bacon. Because now that Emily Eats Everything, anything can happen.

Name me!

2009-10-09T05:22:00.004+09:00

Oh God, y'all, I've done it again. It's like there's a blogging filter set on the United States of America - or more likely, a BLOG RAY focused on the nation of Japan! I'm having a hard time Taking Tokyo these days, as you can imagine, or admitting that Tokyo took me and sent me packing after just over a year.

So I need your help: what should be the name, and theme of this blog for the next year? I don't want to change the URL, but I need a new title. Suggestions in the comments, please!

Tomodachi farewell

2009-09-28T06:56:00.005+09:00

I'm just going to ignore the fact that I've published seven times for the entire month of September, and ask that you all do the same. Can we agree to that? Because I've had an intra-continental move, a sibling's wedding on the other coast, at least six different beds and many tough farewells in that time, and I think we should all start fresh. So.

Let's set the Wayback Machine to Wednesday, September 9th, which was to be our last dinner with our dear neighbors, Chikako and Toshio. Ever since we first met, they'd been telling us about an incredible tempura restaurant in Tokyo, Bill Clinton's favorite place. When they heard we were leaving, they oh-so-generously invited us to join them for dinner there. Um, OKAY!

So we met Chikako on the 4:16 train from Yokosuka-Chuo toward Tokyo, and landed in Ginza with an hour to spare before dinner. Chikako slipped away for a few minutes of luxury shopping while Josh and I took in the sights, and then we all explored the Sony showroom before walking to Ten-Ichi (link goes to English review site), Tokyo's premier tempura restaurant.The service was incredible. Women in kimonos led us to a waiting room and brought hot tea and towels while we waited for Toshio to join us. They took our jackets and umbrellas and made sure we were comfortable.
Once Toshio had arrived we sat at a table for eight, wrapped around a tempura station with the chef in the center and another party to our right. More tea, beer, and three salads were waiting for us there, along with a bowl of grated daikon and tempura sauce and a dish of salt and lemon for lightly flavoring the shellfish yet to come.
The salads were our first bites of dinner, and they were delicate and lovely. The first was Western-style greens and vegetables with a sesame ginger dressing. Next came mildly flavored pickled vegetables, and third was my favorite: sweet strips of jellyfish (I swear!) and more julienne veggies with some light, delicious dressing.

But then the real show began. The chef prepares one bite at a time, moving the diners slowly through a full meal of tempura. We had our neighbors to help us decipher what was what, but honestly, every bite I ate that night seemed more delicious than the last. Everything was incredibly delicious, even the first item, which I admit had me nervous at first glance.See why? I'm still not sure exactly what part of the prawn this represents - legs and belly? Some part of the head? Its dignity? - but I can say that there was no actual meat present. I wasn't about to insult our hosts so I popped the whole thing in my mouth with just a little salt and lemon, and oh, Internet. I wish I had the vocabulary to describe how delicious it was. It was kind of like the best popcorn you ever had, where you can still taste the oil but not feel it on your tongue, where the kernel is perfectly crispy without any chew at all. But add to that the taste of your favorite seafood, or really just the suggestion of it. That bite may have been my favorite of the evening.

But of course we were just getting started. Next came two different small pieces of fish, tail sections neatly butterflied and served with an inch of tail still attached and meant to be eaten like a garnish. The fish was perfectly tender and fresh, and the tails reminiscent of that first bite of prawn shell. Then came a shelled prawn, and then asparagus...
...and these, which were no bigger than sugar snap peas, but are actually tiny green peppers.
Bite after bite appeared on our paper-lined tempura plate, and sake arrived and was drunk, and conversation drifted between English and Japanese, and occasionally Josh and I would steal glances at one another to make sure this wasn't a dream. We ate tempura fried ginkgo nuts on toothpicks, and refilled our sauce bowls with daikon and sweet broth as the food kept coming.

Of course, it had to come to an end. The chef bowed deeply and more kimonoed ladies cleared our tempura plates and dishes, and brought miso soup and more pickles to cleanse our palates.
And then naturally they moved us to a different table for dessert: the most delicious fruit I've ever eaten, a mango that must have been grown by a little old man who has worked his whole life to produce the perfect fruit.
Josh and I were reeling after that meal, and we followed it up with coffee and a long train ride home with our dear friends.

We have led charmed lives, and have eaten our fill each and every day. We've been to California and New York, we've taken classes and taken advantage of friends' and family's formidable skill in the kitchen. But this meal was the best of either of our lives, and after a trying year in Japan, might just be one of the little voices from across the sea, calling us to someday return.

Hoo, y'all

2009-09-24T02:50:00.002+09:00

My big brother and his longtime girlfriend Glorie tied the knot this weekend and made me a brand new sister-in-law. Between the travel, coordinating wedding day, and a few fun family adventures, I'm all tuckered out again. But I'm so, so delighted for Benny and the new Mrs. Meixell - Melo is her middle name! - and I feel incredibly lucky to have been a witness.

Moving

2009-09-14T15:08:00.002+09:00

We're here! Since arriving in Washington about 36 hours ago we've seen three friends, cooked two meals, slept 17 hours, and bought 2 iPhones and one slightly used Honda Civic. (Love that car!) In the couple days before we left Japan, we ate the best meal of our lives with our neighbors and said a lot of difficult goodbyes.

I have stories and photos from both sides of the ocean to share, but right now it's time for another long sleep. So in honor of the many stresses of moving, I present my favorite photo of myself in Japan, taken just two days before we left. I think this sums moving up nicely, don't you? Please click to enlarge.

Day at the beach

2009-09-07T21:46:00.004+09:00

This weekend was the first time I've put my bathing suit on in Japan, and I did it twice! I'm so glad Nadine and I had arranged to hang out on Sunday, because when I called she'd been invited to the beach with Shiho (remember Shiho and family from Christmas?) and a few other friends. I picked up another friend - Dani - on base, and headed to Hayama. Josh stayed behind on this one, since he doesn't like the sun, or the beach, or picnics, or really people. He had a nice day working out and playing around on the computer.What a day. The five of us - that's Dani, Nadine, John, Justine, and I - piled into the van and drove to Morito Beach. After a long search for parking and a couple heroic moves by John behind the wheel, we arrived and walked onto that gorgeous beach. We shared a sand-seasoned lunch and conversation with a few other work people and some of Shiho's friends before losing our tee shirts and entertaining Juju on our towels. That's Justine, Nadine (with new baby cooking under that bathing suit! Eeee!), and Dani, enjoying the sun.
All five of us (including John) swam, too, or at least waded. Justine was almost scarily fearless in the water, laughing and plowing into the waves with abandon. I got about hip deep when I felt something sting my ankle - I don't know what it was, and it's not red anymore, but it freaked me out, so I didn't stay in the water too long.

Luckily, there was entertainment on the beach too! Band members Daryl and Jose came along, as did Daryl and Shiho's son David. He just keeps getting cuter! David, that is......although Daryl looks pretty funny in David's hat, too.
Those few hours at the beach were the perfect counterpoint to the stress of moving. Then today Josh joined me at the pool on base, where we splashed around with Nadine and family and went down the waterslide. We had hot dogs for Labor Day, too - my first American holiday hot dog since I was about ten years old. What fun!

It's starting to sink in that this is our last week in Japan. I've had my last weekend, my last Monday, my last night in our house and my final home-cooked meal. My first and last trip to the beach was bittersweet and lovely, and I was kind of glad to have felt a little sting.

I got 99 problems, but a house ain't one

2009-09-06T20:31:00.003+09:00

We're out, people. After 355 days at ichi-no-nijuroku-no-jusan Maborikaigan, we're officially homeless and pitiful again. At the moment I'm watching Stand and Deliver in the hotel room, drinking a little Cabernet Sauvignon and loving my husband. Here's a little eye candy from the move - tales of days at the beach and Indonesian feasts are yet to come.

Yep, the movers brought a crane again to move the sofa.

The move went smoothly this time around. Everything that needed to go, went. The stuff that had to stay stayed, with the exception of our toothbrushes. Josh and I partook of the hospitality of our friends Kelsey and Mack for two nights, watching movies and playing with the puppy dogs while our house sat empty. We're lucky to be staying in a different place than last time - the Navy Lodge had some big downsides for us, if you recall, but the BOQ is great. We're near the gate, and best of all our room has a little divider between sleeping and living quarters - so no feud over bedtime.

Life is good. Time to go geek out over Calculus a little longer, and dream of six more days of sushi.

*Okay, so I blatantly stole the title from June Gardens, and also from Jay-Z. But I can't get it out of my head!

It's MOVING DAY!

2009-09-03T08:10:00.002+09:00

And test day! Josh is out kicking ass and taking names on the E-6 exam, and I'm expecting the movers to be here any minute. Also drinking coffee out of a water bottle with a squirt-top - it's going to be a good day.

Moving

2009-09-02T18:45:00.002+09:00

Things that are in my house right now:
All my stuff
All Josh's stuff
A bunch of stuff we aren't allowed to pack out
Mosquitoes
Me.

Things that aren't in my house right now:
Refrigerator
Stove
Microwave
Washer/Dryer
My sanity.

The packers/movers come for most of our stuff tomorrow, AND Josh takes his advancement exam. Wish us luck.

Stormy weather

2009-09-01T15:41:00.004+09:00

It's like someone out there wants us to have every Japan experience possible before we leave. I mean, I haven't gotten married under a giant anime robot statue or anything, but we did get a tai-fun!I took this video yesterday morning, when the outer bands were starting to really hit us. The worst of Typhoon Krovanh reached our area midday Monday, battering our windows with rain, wind, and tiny debris.

The thing about Japan, though, is that the people of this big island have been getting used to earthquakes and typhoons for thousands of years. So every modern house not only has storm shutters, but big sturdy locking metal ones that easily slide out of their housing and over the windows and doors in seconds. The houses are built to exacting codes, especially on the water (as we are), and insurance coverage is comprehensive and reliable. If a more serious storm struck, I have no doubt our host nation would respond quickly and well to protect the people.

Fortunately, that wasn't the case with this storm. The closest it came to disaster was when Krovanh attacked our marriage, by way of Josh wanting to drive to base to work and run errands - during the worst of the wind and rain. I talked him out of it because I am a mean, mean woman and also possibly clinically paranoid (if you ask him) or because I don't believe in taking stupid unnecessary risks (if you ask me). We spent the day driving each other crazy, natch, playing Wii Fit and avoiding all the chores we need to do.

And oh, there are chores. Just today I've been to the vehicle office, the housing office, our insurance agency, the grocery store, and the post office. Tomorrow the nice men come take our fridge and stove, and the day after that ALL OUR STUFF WILL BE GONE OMG.

Come to think of it, the storm was kind of fitting. It's sunny and gorgeous today, but at our house, the wind is still blowing.

Two weeks

2009-08-30T13:16:00.003+09:00

That's it. We have two weeks left in Japan, and that's all forever. I can't believe it! I mean, things are moving forward nicely, and we feel as prepared as can be expected to make this move happen. Today I've cleaned out the pantry and put together a big box of slightly used dry goods to give away to my friends, cleaned the microwave, and taken all the magnets off the refrigerator. Josh cleaned out the car and I'm on my way to show it to a potential buyer - having that sold will be a big relief. And on Monday I'll cancel our internet service, so there may be a few days when we're incommunicado. I'm anxiously awaiting Nadine's return from Canada so we can spend some time together in that last week!

There's so much left to do, and so much that I know will remain undone when we get onto that flight next month. It's surreal.

Tomodachi dinner

2009-08-28T20:53:00.003+09:00

Remember our neighbors? Well, while Josh and I had our doozy of a year, they were having one of their own. Between health problems and their youngest daughter's wedding, we didn't see a lot of each other.

But all that is behind us now, so a couple weeks ago they invited us over for a seafood barbecue in the backyard. It's like every time we go over there, the food and drinks get better and more plentiful. My camera died as soon as we sat down, but Chikako and Toshio were kind enough to take care of documentation. It doesn't do justice to the food, though.

There was a romaine salad with mozzarella, skinned blanched tomatoes, basil and rings of the tenderest squid I've ever tasted. There were noodles fried with tiny scallops, and fresh cucumbers with miso dressing. And then the grilling started.

Have you ever had shellfish on the grill? I hadn't. I mean, I'm from Maine, so I've had clambakes and lobster on the beach. But the Tsukadas grilled soy-marinated slices of squid, whole prawns, scallops still in their beautiful pink and white shells. And then there were the drinks! Japanese beer that somehow stayed cold, and dry white wine and coffee later. We talked and laughed, and toasted our friendship. Josh and I revealed that we were leaving, and the four of us made plans for a farewell dinner in Tokyo in September.

We were so lucky to live across the street from our dear friends the Tsukadas. We'll miss them.

How do you stay sharp?

2009-08-26T19:41:00.003+09:00

Josh and I are still googly-eyed over the new sashimi knife we bought in Kyoto. And Melanie's comment reminded me how hard it was to find someone to sharpen her knives in Monterey, California.

See, when I was visiting Mel and Tony (and Nason and Fredo) last July, I cooked dinner once or twice. Their knives needed to see a whetstone, and I don't know how to work one, so I thought I'd get them sharpened as a gift. Monterey's pretty big, no? Especially when you include Marina, Carmel - basically a thirty mile radius! I searched the Web, asked at Williams-Sonoma and the farmer's market, and called around, and I couldn't find a single place that still offers knife sharpening by hand.

Mel finally found a place with an electronic pullthrough setup, but it chewed up the blades. Josh and I got our kitchen knives sharpened by hand in Japan for about $20 each, but in the States it seems like it's a dying art.

SO. Dull knives are dangerous, and we've all got to eat. What do you do?

Kyoto weekend, part 2

2009-08-25T19:15:00.007+09:00

Our train back to Yokosuka left at 2:00 Sunday afternoon, so we got up early to walk around sans backpacks for a while. We found some much-needed espresso and breakfast at a Tully's Coffee, of all things, and then walked to the famous Nishiki Food Market.

I'd seen it listed just that way on a tourist map, and our museum buddies from the night before mentioned a famous and ancient family knife shop there. We finished breakfast before eight o'clock, and arrived at Nishiki around then to discover:...that it didn't open until 9:00. We walked all the way through the market, listening to the friendly morning greetings among shopkeepers and marveling at the care they gave their little corners of the market. We saw old women scrubbing drainage grates with stiff brooms, young men washing the concrete floors with soap and water, and everyone sprucing up the storefronts for a busy day of business.

Nine o'clock rolled around in due time, and we took in the sights of the market. The tamago (sweet omelette) stand was one of my favorites - I've only ever seen it served cold or at room temperature, but this was the fresh stuff, still steaming from the pan.I snagged a pic of the chefs, too:
We saw lots of fresh, cooked, and pickled produce too, including "monkey bananas," each about the size of their neighboring figs.
And yes, oh yes, there was fish, in various stages of life (or lack thereof). From still swimming in a tank,to swimming in a big plastic bag,
to lots of raw fish and some whole ones already roasted on a stick.
Let me assure you that we did not indulge in that particular snack.

Finally, we came to the knife shop: Aritsugu. An English language brochure informed us that this family has been making knives in Kyoto since the sixteenth century - the SIXTEENTH CENTURY, I mean. More than four hundred years of expertise go in to making dozens of kinds of Japanese knives, from highly specialized eel knives to excellent quality everyday santoku.

We fell in love with this place. And after long conversations with each other and an English-speaking clerk named Minami-san, trials of half a dozen different knives, and a ten minute walk to 7-11 for yen cash, we ended up with a real prize to commemorate our time in Japan. And here it is:It's a handmade sashimi knife with an eight inch blade, and if you look closely you can see the fresh engraving, closest to the tip of the blade - that's our name, Sullins, in katakana. The staff gave us a deal on this heirloom-quality knife, then sharpened it and showed us how to sharpen it at home. Minami-san threw in a furoshiki square and wrapped the whole thing beautifully for the ride back to the States. We're thrilled!

So, after that little adventure we had to rush back to the hotel to check out, and once that was done we were STARVING again. See yesterday's post - after walking around aimlessly for another hour or so we ended up right back at Kerala for an Indian feast. The train ride back to Yokosuka was uneventful, except for a crazy person on the local from Yokohama who kept telling me about his $400 shirt and the sexy girls who hang around the American Navy base...and the 200mph bullet train speed, of course.

Kyoto is a beautiful city, and I'm glad we went, even just for twenty-four hours. We'll never forget it.

Kyoto weekend, part 1

2009-08-24T07:51:00.010+09:00

Have I mentioned we're moving next month? Next month, which is approaching very, very quickly, we are packing up and moving back across the Pacific Ocean, never to return to Japan. Most of our time is spent getting ready, in one way or another, but there are a couple of Japan's greatest hits that I really wanted to catch before we get on that plane. This weekend we hit two of them: the Bullet Train and the ancient city of Kyoto.Photo is from JR website - click to visit.

The train is one of those things everybody knows about Japan - a national network of superexpress trains that reach almost 200 miles per hour. Our ride from Shin-Yokohama station to Kyoto was about two and a half hours, and frankly less impressive than I was hoping. I mean, regular trains are pretty fast, but Shinkansen tracks are set further from trees and landscapes, so it's hard to tell how much faster you're going. I guess that's where the real miracle lies - the superexpress gets us 230 miles in 150 minutes, and it doesn't even feel rushed.

As usual, I fell asleep on the train and Josh studied for whatever test is next. Once we arrived, I played Ferdinand Magellan (also as usual) and Josh walked three paces behind me and followed the ponytail until we reached our hotel. Hotel Okura was lovely, although charging paying guests thirty dollars apiece to use the POOL is ABSURD, in any culture.*

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Once we checked in we were starving, and my guidebook pointed us to an excellent Indian restaurant, Kerala (or in Japanese, Kerara). Check out Josh's "I'm too hungry to pose for a picture" face:and note the Tandoori chicken on his fingers. The food was incredible.

From there we hopped back on the subway and visited the Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine, which has the largest concentration of Torii gates anywhere in Japan. That's where the photo at the top is from, and these too:Inari is the god of rice in the Shinto tradition, and is represented by a fox, often holding rice or a key (to the rice granary) in its mouth.The Torii gates were incredible. Each one is sponsored by a local business looking for luck with the gods, and there are thousands of them. We took a long walk through the gates, which have the added benefit of blocking the murderous Kansai heat and humidity.

Josh and I both love visiting shrines and temples, and Kyoto has many of the most famous ones in Japan. But our trip to Kyoto was only about twenty-four hours long, so this was our only religious visit. We made sure to buy some inarizushi though, since it's a regional specialty and one of our favorites. It's a little packet of sweet fried tofu skin (aburaage) stuffed with rice. We even got to see the proprietor of a little restaurant make it for us, and it was delicious.Once we were back in Kyoto proper we walked around the old neighborhood of Gion for a while, hoping to catch a glimpse of geisha, but in the end just wore ourselves out in the heat. After the long train ride, the long walk, and all that humidity, we were ready for a nice relaxing dip in the pool, but you already know how that turned out. So instead we got dressed up and headed to dinner early.

Believe me, I know how this sounds, but you're going to have to trust me: we had the best Irish food I've ever eaten in Kyoto, Japan.

I know.

I know! But my friend of a friend Will, who lives in Kyoto, recommended we visit McLoughlin's Irish Pub for dinner. He raved about their chef, and since Josh doesn't like Japanese food we decided to give it a shot. The place did not disappoint.

We were a little surprised, I must admit, to arrive at 6:30 and find the place barely open. When do Japanese people eat dinner on Friday night?! But we got to meet the chef and manager, who was in fact Irish, because he was sitting at the bar when we walked in. And we had the full attention of the staff, which is always nice - we each had a beer and I sipped a shot of Bushmills while enjoying the eighth-floor view of Kyoto. Then came the food.
Josh had been craving a burger, and this one came with a homemade sesame bun and hand-cut fries AND onion rings, and it was delicious. And once again, I was enticed by delicious pork sausages.
My first ever bangers and mashed! OH MY GOD, Internet, they were soso good. The sausages are also house-made, and delicious. We were so happy.

Unfortunately, over an hour after we arrived, there were still no other patrons in the place. Our waiter let us know that there wasn't any music that night, so we decided to move on. Will will be disappointed to hear that we went to another Irish pub, right next door to our hotel, called The Hill of Tara. We were skeptical, I'll admit, and glad we'd already eaten when we saw this sign on the door:
Mmmmm, ye olde traditional Irish crab entrails! JUST LIKE HOME. I have no idea whether that's actually eaten in Ireland, but no thanks for me.

Still, they had beer and whiskey, and live music starting at 9:00pm, so we grabbed a couple seats at the bar and ordered another couple Kilkenneys. And you'll never guess who we met. I mean, is it unusual to run into a couple staff members of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, while at an Irish pub in Kyoto? Is that not normal?

The four of us talked and drank and shared Japan and New York stories for a couple hours, while they ordered non-entrail dinners. I gave them a couple ideas for their day in Tokyo this week, and they told us about the Samaurai weapons and armor show that will hit the Met in October - they were in Japan working on the official book to be released for that collection. HOW COOL. By the time we were ready to settle up and head in for the night, we didn't even care that the music sounded like an easy-listening cut of an Irish Spring commercial, or that we hadn't seen any geisha or visited the Golden Pavilion.

Our train on Sunday left at 2:00pm, and we had a lot of fun before then. More on that soon - just as soon as I can get a Japanese version of Danny Boy out of my head. "...from gren to gren, and down the mountainside..."

*No, we didn't pay for the pool. We just walked down there in our bathing suits and complimentary bathrobes, got denied, and walked back. But we hope the Japanese people who were disgusted to see us so undressed in public might at least have thought we were rich enough to be able to swim there.

Splash!

2009-08-20T21:11:00.007+09:00

On Thursday I had an outing - and got some love from a beluga whale. Kelsey's mom was in town, so the three of us met up for lunch and a train ride to Yokohama Sea Paradise, aka Hakkeijima. It's like mini-Sea World, only forty five minutes from home. We elected to skip the roller coasters and just commune with creatures - beginning with the oh-so-natural Marine Mammal Show. Somehow my photos of dolphins, waluruses, sea lions and seals didn't come out, but the belugas were born to be photographed.Gorgeous just doing what they do, aren't they? But of course there were tricks:

...and I was so jealous of those trainers, to be able to work so closely with the whales. Don't think the downside of all this was lost on me though, particularly in Japan. I've heard the Fresh Air interview iwth the creators of the movie The Cove, which exposes a small rural village in Japan where dolphins are cruelly corralled, tested for showbiz capabilities, and slaughtered if they're not chosen for a water park somewhere.

At Sea Paradise the pens the whales and dolphins waited in were very small, and the polar bears were so skinny, hot, and depressed that Kelsey and I both got teary-eyed. Japanese people still eat whales. The big predators are always what gets me - dolphins and whales, lions and wolves, bears...these animals don't belong in captivity, certainly not by themselves and cramped into small cages behind glass.

Still, I think places like Sea Paradise have an important role to play in reminding us why we love sea life, why we take care of the oceans and don't zip jet skis through the manatee habitats. The walkthrough 'aqua museum' featured bunches of animals that I really don't mind seeing behind glass.Run away! Run away!
What's up, Ray?
Look at those teeth!*Sorry about the quality of this photo, but I had to post it. On the left there is Kelsey, a normal-sized human being. To the right is a GIANT FREAKING CRAB. And I just accidentally wrote "crap" instead of crab, because crap is what I'd do if I ever saw one of these coming at me. Good God.

Last but not least was the dolphin building, where we saw a few dolphins in passing but bonded with another beluga. Before this trainer came out, the whale was diving down and playing with us. I wish I'd had my camera out when it first dived, because I swear I had my hand on the glass, and the whale swam down and nudged its head against the glass, just where my hand was. Then came the theatrics:

Yet another bittersweet moment, watching this gorgeous beluga blow bubbles and play with us through the glass. I don't ever need to go back to Hakkeijima, and I kind of wish I could've researched more about the treatment of their animals before I paid to go in. But the day was lovely, the animals were gorgeous, and I'm adding my name to the petition to stop the dolphin slaughter. And, um, no whale meat for me, thanks.

*I know sharks are big predators too, but somehow I'm okay with them being locked up.

At least I'm a BUSY jerk

2009-08-19T09:47:00.002+09:00

It's been four days! Where have I BEEN?!

Sorry about that. But I have been keeping busy in the meantime. Starting with an incredible seafood barbecue at our neighbors' house on Sunday, followed by a massive hangover, a new friend who came bearing books and conversation, a tatami mite infestation - EW! and a butt ton of moving preparations, it has been a busy blogging hiatus.

It's all going well, though. A friend helped me buy bug bombs so the mites are gone, and let me tell you - vacuuming after a bug bomb is the most disgusting thing I've ever seen. And I've seen some pretty disgusting things. All done now. And the appointments are made for rental appliance pickups, utility shutoffs, packers and movers and inspections. Josh and I leave for Kyoto this weekend, and today I've got a field trip with Kelsey.

So I'm sorry for being absent, dear readers. I'll put new batteries in the camera today, and try to make up for it.

Kara? OK!

2009-08-15T15:37:00.003+09:00

Yes, there has been more karaoke. I'm indebted to Dani, the flutist in the band, who responded to the news that I'd only done karaoke once in Japan with an invitation to go last night. So we went! Josh couldn't make it because of his schoolwork, but karaoke isn't really his thing anyway.

I was NOT informed, sadly, until much too late that the vocalist from the band would be joining us. Yes. Spencer, the professional singer from the Navy Band came along to SING KARAOKE with me. Folks, it was a bloodbath.Okay, I may have been exaggerating the tensions for effect. We had such a great time! Ninety minutes flew by, as we passed the mics back and forth for pop songs and a little Disney. Can you tell, though, that Dani hears Spencer sing every day at work?Hee hee! We all got a kind of amnesia about which songs to sing, but she was smart enough to check her iPod.I hope I can remember in the next few weeks to soak up as many nights like this as I can - as much Japanese karaoke, sushi, ramen, shopping, and of course dates with all the friends we'll have to leave behind. If badly impersonating Prince is part of the deal, so much the better.

Next?

2009-08-13T21:14:00.003+09:00

Well, I was roughly woken by another earthquake this morning, but given that it's the third this week, it hardly seems worth mentioning.

Eight in the morning, shaken awake by THE PLANET. But no need to dwell on it.

The third earthquake this week.

ANYWAY. Life is crazy around here. I've made two new friends this week, naturally, since we're leaving within a month. On Tuesday, I drove out to Hayama and met Laura, who followed a couple months after her husband so their doggies could pass inspection. We had real Neapolitan pizza at "Napori Cantina," ha ha, and took a little tour of More's City mall. We have a LOT more shopping and touring to do before I head off, of course, if there are only enough hours in the day. My other new buddy is Tony, a new guy in the band. We had a Starbucks run and bonded over David Sedaris. Saying goodbye to Japan is not going to be easy!

That said, the process moves along. We've got a date for our stuff to be packed and shipped, and a tentative flight date too. There are checklists on the table and a calendar on my desktop with meetings, appointments, and inspections all laid out. We're looking at Craigslist and talking to mortgage brokers, and I'm shopping around for a job and a couple used cars.

OH, and have I mentioned how much I miss Nadine?! If you're reading this, madame, I MISS YOU and PLEASE HURRY HOME. This place is not the same without you.

Tomorrow it's yoga and the post office and the next steps in this crazy journey. Advice on making Navy moves easier would be welcome. Oh, and does anybody want to buy our car?

Earthquake, redux

2009-08-11T06:26:00.002+09:00

Another one, people - woke me up at 5:00am this time. So it's earthquake, typhoon, earthquake, tsunami warning, more typhoon. SIGH...who's up for a night of movies and cocoa? And maybe hugging my teddy bear. I'm tired of this upheaval!

Portrait of an evening

2009-08-09T20:07:00.004+09:00

Tonight I made kind of a fancy dinner, worked pretty hard on it, in fact. And it came out well! Josh and I had just finished our plates and he was headed for seconds, while I was on the couch.

Then an earthquake hit.

Don't worry, it was small and everyone (and everything) is fine, just a tremor. But it was by far the biggest one I've felt in Japan, or in my life. It went something like this.

Josh: "Are you sure you don't want seconds?"
Emily: "Yep, I'm good for the mo- is that an earthquake?"
J: "What?"
E: "OHMYGOD ITS AN EARTHQUAKE!" (shouted while running downstairs and crouching in a doorway).

The whole thing lasted maybe a minute, which feels really, really long when THE DAMN PLANET IS SHAKING. (Turns out it was a 3.0 here). I'm from the east coast, folks. Send me a hurricane warning, and I know what to do. Ice storm? No problem. Blizzard? I'm good. But earthquakes? Seizures en terra? Those don't work for me.

Fuji

2009-08-08T21:32:00.002+09:00

There's a Navy superstition that if you're stationed in Japan and don't climb Mt. Fuji, you're destined to return. So last weekend Josh (who isn't so much a fan of Japan) took off with his buddy Mack (Kelsey's husband) to conquer the Goddess of Japan.And they succeeded! Mack's pictures came out much better than Josh's so go check out his recounting of the adventure. And don't worry, Kelsey and I were fine - we exerted ourselves with knitting and pizza-making while the boys climbed the mountain.

Bubbly

2009-08-07T19:33:00.003+09:00

Champagne was always in the Sullins Japan Plan. It was the plan, actually: we expected that early in 2009 we'd be toasting the arrival of Baby Sullins, and maybe even a little sibling before we left in 2011. Quit my job, move to Japan, have babies.

It didn't really work out that way.

Which is not to say we haven't had things to celebrate while we were here. There have been festivals, bike rides, trips home, and incredible food. Josh had laser eye surgery and climbed Mt. Fuji without glasses. I've made dear friends, and even said goodbye to a few. I've loved Japan, and hated the pregnancy losses that ticked away at our time here.

So it was with mixed emotions that Josh and I toasted champagne this evening, as we celebrated the news that we'll be transferred back to the United States sometime next month. We are so delighted to be heading to Washington state, where we'll be able to see specialists who can help us sort out these miscarriages. We look forward to being close to our friends and family again - and 'close' covers a lot more territory once you've lived across an ocean. We're both ready for medical answers, for Whole Foods and sweet potatoes.

But as for me, I'm not quite ready to say goodbye to my Japanese home. I was prepared for three years' time - time to learn more of the language, the cooking, the culture. Time to see Kyoto and Nikko, and maybe even Bali or Thailand. I'd planned to do all those things with a little one slung on my hip, and as it turns out it's that last part that matters most.

So we're off, probably in mid-September, to a new chance on the Kitsap peninsula. I've got a lot of cleaning, organizing, and sushi-eating to do, not to mention time to spend with the friends I've got left in Yokosuka. For tonight we'll toast one more glass of bubbles, and dream of ten tiny fingers and ten little toes.

Scattered

2009-08-04T20:35:00.005+09:00

I have been all over the place lately. In a good way, mostly: I've spent whole days puttering around the house, knitting and cooking and doing whatever struck my fancy. Sunday, a drizzly grey beast of a weekend day which my dear husband spent conquering the goddess of Japan, I shopped and cooked and knitted and talked and ate all day with Kelsey. More about that over at her pad. And then today I went to Nadine's house for a couple hours, to watch Justine and help Nadine get her house ready for her month-long vacation home to Canada. That's right, after Beth left in July and I was gone for a month, now another close friend is leaving for a month too.

My scattered brain found some company at lunch today. What a lunch it was too! Nadine took Shiho (another band spouse and friend of ours) and me to Cafe Marine near her house. Oh heavens was the food delicious...and words wouldn't do it justice.A closer look?
TINY BABY SARDINES! A BIG BOWL OF WHOLE FISH (on rice) WITH RAW EGG FOR LUNCH!

I'm going to pause for a moment to allow my maternal grandmother to catch her breath, or possibly stop laughing. Okay Grammy? No agave nectar this time, at least!

Okay then. I'm not sure whether this technically counts, but it looked like chirashizushi - that's scattered sushi - but it was unusual and delicious and, along with the afternoon's company, a real treat.
The kids provided top-notch entertainment. I was so inspired by lunch that I decided to scatter dinner too, and make my first real attempt at chirashizushi at home. I bought tuna, salmon, and prepared omelet (tamago) plus an avocado and little confetti of nori. Julienned cucumber from Nadine's landlord's garden was cold and delicious, and brown sushi rice was the foundation. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.
Josh isn't a fan of the nori. But the food was pretty good, and the presentation will do for a couple of gaijin. With any luck, the food will stay scattered even when my mind sorts itself out.

When I am king, dilly dilly, you shall be queen

2009-08-02T07:59:00.007+09:00

My favorite part about Sequim, Washington - Josh's hometown - is the lavender. Anyone who has ever spent any real time in Washington will know that Sequim, on the Olympic Peninsula, west of Seattle, is famous for lavender farms and for its annual Lavender Festival. This year, for the first time, our visit coincided with the festival and I got to go.

The festival fell on the weekend just after Josh's eye surgery, so he had to spend his days like this:Don't feel too bad for him though; Josh and his family embrace the Cranky Local philosophy of festivals and lavender itself, and eschew participation on principle. Lucky for me, Irish and Steve like plants, festivals, and good live music, so they drove up to Sequim to come along for the day.There they are, Irish modeling the new hat Steve bought her! Behind them are a few of the dozens of varieties of lavender that grow all around Sequim, soaking up the mild temperatures and little rain. We got lucky with the gorgeous sunny day, and the buses to the lavender farms were good for an air-conditioned break. There were a dozen farms on the tour, but once you've seen a couple fields of lavender, you're pretty much set. So we took a leisurely walk through the impressive street fair, where Irish got her hat and we all got some local spice mixes and hazelnut snacks.

I wish I'd snapped more photos of the street fair; it was lovely. There were hundreds of vendors, and everything smelled amazing. There was even a dogsitting arena with private, shaded kennels where folks could leave Bruiser while they visited the farms. Early in the day we stopped for a snack to build our strength. And here, ladies and gentlemen, is where you get to see a semi-obscene picture of me eating an enormous all-beef Polish hot dog. Oh yeah, baby - hot dogs are one of those rare meaty concoctions I actually craved during my vegetarian years. On a hot day in Washington D.C., or walking through downtown Bath, Maine, I'd occasionally catch a whiff from a hot dog stand and just swoon. This was my first indulgence since embracing omnivoritude once again, and it did not disappoint. Mmm!

The rest of the day was much more wholesome, I assure you. I wish Josh could have been there to enjoy the food, the sights, the smells, but he recovered well while we tied up traffic with the rest of the tourists downtown. There aren't too many things Washington state has in common with Provence, but this one made my day.

My two loves

2009-07-30T14:07:00.003+09:00

Food and knitting, my two great non-human loves, have finally joined forces to overwhelm the world with cuteness. Sorry about the photo quality - I snapped these with the webcam - but I don't think you'll be able to resist.
I give you Aubergine and Carrot, from Hansi Singh's Amigurumi Knits. The book was a gift from Wendy, and I can't get enough of these fluffy little summer projects.

Recipe of the day: Key Lime Vinaigrette

2009-07-27T19:18:00.003+09:00

I love to cook. I can be imaginative, but I usually find myself riffing off someone else's recipe. Tonight was a rare exception: I had a bottle of key lime juice in the pantry thanks to Melanie, a request from Josh for a cold salad dinner, and a lot of time to think about it.

What came out was a barbecue chicken salad made with breast meat, homemade bbq sauce from the fridge, and some pantry staples, and then the main course: a whole wheat couscous salad with green beans, tomato, cucumber (thanks, Nadine!), red pepper, onion, cilantro, canned beans, and a delectable key lime vinaigrette. Throw some ingredients into the bowl, Internet, and mix this generously throughout - you won't be disappointed.

Key Lime Vinaigrette - Emily's Own!

1/2c olive oil
1/2c key lime juice
3 cloves garlic, minced
1-3 tsp. agave nectar, to taste
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper, or more to taste

Combine all ingredients in a tall, narrow container and blend with stick blender. Taste and adjust acid/sugar balance; season as desired. Drizzle over absolutely everything, and send royalties to emilymsullins at gmail dot com.

P.S. I know that a 1:1 oil to acid ratio is unusual, and in fact I started with 2:1. But the acid in key lime juice is pretty subtle and I just kept adding more until the ratio was about even, and it was delicious. I WALK ON THE WILD SIDE.

Miracles redux

2009-07-24T15:43:00.002+09:00

So I was just sitting in my humid, un-air-conditioned living room (it's broken and I'm waiting for a call back) sweating and cursing this incredibly loud cicada who had perched on the wall outside. This was one horny buggie, chirping so loudly that I actually considered shutting the window and the airflow, just to get some peace. And then, mid-chirp - and can I just say that they should have another word like SCREAM because that is not some measly chirp - a bird flew in front of the window and gobbled it up!

Crows: 1. Cicadas: 0. My ears? Magnificent.

Miracles

2009-07-24T08:45:00.002+09:00

We arrived in Yokosuka last night around 7:00, home by 7:45 and in bed not long after that. We'd been traveling for twenty hours including a nine and a half hour flight, two buses, a taxi, a friend's car, and last of all the QE2. We both slept well until about 4:00 this morning, and I've been catching up on the Internet and tidying up ever since.

About those miracles, though: it's like a miracle to come home after a long trip. I didn't see much of the house last night, but just sleeping in the A/C next to my husband, in our bed, was heaven. This morning I've just been opening cabinets and drawers and running my fingers over our things, in awe. Nearly every single thing in this house is something Josh, I, or we wanted and got, or were given in love from someone dear to us. Other people's dear things have been a great comfort to both of us during our travels, but nothing compares to home. Even when it's so far away from home.

Still, we need bread and milk and vegetables, an A/C unit is malfunctioning and it seems the rainy season has not been good for some of my plants - despite Kelsey's valiant efforts! I'm off to tackle some of those pesky chores today, and likely fall back into bed not long after 8:00 again.

Homeward Bound

2009-07-22T14:48:00.002+09:00

Hey y'all,

We're on our way home. This has been a crazy trip - busy, good and bad. We're so indebted to everyone for looking after us on the way, and we're sad to leave. But Josh can see, and we've got some whole wheat pasta in the suitcase, so the trip was a success. We get in on Thursday, Japan time, and I'll try to be more attentive shortly thereafter.

P.S. I can't believe I'm going back to an Ivy-free Japan. C'est la Navy. :(

Vision

2009-07-18T13:12:00.002+09:00

He can see!

I was waiting to post until I could upload a few pics of Josh with his shades on, or seeing things sans glasses for the first time, but I've been torturing everyone by not posting.

Josh's PRK surgery was a success (so far), with a super easy and painless procedure followed by about twenty hours of sleep. He's a little sore now, using drops every 30 minutes when he's awake, and taking a fair amount of ibuprofen and Percocet.

The procedure is really remarkable - the lights from the laser were all blurry, then it did its thing, and immediately he could see it perfectly. The docs are hopeful for 20/20 vision or better, and he should be pretty well recovered in a couple days.

You can go ahead and keep those fingers crossed for a safe - albeit dry and uncomfortable - plane ride to Tokyo on Wednesday. And wish me luck now that I can't hide his glasses and do whatever I want while he can't see.

Fingers crossed!

2009-07-16T14:04:00.002+09:00

and four-leaf clovers and brilliant, careful doctors. Josh is having PRK surgery in the morning, which should correct his vision after decades of glasses. The risks are pretty minimal - they do dozens of these per week - but it's still surgery, and I'll be happy when it's over. Fingers crossed!

Chilly Cali

2009-07-14T14:40:00.008+09:00

I haven't even been in California for almost a week, but I can't stop thinking about it. Having a friend like Melanie is one of those gifts in life, the ones you know you don't deserve but can't imagine living without, like electricity, or Democrat parents. Ha! Seriously, I love that girl so much, and we had a great time every single day.

Here are some shots from my last day in Marina, last Wednesday. Mel and I bundled up the baby and headed for the famous Pebble Beach drive, a little less than an hour from her house. First, two pics from my "don't drop him!" series.
These were taken at the Lone Cypress, the symbol of Pebble Beach. It's several hundred years old, and gorgeous.Thanks, random German tourists, for capturing the shot!

A little further down we found a harem of seals (yes! it's called a harem!), lounging on the beach and rocks. They cracked us up.

And in a matter of moments, everybody on the beach decided to cool off in the surf for a bit. SPLASH!

You may notice we had lots of time to take pretty pictures and enjoy the scenery. This was due to Melanie's incredibly consciencious son Nason, who slept through the entire ride. He missed the seals, but the ladies got to talk and enjoy the ride, instead of switching off sitting in the back and singing while getting motion sickness. Thanks fella!

After the drive we stopped in Carmel for lunch, where we had California in a nutshell: roasted garlic, goat cheese, olives, and an artichoke. No wine, alas, but the food was fantastic. Nason even got to eat - another bottle! He's a champ, switching between nursing and bottlefeeding beautifully.Mel got to handle one of those less-glamorous parts of motherhood while I finished up the food.By the end of the day, we were all tuckered out. We managed to rally for a nice dinner in Monterey, though. Whoops! I mean:
Now I'm in Washington, loving my in-laws' and friends' hospitality, recovering from an unexpected Pacific Northwest sunburn, and counting down to Josh's laser surgery. More photos and stories, I promise. Until then, cute:

The Left Coast

2009-07-14T01:26:00.002+09:00

I know, I know! I need to blog. But I've been having so much fun over here in California and Washington that I can't seem to find time to write. Today I'm going to hot springs with my buddy Christie, and I'll have the camera. Promise to write more later, if I'm not collapsed into a pile of relaxed goo. So...not much chance I'll actually write...awkward.

I'll do my best though. Here's some cute to tide you over.

Bye for now

2009-07-09T01:31:00.003+09:00

Internet, I have so much to tell you about. It's my last day in California and I have had such a great time with the Valles - there have been beach walks and long drives, French toast and Lebanese dinners, big laughs and midnight meltdowns. But before I get to all of that, I need to say goodbye (for now) to a couple of dear friends. The Ivys, our sponsors and friends for the last year, are leaving Japan and the Navy to start a new life in Texas, and we are going to miss them so much!

Beth, Alex, Hannah, and Faith welcomed us to Japan on August 1, 2008, at the Navy Lodge. They came bearing a laundry basket full of snacks and supplies for our stay, took us out to dinner, and lent us their bikes for a few weeks. Even before all that they'd been answering our questions, making our reservations for the bus from the airport, and just generally helping us stay sane during that crazy move.
Once we settled in, though, was when the good times really began. There have been dinners and trips to Ikea, there have been long talks over coffee and knitting, there was a sleepover and even karaoke. Beth and I have spent quiet hours on my couch or hers, talking about marriage, children, love, God, feminism, sex, faith, and how to make the most of our Japanese lives. Our two families really connected over this past year, and their absence will be a void when I return.

Last Wednesday, a few hours before I headed out to the airport, Beth met me on base for one more cup of coffee and a chat. I think it was good for both of us that I went on vacation - we didn't have to say goodbye forever, just a few weeks! even though we both knew better. The Ivys have touched my life and I know we'll see each other soon, even if soon means when those little girls are teetering around in high heels and worrying about the SATs. Love and light will follow all four of them, I know.

Attention: ladies of the Bay Area

2009-07-06T15:03:00.007+09:00

I am here to inform you that the two men pictured below are, in fact, single:Pay no attention to the lady with the baby. No need to worry about her right now. But the fellas? Good with kids!
Quote from Hang: "That's the most dangerous game I ever played. The kid has a floppy neck and a dad in the Navy."
And what need I say about Abe? Suave, even when pushing someone else's stroller.

I give you the least-nerdy nerd reunion ever. Abe, Hang, Melanie and I were among a group of about twelve in AP Calculus, nine years ago, at Coral Shores High School (go, whatever our mascot was!). We all had to work together to pass the AP exam, by which I mean Abe and Hang had to help us learn and we had to put up with their rolling their eyes so hard they sprained them. HA! But we all made it, then went to college and lost touch. Mel and Hang reconnected years ago, and this week it happened that we were all within a hundred miles of one another, so we met in the middle for lunch and a reunion. And we had such. a great. time.Mel and I drove to Santa Cruz from Monterey, with baby Nason, and Abe and Hang each drove from Mountain View, where they live less than a mile apart. But they didn't know this until today! Mission accomplished. We walked about ten blocks to Saturn Cafe, a great vegetarian restaurant where salads, fries, pad thai, and many veggie burgers were had. The guys gallantly fought over who got to pay for lunch. Since they were the only ones at the table with, you know, jobs, Mel and I demurely averted our eyes. Even Nason got a snack, and I'm sure the nursing baby didn't make the guys uncomfortable at all. No problem.
Then, because life is awesome, my flip flop broke and I had to walk barefoot to a shoe store. So if you're wondering why anyone would Google "is it possible to get chlamydia of the foot," now you know. But I bought new flip flops and we headed to the gorgeous boardwalk and seaside, schlepped the stroller across the sand, and enjoyed the sunny weather.
Abe and Mel had shaved ice, but I was too cold for that.

It was really incredible catching up for an afternoon. Mel is really the only Coral Shores friend I keep up with, other than the odd Facebook update. Hang and Abe are both in the tech industry, doing great, and seemed so different than my memories from a decade ago. I wonder how different I seemed to them - if, like them in my eyes, I seem more at ease in my skin, happier, softer around what used to be some harsh edges, and altogether wonderful. I hope so. It's funny about getting older. I can see in the photos how my looks have changed, but I forget how much growing up I did in college and beyond. How sure I was of, oh, everything in high school, and how this lifelong march toward loving moderation has progressed.

I guess all there is left to say is that I could have hoped that these old friends could be good friends again, years later, but I wouldn't have put money on it. What a gift, and I hope we can shorten the distance between this visit and the next.

Well, this about sums it up

2009-07-06T03:14:00.002+09:00

U-S-A! U-S-A!

2009-07-06T02:29:00.004+09:00

Y'all, it is good to be home on the Fourth of July. (Funny how the entire United States is 'home,' now, isn't it?) There were sparklers, there were meats on the grill, there were slaws and beers and party games. And this morning, I wore my pajamas to the coffee shop. USA!

I'm having a great time visiting Melanie, Tony, and baby Nason in northern California. They are such a beautiful family, and the baby fits right in. Check it out:
Melanie and I met when we were sixteen and I moved to Key Largo from Maine (eek!). We hit it off immediately, and spent our high school years doing Calculus and History projects together, playing designated driver for some of our friends, and trying like heck to get boys' attention. One of those boys was Tony Valle, who became Mr. Melanie a couple years ago, and one of my dear friends to boot. Mel and I were each others' maids of honor, and planned to have our kids at the same time and try to make the Navy station us together. So far those last two haven't quite worked out, but we're still hopeful.

Since I arrived we've had two baby-free "dates" - once to the coffee shop and once to the grocery store. Nason will be three months next week, so it's tough to be away for long, but we've had fun! Here's Mel, baby-free for coffee:
and here's me, in heaven in Monterey with a little man snoozing in the carrier.
Nason is unbelievably good-natured. He cries when he wants something - food or to be changed or a bounce on somebody for a while - but the rest of the time he's smiley and burpey and absolutely adorable. And, thanks to his Mommy, I even got to feed him one of his first bottles.Yeah. I make dorky faces.
Now that he's such a big boy, he can alternate bottles with nursing so Mel can be away for a couple hours at a time. We're going to test that theory this week. Maybe kayaking?

Yesterday, for the Fourth, we went to two parties: a big shebang for mostly families with young kids, thrown by Mel and Tony's baby photographer, who spent her toddlerhood in Yokosuka! I had a chat with her mom, Katherine, who lived in Yoko on her own for two years, while her pilot husband worked away from home 85% of the time. No Skype, no email, no overseas phone calls - we are PAMPERED these days. Those women must have been made of steel.

Next was Eric and Jen's soiree, around the corner from Mel and Tony's house. There were about a dozen of us there, and the guys work together, so there were lots of beers and games and laughs flying around over there. Eric is learning Chinese, which is MUCH harder than Japanese - no alphabets! tonality! poor guy - and another friend was visiting from Vegas. The ladies dominated a game of Cranium and the baby fell asleep to the hoots and hollers and sparklers.

What a trip. I miss my husband, who has spent his four-day weekend cleaning our house, and I can't wait to see him next week in Washington. But for now I'm cuddling the baby and loving my friends, and wishing my stay here could be longer.

...and I'm in!

2009-07-03T07:40:00.002+09:00

After a ridiculously easy, direct train ride from Yokosuka practically to my gate, then some wine and dinner at Narita, and a plane trip made pleasant by washing down Ambien with more wine, I have arrived on the Monterey peninsula. Melanie, Tony, and baby Nason are lovely, and I'll have lots of pictures soon.

About that Ambien: I'm usually not a medication person. But seriously: coach seats should COME with Ambien. It should be pillow, blanket, sleeping pill. The wine is free on ANA (woot! I never understood why it was free in first class. What do they have to drink about? With the legroom and reclining seats and, you know, wealth) and I just snoozed, watched a movie, and snoozed some more, and I was here before I knew it.

Time to visit and relax and cuddle the baby for a spell. Aaahhhhhh...

I'm off

2009-07-02T07:20:00.002+09:00

for international trip #2 of 2009. The super easy, no-problem train ride commences in a couple hours, followed by a quick hop across the Pacific Ocean. I can't wait to see my girl in the Bay Area!

Catch you soon.

Travel

2009-07-01T14:37:00.004+09:00

The night before the last time I was headed to the airport for a flight to the U.S., I discovered that I was having my third miscarriage, and would be in bad pain and deep sorrow for the following week or so. I was also flying space available, and sending Josh off to go live on a ship on the deep blue sea for a month - so I suppose I need't mention that I was a mess. I leave again tomorrow, a week ahead of Josh, for a West Coast vacation, and I was really looking forward to easy travel this time. We have tickets! On commercial airlines! And people picking us up at the airport and phone lists and rental cars and plans.

Then today happened. So far the bus to the airport filled up within one day, from plenty of seats left to 10 overbooked, and the rental agency finally sent a plumber over to address the leak in one of our walls. To wit:
I took those before he cut giant rectangles out of the sheetrock.

My kitchen cabinets are empty, the pipes are rusted, and it can't be fixed before I leave. We're forbidden the dishwasher, and now I'm on a mission to figure out how on earth to get to the airport by train. Oh, and did I mention I'm saying goodbye to one of my best friends here, who will be moving home to Texas while I'm gone?

Le sigh.

Friends in the house

2009-06-28T19:20:00.005+09:00

Now that I'm a professional layabout, our lives have gotten a lot more social. This weekend was no exception, and we had a great time.

Well, it started before the weekend, actually. One day last week we took the train toward base and met Eric, the band's new tuba player. Josh is his sponsor, so we've endeavored to help with Japan survival skills, including the train. We all rode together to Mabori-kaigan and stopped at our neighborhood ramen shop for dinner. Mmm...ramen...That place does not disappoint. Eric and I had miso ramen, aka the best kind, while Josh had soy sauce flavor. We all doctored it up with crushed garlic, chili oil, and vinegar. YUM.
The fellas did a pretty good job of including me in the conversation, kind of. Okay not really, but whatever. Eric's wife arrives with their two dogs in August, so we'll have them over together and retreat to our gendered corners. Anyway, the sky that night was gorgeous.
Then yesterday the three of us met up again to go look for the house Eric is considering, out in Hayama. He knew which roads to take, which is huge for someone so new to Japan! But the details in the neighborhood got a bit sketchy, so mission failure. Still, we had ice cream cones and a nice breezy walk, so it was fine.

Sidebar: everyone should live in Mabori, where the streets are marked and wide enough and near-ish to base. I'm just saying.

Today, Sunday was rainy and dreary, so naturally Josh and I played Wii Fit all morning. We discovered that I'm better at hula hoops, Josh is better at all the strength exercises (duh) and also he is required to put down a tarp or something before attempting any of the aerobics - the swiffer that can handle his workouts has not yet been invented. Kelsey and Mack, we cleaned the board. Cleaned it well.

And it's lucky for our friend Dirk and his family! Dirk, his wife Taeko (apologies if I spelled that wrong), and their kids Sonya and Caillou came over for coffee and a visit this afternoon, and no one could resist the call of the Wii. I wish I'd thought to take pictures of us chatting, eating fruit bars, making fools of ourselves with the hula hoop game, and laughing together. But I didn't, so you'll have to take my word for it.

Know what I did remember to photograph? PRESENTS!They brought us a beautifully wrapped package of traditional Japanese treats.
And my personal favorite: homemade yogurt! Dirk has this down to a science, and it even made an appearance in our salad dressing at dinner tonight. Oh, and can you guess what their last name is?
Hint: it's not "plain" or "full cream."

Now it's eight p.m., and the rain keeps falling, so we've traded in the Nintendo for a documentary. Only four days left until I head for Cal-i-for-ni-a! WOOT. How lucky are we to have such good friends on two continents?

Wii Fit...into only our fat clothes

2009-06-27T12:05:00.002+09:00

But wii're working on it! I LOVE the Wii Fit, y'all. Then again, I generally love any new exercise for the first week or so, so who knows whether this one will last. But having it in my living room, ready to go any time, is great motivation. No need for fancy workout clothes or even shoes, and I can go at my own pace and shower when I'm done. The games are fun - ski slalom is a favorite - and the hula hoops are the best aerobic workout, even though it's supposed to be for balance. I like the thing, and I think I'll buy one.

I know some of you out there have this system, and I have a question for you: how long have you owned it, and how often do you use it now? I'm concerned that the novelty will wear off and I'll stop wanting to play/exercise after a couple months, so is it worth the cost? It's really fun now, when I unlock something new every day, but does that last?

LTO

2009-06-26T20:55:00.003+09:00

So I made it back. No arrest, no accident, and our car is officially legal for the next two years. Still, what a stressful morning!

The on-base Vehicle Registration Office is incredibly helpful. Yesterday they gave me a good map and directions to the Yokohama office, and a breakdown of the fees I'd have to pay in yen cash. However, I misread the note and thought I'd need about six thousand yen. Missed a one there, though, and I actually needed thirteen thousand, plus tolls. So once I finally found the right offices, parked the car, got an inspection, navigated the bureaucracy, and got the new registration, I had about four hundred yen to my name.

That's about four dollars. Imagine finding yourself about ninety minutes from home with four dollars in your wallet, at lunchtime. Credit cards don't work, ATMs don't accept your card - ANNOYING! I counted out the coins for the tolls I'd face, and then used my 400 yen to buy a bottle of water and a couple onigiri to tide me over. And then I drove home and passed out for about an hour and a half.

This early retirement is making me soft, people. I still managed to have a coffee with Nadine this afternoon, which was lovely, play some borrowed Wii Fit (thanks Kelsey!) and make some zucchini strand spaghetti from, where else, Smitten Kitchen for dinner. And now I'm off to bed again, to prepare for another trying day of leisure.

Pro-crastinator!

2009-06-25T22:35:00.003+09:00

That's right: I have broken out of the amateurs and am now a PROcrastinator. And because of that, tomorrow morning I have to skip yoga and drive to Yokohama to re-register the QE2.

Why do I do this? I found out in April that my registration would expire June 27th, but then life happened, dee dee dee, and I was busy eating pepperoni and throwing parties and getting heavier, so I let it go. I was actually even proud of myself for planning to go TODAY, that's one whole day early, until I realized I needed a base inspection and new insurance before I could get the new sticker. So two days lost, and I just hope it all goes well tomorrow.

If you don't hear from me for a couple days, don't worry. I'm probably just putting off calling Josh for bail money.

A couple updates

2009-06-24T19:16:00.004+09:00

Y'all, it's been a crazy month. There was a pepperoni obsession (and the ensuing weight gain), there was nudity , gardening , a sleepover, and karaoke, even! And putting all those links in here is really annoying, so I'm going to stop.

Still, despite my best efforts to update this puppy, a few things have slipped through the cracks. Let's rectify that, shall we? Take the pepperoni: did I mention I made amazingly delicious pizza out of the last few dozen slices? Well I did, and boy. Did anyone tell me how good pepperoni pizza was during my unfortunate sabbatical from omnivoritude? Cause I don't think they did. Of course I made a veggie pizza too, for my husband, who keeps checking my fingerprints to make sure I'm his real wife and not some meat-eating replacement.

A little later in the month, I made my first drive to and from Narita airport, as I mentioned, to send my knitting student Wendy and her family back off to the U.S. of A. What I didn't mention was that before she left, Wendy completed her first knitted garment! After several months of working together on lace, cables, and washcloth after washcloth, we bested most of the big hits of beginner knitting. Here she is with the inaugural Gomez Garment!I miss my girl already! Oh, and when I returned the rental car I left my water bottle in it, and the rental company can't find it. Me and water bottles are like, uh, Klingons and Romulans. (That part was Josh's contribution).

So that's what you've missed in June. Can you believe it's almost July 2009? I can't. I'll be spending most of July on the old Left Coast of the U.S., visiting my sister Melanie and Josh's parents, so there will be significantly less dried octopus on this little corner of the Internets.

Size

2009-06-22T20:24:00.002+09:00

What's up with weight? I really don't understand it. I've been hovering at a particular weight - and I don't want to say what it is, so I'm going to call it 530lbs - since I started serious business travel around 2007. Traveling a lot meant no yoga, lots of french fries, and lots of fancy, buttery dinners out with donors on the corporate AmEx. So I put on a bit, which was fine, but my current early retirement was supposed to take that weight back off.

And it did! A few months of eating better, walking more, and regular yoga classes saw me back around my college weight - call that 520lbs. It was great! My thin pants fit perfectly again, and I felt great.

Then, inexplicably, I went back to 530. Last month, with no major changes in eating or exercise, I put those ten pounds right back on. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, people?

So now I'm trying to cut back on the ice cream, and add some light weightlifting and cardio in between weekly yoga classes. (I know, I know. I'd do more yoga if there was another class at my level that didn't happen at night, but I just can't exercise at dinner time.) We'll see how it works - I'm tired of my fat pants! Any suggestions?

2009-06-22T07:33:00.003+09:00

And I love him right back.

Happy Father's Day, Daddy.

No Freebird!

2009-06-20T20:35:00.008+09:00

There are lots of things that are not better in Japan. Speed limits, lane widths, multiple alphabets, and french fries come immediately to mind. I won't mention the DUI rules (one sip!) or the utter unavailability of whole grains. But I am prepared to say with full-voiced enthusiasm, that karaoke is better in Japan.

And the sky is blue. I mean, you just knew it had to rock here, didn't you? But even after ten months in my host nation, I hadn't been out for karaoke. The language barrier is intimidating, and it's tough to plan evening activities with friends with toddlers, and when I mention karaoke to my husband, I get this face:Click the picture to zoom in, and see that ferbissenah punim.

Still, thanks to the lovely excuse of Beth's birthday and the Ivy's impending return to the Texas motherland, a bunch of us got together for dinner and singin. Dinner was lovely, and we had Nadine, John, and Justine for that portion of the evening. Juju was in rare form - speaking of a punim! She had us all grinning for hours.
She gets cuter every day. She still has to go to bed at a decent hour though, so the Wylie/Theriault clan left us early and the rest of us - Beth and Alex, Andi and Chris, Josh and I - headed to Gogo Karaoke on Blue Street.

We headed in and confirmed the rumors that ice cream and coffee - and, randomly, cotton candy - were free with the karaoke. I navigated the broken English/terrible Japanese dance with the front desk staff, who explained that we could go to room six downstairs.

Room six?

Room six. We went downstairs to a small, private room with a flat panel TV, two mics, tambourines, and an electronic song-choice remote. There was a phone on the wall for ordering drinks and food from the menu, and comfortable couches all around. Our own private room with food service AND free ice cream...heaven. It took us probably ten minutes to figure out how to choose songs, and then we were off! What a great time. Alex and Chris stole the show, including Alex's rendition of "When a Man Loves a Woman" punctuated by passionate bites of chocolate ice cream:and Chris and Alex's duet of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling."

Swoon!

We even got Josh to sing along once or twice. Around nine fifteen we had to say goodnight so the parents could relieve the babysitter, and Josh and I headed home. But not before I bought a member card to Gogo Karaoke - I will most definitely be back.

*Thanks to Beth for the first three photos!

We call that "Tuesday"

2009-06-18T17:10:00.003+09:00

Kelsey took me to lunch today for ramen, which was only mildly successful. You can read more about it at her blog, from which I snagged this photo:...which she snapped while we were at a stoplight. It's a children's clothing store, folks, but if Daddy's on Daddy in the Boomy Roomy, methinks the kids should've spent the night at Grandma's.

Now you can really come visit. Really. Anytime. Come visit

2009-06-18T16:58:00.004+09:00

Wanna know why? Cause yesterday I drove to the airport for the very first time, and it is EASY. Of course it takes twice as long to go half the distance in Japan, but the drive is uncomplicated and on the highway, all the way! Come on over.

The circumstances weren't great, I'm sorry to say: I had to say goodbye to my knitting student, Wendy, as she and her family left for a new life in San Diego. They have two puppy dogs who are not allowed on the airport bus, so they rented a van and I rode along, then drove back home by myself. I wish I'd brought the camera; it would have been nice to document a couple things. Like when the suitcases on top of the car banged into a height warning thingie at a parking garage...oops! And poor Natsumi, the Akita, barking away in her crate as she was about to leave her homeland forever. And then there were the fart jokes coming from the back of the car - did I mention they have two teenage boys?

We said a sad goodbye at the (clean, friendly, comfortable, convenient) curbside dropoff point, and I drove home on my own. On the way I stopped at a rest area for amazingly delicious fast non-food (whassup, chicken teriyaki mosburger?), returned the rental car and then swung by the Japanese grocery store. And there, I found...

A CHICKEN. An actual, whole, chicken, plucked and fresh and head- and foot-less, ready to go in my oven!* I haven't seen one of those in Japan ever. Poultry comes in sterile styrofoam packages here, skin on, bones usually removed, and whole chickens aren't particularly useful in a culture that doesn't typically include ovens. The commissary on base, land of whole wheat bread and skim milk, sells only frozen big-box poultry, which takes days to defrost and tastes like sawdust. I was so excited about this chicken!

So now we've got bellies full of roasted bird, a big bowl of fresh stock in the fridge, and the knowledge to find a chicken again when the mood strikes. (Tori-o ichino kudasai!) It's been a pretty good week so far.

*Well, I had to kind of squish the heart and innards away from the chest cavity, but whatever.

The neighborhood

2009-06-16T20:07:00.004+09:00

I love where we live. Josh and I have been trying to take a short walk together a few times a week, to connect with one another and enjoy these cool evenings before they turn into scorchers. (It's essential for pack cohesion, you know. Tsst!) Josh even went so far as to buy me some new walkin' shoes recently, shoes I've had my eye on since we moved here:Oooooh, I love those shoes.

Last week we took a little constitutional and got one of those perfect, cotton-candy sunsets.
I love where we live.

Sleepover, v. 1.0

2009-06-15T22:25:00.006+09:00

Last Saturday night I had a few friends over for dinner, games, drinks, and a sleepover sans kiddies. Most of my girlfriends have little children, and the rules in Japan forbid ANY alcohol before driving (even a sip), so most of us had never had a glass of wine together before. So the men took the little ones for a night, and I got to work.
Of course I had a lot of cleaning up to do, given my housekeeping deficiencies. But the food was the fun part, always the food! I made Nadine's famous smoked salmon cheese ball, broccoli-stuffed mushroom caps, a plate of crudite and some chips and salsa. My dear friends Kelsey, Beth, and Andi (yes, we all have blogs) came over at six o'clock for the festivities. It wasn't long before we were in pajamas. And not long after that until we were cracking up!Beth (that's the one in the black) brought chocolate fondue and stuff for dippin,' which was a big hit.
In the middle of stuffing our faces, we added essential oils to homemade sugar scrubs, each with our own custom scent. After the wine came out in earnest, though, it was all games. We played Taboo and MarioKart Wii, then said an early goodbye to Kelsey (in the purple - that's why she wasn't in PJs), who had to get up at 4:00 for a tour of Mt. Fuji the next morning. Andi (in the grey shirt), Beth and I watched some DVDs and laughed a lot more before we finally went to bed around 1:00am.

I wish I had some funny photos of the three of us the next morning, all bleary-eyed and fixated on our coffee. I'd made Jacked-up Banana Bread from my favorite blog, Smitten Kitchen, the day before, so breakfast was a cinch.

And then, all too soon, it was over! We had to hurry out of the house so one of the mamas could tend to a minor emergency at home, and I came home, wrote a paragraph here, and KONKED OUT for about three hours. Now I know why housewives entertain so much - it is FUN, and really fills the hours! I'd have that crew over again next Saturday night if we didn't all have families to tend to. Everybody pitched in for the good times, and I had a blast. Next time, charades!

Zzzzzz...

2009-06-14T11:19:00.002+09:00

I am BEAT! Three of my dear friends came over last night for our first (of many!) grownups' sleepovers. There was wine and chu-hi, there was Wii and aromatherapy and oh, the food. We stayed up late and woke up early, so I am one tired puppy. Photos and war stories to come, after a loooong nap.

Look out! He's right behind you!

2009-06-13T08:21:00.004+09:00

For summer leave this year, Josh and I talked about going to Hawaii, Bali, or Thailand, maybe Australia or even India. We've never had a real vacation, only visited family, and I think it's about time. I started pricing trips and found some deals and nice resorts, and got really excited. Guess where we ended up picking?

Sequim, Washington.

That's right, folks, scenic Sequim: home of the lavender festival, a mega-Costco, and the elder Sullinses and Burns! We are, yet again, visiting family during our break.

Which is lovely! Josh's parents and grandmother are wonderful, and it will have been a year since we visited, so it will be great to see them and catch up. Still, Sequim isn't Bali, and the main purpose of our trip is to get Josh's eyes burned off. That's right, folks, it's surgery time. No more glasses for Mr. S., beginning this July. Woot!

So in advance of his surgery Josh has to get a bunch of tests done here in Yoko, including one which required hyper-dilation of his pupils. He looked like a scary doll for two days, and he kept sneaking up on me and opening his eyes rrreeeeeaaalllly wide - why do boys love scaring girls so much? Anyway, I give you Scary Josh:

No Bali this year, but my man will be able to see on his own for the first time. I'm sure he won't use this new power for evil.

Progress

2009-06-11T22:46:00.004+09:00

So I still can't stay away from the pepperoni. Turns out fourteen ounces is quite a lot, actually, especially when one's husband is unenthusiastic about the cured meats. Remember that episode of Seinfeld wherein George wants to eat pastrami sandwiches while making love?

Yeah, I'm not into that, sicko. But I could seriously eat pepperoni every OTHER moment of the day.

Luckily, that's not the only culinary activity in my world. So you remember back in March, when Josh went to Korea and brought back the stomach plague? Yeah, that was ugly. And unfortunately, he got sick just after eating a bunch of delicious 'welcome home' treats I've made, foods which he now associates with projectile vomiting and other unpleasantness. Cream cheese has no place in our home anymore, likewise marinated artichokes and fifteen-bean stew. So I'm trying to ease such things back into our diets.

So this week before Pepperoni-stravaganza, I cooked up a pot of gorgeous pink and black beans I'd found in Narita, when we went for the Taiko festival. Aren't they gorgeous?
I served them with a little butter, salt, and pepper, and with lots of veggies on the side. Yum!

Well, yuck, actually: turns out plain beans are not that appealing to Josh, or to me, really. But mashed up with salsa and some cheddar melted on top, those beauts tasted just fine. Stew is still off the menu, but beans are back! I wonder how they'd taste with pepperoni?

Wait, what now?

2009-06-10T22:04:00.002+09:00

Did you guys know I live in Japan? Japan, like, the country.

Every now and then it just hits me. I was about to write about going to an Indian restaurant in Zushi last night, with our friends Wendy and Jose, and how happy I was that I had a map and figured out how to get there from my house. (There's no Mapquest in Japan). But then I just got to thinking: Zushi. Zushi, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan - that's where I had dinner last night.

It's unreal. So in honor of my revelation, I want to know the three things you would do if you were in Japan right now. Where should I go, what should I eat or buy or photograph?

Internet, I'm all yours.

I wish it were a cowbell

2009-06-09T07:00:00.004+09:00

I tried to think of how to include a photo for this post - a nice snapshot of me drooling and snarling at the refrigerator, perhaps? Black and white food porn of the object of my desire? Perhaps just a simple, tasteful pic of the size 16 pants I'm going to have to wear if I don't get it under control over here?* But no. If for no other reason than I don't want to get drool on the camera, I'll stick to words this time. Here's the cold truth of it:

I've got a fever, baby, and the only prescription is...pepperoni.

Holy mother of pizza toppings, that stuff is good! I hadn't eaten pepperoni since probably 1993, when I gave up red meat. I started eating a little pork and beef when we moved to Japan so that I wouldn't get sick or miss out on cultural experiences like gyoza and ramen. Anthony Bourdain put me over the edge with this video, which I've linked to before:
I know the video quality is bad, but the audio works.

Still, I hadn't had pepperoni. Not until Saturday night when I went to a party where there was a cheese tray, with two beautiful little lines of red discs, just calling to me. Since then I've bought a fourteen ounce package from the commissary, eaten half of them cold out of the bag, and I'm saving (most of) the rest for pizza tomorrow night.

I'm pretty sure pepperoni, at least the commercial variety I've found, is an EFS, but honey, I don't care. I'm off to sprinkle some on my cereal.

*Just for the record, I'm not hating on people who are bigger than me. I think we can all agree that going up to a size 16 because of unhinged pepperoni consumption would be a bad move, can't we?

UPDATE: Having eaten my animal-fat quotient for the day, I made a bulgur salad for lunch. I think my heart is beating again - thanks, Smitten Kitchen.

Love...true love

2009-06-07T22:44:00.003+09:00

At the risk of sounding more self-involved than I actually am (which, let's face it, would be hard to do), I offer this real-life definition of love:

True love is when, after agreeing to clean the kitchen after having cooked so that one's dear husband can go to sleep, and having found (and then lost) a giant evil Japanese cockroach in said kitchen, a wife proceeds to spend an hour scrubbing, scouring, and sweeping that kitchen rather than vacuuming, so the late-night cleaning wouldn't wake her husband up.

No?

The naked gaijin

2009-06-06T10:18:00.002+09:00

I had a very Japanese experience last night - it involved sushi, toll roads, semipublic nudity, and lots of staring. I, at long last, have been to a nude public bath.

I didn't bring the camera this time.

But Internet, it was so fantastic. I was a little nervous going in, especially since we went with our friends Kelsey and Mack (Kelsey of the fantastic sleepover) and it has been a long time since I up and got nekkid with a friend. Turns out, though, once everybody around you is naked - and once you've washed ALL your bits and pieces in front of each other, which is the first thing you do at these places - it's just not that weird. We did refrain from bathing each other, which the Japanese ladies do - U.S. culture is pretty darn repressed in some ways, compared to here. The men, of course, were on the men's side.

The onsen (well, not technically - these were hot tubs/spas, not natural hot springs) was amazing. There were massaging jet tubs inside, and stone seats with hot water running over them for relaxation and cooling off a bit. And a tub of ice-cold water! ICE COLD. These women are TOUGH, I tell you, and many sat right down in the ice water to, I don't know, invigorate themselves?!

The real draw was outside. High walls and trees surrounded the grounds and separated the men from women. There were seven or eight tubs outdoors under a light sprinkle of cool rain - hot spas made of stone with waterfalls pouring slowly in, small round tubs for one person, like sitting in a big bowl of water. A scented steam sauna, hotter than any I've seen in the U.S., and a popular spa full of cloudy water with some skin-softening mineral or something. My dry arms feel like babies' bottoms this morning. And best of all, long, wide stone tablets, constantly washed in hot water, under a little roof, where you can lay and relax, even fall asleep while the breeze keeps you cool.

It was so nice. Kelsey and I had a great talk, and we both liked to move around a lot. We were glad to see that everybody looks funny naked, including the beautiful, thin Japanese women who populate this land. As the only non-Japanese there, though we did get some stares - neither cellulite nor freckles seem to be a Japanese affliction. The little kids were especially unabashed, and I suggested we should charge extra admission for the Naked Gaijin Show.

OH, speaking of the kids? Parents are allowed to bring their kids of opposite gender into the onsen - up to AGE THIRTEEN. We didn't see any adolescent boys, thank goodness, but thirteen?! That's a sexual being, a thirteen year old boy. I'd rather not lean over to get a drink from the fountain, or sit in a spa with any teenage fellas, thanks.

By the time we got home, Josh and I just piled into bed and slept for about ten hours. Kelsey and I made a pact to go back there more often, and I want more girlfriends to come! What a treat.

I don't think he's even a real captain!

2009-06-05T06:57:00.003+09:00

Someone actually tried to sue because she though Cap'n Crunch Crunchberries were real berries. I wonder what effect the Western Diet has on brain function?

Well, it doesn't itch anymo- zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

2009-06-03T21:08:00.003+09:00

The mosquitoes in Japan LOVE me, and they are doozies. Whenever I get a bite, which is frequently during the summer and fall, it swells up into a hot, angry, red welt the size of a half a tennis ball and stays that way for a couple days. I got the inaugural two of the season earlier this week, and ouch.

So I have some fantastic lavender balm from Blue Moon Lavender in Sequim, Washington, where Josh's family lives. This stuff is amazing; it's gentle and natural, smells great, and it really relieves itch. But the bites were still driving me nuts, so I found a tube of Benadryl cream and put a dab on each bite.

Guys, I was asleep within a half an hour.

It was 2:00 in the afternoon. There was bright sunlight streaming in the windows. There was loud construction on two houses on my block. And I KONKED OUT on the couch, fully clothed, for two hours. I know I'm sensitive to antihistamines, but really? LOTION?

Le sigh.

Maybe I was just tired, maybe it's a coincidence. But there is a pretty good chance that I am the biggest wimp who ever lived. And that I'll never need a prescription for Ambien - but if you see me smearing anti-itch cream on my forehead like Jimi Hendrix did with acid, go ahead and stage an intervention.

Mostly Plants

2009-06-02T20:26:00.004+09:00

Food I've cooked since reading that Michael Pollan book:

*Veggie burgers (processed, I know) on whole-wheat bread with homemade barbecue sauce
*Slaw made of cabbage, broccoli, local carrots, and homemade buttermilk-dill dressing
*A big salad of accidentally-purchased iceberg lettuce - ew! - cherry tomatoes, pea pods, peas, Filipino mango, bean sprouts, hard-boiled egg, sunflower seeds, and more of that dressing
*Broccoli-stuffed mushrooms with Gruyere, served with another big salad
*Traditional coleslaw for a command cookout tomorrow.

I'm really enjoying focusing on the veggies in my cooking. The fridge is brimming with green, and I've got plans for zucchini bread later this week. I even got Josh to drink a glass of wine with dinner last night, thanks to Mr. Pollan and his good work. Amen!

Oh, and we've made one important discovery: salad is not filling on its own, even with boosters like egg and sunflower seeds. We polished off a huge bowl, made eye contact with each other, and headed for the bananas and peanut butter. Good to know.

Edible Foodlike Substances

2009-06-01T08:47:00.002+09:00

I know I'm a little late to the Michael Pollan party, as his latest book has already come out in paperback. I picked up In Defense of Food at Camp Zama this weekend, and now I can't put it down.

His message is pretty simple: the Western diet of highly processed, scientifically refined and then fortified foods has made Americans obsessed with nutrition as well as sick, and fat. The answer he offers is three rules: eat food, not too much, mostly plants. Seems simple, right? And I think it is. Josh and I already endeavor to do those three things (although "not too much" often gets overlooked), but after reading 3/4 of this book, I am going after healthy, whole-food eating with renewed vigor.

Edible Foodlike Substances is my new favorite term. It refers to much of the food in the commissary, or American supermarket: Pop-tarts, Go-gurt, cereal bars with milk-like non-dairy frosting strips. Colorfully packaged edible items engineered to trick our senses into thinking they are food, with long, unintelligible ingredient lists and health claims splashed across the front and side panels. Pollan states that avoiding foods which make health claims can, on its own, improve one's health. Eek!

I'm ready for a paradigm shift. It's not a big one for me or Josh, since his weight struggles and my crunchy tendencies (plus unemployment) have already led us to a mostly whole-grain, homemade, vegetarian lifestyle. I'm not giving up white rice in my sushi when we eat out, nor will I start bringing my own food to dinner parties or preaching in other peoples' pantries. I'm going to start cooking more leaves than seeds, though, and eating ice cream rather than "slow-churned low-fat dairy dessert*." I cooked our veggie burgers with a little butter instead of olive oil last night, and made a big colorful bowl of slaw alongside.

Unfortunately, it may be expensive. It should be, apparently: Americans spend ten percent of our income on food, according to this book, while the French spend 14.9%. Avoiding meat saves us some money, accidentally, but I'm through choosing my fruit by cheapness instead of diversity, season, and plain old-fashioned craving. Instead of taking the train to Kurihama Flower World (a garden/amusement park not far from our house) yesterday, Josh and I** bought some potting soil and improved on the little container garden growing on our balcony. Hoo, I'm excited! Who wants to borrow the book when I'm done?***

*I seriously didn't know Edy's (or Dreyer's) wasn't ice cream until I looked the other day. What the hell?
**That is, I repotted and improved the little garden. Josh carried the soil up the stairs.
***I'd borrow The Omnivore's Dilemma if anyone has it laying around.

Sleeeepy

2009-05-30T22:19:00.002+09:00

Today was a blast - went shopping all day long (punctuated by eating, a lot) with Beth and Andi at China Pete's, Grandberry Mall, and Camp Zamalamading-dong. I'll explain that one later, 'cause for now I'm off to bed.

TTFN, Sullen-san

2009-05-28T20:15:00.005+09:00

Okay, tantrum over. No matter the circumstances or expectations, getting rejected sucks, huh? But it's all good, and I hope whoever got that job needed and wanted it more than I did. Back to the life of leisure!

Which has been going smashingly lately, by the way. In just the past week or so I've had two knitting dates, two dinners out with Josh AND friends, a present, and a couple good cooking adventures.

For starters, on Saturday Nadine (whose husband is away) needed help moving her fridge and standup freezer, and offered to buy us dinner in exchange. Josh and I headed over and fireman-chained the frozen goods out onto the table, then he did the heavy lifting while Nadine and I alternated vacuuming the floor and distracting the baby. When I first wrote that, it said "alternated vacuuming and distracting the baby. Who needs baths?

She cried every time she saw Josh, for about the first hour! I think he needs to smile more. Ramen was delicious, and it's so much more fun doing other peoples' chores, don't you think? Nadine and I decided we'd ask each others' husbands for help around the house from now on, since they're so much more willing to help when it's not the wife asking. Good plan?

Josh had to work Sunday, so Nadine and Juju and I hung out again and, duh, I made soup. Fantastic! But Monday night we had another date, this one a long time coming - Kelsey and I have been friends for months, but our husbands are never home at the same time. So we got together for Chinese food, and had a great time.It's not as obvious in the smaller versions of the two photos below, but Mack's eyes and mine seem REALLY wide in the big pictures, and Kelsey and Josh look normal. If I had Photoshop (and/or any skills) I'd put us side by side and we'd look like the Deer in the Headlights Convention. Also my head looks enormous, but that's not the picture, that's my Irish heritage.
The food was fantastic, we all laughed all night, until we came back to our house and discovered that there is cat dander in our couch. I wonder if Mack's eyes have stopped swelling yet...oops.

Josh was off on Tuesday, so we thought we'd go do something fun - but we kind of stink at that. There's an amusement park near Fuji, but we couldn't find directions. I suggested a couple famous Japanese gardens (Sankei-en(.pdf file) and Kurihama Flower World), and Josh rolled his eyes so hard that he was looking up and to the left for the rest of the day.

We finally settled on Grandberry Mall, about 45 minutes from home. I really need some new shoes and summer clothes, but it turns out that I am too fat and big-footed for this nation. Eight is the largest shoe size for women - grr! We ate Chinese food again, egads, and then took a long leisurely walk on the seawall in front of our house. Starfish have been washing up there, and there were lots of cute babies and puppies accompanying their parents on an evening constitutional. Who needs a job?

P.S. Re: the title - you better BELIEVE I get a lot of mileage of being married into the name "Sullins." When I become Mrs. Sullen, I blame Josh. Wouldn't you?

Convergence

2009-05-26T18:22:00.000+09:00

Turns out in the same 24 hours I discovered F My Life (yeah, it's what you think) AND got rejected for a job that pays $10 per hour.

Memorial Day

2009-05-25T07:36:00.002+09:00

I keep trying to think of something profound to say about Memorial Day. It's strange being overseas for such an American holiday - one complete with the American tradition of forgetting its purpose and just using it as an excuse to eat meat and drink beer. Josh and I will be celebrating with Chinese food and lemon cake later, with our friends Kelsey and Mack. Traditional!

As for the day itself, I just don't know what to say. My father and Josh's, and our grandfathers, and a lot of our friends have served in the military, many of those in war. We've been fortunate that, so far at least, they have all come home relatively unscathed, and for that I am grateful.

Ticket to ride...again!

2009-05-21T21:04:00.003+09:00

Y'all, it's ridiculous. I like Japan, I live in town, I made rice with hijiki sea vegetable* and tofu for dinner tonight. And yet, in my first year-ish living here, I will have made three visits home.

But I can't wait for the second one! (The first was to my folks' in February, the third will be for the, ahem, wedding of my big brother in September!) I just bought Josh and me tickets to the West Coast for July - I'll leave a little earlier and visit Melanie in the Bay Area, and then we'll meet up in Seattle to visit his family and our friends Christie&Nate, Irish&Steve.

In less than two months I'll be holding my nephew(ish) Nason, having lunch in the Monterey sunshine (ha!) with my best friend, and then knitting with Irish and hugging my grandmas in Washington. Life is good.

*I just learned that "seaweed" is a pejorative. I have to worry about seaweed's feelings now.

UPDATED: On the docket

2009-05-20T08:51:00.004+09:00

Well, updated twice actually - first when I remembered an exciting chore, at the end of this post. And now again, at 9:15pm and in bold, I give you the results of my day.
I applied for a job several weeks ago, had two interviews, sent references, got my background checked, and was told to expect a call early last week. Well, it's now mid-THIS WEEK, and I haven't heard. So here's how I'll be distracting myself for the next few days:

1. Vacuum the house. (Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha...) No one is going to believe me, but I really did this one. And it was disgusting.
2. Dye yarn with Kool Aid. (Thanks, Aunt Debbie!) Nope, not yet. I'm still waiting on this project, maybe for a rainy day.
3. Make some broccoli slaw. YES! This stuff is so good.
4. And maybe a raspberry cake. Everybody who cooks, go read Smitten Kitchen and wake from your slumber.
Well, I couldn't find raspberries. But strawberry buttermilk cake, made with whole wheat pastry flour, was outrageously good. According to Josh: "Best cake ever."

This one wasn't on the list, but I made it a Smitten Kitchen day and cooked two herbed zucchini tortes for dinner. Have I mentioned I love her blog?

5. Start composing a post about living in my Japanese home, with pictures. A post with pictures, not my home with pictures...blast you, sentence structure! And I didn't start this yet either. Nor did I buy any furniture. But I live to fight another day!

That ought to do it.

UPDATE: That does not do it! I forgot I want to go to Homes and buy a new piece of furniture for the dining room - something tall and slim with glass doors, to hold dishes and table linens. Kelsey, you're an inspiration.

Abundance

2009-05-18T17:39:00.002+09:00

The incredible enthusiasm with which plants grow in this climate deserves a longer post and more attention than I'm prepared to give at the moment. Suffice to say, for now, that our neighborhood is incredible, and this is one of many enormous rosemary bushes growing along the walkways.

Girlfriends

2009-05-17T14:54:00.002+09:00

The weather is gray and windy today, but not dreary - it's that dynamic tumult that sometimes grabs the waterfront out here, making my windows and plants vibrate, looking like someone cranked up the contrast and switched off the color altogether. I have the luxury of my own laziness this afternoon, and I'm spending much of it looking out my front window. I'm a little gray and breezy myself at the moment, after a weekend of bright colors.

I had big plans for Friday, which were had all changed before lunchtime. Wendy came over for a lesson in the morning - her first tank top and cable project are coming along beautifully. (We have the best conversations, and we had lunch together the next day with her two boys.) Then I got ready to head to a great yoga class around eleven, only to turn around halfway to base and come home*. Luckily, Beth and her two girls were in my neighborhood and free for the day, so they came over.

We had so much fun. The girls are delightful even when they're cranky, and we took a long walk, played on the playground, had lunch at a ramen shop, and watched two Disney movies while one of us napped. That same one happened to stick her foot into her mama's ramen bowl, dramatically upturning broth onto the shop floor. Nice. Beth and I got to visit, talk, and knit, and it was lovely. Then that night I met Kelsey and Mack to see STAR TREK!

Oh my Goddess, I loved that movie. I want to retire to the nerdery and watch it again and again on the big screen - and just in case you're worried for my marriage, Josh already saw it in Australia.

Last night was festive, too. See, Japan is such a safe place because their laws DO NOT MESS AROUND. We're not allowed a sip of alcohol before driving here, and if I were to get caught breaking that rule, the military would revoke my visa and send me back to the U.S., sans husband. So with both of our husbands out of town, Kelsey invited me for a sleepover with movies, cookies, and copious amounts of wine. Hoo boy, that was therapeutic! I may or may not have drunk a bottle of Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon all by myself, and eaten a bag of Cheetos...ahem. We had a good talk about movies, men, crazy family drama, and living with fertility problems. I'm so glad she invited me.

But now I'm home, and I'm drinking water and coffee and feeling in tune with the weather. Of those three friends, two will have moved back to the U.S. by July and the other heads home in December. I've been so lucky to find kindred spirits here so far - I hope my streak continues.

*I told my friends that I forgot my military ID (and thus couldn't get on base) but in fact I had put on a tank top and hadn't shaved my armpits. Why I'm okay publishing this to the entire damned world but too embarrassed to say it to my friends, I couldn't tell you.

New toy, and 36 hours of marriage

2009-05-15T11:46:00.003+09:00

I know I'm not single when Josh is gone, just for the record. And it turns out that my husband, who hadn't ever heard of a trunk show, has a vivid and dirty imagination.

Josh got home Wednesday night around eleven, and left again this morning (Friday) at 5:00. This trip is only for a few days, and doesn't involve any major travel, but, you know, here I go again on my own. The Star Trek movie, lots of lunches out, and a sleepover are all on the docket. During the rest of the time? I'm going to be sitting at home, staring at our new bookshelf.Isn't it beautiful?
It was even beautiful empty, when the lovely delivery men carried it up the stairs and into our living room yesterday.
Josh and I picked this baby out about six months ago at a Japanese department store called Homes. But it was a little expensive - if bookshelves were cars, this might be an upper-range Toyota. All the other furniture we've ever bought was used or, well, Ikea. But ever since moving to Japan we've been looking for nice pieces to commemorate our time in Asia, and this is step one.

Still, we walked away, put it out of our minds, and lived in our disorganized house for half a year. Then last week we went back, and decided to take the plunge. God, I love this thing - but I'm not a designer. Any ideas for making it look even better? Suggestions to purchase another one for balance will be given particular consideration.

The single life

2009-05-12T20:21:00.003+09:00

I never had much of a single life. I was in the same relationship from age 16 to 22. Sophomore in high school to senior in college. Like a fine wine, that relationship started to go sour immediately after opening. ZING! Then there was about a year before I accidentally fell in love with Josh, and shit, my single life ended.

So this week is the first time I've been on my own for a while, and I'll tell you, being single is WAY MORE FUN when you have a big checking account and no job. I've been out to dinners and lunches, and parties, I've done a little shopping, and tonight I went to my first trunk show.*

But, like with so much of life, it's the little things that stick with you. If Josh were home, and I made chocolate syrup, and it was almost gone but there was a little stuck all over the inside of the jar, I probably wouldn't have poured in milk, ice, and vodka and had myself a little party.

But Josh isn't home, now, is he?

*Speaking of which, go visit www.sushibib.com and buy some handmade, long-sleeved kimono bibs. Tara rules.

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-11T09:55:00.002+09:00

Mother's Day last year was hopeful for me. I had stopped working, was about to move to Japan, and was visiting my parents in South Carolina. I talked to the other mom in my life, Josh's mom Judy. Of course I was already anxious to be a mom myself, having had a miscarriage a few months before, but it was a good day.

It's still a good day this year, but a lot has changed. I can't talk to my incredible mother today, for instance - she and her mom are gallivanting about in the south of France! Lucky ducks went on a riverboat cruise (deeply discounted, thanks to Piggy Panic) and are, I hope, having a lovely time. I did talk to Josh's mama and grandma this morning, which was nice. And this Mother's Day I have even more friends who are moms, and great ones at that. Their kids are lucky, and so am I for knowing them.

But...y'all...it's still kind of shitty. I am so ready to have a baby, to move on with my life and become a mom already. I'm working really hard to stay hopeful, or at least neutral, and to squelch the bitterness that sometimes grabs me from behind. Ditto the self-pity - I am debating just deleting this whole post, because really: who ruins Mother's Day with the whining? Bleah, I don't want to be that guy.

So I'm going to go cook something, and clean up my house, and buy some bigger pots to transplant my seedlings if the weather holds out. And I may have a bowl of ice cream before noon, just for good measure.

Happy Mother's Day, everybody.