Wednesday, February 25, 2009

KitKat bars flavored with red beans? Yes, it's true!

Hello! Recently I learned that Japan has several different flavors of KitKat bars. I'm not sure how this bit of information slipped by me since I seem to spend a fair amount of time in the candy aisle at our local convenience store. The only reason I can think of is that I might have glanced over the packaging as soon as I saw the word "KitKat." I mean, if there are all kinds of wonderful Japanese candies to try, why on earth would you waste your time with a KitKat bar? After doing a bit of googling, I discovered that there are many flavors of KitKats all around the world, and a nice person over at flickr has compiled a photo album of some of the varieties: http://flickr.com/photos/friedtoast/sets/72157594224722117/

Seiko brought me a gift of one of the KitKat bars flavored with Japanese red bean paste. The taste was unusual---not quite what I was expecting. Not bad, not great. I'll be on the lookout for more flavors. I promise.

Oh, I can't end my blog today without sending birthday wishes to my nephew Henrik. He's 14 today! Or tomorrow, what with the time difference. Argh. You know what I mean!

Friday, February 20, 2009

Shrine for the Happy Cat? I'm not sure.


Illuminated display during the day


Illuminated display at night

A cool wood-carving that we saw on display at this little bookstore near the restaurant

Mr. Owl

This is called "easy patchwork." Easy? I don't think so.

Glove puppy

Not sure what inspired me to put a shamrock on his bottom other than I thought it was cute because Zach is Irish.

Hello! I hope everyone is having a great Friday. I finally uploaded our photos from our Valentine's Day dinner last weekend and thought you might enjoy seeing our outing to the town of Gotemba at the base of Mt. Fuji. We went to a German all-you-can-eat buffet (strange choice, I know!) arranged by the base tour folks. The restaurant is located next to a park, which apparently puts together an illuminated display every year from January through March. The weather happened to be freakishly warm (Zach wore shorts!) on Saturday, and as a result, the poor plum blossoms around town are confused and starting to pop out. The weather is now back to its chilly ways, and today we got rain.

I also wanted you to check out a couple of my latest craft projects. The first is a picture that I made from a kit that I bought at the Yokohama quilt show. It's name translated into English is "easy patchwork" but I wouldn't call it easy, and this is probably the only one I will make. The surface is covered with an adhesive, kind of like tape, and you cut your shapes from fabric and press them onto the surface with a sharp, pointed tool. It's not so hard with the large pieces, but once you get into the smaller and tighter areas, things start to get frustrating. Or at least they did for me. I was also working with directions in Japanese, relying heavily on photos and illustrations to get me through. Sometimes this was easy, and sometimes it wasn't. I should have asked Seiko or one of my other Japanese friends to translate them for me, but I was too impatient as usual.

The other project is a dog that I made using a pair of gloves from the 100 yen shop. It's from the book Sock and Glove by Miyako Kanamori, a Japanese woman. It is now available in English if any of you are interested. She also recently came out with a second book called Happy Gloves, which I also own and recommend. The projects are so cute and easy. I made this little guy in a couple days, working on it off and on when I had time.

Okay, that's it for today. Enjoy!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Entrance to the snow monkey park


Because there is the situation...


Oh, I had to make sure you saw this. My day started off with this lovely, wonderful roll shaped like Anpanman. To my surprise and delight, it was filled with chocolate pudding!


Zach is making sure that everything is safe ahead.

"Does the monkey see me?"

This monkey was too busy searching for food pellets thrown out by the park staff to notice me, thank goodness!

And this one too!

View of the mountains surrounding Nagano

Cute tiger I saw along the way

Zenkoji Temple

Hello! We had a very busy day on Saturday, taking a five-hour bus trip (one way!) to Nagano, where the 1998 winter Olympics were held. Our mission: to see the snow monkeys bathing in the natural hot springs at the Jigokudani Monkey Park. And the monkeys did not disappoint. Yes, it was a long bus ride and a bit of a hike in to the area where the monkeys hang out, but I thought it was great to see them up close. They have a live webcam, so you can all see them if you wish. Here's the address: http://www.jigokudani-yaenkoen.co.jp/ We were told not to the stare at the monkeys or they would try to attack you, and we also were told not to feed the monkeys either. I was surprised at how close we got to them. The caretakers of the grounds threw out food pellets around the area so the monkeys were digging for the pellets in the snow when we got there.

The area of Nagano is just gorgeous, and I took some nice pictures of the surrounding mountains. It made me miss Washington a lot. They grow a ton of apples in this area of Japan, and we saw many apple orchards covered in snow along the way.

The second half of our tour included a stop at the Zenkoji Temple. It was a very busy place on Saturday, and we had difficulty hearing our tour guide, who was soft-spoken. As a result, we had no idea why we were all guided down this dark staircase and into a tunnel that was absolutely pitch-black. I held on to Zach, who was in front of me, and I just slid along the floor (you have to take your shoes off in temples in Japan). I kept asking, "Why are we doing this?" and no one around me could tell me why. At the time I kept thinking to myself, "What if there was an earthquake right now, with all these people underneath a temple, in the dark, in a tunnel/maze thing, and no idea how to get out?" Of course, I kept my crazy thoughts to myself until afterward (I wasn't about to start a stampede!), but really, how could you not think of it? So, do you want to know why we went on this little trek? Apparently the metal Key to Paradise is hanging on a wall along the way, and you are supposed to touch it to gain enlightenment and a future in paradise. Neither Zach nor I touched the key, so no paradise for us I guess! There was no way I was going back down into that corridor of creepiness to find paradise, and Zach wasn't volunteering either.

I hope you enjoy our photos from the trip. It was another great day in Japan!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Japanese rice that they make mochi with


You can also buy the mochi already packaged and ready to roast


Roasting the mochi

Ruffy the dog---isn't he cute?!

It's ready to add to the soup

Ozouni---soup with mochi

Hello Kitty chocolate!

Yum!

My boot kitties!

Hello! Is it cold where you are? It's super cold here! The Japanese word is "samui."

Yesterday I was at my friend Makiko's, and she taught me how to make a few dishes with mochi, a dense rice cake that you roast. I took a few pictures of the mochi roasting. We had a soup called "ozouni" with the mochi in it, and a dessert made of mochi, ground soy beans, and sugar that is called "abekawa mochi." Both were very tasty and Makiko sent me home with some of the supplies, so I'll have to try and make it on my own now. While we were cooking, their family dog Ruffy joined us. He is such a sweetheart and a big dog for Japan. He is a beautiful black flatcoat retriever.

And after a fun day with Makiko, I came home to find that my dear husband had bought me a surprise present---Hello Kitty chocolate! In case you're wondering, the chocolate is quite tasty.

My Thursday washi class is back in action after our instructor took a break over the Christmas and New Year holidays. We'll be working on making a box with a lid tomorrow. At home I've been working a kit that I bought at the Yokohama Quilt Show a few months ago. It involves pressing pieces of fabric into a styrofoam board with a sharp, pointed tool to make an image. When I'm done, I'll show you, but right now it still needs some work. It looked easier than I'm finding it to be, and I'm also trying to figure out the instructions by a) trial and error and b)looking at pictures rather than trying to read the Japanese characters!

While I was home in October, I bought myself a pair of black boots. (I haven't bought a single pair of shoes while I've been here because nothing fits me! Grrrr. ) Boots are very popular here and everyone wears them. The stores have these cool little stuffed things that you can put inside your boots to keep them standing upright. Some have cute little animals on top, and I finally bought myself a pair of boot kitties this past week. I snapped a photo so you can see what I'm talking about. Enjoy!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Group of 20-year-olds celebrating Coming of Age Day


Aren't their kimonos just gorgeous?


I didn't see many guys wearing kimonos. This was a fun photo.

These girls were really sweet. The one on the left had gold sparkles in her hair!

I felt like a really sloppy American standing next to these two.

Yukiko and Seiko

Our door wreath for the New Year holiday

Hello and welcome to my blog for 2009---a little late. I hope everyone had a good rest during the holidays. I am recovering from a rather yucky chest cold and feeling much better. Yesterday I got out and about with Seiko and her friend Yukiko. The second Monday in January is called "Seijin No Hi" in Japan, which means "Coming of Age Day." It is a national holiday to celebrate 20-year-olds and their new status as adults. The 20-year-olds dress up in kimonos and nice suits, and they visit temples, shrines, and city halls to celebrate. At the age of 20, they can vote, drink, smoke, and marry without their parents' permission. Seiko drove me to Zama City Hall, where a bunch of the 20-year-olds were just leaving the building. Seiko taught me how to ask "Can I please take your picture?" in Japanese. Every group I asked was so sweet and a little surprised that I wanted to take their picture. I was stunned at how gorgeous their kimonos are, and a couple of the girls let me stand next to them in one of the photos. I felt like a clunky and very sloppy American standing next to them.

After our trip to city hall, we met Seiko's friend Yukiko at Ebina for lunch. We went to this really yummy organic, all-you-can-eat buffet. I stayed close to Seiko to make sure I wasn't eating something too weird, but everything was really tasty. It was very nice to meet Yukiko. She is a busy lady with six (!!!) boys, the youngest of which is two years old!

So I have something rather funny to share. One of my photos for this post is of a little cow and a straw wreath. It's a traditional ornament that you hang on your door here to welcome in the new year. I saw it at the store and thought it was cute, so I bought it. I figured that the writing said something like "Happy New Year." But classic Ellen strikes again. When Seiko came to pick me up yesterday she told me that the sign on the wreath means "Drive safely." Drive safely?! What the heck? They must have had 20 different styles, and I managed to buy the one wreath that you are suppose to hang in your car! Seiko said that about five years ago or so it was really popular to decorate your car for the new year, but not so much now. I bet the cashier at the store thought I was crazy when I bought the thing, and come to think of it, there were a bunch of people picking out wreaths and no one was buying the version that I bought. So, here's my New Year message for all you---drive safely in 2009, okay?