Speedy Gonzales

Last night J had drinks after work, so K and I had leftover casserole from the other night.

Tonight is Taco Rice night. good way to use up the tomatoes, lettuce, mince in freezer and 3 for 120yen avocados I got that are in need of being turned into guacamole asap. Even though I think Taco Rice is actually an Okinawan concoction, I get all "Speedy Gonzales" and "Arriba, arriba, andale, andale" every time I make it, so am gonna get J to bring home some Corona to celebrate TGIF! Yee-ha!

triple yuck

I may have just had one of the most disgusting experiences in my life. It involved me, a very hot summer's day, an atm (those ones in a little room of their own, near the train station etc) and having to transfer money for a payment into a random account somewhere.

O
M
G


I take enough time checking and re-checking when it is an account I always transfer payments into (did I mention I am a worry-wart), but put a totally new, one-off payment transfer in my hands, and I could be in the trenches for a while.

By the time I transferred my lifesavings into an offshore account today (or payed the bill) I was literally dripping from every part of my body. Why do those stupid atm rooms not have any air-con or even just an air ventilation system? And the 2inch by 2inch hand towel I was carrying in my bag did nothing rectify the situation.

Wow. It really gave me a new insight into "sweaty brows".

I am so not into summer.

Wed night's dinner

Clam chowder - used up the last of the fresh asari. I have only ever had clam chowder out once, at Costco haha! so not sure if I made the real McCoy or not, but it sort of tasted like a cream stew. nice though

Hokke marinated in miso. Had an argument with Dad over Skype whether Japanese "Hokke" is the same as NZ Hoki fish....wikipedia told me that they are not the same, dad tole me they are...who to believe???

pumpkin and cucumber salad - Joji's mum's recipe, I love this one:
1) Boil then mash pumpkin; cool.
2) Salt thinly sliced cucumber. Let sit for a while. Then squeeze juice out of cucumber.
3) mix 1 and 2 together with some s/p to taste, and mayonnaise
4) spoon into little crispy lettuce "cups"

side salad

brown rice

Right, K and I are gonna go sit in shower to cool off before we hit playgroup today - K is already drowning in her own sweat pool here. And we all know that little-kid's-sweaty-head-smell is SO not the new Chanel No5.

Lazy Wednesday

It is nice not to have to be out of the house at the crack of dawn (umm, fwiw, my dawn cracks at 9am - I think there is a bit of a TJ-time zone thing going on). I think in essence I am a home-body - yes, I enjoy going out ONCE I GET OUT, but sometimes, I just want to stay in. I really like to have a couple of quiet days at home during the week (or else nothing and I mean NOTHING gets done). Plus I am so not a morning person.

Actually, last night I went to bed early with a massive headache - J brought in some drugs at about midnight for me, I have no idea what they were but they must have worked as I slept after that like a baby (which is a bit of an oxy-moron, bcoz K never slept for anything more than 2 hours at a time until she was over 1yo, so sleeping like a baby is not something to aspire to, I guess). I usually don't ever take headache tablets. Am feeling better this morning, so yay.

R is having a holiday at the PILs, which means no morning walks, so we haven't left the house yet. But some grocery shopping is in order for sometime today (just the basics, bread and milk - still have a full fridge and freezer of veges and meats I have been hoarding for a while so that I DONT have to make daily shopping trips.) Am tossing up the idea of a trip by car to a big shopping mall.....but fear that I would waste the whole day there, when I really SHOULD be doing mundane but necessary household things. No, am gonna resist the urge and stay at home. Will only make it out to the closest supermarket/conbini for the bread and milk run. Plus I am still trying really hard not to buy unnecessary stuff - trying to break away from the consumerism...not that that helped us on Saturday night when we went to said shopping mall for dinner and came back with not one but two winter lightweight down jackets - hey they were on special, and we couldn't resist. One for J and one for me. Matching too (mine is yellow, his is orange) - now we can do that thing that Japanese tourists do in Aus when on honeymoon and dress in the same clothes.

clams

Tonight's dinner:
Asari spag (following suggested recipe - very nice! I actually really enjoyed this and so simple! ) served with side salad and goya with miso dressing.

Random stuff today

I was out and about all day doing stooooopid beauraCRAPic stuff/running small errands. I was very impressed with the banks here tho - did you know that when your passbook runs out of pages, you can simply put it into one of the special passbook atms, and they will spit out a brand spanking new passbook for you!??? Thought that was fabulous.

Thought I had left my phone somewhere, possibly at the noodle joint we had lunch at. Got home and tried to ring my own mobile, but for some reason our stoooooopid home phone wont let me ring my mobile number...I am pretty sure I can ring J's mobile from home, so it must just be my 080 number that is the problem. Was wondering how the hell I am going to get my phone back, then had the great idea to ring from skype. And the next thing you know, the back of the stroller was ringing, yay! so the phone was with me the whole time anyway.

K has been napping since we got home, so I set myself up in front of the computer and watched back to back episodes of "Samantha Who" while I dealt with the huge pile of ironing....why is it always a HUGE pile? One of the great mysteries of the modern world, me thinks.

Will be having asari (clam) spaghetti tonight....am just searching for a recipe that I can use. I am not so keen on the idea, ttytt (to tell you the truth...did I just make that up? I might be able to patent that abbreviation) but J suggested it. Am not that hungry anyway, as managed to munch through a bag of potato chips while ironing.
Oh, and a chocolate bar. Bad me! So much for my trial of Zumba last Friday - which, may I say was crazy, in that only 40mins of it, and my body was aching afterwards! Oh, my calfs and upper arms are still feeling the effects of it. Was lots of fun though - if only I was closer to it(it is near my Tuesday playgroup, like an hour from where we are now), I would love to be able to go every week : they have a space for the kiddies to play in so it was full of mums with tots. I may invest in the video of it. Although, it did give me flashbacks to the ol' step aerobics days, just doing the exercises to a different beat, haha!

the only thing missing

is the fish and chips

beach park shot

new bag again

We went shopping yesterday (to an air conditioned mall!) and I came home with this new bag. The green one I bought a few weeks ago is just too big so i am trying to go back to a smaller bag for small outings. Like today at the beach- well park by man made beach that you are not allowed to swim at. Is still very nice and cool -R and I are under a big shade cover thing(what is the word for that?) while J and K collect clams. What a lovely Sunday!

25th July

Today marks the 10th anniversary of me coming to Japan.

Although I had a year when I was 17 in Nagasaki, it was 10 years ago today that I left Bris on a plane with 30 others to start our JET life. Wow. I remember my going away party (dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant, followed by Karaoke in the Valley). I remember sitting on my suitcase at 5am on the morning of my departure trying to get it to close (some things never change). I remember walking to work the first winter in 5 layers of clothes (and socks). I remember making lots of great friends, drinking lots, complaining about the lack of talent/maccas/anything foreign in the inaka town I was in.....but I also look back now and see how much I changed in those 3 years:
I started cycling, then running, then finally swimming until I ended up combining them all in mini-triathlons; I made a few ventures into Asia and the UK, fuelling my love for travel. I learnt how to live by myself, even if it meant eating cheese on toast for dinner most nights; I hosted my first home party, with pizzas made on naan bread; I cycled 100km around the mountains of Kyushu for 3days straight, not once, but 2 times for a charity cycle ride; I interpreted for the Mayor at pomp ceremonies both in Japan and Australia. Probably more than anything, those 3 years on JET taught me that I could do anything I put my mind to!

After JET, I left for a 3 month holiday through China and Mongolia, then headed back to Australia to start my search to find a way BACK to Japan! I wasn't ready to leave Japan yet - so I got another job in the inaka and stayed for 2 years.....then I came to Tokyo and got myself married to a Japanese man...

Honestly, who would have thought that 10 years ago I would be in Tokyo with a 2yo, a vacuum-hating dog and married to a Japanese guy (one of the good ones at that!).

I don't regret any choice I made to get me where I am today (well, except maybe a few choices made at "Cool Bananas", or one of the "cocks" (Crazy Cock/Happy Cock bars in Fukuoka- you get the idea.) I think I have lived a great life, and today am going to be grateful for all the doors that opened to me since having Japan in my life.

I wonder where I will be in 10years from now? Perhaps sitting on the same sofa, reflecting back on my 20years in Japan?? Scary to think about. But 10 years ago, if I had have thought that I would be still here in 2009, I would have probably said the same thing.

Happy 10 years - and thank you Japan!

the big squeeze

Was all set to make a no-bake lemon slice this morning, and searched the cupboards high and low for the condensed milk I thought I had, only to find 3 cans of Evaporated milk!! So a bit of humming and haa-ing later (do I go buy condensed milk or change recipes?) I ended up making this lemon slice to take with me tonight.


The only thing I am not sure is if it needed to be cooked more....hmmm. looks/tastes like the lemon butter type tarts so I am guessing it is ok....
And I added some coconut to the base, which is yummy.

I always wonder when recipes say things like it only takes 15mins to prepare..... I must be really slow or something, because it always takes me 2-3 times the amount of time to prepare (took me nearly 15mins just to squeeze the lemons for this one, lol!) But I feel like I have had my exercise for the morning - my abs are pumping after hand-mixing the butter/sugar and squeezing 3 lemons.

Oh, and used up 3 eggs and 3 lemons for this recipe so am doing well on my consumption of things in the fridge too!yay

oi-shi-so shi-so

Tonight's dinner (photo not so good - gotta learn how to take good food photos)

grilled cod fillets

egg roll

tofu dressed with katsuo-bushi and kombu tsuyu

tomato, cucumber and shiso salad (following this recipe it was nice and summery, but think it might have been better with a bit more vinegar, maybe?)

　かぼちゃの角煮
and of course

rice

followed by Mister Donuts - a nice surprise from J!

After all my talk about western food, I ended up going "wa" tonight, but must say I def. preferred the grilled flake I did last week to the cod (of course, J preferred the cod, lol!) And the egg roll used up 4 eggs, and half serve of brownies used up 1 this morning, so only have 15 left now, yay (lol!)

And K was a trouper, eating up all her rice with fish with vege salsa. She is doing so good lately eating all her veges! Yay for her!

food blog starts here...

Nice outing at playgroup yesterday, despite the rain which sort of sprayed down all day. It got really cold by lunch time and we all dissipated from our undercover outdoor playground pretty much as soon as all the kids had eaten.

Last night's dinner was
Steak with

mashed potato

pumpkin

butter carrots (steamed first)

steamed zucchini
and Salad

tomato in olive oil and sea salt

cucumber

olives stuffed with almonds

Apparently (in the world according to J) cucumber is a really good source of Vitamin C, however when eaten raw with other salad ingredients, it actually breaks down the vitamin C in the other fruit/veges, so it is better not to eat cucumber in salad, but by itself. However, if you cook the cucumber, then it doesn't have the same effect. I tried to google this J-fact, but can't come up with any supporting evidence....yet, will keep searching.

We visited some friends of J's over the long weekend. Although they came to our wedding (in Aus) this was the first time I really got to actually spend time with them and get to know them. They were so friendly and welcoming, and we had a lovely weekend. K spent the whole time playing with their 5 and 8 yo kids, and making bubbles out in their backyard. They live close to the beach, so we had a splash on the black sandy beach on Sunday afternoon too. K was soooooooooooooo worn out after a really big w/end, that she slept 3 hours in the car on the way home, and even went to bed at regular time Monday night.

But I guess we were both still tired, esp after out big play date yesterday, so K and I ended up sleeping in until 9am this morning! Wow! I guess this means no nap today, so we are gonnna head out to run some errands instead I think.

This week look set to be a busy week too - what with yesterday's playgroup outing, and on Thursday K and I are going over to a friend's house for a ladies sleepover! It should be a fun night. I am thinking of making a lemon slice to take over to use up all those bloody lemons in the fridge!! (watch me go buy MORE when I go to the supermarket and find them on special again, lol). I also made some brownies this morning, but I am worried that they will not last until tonight, let alone tomorrow night....

We bought some eggs and cheese at Costco on Sat afternoon when we went, so I plan to make a quiche and probably a lasagna this week too....I have really turned all western with my cooking recently! but we had sashimi and sushi all weekend, so I am just trying balance it out, really. I also want to get a meal of fish in there somewhere this week too.

Oh, and since I have spent the entire post talking about food (this is turning into a food blog, hehe), I am going to try investigate the blood-type diet, you know, where if you are O then you should avoid milk or eat lots of bananas or whatever. Over the weekend, we were talking about it and someone mentioned that their allergies have gone away since following this diet. (I spent the whole weekend sniffing and sneezing, so maybe this might be a way to get over my allergies?? can always try...)

the end of the ants

(1) I have been reluctant to post about the ant situation, in case they came back, but we have been ant-free now for over 3 weeks. After our visitors left (during which time there were several ant sightings) J came home with some ant baits, apparently harmless to animals and kids, and we placed them around the areas the ants were marching. Within a few days, they were gone. A few random/left over ants remained for a while, but we haven't seen an ant for the whole month of July, so I am going to say that our ant problem is solved. Yay! So much for my eco attempts to get rid of them...should have brought in the hard core store bought stuff earlier.

(2) In other news....we are spending a lazy morning (see a pattern here??)here. Just got back from our walk-with-R-slash-mini-supermarket-run to buy milk and for some reason 5 lemons....what am I going to do with 5 lemons? I soooo get sucked in to the bargain fruit and vege bins out the front every time.

(3) Tonight's menu is going to be:

pumpkin soup (we got given a whole pumpkin the other day!)

vege salsa: tomato, zucchini, enriki mushrooms, and any other veges I can find in the depths of the fridge

corn on the cob

pork steaks

maybe mash potato, maybe just boiled potato - not sure how many potatoes we have left

(no room for lemons in that menu, lol!)

(4) And today K and I will be munching on peaches, pears and grapes in my attempt to be good ;)

(5) It is overcast and not as hot as it has been, which is nice. I still think the aircon will come on as soon as I start doing anything remotely house-work like - I am not a masochist..or is that sadist? Either way, AC will be involved.

(6) Over the long weekend we are going to catch up with some friend's of J from when he was in the US which will be fun. The have kids older than K so she can do her usual idolising trick....

(7) So now the only thing question that remains to be answered it what are we going to have for lunch?? I guess it would be wrong to waddle across to KFC, wouldn't it???? (Angel T says "MUST CONTROL URGES - refer back to No. 4 above!!" Devil T says - just do it, (evil laugh))

sleepy-head

One minute I was reading an epic novel like war of the worlds (ok, it was actually Dr Seuess) with K, the next, the house was pitch black and I woke up with a start searching for my husband! lol. He was beside me (yay) and it turns out that I passed out somewhere between "one fish, two fish, red fish and blue fish". That means I got a good 10hour sleep!!! I know, it is crazy! Not sure if I feel refreshed for it or not though.....This year the 夏バテ, "total disability to cope with summer" is really hitting me hard. I tend not to put the aircon on during the day as it just makes me get head-colds. The breeze has been good the last week or so, keeping the house bearable (if I dont move from the couch, lol) but when J gets home, I put the aircon on full ball for him...I think the hot-to-cold business is draining me.

We are off to visit a friend this morning, so I guess I should take R for her walk, then do a quick sweep and swipe before I make myself human to head out and see people. May beven throw K in the shower with me, sure she wouldn't mind in this heat (is 29deg in the house at the moment, not even 9am!!)

curry in a hurry

I asked J what he wanted for dinner tonight, and he said curry. yippee - too easy! Easy is good on Tuesdays, when we dont get home until close to 4pm most times, as if we go to plyagroup by car, K usually falls asleep on the way home, so I let her sleep even when we get home (a few mins shut eye for me too, sitting in the car waiting for her to wake up hehe). Playgroup was stressful but fun today. Strseeful. because K went all wierdo on me and wouldnt come into the room, was crying and chucking a tanty a few times during songs, I think because we sang her current favourite song "Baa Baa Black Sheep"...she gets upset when we all sing HER song. Go figure. but it was fun because one of the members brought her darling 2 month old daughter along. She is sooooo tiny and cute as a button. My how they grow up fast.....

The carrot muffins that we baked yesterday turned out lovely, and I just got around to icing them now (just ONE before dinner!!)

J has drinks after work tomorrow and Thursday so K and I will be having simple meals for the next few days - I think there is still a can of tinned baked beans there with our name on it.

something fishy

For dinner, that is. I thought I would branch out and try to cook a fish other than salmon for a change. Walking to the supermarket, I decided that I would like to eat fish ムニエル(google report = "meunier", basically fish coated in flour and fried in butter)

Since I know nothing about fish, I thought I would just look for the cuts that had "cook meunier style" written on them, but there was none on the shelf, so I asked the lady stacking the fish shelf which fish I should use. She pointed out the salmon fillets, the shark fillets, the scallops, and something else. So tonight, shark fillets it is!! (although she did say that the shark doesnt have much fat on it, so it would be nice(r) done karaage style...oh well.) But I often eat flake for fish and chips at home, so figured we couldnt go too wrong. Also just found a nice looking recipe for flake with a vege sauce, but tonight I am sticking with my ムニエル style.

Was going to serve it with just a salad, but thought that might mean the break out of an international war (or at least the serving of divorce papers) so tonight's menu will be:

* Flake fillets meunier style
* side salad
* brown rice (may still see divorce papers, yet, hehe!!)
* wakame soup, K's favourite at the moment
* egg roll
* 冷奴
* ummmm, feel like there should be something else here. Will have to raid fridge/freezer and see what I can come up with.

I think it sounds a summery-enough-menu for the end of what promises to be a hot hot hot day all day.

And since carrots were on special at the shop, I think I am going to make a carrot cake now to satisfy my afternoon sweet cravings.

.....basically follwed this recipe, and the carrot muffins came out just delish! the way we are going, there will be none left for afternoon tea, K and I are chomping into them now!! I cut the sugar heaps tho, so now I am going to go buy some cream cheese to make a frosting for them.

double yuck - summer continues

I am trying to de-sweat at the moment in front of aircon after doing the vacuuming with the oven AND stovetop on. One thing I did find out - the coolest place in the house seems to be around the skirting boards - great breeze coming through there (lol, gotta love old crappy apartments)

Tonight's menu - broccolli, bacon and onion crustless quiche (I guess that makes it a fritata?) with mashed potato and asparagus. Using up fridge leftovers. I do actually have a pie crust still in freezer, but decided to only make a small quiche (like 1/2 size) so thought we could forgo the crust this time. Just waiting for the potatoes to boil now. Friday comfort food, slightly frugal too, I guess. Hopefully there will be no leftovers tonight.

We are going to the PIL's for the weekend - better go pack our bag while I have a few minutes too. Right, I feel semi-human again so off to pack.

yuck

even walking at half pace to the train sta I am a big sweating mess! Especially in my elbow creases ;)

after lunch break

taking a reprieve after lunch (which consisted of peanut butter s/w, and yoghurt ((for K - I am not a big yoghurt fan)), followed by ice-cream!)

It was lovely and breezy this morning, but now the rain is coming in at the wrong angle so have to close windows. am itching and red from sweat all around my neck, and the insides of my elbows - what is that part of your body called??*

Also glad that we took R out for a walk earlier - all these rainy days means she is getting only limited outings, poor thing.

Tonight we are having chinese again - I always used to shy away from Chinese, because I usually like to have the whole works - fried rice, spring rolls., J likes to have gyoza dumplings etc etc, so usually prefer to go out to a restaurant for it, but recently I have been following a good recipe book with (more than likely Japanese versions of)Chinese dishes, it is actually J's book. Once you have the main sauce ingredients, it is easy to make anything, and it all comes out PRETTY good if I do say so myself. Anyway, tonight is going to be

エビチリ

チンジャオロース　(which I always used to think was ginger rose, and even after googling it now, still dont know what it is in English, but apparently it is a Japanese take on the chinese food "green capsicum and pork stir fried in seasame oil". hmm, you learn something new everyday)

豚の角煮

egg-drop soup

I think I have all the ingredients, so wont need to make a mad dash out after K wakes up from her nap to buy more.

Right, time to clean up all the stuff K has thrown over the floor in the 5 mins I have been on the computer and get ready for a nap (hers).

* it is called an anicubital although "elbow crease", "elbow pit" and "the crook of my elbow" also came up in my search!! lol.

** it has taken me like 4 times to get this post right, after a few html misshaps. oops. must be the heat.

a funny from K

K has had a bit of a cough and sniffles the last few days, which I think is related to having the fan on at night. Anyway I had to laugh at something she just said, when her nose was sore, probably from me trying to wipe it all the time with tissues.

She said "hana itai (hana is sore)"
then without missing a beat, she said "taichi itai(taichi is sore)"

hana means nose in Japanese....

but hana and taichi are also the names of a friend's kids!!!

Seems K is already on her way to a long career in 親父ギャグ (corny jokes)

tree-time

Was just looking at a tanabata decoration, thinking it looks mightily similar to a Christmas tree!! hehe.

So maybe we CAN have a summer Xmas here in Japan too?!?

hot pasta salad and steak

K has been asking for pasta for a few days now, so last night I bought some steak on the way home from playgroup (Aussie sirloin!) and made a big BIG BBBIIIIIGGGG pot of mum's famous hot pasta salad. It worked out perfectly as I could throw in all the half bits of veges (zucchini, spinich, mushrooms) left in the fridge and it is such a comfort food for me. So I was a happy chappy!

I think K and I will be having the leftovers of it tonight (did I mention it was a BIG pot of it I made!!) coz J will be home late.

Am supposed to be going to a friend's 4th of July bbq tomorrow, but K has the sniffles and runny nose all day. Am worried to take her as friend has a 3 month old baby and I don't want K's possible cold to spread. Will see how K is in the morning.

K and I have just had an apple for our afternoon snack (hardly did the trick for me - am still dreaming of chips or chocolates *sigh*) and about to hit the streets for a walk with R before the afternoon clean up (how does K's stuff end up scattered all over 3 rooms?? )

last minute ingredients

just wasting a few minutes while Miitsuketa! is on and K is happy watching. Once it is finished I am going to drag her out to the shop 3mins up the road to grab some atsu-age for our Zucchini Champuru tonight. I am soooooo bad, always forgetting half the ingredients, so we are lucky that within 5 mins walk, there are 3 supermarkets that I can go to (ranging in size). I usually end up going to the closest one which is like a small conbini type. Pretty soon they will know me by name. The other day I had to use up all 3 supermarkets as I forgot stuff 2 times, and another time went back to get ice blocks after dinner!!

I took K out on a lunch date today, just the 2 of us!! We had to take the car down for a service in the morning, and it wasn't finished until 11:30am, so I thought it would be much easier just to swing past ye ol' family restaurant for lunch than go home and bother making anything. K was really good, we sat at opposite sides of the table - usually I sit beside her, so I think she felt really grown up (she made me sit on the other side of the table btw! lol)It has been ages since I have been to Saizeria, and I have to say this time may be the last for a while.. very average (although super cheap) but too greasy - I felt a bit blaaa afterwards.

Tonight's dinner is going to be "wa":
salmon
rice
wakame miso soup (K's favourite)
niku-jaga and
zucchini champuru.

Last night J had drinks after work, so K and I had a quiet easy dinner (mine was baked beans on toast! hers was vege soup with potatos) and monday night was left over quiche from when lunch (had friend over) so this is the first meal I am cooking all week, lol!

Right, tv is about to finish (sings at top of voice...."Ai no tamago!") so gotta get K in some pants (she is nappy only) and go for our mini walk.