November 12 2013 Happy Birthday Mom!

Tomorrow is my sweet Mommy's birthday! She turns 80 years old! Pretty impressive!  She is a wonderful Mom and Grandma, wish I could be with her to give her a big hug and kiss. Happy Birthday Mommy!
                                                       

Gary had a dentist appointment the other day and afterwards we met up in Kokubunji... we hadn't been there in a while so we decided to do a little wandering around the area. We stopped at one point for a coffee and pastry break. 

I had a tasty cinnamon/apple roll! (We didn't eat all of that, we took some home with us for later)

While we were eating in the room with about 40 other people, one of the cafe workers came up to return my teeny tiny shopping list that I'd apparently dropped when paying for the food. It really made me laugh, but I guess she figured it was in English and I was the only foreigner in the room so it must be mine! (That's Gary's handwriting, I can't write that small and neat)

We had lunch while we were there too. We found a new sushi place with a set menu that was reasonably priced and came with noodles and an interesting seafood custard.

Remember the lady who wanted to meet with us and hear about Jesus?We had a very nice meet up with her.We went to a coffee shop and talked for a long time. She and her sons are coming over on Saturday for dinner. I'm not confident enough to cook Japanese food for a Japanese person..especially since she is a cooking teacher! So I'll make lasagna and salad.  

I finally bought a donabe pot! It's really essential for making Japanese soups and stews so I was excited to get one and on sale too!

Since it's a clay pot,before I could use it I had to cure it. This is done by cooking some rice porridge in it as demonstrated by my video. (and you get to see a Japanese stove)

On to Food!

I tested out my crockpot making some of my favorite puerto rican style pork roast. This results in Mexican tasting carnitas! So we had what I called poor man carnitas because I had to use flour toritllas instead of corn and I had no cilantro or chicharon either. But it was still delicious and we were happy!

I also tried out a couple of new recipes. This is the fried rice recipe.

And here I am making sweet and sour pork.

Here's the finished product, except you don't see any peppers because this is Gary's plate and he doesn't like peppers.

So there you go!  That's it for today!!!

November 7th 2013

So, I'm definitely overdue on an update on this blog! Sorry about that, the time has really just flown by and I got lazy! Also, It's hard for me to remember all that has happened since my last post...I need to take more notes to remind myself what I've been up to!
First off, Gary and I met with our other realtor. she took our information and we look forward to hearing from her to go look at buildings soon. See Gary's blog for an update on our building search saga! http://pioneeringjapan.blogspot.jp/

One of the unpleasant things about pioneering a church is hunting for a building to use. Japan has been especially interesting.  Some days it leaves you feeling like this:
                                                          

I've been having some fun trying out the new crockpot, it's large enough that I think it'll hold a small turkey if I can find one! So far, I've cooked the beans Gary's teacher found us and they turned out nicely..they are like navy beans so Gary is happy. I'm still on the search for pinto beans for my Mexican dishes, though I can find some canned ones of those for emergencies. They are quite expensive though...like $3 a can!

The weather is definitely beginning to turn more wintery, we haven't had to try the heater yet though thanks to my friend Minny Paws.

We received an email from a lady in Saitama who wanted to meet up with us so we could teach her about Jesus! She is the sister of a lady in Holland who knows the son-in-law of an old pastor friend of ours from Mexico! Figure that out! We met up with her at a coffee shop in Koenji and had a very nice visit which will hopefully be the first of many! It's a very interesting thing to try to explain Christian concepts to a person with absolutely zero idea about even the basics of Christianity. We did have some literature in Japanese to give her to read and were able to answer some of her questions as well. After our meet up Gary and I spent a few hours exploring Koenji, we had been there for a short visit before but this time we walked all over the place. We found a nice import store and picked up a few things..some carmel corn,bbq sauce, and some doritos ranch chips! Sometimes just having a little taste of home is nice!

I have a new neighbor young lady in my apartment building. I noticed her English name on her mailbox so I left her a note and offered to help in anyway I could. Gary and I had her over for dinner a couple weeks ago for pizza. Today I took her to the local library and helped her get a library card and showed her how to use it when she brings back books etc. So that's been fun, it's nice to get out with a gal and talk some English!

　

　

There will be no On to Food this post because mostly what I've been making is repeats! Lasagna, meatloaf, filipino pork adobo, some green chili enchilada suizas.  I did get a new book from the library today though so we'll see if I find any new interesting recipes to try!

 

That's it for today!  And remember....Breathe!

 

　

　

October 27th 2013

It's been a busy week weather wise, we had two typhoons headed for us and they were on a collision
course threatening to cause the dreaded Fujiwara effect! (I guess that could cause the storm to stall over a certain area until one breaks free and they continue moving on their way) Fortunately, at the last moment their trajectory swerved and they headed up Japan off the coast instead of coming inland. Kyushu,Okinawa and some of the islands were hit but Tokyo was spared except for a week of grey, cloudy almost constant drizzle and rain! The night we were supposed to get hit we were awakend by an earthquake, things shook about a bit but settled down again so we went back to sleep. Gary says some day we will die in an earthquake in he middle of the night because we're too groggy to actually get up!
After the storm comes the sun, and today is a gorgeous sunny day!  Which of course means I had to get some clothes washed and on the line! (Though here we don't use clothes line, we have long poles and claw like clips to hold things or funny clothes pins that are tied to the pole and hang free. The multi-clip thingies are very popular here as well, I have one.
                                                             

Shirts are just hung on hangers and hung on the pole. Of course during rainy days we can also hang clothes in the shower room to dry as there is a fan/dryer button in that room that you can push to
help the clothes dry.

On Friday after many months and over a dozen appointments I finally had my final dental visit! I
pretty much have a brand new mouth, with all new fillings,crowns, root canals and a bridge. It was a long and painful process but was worth it!

Gary put in a bid on one of the buildings we looked at but we're still waiting to hear back from our realtor. In an effort to speed up the "find a building process", we have an appointment on Monday,with another realtor who has experience with churches. 

                                      This week Gary ordered me a crockpot off of Amazon.com.
                                                                      

Now I'll have something to cook turkey in for Thanksgiving!  yay!  And it's programmable so I can either use it as a regular slow cooker or as a roaster! Thanksgiving Day here we come!!!!

                                              

 

 

October 22 2013

Well so far this week has been cloudy, overcast and/or raining! I don't expect it to clear up until typhoon Francisco gets past us Friday or Saturday.  It did stay dry enough for me to get a load of laundry dried outside but it took 2 days!  I don't really mind the cooler weather but I could do with some sunshine!
I did a little shopping on Monday and picked up this cute little rug for the floor next to my side of the bed.                                                  Seriously, how cute is that?!!!                                      
                                                                             

Cooler weather does make me feel more like cooking though, tonight we're having homemade oden..well the broth is homemade, you can buy all the little oden packets to add to the broth. Mine looked like this one.  

 

You can always tell when summer is over because all the shops start selling oden, it's a cold weather soup!

 

I'm also making some chicken wings with salted plum sauce.

 

and of course there will be rice! 

Afterwards I made some banana bread for desert!

 

Yesterday was one of my brothers birthday so I called him to wish him a Happy Birthday! He doesn't understand how I can handle living in such a big city, he is hermit-y enough that he prefers the mountains in Idaho and avoids shopping except during the quiet times of the day.  I do envy his getting to be so close to nature. I especially miss the quiet of only nature sounds when I want to sleep at night.

 

 

 

 

Time for dinner! 

 

That's it for now! Have a nice week!

October 18th 2013 Buildings, Typhoon, and Food!

October 18th 2013
Howdy folks! Well it's been an interesting week. Monday was a national holiday... Sports Day! I find that humourous but there were people in parks and folks wearing sports uniforms doing sporty stuff! I took a walk in a park. Lol.
Turns out we had a typhoon on Tues/Wed. Gary and I survived fine (actually sept through it), but areas of Tokyo and a nearby island were hit pretty hard. Now we will have to see if Typhoon Francisco stays on course and hits us next week. They don't call it typhoon season for nothing!   It was funny because if it wasn't for Gary's Japanese teacher canceling class because "a big typhoon was coming" we might not have even known until the big outdoor voice speaker began announcing the impending doom!

                                                                     

Anyway, we have been keeping busy taking care of other stuff this week. Yesterday we went and looked at another building.     (It's the one with the Coca-Cola sign, 2nd floor)              
                                                                            

This was in the Nishi Shinjuku area the part of Tokyo with the most skyscrapers and businesses. It was very hopping with a lot of people! Of course all of Tokyo is always very hopping...but still this was even more so!  This was the best building yet as far as neighborhood and church structure that we've seen! It would be really cool if we could rent this one but Japan being Japan we still have more red tape steps to proceed and be approved before we will know! After seeing the building we wandered around the neighborhood and also got some dinner at Baguette a nice place with a bread buffet.

On to food! 


Typhoon day I made Chanko Nabe..food of the sumo wrestlers! I figured it would keep any large wind gusts from blowing us away! It has chicken pieces and also chicken meatballs, a couple types of mushrooms, carrots, tofu, leeks and Chinese cabbage all simmering in a tasty broth! We ate the whole thing!
                  

  
This is a crustless quiche I made. I used the oven setting on my microwave. It had mushroom, ham onion and cheese!

 

 Finally, this is pork cutlets with grated daikon radish and a Japanese sauce on top, these were the best and I'll definitely make them again! I got this recipe from cookpad online!

 

Speaking of food, my dinner for tonight is ready so it's time for me to go! Hope you all had a great week!

October 11 2013

Hi folks! Wow! This week has gone by fast!  Today happens to be my second birthday! Thirty-four years ago I was a messed up teenager who gave her life to Christ and I can testify that it was the single best thing that I have ever done! Without Christ I would have been a messed up drunk because that is certainly the direction I was headed. Instead, Jesus rescued me and I have a wonderful husband and family.  I have had a life full of blessings and adventure and have been given the opportunity to tell others about Jesus' goodness and saving grace so they can have hope for a better life here and eternal life later!
We have been looking at another possible church building since we still haven't heard back from the other one. We need to keep our options open. I like the view at this building we looked at!

This building is on the 9th floor. After we went back downstairs I was looking at the mailboxes and discovered that the 10th floor is rented out by a Hamster!
                                            

On a side note, my local grocery store closed for remodeling for a few days so I had to make a longer bike ride to another store. It was alright though because it's nice to check out new stuff at another store once in a while.  I noticed as I rode by on the bus today that my regular store has reopened so Yay! (The other store was twice as far away)
Wednesday was Gary's birthday! We went out on the town to celebrate...okay we went to Ogikubo! This is funny because it's not one of the fancy neighborhoods people like to go to to celebrate stuff.
                                                         

 

 

 

Actually, it's just a regular, little bit run down area but it has a nice mall and Gary liked the Seiyu there. Seiyu is the Japanese name for Walmart. While it is mostly Japanese stuff I can get some Great Value items, like cheese there and it's good for household things. Also, it's one of the few stores that I've found with clothing in my size. While I'm a size large in the States, here I'm a 3L!  Might as well write Giant Amazon Woman on it in big letters!
Before we headed to Ogikubo though we stopped and had soup at Tokyo Soup Company. Gary had a tomato lobster bisque while I had a desert style pumpkin soup.
                                  I really enjoyed my pumpkin soup, it tasted like pumpkin pie!

 

 

                                                                                     
After that we hopped on the train and went to Ogikubo. We shopped in the mall and bought a really cute teapot that matches some cups we had. We picked up a few things at the Seiyu and then went to the top floor to have some dinner at an Italian restaurant. (Most malls here have restaurants on the top floors.)  Gary and I ordered mostly appetizers since they looked really good. We had escargot, grilled mussels and some delicious chicken wings! Gary also had a seafood pasta and I had a potato gratin dish. It was all very nice!   
                                                              

It was getting late by then so we came home and had birthday cake! Gary had put in a request for a pineapple upside down cake. I wasn't sure I could find the ingredients but I went to Kinokuniya,one of the fancier stores that carries some imported stuff, and found the cherries and cake mix there!  I don't have an oven though so I had to hope the cake setting on my rice cooker would work and it did!
                                                              

 

That's it for today!

October 2, 2013 the new red....

This week has been relatively uneventful, for me anyway. Gary has been working diligently on paperwork regarding this building we're hoping to rent for the church.

I have come to the conclusion that Japan is the inventor of paperwork! I confess to missing the days in Mexico when you'd just hand over a bundle of money and have a place to rent!  Here it is all paperwork and guarantors and "how much noise will you make?" or "Maybe, you can just quietly play a guitar for your church service."

Apparently, Japan doesn't understand the meaning of Pentecostal! Lol!   Oh well, needless to say Gary has had a "fun" week!

So, I haven't had a haircut in a year and Gary had seen a place that looked decent in Mitaka so I headed over there and amazingly the haircutting guy spoke pretty good English! That really helped! After getting it cut I thought I'd better dye all the gray out and as I had one package of dye I had brought with me from the States I thought I'd take care of it. Little did I know that Light Auburn Brown  really means RED!  (It's actually redder than it looks in this picture!)
                                               

    
                                                  
The weather here has slowly been changing, still warm during the day but only in the '70's now instead of the '90's. And it's much cooler at night so we haven't been needing the air conditioner any more, yay! I only purchased summer bedding when we moved here so now that the weather is beginning to change I figured I'd better get ready ahead of time!  I still haven't been able to find any flat sheets, apparently folks prefer to use fitted sheets and then a duvet on their blankets instead of flat sheets.  Also, for some reason blankets and sheets here are terribly expensive, I know I'll buy some sheets on my next trip to the States!
Fortunately, I don't anticipate needing as many blankets as last year since for some reason I'm just not feeling the cold like I used to... Lol!

On to food!

I've been feeling a little International this week and since the weather has been cooler I've been experimenting with some new recipes. I made Phillipine pork adobo one day. I just looked up a couple of different recipes online and kind of combined them so I don't have a recipe to post for it this time, but it was good and I'll make it again sometime!  Also, I guess we were hungry because I forgot to take a picture..it looked like this though. I've never had adobo before but Gary has and he says it was good!

Then I was watching some youtube cooking videos and found a couple for Irish Colcannon. So in honor of my smidgeon of Irish blood thanks to my great-great Grandma, I made this recipe but added a sausage with it like they did in a different recipe I saw.

Here's the recipe if you want to try it, it's nothing fancy but was tasty and filling!

Yesterday, I returned to Japanese cooking and I tried two new recipes from the newly in English, Cookpad site. I made rolled pork with sweet potato. The sweet potato and pork together was actually a good combination.
Sticking with the "wrap things up in pork theme" I  also made green beans and carrots wrapped in thin sliced pork and simmered in a sauce.  This was quite delicious and it's an easy recipe.


                                             Here's how they looked. 
                                              

     
Finally, Japan is famous for it's different flavored KitKat bars. In the States we only have chocolate flavor but here there are many flavors. Since autumn has arrived the new flavor is Kabocha. Kabocha is like pumpkin or squash. I love Kabocha because it has a much milder flavor and a wonderful creamy texture when cooked so I thought I'd give the new KitKat a try.

                                                      

 

Taste Test! Taste Test!