Picnic and Peruvian

It has yet to turn cold here in Oyama, which allowed us to have a nice picnic over the weekend.  There seem to be a multitude of parks all over town and Drew had scoped out a new one to take me to.  It had a great pond to enjoy as we ate.

The park had a running track, walking path, baseball court, tennis court, playground, and a small hedge maze.  In case you didn't know, I have a love of life size mazes and Drew is always on the lookout for me.  This one was a tad neglected (you could see through to the other side) but it still put a smile on my face.  After eating, we made our way to a nearby mall.  Our main objective was to get a scoop of Baskin Robins ice cream.  Cookies and cream for me!

Later that night we ventured into a Peruvian restaurant that was recommended by a Peruvian guy we had met a few weeks earlier.  Before this experience I didn't know much of anything about Peruvian food.  It mostly reminds me of Spanish but I could definitely see the influences of Italian and Asian cuisines as well.  

Great atmosphere

For an appetizer we ordered the Tamale.  It was so fantastic that it was gone before I even thought to take a picture.  As my main course I ordered a shrimp chupe (stew/chowder) and Drew got some sort of meat on pasta with some sort of sauce.  We have no idea what was it was, but it sure was delicious.  The owner was very friendly and told us all about the history of Peruvian food.  Apparently, at the end of each month they have an all-you-can-eat event where you are able to try a variety of their dishes.  We'll be keeping that in mind.

Goodies

A terrific care package from my mother-in-law arrived today.  Nothing is quite as fun as opening up a box of surprises!  This picture was literally taken a minute after opening.  Can you see the huge stack of candy wrappers that has already been created?

Now we can get the Halloween spirit going on in our apartment with our new decorations.  Thanks again!    

Hanging by our kitchen window

It lights up!

Halloween

Halloween doesn't seem to be very big in Japan but people are aware of it and there are minimal decorations/costume collections in stores.  It is mostly focused on children and is celebrated in settings such as the English school Drew teaches in.  Lucky for him, that means he has to dress up!  Actually it's lucky for me because I get to see this face as he walks around in his Dracula costume.  Can you tell Halloween is not one of Drew's favorite holidays?

He has teeth to complete the outfit but I could not convince him to pose for a picture.  One of his younger students started to tear up when she saw the teeth so he wasn't able to keep them in for very long.  We were lucky to find this cape since most of the costumes are for kids.  It was to the point where we were considering buying a child's pumpkin outfit and cutting it down the back so that Drew could fit in.  I kind of still wish I could see that.

He has to participate in two Halloween parties this month, meaning I get to see him ashamed and embarrassed once again!  At least he'll get some candy out of it.  

Oktoberfest

Tochigi City held an Oktoberfest over the past weekend that we couldn't pass up.  If there is beer, Drew wants to try it.  The entertainment was an accordion band as well as many food stalls, including one with a variety of bratwursts to stick with the theme.

At some point the music inexplicably switched to Beatles songs and Drew and I stumbled upon a food stall selling Turkish kebabs and churros.  Lunch was served.

The downer of the day was that the cheapest beer we could find was $10.  Even still, Drew was insistent upon purchasing this item.  Drew had his blinders up, all reasoning out the window, and could only see that refreshing bottle of beer.  I had to intervene!  This was no easy task.  After stepping aside pulling him away from the temptation I reminded him that if the kebab I had wanted so badly had cost $10 that there was no way he would have consented to that purchase.  Ha ha!  I got him!  He saw no way out.  Don't worry, he finally got a beer later that evening.  It just happened to be from our local convenient store and only cost a couple bucks.  Ten points me!

Kanuma Festival

Our big activity for the weekend was attending the Kanuma Imamiya Shrine festival.  This two day, 400 year old, festival originated in 1608 when the city experienced an extended drought.  After praying for rain and receiving it, a celebration was held.  This festival has since been held annually.  Each town in the city has their own carved float that they pull into and out of the shrine.  Most of the floats have a long history, the oldest we noted having been made in 1812.

We watched as the floats were pulled back and forth down the streets during the parade.  As you can see, there are people inside the floats playing music and people on top clapping and chanting. Each team had their own unique hanten jacket uniform.

At the shrine we were able to witness a Noh performance.

One of the best parts was checking out the food stalls.  It turns out you can get just about anything you want on a stick.  We had to try the chocolate covered banana.

Drew ate half of his before I could even get a picture.

I also got to meet Berrychan!  Some sort of strawberry mascot that was making the rounds.  The Tochigi area is known for their delicious strawberries.

Lanterns are hung on all of the floats as it gets dark to prepare for the band competition.  The floats gather in groups and let their bands duke it out, culminating with a firework show.

I added a couple videos below that hopefully captured the spirit of the day.

One Month Reflection

I was curious after one week how my attitude would change after a month of being here.  Would I miss the same things?  Would the list shrink or increase?  Here's what I've found.

Things I no longer miss:

1) My Car: Now that we have our couch and Drew's computer desk, I no longer wish I had a car to haul items around.  I've had a great time on my bike and haven't had one moment of road rage (something I felt all too often stuck in the bottleneck of the Cincinnati/NKY bridge).  Drew and I went on another bike ride this past weekend.  This time I made it 26 miles.  We were able to track our journey on Drew's GPS which can then be uploaded to Google Maps/Earth.  Here is the link.  It's even more detailed on Google Earth, showing which direction we were moving and how long we stopped in each location.  Nifty.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=205911427285535374189.0004caf98b4be2f1264db

There is a good possibility that I will be singing a different tune about my bike once winter comes.  Thank goodness I was given some heavy duty long underwear for my birthday.  I may be using it for more than just camping.

2) Dryer:  It isn't that big of a hassle to hang our clothes.  I'm over it.

3) Large refrigerator: I've become an expert at situating our food items for maximum capacity so it hasn't been a big problem.

4) Sushi:  Even though my own attempt at making sushi wasn't aesthetically pleasing, it tasted just fine.  I think it will hold me over until I visit home and indulge in a decadent roll.

Thing I miss:

1) Dishwasher:  Yup, this one is never leaving the list.

2) Food processor/blender: Recently I've been finding recipes where I need to be able to blend ingredients together.  It's driving me crazy that I don't have these tools.  All I want is some darn hummus!  I can't find it anywhere.  The garbanzo beans are staring at me in the store but I have no way to turn them into this wonderful dish.

3) My spice collection:  To keep things interesting I would like to be able to cook non-Japanese dishes in addition to what I've been cooking.  However, those recipes usually call for different spices.  There is an international store where I can find things like cumin, oregano, etc.  but I know I have a huge spice collection sitting at home.  It pains me to spend any money on it.

4) Friends and Family:  I would love for everyone to be here with me.  Yesterday I really had the urge to meet up with someone for lunch, but everyone back home was asleep.

5) My bread maker:  See a theme here with kitchen items?  I can't find a good piece of bread here.  All I've seen are thick slices (twice the size of ours) of plain, boring white bread.  I want something more interesting than that.  Once again, my bread maker is sitting at home taunting me.

Cravings

1) Brownies:  Anything that says "brownie" here is really just chocolate cake in disguise.  A true brownie lover knows that this will not satisfy.  It's like offering Mello Yello when you want Mt. Dew.  Not buying it.

2) Homemade pizza:  For some reason I would very much like to make my own pizza.  Probably because Drew and I had gotten into making bread and pizza dough before we left.  It would have spinach, mushrooms, and feta cheese...yum.

3) Sausage balls: This is one of the appetizers that my family sometimes has at various gatherings.  It sounds really good right now for some reason.  Hint, hint, when I come for Christmas!

Sushi Roll

Today was the day for me to learn how to roll sushi.  Let's just say it is going to take more than a day for me to ever be a master at this art.  I was not anticipating my lack of skill in this area.

I started out slow with a cucumber roll.  Made the rice, peeled the cucumber, and set up the seaweed on the bamboo rolling mat.  Unfortunately, the seaweed I bought was in little strips and not the normal sheets used to make sushi.  That was my first problem.  My second problem was that I was utterly horrible at rolling the sushi.  Please refer to the third picture below for evidence.

I decided to try a spicy cucumber and avocado roll, which turned out a little better.  Still quite lopsided and messy.  I found that you need a very sharp knife to cut the roll.  My knife kept tearing the seaweed.  It really wasn't all my fault!

Cucumber, Avocado, Sesame seeds, and Spicy Sauce

I was also supposed to make a sweet sauce to go on top of one of the rolls from soy sauce, sake, and sugar.  The recipe said to boil until most of the liquid has evaporated.  Well, I guess I went little beyond that point because now I think my pot is forever soiled by this failed concoction. Looks like its new home is under the sink with the rest of my cast offs.   

I continued making more of the spicy cucumber avocado rolls to put aside for Drew to try later.  Here was my best one. 

 I'm still not sure it was worth the trouble when we have the 100 Yen ($1) sushi place across the street.  I did want that sweet sauce to work though, so maybe I'll work up the courage to try again.  I just can't ruin another pot!