Vegetable Ice Cream???

We spent Saturday evening driving the streets of Okinawa. We were really looking for a shopping area Lyle thought he saw. I know he saw something, but we couldn't find it again. But touring the side streets of Okinawa was a nice way to spend an evening. I know the group of men that were on one corner saw us enough to be able to pick us out of a line up (passed by at least 4 times!) After an hour or so of that we stopped for dinner. Since it was getting late we decided Ice Cream was an acceptable dinner.

Blue Seal is Okinawan Ice Cream at its finest. I tried Mango Madness this time (it was good and VERY mango-y), Lyle tried Goya. At the time we had no idea what Goya was, but it tasted pretty good. I have since located it on-line and found the following:

"Various prefectures (like a state) come to the Expo to promote food and crafts from their part of Japan. At the booth from Okinawa, a local vegetable called goya or bitter melon is used to make different products like tea and noodles."

The kids got the standard Chocolate Cookie and Mint Chocolate Chip. While standing in line to order our ice cream Lyle looked through the dinner menu. Intrigued by "Curry Fries" and "Spicy Fries" he ordered a side of each to go with our dessert. The curry fries were really good, spicy fries were like regular fries. Sorry no pics, I forgot to take the camera along for this journey.

forwarded mail

It amazes me every time we move; we ALWAYS lose touch with someone we need to stay in touch with, because mail doesn't get forwarded or a company refuses to update our address. I am also surprised by the things that continue to find their way to us.

Today there was only one lonely piece of mail in our PSC box. It was one of those things I will not need in the foreseeable future


As much as I would enjoy Father's day Bingo, even after the coupons they sent 6000 miles, it would still cost a little more than my budget allows.

The funniest part is that they have my current address on the flyer, so I will continue to get these, until they check their files and see I haven't attended Bingo in a while.

Cream Cheese Carrot Muffins

Tomorrow is the Ladies Bible Study and I am bringing snacks. Since it is a morning meeting I made something to go with coffee. These muffins are pretty good, I used 1/3 fat Cream Cheese and doubled the muffin ingredients since the filling makes way more than needed.
Ingredients
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can sliced carrot, drained
1 3/4 cups flour
1 cup Sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 egg
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Filling
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/4 cup sugar

Directions
Place carrots in a food processor; cover and process until smooth. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and spices. In a small bowl, whisk the pureed carrots, eggs and oil; stir into the dry ingredients just until moistened.
Fill 12 greased muffin cups one-third full. In a small mixing bowl, beat the filling ingredients until smooth. Drop by tablespoonfuls into the center of each muffin. Top with remaining batter.
Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Serve warm.

Yum!?

Lyle and I both had tried Korean Sushi while in ND (Kimbop), and I have had California Rolls before, but neither of us had true raw fish Sushi. Our commissary just opened up a Sushi Bar addition to the Deli, and in honor of being in Japan we have started trying some of what they have to offer.




We started last week with the familiar, California Rolls. The kids didn't care for them, but Lyle and I both enjoyed them. This week we tried Cream Cheese Rolls, made with raw (as in uncooked) tuna. They were okay, but we probably won't try them from the commissary again. I don't know if we will ever get brave enough for the eel rolls!

On a tastier note, today was the Women's Ministry Annual Cake auction. Since I left all my food friends in December, I have been looking for opportunities to cook for those that might appreciate it. So I prepared one of my favorites, Lemon Meringue Cake.

I was a little worried about how the meringue would like the humidity here, but it turned out pretty good. It sold for $22. The best part of this auction was that everyone cut open their cakes right away and shared with all. I tried like 6 different desserts, my favorite, Red Velvet Cake Balls. Chunks of Red Velvet Cake, dipped in frosting then coated in melted chocolate! I will be asking Heidi for her recipe!

New Diet Aid

Nutritionist always say to lose weight you ned to watch portion size. They suggest eating off a smaller plate to "fool" your brain into thinking you have eaten more. Japanese scientist have taken it a bit too far tho:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/odd_japan_smallest_ramen_bowl

Korean Yellow Melon

I saw this odd looking thing in the produce section of the commissary last week, called a Korean Yellow Melon. It looked alot like a squash, but since they called it a melon, I figured I needed more info before I bought one.

So I looked it up online, and the description said it was ripe when the skin was yellow, and that it had a taste similar to a cantaloupe. Today I bought one and served it up with dinner. Chris said it was "okay" but the rest of us really enjoyed it. I had to explain to Steph that she was to eat it like a watermelon (after she tried to take a bite, rind and all). It tasted like a cross between a Honeydew and Cantaloupe, but the texture was like eating a firm pear. With cantaloupe being a rarity here I am sure we will all get our fill of Korean Yellow Melon.

The rainy Season

The rainy season is here..... at least that's what the newpaper has been saying for the last week, but the only rain I had seen was sprinkles that barely wet my shirt. Until yesterday. It rained all morning long, not pretty,nice day to curl up with a book rain, but hard blowing sheets of rain that only happen in ND once or twice a year. I do remember this type of rain happening on Guam, but I must have filed it away in my brain under "never need to know again."

Lyle had to go out in it to get to work, but my commissary and post office run could wait :) I spent the afternoon with my pictures and paper and laid out another dozen pages. One more rainy day like that and I could have 2005 done.

Today the weather was better. Still hot and humid but hardly a rain drop to be found.

Day at the Beach

Since Steph is home and we had nothing going on for our Memorial Day, we decided to take a picnic lunch and head to a new beach. Getting there is half the battle for us as we are still trying to figure out how the roads here work. Maps exist, but they aren't easy to understand. We only got lost once today before finding our way to White Beach.

We ate our lunch first, since we didn't want to battle sand, then went beach combing. Chris noticed the crab in it's hidey hole first, so we all went back to have a look. For reference, the hole was about 2 1/2 inches in diameter.I found an orange hermit crab, that Chris tried to claim as his own. But neither kid brought a critter cage along so the little crab stayed. Lyle found a pile of Hermit Crabs. These were HUGE!
My favorite part of walking the beaches here is the sea glass. I have a small container I have been keeping the best pieces in. I am not sure what to do with it yet. There is a lady that makes jewelry for people from sea glass, but I am thinking more along the lines of a knick knack decoration. Chris found the prettiest piece of the day, the bright blue piece in the middle of today's haul.
After a little swimming, it was time to find our way home. Chris did his paper route while the rest of us showered up and got ready for dinner. We decided to try a Mexican place we drive by every time we leave the base. It is called Obligatto's and it was the best Mexican I have had since we left Texas. Who knew you had to go to Japan to find decent Mexican? The owners even have their own tortilla machine. We will definitely be going back there again!

Slow day

Stephanie spent the weekend camping with the girl scouts at Okuma Recreation area on the northern end of the island. With her gone, we stuck close to home. So the highlight of my day today was trying one of the japanese snacks I bought on my last trip through the grocery area of the 100 YEN store.

These looked like Corn Nuts, one of my favorite snacks, so I thought I would try them. We have bought many of the varieties of dried bean snacks this company makes and have loved them all. This pack was no exception. They taste like corn nuts flavored with Wasabi, a win/win for me :)

The only other thing we did today was our normal evening walk, but it had to be cut short due to a swarm of moth like, biting bugs that seemed to be everywhere. Of course, we were walking after dark, something we don't normally do. I guess that is why.

Steph made it home safe, tired, bug bitten and sunburned, but safe. We are hoping to go exploring tomorrow if the weather holds, but since the rainy season is upon us there are no guarantees. On the other hand, if it rains that means more Yen store shopping, again a win/win for me.

Dog Wedding...The video

Turns out Chris took his camera with him to Haru and Chewie's wedding. He got video, but no sound! So for your viewing pleasure :

Today was Marketday, so my whole day was talking to people about scrapbooking. I did get a walk in tho and made it past the 300 mark! Not bad for only 5 months and 24 days :)

Tropical Paradise?

I knew it was going to be the humidity that bothered me. My hair, my skin and my clothes all hate humidity. Everyone has warned me that it was bad here, but right now it is 83 degrees, cloudy and very very humid (okay the computer says 72% but it must be more than that). They say it gets worse. I bet I will be wishing for ND snow by August :)

The photo is my sliding door leading to the back yard. The entire patio was coated in water droplets, but it wasn't raining.

BAM! Yo Joey, I'm a styrofoam cup YO!

Part of being overseas that people don't warn you about is TV. We can buy cable, which is TV recorded on DVD's and replayed 2 weeks delayed. We do get the occasional live item but satellites aren't reliable. We also get free TV via the Armed Forces Network. AFN doesn't have "normal" commercials, we get educational breaks. These commercials are sometimes more entertaining than the show we are watching. This is one of Lyle's favorites!

Potstickers (AKA Gyoza or Dumplings)

I have loved potstickers from the moment I tried them. Almost every Chinese buffet has them and the grocery stores sell them, but I decided to try to MAKE them. So I turned to my trusty Recipezaar.com and found recipe #171506, The Secret to Perfect Gyoza N Potstickers. I went to the commisary and they had ALL the ingredients (amazing) so it was added to the menu to go alongside stir fry pork and soba noodles.

The pork and cabbage mixture made WAY more than I expected.

The round Gyoza wrappers were easy to work with and looked nice when folded together. I ended up with 40 potstickers and half a pound of filling left for the freezer.

Even Lyle (AKA mr picky) liked them. It was hard to walk away from the leftovers. Between the extra soba noodles and potstickers we have lunch for tomorrow all sewn up.

Same old thing

Saturday we took the kids out, but first they had to attend Haru's wedding. Steph's friend Brianna and her boy dog, Chewie, will be moving in a couple months. The two girls thought they should seal their friendship with a dog wedding. Haru was a trooper (I didn't go to take photos) and the girls had a good time, and that is what counts... right?

After the ceremony and Chris' paper route, we went to American Village and Sunset Beach.












Chris and Steph only got to play in the water for a little while, since the swimming has to end at 6, but a little time at the beach is better than none! Lyle and I walked the beach. After the beach we did a little shopping and got dinner. It was a nice evening out.

Tuesday Chris competed in National History Day. He has been working on his project for over a month. He even let me take a picture!



















Although he didn't win, he had a good time.

Sorry it has been so long since i updated. I am going to try to get back to daily posts about nothing. Tune in tomorrow for Potstickers!

This week in Okinawa

Okay, I meant to post... almost everyday! So here is a quick Recap of the Spring week.

On Wednesday Lyle and I went to Members night at the club. The first visit was so fun, we couldn't pass up Free Food and Entertainment. It was just as fun, and the food was good and this time we actually won a real prize. I played Price is Right and was way over on my prices (no prize for me). Lyle played the scavenger hunt and won a Margarita (and smoothie) maker. Perfect for sitting out on the patio during those hot Okinawa days :)

On Thursday Chris had a band concert. He was pretty excited about it since 3 of the 5 songs they were playing were from video games! The band director told about an orchestra that tours the country (US) playing nothing but the background music from todays most popular games. He said they sell out almost everywhere they go! Our band did a pretty good job, even if I didn't recognize the music, or the games it came from.

Lyle had been telling us about the soda cans that come out of the Japanese run vending machines at work. He finally brought home a can so I could share. The Japanese really like their Anime art!

We finally remembered to take a picture of Lyle with his new ride. He really likes his little blue car, and after riding in it (finally) I have to say it is kind of fun :) He can reach his arm across the top of it and we joked that we could carry it to the shop if it ever broke down!And finally, on Saturday we went to a Mexican Potluck at church to listen to a Missionary from China. Part of the potluck was a salsa contest. I sampled a few different Recipezaar recipes until I happened on Pineapple Black Bean Salsa (recipe # 175113). I made a few changes to make it my own and took it in to be judged. I won the prize for Most Unusual Salsa! The prize: a candy necklace that is a work of art in itself. Each piece of hard candy looks just like the fruit it is supposed to be down to the seeds in the watermelon!

The news has been tracking the first threat of a typhoon for Okinawa. Tropical Storm Rammasun (God of Thunder) is supposed to miss us by 500 miles, but it is already bringing wind gusts and bands of rain. Hopefully, we will be able to venture out of the house next week.

Ticker Change

You may (or may not) have noticed my mileage ticker above. It has been changed. The 6035 miles to Germany wasn't enough of a challenge, so I am now walking to my lake in Michigan. I am going to try to get there before we leave Okinawa for good. I am averaging 3-4 miles a day which is pretty good, I think. But even at 4 miles a day, 365 days a year, for 4 years leaves me almost 1000 miles short. I am going to have to kick it up a notch! Haru, get your leash!

Extra, Extra

Chris has his first official job! He is a paperboy :). He is responsible for our housing area. He delivered his first papers last night and also did collections. He received some tips, which he loved, and did pretty good.

Lyle bought a car, so we are now a two car family. I didn't get any pictures yesterday and it is pouring rain today, so photos will have to wait. It is a tiny little car called a Nissan March.

I received a gift in the mail from my mom. She sent me a coin purse! The whole time we were back in the states I searched for a coin purse to hold my american change on one side and my Yen on the other, but never found one that was just right. My mom found one that had two clasps and a zippered bottom, so it actually has 3 pockets! I have already transfered my money, it works perfectly! Thanks mom!

Surprise!

I got Happy Mail! A box from my partner in crime in Germany. It contained some stamping supplies that I had ordered, tons of expired coupons (still good here!), and YUMMY YUMMY snacks from Real (her favorite store). I ate the little wafer cookie thing first. It was much like the "chocolate covered packing peanut log" I had sent her, but with much more chocolate. The Germans know how to do chocolate!

The kids enjoyed the Kinder Eggs (okay we ALL enjoyed the kinder eggs.) We played with the little toys that were hidden inside. Somehow, I got a spy toy, a morse code clicker, while everyone else got cute little, bright colored bunnies. Lyle took my clicker to work so he can keep everyone in line! We haven't tried the peanut flippies or the Ketchup flavored teddy snacks yet, and the German coffee is waiting for a morning that I can actually savor the flavor, rather than slurping it down on the way out the door.

I spent a couple hours looking through all the coupons and pulling out the ones I could use. I have already been to the store once and got Chicken fries for the boy, 89 cents, Rice a roni, 40 cents, and snacks for Haru, 68 cents. I love those $1 off coupons!

And since my creative cling showed up I was able to mount some stamps that have been sitting for months and do some stamping. I didn't take any pictures of my handiwork, so you will just have to imagine :)

My other surprise this week was my anniversary present to Lyle. I had been secretly working on a cross stitch project to help cover our bare walls. I finished it last week and took it in to get it framed. The skills center assured me it would be done before Wednesday. Wednesday morning they still hadn't called so I stopped in and it was "almost" ready, just needed to be assembled, sealed and hung. They said it would be done in 45 minutes. So I ran and got my groceries, then came back. I glanced at it, quickly because I needed to get the groceries home before having to pick Lyle up for lunch. It looked fine (really nice in fact), so I resealed the brown paper cover and took it home. At lunch I gave Lyle his gift. He was surprised and really liked it, went to hang it on the wall. Apparently the skills center hurried through to get it done for me and didn't pay attention to which direction it needed to hang:

I am taking it back in this weekend to be rehung!

Today is the Day

That I fell in love. Twenty-One years ago (OMG 21 years!) I started seeing this guy from work, little did I know we would be together forever! Happy Anniversary hon, I love you!

For my Baby Brother

Happy Birthday to my brother Rick. I could have put more embarassing photos up, but it is his birthday, and I didn't get him a gift :) Love you Rick

Saturday....

Otherwise known as Spring outing day :) We decided to head for the islands on the Western side of Okinawa.

We drove over a couple really cool bridges and through some concrete tunnels to get to Ikei Island. On the way we stopped at a beach to watch people surf using Parachutes and Sails. We decided we are going to have to try this someday (not today!)

We found a nice spot for a family photo. Now that we have the whole Self-Timer thing on the camera figured out, we will be doing these alot more often!

We got back into the car and drove to the end of the road at Big Time Resort. The beach wasn't a good swimming beach because of Riptides, but we had a good time walking it. Chris found a bunch of sea floats (no glass floats tho) and a plastic container to haul them in:

Stephanie opted for something smaller:

These are broken pieces of glass that have been rubbed completely smooth by the water and the sand. The are known as Sea Glass. This is a much easier collection to haul around :)

After a couple hours in the sun we were ready to go home, but we had to stop for our favorite treat, Blue Seal ice cream. Today's flavors were Coconut, Sugar Cane, Cookies and Cream and Mint Chocolate Chip. YUM!

Friday

I meant to update this news right away, but I got lazy. Anyhoo. Chris started his day looking like this:

But ended his day looking like this:

The Air Force decided to allow his braces, and since we are overseas, they pay for them too! That saves us over $2000 that the guy in Grand Forks was going to charge us! If we can get Stephanie into braces before we PCS back to the states.....

On a side note(literally). The sign of the week was found in the bathroom of the hospital. My question, what else.... other than toilet paper.... would someone WANT to put on a TP dispenser?

Member's Night

Last night Lyle and I went to check out the NCO club- Rockers. It was Member's Night, which advertised free dinner buffet from 5-7,then games and prizes from 7-9. It was advertised as Adult's only so we went on a date.

We have visited Member's Night at our last three bases. Sheppard AFB it was a family night, with games and prizes for the kids as well as adults. There were always 2 buffets, one with kid friendly food and one for adults. It was always a good time. Then we moved to Grand Forks. Those of you that have been to a member's night in the Forks knows what I mean when I say it was always a let down. Spaghetti with meat sauce and "garlic bread" made from yesterdays hamburger and hotdog buns and cheap silly prizes. But it was free and friends always made it a nice night away from the kitchen.

Last night was a definite change for the good! We dined on an endless buffet of Steak, chicken, sausage with peppers and onions, Mashed potatoes, veggies, rice, salad. And so many different desserts we couldn't sample them all (we tried.... Hard!). They had real entertainment in the form of a DJ and a "Jamaican" MC. They were full of jokes and we laughed all night long. There were prize drawings for Club Cash (they gave away over $1000 just in cash)and games for the other prizes, including Ipod shuffles and Dvd players (yes, multiple of each!). Anyone that took part in any of the games got T-shirts and hats. Lyle and I both were called up for the scavenger hunt, which had us running around for change. I was eliminated right away, I wasn't quick enough getting back. Lyle was eliminated soon after for running. It isn't easy trying to find $1.76 when no one here uses pennies (except the Post Office).

It was fun, we ate good food, laughed hard and got away from the kids. And best of all it was FREE!

Happy Birthday To Carol

Today is Carol's Birthday!

For those that haven't met my friend Carol (she is also my step mom!) you are missing out. She is a fun lady. She would fit in with the Forks gang pretty well :)

Happy Birthday Carol, We love you!

Update on the Rosemary Bread

We pulled a loaf of the Frozen Rosemary Garlic bread from last week out of the freezer. It still tasted wonderful with our dinner. But the suprise was the next day. I used this bread to make the BEST grilled cheese sandwiches in the world. It toasted up wonderfully and got nice and crispy on the outside while staying moist on the inside! I have one more loaf in the freezer, but I don't think it is going to last long.

Ryukyu Glass Works (and more)

We had been planning on driving to the southern end of the Island for a couple weeks, but life kept getting in the way. But this Saturday we did our weekend chores quick so we could get on the road. One extra chore was spraying the ants that were walking under my front door in a march to my kitchen. Raid, however, kills more than ants. On our way our the door we found this on our front step:

Just so you can get an idea of this bugs size, the tiles on our front step are almost 6 inches square.

After flinging the dead bug into the grass we climbed into the car are started our journey south. After a couple of unintentional street changes (Lyle says we were NOT lost) we found signs leading us to the Ryukyu Glass Works. On our way to the Glass Works we stopped at a Lacquerware store and took a quick tour of the lacquerware process from start to finish. I didn't get any pictures inside, but they had these cut outs in the front:

A very short drive later we got to the glass works. This place is incredible. The enire building (shops included) are covered in these beautiful glass tiles.

We sat and watched the glass makers work for a while, amazed at how quickly they could work. Then we went into the store to look over their wares. There were plates, bowls, vases, wine glasses and more. The colors were amazing, the store overwhelming. We have a list of things that we would like, we only have to narrow it down. We are planning on coming back on an organized tour so we can create our own glass creation.

After all of the heat from the glass furnace we needed a cool break, so we got Ice Cream. Chris chose Cookies and Cream, Steph got Mint Chocolate chip, Lyle and I shared a new flavor, Pineapple. It was really (REALLY) good.

Since it was starting to rain, we decided to head back towards home. On our way we drove by this car dealership and saw the kids dream car:

The Pikachu car was complete down to a tail on the Bumper. The hubcaps were PokeBalls! Chris wanted to know how much it cost, Steph wanted to know if she bought a car would we help her paint it like this one!

Rosemary Garlic Braid

I made this bread yesterday. It has been in my Try file for quite a while, I wish I would have made it earlier! It was soooooo good! The recipe makes 3 loaves, after slicing the first one I immediately wrapped and froze the other two to keep the family from eating it all! Don't be afraid of the 5 heads of garlic, after baking them they are so mellow and almost nutty tasting. I used fresh rosemary, but scraped it off the garlic after baking to keep it from going into the bread. The flavor was still there, without the hard stems. I didn't have Garlic Salt, so I substuted 1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder and 1 teaspoon Onion Salt. There was some butter left over so I brushed it over the loaves again after they finished baking.

Rosemary Garlic Braid

5 Whole Garlic Bulbs

2 teaspoons Olive Oil
¼ Cup Minced Fresh Rosemary or 4 teaspoons Dried Rosemary, crushed
1 Tablespoon Chicken Broth

9 to 9 ½ Cups Bread Flour
½ Cup sugar

3 packages Quick Rise Yeast
3 teaspoons Salt

1 ½ Cups Milk
1 Cup Water

¾ Cup Butter, divided
1 Egg

1 ½ teaspoons Garlic Salt

Remove papery outer skin from garlic (do not peel or separate cloves). Cut top off garlic heads, leaving root end intact. Place cut side up in a small baking dish. Brush with oil; sprinkle with rosemary. Cover and bake at 425 for 30-35 minutes or until softened. Cool for 10 minutes. Squeeze softened garlic into a bowl, add broth and lightly mash. In a large mixing bowl, combine 3 cups flour, sugar, yeast and salt. In a saucepan heat milk, water and ½ Cup butter to 120-130. Add to dry ingredients; beat just until moistened. Beat in egg and garlic paste until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough (dough will be sticky). Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface, divide into thirds. Divide each portion into three pieces. Shape each into an 18-inch rope. Place three ropes on a greased baking sheet and braid; pinch ends to seal and tuck under. Repeat with remaining dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30 minutes. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Melt remaining butter; add garlic salt. Brush over bread. Bake 10-15 minutes longer or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.