Fresh Fish, An Oncoming Storm

My adventures of late have not been too overly exciting. Work continues to keep me busy during the week days. As of recently though I have continued to use the evenings for fun dinners out and about with friends and coworkers. Last night was Sushi, severed in the traditional way. Or at least as traditional as you can get without paying too high a price. I went with one of my Japanese friends to this restaurant which is actually located above a fresh fish market and distribution center locally here. He was explaining that the whole place is used to take the incoming fresh produce and fish and then redistribute it around the city and other prefectures.

So in terms of sushi we went about as close to the source as I have ever been for freshness of the fish and location. I have to say it was rather good sushi, and the meal overall left me very satisfied and full. I think if it wasn't for all the walking I do here I would begin to gain some weight because of the food and how much I seem to enjoy.

Right now though as I am typing this there is a typhoon approaching. The first that I have experienced this year so far. Rumors are that by the time it hits here things will only be a heavy rain, but just as a precaution I went to the grocery store and stocked up on some food so if I am trapped in my room I am not going to go hungry. The major disappointment is that unless the weather lets up this could cancel my plans out and about for this last weekend I am here in Japan. Only way to tell is watch and see what happens.

Fun With Food

This last first week at work was busy. That might even be an understatement depending on what your normal work week looks like. One of the things I have been reminded of though is the wonderful, fun and sometimes unique food I can fin here. Last night I got to go out with one of my Japanese friends to a tempura place that is probably the best tempura restaurant I have ever eaten at. The bummer to going to a place is that now all other tempura tastes second rate. The thing about this place though is that it is  all in Japanese and they don't cater to the english speaking people like myself very well, actually not at all. So I have to take someone who speaks Japanese. 

After dinner, we wandered to coffee and donuts. Chatting about lots of life kinds of things. He is about my age and looking at buying a house soon in the area. It was fun to talk with him and compare the differences of how buying a house in the states compares and is also so different than buying here in Japan. Sitting there just laughing at jokes, sharing about things we have in common, it was a nice way to get out of the hotel room for a night.

Today with the weather starting to take a change I picked up some groceries and hunkered down for the night. As I type this I can hear the thunder rolling in. Groceries are always fun. There is so many things just out and about you would never expect to see. Or at least I would never expect to see. The special find today was deep fried baby crab halves. Just a small crab, cut in half and deep fried... I think someone started with them and decided on strawberries instead. I think that is a good choice, I chose the strawberries too.

Work goes on, and I am already looking forward to coming home after such a busy week last week. Maybe this weekend, weather pending I will try to get out and about to one of the surrounding areas.

Until next time, keep me in your prayers and I'll make sure to try and avoid the weird food... but no promises on whale meat if I'm offered it. I did find a place with sharkfin soup though...

-Nick

Travels and Herbs

Things seem to move so quickly. It was only a few months ago that erin and I returned from our crazy trip to Japan, started this blog to help keep everyone informed and now as I type out these words I am sitting in Seatac International Airport waiting for my next flight out to Japan again.

Erin will not be joining me on this trip. I fly out today and fly home on the 4th of June. This trip is short, though not as short as the crazy last trip. Things over in Japan have steadied out and work has resumed. So that means I will be helping to cover the work load over there until the person who was permanently selected comes out to work. It isn't easy being away from erin for this long. I know that last night was relaxing having finished all my packing but it is still sad to know I am away from my wife, family and friends for another trip.

Thank you to my mother-in-law Patti for coming over this weekend to keep erin company. Last report I had from them is that erin bought herbs from the farmer's market to grow over this summer. Not sure what budget those come out of... food? Household (because they are plants)? Well either way with erin's green thumb and a month before I return I am sure that I will be welcomed home by a wonderful wife and happy herbs.

I'll be keeping up my trip updates on this blog and hopefully erin will get a chance to post a little too.

-Nick

Children/Things 'Old People' Do

Often as it seems erin and I end up talking about kids. Not that we want any in the close future, but I think that because so many of our friends around us have them the conversation goes that way. So the other day we were in Costco, enjoying the plethora of samples and I think we found a safe alternative to children. The nice thing is that you don't have to feed, change or really play with them and the chances of being hit by a car are lower... But they did seem a little impersonal and kind of cold.

I think that we have managed to recover from all the crazy travel. We have worked out the mostly everything with the airlines and as of right now I am back on my normal work schedule. We moved up the start date for erin's work and she will start on the 11th of April. (WHOOHOO!! She adds).

Thankfully life has not gotten too busy that we cannot get in some quality time together. Last Monday for our 'date night' we spent the night in and started on a puzzle. It is one of the activities we like to do together that often makes our friends comment that we are an 'old' couple. I guess we are already an 'old' couple after only 2 months of marriage then I am sure that I should be scheduled to retire in the next year or so. Not sure how that will work out. So I will have to let everyone else decide. Until then, enjoy the completed puzzle below.

-Nick

The Beef Experiment: French Dip a.k.a. Au jus

Every Monday night Erin and I have 'date night'. It is the night we claim for ourselves to do whatever we want together. Some nights this is watch movies, other nights we go out to eat, well for tonight it was making dinner at home, and tonight's main course, french dip.

Erin slaved over a hot crock pot for many hours to come up with this dish. You can see the initial steps to the process here.

Then rising early in the morning with me, erin took care of setting our little roast (which we got in the discount meat section of Fredmeyer, yay for cheap meat) along with the collection of spices into the pot.

After a whole day of work, the dish was ready. Oh the scent of the dish when I walked into the house. Here is the end product. Along with a few pictures of erin and I preparing.






And so after our intense preparation and table setting we had the end product seen below. Happy little french dips on dinner rolls.

First Adventure Post

Welcome to everyone who is out there reading. We have just finished what I think was one of the most stressful and crazy adventures that I have ever had. An emergency evacuation from a Navy base on Yokosuka, Japan. You can read some of my and my wife's adventures on my old blog: nicktojapan.blogspot.com.

Now, I am happy to say we are here at home. I am enjoying my second cup of coffee, using the strategy of taking in large quantities of caffeine to conquer the desire to rest while erin, she had a different approach... actually napping.

Either way, I am sitting here creating a new blog and she is letting our decorative pillow create cool impressions on her cheek. The reason though behind the blog is after realizing that we had a lot of craziness happening in the last 72 hours keeping communication open was tough, and well my old blog I had geared around trips to Japan, and the title of the blog made sense being 'Nick to Japan' and I wasn't updating it when I was not in Japan. So overall, we had some communication breakdown and I know family and friends would love to be kept up to date on our lives outside of the trips we make to Japan.

Also I know it isn't always as easy to keep up with everyone all the time and this is hopefully another way that those interested can follow along with our lives. Well without getting on Facebook all the time and not everyone is on Facebook. I know though keeping this up to date is on our shoulders, so give us a little grace and hopefully we will remember to update it often enough.

So, welcome again to a new blog, a new title, and a new address and new adventures.

-Nick