Kamakura

Right outside of Yokosuka is Kamakura, this adorable beachside-ish Japanese town that hosts Japan's 2nd largest Buddha statue. This weekend we hoped on the train and went strolling down the streets lined with sweets and souvenir shops swarming with the most international crowd we've seen since Kyoto. It was peaceful and rewarding and as we sat under the Buda feeding Ella we couldn't help but realize how special the moment was. Buddha's and Temples bring a certain peace of mind to anyone of any religion. It's just something about the trees, gardens, gathering of people from all over the world, and ancient stuff that makes you appreciate life to it's fullest.

chinese & mongolian

Brandon got this amazing new rice cooker for Christmas from Mama & Papa Willett and we have been breaking it in with some tasty new dishes. It is quite the step up from our $7.00, two cup, mini-rice cooker from the last year and a half!

We took our first stab at Mongolian cooking. I can't say if we have ever had Mongolian before, so why not give it a try!

Mongolian Chicken Stew: A delicious combination of chickpeas, golden raisins, toasted almonds, cinnamon, curry powder, and garlic; stewed with green peppers, red onions, chicken, and tomato soup.

Last night we cooked Kung Pao Chicken (Jewell's favorite Chinese dish). This was a recipe we found on the blog Noodle Fever via Tastespotting.com. If you have never perused the Tastespotting website you are missing out. It's the best place to get lost, at least that's what I think. Although, maybe not if you're on a diet.

It was our first attempt and we didn't have cornstarch so our sauce lacked that glossy look. However, it was one delicious and insanely, eye-watering spicy plate of food!

three pictures of Ella

Happy 3 months (and a few days) to our Ella!

at first sight

Here are a few snap shots of the new city, Yokosuka! We haven't discovered all that much yet but have definitely been out walking around everyday. (Hopefully) some day soon we will go out and dig a little deeper. Until then, feast your eyes on some of these shots of the train station area.

So, as you can see it's much more urban than Sasebo and there is something going on with saxophones. There are 6 different statues with-in 30 meters of the train station. Any ideas?

Yokohama

Last weekend we took the train to Yokohama. What's in Yokohama? Well, for starters an original Louis Vitton Trunk from 1922 that I wasn't allowed to take a picture of and was guarded by not one, but two guards. Other then that all we did was shop and eat. It was great, we didn't even leave the train station area! We have plenty of time to go back and sight see on a larger scale and believe me, we will.

Most of the pictures are from an awesome import store. We walked away with two bricks of brie, rose from Italy, cheese crackers, Wilkinson's Spicy Ginger Ale, and verde salsa. Yum. Oh, and no worries - we definitely grabbed a chocolate baguette.

Great Words

How fitting. Right after I finish [my wrap up] on Sasebo I just came across this [article] about Sasebo! I can't believe I never thought to search the Metropolis for info on Sasebo. I guess just didn't think it's awesomeness reached this far! Enjoy.

Good Bye Sasebo

A new year has started and with that we have officially started life in Yokosuka, Japan. Not without leaving one of the greatest cities in the world and some great people behind. It seems like in every new place we live we search to find the greatest things possible. We see no need to sit around and think about the negative aspects of life - just get out and discover what is great about your surroundings.

So with out further banter, here is a [collection] of our 15 favorite things about Sasebo. A permanent installation for our family blog.

Pedestrian area on a snowy day, downtown Sasebo.

three pictures of Ella

Kira Kira Light Festival

December 1st I took Ella out at night, in her cute white bear hat, to see her first Christmas lights. She loved them. I loved them. It was a good time. It was also the Kira Kira Light Festival, sadly, something we missed last year. Like my mom says, the Japanese are very good at celebrating life with so many holidays ans festivals. Well, this was definitely a celebration. On December 1st everyone gets together to toast the Christmas & Holiday season. There are several things going on at the same time - not unlikely in Japan.

Look, it's Christmas Godzilla and all of his friends!

Different organizations and businesses from around Sasebo purchase tables, stock them with beer, snacks, and party hats and all meet up after work. Here they party through the evening with everyone coming together to toast at 7:00PM. It's great. Everyone standing around in their business suits getting wasted in the middle of the Arcade. Giving cheers and shooting off balloons, it's quite exciting. While all of this is going on there is also a festival with oyster's, flowers, and other various treats for your liking. Most amazing of all, there is a costume & skit contest. This is a situation that honestly feels like a Japanese Christmas Game Show. People of all ages dress in their best (or most hilarious) costumes and put on a small skit about Christmas. Words can't really describe the insanity that pursued - so I just took lots of video. [Next Post]

I will leave you with some pictures of the evening to tide over until I get the videos posted.

Look who we ran into! It's Aunt Manami and her concierge training team.

Happy start of Christmas!

The Holiday's Are Here

It's official. Ella and I have gone walking everyday while Brandon has been in Yokosuka, getting things started at our new home. Here are some pictures from around town. We haven't made it down to see the Cornell yet though. We will wait for Brandon to come back for that one.

The Tamaya window display. I would love one of those old fashioned tiny Santa's in the snow.

Card displays are everywhere.

Make a Wish - Look! That kid wants to be a chef!

The Arcade is lined with Christmas Trees.

Winter flowers.

I was planning on buying three of those green trees to use as Christmas decor but that would be silly, considering me move the day after Christmas.

fried rice for one

Taking care of the bean by myself while Brandon's away hasn't been all that bad. Except that I got hungry today. So in honor of our favorite dude, I made myself some fried rice - Brandon style: with lots of Saracha. I think he would be proud because I made sure my pan was really hot before I added anything. That's the most important thing or at least that's what he tells me whenever I ask how to cook something. Yum!

baseball extravaganza

What the what?! Just realized we never posted anything about our amazing Japanese baseball game experience. Maybe it's because I was slightly distracted by my ginormous baby belly. Who knows? Anywhoo. . .here it goes!

We had waited a year to finally score tickets on one of the baseball games. We got here pretty late in the season last year and tickets were hard to come by at that point. We decided it best to go through the base tour company for this one, I can't even begin to imagine the mis-adventure that would have become of us trying to buy tickets from some creepy on-line dealer, plus we saved a tone of yen by not taking the train round trip. So, it worked out. Perfect timing too as it was tight around Brandon's birthday and he got to do the ONE thing that he had been constantly talking about since before we moved.

The baseball experience here is fantastic. It's like going to a college football game in the states. Everyone is so into it. Covered in Hawks (Fukuoka's team name) gear from head to toe, wearing scarves and giant claw hands while they fly flags and scream battle songs out of megaphones. Literally, we saw people doing all of that at the same time. There are official cheer sections where both the home and opposing teams have bands that play fight songs. Yes, bands like marching bands. Yes, fight songs like rehearsed cheers. Meanwhile, the announcer is a 6ft tall German radio DJ guy who is screaming super pumped up Japanese to the rest of us and there are concessionaire's running around selling KFC & serving beer out of keg back-packs. Yup, that's about how it went. Like we were inside a giant baseball game show. (The run on sentence is supposed to symbolize the intensity.)

All in all it was a great day, we even got on the jumbo-tron. It turns out they like to display the Americans who also love baseball. . .weird.

Seventh inning stretch balloons. We let them go for the home team, the Hawks.