Wednesday, November 20, 2013

This town...

We finally went to the Indian place right outside the gate!  It is delicious!!  The best flavors are sometimes found in the most unique things.  The mutton curry was delicious!!  But the chicken kebabs were the best!  No, I take that back, I loved their saffron rice!!


Even Christmas stockings are way different in Japan!  This looks like the shape of the tin man's boots in the wizard of oz.  But "Happy Merry Xmos" just the same!!


A friend drove me to these beautiful grounds!  Hopefully next year we can take some family pictures here!  As you can see, a lot of the leaves are gone, but it's still beautiful!


(This was a tori gate!  It had the fountain and cleansing cup on the side!)


It was just beautiful!


And then we found Jesus... Or else the ghost of Christmas present!  I couldn't decide which!


Apparently it's a hotel or 'spa' grounds... An onsen?  Maybe one day I'll go there!



Ramona drove, it was lovely!
Then a couple of a girls had a lovely night out... Walking through Misawa, I apparently found my hangout ;)


It wasn't this place?  It was scary inside!


We came here... Wherever that is!  But the Japanese people inside LOVED us!  They bought us some sake and the owner fed us some yummy snacks!!


Then I went to the cement factory and met moustachio... I'm sure that's this kitty's name!  


But I did pick up one of these really cool cheese boards!!


This morning I went with some friends to the cake house. We enjoyed this lovely milk tea service (I loved the egg timer, waiting for the tea to steep!)


My 'surprise'dessert!!  There was a green tea  and chocolate mousse in the cake!  The mango sauce was delicious, I think it was my favorite part!  But the chocolate swirls were so pretty!


I've had so much fun in misawa!!  I'm glad we're here for a while!!















Monday, November 11, 2013

Books and costumes and feasts, oh my!

My new book came in the mail!  I feel like I was rereading books 1 and 2 over and over, trying to refresh my need for book 3, and it finally came!!  I keep carrying it with me on the off chance I'll get 3 minutes to read just a little bit more!!!

My backing-in abilities have served me well here, I'm beginning to blend in a little.... A very little!!


Nicole and I got to trick or treat at the clinic!


The med group really has fun with this whole Halloween thing!  


A dear friend brought me to a new lovely sushi place!  This shop has giant pink daisies on the sign outside, I was never quite sure which place this was!  It, too, has a Conveyor belt, but it's much smaller.  And I can order things fresh and she will make them for me right there!  


I signed up for this race and I JusT realized... We already have snow on the ground!  On the 23rd, my time won't count!! 


Tink was a number of heroic icons this Halloween, she started as batman, morphed into a banana, and at the end if the night she was a bumblebee!  Tink had many faces.... First we went to a pet costume contest.  She was adorable and goofy, but not even an honorable mention!  At least she got a couple treats and met some puppy pals!!



Nicole is too cool for school!  This is the Halloween costume she put together via amazon!


Then we were putting away groceries and spilled powdered sugar everywhere... She had interesting techniques of cleaning it up!!


We hosted a thanksgiving dinner for the O'Misawa wives!  I brought 2 turkies!  We had quite a feast!  Holly carved the turkey for me!!



My awesome cousin and I made an earth sandwich.  


Success!


A dear, sweet friend introduced me to this little bakery that has the most amazing bread and the owner also makes cappuccino and such, as well!  It is a cozy little place to have a chat with a friend!  If you can't find me around Japan, I will probably hide out here!


My beloved built some shelves.... And not just this set, but some for the front and back porches!  These teeny tiny quarters can't contain us!!


Do you see these signs of impending doom?  There are poles everywhere!  Along all the streets, all parking lots and sidewalks.... So the plows know where the curbs are!    Oy vey... 


And the trees are so gorgeous, soon there will be no color left... 



But on a brighter note, we CAN find some really good stuff on base!!  Almost as good as the first time I had this delicious white chocolate raspberry cheesecake!!!  


At the shimoda mall, they have already decorated for Christmas!  There are ornaments and garland and trees everywhere, plus this jolly fat guy hanging from the ceiling.  But this pose reminds me of Mac Tonight... The McDonalds (or as the Japanese call it, Makudonarudo, or Makku, for short!!) icon of the 80's... 


Merry Xmos...


Peace out.  Actually, if you look in the background, Nicole was just an excuse to take a picture of the t shirt behind her. Thirteen?  Is that an age?  A mindset?  Sparkly leopard print?


Cool.

The weather has turned cold!  Not yet Alaska cold, but in the looooooow 30's.  We had sun snow showers!  You can't tell much from this picture.  


And then it became this:


Winter is here to stay!!  For a while, at least!!