Monday, 26 December 2011

Happy holidays!

I usually write a Season's Greeting and send it to my family and friends.

But this time, I tried......but I could not make it.  

So here...


Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!



Next year should be better for me. (probably this year was not so bad for Richard and two fur girls)







Saturday, 13 August 2011

A lunch for one day

Richard is not at home now.
Many green peppers are growing in our yard.
So I picked them and gave some to my friends.
But still a lot in the fridge.

One of my neighbours was a Japanese restaurant chef.  He taught me how to cook the green pepper when I gave them before.

So I tried to do it for my lunch.

Just roast the pepper over the gas burner, then add salt.  That's it!!

Roast them till they become softer.

Those were not enough for my lunch.   Then I cook Soba, or buckwheat noodle.

 Soba with Nori seaweed, or dried laver seaweed.

You need a kind of sauce, which is called 'Soba tsuyu'  to dip Soba into.
When I was picking the green peppers, a nice idea crossed my mind.
Twinkle......twinkle
I picked several Okra, too.  I sliced cucumber and Okra both from our yard and tossed into the sauce.  And added tomatoes, which were also from our yard.


This picture doesn't look nice, but it was tasty!!!
Eating at Richard's desk 
as watching 'The Dog Whispere'  ;-)

By the way, it was not so hot when I ate the green pepper a few weeks ago. But this time, 
I could scream in English like 'Oh, my goodness!'

A few of the cooked pepper were incredibly hot, hot, hot!!  
I was recalled the feeling when I ate jalapeno in Indonesia.

I was wondering why some of them were so hot and some were not.
Then I found out that the green pepper becomes really hot when it is planted near red peppers, or less water, or summer heat at night.
Wow, our green peppers are perfect under those conditions this year.
Probably even Richard didn't know about it.

Well, whatever I love noodles in summer time, especially such a hot summer.
Muuuuuuuuum, yummy!!

Richard will come back home next week.
  Girls are waiting for you!!! I think.


Our 10th Anniviersary

Last year we talk about our 10th Anniversary in April, 2011.
We planned to go on a trip to Hokkaido where is located in the north.  But we changed the plan because of the huge earthquake.

Instead of that idea, Richard suggested me to go and do something completely new to us.
So I told him about my idea, which made him totally speechless.  


I said,

'Let's go to the new Haneda Airport (Big Bird) by bus!'


As for Richard, it seemed to be strange to go to the airport  to celebrate our anniversary.
But to me, I thought that it was perfectly fulfilling all the conditions of what he suggested. 
Because we had never been there together since we met!!!


We could enjoy the scenery from a bus window.



It took about 90 minutes from Tachikawa city where we live.

Here we are!  
WELCOME TO HANEDA AIRPORT!!





The moment which  an air plane is taking off makes me so excited at any age.
I don't know why, but Richard didn't seem to be excited to see the plane. 
I wonder if he is no longer far from feeling moved??? Or a down-to-earth individual? :-<


We didn't take pictures of the terminal.  
So what we did?

Eating and drinking.  
Yeah!!!!

Richard's lunch
Drinking alcohol in the daytime
'Bloody Mary' 
One of my favourite



'Daiquiri'  
Today's Richard's favourite

What a memorable anniversary we had!  ;-)

Saturday, 7 May 2011

Enjoy spring!!

Since the Great Tohoku Earthquake occurred, I didn't feel like going out for fun.
I love spring, especially the period of the cherry blossom.
But we often had aftershock. That's why my friend and I cancelled our appointment to have 'Ohanami' or cherry blossom viewing.

But I still love spring anyway.
Richard and I went out to see the cherry blossoms in April.

Because of the disaster, somehow, people were in a mood of voluntary ban.  So there were not many groups of cherry blossom viewing as usual.


Richard really worked hard on his vage field this year.
 
He said that he had to prepare for the future.  I mean, he thinks it would be difficult to afford food in the future because of the transformations of the earth and economy in the world. 

He worked his vage field on the beginning of April.

Then about two weeks later, the field became like those.

Aren't they grow amazingly quick?




So another two weeks......


 
I can tell you how hard he worked!

We shared some of those leaves with our neighbours.    They were amazed how big and healthy leaves Richard made.

What did I do?
                                              I cooked them ;-)
Sorry..... to be honest, I am scared with bugs, worms and caterpillars. 

But I love Herbs,  flowers and trees.     I seldom encounter worms while I take care of them.  
Lucky me!!!!

This is one of my favourite tree.   I intentionally try to plant something smell nice.
This tree smells sweet like banana.


I'll introduce some of flowers from our yard.







And our girl, Leila

See ya!!

Monday, 21 March 2011

Earthquake, Tsunami and the nuclear power plants

Japan is a volcanic country.  So I went through lots of earthquakes since I was a child.
But the earthquake which occurred on the 11th of March was the biggest one I ever had. First the news announced that the level of the earthquake was 3 in Tokyo.
But all of people who lived in Tokyo didn't believe it.
Later Japanese government announced it was level 5.

At the time when the earthquake occurred, I was outside with my girls, Satori and Leila.  We had just come back from a walk.   Then the ground we stood on started shaking suddenly. And I saw the trees and the houses shaking and twitching just after I heard a big sound like ka-boom.
It didn't stop.  The ground shook nearly for a few minutes.
I was a little bit scared, but I tried to be calm at once because I found Satori became nervous when she felt something was wrong through my attitude and the shaking ground.
Leila started barking, too.

As all you know,  the earthquake and the tsunami destroyed some towns and the cities.
Not only that, but also we were told the nuclear power plants were also damaged badly.

After one week, there was no fuel, batteries, food, toilet paper etc.  in shops in Tokyo.
 
Besides Tokyo Electric Power Company decided to implement rolling blackouts because of the damages of the power plants.


So when we went shopping to a supermarket near our house,  there were vegetables and some sweets on the shelves, but no bread, preserved food and meat.
 
Most of the supermarkets are like this.
So those stores hang a sign which is written;
one for each, please.  

I don't know what made people buy so many goods in hurry.
Japanese government officially announced,


"Stop stocking up on food or daily supply!!"




For us,  we can manage.  We won't die even if we are not able to eat bread or meat.
And luckily we bought a huge amount of rice a few weeks before this disaster happened.
Richard mentioned that something would happened sooner or later.  So we should prepare for the day and for people who might not be able to prepare.

When we bought three of 30kg bags of rice,  the shop owner whispered into my ear, 

"you are not a restaurant owner, so what are you going to do with that much rice?"


But he might have understood now if he remembers us.

We appreciate to know our friends who live either out of Japan and in Japan considered us.
We are still suffered from the radiation.
But we are spending peacefully and take care of each other.

The day before yesterday, we saw the moon which was closest to the earth once in 20 years.

My camera is not designed for this kind of shot.  But we enjoyed the moon which looked a bit bigger and fabulous.

Also in the stream near our house, lots of tadpoles are born.

In the evening, we took our girls for a walk.

It seems nothing has changed..

But people's mind are suffered from the disaster still.

Supposed to be a Happy spring......It's hardly possible that...

 Spring has come! 

Last year of this month,  Papa Gordon and Mama Susan visited us in Japan.
We had a nice time.   It feels like just a moment ago  ;-)

But....... 
who would have imagined such a tragic catastrophe would happen the next year?

Continued.....

(Sorry, my husband who dearly cares about me said that I should go to bed because it is too late to keep staying up ;-)   So I will finish my blog tomorrow.  I promise!! )