Check out my Slide Show!

Making Sushi

Yesterday my culture group got together, we meet twice a month. We met our Japanese friends at the Japanese Community Center and used the kitchen there to make lots of yummy Japanese dishes. They were so.... gracious, they spent so much time showing us how to make some traditional Japanese food. We made shrimp and pork gyoza aka potstickers, which I have to say my folding and pinching techniques were really horrible. You could definitely tell the difference between the Japanese made gyoza and the American made gyoza. We then moved onto sushi, Japanese style California rolls, yum! I now know how to roll sushi, so I can make it at home, yeah!

They also showed us how to make rice balls that have lettuce and fried chicken in the middle, which Alexander loves. They also showed us how to make a fried chicken dish and they had a delicious salad for us.

We had enough food for an army when all was said and done. Even though these were all my favorite foods, especially the sushi and gyoza I had to hold back, it was torture! I had a few pieces of sushi, a couple pieces of gyoza and that was it. The biggest loser weigh in is on Monday and there is $800 in the pot! We all were able to take enough food home to feed our families for 2 nights.

The ladies gave each of a sushi rolling mat as our parting gift and some soy beans for the 3rd of February, which is a special Japanese Holiday. You have to eat the number of beans that your age is and then throw beans out of every window and door for good luck. Just in case your wondering the Japanese love to do the victory/peace sign every time they take pictures. I don't know why and I don't know if it stands for victory or peace. Aggie can you enlighten me?

We had some good laughs yesterday. The language barrier makes us all laugh, Japanese and Americans alike. Sarah and Aggie always make me laugh. Sarah I will never forget the look on your face after Little David, ah ,spit up all over Kimiko. The look was of sheer and utter terror, it was classic. Thanks everyone for a great day.

Our First and Probably Last Snowfall

2 days ago we woke up and surprise, snow, snow, snow. We were loving it. Lexi stayed home from school, because she was sick. She had a horrible headache when she went to bed and woke up with the same headache. I gave her some Advil and voila the headache disappeared, so she was itching to go play in the snow with her brother and sister. So I caved! We have a strict rule in our house that if you don't go to school you don't go anywhere for the rest of the day. She was feeling better and the likelihood of getting more snow was slim to none. Last year Yokota did not see a snowflake. Zander refused to keep his gloves on which resulted with some hurting hands and crying, but he still wouldn't put them on so I had to take him inside while the girls played in the back yard. There were snow angels and snowballs made. I wanted to take them sledding, but we have absolutely no hills. Afterwards there was yummy hot cocoa for all.

I made Lexi come inside before school let out. Once school was out all the kids were playing in the back yards, which resulted in lots of tears from Lexi, because she wanted to go out and play.

The straw that broke the camels back was when she said, "I miss Germany and all my friends, we always played in the snow. Now I am missing playing in the snow with my new friends!" Off she went outside to play.

Happy Birthday Uncle Ward

HAPPY UNCLE WARD! WE LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU!

Happy Birthday Kathy!

Happy Birthday Kathy. I hope you have a good one. I have known you for 36 years, wow! I have known you the longest of all of my friends. You are a dear and loyal friend.

Happy 30th Birthday Irene!

Happy 3oth Birthday to my friend, Irene! You are an amazing person, woman, mother and friend. I feel so blessed that our paths crossed and I can call you friend. You have a wonderful and amazing family too! We miss you guys and hope that you have a wonderful birthday and celebration!

A FRIEND

A friend is like a flower,a rose to be exact,

Or maybe like a brand new gate that never comes unlatched.

A friend is like an owl, both beautiful and wise.

Or perhaps a friend is like a ghost, whose spirit never dies.

A friend is like those blades of grass you can never mow,

standing straight, tall, and proud in a perfect little row.

A friend is like a heart that goes strong until the end.

Where would we be in this world if we didn't have a friend.

~~~~Breanna Park~~~~

Survivors

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930s, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's!!
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.
As infants &children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank Kool-aid made with sugar, but we weren't overweight because, WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computer’s, no Internet or chat rooms........ WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL! Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!
The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:"With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?"

Marshmellow Mountain

The 3 Amigos (Wyatt, Jacob & Anika).


What could be better than rice cakes!!!!
Sarah, Meagan and Baby David.

Elizabeth and the Clan

On Thursday, my friends Sarah and Elizabeth took me and the kids to Showa Park, which is just 15 minutes away from our house. We loaded a total of 11 children into our vans and made our way to the park. It was such a site to see the 3 of us, plus Sarah's sister, Meagan who is visiting with all the children walking through the park. The park is huge and the day was absolutely gorgeous, not a cloud in the sky and about 70 degrees. We did a lot of walking, which felt great. First we went to several giant bouncy nets and Anika went to the top with her big sister. Alexander just hung out with me on the lower net, which he LOVED!

Then we went to Marshmallow Mountain which was closed and we couldn't read why. We were really disappointed, because the kids love it and will play on it for hours, ah and so do the adults, I found out later.

We pouted our way to Dragon Valley and the kids really enjoyed playing in, on and around the dragons. The 3 Musketeers, Wyatt, Jacob and Anika really enjoyed climbing up and then needed to be rescued, several times. The large dragon actually roars when you walk into his mouth, which really freaked out Anika and Jacob. Anika was trying to urge Jacob to go in the dragon's mouth first, encouraging him on, I'll save you Jacob if the dragon closes his mouth, well maybe.

Suddenly, many Japanese children started running towards Marshmallow Mountain, which was a clear indication that it was now open. Ahhh, thank you for the small things in life. The entire gang shed their shoes and off we were to climb and bounce on lots of white slippery, shiny vinyl. The trick with climbing the mountain is that if go with out socks it is much easier to get a running start and climb it, especially with a 16 month in tow. Lexi was taking Anika around and showing her the tricks of the trade. Once you got to the top of the mountain it was like a giant trampoline, but you could also slide down the hills.

I put Zander back in the stroller and it was game on for the adults. We had so... much fun jumping, tackling (actually I was the one who was tackled, many times), I am sure the Japanese were getting a kick out of it. The Japanese parents jumped, but I never saw any tackling going on. Most likely we are on Japanese news or Japanese Funniest Home Videos (we were being videoed). A "What Not To Do on Marshmallow Mountain" video will be played for the employees of Showa Park, starring, Sarah, Meagan, Elizabeth and Jacquie. Oh and yes, of course the older kids were involved. It was fun to feel like a kid again, at least a 40 year old kid!

Tahoe Brunch Recipe

A couple of friends have asked me for the Tahoe Brunch Recipe so I decided to post it on the blog. I thought it would be easier. Enjoy and BTW it is completely low cal, NOT!

• 12 slices white bread, crusts removed


• 3 T. butter, softened


• 1/2 C butter, softened


• 1/2 lb mushrooms, trimmed and sliced (I sub red bell pepper, John doesn't like mushrooms)


• 2 C yellow onions, thinly sliced


• salt and pepper


• 1 1/2 lbs sweet Italian sausage, in casings


• 1 lb sharp cheddar cheese, grated


• 5 eggs


• 2 1/2 C milk


• 3 t dijon mustard


• 1 t dry mustard


• 1 t nutmeg


• 2 t fresh parsley, chopped

Butter the bread with the 3 T softened butter and set aside.

In a 12 inch skillet, melt 1/2 C butter (I just use 2 T to cut down on fat, but does it really matter at this point?) and brown the mushrooms and onions over medium heat until tender. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Cook the sausage (we grill the sausage on the BBQ) and cut into bit-sized pieces.

In a greased 9X13 casserole dish layer 1/2 of the bread, mushroom mixture, sausage and cheese. Repeat the layers ending with the cheese.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, mix the eggs, milk, both the mustards, nutmeg, 1 t salt and 1/8 t pepper. Pour over the sausage and cheese casserole. Cover the casserole with tinfoil and refrigerate overnight

When ready to bake, place in a preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour or until bubbly.

Let rest for 15-30 minutes sprinkle with parley and cut into squares. Serve immediately.

Serving Ideas: serve with fresh fruit, baked tomatoes, crusty rolls or the family coffee cake.

ENJOY!

Chocolate Mint Torte that I made for the party:)

A New Year and A New Blog

Happy New Year to all our friends and family! We had a quiet one and I am sad to say we went to bed at 10:00. Our friend Sarah invited us over to play games, but Alexander earned himself a trip to the Urgent Care Clinic, because of all the congestion he had. I have been sick for nearly 3 weeks now with a cold, cough, lung congestion and soar throat. I started feeling better, but had a relapse this morning. John unfortunately got the bug yesterday and so did Anika. Lexi is in the "fighting it" stage and I hope she doesn't get it. Nevertheless I tried to ignore the fact that I was sick during the Holidays and still managed to have a great time. So maybe I have earned myself a trip to the Clinic.



As you can see I have changed many things with the blog with the help of a very patient friend. Dawn was so tired of listening to the same music and seeing the same thing on my blog that she very kindly offered to walk me through editing several areas on the blog. John and I tried to change the music last week, but had some problems and gave up. Thanks Dawn for helping me out, you have no idea how grateful I am now that I have a fresh start on my blog. I have been wanting to do this for ages.



HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!