Large and in Charge

Oh, one if these things is the boss of the other....

Good Fall Recipe

Pear Cake

2 cups sugar

3 beaten eggs

1 1/2 c cooking oil

3 c flour

1 tsp bkg soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp cinnamon

3 c peeled and chopped pears

Combine ingredients and bake at 350 for 45 mins or until done. I used the crunchy huge Asian pears that I found for sale in an alley in Zushi - so they were like apples when they cooked - soft, but a solid piece. You could try some soft ripe "regular" pears also.

Caramel Icing

5 Tbsp butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 c milk

Boil gently for 3 mins and then let cool. Add

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup pwd sugar

Beat until the right consistency and then spread. Yum!!!

Unfortunately after yesterday's communal dinner we had in the courtyard, I do not have any evidence :)

Our dinner:

chicken breaded and deep fried: first coated in flour, then rolled in beaten egg, then Japanese panko crumbs. Yuri made this with the pile of chicken everyone had in freezers.

Japanese potato salad: imagine American potato salad, with mashed potatoes

salad

corn on the cob

chicken wings: spicy and regular barbecue sauce for the kids

broccoli with butter and toasted almonds, salt and pepper

rice

bakery bread from Zushi

After dinner one family moved a fire pit into the middle and lit some logs, and while we scrounged for mashmallows one family went to the mini-mart for hershey bars and graham crackers. Frankie sat by the fire for a couple of hours. Nate enjoyed it too, but soon after getting his share of treats, he and his best pal William began their long "Ben 10" DVD watching marathon and had a sleepover in our downstairs. They stayed up till 4 am, apparently. I am not sure, I faded away by 9:30. What a night owl. His mother and I are taking turns, and the boys are planning a sleepover at William's house next Thurs when they are off of school on Fri. Yay!

She's all better!!!

more fall luuuurve

It has been in the low 70's and rainy the last couple of days. So, I've made another fall thing: a table runner. The front is made with two pieces of fabric from Swany's and the back is made with some linen that I found on a clearance sale and have kept in a box in the closet for a while. It is part machine- and part hand-stitched, a very easy thing to make.

The back...


The front.....

The inspiration:

I got inspired by this quilted table topper that I saw on etsy.com. Somebody made it out of the same amy butler fabric that I used for the quilt I made. I love her stuff, but after that quilt I really don't want to work with those scraps for a long time!

5th Graders

Conversation between Nate and the neighbor girl:

"Ew....she like likes me. Not just likes me! Ew."

She turns to me. "See how mean he is? That isn't very nice to say, Nate."

"Yeah, but like like."

"Well, you are kind of cute..." She replies.

"Awww.....yuck....totally not interested."

"Nate," I burst in, "How would you like it if you like liked a girl and got your heart broken by her and your feelings hurt?!?"

"Aww....I'd just have to grab a straw and suck it up....Then I'd just move on to the next girl."

The girl shrugs and looks at me. "Oh, well, he is a bit cute."


Luuuurve, true luuurve....

Bedhead is the New Black!

Just an idea, think about it: how much time and anxiety would we all save in the morning if we all decided that bedhead was indeed the new black. The new rock and roll. The new mentos in diet coke!

This week there was not too much to write about other than my domestic angst: a doggy back and forth to the vet for nebulizer treatments every day, and a car which failed the Japanese inspection and needed to have a couple of new parts put in, by an overworked and overwhelmed autoport.

I can not tell you the manner of depraved acts I had to perform to get the fellows at the autoport to work on my car first. Because my car is very very important to me. Because I apparently was overdue for the Japanese inspection and the base inspection that is apparently due every two years and has not been done as of Set 10 of this year. Then having done it, needed said part and needed to go to City Hall for permission for a temporary license so one could drive said car for 5 more days, with expired inspection. For 750 yen only.
Then after such humiliations, one could pay a "runner" the sum of $50, plus around $150 US in annual fees tax and such, to drive the now perfect car to Yokohama for the Japanese inspection, fill out the Japanese papers and return it to its rightful spot in Ikego. There does not exist enough money for make this young lass go to Yokohama and subject herself to this trial....
... and after which one could then return to the VRO office and present hopeful papers to surly VRO employee and after certain verbal abuse, return temporary plates and red-stamped form to Yokosuka City Hall, by the end of the business day...
...and hopefully back home in time before undue and unwarranted puddles and piles form on the white linoleum, brought forth by one wheezing young Akita pup and one diva Pekingese male prince...
...and in time to thrust one package of Cool Ranch Doritos in front of one pre-teen boy freshly alight from the schoolbus, whilst awaiting his latest tales of adventure...

Fall is here!

Fall has finally come to Japan! Its been in the 60's and low 70's, finally, this week. It's time to make soups and stews, take long walks and enjoy the changing leaves. Although here, one has to watch out for snakes sunning themselves in the trails. Some of the best things about fall in my mind, are:

drinking hot apple cider
going to the apple orchard * pumpkin patch! *cooking with everything squash, sweet potato and pumpkin * hot sweet potato drink at Ducky Ducky, topped with whipped cream! * chestnuts! piles of leaves, and the smell of burning leaves * warm sweaters * changing the blankets and bringing out the warm quilts * putting rugs on the floors * bringing out some orange, rust and brown colored pillows and throw blankets * using the oven more * kids sitting at the kitchen table with their homework * lighting candles more time outside in Ikego, due to the milder weather :) * bonfires and roasting marshmallows for smores * lazy fall beetles and bees * good sleeping weather!

What are your favorite things???

Anyway, we had communal dinner this weekend here in the courtyard, and I made some soup. My soup was potato, a very easy recipe:

Potato Soup:

6 pieces of bacon

1 cup celery

one onion

a bunch of potatoes

3 cloves garlic

6 cups chicken broth

hot sauce

Cook the bacon and remove it, save it for sprinkling on top of the soup. Drain out most of the fat. Sautee the celery, onion and garlic in the bottom of the bacon pan. When soft, add the potatoes and broth. Cook until soft. Use a hand blender or potato masher to mix. Now, I used 6 potatoes and thought the soup was a little thin, so I cheated a bit and added some instant mashed potatoes. No one will know the difference!!

Add hot sauce to taste.

Serve with bowls of shredded cheddar, bacon, and green onions.

one sick puppy part 2

Natsumi-chan gave me this sad, frowny face today :(

That's when I realized that she was not feeling well, and she really was starting to cough again. Poor baby!

Back to the Hayama vet, and it turns out she has bad pneumonia in one lung, and the other lung almost totally clear. How weird is that?!

I have to bring her back twice a day again for nebulizer treatments, and its just killing me how expensive it is.

The vet thinks possibly she has a gastric reflux problem and is aspirating her own, you know, puppy food and water...after she eats. She does have lots of gross burbs and hiccups. I just figured she fit in perfectly around here.

She has finished two sets of puppy shots, but needs to be healthy before she can get the next set. I am starting to stress out about my brothers wedding, which I've been planning to take the kids to in early November! My two favorite neighbors are moving, and the rest of them have no interest in taking in a semi-trained semi-destructive cute little puppy and the two year old diva who pees on the floor in the house if it is rainy outside. The kennels will not take a sick dog who hasn't had all of her shots, and the Hayama vet doesn't board.

So, Miss N has to get better soon, has to!!