bbqs past and present

Fall 09: epic bbq that took 6 hours to start. it was dark by the time we ate. so worth it.

we had a bbq at yomiya koen this past weekend. i ate many of these.

homemade anpan man cookies. courtesy of aki/taka.

food. coma. story of life.

himawari fun run

A couple of weeks ago, some of the taiko peeps and I participated in a fun run to raise money for people in Haiti. This involved: eating lots, taking turns running for a period of 7 hours, me running for the first time in i don't even know how long, sore muscles, napping, unnecessarily racing people, fun (obvi).

taiko debut

we had a taiko performance this past saturday. DEBUT! i lava it!
* check out the awesome taiko threads!

the sibs

the sibs came to visit for spring break. first night: my apt decided to stop having running water [seriously used extra water in teapot to wash our faces; listerine to brush teeth. sadlife.] skype w/ mama the next day: sibs: "tasia lives in filth and doesn't have running water". tasia: fml.

otherwise: tenjin, dazaifu, kitaq, taiko!, hiroshima/miyajima, deer, FOOD, yatai, lots of shopping, TOKYO!, beau getting upset with all of the girls for shopping for too long, onsens w/ the gparents (dots), monkeys, ferris wheel, bribri's clear umbrella photo shoot, kenji, purikura!, those rice in replacement of bread burgers at mos burger, decoden, missie not having any impulse control when it comes to shopping, akihabara maids and otaku (beau: [passing by a group of otaku trading yugioh (sp?) cards] "at least I'm not like them"... tasia: [flashbacks to brother withering away in pajamas in front of the tv eating cheetos and yelling at fellow world of warcraft people. le sigh], DISNEYLAND and KAO, getting sick after the teacups, shinkansens, LOVE.

spam

This has nothing to do with Japanese adventures but: everytime I open my spam folder in gmail, it gives me suggestions for recipes featuring spam. Does big brother google creepily know that I am a foodie? I have been keeping a list of all of these amusing suggestions...they include:

• spicy spam kabobs
• spam imperial tortilla sandwiches, spam veggie pita pockets
• spam breakfast burrito, spam fajitas
  
• spam casserole, creamy spam broccoli casserole, spam skillet casserole, french fry spam casserole
  
• spam veggie strudel, spam hashbrown bake
  
• spam primavera, spam confetti pasta
  
• vineyard spam salad, ginger spam salad
• spam quiche, savory spam crescents

I am intrigued... okay not really.

Yakushima cont.

because one post cannot contain the FANTASTICAL EPIC AMAZINGNESS that is Yakushima.

on the way back down from the Jomon sugi hike... we discovered a lake/river/miscellaneous body of water. twas perty. and ice cold.

second day of hiking: very green. this is the inspiration for Mononoke Hime. appropriately, it is the Mononoke Hime trail.

My legs were so tired. But the view was worth it.

On the way back up to Fukuoka, we stopped off at Kumamoto. This prefecture is famous for basashi- ie raw horse meat. It was ooookay. Not my fave.

* side note: Yakushima reminds me of the countryside of Hawaii. And the people are SO nice. Our minshuku guy drove us around everywhere (side side note- we ate delicious flying fish, passion fruit ice cream, burgers, and coffee...among other things), invited us to drink shochu (alcohol made from potatoes [sake=rice]), and took us to line up an hour earlier than the supermarkets opened to buy a special Yakushima shochu that is in limited supply and really delicious because of Yakushima's really clean water. or something. I love him!

**Minshuku Ryoujou no yado-- message me if you want to go to Yakushima and need accommodations!

CONCLUSION: best golden week ever!

Golden Week: Kagoshima/Yakushima edition

I went hiking in Yakushima for Golden Week. It is a world heritage site with lots of thousand year old cedar trees. It rains 50% of the time and is tropical and beauteous. Hayao Miyazaki (creator of totoro, ponyo, howl's moving castle, etcetc) was inspired by the landscape on Yakushima in his animation of Mononoke Hime (ie Princess Mononoke- watch it!).

To get to Yakushima, you have to take a train to Kagoshima and a 4 hour ferry to the island. After getting to Kagoshima, I was waiting for my lunch and had a view of Sakurajima (above)- the active volcano that regularly spews out ash every hour or so. AMAZING!

Eco bento lovely minshuku lady made us for our hike (inside: musubi, fish, other deliciousness)

On the way up to Jomon-sugi (a supposed 10 hour hike; in reality- 3.5 hours up and mostly because it was crowded and all the simpletons were getting in my way. jk, not really.)

deer just be chillin everywhere

This is jomon-sugi. It's somewhere between 3000-7000 years old. This is what we were hiking to. I was not impressed. But here's a picture anyway.

mister donut

Mister Donut is everywhere here. It sells donuts and coffee. If you cannot read what is on the bag, it says:

What's up!! Enjoy donut!! Every day, every time. Donut make you happy!! Enjoy your time with donut!! Mister Donut cheer you up!!

love it.

i hope this works: photos

hello- photos from the motherland in no particular order... actually, clarification- the older pictures are lower in the post. i can't figure out how to correct this without having to reupload in the correct order. blargh.

i went hiking/camping in Miyazaki prefecture last september. It was epic. But we were so tired.

I am plagiarizing here but am too lazy to type my own summary so here ya go:

Beaches, mountains, sparklers, scotch, chicken nanban, ropes, hiking, log cabins, surfers, winding country roads, onsens, sprightly old people, coolers, convenience stores, portable stoves, crap toilets, giant spiders, camp fires, smores, carrots, peanut butter and jam sambos, creepy old men, helpful Canadians, sunrises, traffic jams, mosquitos, inquisitive children, tunnels, baby wipes.

Why I love this country.

My friend from taiko opened a bagel shop. She has flavors like matcha chirin chirin (like azuki beans), mango/orange cream cheese, sundried tomato, takana (pickled veggie) cheese, goma (black sesame) cheese, matcha basil cheese, strawberry milk, etcetcetc. She's amazing!!

The sibs came to visit. My grandparents thought it would be fun to take us to this place. It is called takasakiyama in Oita prefecture. My grandparents were very entertained. I was not. It is currently feeding time.

My lunch for the opening ceremony day at Koryo High School. [not shown: chawanmushi, miso soup]

My first matsuri (festival)- conclusion- festival food is awesome. Little kids dressed up in yukata are awesome. People selling beetles as pets are not so awesome. Winning these things as prizes are awesome.

first baseball game ever. and in japan! they sell all of these things so you can make noise and etc. also people with little backpacks filled with beer come around and sell you beer. oh japan.

semi ie cicadas. i was so so happy last summer when i started seeing their dead caracasses. it is almost summer again. NOOO...it begins.

satsumaimo ie sweet potatoes. i like japan. and living on my own. b/c, although some lame people do not fancy these taters, i do. and can eat them whole like this as a meal. mmm.

and that is all for now! you are basically all caught up. Kind of.

because i have time

so it is coming up to midterms week for the kiddies which means i have a whole lot of time on my hands. which means i am here posting pictures from the past 8 months of my life.

*side note: well, technically asterisk but who cares-- i am not technologically inclined. obvi. so this is why my blog is not cool and fancy. that is all.

** another asterisk- slight road block in the picture uploading-- it is really slow. the proxy at work may be inhibiting my picture uploading abilities. this is sad.

off my lazy bum

hello! shaloha! こんにちは！

So I am finally finally FINALLY getting off my lazy bum and starting a blog! Because this is my blog and I can do whatever I want with it, you will probably see: life in the motherland, recipes and food porn and adventures in cookery, hiking and other shenanigans, Engrish, posts about me freaking out about what to do with my life, and any other random thoughts I may have/be inspired by.

Welcome to my brain!