Ring Ring Ring, HELLO?!?

In the basement of the mall by the JR station in Kawasaki is the best doughnuts. That's according to my survey of all my friends who have eaten these wondrous baked treats.
I joke that it's, "Ring, ring, ring... Hello?: You must answer the 'call when it comes! It's near the bakery, and a kimchee sales place. Basements of malls in Japan often have food delicacies for sale.
I bought strawberry (far left, top) and chocolate (next to it). Coconut is okay, and I also liked the Earl Grey chocolate ones on the top right. Bottom are un-dipped ones. You get to choose if you want chocolate, or vanilla doughnut.
They are cream filled in the ring hole. All the way around. Notice my chocolate one is long gone, and unavailable for pictures. I'm still amazed it made it home with me!
William is my strawberry boy. Of course, Tim's gone, so I'm all for doughnuts for breakfast. You can send my nomination in for 'mother of the year' to: singleparentsdontcarewhatyouthink.com. :)

Will's Half Mile Run

The base has a 5k race nearly every other week. They often have children's events to coincide with these runs. William loves to run, so we entered him in the latest run. The 5 to 6 year olds ran a half mile loop, while older kids did 1 mile or 2 miles while the adults ran the full 5 kilometers.

The 5 to 6 year olds were the first to go. William is in the red and blue striped shirt. We had walked over the entire course with him to ensure he knew where to go. It was essentially a trip around the block for a half mile. The leaders, with William among them, took off at quite a clip. They then let loose the next two groups of kids and started to assemble the adults on the combined start and finish line...

They were starting to talk them up and get them excited, but then everyone realized that the 5 to 6 year olds had rounded the bend and were bearing down on them. They truncated their speech with a "Have fun" and let them loose just in time to clear the area for the first half mile finisher. First up was John Wood who is the son of Vinny Wood who is a habitual marathon runner. No surprise that he brought the lead. Bringing up a very close third was...

William!

They pulled all the kids on stage and awarded the top three finishers in each category. William was called first as the third place winner of the 5 to 6 year olds and collected his prize of a Calvin Klein duffle bag and running shoe key chain. All the kids got a pretty cool beach toy set.

All in all, a very nice running event.

Enoshima Island Field Trip

I love taking Japanese lessons. I learn a little each time, and my favorite things are the field trips! Today, we went to Enoshima Island.
There is a wonderful restaurant there. This is the crowd who have been waiting 40 minutes and want to see where they are on the list (that paper on the stand in the foreground).
This is the place. It is called Takoshima. Their specialty is shirasu. It is a small little fish that I love to eat. They taste buttery to me. Spring is the best season for them. Our teacher said they tempura fry it here. Fried food? I'm THERE! Fried food is a favorite with these Japanese people, too! Or so it seems from the crowd.
There are actually 2 Takoshima restaurants on Enoshima Island. They are that popular! Just look for this logo!
Japan has finally turned warm, and it's early spring. That means it is sunny and just starting to get humid. So, when I saw the lady pouring icy cold beer, I was anguished. Japan has a zero BAC policy, and I needed to pick up William from school. So, on to the next best thing. Mango juice. But wait, there's a catch!
This is shirasu mango soda. Yes, little fish taste! To smell it, you get a whiff of the ocean or fish. But it still finished with the mango strong. They make it here for Enoshima Island.
This is what our Japanese teacher had for lunch. That is fatty tuna, salmon roe, and raw shirasu on seaweed and salad greens. You order your egg raw, a little cooked, or onsen... all of them have a runny yolk. Raw, a little white cooked, or the white all cooked. You break it open and stir it up... instant sauce.
This is what I had for lunch. There's some shirasu cooked (it's the little white fish on the tempura), some of them raw on salad... it was okay. The soup was excellent with a lot of seaweed, a thick mild variety and egg. Num. There was tofu with shirasu, a tatami shirasu (looks like a tatami mat) it's just a cracker made from it. There was egg custard which I love. Very asian, it's in the white covered bowl, and rice in the black covered bowl. I didn't get it all eaten.

Eating here was a little 'Iron Chef' experience, since everything included the not-so-secret ingredient of shirasu.
Here we are, me, Reina Sensei, and Jun-yi.
This is afterwards. Talk about full! But it was a good full!
Enoshima is alive with color from azaleas and fresh green and red leaves.
We didn't take the escalator, but rather walked the stairs... trying to work off that tempura!
Funny, but this looks small in this picture, but it's rather large. There were a lot of love fortunes to be had in the area, and apparently the cannon here is all about love. Thought it was funny she has a stick to whack with in one hand, and a forbidden fruit in the other. Or so it looked to me. Now, THAT'S love....
Reina and Jun-yi. If you could see the background, you see the bridge and the beach behind them. It was such a gorgeous day to enjoy the scenery. And the shopping was great there, too!
We passed a TV show videotaping. This is one of the actors, or it's more like a game-show/variety show, posing with an ice cream proprietor. They didn't want me to take pics of them actually shooting (that's video speak for getting video). I did, but it was soft focus, and I want to respect their request.
Maybe they weren't telling us to not take pictures. Maybe they didn't want us to eat all the ice cream!

Last field trip we went to Ring Ring Ring, a filled ring doughnut shop, and a traditional Japanese buffet in Kawasaki. Now you know WHY I love field trips.... It's all about the FOOD!

Yabusame at Kamakura

Yabusame, or archery from horseback is now only a showcase event. We went to the Kamakura exhibition because when Kamakura was the capitol, they got serious about their archery skills here. Plus, it's very close to where we live, so we could make sure it was going to be a nice day before going!
There are three targets. They are judged on accuracy and speed. This is target #2. Not everyone hits all three, or gets an arrow off. It's all about reloading, drawing the bow, and hitting the target, all while the horse runs at full speed. The archers set so smooth in the saddle. It's like they were floating on the back of their horses.
The pageantry was wonderful. It was held at Hachimangu Shrine, the largest in Kamakura. I also loved how the Japanese hat was curled up, much like an American cowboy hat. Click to see what I mean.
Again, the Shinto Priests were all a part of the fanfare. They went in two groups, each group got two attempts. Then, they had the best ones try for a smaller target.
We got early, got a spot, and HELD ON TO IT. There aren't many viewing spots. So, get there early, and get a good place. These people behind us didn't get much of a show.
At each target, when they return, they collect their arrows. The arrows are blunt, probably not to hurt anyone. But it also means they really have to shoot it hard to get a good hit.
Then they come by the judges table, they bow, even on the horse! Double-click to see the picture larger if you want to see what their stirrups were like.
Again, the bowing thing. Most interesting! I loved how the horses were decorated up.
The final group of best archers go for a much smaller target than this. This was for the first 2 groups.
And what it looked like after...
These three sashed ladies are 'Miss Kamakura.' I just thought it was funny. They did many of the announcements in English, as well as Japanese. I kept hearing the word 'gaijin' which means 'foreigners.' I joked with a couple folks that they were announcing that they're telling the archers to shoot the foreigners first!
Walking back to the train station, we saw these folks. The black cat is hunkered down, and Fluffy in the front was embarrassed and turned her head. They were all wearing glasses!

The only way to truly appreciate the sport is to watch it on video. Enjoy!

Go Green Party

Tim loves corned beef and a whiskey sauce that I make. So, even though we aren't Irish, for St. Patrick's Day, we're the O'Putaansuu's.This is Caitlin and Dwayne (not a couple). Our house was so crowded, that you got cozy with all your new 'friends.' BTW, William was talking this morning about 'somebody even had a button that said 'beer is food!'" I think Wm might be headed to WSU in 12 years.

I was needing a sous-chef to make the sauce, and Kasey O'Wagoner stepped up and made delicious sauce for everyone! Darn! Wish the camera had been out sooner. They are the fun couple who invited us to the sake seminar (blog to come).
I am so sad I was busy and didn't get all of Hallie's children. This is Stefan, and he's 'in the green.' Dougie had a huge green glitter tie, and even the baby wore green!
Olivia, Claire and William are upstairs playing alligator bite. You take turns pushing down a tooth, and at random, one of the teeth makes it chomp. William even made a new sign on his door. It said 'Kids Room,' but it was all in greens! He likes helping set up for these parties. Hallie did me a solid, and had him over for a play-date, so I could cook and clean the afternoon away.
If you look into the kitchen, you will see me and William. I just loved everyone who got into the green spirit. The only one to show up without green on? Tim. So, he had to hold a green beer at all times!
Yep, he's got that green beer in his hand!
Tim, Dwayne, Mary, Allie (Dwayne's wife, and a person who knows how to have a fun time... she put St. Pat stickers on everyone, kept the games and conversations going... AWESOME friend) and Don.
Emily and Mark. She had a green Irish rugby club shirt on when she came in. But with 4 crock pots and 3 burners going on the stove, it was hot in the house, so she ditched it. Her kids were well dressed, too! Fun to go green!
Hallie had the best get-up and is my 'has your back friend.' Although, she'll go back home this summer. She also pours a mean 'black and tan.' She says she's putting her engineering masters degree into good use... the laws of fluid dynamics, etc. I agree! Good job!
Sorry it's a bit blurry. Erin (there's a real Irish name for you) and Hallie. Erin is our babysitter who braves hoards of children and watches them a bit, so the parents can relax. Erin go braugh!
Eventually, some real poker actually got played. Oops! Almost caught Tim without his green beer in his hand! Pinch!

The guy in the green Hawaiian shirt is Ken Khan. We love them as friends because they always show up with goodies and have a lot of fun.

And Ken is sitting on our "Patio Funiture" (old Irish joke.)
The Wii game was hilarious. 4 drivers competing. It was so fun. Erin, do you know where the children are?
I was sorry not to get pictures of the Connors and Murphys. They are truly Irish, and legitimized our event. Dona contributed crock-pots, and as the closest (to walk to) neighbor, is AWESOME. Sean was sick, so she had to go home. Tom made his soda bread. It's an old Connor family recipe. He asked his mom for the recipe, and she said she'd never seen it written down, she just makes it. So, she told him what it was, he wrote it down, and now makes it for St. Pat's and other Connor Family events. I think that is so cool! They bring it every year, and I slather it with butter, and.... Irish heaven!

It's good to have good friends.

This was the invitation. It's all about being eco-friendly around here!
The sauce is a cream sauce, where you use whiskey to deglaze the shallot. Then you cook it off, and add cream and dijon mustard. Very nice with corned beef.