December 19, 2015

Saturday - Clear with a bit of rain.  Cool.

A good day.

I went to bed quite late last night and overslept this morning.  F wasn’t home yet, so it didn’t matter too much.  When he arrived, I did take a quick shower and soon afterwards we went out for lunch.

We went to his farmer’s restaurant that he likes so much.  It’s okay, but the service is not that great and honestly, the main dishes don’t change.  I think it is a bit boring now, but I don’t hate it and F is happy when I let him take me there so I’m okay with going there for now.

After our meal we stopped in at Voice Shopping Centre.  We went to the bit under the furniture store first and had a look around.  I got a few little things for a present and something for myself, then we looked around the second hand store.  They had some things that would almost do, but in the end we decided to leave the store.

We went over to Hard Off and we had more luck.  I found a lot of handbags that were close to what I wanted, but finally I found a light silver one and got that.  I think it’ll match my nice dress and the accessories that I have with it.  The best part is that it was under one thousand yen! We also got a couple of small bowls to go in the kitchen. A couple of our staple bowls have been broken recently and I wanted replacements.  

F dropped me off at home after this and he went off to his mother’s house.  I relaxed, caught up a little on the DVR and then F came home.  We left almost immediately for the mall.

At the Mall we did a little looking around.  F keeps asking me what I want, but I have already told him and I can’t get it in the mall.  I tried to ask him what he wanted, but he kept suggesting things for himself that he wasn’t completely sure of the sizes for so I refused!  Finally I got him to wander off on me and I did some shopping alone.  I hope that what I got him will fit, but I think it will.  Also, I went boring but practical, so hope that’ll work out for him!

I put my shopping in the car and then we had dinner at the pasta place in the mall.  I had a grilled chicken with grated daikon pasta, and F had tarako pasta.  Both dishes were good.  We still had oodles of time before our movie so we went to Seattle’s Best and each had a drink.  I was a bit bad and had a hot chocolate, F had a Java Kula with chocolate and hot pepper. Neither of us would have our drinks again!

We went upstairs and waited in the lobby of the theater for them to open the theater for us.  We got into the concession line just as they did and got our popcorn and drinks for the show.  What did we see?  Star Wars of course!  I really enjoyed it.  It was wonderful to see the old cast and the new cast was really good.  I thought the film was excellent and I loved it.  

After the movie, F and I drove home to Tsuruoka.  A few hours ago F said he was going to bed, but he took a snooze on the couch and is still up! He woke up a while ago and seems energetic again.

I’m not sure what we’re going to do tomorrow.  We might do more shopping or we might just take things easy.  Come back later and find out what we get up to. Until tomorrow….

December 13, 2015

Sunday - Mostly clear, a little drizzle now and then.

A good day!

I slept in this morning.  I didn’t get to sleep in at all last weekend, so decided to go for it today!  It was great.  I finally dragged myself out of bed around 12ish.  

F and I went out for lunch sometime around 1:30. We chose Jiro today, because it was our second choice last night and because we like it!  It’s run by an older couple and we often run into them in the grocery store.  I had chicken saute and F had the gratin set.  

After lunch, we talked about a few things to do, but didn’t really do anything.  We decided to just go home.  

At home we had a quiet afternoon and then F suggested going to the movie tonight.  I wasn’t fussed either way, but he said he wanted to see it.  Okay then!  As the movie was a late one and didn’t start until 8:45, I suggested having dinner first and then getting our groceries before seeing the movie.  Usually we go to the grocery store afterwards, but that would be really late.  F thought that my idea was good and that’s what we did.

We had a quick, cheerful, and fairly decent meal at Gusto tonight.  We both had the same thing.  Beef with grilled vegetables, rice and a small salad plus drink bar.  We both even liked it!  

We got groceries for tomorrow’s dinner.  I’m going to make fajitas with the new tortillas we got on Saturday.  I picked up the ingredients at the grocery store and then we came home and put them away.  We had about an hour before we had to leave for the movie, so we relaxed for a bit.

We left for the theatre and went to Machinaka-Kinema and saw Everest in 3D.  Surprisingly, they were showing it with subtitles rather than a dubbed version.  It was quite a gripping movie, even though I had a feeling it would end the way it did.  I’m glad that I have never been interested in climbing mountains!

We came home after the movie and had a quiet time before bed.  F set up the bread maker for a cranberry loaf which we’ll split with his mother, and I set up the DVR and made some tentative plans for myself for tomorrow to do a little last minute shopping. We’ll see how that goes!

And that is it.  It was a pretty terrific day. Low stress and low key.  F is a bit disappointed I think, but I’m not.  I like these kinds of days every now and then, recharges my batteries.  Come back later and find out what else happens.  Until tomorrow…. 

December 7, 2015

Monday - Sunny and cool, windy

A good day.  A good weekend!

I’m back from Sendai tonight.  I spent two nights on the other side of the country and really enjoyed myself.  I had a nice hotel room, convenient for the bus, train station and shopping and saw my friends, did a little shopping and ate some great food.  What’s not to like?

I arrived in Sendai around 5 pm on Saturday, so I had a little while to go shopping before meeting up with friends for dinner.  I found a lovely little bakery and earmarked it as a place to have breakfast some day.  

I spent some of Saturday evening with an ex-student from my first couple of years in Japan and another foreign lady that both of us were meeting for the first time.  We were at a grilled chicken place near the station and we had a fun time.  The food was amazing and the conversation was lively and rarely stopped.  

The Aer Building decorated for Christmas just across from my hotel.
In fact, you can just see the hotel in the left corner of the picture.

After dinner, I went back to my hotel and attempted to take a bath in the public bath.  When I got there, the attendant told me it was full and I shouldn’t go in.  I was quite disappointed, because I wasn’t sure if I could go the next night or not.  I ended up taking a bath in my room which was fine really.

On Sunday I woke up with a bit of a hangover.  Or something like that.  I’d indulged myself in a few treats that I haven’t had lately so between that and the two drinks I had a bit of nausea.  However, I had to get moving so I took a quick shower and then went for a light breakfast. 

Breakfast was okay, and I started to feel better when I had some healthy food in me.  I met up with another member from AFWJ and we went off to the ETJ Expo.

We spent most of the day there and it was great.  We talked to women about our organization, had some nice snacks, met up with a couple of other members and networked a little.  

We were given a ride back to the downtown area by a local member and then my friend and I went back to our hotel.  We thought about seeing a film, so decided to check out the nearby theatre. We discovered that Finding Vivian Maier was playing and we just had enough time to have dinner first and then see the movie.  We bought our tickets and then went off and had some very yummy Indian food at Namaskar.

I sent this picture to F to let him know what he was missing!
 I'm sooo mean :-)

The documentary was very interesting and I really enjoyed it, we both did.  I had a very hard time keeping my eyes open, but it was because I was tired, not because I was bored.  

After the film, we went for a long walk through the covered malls.  Along the way we discovered an open Kaldi Coffee Farm and were able to get a few yummy supplies for the holiday season.

Me on Jozenji-Dori during the Pagent of Starlight

Taking a selfie from the other direction!

Yummy Christmas/New Years goodies from Kaldi Coffee Farm

We walked back to the hotel and went to our  rooms, after deciding to meet for a relaxed breakfast in the morning.  I changed into my pajamas and decided to try the bath again.  This time I was successful and was able to have a nice relaxing bath in the hotel.  Yay me.

I was a bit smarter last night and didn’t eat as many bad-for-me snacks and only had one drink, so was fine this morning when I got up!

I repacked my suitcase, watched House, and then went downstairs and checked out.  I met my friend and we had a lovely breakfast in the French bakery I had seen earlier on.  After that, we went our separate ways.

I did a lot of shopping today.  I bought a lot of tea, postcards and a couple of calendars for overseas relatives.  I didn’t buy any books, but I have too many unread ones at the moment.  I also bought a couple of cds to listen to.  I went a bit over my budget, but not by an insane amount!

I caught the bus back to Tsuruoka and F was waiting for me at the bus station.  Yay!  He picked me up and we had a nice dinner at Coco’s and then bought a few groceries.  I’m going to be cooking a lot of Japanese food in the next couple of days, which really surprises me!  

No idea what I’m going to get up to tomorrow, so come on back a bit later and find out!  Until tomorrow….

November 28, 2015

Saturday - Cloudy and Rainy

An okay day.

This morning I overslept a bit, but it was hard not to.  F got up blooming early and sat in the living room with his computer on.  I got up for a minute or two, then went back to bed, closing the door behind me.  I didn’t hear anything for a couple of hours, and as I know there wasn’t anything to watch early on Saturday, I went stayed in bed.  

When I got up, the first thing F did was ask if I wanted tea, and then he asked how soon I’d be ready to go to the doctor’s office.  Neither question impressed me much, although the tea one was a good try.  I was barely awake, and not ready to go.  He kept droning on about how the doctor’s office was only open in the morning until 1:00pm.  To my mind, that was plenty of time, it’s not like we had to drive to another city or anything to get there.

I took a shower, had breakfast and then was ready to leave around 11:15.  See, no big deal.  Still lots of time.  We drove over there and both put our cards in to see the doctor.  I got my iPhone out to read a book on my iBook app and I got told off by my husband, who pointed out the sign on the wall that said to turn off all cell phones.  Well, actually, I had put it on Airplane mode before I’d even come in the clinic, so in my mind I had turned it off.  It’s not like anyone would ever phone me while I was there!  I think Airplane Mode = Off for all intents and purposes, right?  Anyway, he was so angry with me that he got up and moved to another area of the clinic.  

He did come in to see the doctor with me and translated for me, but I thought he was being childish. I’m sure he thinks the same of me.

We were both seen by the doctor, not the usual guy, but a female doctor for a change.  She prescribed some medicines and off we went to get them.  

After waiting for our drugs we went for lunch.  I’m not sure if F had actually forgiven me yet, but he spent most of his time over lunch on his iPhone.  I ate really quickly and was done before him. Mind you, I didn’t have two bowls of rice!

We came home for a bit via the drugstore to pick up more tissues for me.  We vegged for a bit at home, and F watched Tennis on the TV.  

We decided since we were feeling better to go to see Spectre in the evening at Mikawa.  We left home around 6 and got to the mall quickly.  We had a quick dinner in one of the restaurants at the mall. Mine was nice, F didn't like his as usual.  

We bought our tickets first and after we paid for them and had walked away, realized that the guy had given us the “senior” rate for them!  Oops.  We’re not quite there yet.  We didn’t ask for the rate after all….

I wanted to do a little shopping for my sister and my nephew, but ended up finding something for my nephew and my friend.  Still, I’m okay with that.  

We went to see Spectre, the new James Bond movie and we both enjoyed it.  I thought it was fun, although not the best of the Craig Bond movies.  

After the movie, we made a quick stop at Don Quiote for some granola and apparently, beer.  After that, we came home.  F stayed up for a while then went to bed, I’m still up obviously.  But, not for long!

No idea what we’re going to get up to tomorrow.  Come back and find out.  Until tomorrow….

November 14, 2015

Saturday - Rainy

I’ll start off with the big news.  There was a terrible attack on Paris today, at the moment the news reports state 120 people are dead and many people are injured.  I don’t know a lot of the details as I’ve been out all day and haven’t heard any English news.  I did try to follow the story on Japanese TV a bit, but they are too busy worrying how Japanese tourists will come home from dangerous Paris to be of much use to me.  

For me, it was a busy day.  I got up before 8:00 am which is neigh on unbelievable.  F and I went to his doctor this morning and had our flu shot.  Mine is quite red and hot as usual, F’s is a little red but not painful for him.  

When we finished at the doctor’s, I asked F to drive me to S-Mall so I could do a bit of shopping in the mall.  He dropped me off and then went to his mother’s home to take her to the dentist and shopping.

I got to spend the next 4 hours in S-Mall.  It is a very small mall, so it was a bit much, but I did spend a good hour or so in Doutors and that was nice.  I found a few things for Christmas and got them, I found a few things for me and got them too, so I was quite happy.  I picked up a box grater at the hundred yen shop, and a few things as presents too.  

When F was finally finished with his mother, he picked me up.  We’d missed all the lunch specials at the mall, so I suggested going to Coco Ichibancho Curry for lunch.  We went there and it was good.  I had curry with less rice and chicken and root vegetables. I also got scrambled eggs on that, which was yummy.  F had grilled chicken and curry.  

After lunch, we came home and F slept a lot on the couch, and I did a few things on my computer.  We left the apartment around 6 to go to Mikawa.

In Mikawa Mall, we had dinner at the pasta restaurant, and both had the same thing tonight, tuna and grated daikon on pasta with a yuzu soy sauce based sauce.  It is quite nice, light and filling.  

I shopped a little in Uniqlo and got some things for my nephew which F took to the car.  When he came back, we went up to the theatre and got our tickets for the movie.  

Tonight we saw The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and quite enjoyed it.  I liked the easy manner of the actors and that the music in the movie was easy to listen to.  It wasn’t ramped up hard rock or heavy metal.  My one and only thought during the film was that it seemed a little bit like White Collar and Henry Cavill and Matt Bomer could be related.  A scan through IMDb tells me that I’m not the only person to think that!  Apparently Matt Bomer was up for Superman at one point too.  

When the movie was over, we came back to Tsuruoka and home.  F went to bed quite early, and I made a list up of all the presents I have bought already and how much they are worth, so I know who I need to spend more money on and about how much!

I need to get some sleep soon.  I hope to sleep in tomorrow because I won’t get to sleep in next week.  Poor me!

Not sure what we’ll get up to later on.  F is not doing well with the weather and is in a lot of pain.  I’m not sure if we’ll go out or stay home for the most part.  You can come back on the morrow and find out!  Until tomorrow….

October 31, 2015

Saturday - Rainy and cold.  Happy Halloween!

A good day.

I got up this morning and took a shower almost immediately.  I wanted to get it over and done with.  I had a quiet morning, F came back just a bit before 12 I think.  He brought us some tortilla chips so I went ahead and made guacamole. After that, I stir-fried the last bit of the romaine lettuce and called it all lunch.  We ate and it was quite good.  

In the afternoon we went out to S-Mall to go to Doutors.  Actually, I just wanted to see the kids in their costumes.  It’s weird how ridiculously happy seeing little kids dressed up like princesses and Mario made me!  The kids had a little parade through the mall which was fun to watch.  

F and I drove out to Mikawa to take my new pants in to be hemmed.  Yes, I know I could do it myself, but it is hard and they do a great job, so… We put my pants in, they should be ready next week.  We got a few things for F’s mother and then discussed having dinner in the mall.  There wasn’t much I was interested in, ditto for F, so we went elsewhere.

F wanted to go to a restaurant in the hot spring/sento Den-Den in Mikawa, but when we got there they were closed.  Oh darn! We ended up back in Tsuruoka and went to Kintaro sushi. It wasn’t busy at all, probably because we arrived quite early.  We had a yummy dinner there and then came home.

Around 8 pm we went out again to go to Machi-ga-kine to see St. Vincent with Bill Murray and Melissa McCarthy.  We both enjoyed the movie a lot. 

Afterwards, we went to the grocery store and picked up a few things and then came home.  We had a bit of a midnight feast, and even finished up the guacamole. It was good! We watched Good Morning, Vietnam on TV.  It was the first time I’ve watched it all the way through in years.  

F has just gone to bed and is already out, and I should get off to dreamland too.  We’re going out tomorrow morning if he feels up to it, so I need to be up in about 5 hours.  Yikes!  I hope I can make it!

Come back tomorrow and see how our trip to Tendo goes.  Until tomorrow….

October 21, 2015

Wednesday - Sunny but cool

A good day.

I got up on time and came through to the living room.  I watched House and caught up with things on my computer.  After that I got ready very quickly and left for the theater.

I went to see Kingsman: The Secret Service at Machi-Kine.  It was up and down.  I enjoyed Colin Firth, he was marvellous in it, but thought overall it was a bit of a letdown.  

After the movie, I biked to S-Mall and had lunch in Patio.  It was quite good today.  After that, I hacked the hundred yen shop and then visited Doutor for a cup of Royal Soy Milk Tea.  Lovely.

I detoured on the way home to a drug store to pick up a few things.  I got home a little before 5 pm. I had done a lot of bicycling today.

F came home fairly soon after me for a change.  We went out for dinner to Gusto.  It wasn’t a great meal, but it was okay.  I had avocado tuna salad gohan which was basically all the things mentioned above on rice.  I liked it.  F had noodles and said they were okay.

We bought groceries on the way home and then settled in for the evening.  I wrote a few postcards and then went over to the couch for some crochet.  I enjoyed that, especially since the doily is getting bigger.  The thread is very twisty though.  

The first picture shows the doily before I started it tonight, the second after I did a few more rows of it.  

Aqua Doily, row 9

After Row 12

And really that’s about it.  It’s after 1:30 now so my jet-lag must be easing.  Hurray!  And that is it for me for today.  Come back later and see what happens!  Until tomorrow…. 

October 18, 2015

Sunday - Sunny and warm

A good day.

I am still horribly jet lagged again, so I may fall asleep on this!  I woke up this morning at 6 and despite trying hard, wasn’t able to fall asleep again. I got up before 8 and F followed a little while later. 

I suggested going to McDonald’s for breakfast, so we did that!  It was rather fun.  I wouldn’t want to do it every day, but as a one off it was cool.  We both had the Big Breakfast set, so sausage, egg, English Muffin and a hash brown. Yum.

F had been talking about going to Very Berry Soup in Sakata for lunch so I emailed my friend to see if she was free to join us.  She was, so I took a shower and F visited his mother.  When he came back, I was about ready to leave, so off we went.

There was a festival in Sakata, but we found parking after a few minutes and went to the restaurant.  It was lined out the door and the manager was passing out menus.  She skipped me, but gave both the lady in front of me and my husband one, so I wasn’t too impressed.  I do read  quite a lot of Japanese so huh? We were told that the wait would be about 40 minutes for a table.  It was okay, we could see they were busy.  My friend and her son joined us.  We finally got a seat after we ordered and paid, but for some reason it took almost an hour for my tray to arrive.  Everyone else’s food took even longer.  We had no idea why it took so long, it was only soup and pasta for us.  

We walked around Sakata for a while afterwards, but the little boy was getting tired so we said goodbye to everyone and went our separate ways.

F and I went to the hundred yen shop in Marine 5. I got a few things which was cool.  We got a ticket for the car parkade.  When we drove out, it didn’t cost anything!  Yay for that.

We went to Mikawa and bought tickets to see The Intern.  After that, we had bibinba for dinner, which was nice.  When we went to see the movie, F told me he had already seen it!  He’d seen a movie last week but couldn’t remember it.  I enjoyed the movie, and F said he did this time too.  It was quite feminist and not at all what I thought it would be like.  

After the movie, we drove back to Tsuruoka.  We went to the grocery store and bought a few things for dinner and breakfasts for the next few days.  

Then, home!  I’m still up at midnight, which is a bit of an improvement, but I will be going to bed soon as I am very tired.

Today, I wore some of my new clothes including my black dress with the handkerchief hem and my brown leggings.  I put a fringed belt on top of that.  For the first time, I wore my Birkenstocks out of the house!  I bought them last year, and have never worn them outside before today.  They were surprisingly comfortable.  

Really, that was my day.  I’m not sure what I’ll get up to tomorrow.  Hopefully, you’ll come back and find out.  Until tomorrow….

October 11, 2015

Sunday - Cloudy in the morning, nice in the afternoon & evening

A mostly great weekend.

I went off on Friday evening with my friend.  We went shopping in Edmonton after we checked into our hotel.  We went over to Bonnie Doon Mall and found quite a lot of things on sale.  We each got a few things which is great.  We had dinner at Tony Roma's, I had a burger which was rather nice.

We went back to the hotel and went to sleep quite soon afterwards.

On Saturday, we got up and decided to go over to the Mayfield Common area.  We drove over there and got a tea and a muffin or a coffee and a biscuit on the way.  When we got there, we went into Penningtons and got down to the business of shopping.  We were there from 10 until 11:30!  We were supposed to meet a friend at 11:30 for lunch, but had to call her and ask her to wait a little longer for us! I did very, very well.  I got a fabulous outfit for a wedding that is coming up soon, and got all the pieces too.

We met up with our friend and we spent 3 hours together in the restaurant.  We had a great meal and a great time.  It was lovely to have the three of us together again as we were all in high school together.  It really was a special time and we got to renew our friendship and see that we are all still good people!

After lunch, we did a bit more shopping, less for me now than for my friend as she also had errands to run.  I did go to a store and get pantyhose as I had completely forgotten to get any!  We ran our purchases back to the hotel and decided what to do.  My friend suggested going to see a movie in IMAX/3D, so off we went.

We went to the Telus Space Sciences Center and got our tickets to Jurassic World.  I had seen it before, but my friend hadn't.  I didn't mind seeing it again, and I have always wanted to see a film in IMAX, so it was a treat.  It wasn't any more expensive than a normal movie in Japan!

We had a bite to eat at The Second Cup and then walked back to the theatre.  The movie was more fun the second time, and very cool in 3D!

After the movie we went back to the hotel.  When I checked my Facebook feed I discovered a post from a friend that said a man I knew from my college, my former boss to be precise, had just died.  I was stunned since I had seen him 2 weeks before and he looked fine.  When I messaged her she told me that the man had died of a massive heart attack on Friday.  I'm shocked and deeply saddened.  He was a big part of my life at Augustana and it had been so nice to see him again after all these years.

I had a fairly early evening that night too.

Today, we overslept a bit.  We were supposed to go swimming, but my friend needed to leave the city and take care of some family business, so we decided not to do it.  Instead, we tried to have breakfast after we checked out of the hotel but  the place was too busy.  We went to Tim Hortons for a quick breakfast instead.  She dropped me off at my sister's place a little ahead of schedule.  We hugged our goodbyes.

I came into the house, talked to my niece and then did a workout on the treadmill.  When my sister came home I had a little snack and then decided to go with her family to a neighbour's home for a  Thanksgiving dinner.

We had a fabulous dinner of venison, garlic potatoes, stuffing with sausage, carrots, and buns.  It was lovely.  The men talked and talked, especially about sports while most of the women either listened or rolled their eyes.  My sister and I and her kids left around 1 am, and her husband walked home soon afterwards.

And that was it.  I only have a couple of days left in Canada. The time seems to have gone by so quickly that I have a hard time understanding it! I have had a great time but I do miss my husband.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in Canada and Japan.  I hope that we'll all have a lovely day.  Come back later and find out what I get up to.  Until tomorrow....

September 19, 2015

Saturday - Rainy, cloudy and then rainy again. With Rainbows!

A good day.

I got up this morning to an empty apartment.  F was off with his mother.  He took her to an onsen and the dentist and took her for a quick lunch too.  When he came home it was almost 2 pm!  I was a touch annoyed since I hadn’t had breakfast and thought he’d be home early.  

When he came home, we decided to have lunch out.  We went to the Grand El Sun, the place where we got married.  We had a nice lunch there.  I had pork with bread and tea, F had fish croquettes with rice and coffee.  The food was good, just a little petite!

After dinner we went to the cell phone company to see if I could get a plan to use my phone in Canada, but I couldn’t.  Well, strictly speaking I could if I didn’t mind paying 3000 yen a day plus calling charges.  I think I’ll turn off the cellular and just use wifi when I find it! F gassed up the car and then we came home for a bit.

Rainbow outside the phone company building

Rainbow from the parking lot of our building

We went over to the Mikawa Mall around 6 pm and had dinner at the pasta place.  I really like their food.  I had a tuna and grated daikon pasta in a yuzu sauce that was really nice, F had mentaiko with mayonnaise.  

After dinner, we bought some socks from Jusco and F ran them to the car.  We went to the theatre and went to see Ant-Man.  It was a lot of fun.  It was a bit silly, but quite enjoyable.  After the movie, we drove back to Tsuruoka.  I watched CSI and did a tad bit of crochet, F went to bed fairly early.  

At midnight I re-watched While You Were Sleeping and enjoyed it just as much as ever.  I’ve been trying to do a bit of fact-finding for my trip and getting some mental prep done for it.  I hope to be able to do a few things tomorrow to get ready.  

Come back in a bit and find out about my day.  I have no idea what it’ll be like!  Until tomorrow….

September 16, 2015

Wednesday - Sunny and Cool

A good day.

I got up this morning just as F was going out to his mother’s house.  He had to run some errands with her and then go to the doctor.  His hand has been bothering him quite a bit and I insisted he go and see his regular doctor if he couldn’t get in to see the doctor at the hospital again.  

I watched my show, drank some cold tea, read my blogs and then took a shower.  When F came home again, I was ready to go or stay or whatever!  

We had an early and quite yummy lunch at Subway in the mall.  I had coupons so it was nice and a little cheaper.  After that, we drove to Machi-Kine and went to see Pride, a British movie about what happened when a group of gays and lesbians started helping the striking miners in Thatcher’s Britain.  I loved it, F liked it I think, but not as much as I did.  

After the movie, F and I went to Doutors for an orzo latte each.  That was nice.  

We came home for a bit and then got ready to go out.  I wore a two piece skirt and top ensemble that I’ve had for years and rarely wore.  We took a taxi to the restaurant, Tsuzume.

We were shown in to a room upstairs and presented with the most amazing looking dinner.  It tasted pretty darn good too!  It was Japanese Kaiseki and we had a couple of drinks with dinner too.  My first one was non-alcoholic, my second was with alcohol.

When the "birdcage" was removed there were very nice dainty foods to eat.  There was tamagoyaki, a kind of sausage and a shrimp sushi.  There was a kind of custard and some kiku-chrysanthemum petals. 

Somen in a clear soup with a tofu square and fish wrapped around the noodles.

Sashimi on an ice boat.  Shrimp and tuna.

A fish croquette with some tempura.

Chawan-mushi with mushrooms and a meringue top.

An eggplant base with eggplant and pork in a miso sauce.  

Spanish Mackerel stew.  Really nice!

Miso soup and pickles.  Served with the Mackerel and the rice.

Rice that was cooked at the table.  I gave a little of it to F as I don't like rice that much.

Dessert!  Vanilla ice cream with mochi and a kinako sauce, blanc mange with a meringue on top and fruit millefeuille. Came with Hoji-cha.  

After we finished our meal, we decided to walk home.  I think it was a good choice, except I wasn’t wearing walking shoes, they were flat, but loose, and F kept walking faster and faster.  

At home, we watched a bit of TV and then F went to bed.  I did some crochet and darned in the ends too.  Yay me.  Then, I prepped the garbage for F to take out tomorrow morning.  The usual Wednesday night thing.  

It was a really nice way to celebrate our anniversary of our public ceremony…privately!  We didn’t do the gift exchange thing this year, but really, F has given me so much this year that I don’t feel slighted in the least.  

Come back tomorrow and see if I manage to get all of the many things I need to get done.  I may be leaving for Canada with no clothes in my suitcase!  That wouldn’t be very good.  Until tomorrow….

September 3, 2015

Thursday - Sunny, Cloudy, Rainy…all sorts of weather!

A good day.

I got up this morning and watched my show and ate breakfast.  Then, I made the bed, got dressed and headed out to the theater.  I went to see Whiplash, the Academy Award winning film.  It was playing at our local cinema.  It was a really good movie and I wish I had seen it with someone so that I could talk to them about it!

After the movie, I biked off to S-Mall.  I had lunch at Subway…a new sandwich: chicken, renkon and mushroom.  It was quite good.  After lunch I biked over to my hair dresser and asked if I could come in today.  She was busy at the time and asked me to come back in an hour and a half.  No problem!

I hacked the mall for a bit.  I looked around the hundred yen shop, then used the washroom and then headed off to the salon.  I got my usual great hair cut and my head just feels so much better.  We chatted a bit today, which was really nice.  She sometimes doesn’t feel like talking. Her English isn’t too bad actually so I don’t mind.

After I left the salon I went back to the mall and tried out the new drink at Doutors, Orzo Latte.  I liked it.  I don’t know if I’ll have it all the time, but this time was good.  I also bought a few things from the hundred yen shop that I had scouted out earlier.  

I left the mall and of course it started raining.  However it wasn’t too bad and I made good time getting home.  I wasn’t even that wet!

F called me about 3 minutes after I got home and said he was going to his mother’s.  I rested for a bit and then when F came home I began putting dinner together.  I was planning to cook cabbage using a spice packet from the store, but couldn’t find it.  Maybe I already used it?  I had to find another recipe quickly.  Google to the rescue.  I found a stir-fry recipe with only a few ingredients on All-Recipes.com and it was easy and good.  I had to shred the cabbage and then stir fry it with some garlic, and add soy sauce and cooking wine, but I used vinegar instead.  It got rave reviews and F asked me to keep the recipe and do it again!

F did the dishes tonight and then settled in for an evening with Japanese TV.  I didn’t like it much.  He also put on an American Gangster movie where everyone died at the end.  I didn’t like it at all.  I went over to the couch and worked on my blanket during Rizzoli and Isles.  And…..I finished it!  I took a quick snapshot, but I’ll try and get a better look at it for you tomorrow.

Think of this as your sneak peak!

And that was my day.  It was quite busy, but also a good day.  I seem to be able to do a lot more when I go out these days…before I would have been exhausted, but I’m fine.  

Tomorrow F is off work and has a doctor’s appointment at the hospital.  After that he may take his mother out.  I think he’s weaselling out of going to my restaurant!  Oh well.  I should do some laundry but the question is, will I?

Until tomorrow….

August 29, 2015

Saturday - Cloudy in the morning, sunny in the afternoon

A good day.  I got up early this morning and got dressed.  F was still out for a while.  When he came back he wanted to go to his Farmer’s Restaurant.  I said it was okay, but really I’m a bit bored by the place! We had to sit on the floor this time as they had moved all the furniture around.

After lunch we did a bit of shopping.  I went to my craft store to pick up some double pointed knitting needles and a few other things.  We came home for a bit and vegged around the apartment.

F wanted to go and see a movie and the only thing in English that was playing and we hadn’t seen yet was Ted 2.  I didn’t really want to go, but on the other hand, I pick all the movies and F never gets to.  I forgot that there is a reason for that!

We drove out to Mikawa and had dinner in a pasta restaurant.  F ordered himself a pasta with a small pizza.  He proceeded to try to get me to eat some of the pizza.  I didn’t want any of it and didn’t have any.  I just had some cold pasta.  It was really good.  It was a mixture of mini tomatoes, mozzarella and olives in an oil/pesto base.  It was really good.  

We went to see the movie.  It had some funny cameos, but overall was terrible.  F liked it a lot more than I did!

After the movie we went to Don Quijote and picked up a few things.  I got a new Pyrex pie plate, F got some food and we both got something to drink.  

We came home after the movie and F took some medicine.  His neck was really bothering him.  He went to bed and I’m still up, but I want to get some sleep soon too.  I’m watching The Watchmen which is odd.  I’ve tried to watch it before, but I lose the plot partway through.  

I honestly have no idea what we’ll get up to next.  Come back and find out!  Until tomorrow….

August 28, 2015

Friday - Warm and Sunny, Rainy at night

A good day!

I got up this morning after F had left for the hospital and watched my show.  He came back just as I was getting ready to make the bed.  He was lying on his half of the bed so I couldn’t make that half.  Oh dear!

I took a quick shower and we went out for lunch to F’s new favourite fish restaurant.  The food is good, but I get quite depressed with how he never wants anything else or to go anywhere else.  I agreed to go to his place today, but suggested that we go to the pasta buffet place the next time he has daytime lunch off work.  It’s cheaper and he won’t go in the evenings because he thinks it is too expensive…but I have a coupon languishing in my wallet for the place!

After lunch we drove to the Machi-kine theater to check out the movie times.  Mission Impossible was on in less than an hour, so we decided to stay and see it. We checked out the bakery and indulged ourselves in a couple of tasty treats.  I suggested sharing one as F was all set to get two of each.  They were good though.  We went to see the movie and F liked it too. It was just as much fun, if not more for me the second time around.  

After the movie we went to get gas for the car and then headed to the mall for something to drink.  I had a simple ice tea as I had overindulged with the bakery treats.  We also got a prepaid card for the coffee shop.  I think I like that!  I got a few things for my friend and my sister and niece in one of the shops in the mall and then got a couple of drinks in the mall to take home.  F’s were of the alcoholic type, mine was the non-calorie tea kind.  

F was supposed to go over to his mother’s but he begged off and stayed home.  Around 7:30 we went out for dinner to Gusto.  I had my usual chicken and F had a spicy noodle dish that he said was too spicy.  The menu said spicy, he just didn’t think it would be!  

We came home and F went for a nap right away.  He’s still there and probably won’t get up now.  It’s quite late now.  

I did such lovely things as downloading an old game that I used to play on my computer all the time, Snood.  I might even pay for it this time!  I am finding it more difficult this time though.  

Anyway, that’s about it for me.  I did some more joining on my blanket after I took this picture, but here’s the most recent picture of it. 

I am liking this colour variation.  Now that I’m putting it together I can think of a few things I’d rather done colour wise, but I might not have enough wool if I did them.  Still, it’ll be nice when it is done.

Tomorrow I have no idea what we’ll get up to, so please come back and find out.  Until tomorrow….

August 22, 2015

Saturday - Cloudy and sunny then rainy

A good day.  

It’s terribly late now so I’ll just give you the bare bones.  

I had quiet busy morning and left for the hospital before 12.  I bought my lunch in the convenience store near the hospital and went to see F.  He was eating lunch and doing well.  He ate and then we went to the lounge and I ate lunch.  We chatted for a bit and then I brushed my teeth and left for the dentist.  Happily her office was just up the street from the hospital, so I walked there.  

I had the second part of my teeth cleaning and then I had a few cavities filled.  I was a little embarrassed to hear how many I had.  For the first time ever, it didn’t hurt to have them filled.  I’m guessing that they were caught before they were really bad?

I paid, and then headed back to the hospital.  F and I did a little walking around the hospital and I did a bit of knitting.  I restarted my hat today.  The ribbing was much too loose.  I frogged it and started it again, but smaller. 

I decided to leave F around 5 pm.  I came home and put his laundry through a quick wash, hung it up and headed out again.  I stopped off at the hospital to bring F some more DVDs and towels, then left.  Honestly, I was probably there less than 5 minutes!

I went to Cafe Cinq near the river.  I had planned to have the chicken dish I have had before, but it wasn’t on offer.  I had carbonara instead and it was really, really good.  I had some ginger tea afterwards and then headed out again.  This time, my goal was Machi-Kine.  

I went to see Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.  It was fun, which is just what I needed.  If F wants to see it, I’ll go and see it again.  

After the movie, I rode home via a convenience store.  I got home just after 11 and spent time on my computer.  I also spent a bit of time snoozing in front of my computer, which is why I’m still up as the sun is coming up.  Sigh.  

Anyway, that’s about it for me.  I have a couple of pictures for you today.  On the way to the theater I passed a temple and there was a statue lit up.  I stopped and took a picture from the gate. I thought it was cool, but the picture isn’t that good…iPhones don’t seem to do night shots well.  And a couple of obligatory hospital lounge shots of the view…clouds and mountains today.  

Come back later and find out about my day.  Until tomorrow….

August 8, 2015

Saturday - Hot and Sunny

Surprisingly, a good day!

I got up this morning to an empty apartment, so I made the bed, took a shower and then decided what to do.  I decided that I didn’t want to waste today and if I continued being angry at F I would waste the day.  

When he came home, I was nice to him and asked if he wanted to go and eat.  I even suggested a restaurant that he likes, and it worked.  We went for lunch and then gradually things got nicer as the day went on.  Lunch was in the Farmer’s Restaurant today.  I had pork with goma sauce and grilled cod.  It was quite nice honestly.  

After lunch I expected to go home again, but F asked about kakigori.  I was game, but where?  Then, he switched it up and suggested Starbucks in Sakata.  Off we went!  When we got there it wasn’t too busy, so we each had a peach in peach frappucino.  It was really good, but I honestly found it a bit too large for me.  I probably should have had my regular drink, but I wanted a cool one today.  

We drove back to Tsuruoka after this and came home.  F took a nap and then I woke him up and sent him off to his mother’s.  

When he came back, we drove to Mikawa and picked up my pants.  I haven’t tried them on yet, but I’m sure they’re fine.  We put them in the car and then had dinner.  I requested the pasta restaurant, and F was okay with that.  He had soup carbonara which was nice, and I had a cold pasta dish, cold pasta with vegetables.  Mine was really nice and I enjoyed it a lot.  

Then, we went upstairs and watched Jurassic World.  I wouldn’t call it a great movie, but it was a fun movie.  Chris Pratt was good in it, but there was something not quite complete about the movie.  I didn’t really care that much about the characters. Or the dinosaurs.  

We went to Don Quijote after the movie and picked up a few things.  I got more granola and some bite sized snacks for when I need a nice treat.  We got some coconut water, and F got some ramen.  

We came home and F went to bed almost immediately.  We tried leaving the windows open for a while as it is a nice night, but the apartment didn’t cool down fast enough.  I turned on the AC, but I also have a fan going to help spread the cooler air faster.

Anyway, that’s about it for today.  I hope that tomorrow is a good day too.  Come on back in a bit and find out.  Until tomorrow….

July 17, 2015

Friday-Cloudy, hot, with a little rain

A good day.  I got up this morning on time, watched my show, had some tea, real tea today and when I was ready, did my workout.  It went well.

F magically appeared around 12:20 bearing a bento for his lunch. For a change he didn’t ask me if I wanted one.  Yay, cause I didn’t.  He did however give me some money!  He wasn’t coming home in the evening and I think he wanted to make sure I could go out if I wanted to.

Around 4 I went out.  I biked to the mall and had a sandwich at Subway.  It was good, the new broiled tandoori chicken one.  Afterwards, I biked off to the closest post office and finally tracked down one of the Gotochi cards I’d been looking for. I bought it and a couple of other cards and some stamps.  I mailed off my cards too.  

I then biked to the theatre and went to see The Trip to Italy with Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon.  I loved it!  They were eating their way through Italy, plus stopping in at various places important to English Literature, so I was in my glory.  I also really liked the impressions that the two did.  I know it is a sequel to an earlier film they did in the Lake District, but I hadn’t seen that.  It was just a fun movie.  I originally felt mean that I wasn’t seeing it with F, but I don’t know if he would have got the movie the same way I did.  Oh, and one super-embarrassing thing was that F phoned me just before the movie started!  I hadn’t turned off my cellphone yet and I was quite embarrassed.  I grabbed my phone and went out into the lobby to talk to him. It was two minutes before the movie started.  And of course I was the only foreigner there.  I made sure to turn off my phone after that!

After the movie I came home via a convenience store.  I bought a few things for the evening and continued home.  

I made dinner at home.  I had my soup re-heated and a lot of salad too.  It was nice.  I watched a bit of regular TV and then when I ran out of programmes, I watched some of the TV on the DVR.  That was good.  F called me around 2:00 to say that he missed me.  He sounded quite inebriated!  

I haven’t done a few of the things that I hoped to do, but it is late now and I think I’ll pop off to bed as soon as I’m done this.  I’m very tired now!  I’m not sure if I’ll be here tomorrow night or not.  We may pop out for a night since it is a long weekend here.  Don’t miss me too much!  Until next time….

July 12, 2015

Sunday - Hot and sunny

A good day.

I woke up this morning before I had to get up and just before F came home.  I really should have gotten up earlier and taken my shower but I didn’t.  F asked if he could take a quick one and since I was still in bed, couldn’t really say,”Nope, me first!” I took a quick shower, got dressed and then we were on our way to Yuza.

Today we met up with my friend and her son in Sakata and another blogger and her son for lunch.  We had lunch with kireikireikirei, the writer of “We Speak Japanese and English”.  We had a great time, and enjoyed some good food and conversation.  Sadly, a train had to be caught and our party members had to go our separate ways.  

I begged and pleaded with F (not really, I just asked!) to go to Starbucks in Sakata, so we went for a nice beverage.  Today I had a hojicha latte with soy milk, he had a frappuchino.  He complains about them there and says they aren’t cold enough.  While we were at the coffee shop, F told me that tomorrow is Obon in our city and his mother had visitors coming.  Then an odd expression came over his face.  He thought he might have left some squid tempura in the car this morning instead of giving it to his mother.  When we got out to the car, he looked but couldn’t see anything.  Then I looked.  There was a bag of shopping in the back.  Today the temperature was 32℃ so I wasn’t sure that anything was still edible.  F swore that it was.  Instead of going to the mall for shopping, we went back to Tsuruoka.  He dropped me off at home and then dropped off the bag at his house.  I hope that no one eats that food, but…

When F came back, we decided to go and see a movie in Mikawa and do some shopping.  We drove back to Mikawa and I did some shopping for my niece and then for me.  I didn’t really expect to get anything, but I found a couple of things that I liked.  We put them in the car and then went to the movie theater.

We went to see Terminator Genisys and quite enjoyed ourselves.  I had fun, and so did F.  There were some interesting ideas but somehow it wasn’t quite as scary as the original The Terminator.

After the movie, I did a little more shopping and then we had a quick dinner at Cocos.  I had a California taco salad, F had a vinegary chicken and vegetable rice dish.  It looked good, but I didn’t want too much.  He did give me some of his chicken though.

We came back to Tsuruoka and the grocery store.  I told him as we went in that I wasn’t going to cook for him over the next couple of days.  I bought myself some chicken, some salad and that’s about it!  I will probably have a salad tomorrow night with grilled chicken or something.  It’s all I really want.  

We had a fairly decent evening at home.  I did more crochet while I watched Project Runway and started another colour.  This second blanket is going well so far.  I do get a little worried in case it doesn’t stay that way, but I hope it will.  

And that was my day.  It was quite good and we got a lot done.  Tomorrow I hope to go out and get a few little presents for my niece and then I’ll be able to wrap up the present and get it sent off to her.  If you come back later you’ll be able to find out what I get up to.  Until tomorrow….