I made this from a template at RobertSabuda.com.
2 of my beautiful Halloween pictures. I made them to show my students what I wanted them to do.
Happy Halloween everyone! I'm off trick or treating tonight. Bye!
Showing posts with label October 2009. Show all posts
Showing posts with label October 2009. Show all posts
Happy Halloween! --October 31, 2009 - Saturday
I made this from a template at RobertSabuda.com.2 of my beautiful Halloween pictures. I made them to show my students what I wanted them to do.
Happy Halloween everyone! I'm off trick or treating tonight. Bye!
October 30, 2009 - Friday
Sunny in the daytime, then rainy in the afternoon, clearing at night.
Today was a good day. I got up this morning and found that there wasn't any news on again. Sigh. I took my shower fairly early and then watched a bit of TV.
I had an interesting brunch today. I reheated the stirfry from Wednesday, then added a couple of eggs to it. It was nice, sort of a Western Denver omelette crossed with okonomiyaki!
I got to the school in goodly time and did my set up. My student was a couple of minutes late today so I was afraid that she wasn't going to come. However, she did. She had done her homework this week and some additional studying and our lesson went much, much better! She noticed it herself, which I think is a really important thing. I can say it till I'm blue in the face, but if the student doesn't make that connection it doesn't have much meaning.
After class I did my check for tomorrow and then heard something I didn't like. Rain. Lots of rain. Lots and lots of rain. I decided to just stay in the school for a bit. A bit became a while and before I knew it, it was 6:00pm! I sent F a message asking if he was done and he called me a few minutes later. He picked me up.
We came home briefly, then made a quick trip to the mall. After the mall, we discussed dinner. F wanted to go to Sakata and have either steak or Indian food. We were going to go, but then I suggested trying the new Thai restaurant. We went there instead. F wanted to order a combo dinner, but honestly, it had Tom Yan Kun soup and rice in it, neither of which I like, so I suggested something else. I wanted some noodles, so ordered them, and F wanted some squid, pork and an omelette. I liked the pork and the omelette, but the squid was not something I liked. It had an odd taste. The noodles were great though, and I would definitely order them again.
We came home and watched Jerry Maguire. I haven't seen it in ages. Then, we just started watching Death Race. I know, it's a dumb action flick. However, it has a yummy guy in the driver's seat. Yes, it's Jason Statham. Yay!
That's it for me. Tomorrow I have a full day at work and lots to do. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to wipe the drool off my keyboard. Night!
Today was a good day. I got up this morning and found that there wasn't any news on again. Sigh. I took my shower fairly early and then watched a bit of TV.
I had an interesting brunch today. I reheated the stirfry from Wednesday, then added a couple of eggs to it. It was nice, sort of a Western Denver omelette crossed with okonomiyaki!
I got to the school in goodly time and did my set up. My student was a couple of minutes late today so I was afraid that she wasn't going to come. However, she did. She had done her homework this week and some additional studying and our lesson went much, much better! She noticed it herself, which I think is a really important thing. I can say it till I'm blue in the face, but if the student doesn't make that connection it doesn't have much meaning.
After class I did my check for tomorrow and then heard something I didn't like. Rain. Lots of rain. Lots and lots of rain. I decided to just stay in the school for a bit. A bit became a while and before I knew it, it was 6:00pm! I sent F a message asking if he was done and he called me a few minutes later. He picked me up.
We came home briefly, then made a quick trip to the mall. After the mall, we discussed dinner. F wanted to go to Sakata and have either steak or Indian food. We were going to go, but then I suggested trying the new Thai restaurant. We went there instead. F wanted to order a combo dinner, but honestly, it had Tom Yan Kun soup and rice in it, neither of which I like, so I suggested something else. I wanted some noodles, so ordered them, and F wanted some squid, pork and an omelette. I liked the pork and the omelette, but the squid was not something I liked. It had an odd taste. The noodles were great though, and I would definitely order them again.
We came home and watched Jerry Maguire. I haven't seen it in ages. Then, we just started watching Death Race. I know, it's a dumb action flick. However, it has a yummy guy in the driver's seat. Yes, it's Jason Statham. Yay!
That's it for me. Tomorrow I have a full day at work and lots to do. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to wipe the drool off my keyboard. Night!
October 29, 2009 - Thursday
Sunny, warm. Nice day.
I got up earlier than my alarms this morning. It's a sad state of affairs really. I woke up, looked at the time and groaned. Not enough time for more sleep, but felt too early to get up. Still, I did. There wasn't any news on today as it is back to baseball. Bleck. And, for some reason, NHK2 ran the parliament today rather than State of Play. Grr. I had it marked on my calendar for naught. Sigh. Still, I did get to see some Perfect Housewife show at 11:30 today. It was....weird. My sister is a good housekeeper, I am not.
I ran off (biked off really) to the post office this afternoon to mail my sister's birthday present. After that I got myself some jasmine tea at the convenience store.
When I came home I watched a bit of TV and got myself ready for work. It was a nice ride over to the school tonight and once I was there I got set up.
My first student cancelled today, so I worked on my Halloween lesson in that time. Basically, I just wrote up what I had thought about doing. Then, I worked on my latest movie column. It's long, but I hope interesting. It's also a little different than ones I've done before.
My two students showed up on time today and I did a couple of things with them that I hadn't tried before. I made them dictate the alphabet to each other, and we did a non text lesson about Halloween. It went quite well and I think they enjoyed themselves. At the end of class, I couldn't get them to leave!
When they went home with their mother, I cleaned up the class, did paperwork and set up for tomorrow's lesson. Then, I called my husband and asked him to pick me up and take me to dinner!
Tonight we went to Cocos. They were having a Halloween special for dessert. We both had chicken for our first course, then dessert and drink bar. The dessert was a Halloween mud pie. It was quite good. Definitely not an everyday kind of thing though.
We came home and watched ER which was quite good. It was mostly about Abby so F enjoyed it. He has a thing for her character. I also booked a hotel for us for next month. We'll go somewhere to celebrate someone's birthday. (Not mine. Someone I'm married to was lucky enough to be born on a National Holiday. )
That was my day. It was quite nice really. I have to run. It's late and I'm tired! Night.
I got up earlier than my alarms this morning. It's a sad state of affairs really. I woke up, looked at the time and groaned. Not enough time for more sleep, but felt too early to get up. Still, I did. There wasn't any news on today as it is back to baseball. Bleck. And, for some reason, NHK2 ran the parliament today rather than State of Play. Grr. I had it marked on my calendar for naught. Sigh. Still, I did get to see some Perfect Housewife show at 11:30 today. It was....weird. My sister is a good housekeeper, I am not.
I ran off (biked off really) to the post office this afternoon to mail my sister's birthday present. After that I got myself some jasmine tea at the convenience store.
When I came home I watched a bit of TV and got myself ready for work. It was a nice ride over to the school tonight and once I was there I got set up.
My first student cancelled today, so I worked on my Halloween lesson in that time. Basically, I just wrote up what I had thought about doing. Then, I worked on my latest movie column. It's long, but I hope interesting. It's also a little different than ones I've done before.
My two students showed up on time today and I did a couple of things with them that I hadn't tried before. I made them dictate the alphabet to each other, and we did a non text lesson about Halloween. It went quite well and I think they enjoyed themselves. At the end of class, I couldn't get them to leave!
When they went home with their mother, I cleaned up the class, did paperwork and set up for tomorrow's lesson. Then, I called my husband and asked him to pick me up and take me to dinner!
Tonight we went to Cocos. They were having a Halloween special for dessert. We both had chicken for our first course, then dessert and drink bar. The dessert was a Halloween mud pie. It was quite good. Definitely not an everyday kind of thing though.
We came home and watched ER which was quite good. It was mostly about Abby so F enjoyed it. He has a thing for her character. I also booked a hotel for us for next month. We'll go somewhere to celebrate someone's birthday. (Not mine. Someone I'm married to was lucky enough to be born on a National Holiday. )
That was my day. It was quite nice really. I have to run. It's late and I'm tired! Night.
October 28, 2009 - Wednesday
Sunny and cool.
An okay day. I woke up quite early this morning and ended up getting up. I didn't really want to stay up, but I did, more or less. But, the good thing is the news was on. The end got chopped off, but it was still news. At 10 I watched Hotel Babylon, so honestly it was rather late when I took my shower and got out of my pajamas!
Also this morning I wrapped my sister's birthday present. Now I just have to mail it. In the afternoon, I watched Merlin on tape (anyone else watching it?) and while it was on did a lot of prep for dinner tonight. I was making stirfry and since I worked a bit late tonight, wanted to make it easy on myself.
I was settling in for some telly and computer time, when my husband called. He was coming home. What? Basically he needed to see the doctor to have an updated medical check. Okay. He went off, but was back much too soon in my opinion!
He offered me a lift to work, so I made my late lunch and ate it. I was a bit annoyed because he took up the spot on the couch that I always sit at when I eat lunch, but it was hard to get angry at him today.
We went to a couple of drugstores on the way to my school. We were looking for decent toilet paper. I'm very picky...I have to be. I can't use recycled and I definitely don't want anything perfumed. The first place we went didn't have ANYTHING that fit my criteria. The second did, so I just hope its better than the last stuff. I told F I might start ordering it from FBC. I was joking, mostly, but being home last month I noticed how nice Canadian TP really is!
I went to the school and got ready for my class. Mostly it was prepped, so I had to change and cue tapes, etc. Class was okay. I did something different for the beginning and it worked quite well. The student was a bit silly at first, but then he understood the game and things went well. Next week we'll start the book properly, up til now, we've been doing the intro. But, one sad for me thing was I checked with his mum after class about his schedule and it seems he'll still have to come on Wednesdays. Darn. That means I have one class each on Wednesdays and Friday. It's a pain really because I liked having Wednesdays off, and only one class per day doesn't really pay for opening my school. Guess I'll have to get more students.
F. picked me up and took me to the grocery store again. I was going to complain but I realized I needed stuff too, so I got it. We came home and I started to cook.
I just made a pork stirfry, but it was very good. I used a bit of eggplant this time, which I don't usually, but turned out okay. It didn't take long as my prep was done. We ate and it was really good.
I did the dishes as F was half asleep on the couch. He woke up towards the end with his patented, "Oh, I'll do the dishes", but they were almost all done. Sigh. It wasn't a big deal tonight anyway. I don't use many dishes with my stirfry.
We watched the American Idol rerun again tonight and it was okay. I did more of my crocheting. F went to bed quite early. He's not feeling well. I hope he didn't pick something up at the Doctor's today.
Tomorrow I have a couple of evening classes and I should run to the post office as well. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Night!
An okay day. I woke up quite early this morning and ended up getting up. I didn't really want to stay up, but I did, more or less. But, the good thing is the news was on. The end got chopped off, but it was still news. At 10 I watched Hotel Babylon, so honestly it was rather late when I took my shower and got out of my pajamas!
Also this morning I wrapped my sister's birthday present. Now I just have to mail it. In the afternoon, I watched Merlin on tape (anyone else watching it?) and while it was on did a lot of prep for dinner tonight. I was making stirfry and since I worked a bit late tonight, wanted to make it easy on myself.
I was settling in for some telly and computer time, when my husband called. He was coming home. What? Basically he needed to see the doctor to have an updated medical check. Okay. He went off, but was back much too soon in my opinion!
He offered me a lift to work, so I made my late lunch and ate it. I was a bit annoyed because he took up the spot on the couch that I always sit at when I eat lunch, but it was hard to get angry at him today.
We went to a couple of drugstores on the way to my school. We were looking for decent toilet paper. I'm very picky...I have to be. I can't use recycled and I definitely don't want anything perfumed. The first place we went didn't have ANYTHING that fit my criteria. The second did, so I just hope its better than the last stuff. I told F I might start ordering it from FBC. I was joking, mostly, but being home last month I noticed how nice Canadian TP really is!
I went to the school and got ready for my class. Mostly it was prepped, so I had to change and cue tapes, etc. Class was okay. I did something different for the beginning and it worked quite well. The student was a bit silly at first, but then he understood the game and things went well. Next week we'll start the book properly, up til now, we've been doing the intro. But, one sad for me thing was I checked with his mum after class about his schedule and it seems he'll still have to come on Wednesdays. Darn. That means I have one class each on Wednesdays and Friday. It's a pain really because I liked having Wednesdays off, and only one class per day doesn't really pay for opening my school. Guess I'll have to get more students.
F. picked me up and took me to the grocery store again. I was going to complain but I realized I needed stuff too, so I got it. We came home and I started to cook.
I just made a pork stirfry, but it was very good. I used a bit of eggplant this time, which I don't usually, but turned out okay. It didn't take long as my prep was done. We ate and it was really good.
I did the dishes as F was half asleep on the couch. He woke up towards the end with his patented, "Oh, I'll do the dishes", but they were almost all done. Sigh. It wasn't a big deal tonight anyway. I don't use many dishes with my stirfry.
We watched the American Idol rerun again tonight and it was okay. I did more of my crocheting. F went to bed quite early. He's not feeling well. I hope he didn't pick something up at the Doctor's today.
Tomorrow I have a couple of evening classes and I should run to the post office as well. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Night!
October 27, 2009 - Tuesday
Cloudy with some sun in the daytime, lots of rain at night.
A mostly good day. I woke up with my alarm, but just after it went off my phone rang. Hubby was at work and was worried he'd left some important keys at home. I got up and took a quick look around, but couldn't see them. He called me back a few minutes later to say that he'd found them at work. Whew. I tried to nap a little more, but didn't really.
I watched news this morning. Hurray, hurray, hurray! I don't know why I like to watch the US news as much as I do, it's not even Canadian, but maybe because it's close to home? And I do like the way that Charles Gibson says, "And I hope you had a good day" at the end. It's funny because I'm starting my day.
I did something a little odd for me. I cleaned my bedroom. Well, part of it. I dug into the corner by my bed and tossed a ton of magazines, old tissues that didn't quite make the garbage and stuff that I didn't know was there. I even dragged out the vacuum afterwards to really clean it up. Yay me.
My afternoon was quite quiet really, I had some yogurt, did stuff on the computer then had lunch and headed for my school. I was a little nervous as I didn't take a raincoat and there were ominous clouds overhead, but I made it safely.
Surprisingly today, my first student, who always comes to class, didn't. His family had some kind of accident at home, nobody hurt or anything. And the student who often misses class? She came today, for the full class! I was was so happy to see her.
After classes I did my paperwork, then clean up. I called F and asked him to pick me up. He came to get me and we drove off. It had started to rain. Yuck.
We made a quick stop at the grocery store then came home. I bought stuff for tomorrow night's dinner. I'm planning to cook tomorrow. Yay me.
It was after 9:30 when we got home but F didn't want any help preparing dinner. He had decided to make tempura. I was groaning inside because the last time he made it the entire kitchen was sheathed in oil. He did promise to do all of the cleanup which was nice. He took quite a while to prepare things and was a bit surprised when I told him that American Idol would be on in 15 minutes. Yes, it was a quarter to eleven. I made coffee and sort of set the table, and then we ate. It was really good. F had made tempura with the fish we caught, and some veggies. We had a salad on the side.
Afterwards, he did the dishes and I settled on the couch to watch AI. I did some of my crochet too. Finally he joined me and we watched it together. I know we've seen it before, but it was quite a good show. It was the Michael Jackson show.
That's about it for my day. I also just mooched a book from a lady in Slovenia, so that's kind of fun.
Gotta go! Night night!
A mostly good day. I woke up with my alarm, but just after it went off my phone rang. Hubby was at work and was worried he'd left some important keys at home. I got up and took a quick look around, but couldn't see them. He called me back a few minutes later to say that he'd found them at work. Whew. I tried to nap a little more, but didn't really.
I watched news this morning. Hurray, hurray, hurray! I don't know why I like to watch the US news as much as I do, it's not even Canadian, but maybe because it's close to home? And I do like the way that Charles Gibson says, "And I hope you had a good day" at the end. It's funny because I'm starting my day.
I did something a little odd for me. I cleaned my bedroom. Well, part of it. I dug into the corner by my bed and tossed a ton of magazines, old tissues that didn't quite make the garbage and stuff that I didn't know was there. I even dragged out the vacuum afterwards to really clean it up. Yay me.
My afternoon was quite quiet really, I had some yogurt, did stuff on the computer then had lunch and headed for my school. I was a little nervous as I didn't take a raincoat and there were ominous clouds overhead, but I made it safely.
Surprisingly today, my first student, who always comes to class, didn't. His family had some kind of accident at home, nobody hurt or anything. And the student who often misses class? She came today, for the full class! I was was so happy to see her.
After classes I did my paperwork, then clean up. I called F and asked him to pick me up. He came to get me and we drove off. It had started to rain. Yuck.
We made a quick stop at the grocery store then came home. I bought stuff for tomorrow night's dinner. I'm planning to cook tomorrow. Yay me.
It was after 9:30 when we got home but F didn't want any help preparing dinner. He had decided to make tempura. I was groaning inside because the last time he made it the entire kitchen was sheathed in oil. He did promise to do all of the cleanup which was nice. He took quite a while to prepare things and was a bit surprised when I told him that American Idol would be on in 15 minutes. Yes, it was a quarter to eleven. I made coffee and sort of set the table, and then we ate. It was really good. F had made tempura with the fish we caught, and some veggies. We had a salad on the side.
Afterwards, he did the dishes and I settled on the couch to watch AI. I did some of my crochet too. Finally he joined me and we watched it together. I know we've seen it before, but it was quite a good show. It was the Michael Jackson show.
That's about it for my day. I also just mooched a book from a lady in Slovenia, so that's kind of fun.
Gotta go! Night night!
October 26, 2009 - Monday
Rainy and cloudy all day.
I got up at my usual time this morning and actually saw a few minutes of some US news, so was able to stay up and didn't collapse in a heap when baseball started at 9:10 ish. Of course, when I looked at the clock, it still said 8:40! It stopped this morning, round about the time I got up. Weird. I replaced the battery and then gave it a good old cleaning. It needed it.
I had a lazy morning in. I read the Sunday and Monday papers, which was a nice treat. I also was surprised to see Tsuruoka in the listings for things to do. Apparently the Okuribito bath-house is allowing people to come in and see the place where the movie was made. Eventually, the building will be moved to the local movie museum grounds. A surprising number of films are made in Shonai and area.
I really lazed around the house today. I had planned to go out, but there wasn't any let up in the bad weather, so I stayed home. I did spend a lot of time searching for a push-pin. This morning F had knocked down the calendar in the toilet room, and lost the pin. He left me a note saying he couldn't find it, and I spent a goodly part of the morning looking for it. I couldn't find it either. However, what I did find was a little strange. I looked in the tatami room, just across from the toilet room and it seemed that the room was cold and the curtains were moving just a tad. I went over and discovered that when F had put his fishing cooler on the balcony, he hadn't closed the door afterwards. He hadn't even drawn the screen across the door. Who knows what kind of bugs are in that room now? Ack.
I did a little bit more cataloguing of my school's books, but I'd forgotten the big bag of books at my school on Saturday, so I wasn't able to do too many. I got a few done though.
F called to say he was coming home and I made one more search of the toilet room. This time, I found the pin! Eureka. I hung up the calendar.
We had an okay and late dinner at Kintaro sushi as hubby was tired and didn't feel like cooking tonight. (He was going to do the fish.) It was okay. It was at the end of the night for the restaurant, so they didn't have all of the fish I wanted, but they had enough. We came home afterwards.
F watched a bunch-o-crap for an hour or so tonight, but did turn off the telly when he had his bath. When he came back I announced that I was going to watch TV from 11:00 pm on. Hah. And I did. I know he doesn't mind Grey's Anatomy as he quite likes Sandra Oh.
And that was about that. He shuffled off to bed around midnight, and I watched Private Practice after Grey's, so I got my English tv fix for the night.
Tomorrow afternoon I'm back to work. I have two classes and I hope that they'll go well. I'm going to do Halloween stuff in one of them. The other, probably not! Wish me luck...Night!
I got up at my usual time this morning and actually saw a few minutes of some US news, so was able to stay up and didn't collapse in a heap when baseball started at 9:10 ish. Of course, when I looked at the clock, it still said 8:40! It stopped this morning, round about the time I got up. Weird. I replaced the battery and then gave it a good old cleaning. It needed it.
I had a lazy morning in. I read the Sunday and Monday papers, which was a nice treat. I also was surprised to see Tsuruoka in the listings for things to do. Apparently the Okuribito bath-house is allowing people to come in and see the place where the movie was made. Eventually, the building will be moved to the local movie museum grounds. A surprising number of films are made in Shonai and area.
I really lazed around the house today. I had planned to go out, but there wasn't any let up in the bad weather, so I stayed home. I did spend a lot of time searching for a push-pin. This morning F had knocked down the calendar in the toilet room, and lost the pin. He left me a note saying he couldn't find it, and I spent a goodly part of the morning looking for it. I couldn't find it either. However, what I did find was a little strange. I looked in the tatami room, just across from the toilet room and it seemed that the room was cold and the curtains were moving just a tad. I went over and discovered that when F had put his fishing cooler on the balcony, he hadn't closed the door afterwards. He hadn't even drawn the screen across the door. Who knows what kind of bugs are in that room now? Ack.
I did a little bit more cataloguing of my school's books, but I'd forgotten the big bag of books at my school on Saturday, so I wasn't able to do too many. I got a few done though.
F called to say he was coming home and I made one more search of the toilet room. This time, I found the pin! Eureka. I hung up the calendar.
We had an okay and late dinner at Kintaro sushi as hubby was tired and didn't feel like cooking tonight. (He was going to do the fish.) It was okay. It was at the end of the night for the restaurant, so they didn't have all of the fish I wanted, but they had enough. We came home afterwards.
F watched a bunch-o-crap for an hour or so tonight, but did turn off the telly when he had his bath. When he came back I announced that I was going to watch TV from 11:00 pm on. Hah. And I did. I know he doesn't mind Grey's Anatomy as he quite likes Sandra Oh.
And that was about that. He shuffled off to bed around midnight, and I watched Private Practice after Grey's, so I got my English tv fix for the night.
Tomorrow afternoon I'm back to work. I have two classes and I hope that they'll go well. I'm going to do Halloween stuff in one of them. The other, probably not! Wish me luck...Night!
October 25, 2009 - Sunday
Warm and sunny.
I wasn't sure how today would go, but it wasn't bad at all. F got up early as always and made himself useful. He cleaned the bath (good, because he's the only one who uses it) and the room outside the bath, and also the toilet. I'm not as sure about those because I have no idea what he used to clean them, but maybe I shouldn't look gift horses in the mouth. Now if only he'd work on the living room, and clear off the coffee-table or something really useful!
He wanted to go fishing as soon as possible, so I got dressed in my disreputable clothes and we went out. When we were putting things in the car, I noticed that there was a large branch just hanging in the tree above our parking space. It looked like someone had thrown it up there and left it. It wasn't attached to the tree at all. I pointed it out to F and instead of ignoring it like 95% of people would, he grabbed his fishing net and knocked it safely to the ground. My hero! No-really. I know it sounds silly, but we do get some big windstorms and it might have either hit someone or damaged a vehicle. If not ours, then one of our neighbours' cars.
We drove off to Yura today and found a place in the port. It was a nice day and a good one for fishing. We didn't catch anything for ages. I caught the first fish, a little sardine. We threw it back because it was too small. I ended up catching 3 decent-sized aji, and F caught 2 maberu and 3 or 4 aji. So, it wasn't a bad day out. Mind you, we spent a long time at the port. It started to get quite dark after a while and even under the street lights we couldn't see well.
We came home, F cleaned the fish (YAY) and then we went out for dinner. We were going to go for pasta, but changed our minds and went for tonkatsu instead. We had a really nice meal and then went to the grocery store.
We came home and that's when it went downhill again. Despite my telling my husband that I wanted to watch one of the programmes that he channel surfed by, he insisted on putting on some stupid kickboxing/fighting thing. So, I spent a second evening in a row listening to things on my computer. Tonight I listened to a bunch of Canadian podcasts, so it wasn't wasted time at least.
Anyway, it's late and I'm tired now. I hope that tomorrow will be good. I'm hoping to go out shopping. Wish me luck! Night.
I wasn't sure how today would go, but it wasn't bad at all. F got up early as always and made himself useful. He cleaned the bath (good, because he's the only one who uses it) and the room outside the bath, and also the toilet. I'm not as sure about those because I have no idea what he used to clean them, but maybe I shouldn't look gift horses in the mouth. Now if only he'd work on the living room, and clear off the coffee-table or something really useful!
He wanted to go fishing as soon as possible, so I got dressed in my disreputable clothes and we went out. When we were putting things in the car, I noticed that there was a large branch just hanging in the tree above our parking space. It looked like someone had thrown it up there and left it. It wasn't attached to the tree at all. I pointed it out to F and instead of ignoring it like 95% of people would, he grabbed his fishing net and knocked it safely to the ground. My hero! No-really. I know it sounds silly, but we do get some big windstorms and it might have either hit someone or damaged a vehicle. If not ours, then one of our neighbours' cars.
We drove off to Yura today and found a place in the port. It was a nice day and a good one for fishing. We didn't catch anything for ages. I caught the first fish, a little sardine. We threw it back because it was too small. I ended up catching 3 decent-sized aji, and F caught 2 maberu and 3 or 4 aji. So, it wasn't a bad day out. Mind you, we spent a long time at the port. It started to get quite dark after a while and even under the street lights we couldn't see well.
We came home, F cleaned the fish (YAY) and then we went out for dinner. We were going to go for pasta, but changed our minds and went for tonkatsu instead. We had a really nice meal and then went to the grocery store.
We came home and that's when it went downhill again. Despite my telling my husband that I wanted to watch one of the programmes that he channel surfed by, he insisted on putting on some stupid kickboxing/fighting thing. So, I spent a second evening in a row listening to things on my computer. Tonight I listened to a bunch of Canadian podcasts, so it wasn't wasted time at least.
Anyway, it's late and I'm tired now. I hope that tomorrow will be good. I'm hoping to go out shopping. Wish me luck! Night.
October 24, 2009 - Saturday
A little cloudy and quite cool.
Today was okay. I woke up, got up and watched the news. Hurray, it was finally on. F went off to have a massage this morning while I took my shower and just generally got ready to go to work.
We went out for lunch to the Grand Elsun. We had chicken for lunch, with carrot and paprika soup. Very very yummy. After lunch, I asked F to drop me off at my school. He did and I got busy.
I was early, so I took stock of what I had to do. I decided to wait until after my class to do my bookkeeping, and before class checked my class and did some cleaning.
Class was interesting today. I went off text a lot (too much?) trying to show a student that an English-English dictionary is better for her than a Japanese-English one. Not sure if I succeeded or not!
After she left, I locked the door, made myself a cup of tea and got stuck in with my bookkeeping. I did very well and brought everything right up to date. I think my hubby is going to need my numbers soon for his office. Sigh. I hate, hate, hate, having to give other people my numbers.
A little later, I changed and then called my hubby. Tonight we had an okay dinner of nabe at a Japanese restaurant. I really liked mine, F not so much. Then again, he's darn picky.
We went to the grocery store nearby for another spaghetti squash and some milk. F is an odd sort in the grocery store. He rarely has a plan when he goes to one, he just wanders blindly until I get fed up and drag him out of the store!
We came home, where I asked if we could watch a movie together or something, but F wanted to watch news. Fair enough, but he never seems to realize that something that starts off as news on J-TV, soon ends up as some stupid tarento discussion. So, I put on my headphones while he watched the news. After a while it was obvious that the news was over. He started changing the channel but at no point did he actually tell me that the news was over. Grr.
Around midnight he went to bed. I was a little angry with him, and said so. Then when I got up to have some coffee I realized that my tape that I was taping MY shows with had run out and had ejected. Great. He couldn't have told me? He must have seen or heard it. So, I missed the last 10 to 15 minutes of Cold Case. Ack.
I don't want to have a repeat of a couple of weeks ago so I'm going to try to be pleasant tomorrow. It might be a stretch though. His only plan for the day is to go fishing. Of course, I HAVE to go. Sometimes it is fun, but usually it isn't. I end up smelling like bait, am too cold and have to pee!
Anyway, I need to get some sleep. If I'm not up at a reasonable-ish time tomorrow I'll never hear the end of it. My husband sure knows how to ruin my weekend.
Later.
Today was okay. I woke up, got up and watched the news. Hurray, it was finally on. F went off to have a massage this morning while I took my shower and just generally got ready to go to work.
We went out for lunch to the Grand Elsun. We had chicken for lunch, with carrot and paprika soup. Very very yummy. After lunch, I asked F to drop me off at my school. He did and I got busy.
I was early, so I took stock of what I had to do. I decided to wait until after my class to do my bookkeeping, and before class checked my class and did some cleaning.
Class was interesting today. I went off text a lot (too much?) trying to show a student that an English-English dictionary is better for her than a Japanese-English one. Not sure if I succeeded or not!
After she left, I locked the door, made myself a cup of tea and got stuck in with my bookkeeping. I did very well and brought everything right up to date. I think my hubby is going to need my numbers soon for his office. Sigh. I hate, hate, hate, having to give other people my numbers.
A little later, I changed and then called my hubby. Tonight we had an okay dinner of nabe at a Japanese restaurant. I really liked mine, F not so much. Then again, he's darn picky.
We went to the grocery store nearby for another spaghetti squash and some milk. F is an odd sort in the grocery store. He rarely has a plan when he goes to one, he just wanders blindly until I get fed up and drag him out of the store!
We came home, where I asked if we could watch a movie together or something, but F wanted to watch news. Fair enough, but he never seems to realize that something that starts off as news on J-TV, soon ends up as some stupid tarento discussion. So, I put on my headphones while he watched the news. After a while it was obvious that the news was over. He started changing the channel but at no point did he actually tell me that the news was over. Grr.
Around midnight he went to bed. I was a little angry with him, and said so. Then when I got up to have some coffee I realized that my tape that I was taping MY shows with had run out and had ejected. Great. He couldn't have told me? He must have seen or heard it. So, I missed the last 10 to 15 minutes of Cold Case. Ack.
I don't want to have a repeat of a couple of weeks ago so I'm going to try to be pleasant tomorrow. It might be a stretch though. His only plan for the day is to go fishing. Of course, I HAVE to go. Sometimes it is fun, but usually it isn't. I end up smelling like bait, am too cold and have to pee!
Anyway, I need to get some sleep. If I'm not up at a reasonable-ish time tomorrow I'll never hear the end of it. My husband sure knows how to ruin my weekend.
Later.
October 23, 2009 - Friday
Sunny and warmish.
I had a good day today. I wasn't sure at the beginning though. I really didn't want to get up this morning. It was only the fact that I had a 3 pm class that made me get out of bed at all! I think the apartment was cold and I was warm in bed. There wasn't any news on, and there weren't any interesting programmes on either so I did all the showering/dressing stuff early.
I had a pleasant enough time at home, and around 2 I left for my school. I bumped into an ex-ex-student, from a long time ago and said hi. At my school I did the set up and changed.
When my student came we chatted for a bit and then got on with the lesson. She hadn't been able to come last week for personal reasons but hadn't been able to study either. That meant two weeks without English. Oh dear. At the end of class I tried to impress upon her the necessity of studying, even just for 5 minutes a day. In fact, I suggested that she read over her notes before she goes to bed. I think 5 minutes that she really does is better than 2 hours of hard slogging that she resents.
I read the paper, had a coffee at the school and then decided to take myself home. It was dark out and I was in dark clothing, so I wore a couple of reflecting bands on my clothes. I used one on my ankle to keep my pants our of the chain. I made good time and surprised my husband who was already at home, eating --what else? Ramen.
We chatted for a while and then discussed what to do for dinner. He suggested some really great places, but I didn't feel my clothing was good enough, so I changed. We tried to go to the Grande Elson, but it was really packed there. They had someone in the parking lot directing traffic, so we changed our minds and went to Hyakkenbori instead.
Hyakkenbori is a Japanese restaurant attached to one of the universities in Tsuruoka. They tend to use local food and cook it in interesting ways. It's very Japanese, but not in a stuffy way. I usually enjoy what we have there. Tonight was no exception. We had a seasonal dish with 9 mini appetizers. We had things from a piece of sushi in a ball, to a cabbage roll, to a few things that I couldn't identify! We also had sashimi, a vegetable stew, and fish tempura with rice and soup. Almost everything was good. There was some bean thing that I didn't really like, but overall, yum. The fish was cooked with the bones intact, which made it a bit troublesome for me. Supposedly it's the kind of dish that you can eat the bones, but I couldn't always. The texture of the bones didn't do anything for me. For dessert we had a mixture of matcha and sweet potato pureed with local fruit on the side. Even though I'm not a matcha fan, I thought it was a nice way to end the meal.
We came home after our meal and F made coffee. I had sort of "booked" the TV tonight. WOWOW had a movie on that Roger Ebert praised and I wanted to see. I watched it, F tried, but nodded off a little here and there. The film was Things We Lost in the Fire with Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro. I liked it, but there were a few times when I lost the thread. Worth watching, and quite different than expected.
And that's about that for my day. It was much better than most Fridays. Tomorrow I have one class again, but may stay at my school to do a bit of work. Depends if hubby needs me for something or not! Night.
I had a good day today. I wasn't sure at the beginning though. I really didn't want to get up this morning. It was only the fact that I had a 3 pm class that made me get out of bed at all! I think the apartment was cold and I was warm in bed. There wasn't any news on, and there weren't any interesting programmes on either so I did all the showering/dressing stuff early.
I had a pleasant enough time at home, and around 2 I left for my school. I bumped into an ex-ex-student, from a long time ago and said hi. At my school I did the set up and changed.
When my student came we chatted for a bit and then got on with the lesson. She hadn't been able to come last week for personal reasons but hadn't been able to study either. That meant two weeks without English. Oh dear. At the end of class I tried to impress upon her the necessity of studying, even just for 5 minutes a day. In fact, I suggested that she read over her notes before she goes to bed. I think 5 minutes that she really does is better than 2 hours of hard slogging that she resents.
I read the paper, had a coffee at the school and then decided to take myself home. It was dark out and I was in dark clothing, so I wore a couple of reflecting bands on my clothes. I used one on my ankle to keep my pants our of the chain. I made good time and surprised my husband who was already at home, eating --what else? Ramen.
We chatted for a while and then discussed what to do for dinner. He suggested some really great places, but I didn't feel my clothing was good enough, so I changed. We tried to go to the Grande Elson, but it was really packed there. They had someone in the parking lot directing traffic, so we changed our minds and went to Hyakkenbori instead.
Hyakkenbori is a Japanese restaurant attached to one of the universities in Tsuruoka. They tend to use local food and cook it in interesting ways. It's very Japanese, but not in a stuffy way. I usually enjoy what we have there. Tonight was no exception. We had a seasonal dish with 9 mini appetizers. We had things from a piece of sushi in a ball, to a cabbage roll, to a few things that I couldn't identify! We also had sashimi, a vegetable stew, and fish tempura with rice and soup. Almost everything was good. There was some bean thing that I didn't really like, but overall, yum. The fish was cooked with the bones intact, which made it a bit troublesome for me. Supposedly it's the kind of dish that you can eat the bones, but I couldn't always. The texture of the bones didn't do anything for me. For dessert we had a mixture of matcha and sweet potato pureed with local fruit on the side. Even though I'm not a matcha fan, I thought it was a nice way to end the meal.
We came home after our meal and F made coffee. I had sort of "booked" the TV tonight. WOWOW had a movie on that Roger Ebert praised and I wanted to see. I watched it, F tried, but nodded off a little here and there. The film was Things We Lost in the Fire with Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro. I liked it, but there were a few times when I lost the thread. Worth watching, and quite different than expected.
And that's about that for my day. It was much better than most Fridays. Tomorrow I have one class again, but may stay at my school to do a bit of work. Depends if hubby needs me for something or not! Night.
October 22, 2009 - Thursday
Clear and sunny.
I got up this morning and of course, there wasn't any news on. But, there was a great British drama instead, the first part of State of Play. I saw the movie this year, after watching the miniseries, and even though it starred Russell Crowe (my favourite actor) it wasn't a patch on the original series. I've already written the next episode on the calendar so I won't forget.
I had a late shower. I was just going to jump in when I got a call from hubby checking some translations. I talked to him for a little, but finally cleaned up my act.
I had a quiet afternoon. I've been working on making a database of my school's reading books. I'm at the point now where I have so many novels for learners that I might accidentally buy a duplicate. If I can print out a list I hopefully won't do that.
I went off to school around 4, made good time, and then got to work. I prepped the school for my first student and she called a few minutes before the class started to cancel. Sigh. During her time, I worked on my column for my woman's group. It was going great guns when I had to stop for my other class.
The girls came, a little late, but their mother called so I didn't worry. They did really well today. I think they are working quite hard and today it seemed like the younger one did a lot better than the older one.
After my clean-up I called F and he came to get me. We mailed off a letter and then went home. I had left hubby a box of macaroni gratin to make for us for dinner. He very carefully went to the store to get some onion for the mix, and didn't think about any of the other ingredients or what we'd eat with the macaroni! ARGH. My plans to have a salad were dashed. Still, I opened a bag of string beans that were in the freezer and I stirfried them with a little bit of red wine vinegar, ham and a dash of dill. They were quite delish! The gratin was a bit runny, but otherwise good, and the beans were nice, so we had a nice meal at home for a change. As F did the bulk of the cooking, I did the dishes and then we had a quiet evening in.
I watched ER and F snoozed on the couch. I was disappointed that he did that as he likes ER, but I did tape the show so he can re-watch it if he likes.
That's it for me. Tomorrow I have one afternoon class, but I might stay at the school and do some writing afterwards. It depends how it goes. I'll talk at you tomorrow night, most likely. Night!
Edited the next day due to over-exclamationitis....things that amuse me at 2 am annoy me at 11 am.
I got up this morning and of course, there wasn't any news on. But, there was a great British drama instead, the first part of State of Play. I saw the movie this year, after watching the miniseries, and even though it starred Russell Crowe (my favourite actor) it wasn't a patch on the original series. I've already written the next episode on the calendar so I won't forget.
I had a late shower. I was just going to jump in when I got a call from hubby checking some translations. I talked to him for a little, but finally cleaned up my act.
I had a quiet afternoon. I've been working on making a database of my school's reading books. I'm at the point now where I have so many novels for learners that I might accidentally buy a duplicate. If I can print out a list I hopefully won't do that.
I went off to school around 4, made good time, and then got to work. I prepped the school for my first student and she called a few minutes before the class started to cancel. Sigh. During her time, I worked on my column for my woman's group. It was going great guns when I had to stop for my other class.
The girls came, a little late, but their mother called so I didn't worry. They did really well today. I think they are working quite hard and today it seemed like the younger one did a lot better than the older one.
After my clean-up I called F and he came to get me. We mailed off a letter and then went home. I had left hubby a box of macaroni gratin to make for us for dinner. He very carefully went to the store to get some onion for the mix, and didn't think about any of the other ingredients or what we'd eat with the macaroni! ARGH. My plans to have a salad were dashed. Still, I opened a bag of string beans that were in the freezer and I stirfried them with a little bit of red wine vinegar, ham and a dash of dill. They were quite delish! The gratin was a bit runny, but otherwise good, and the beans were nice, so we had a nice meal at home for a change. As F did the bulk of the cooking, I did the dishes and then we had a quiet evening in.
I watched ER and F snoozed on the couch. I was disappointed that he did that as he likes ER, but I did tape the show so he can re-watch it if he likes.
That's it for me. Tomorrow I have one afternoon class, but I might stay at the school and do some writing afterwards. It depends how it goes. I'll talk at you tomorrow night, most likely. Night!
Edited the next day due to over-exclamationitis....things that amuse me at 2 am annoy me at 11 am.
October 21, 2009 - Wednesday
Sunny with lots of rain at night.
I had an okay day today. I got up and watched Hotel Babylon as the news wasn't on. "Will no one rid me of this cursed baseball?" I'd just like to ask.
Around the apartment today I did my laundry and then ran a bookmooch to the post office. I'd received a request earlier in the week, but hadn't been able to get out until now. After visiting the post office I visited the convenience store to get a quick bite to eat.
I left for work today around 4, but I didn't go straight to work. I stopped off at the ATM, then at the craft store. Unusually, I knew what I wanted to get and I just picked it up. I bought a basket for my school. Lately the cards that I use with students have become a messy pile, so I decided to get a basket that I can put them in. I also hit the drugstore on the way to the school for a couple of nice beverages for me.
At the school today, I prepped props for one of tomorrow's classes and then I read the newspaper. When the student came, we had a remarkably good class. He was tired, but seemed to handle himself better than he does on Fridays.
After my class I finished prepping and doing paperwork, then called my husband. He'd just come home, so instead of cooking our dinner for us, took us out to dinner. We went to New York New York, which was only okay. I find it a bit boring really. It is cheap, but the menu doesn't change and it is a really no frills restaurant.
We came home and I finally got F to translate a letter for me that I've been after him to do for 2 weeks. Argh! We watched American Idol reruns at the same time, so I didn't do any crochet, I tried to work on a database. I've never done a database before, so it was a little difficult. I think I may have an idea what I'm doing now, but I'm not a hundred percent sure!
That's about it really. Tomorrow I should have two classes in the evening. Hopefully my day will be good. Later!
I had an okay day today. I got up and watched Hotel Babylon as the news wasn't on. "Will no one rid me of this cursed baseball?" I'd just like to ask.
Around the apartment today I did my laundry and then ran a bookmooch to the post office. I'd received a request earlier in the week, but hadn't been able to get out until now. After visiting the post office I visited the convenience store to get a quick bite to eat.
I left for work today around 4, but I didn't go straight to work. I stopped off at the ATM, then at the craft store. Unusually, I knew what I wanted to get and I just picked it up. I bought a basket for my school. Lately the cards that I use with students have become a messy pile, so I decided to get a basket that I can put them in. I also hit the drugstore on the way to the school for a couple of nice beverages for me.
At the school today, I prepped props for one of tomorrow's classes and then I read the newspaper. When the student came, we had a remarkably good class. He was tired, but seemed to handle himself better than he does on Fridays.
After my class I finished prepping and doing paperwork, then called my husband. He'd just come home, so instead of cooking our dinner for us, took us out to dinner. We went to New York New York, which was only okay. I find it a bit boring really. It is cheap, but the menu doesn't change and it is a really no frills restaurant.
We came home and I finally got F to translate a letter for me that I've been after him to do for 2 weeks. Argh! We watched American Idol reruns at the same time, so I didn't do any crochet, I tried to work on a database. I've never done a database before, so it was a little difficult. I think I may have an idea what I'm doing now, but I'm not a hundred percent sure!
That's about it really. Tomorrow I should have two classes in the evening. Hopefully my day will be good. Later!
Spaghetti Squash in the Microwave
Take one basic spaghetti squash. This is a fairly small one. It fitted nicely in my microwave.
Unsuspecting spaghetti squash
Stab it three to four times (or more if you're so inclined) with a sharp knife.
Sing Hotel California under your breath
Roleplay the Sword in the Stone removing said knife from squash.
Cook Spaghetti Squash on high in microwave.
This picture is after 10 minutes. The top has already softened and the slit is visible. (My microwave is 500 Watts) Turn squash over, use an oven mitt as it is hot in places.
I'll say it, I really need to clean the inside of my oven.
Take Spaghetti Squash out of oven. After 25 minutes total on high, the squash was soft all over. The skin has a lot of "give". Again, it's hot, so be careful. (Your squash time may vary due to microwave power or size of squash.)
If you look closely, you can see where I'm pushing the skin of the squash...it is indented.
Cut open squash, using a long sharp knife.
At this point, I don't think the squash cares if the knife is long or sharp.
Be careful. The steam inside can burn you.
Peeking inside the squash.
Half of the cooked spaghetti squash. Note the seeds on the top.
Remove seeds Using a spoon (or your favourite implement) remove as many of the seeds as you can. Leave as much of the squash as you can. 
I've read that some people roast the seeds and eat them, but as I've never done it, try it at your own risk!
Using a fork, loosen the threadlike strands of squash. Remove them to a bowl or plate. 
Close up on strands
The sea anemone lurks in the bottom of the ocean--Err sorry, lost my train of thought.Can you see the similarity to spaghetti?
Serve and enjoy 
This one spaghetti squash yielded about one ramen bowl's worth of yummy veggie goodness. Feel free to add your own favourite pasta sauce, either in the bowl or on individual plates. Tonight we used tuna-mayonnaise sauce with a few flakes of nori on top.
Devour.
**Edited to add--according to a friend of mine, it is called ito-kabocha in Japanese. (Thread-pumpkin) She said that she thought it wasn't grown anymore.
The directions in the store said to cut it in thirds and then boil it....honestly, cutting these veggies is difficult. When I stabbed mine, it was hard to get the knife out, so think cutting is too difficult! Microwaving is much much easier.
Stab it three to four times (or more if you're so inclined) with a sharp knife.
Cook Spaghetti Squash on high in microwave.
This picture is after 10 minutes. The top has already softened and the slit is visible. (My microwave is 500 Watts) Turn squash over, use an oven mitt as it is hot in places.
I'll say it, I really need to clean the inside of my oven.
If you look closely, you can see where I'm pushing the skin of the squash...it is indented. Cut open squash, using a long sharp knife.
At this point, I don't think the squash cares if the knife is long or sharp.
Be careful. The steam inside can burn you. Peeking inside the squash.
Half of the cooked spaghetti squash. Note the seeds on the top.
I've read that some people roast the seeds and eat them, but as I've never done it, try it at your own risk!
Close up on strands
The sea anemone lurks in the bottom of the ocean--Err sorry, lost my train of thought.Can you see the similarity to spaghetti?
This one spaghetti squash yielded about one ramen bowl's worth of yummy veggie goodness. Feel free to add your own favourite pasta sauce, either in the bowl or on individual plates. Tonight we used tuna-mayonnaise sauce with a few flakes of nori on top. Devour.
**Edited to add--according to a friend of mine, it is called ito-kabocha in Japanese. (Thread-pumpkin) She said that she thought it wasn't grown anymore.
The directions in the store said to cut it in thirds and then boil it....honestly, cutting these veggies is difficult. When I stabbed mine, it was hard to get the knife out, so think cutting is too difficult! Microwaving is much much easier.
October 19, 2009 - Monday
Rainy and cloudy, rain again at night.
All day yesterday my nose was running, and so when I went to bed I couldn't sleep at first. I decided to get up and take some cold medicine. Well, I slept after that. I overslept and stayed in bed much later than I expected. Luckily I didn't have any plans for today.
I got up, drank coffee, showered and even vacuumed the apartment so at least I did something. I didn't eat however. I'm not really sure why. I meant to, and there was food in the house, I just didn't put it on my list of things to do.
When F came home at night we went for dinner. We were going to go to a Japanese place, but it was closed. Instead we ended up at Cocos for an okay meal. Nothing too exciting. Following that, we went over to the grocery store near Cocos to buy dinner for tomorrow night.
We came home and had a quiet evening at home. I watched Grey's Anatomy and then Private Practice afterwards. They were okay shows.
Anyway, tomorrow I'm back to work. I have either 2 or 3 classes. I'm not sure about the last student, if she's coming or not. I guess I'll find out tomorrow! Got to go. Night.
All day yesterday my nose was running, and so when I went to bed I couldn't sleep at first. I decided to get up and take some cold medicine. Well, I slept after that. I overslept and stayed in bed much later than I expected. Luckily I didn't have any plans for today.
I got up, drank coffee, showered and even vacuumed the apartment so at least I did something. I didn't eat however. I'm not really sure why. I meant to, and there was food in the house, I just didn't put it on my list of things to do.
When F came home at night we went for dinner. We were going to go to a Japanese place, but it was closed. Instead we ended up at Cocos for an okay meal. Nothing too exciting. Following that, we went over to the grocery store near Cocos to buy dinner for tomorrow night.
We came home and had a quiet evening at home. I watched Grey's Anatomy and then Private Practice afterwards. They were okay shows.
Anyway, tomorrow I'm back to work. I have either 2 or 3 classes. I'm not sure about the last student, if she's coming or not. I guess I'll find out tomorrow! Got to go. Night.
October 18, 2009 - Sunday
Rainy or cloudy all day.
Kind of a good day today. I didn't get up early in F's books, but in mine, I did okay. I was up around 11 which is a bit earlier than usual. He visited his mother in the morning and then we went out. We drove to Sakata.
We had sushi in Kappasushi and it was okay. It wasn't great, but not bad either. They tend to do a bit more unusual sushi than our normal place in Tsuruoka. For example, today I had hamburger sushi, and tempura shrimp sushi. Not the normal kind of thing. It was lunch time so it was a bit crowded, but we didn't have to wait too long to get in.
After lunch we went shopping. We drove to La Casa, a kitchen goods store. Actually though, today I bought stuff for me for the bathroom. They have gorgeous French soap, so I got some for winter. We hit up Hard Off as well and F bought us the 2nd season of Tru Calling. Yay. I'm looking forward to see it.
We did a little more shopping in the area, got a Christmas present for my sister's family, then we had a drink in McDonalds. While we were there, I took a picture of this slightly odd thing. I think it must save them from storing it. I wonder if I came back for Valentine's day if it would be redecorated!
Merry Halloween!
The next thing my hubby and I did was to find an Indian restaurant. I'd read about it in a local restaurant magazine and I love Indian food, sooooo.... We found it after a few misturns. We were the only people there at first, and there were four men working in the kitchen. Anyway, we had a set meal and it was really good. We each had 2 curries, naan, tandori chicken and shish kebab, salad, and a bit of rice, plus a drink afterwards. We got to have seconds on the naan too, so that was a bonus. I forgot that I wasn't supposed to use my left hand while I was eating there, but F reminded me. I enjoyed it a lot. I also didn't know if I should talk to the staff in English or in Japanese. I hate it when people assume that I can't speak any Japanese, so decided to use mostly Japanese to the staff.
We came back towards Tsuruoka then, but stopped around the mall for a couple of things. First up, a book of nengajo designs for our cards and my Christmas cards for students, then to the mall to check out Uniqlo again. They didn't have what I wanted, but I got something for someone else, and made F buy himself some socks. Over the last couple of days, I've noticed that some of his socks have built in airconditioning, and they look awful.
We went to the grocery store in Tsuruoka to send F's friend some persimmons. Shonai persimmons are famous. Apparently, they're soaked in alcohol to make them sweeter. I'm not sure how it works, but they are good.
We came home then, and had a quiet, relaxing night in. We'd been out most of the day, so it was a good thing.
Tomorrow I'm off work. Not sure what I'll do with myself, but hopefully I'll enjoy it. Got to go. Night!
Kind of a good day today. I didn't get up early in F's books, but in mine, I did okay. I was up around 11 which is a bit earlier than usual. He visited his mother in the morning and then we went out. We drove to Sakata.
We had sushi in Kappasushi and it was okay. It wasn't great, but not bad either. They tend to do a bit more unusual sushi than our normal place in Tsuruoka. For example, today I had hamburger sushi, and tempura shrimp sushi. Not the normal kind of thing. It was lunch time so it was a bit crowded, but we didn't have to wait too long to get in.
After lunch we went shopping. We drove to La Casa, a kitchen goods store. Actually though, today I bought stuff for me for the bathroom. They have gorgeous French soap, so I got some for winter. We hit up Hard Off as well and F bought us the 2nd season of Tru Calling. Yay. I'm looking forward to see it.
We did a little more shopping in the area, got a Christmas present for my sister's family, then we had a drink in McDonalds. While we were there, I took a picture of this slightly odd thing. I think it must save them from storing it. I wonder if I came back for Valentine's day if it would be redecorated!
Merry Halloween!
The next thing my hubby and I did was to find an Indian restaurant. I'd read about it in a local restaurant magazine and I love Indian food, sooooo.... We found it after a few misturns. We were the only people there at first, and there were four men working in the kitchen. Anyway, we had a set meal and it was really good. We each had 2 curries, naan, tandori chicken and shish kebab, salad, and a bit of rice, plus a drink afterwards. We got to have seconds on the naan too, so that was a bonus. I forgot that I wasn't supposed to use my left hand while I was eating there, but F reminded me. I enjoyed it a lot. I also didn't know if I should talk to the staff in English or in Japanese. I hate it when people assume that I can't speak any Japanese, so decided to use mostly Japanese to the staff.
We came back towards Tsuruoka then, but stopped around the mall for a couple of things. First up, a book of nengajo designs for our cards and my Christmas cards for students, then to the mall to check out Uniqlo again. They didn't have what I wanted, but I got something for someone else, and made F buy himself some socks. Over the last couple of days, I've noticed that some of his socks have built in airconditioning, and they look awful.
We went to the grocery store in Tsuruoka to send F's friend some persimmons. Shonai persimmons are famous. Apparently, they're soaked in alcohol to make them sweeter. I'm not sure how it works, but they are good.
We came home then, and had a quiet, relaxing night in. We'd been out most of the day, so it was a good thing.
Tomorrow I'm off work. Not sure what I'll do with myself, but hopefully I'll enjoy it. Got to go. Night!
October 17, 2009 - Saturday
Sunny and warm all day, surprising rain storm at night.
Today was a good day. I got up this morning, made my bed and showered. I could have a bit of a lazy morning so F made us some coffee and fed me persimmons. Yum.
We had breakfast in a restaurant near city hall and then went for coffee to the International Center. Finally, just before 2 pm, I was dropped off at my school.
I had a good day at school. My classes went quite well and I was able to read most of the newspapers I had hoped to read. Yay. I called F around 8 and he came to get me.
We decided on a restaurant and were on the way there, when I suggested a closer place, our okonomiyaki place. We went there for a quick and cheap dinner. It was good. We had my fave, curry cheese and also a shrimp one. We left a little after 9 pm.
We came home and after a few minutes I decided I was going to do some baking. I still had two gorgeous apples that were actually delicious, plus some soon-to-expire pastry in the freezer. I made a kind of apple filling from the apples, sugar, some butter, lemon juice, and a few frozen strawberries that I had in the freezer. I didn't put in a lot of sugar and the strawberries were quite tart, so it was really nice. In fact, it almost could have been apple and rhubarb pie. I threw the ingredients in the frypan and cooked them, then got the pastry ready. I put everything together but had oodles of pie filling left, so we had that separately. I asked hubby to make coffee and when everything was done, we had apple-strawberry pie with coffee. Yummy! We were watching Danny the Dog at the same time. One of my silly violent movies.
My lovely pies
After 1 I watched House and enjoyed it. After that, I turned the telly over to F who is now watching F1 racing. It's not my favourite, but it isn't as annoying as some of his sports.
That was my day. It really was quite good. I'm off to bed now. Good night everyone!
Today was a good day. I got up this morning, made my bed and showered. I could have a bit of a lazy morning so F made us some coffee and fed me persimmons. Yum.
We had breakfast in a restaurant near city hall and then went for coffee to the International Center. Finally, just before 2 pm, I was dropped off at my school.
I had a good day at school. My classes went quite well and I was able to read most of the newspapers I had hoped to read. Yay. I called F around 8 and he came to get me.
We decided on a restaurant and were on the way there, when I suggested a closer place, our okonomiyaki place. We went there for a quick and cheap dinner. It was good. We had my fave, curry cheese and also a shrimp one. We left a little after 9 pm.
We came home and after a few minutes I decided I was going to do some baking. I still had two gorgeous apples that were actually delicious, plus some soon-to-expire pastry in the freezer. I made a kind of apple filling from the apples, sugar, some butter, lemon juice, and a few frozen strawberries that I had in the freezer. I didn't put in a lot of sugar and the strawberries were quite tart, so it was really nice. In fact, it almost could have been apple and rhubarb pie. I threw the ingredients in the frypan and cooked them, then got the pastry ready. I put everything together but had oodles of pie filling left, so we had that separately. I asked hubby to make coffee and when everything was done, we had apple-strawberry pie with coffee. Yummy! We were watching Danny the Dog at the same time. One of my silly violent movies.
My lovely pies
After 1 I watched House and enjoyed it. After that, I turned the telly over to F who is now watching F1 racing. It's not my favourite, but it isn't as annoying as some of his sports.
That was my day. It really was quite good. I'm off to bed now. Good night everyone!
October 16, 2009 - Friday
Sunny but cool.
Today I got up at my usual time and discovered that there wasn't any news on. I was tired, so guess what? I went back to bed and slept for a couple more hours. It was supposed to be for 45 minutes, but I overslept! Oops.
In the afternoon, I didn't do a whole lot. F called to say he was coming home for a bit. He had a Union meeting he had to go to today so he had taken time off for it. He did a little grocery shopping while I got dressed in a hurry!
After he left again, I debated with myself about going to get a haircut, but talked myself out of it. Then, he came home a little after 5 pm.
I was watching The X-Files movie, and when it was over, I asked him to take me shopping. We went to the Uniqlo in Tsuruoka, then to the drugstore. We got some nice stuff. Yay!
F took us to dinner tonight. He wanted yakiniku, so we went across town to a place there. It was good, but I managed to spill their sauce all over the table and the waitress (who was there at the time) didn't even bring me a cloth, or ask if I would like one. Sigh.
We went to Yamaya after dinner and I picked up some Halloween goodies for my students. It's a little complicated for me because I have a student with an egg allergy. It's surprising how much candy has egg in it.
We came home after buying our goodies and watched Blindness. I had heard that it was strange and it was. I didn't like it very much. F went to bed on it, and I think he was wise. I'm now watching Stargate, the original movie. It's so cool to see James Spader again, when he was cute and adorable.
Anyway, tomorrow I'm back to work. I have two classes tomorrow afternoon, and I hope that they go well.
I'll try and catch up with you all tomorrow night. Bye for now!
Today I got up at my usual time and discovered that there wasn't any news on. I was tired, so guess what? I went back to bed and slept for a couple more hours. It was supposed to be for 45 minutes, but I overslept! Oops.
In the afternoon, I didn't do a whole lot. F called to say he was coming home for a bit. He had a Union meeting he had to go to today so he had taken time off for it. He did a little grocery shopping while I got dressed in a hurry!
After he left again, I debated with myself about going to get a haircut, but talked myself out of it. Then, he came home a little after 5 pm.
I was watching The X-Files movie, and when it was over, I asked him to take me shopping. We went to the Uniqlo in Tsuruoka, then to the drugstore. We got some nice stuff. Yay!
F took us to dinner tonight. He wanted yakiniku, so we went across town to a place there. It was good, but I managed to spill their sauce all over the table and the waitress (who was there at the time) didn't even bring me a cloth, or ask if I would like one. Sigh.
We went to Yamaya after dinner and I picked up some Halloween goodies for my students. It's a little complicated for me because I have a student with an egg allergy. It's surprising how much candy has egg in it.
We came home after buying our goodies and watched Blindness. I had heard that it was strange and it was. I didn't like it very much. F went to bed on it, and I think he was wise. I'm now watching Stargate, the original movie. It's so cool to see James Spader again, when he was cute and adorable.
Anyway, tomorrow I'm back to work. I have two classes tomorrow afternoon, and I hope that they go well.
I'll try and catch up with you all tomorrow night. Bye for now!
October 15, 2009 - Thursday
Sunny but cool.
I went to bed terribly late last night so I slept all the way through F's leaving this morning. I woke up after he left, and then went back to sleep. I got up in time to watch news. Two days of news in a row. How nice!
I had a mostly quiet day around the apartment. I watched TV, played on my computer and also did a little bit of housekeeping.
I left for the school on time and got there in one piece. The only thing was, my student didn't. She called just before her class to say that she was sick and couldn't come today. I hope she's okay. She's been travelling so may be a bit tired at the moment.
F came to get me when I called and he debated about where to go. I said that we really had to eat Monday's fish or we'd have to throw them out. He wasn't sure that we had enough for a meal in the apartment, but I was sure we did. And I was right!
Our dinner tonight was miso soup, grilled fish, French Fries, and veggies with coffee. It all turned out well and as F's back was really bad again today, I did the dishes.
We had a quiet evening watching last night's Ugly Betty and then tonight's ER. I enjoyed both shows for different reasons. F finally went to bed well after 1. I don't know why he's staying up so late. Fifteen or so minutes after he went to bed he got up and raced through to the kitchen. He pulled out the fish grill and stopped. "Oh, you washed it!" he said. Yep. I did. I am surprised that he would get out of bed to check! I think the reason is that HE never remembers to wash it when he does the dishes.
Anyway, that's about it for my evening. It was a fairly decent day. Tomorrow I don't have any classes so I might get my hair cut or I might go shopping in the big mall or...? Tune in tomorrow night and find out! Night.
I went to bed terribly late last night so I slept all the way through F's leaving this morning. I woke up after he left, and then went back to sleep. I got up in time to watch news. Two days of news in a row. How nice!
I had a mostly quiet day around the apartment. I watched TV, played on my computer and also did a little bit of housekeeping.
I left for the school on time and got there in one piece. The only thing was, my student didn't. She called just before her class to say that she was sick and couldn't come today. I hope she's okay. She's been travelling so may be a bit tired at the moment.
F came to get me when I called and he debated about where to go. I said that we really had to eat Monday's fish or we'd have to throw them out. He wasn't sure that we had enough for a meal in the apartment, but I was sure we did. And I was right!
Our dinner tonight was miso soup, grilled fish, French Fries, and veggies with coffee. It all turned out well and as F's back was really bad again today, I did the dishes.
We had a quiet evening watching last night's Ugly Betty and then tonight's ER. I enjoyed both shows for different reasons. F finally went to bed well after 1. I don't know why he's staying up so late. Fifteen or so minutes after he went to bed he got up and raced through to the kitchen. He pulled out the fish grill and stopped. "Oh, you washed it!" he said. Yep. I did. I am surprised that he would get out of bed to check! I think the reason is that HE never remembers to wash it when he does the dishes.
Anyway, that's about it for my evening. It was a fairly decent day. Tomorrow I don't have any classes so I might get my hair cut or I might go shopping in the big mall or...? Tune in tomorrow night and find out! Night.
October 14, 2009 - Wednesday
Sunny and warmish.
How did it get to be so late? I didn't think I'd be attempting to blog so late in the day.
I had a pretty good day really. I got up, watched news (yay) and then spent quality time with my computer. After that, I did usual things. I did do something different though. I went out for a few minutes to the new bakery that's opened up a little ways away. It was nice, and they had some lovely food. The only problem is that I could get myself into severe trouble if I go there very often!
I also finally sent off some books tonight after work to the person that loaned them to me. Hurray for that. I wrapped them up before work and then got F to bring them with him when he came to get me.
And work was another thing. I usually don't have a class on Wednesdays, but I do this month. The Friday student can't come this month on Fridays, so he's coming on Wednesdays. I hope it's not permanent. However, his lesson went well today. We finished up a test from the old book and started the new one. It went better than I expected.
F didn't cook tonight, so we went out for dinner. We went to Fireball where we had some lovely pasta. I'm always really impressed by their sauces. F didn't like mine as much as I did, but that's okay.
We came home and I watched the end of Prime Suspect and then we tuned in to the AI re-run. I started my cowl again, and I think it went better. I hope I can keep this one going.
Anyway, that's it. I'm up way way too late and I do have a class tomorrow so need to get some sleep. Wish me luck! Night.
How did it get to be so late? I didn't think I'd be attempting to blog so late in the day.
I had a pretty good day really. I got up, watched news (yay) and then spent quality time with my computer. After that, I did usual things. I did do something different though. I went out for a few minutes to the new bakery that's opened up a little ways away. It was nice, and they had some lovely food. The only problem is that I could get myself into severe trouble if I go there very often!
I also finally sent off some books tonight after work to the person that loaned them to me. Hurray for that. I wrapped them up before work and then got F to bring them with him when he came to get me.
And work was another thing. I usually don't have a class on Wednesdays, but I do this month. The Friday student can't come this month on Fridays, so he's coming on Wednesdays. I hope it's not permanent. However, his lesson went well today. We finished up a test from the old book and started the new one. It went better than I expected.
F didn't cook tonight, so we went out for dinner. We went to Fireball where we had some lovely pasta. I'm always really impressed by their sauces. F didn't like mine as much as I did, but that's okay.
We came home and I watched the end of Prime Suspect and then we tuned in to the AI re-run. I started my cowl again, and I think it went better. I hope I can keep this one going.
Anyway, that's it. I'm up way way too late and I do have a class tomorrow so need to get some sleep. Wish me luck! Night.
October 13, 2009 - Tuesday
Sunny, but tremendous rain showers and thunderstorms at odd times too.
A mostly good day. F called in sick to work today, so I had him underfoot a bit. It wasn't too bad, just annoying when I wanted to sit on the couch or watch news. Which wasn't on anyway. Gah.
F drove me to work around 2 which was really nice of him. It had been raining a few minutes beforehand, and it started to rain after I got to the school too.
I had two classes today and they both went well. My second student had problems writing as he had an injured hand from karate. I felt sorry for him, so I didn't make him write too much. I stayed a little later than I really needed tonight. I was planning a lesson for tomorrow. My student and I are starting a new textbook and I needed to have a look at it and see what's the best way to present it. The first couple of lessons should be fairly easy, even for him, so I think we'll just get into it.
I called F and asked him to pick me up a bit before 8 pm. We went to New York New York and had chicken in my case and Doria in his. We both had salad bar tonight too. After dinner we went over to the Yamazawa grocery store to have a look around. I've been looking for a spaghetti squash and tonight I got one. Yes! It's not too big, should be the right size for us.
Tomorrow I think F is going to cook dinner. He's going to cook the fish we caught on Monday night. He is doing it grudgingly, because I told him on Sunday that I was having a hard time getting back into eating Japanese food. After being in Canada and eating lovely fresh salads everywhere, I just don't want stodgy old soba or udon.
We came back home and watched American Idol reruns. I re-started my crochet project, but I may try it again too. It's very nice to work with though. I can't remember using real wool before.
And that's about it. I do have a class tomorrow evening, so I can't laze around all day. However, I do have a few things that need to be done. I'll let you know if I did them at all tomorrow night. Night!
A mostly good day. F called in sick to work today, so I had him underfoot a bit. It wasn't too bad, just annoying when I wanted to sit on the couch or watch news. Which wasn't on anyway. Gah.
F drove me to work around 2 which was really nice of him. It had been raining a few minutes beforehand, and it started to rain after I got to the school too.
I had two classes today and they both went well. My second student had problems writing as he had an injured hand from karate. I felt sorry for him, so I didn't make him write too much. I stayed a little later than I really needed tonight. I was planning a lesson for tomorrow. My student and I are starting a new textbook and I needed to have a look at it and see what's the best way to present it. The first couple of lessons should be fairly easy, even for him, so I think we'll just get into it.
I called F and asked him to pick me up a bit before 8 pm. We went to New York New York and had chicken in my case and Doria in his. We both had salad bar tonight too. After dinner we went over to the Yamazawa grocery store to have a look around. I've been looking for a spaghetti squash and tonight I got one. Yes! It's not too big, should be the right size for us.
Tomorrow I think F is going to cook dinner. He's going to cook the fish we caught on Monday night. He is doing it grudgingly, because I told him on Sunday that I was having a hard time getting back into eating Japanese food. After being in Canada and eating lovely fresh salads everywhere, I just don't want stodgy old soba or udon.
We came back home and watched American Idol reruns. I re-started my crochet project, but I may try it again too. It's very nice to work with though. I can't remember using real wool before.
And that's about it. I do have a class tomorrow evening, so I can't laze around all day. However, I do have a few things that need to be done. I'll let you know if I did them at all tomorrow night. Night!
October 12, 2009 - Monday
Sunny and warm.
Today was better. Things were decidedly frosty in the morning, then they became better.
We had lunch at the Daiichi Hotel and then came home. F. wanted to go fishing, so we got ready. We went out to one of the ports and got ready. F did all the fiddly bits like setting up the hooks, but after that I took over my rod. He caught the first fish, quite a big one. It was a flat fish. I caught an aji and then F caught a tiny sea bream. It got dark after that so we gave up.
We came home to clean up and then went out for sushi! More fish.
After dinner we went to a restaurant/frozen food store but we only had 8 minutes before they closed. We didn't need anything, so I'm not sure why we went.
We came home and spent a quiet evening in after that. We watched Grey's Anatomy and then Private Practice. I'm now up late blogging and watching a tacky (but sort of funny) rom-com.
I'll be off to bed soon. Today was better than yesterday.
Today was better. Things were decidedly frosty in the morning, then they became better.
We had lunch at the Daiichi Hotel and then came home. F. wanted to go fishing, so we got ready. We went out to one of the ports and got ready. F did all the fiddly bits like setting up the hooks, but after that I took over my rod. He caught the first fish, quite a big one. It was a flat fish. I caught an aji and then F caught a tiny sea bream. It got dark after that so we gave up.
We came home to clean up and then went out for sushi! More fish.
After dinner we went to a restaurant/frozen food store but we only had 8 minutes before they closed. We didn't need anything, so I'm not sure why we went.
We came home and spent a quiet evening in after that. We watched Grey's Anatomy and then Private Practice. I'm now up late blogging and watching a tacky (but sort of funny) rom-com.
I'll be off to bed soon. Today was better than yesterday.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)