Sushi

We had the opportunity to go to a sushi making class here on base. The teachers were two grandmas who own a sushi restaurant in town, very cute and very nice. Not so much English though. I think that we were all very brave to try such an adventure.

Mom, myself and the teacher working on our ingredients. She used chopsticks for everything! I'm very impressed, my chopstick prowess is not quite up to par.

I learned how to roll sushi. I, of course, made only vegetarian sushi, but it turned out really well for my first time ever.

These are the fruit of our labors. Dad and I made a lot of these, Michelle and Mom just took pictures and notes and acted like they were excited to be there.

My first bite of sushi! This bite hovered by my mouth for probably 10 minutes while I tried to talk myself into it.

This is after I popped it in my mouth. I'm not sure what kind of a face this is, but let me tell you, it is not my 'favorite food' face.

Some of the other students made these sashimi items. Just so you know, it is a ball of rice with a piece of raw salmon draped over it. I decided that I couldn't go to Japan without trying raw fish. I don't know what I was thinking...but I popped it in my mouth. And it wanted to pop right back out. I almost died. I think that is the longest, grossest mouthful that I've ever chewed.

On a side note, we also tried a noodle soup which we all tried before she told us the seasonings were white wine, sake, and other seasonings. Oops. We were flying high. I think the best word of wisdom of the night was "When you go to eat sushi, don't ask what it is...just try it." And now I can say, I've fully embraced Japan in all of it's rawfishyness.

Japan, continued

We are having such a great time here in Japan. Michelle and Alice are doing really well, and we are trying hard to keep Helen and Jane busy so that Michelle can spend her life nursing. Ahh, I remember those days...

Michelle and Alice (9 days old)

Here we are at the Samari House museum. The grounds were beautiful, especially with the snow. Inside the house we had to take off our shoes and slip some house slippers on. It was as cold inside the house as it was outside!

This is the Samari warrior outfit that he wore. Also note, the large samari sword beside. I've been looking for one of those for Spencer, but so far, no luck. Plus I'm not sure they would be very happy with me at the airport if I showed up with that in my suitcase.

Me inside the Samari House.

Another part of our Japanese experience has been vending machines. There are vending machines everywhere! And they sell everything under the sun. They are all very brightly colored, some have flashing neon lights, and you can find them on every corner. Here I am bravely trying to pick a drink. It was a success! I managed to pick a peach/grape juice! Whew! Sometimes it is worrisome as to what we are eating. I'll go into more detail when I post our sushi making class pictures...

Did I mention that you can buy ANYTHING out of a vending machine? Dad decided that we needed some eggs. Yes, eggs. Who knew that you could buy eggs out of a vending machine?

Sushi class pictures tomorrow...

Japan!

So, I figured since I've been incapable of blogging whilst at home, perhaps I will have better luck in Japan. I'm in Japan!! The children asked me to take pictures of every single moment of this trip, so here you go...

Our seats were right next to the wings on the 747 gigantic monster of a plane that we were flying on. And apparently, it is shorter to fly north over the Arctic Ocean than it is to fly straight across the Pacific. Hmmm, I'm still not convinced. But here you can see the wing and the frozen wasteland of the ice floes. It's a good thing we didn't have to stop here. Below is a picture of Mom and Dad on the plane, it must have been the first half of the plane, they're still smiling!

Here we are at the bullet train station. The Japanese are very orderly and wait in their little lines waiting for the train. Unfortunately, it was dark when we were on the train, so we couldn't tell how fast we were really moving.

Jane and Helen with their new 'babies'. They really love the blankets and burp cloths that I made for them.

We visited the Shinto Temple on Sunday. It was kind of snowy, in case you couldn't tell. And I'm not sure why this is underlined, but we're just going to go with it.

All of the Shinto temples have these beautiful gates leading up to them. It was very beautiful in the snow. A little cold, but beautiful.

Mom dared me to pull the bell rope to waken up the spirits. I didn't really ring it, but I should have, perhaps I was afraid of what 'spirits' would wake up. Maybe my children across the ocean?

We are having such a fun time. Really this is like a vacation, with Michelle spending all of her time nursing Alice and the rest of us going from party to party.