Sunday, November 30, 2008

Japanese Constructions Signs




I saw these two signs ( Right turn is being construction and left turn is being construction) when I was driving back home and can't help to grab my cellphone cam and took shots of the sign board. These 2 photos were taken on different days. What's wrong with these signs???? That's the reason I always bring my camera with me to see and look for signboards that are funny to read and can share on my blog. Am I bad person?

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Daiso

This shot was from my cellphone camera, even I don't bring my camera with me I still have back-up :-) "The Daiso" is the 100 yen store here in Japan. This is like a 99cents store in US. I really like shopping here coz there are plenty of good stuff for kids and even for moms like me and even for dads. From snack food, toys, kitchen ware, hardware, electronics and cellphone accesories to school supplies. Almost every week we are here to shop.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Misawa Beach


This is Misawa Beach taken from Los Guerreros Restaurant on base, the lake is the Lake Ogawara. Yesterday the sun did show up but still a little bit windy outside with a temperature of 6 dec C as it showed up on my GPS, no more snow; and by the way that's one of the things I understand on my GPS, temperature and the other one is the compass. My husband was trying to fix the GPS and ended up messing it up and the worst thing is..... the map is not showing up anymore. Although I don't understand the kanji nor katakana nor any Japanese writing at least I understand the route number or the highway number where it can help us locate where we at......but now it's gone :-(
I should have taken picture of my GPS hmmm good idea, oh well that's it for now.

Snowing in Aomori


I took this picture from the bus when we were going to Aomori for my son's field trip. It was snowing hard when the kids got off the bus. My son was so excited to see a lot of snow, it's his first time actually to play with the snow. He was only 3 yrs old when we went sledding in Big Bear CA and he totally forgot it.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Raddish for sale


I always go to this vegetable store to buy cheaper vegetables like carrots, raddish, cucumber, spinach, cabbage, lettuce, potatoes, etc. but until now I don't know what the name of this store is (????) ; I just call it "vegetable store" or the company parking store hahaha lol. It says on their sign board (first picture) "only company parking" but actually customers can park on their parking lot, right in front of the store.

I was surprised when they are selling this 1 bundle of raddish for 100 yen I think it has 8 raddish in it, so it's like $1, sooooo cheap. Maybe I should start looking for a raddish recipe so I can buy this bunch of raddish just for a 100 yen. I know Japanese and Korean they are making kimchee out of raddish. Hmmm maybe I should try raddish kimchee too.

By the way, aside from vegetables they are also selling, fruits and some dried fish, canned goods and snack food.

  • Directions from Misawa AB's main gate:
  1. From the main gate make a left
  2. Make a quick right turn on the first block
  3. Right after the first intersection ,you will see on your right side the sign "Only company parking"
  4. You can park on their parking lot, never mind the sign hehehe

Note:

I guess the meaning of their sign "Only company parking" is "for customers parking only" hahaha I just figured out today while writing this blog.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

First Snow Fall- Nov. 19, 2008





Oh my first snow in Japan!!! My kids were very excited this morning when they woke up and they saw the snow they even took pictures with snow falling as the background lol. The base has a snow fall contest whoever can guess the first snow fall will win a snow blower. My guess is Nov. 29 so I lost :-) that's ok

Making Mochi






























When we went to Salmon Festival in Oirase we stopped by one food stall that was selling mochi and we saw the old lady and the man were pounding the grinded sweet rice so I took pictures of them from pounding, kneading and cutting of mochi. I missed the mixing of sweet ricce and its ingredients. This is the traditional way of making mochi. I bought 3 bowls of mochi. One small bowl is 300 yen and it has only 3 pieces of mochi on it. The mochi is not sweet unlike the commercially made mochi which has sugar in it and sometimes it comes in different colors like pink, light green and light yellow. They have 3 different types of sauce for mochi. Sorry but I forgot to take pictures of them since I was so excited to taste the mochi. One was with sesame seed black in color (eewww I didn't try that one), one was powdery green and tastes like peanut butter and looks like wasabe and the last is mashed soy beans maroon in color. I'm not sure the name of that beans :-) maybe it's kidney beans but tiny

By the way, mochi is made of sweet rice, sugar and coconut milk. I know how to make mochi, I learned it from my co-worker when I used to work in Honolulu, Hawaii. Mochi is very popular in Hawaii, aside from local Hawaiians, Hawaii is mostly dominated by Japanese people second is Filipinos ( I think) :-)

Ohhh I love mochi!!!

By the way, I searched the meaning of mochi from wikipedia and this is their definition:


Mochi (Japanese: ; Chinese: ) is a Japanese and Chinese rice cake made of glutinous rice pounded into paste and molded into shape. In Japan it is traditionally made in a ceremony called mochitsuki. While also eaten year-round, mochi is a traditional food for the Japanese New Year and is commonly sold and eaten during that time.


Mochi is similar to the Chinese rice cake nian gao; however, mochi is shaped from cooked glutinous rice right after it is pounded, whereas nian gao is steamed directly to its final form from a batter made of uncooked glutinous rice flour.

In the Philippines, it is called palitao in Tagalog and is coated with sesame seeds and grated coconut.





Sunday, November 16, 2008

Shimoda Salmon Festival








Last Saturday, Nov. 15 we went to Salmon festival in Oirase or the Shimoda Salmon Festival. We didn't catch the salmon but we just watched the people who were catching live salmon by their bare hands in an 8 inch deep pool. It's fun even we just watched them and they even have the salmon race (second picture) where they use stick to nudge the salmon to swim to the opposite end.
Entrance is free but if you want to catch a salmon you have to pay 1200 yen when you buy from ITT or from Shimoda mall it's only 1000 yen. Boots and gloves set for rent for 200 yen and fish cleaning is 300 yen.
This is our first salmon festival experience here in Japan. We also enjoyed the festival by eating some snacks from the food stalls :-)

Friday, November 14, 2008

Shimoda Park's Tower



Another picture taken in Shimoda Park. Second picture is showing the wood ladder going up the tower. I was not able to count the steps though :-)

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Shimoda Park's pond




This is another picture from Shimoda Park. I'm just new with my camera and I don't know to adjust the setting yet. Just bear with my pictures. Thanks to my brother who is giving me advices on photography .I should take the basic photography then hahaha. Any comments are welcome :-)
Notes:
The first picture is the original one
The second picture was enhanced in adobe photoshop cs2 by my brother, thanks bro.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

It's Fall!!!




The leaves are turning into orange and red colors now, what more can I say.....it's really fall season now!!! These pictures were taken in Shimoda Park last Sunday, Nov. 9. Finally we found the Shimoda Park, we just followed the sign when we passed the sign along route 45 going to Shimoda Mall and I asked my husband to check this park and see what's in there. The kids enjoyed the playground and I enjoyed the view and scenery. So more pictures coming on this blog which were taken from Shimoda Park.

Monday, November 10, 2008

KFC in Hachinohe








I saw 2 KFC in Hachinohe one is along route 45 before Sega World (the first picture)and the other one is when you make a right turn on the intersection of Sega World and maybe few kilometers more from that intersection (2nd and 3rd picture). The latter one was the one we went to after we came from Tanesashi Seaside. There was no mashed potatoes which is my son's favorite, so he was kind of disappointed. So when you order fried chicken it's only fried chicken and the side order I think is corn or coleslaw and each order is too expensive when you compare the price from the US. And they even give you one napkin for each person. This is I notice here in Misawa or Hachinohe (and I'm not sure if it's all over Japan) they are just giving out one napkin (small one) to each person and sometimes none.....grrrrr same with ketchup grrrrrr too (what's wrong with them???). And now I have to bring my own napkins and ketchup coz my kids love ketchup. So make sure you bring yours too when you go to Japan.



Friday, November 7, 2008

Pepper Steak







One of my favorite places to eat is the Pepper Lunch fast food restaurant located in the food court of Shimoda Mall. For a price of ~$7.40 I can eat a sizzling steak (in cubed) with corn and egg and of course 1 cup of rice hmmmm yummy! And you will get a free soda on your next buy, it's a good deal.


Bells


I found this christmas decoration fascinating since the bells are made of balloons so I took a picture of it from the food court of Shimoda Mall. Oh well, Christmas is just around the corner and I'm feeling homesick right now. Silver bells, silver bells it's christmas time in the city la la la la la la..... just sing with me... hehehe

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Chestnuts


Oohhh I like chestnuts!! But I don't know how to cook them. I always remember the "Christmas Song" lyrics about chestnuts....."chestnuts roasting on an open fire, jackfrosts nipping on your nose, la la la la :-) :-) I think it's better if you roast the chestnuts on an open fire hahaha. The chestnuts here in Misawa are so cheap!! It's only 300 yen so it's like $3. I bought one bag and ended up boiling them, the taste is not as good as when they're are roasted, oh well as long as they're chestnuts I won't hesitate to eat them all, hmmmm yummy!!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Sign- "Menu du Jour"


I took this picture while waiting for my order, Seafood Miso Ramen. I was laughing reading the sign' "please help yourself to the water" and I didn't notice that the notes were written in the shape of a cow until I viewed this picture. What do you think are the right words on this sign?

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Taro??


When I went to farmer's market I saw these 2 root crops and they look like taro but I don't know what Japanese call these kind of root. And it's expensive, one for 400 yen and it's weird coz they shape like feet with 3 toes hehehe

Shimoda Mall















  • Shimoda Mall or the AEON mall or JUSCO (whatever they call it), it's a 10 to 15 minute drive from our off-base house close to Misawa Ice Arena.
  • The mall has lots of stores to offer and some of the stores along the side are 100 yen Plaza, The Sports Authority, Mister Donut and there are also some restaurants like Italian and Chinese to name a few. There is also McDonald's in the food court.
  • The mall is open at 10:00 am. The pictures were taken when we were still waiting for the mall to open, we thought it's already open at 9:30 so we came early at about 9:40 so not too bad of waiting for 20 minutes....taking pictures of the stores.

Directions: (sorry I don't know how to get here using toll road)

  1. From Misawa AB's POL Gate go straight and make a left on Universe (you will pass Asahi Super Drug)
  2. Go straight, you will pass Eneos Gas Station and Family Mart, continue driving make a right when you see Lawson Store on the right and ESSO gas station on the left, you will see signs going to AEON mall which is the Shimoda Mall.
  3. Go straight you will pass farm fields, continue driving for approximately 10 minutes until you see on the right side the Shimoda Mall.
  4. Make a right where you can see Shimoda Mall, you will see a blue overpass ( I think) and this is where you will make a right turn.
  5. Go straight until you see Shimoda Mall at your right side, the mall says JUSCO.