Weekend festivies!

Oops, I lied! I did have some noteworthy events over the past week. Must be that memory-loss thing that they say comes with having a baby!

Anyway, on Saturday, I was able to host an afternoon tea for three elementary school girls and two other friends. Two of the girls we know from the Lighthouse and they were invited to each bring a friend along. Kelley (of spelunking and strawberry picking fame) was my co-host, so together we got all the snacks and goodies and frilly things ready for the party. I also managed to get some tea party tips from my 11 year old sister (via phone), which helped tremendously.

The six of us enjoyed a lovely time with craft projects, games, and lots of yummy treats...tea sandwiches, fizzy lemonade, scones and whipped cream, chocolate covered strawberries, etc... The girls also got dressed up and their mom and a friend helped to do their hair and makeup, so it was quite a fun and fancy day for all of us!

Later that evening, I headed out to a girl's game night with some friends that we've made here. (I think we all either work at the hospital or our husbands do.) They usually meet once a month for dinner and games. This time we enjoyed a Mexican themed dinner, followed by a lively game of taboo. I guess we usually end up doing more socializing than game playing, but it's a fun way to enjoy a night out together. Eventually the guys will probably get their acts together and have a dueling Poker night, while we're off for the evening! Josh will have to brush up on his skills!

Kobe Beef

It's time again for another educational post about Japan! (aka - I haven't done anything very interesting this week, so I'll go to one of the "extra" subjects on my list of things to write about!)

So...you may have heard of Kobe Steak before - they say it's world famous - but do you know why it can cost between $100 and $300 for a hunk of this prime carnivorous specialty?!?! If you can try to picture a cow living at a 5 star resort, that's a good place to start! To keep the beef as tender as possible, the farmers try to ensure the least stressful environment for their herds. The cows listen to classical music, knock back a few pints of beer during the day, and enjoy several massages as well. Yup...sounds pretty nice, except that we also know the obvious end to their life is not quite as cush...but apparently they make for some pretty tender steaks.

I also heard of a story recently, where they started selling a $100 hamburger at a choice hotel in Indonesia. Turns out it was made from Kobe beef along with several other high end beef selections...I doubt they'll challenge McDonald's in sales, but it's an interesting story anyway!

Strawberry Pickin'

So, I've commented before on how similar our climate is to that of the central States in the Eastern U.S. That being said, it's always peculiar to me how different our climate is as well. For example, we have palm trees lining the streets along the Bay and I can walk around and see orange trees bending over under the weight of ripe fruit. In addition to these "unusual" occurrences, January through April is the strawberry picking season in our area. Well - the strawberries are grown inside greenhouses...but it still seems crazy since they say that February is usually the coldest month of the year here!

There's an area about a half hour south from us that begins to look a bit more rural - and it's dotted with gardens and greenhouses and nurseries. In December you can go there and pick your own oranges (I'll have to put that on the calendar for next year!) If I wasn't so weird about dirt and germs I would think that I had spent my life as a misplaced farm girl...yucky things aside, I do really love to garden and enjoy picking the "fruit of the land!" ...it's one of those silly things like snow storms and flower gardens that make me resort to being giddy and 12 again!

All this to say, on Saturday morning my friend Kelley and I set out to do some berry picking. We enjoyed the train ride and a twenty minute walk along the river and then arrived at the roadside fruit and veggie stand. Now here's an interesting twist on what I thought was traditional berry picking - when you pick berries and put them in containers to take home...maybe for jelly or strawberry shortcake or to have with cereal or ice cream. No, in Japan you pay for a 30 minute time slot and then have an all-you-can-eat berry fest while you walk and talk and enjoy the hustle bustle of the other customers around you! This was a sure invitation for me to become gluttonous...how many strawberries COULD I eat if I continued non-stop for 30 minutes?? Would I stop when I was full, or keep eating until I burst?? In the end, I think I put away about 45 berries! I probably stopped somewhere in between "comfortably full" and "about to explode."

It was a lovely way to spend a Saturday morning and I hope to recruit some more friends who'd like to join me on another berry picking adventure in the near future!

2007 Sapporo Snow Festival

Josh and I recently enjoyed a weekend getaway to Hokkaido - the northern-most island in Japan. The main attraction was the Annual Sapporo Snow Festival, but the trip included several other fun and enjoyable outings! Our first day was spent mostly traveling - to the airport - in flight - and then on to our hotel. After we arrived and had time to settle in, we headed to the Sapporo Bier Garten to enjoy a "Genghis Khan" style meal where we cooked our own lamb and veggies over a large grill in the center of the table. We came out of the restaurant to a wintry wonderland and enjoyed walking around in the snow for a little longer that evening.



The next day we were off to the slopes! Most of our Japanese friends were stunned that I was planning on skiing "in my condition" - but I had it on good authority - from my mom - that skiing while pregnant was not too dangerous!! (I'm not exactly a dare devil anyway!!) Of course, the conditions were blizzard-like and the visibility was sub-par...but we did have a great time together on the mountain! Josh was just as reckless as I had imagined - I was not quite as daring as he had hoped (though he thought I had pretty good skills!) AND we both managed to make it through the day with only sore muscles and wind burned faces!

In Japan - as in the States - every region tends to be known for some kind of culinary treat. The region we visited is well known for having the best sushi and crab in all of Japan - and it is the home of several well known confectionary companies as well! On Monday we started the day off at Ishiya Chocolate Factory - a famous local shop for sweets! We watched the production line of their famous "cookies" and enjoyed some tasty samples along the way. Next, we were off to the fishing village of Otaru. There we walked along the canal, enjoyed some yummy sushi, and did a bit of window shopping at some of the local craft shops. (Otaru is well known for their musical boxes and glass blowing.) Since we felt compelled to eat ALL of the regions finest foods in one day - we visited a delicious crab restaurant back in Sapporo for dinner that night! YUM!

2007 Sapporo Snow Festival - Part 2

After dinner we trekked to Odori Park to enjoy the "Previewing" of the Snow and Ice Festival. Most of the sculptures were completed and everything was lit up for the spectators to enjoy! There were hundreds of ice sculptures lining the streets - everything from peacocks to motorcycles to a likeness of the Emperor of Japan! The next sight we came to were hundreds of snow sculptures - including everything from Sponge Bob to Ramen Noodles.

THEN, by far the most impressive of all the attractions were the professional snow sculptures made by Japan's National Defense force. It's hard to even describe how fantastic these were! First of all, the city brings in thousands of loads of snow from the surrounding area for the event. It takes several weeks and thousands of workers to complete these gigantic creations. The theme for this year was "Places Around the World." The 6 main sculptures in this category were each as big as a three story building - and had every last detail made out of snow. They had Disney's Magic Kingdom - along with larger-than-life sized figures of Minnie, Mickey, Lilo and Stitch. Next came a replica of a temple in Thailand - followed by a Chinese pagoda - and a ship en route to Antarctica, surrounded by arctic sea life. Hopefully you can get some idea of how massive and impressive they were by looking at the pictures! WOW! We spent almost 4 hours walking around and checking out all the snow and ice creations and we could have stayed longer - if our legs would have allowed us!

Before we headed home on Tuesday we went to one last site included in the snow festival. The area was mostly geared towards kids, but we enjoyed watching hundreds of children play in the snow and have fun together. We walked through a giant snow maze, ate grilled corn on the cob, and even got to make our very own baby snow man. How cute!