Adventures in Cooking

I've been productive the last week, despite getting into reading Mansfield Park, so I need to share.
First, I finally had a batch of pasta come out to my liking! YEAH! Clark loves the homemade stuff too. Ok, so he loves all pasta, but he always downs this stuff and I feel better since it has whole wheat and some spinach in it. Masaki gives a big thumbs up for this stuff every time too.


Other cool tricks I've discovered.

-Clark can run the Cuisinart. He's pretty good at chopping stuff up that way and is surprisingly helpful. It is locked before he can start it so he can't open it without me, and can't run it without it being closed.

-Pureed spinach/carrots/tofu go really well with homemade mac and cheese, thanks for the great idea Pam!!

-You can make corn dogs super easy. Get some pancake mix and add some milk(and some corn meal), stick a toothpick in half a little wiener and dip in the mix, then fry that bad boy up. Another variation, slice up the wiener and add to the mix and make it into a pancake. I want to try it again, but add spinach puree to the whole thing, you know, get those veggies in. This is especially helpful to me, since I have a hard time finding meat that my child will eat. He LOVES it.

-Veggies taste better frozen or mixed with cream cheese. Clark likes his mixed veggies, but he wolfs them down when we mix them with cream cheese.

-If it is frozen, he thinks it is ice cream. I give him home made ice cream with less sugar in it and then water it down with yogurt. My husband would start a riot if I gave the same stuff to him. Ahh youth!

-Let the child pour! Oy, Clark wants to pour everything, which is scary, he's actually pretty good at it, and if I measure it, it works great. Stirring on the other hand...not a good idea.

Ok, all done! Must sleep now!

The Acrobat!

Turns out our son is going to be an acrobat when he grows up!



We were rough housing on the floor and he just started doing this. It took until the fourth time for Masaki to come over with the camera, but he was having a blast. That and he loved watching Masaki and I fake kung fu fight. I do very much mean fake because we would just swing our hands and make silly noises, but he was cracking up.

Though there is a better picture of his smile, it is just a little fuzzy though.



Spring has finally made it to Japan, and with it the cherry blossoms have come to. This means lots of outside time for all of us.

I have been trying to run, and I'm actually starting to enjoy it. We even took a family run today, and I did a lot better than I ever thought possible.


Once we stopped we got to see all sorts of things like crawdads, a waterfall, some dogs and lots of flowers. Clark was exhausted and fell asleep on the way back and had a great nap. It has been a very fun day! Time for us to sleep now too.

Snakes in the Bath!!

We figured out what the Japanese word for snake was about a week ago. So one night Clark was in the bath drawing and he just draws a bunch of lines and then says 'hebi-san'. Oh you drew snakes!! Good imagination.

I did it!

I did it!!! I figured out how to put a password on my blog...sweetness

Ok, with that done, if anyone wants to change their login/password, let me know...though I would suggest NOT giving me the password that is the password for everything else.  I REALLY do NOT want that responsibility.

Ok, now onto the good part.

Our weekend in Chiba!!!

Lots of pictures

Uncle Takahiro even came to visit

We can still say his name almost a week later!


Clark also played a lot with Obaachan and Ojiichan outside. He even took his first trip without mommy for well past an hour...well first trip without any protest. Good Job!





...and to help Clark walk places we'd walk 10 steps and then swing in the air. It was good exercise and he'd walk pretty well. Anytime he wanted to do it, he'd put two hands in the air and say ichi ni san go(one two three five).

One more Favor

Sorry,

It turns out because we host our blog on our own website, blogger can't do the security on it, but *I* can.  What I NEED you to do is email me at nicole at kaimori dot com

not a post in comments

I'll email you back with your username and password, and I promise not to be a jerk about it either...you'll see.

Gracias

Thanks to everyone who is sending emails....I'll set things up once we are back at home....and remember if I have problems I'll let you know.

As for checking blog stats: We host my blog on our website, so I can check blog stuff by seeing visitors to our website, if you host your blog on blogspot you have to sign up with a service to track everything, and to tell you the truth I have no idea what is a good one, but I a sure google could tell you.  If you have your own website then you or your administrator should be able to check.

Us, we're having a blast in Chiba.  We even stopped by the airport on Thursday to see Grandma and Jay, and Uncle Takahiro is here today to play.  Oh, and we've been enjoying Obaachan and Ojiichan's Nintendo Wii with the WiiFit board.  I gotta say, if you get any gaming system, that would be the one to get.  It is fun for the whole family and you get a surprising amount of exercise while playing it.  I still refuse to have any gaming system in our home, especially since right now Masaki and I see each other for maybe 2.5 hrs every day, but if I can figure out how to get Clark to fall asleep faster, I might contemplate it.

As a fix to Clark taking FOREVER and a DAY to fall asleep we're changing the bedtime routine...bathtime is way too fun, so we're gonna drink milk, read stories, brush our teeth and sing songs AFTERWARDS, not before.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Coldstone rocks....even in Japan, the sizes are smaller, but still yummy.

Ok, this is weird, the last WiiFit Balance game is a zen balance game.

Pictures when we get home.

...and most importantly...

HAPPY EASTER!

It is a perfect Easter Sunday here, nice and sunny, and no Easter Bunny to distract us.  Happy Fukkatsusai(Resurrection Day/Festival).

Freaking Out!

Today on a whim I decided to check my site stats.  It totally freaked me out.  Turns out I was an idiot and put the word 'butt' in the title of one of my images and someone searching for some nasty stuff from Google Germany was directed here.  AUGH.  To make a long story short I am going to make the blog private.  That gives you the viewers one week...ok maybe 6 days to email me and let me know you still want to see it.  Email me at nicole at kaimori dot com.  If you are a lurker, now is a time to delurk...just put the word blog in your email title, and what friend of a friend of a friend you are, and I'll be more than happy to add you.  Strangers are OK, pedophiles are not.  If you know people who check the blog infrequently, but would still like to view it, let them know, so they can let me know(yeah I know I WISH I had that many viewers).  Spread the word people!  

The thing is I am just very sad to make it private, I so wanted to let other random people see our adventures, and how stinking cute Clark is, but in today's moral climate I am thinking that is less and less an option.  I am so sorry world.  I've met some other very cool women/expats because they've kept their blogs open.  I am really terribly sad.  I just want to protect Clark and any subsequent children(no, not yet...I'll let you know).

Once again, you have one week...March 26th...then we close to the public and become a private 'in-crowd only' club.

I am weird

for some reason I always wanted to start a blog for women married to asian men. I don't update the ones I have regularly enough, why should I start another one, but hey, there it is.

Truthfully I don't think it is probably all that different than being married to any other man, so yeah, double dorkiness right there.

In other news...Happy St. Patrick's day! How did you celebrate? We had beef stew and then ate mint chocolate chip ice cream for FHE.

Clark also pooped all over our hot carpet.  He pooped once and I thought he was done, so we went diaper-less,  but noooooooo he had a whole other batch ready to go, so while I grabbed laundry from the washer, he pooped.  Then when he turned around when I screamed, he stepped in it.  Lucky him, he got a bath after the whole thing.  I got to clean up.  I have to wash the carpet tomorrow....oy!

...and we are going to Chiba from Wednesday night to Sunday sometime! Woo hoo! I love being over there, and Clark does too(Masaki does as well, but since it is his family's place I would assume it is a given, especially since his brother will likely come over as well). I'll be picking up my visa renewal forms, maybe I'll get a 5 year visa this time instead of 3. I need to promise Pam not to stay for the whole length of the visa though =).

Uno Mas!

Yeah, of all the things I'd like Masaki to teach Clark, teaching him to say 'Uno Mas' in the bathtub is not one I had thought of. Masaki is definitely still a big Jackie Chan fan. Daddy was sick the last few days, and I've been pouring over Sense and Sensibility, so that is why no updates have been forthcoming. Let's recap.

We made pizza on Tuesday. It is our normal Tuesday fair since I have English class it, for some odd reason, seems like a simple dinner. It isn't really, but I like to think it is. Clark loves it, he snatches pizza dough, cheese, and pineapple and then is generally full by the time his baby pizza is done cooking (6 minutes). He also ends up covered from head to toe in flour. I had to wash this shirt twice to get it clean...oh how I love my flour child. Oh, and he likes to eat flour too.



Our sleep schedule has been the pits lately, and I don't know what to do to help him learn to fall asleep alone. I am really frustrated. We'll be taking serious action, starting tomorrow, to remedy that situation. A strict schedule, whole grain snack before bed, and lots of prayer and scriptures for mommy. How is this related to the next picture? It isn't, but I'll tell you what is....MOVING!

Some of our good friends in the ward are moving. They have two little kids and always come to our bi-monthly play dates. This past Thursday was their last time, so we had a rockin' party. Clark drew all over his mouth with black pastel crayons, and I got rid of a lot of old clothes at the thrift shop portion of our play date. It was fun but we will miss them lots.


Otherwise not much, Masaki is sick, so that is only a little extra work, plus the normal feeding the masses, doing laundry, rescuing small objects from my son, cleaning up his pee. Oh, and rejoicing in the weak dollar! We will be converting some money soon! It sucks for the US, but it is our turn to benefit a bit. Thank you!!! Also, thank you Pam, it is finally warm enough to wear the pants I received at Christmas, and they are great.

It was somebody's birthday today...

...can you guess who?



I'm sure we'll hear all about the big day in a few days over at Making Noise!

Potty Time!

Ok, so I tried to upload this pictures when I gave my overview of the week, but it didn't work then for some strange reason. Notice the candles..2-9.


Clark likes to help wash dishes, and on a totally unrelated note, some of his pants are still a bit big for him. This is what happens when you combine those two!

CAUTION BRAGGING SECTION AHEAD GREAT/GRANDPARENTS EYES ONLY
all others proceed with caution
On a cool note, he went pee pee in his potty for the first time yesterday. We'll have to try to catch it again. We're starting EC/potty training now since it is warming up, diapers are a fight, and he poops in the morning so I only have to worry about pee. He seems only mildly interested, so I'll keep you updated. Oh, in other news, he is now obsessed with bellybuttons, nipples and every body's "pee-is". He asks to see all of mine everyday. I don't think he quite gets it that I don't have all those parts. He loves our book "Heroes of the Book of Mormon" because he can see some of the babies bellybuttons and nipples. Luckily he can also name Nephi, Moroni, Abinidai and Alma. "Neetai boken" (Nephi's bow is broken) He even said a three word sentence the other day. "Mommy nori(prayer) amen". We also have red, yellow, green, blue, and white down pretty well. Other than that we like to water the plants excessively, carry the trash, and vacuum. He tries to be a great helper!
BRAGGING DONE

This is a picture of the wheat noodles I made. Man they are hard to handle. I think I need a giant sieve to cook them, so that I can take them out and cook in batches. Hello dollar store!

This week in a nutshell

Yeah, busy week, here let's review it!

Monday - Decide to make Boston Cream Pie for my birthday, so I bake the cake.

Tuesday- Make Bavarian Cream, tastes great, looks freaky!  I messed up big time.  English class in the evening.  Used ballet workout video...it is stinking long!

Wednesday - Birthday! Spend 6 hours at Church helping set up for Plan of Salvation activity on Saturday.  Get home, 5 minutes later start baby English class.  I call Masaki because I am exhausted, and we have McD's for dinner, and ghetto Boston Cream pie with Hershey's Syrup on top

Thursday - start making popcorn  balls/fruit of the tree of life, Clark wakes up super early from his nap.  Shop for lunch items for the activity on Saturday.

Friday- Clark is napping by 10:30am...woo hoo! Finish making popcorn balls/fruit.  Pack us up and head to Costco to shop and meet up with Masaki.  Mind you this takes 2 hours, walking, trains, and buses with a toddler.  Then we SHOP at Costco with said toddler.  Return home with traffic, but hey we ate at Costco so no dinner dishes(just a huge pile of popcorn ball/lunch dishes).

Saturday - activity!  YEAH, collect everything we need and pile it into the car, at the church by 10am, stay until 1:30.  Everyone had fun, so hey, it was worth it.  Clark sleeps, Masaki runs, I do dishes and plan my 15 min lesson for Church on Sunday.  Head to the German store and load up on sausage, salami, liverwurst and sauerkraut.  Turns out Clark like salami...my boy!  We clean while Masaki cooks, I fall asleep with Clark...opps.

Sunday - up late, 7:40!!! make it to church late, Clark won't go to nursery with Daddy, so he hangs out with me until my lesson is over and then we play in nursery with all the other toddlers.  Masaki's back hurts today because of something we did yesterday, so we head home as soon as the meetings are over.  Clark is finally asleep and so is Masaki.  I need to do dishes and fold laundry because I hate a messy house!  You need pictures though, so here we go!

Fast tag

I got tagged by Queen Scarlet right at the beginning of this week, which has been super duper hectic. We had a big activity at church for the kids, going through the Plan of Salvation. It was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work. I made 30+ marshmallow popcorn balls. Oy! Anyway, I love tags, because I like to read other people's and would hope people like to read mine, so here we go!

10 years ago...

I was getting ready for finals in my second quarter at UCSD. I had a lot of fun there, and freshman year was a blast too! I also started taking ballet that quarter. Oh how I miss that.

5 Things on my to-do list today...

Go to church and get stuff ready like food(check!)
Fold the pile of laundry upstairs
Clean the play room and computer room
Go to the German Deli and get my birthday German meat fix
Prep for Sharing Time tomorrow

Snacks I enjoy...

Anything, apples w/ PB, carrot sticks, strawberries, pickles with cottage cheese and ham. Sugar tastes good in it's various forms, but usually doesn't make my body feel good, so in the end I don't enjoy them.

Things I would do if I suddenly became a billionaire...

Remodel our house{(gift to our landlords/in-laws)
Pay off Pam + Al's house, and buy Pam a Saturn for her to drive
Invest/Trust fund kinda stuff
Pay off any other relative's house
Tour the World

3 of my bad habits...

sloth, gluttony and avarice....j/k
ok procrastination...I hate doing dishes, folding laundry so I procrastinate
correcting people's sentences...though helpful when teaching, not necessarily a smart thing to do to one's husband.
being inappropriately frank at times...learned that one from my dad...thanks(note, use sarcastic intonation when reading it to yourself).

Jobs I've had...

smoothie maker(hello Planet Juice!)
Babysitter
Web Designer
Bookstore Clerk
English Teacher
Handicapped School English Teacher(this was one of my favorites)

5 Things people don't know about me...

I feel very uncool usually. I was uncool for most of my primary school years, and still really want to be part of the cool kids. I have cool/awesome friends, but still generally I feel uncool. Stupid insecurity, eh?

I was named after my mom's favorite soap opera character at the time...so was Pam.(Just so you know, never do that to your own children, or if you do, make up a good story to tell them instead)

While not true, I consider myself half Californian and half German. Really? Born in Idaho, moved to CA when I was 3, and I'm only 1/4 German.

I really like living aboard. While hard, it is way fun. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Where else would I go? Netherlands, Germany, England, France.

My secret dream is to become a college professor, or an architect. Never gonna happen, but a girl can dream, right?

Who gets tagged?

Hatsuho(if you can..no pressure), Mari, Katie, Sarah(if you feel up to it), Mom, anyone else who wants to play.

Happy Anniversary

Ok, so it isn't mine, but it is Pam and Albert's. I figure while not as cool as Pam's post(especially since it is 10:30pm and I am exhausted after a LOOOOONG day), I should still at least mention that and say a Happy Anniversary! I hope you two have a great day.

Ole!

Way back in the days of 2006 Grandma went to Mexico and got Clark some very cute things. I LOVE the shirt, but until recently it has been too big. Now that he is bigger and wearing 2-3 layers every day, it fits great. Aww what a cute little nino I have!





Also being the weirdo that I am who wants more whole grains in her diet, I made my own pasta on Thursday night!

Yummy but I couldn't roll it thin enough. Luckily my dad was wondering what I would want for my birthday, so he is getting me a pasta maker!! woo hoo! I'll definitely have to try it very soon.

Speaking of birthday, Dad/Grandpa came over on Saturday for a birthday/seeing Clark day. Clark went to sleep as soon as they got here, but that gave us time to eat and watch Finding Nemo in Japanese. Kumi had never seen it, and Dad wanted to practice his Japanese. Masaki and I were able to resist the subtitles until about half way through the movie. The sad thing to me is a lot of the jokes don't translate. A seahorse is not called a seahorse in Japanese, nor is a clownfish anything like clownfish. You loose a lot of humor when the words themselves are different. Anyway, after teaching Kumi to speak whale...hehe, no, actually Clark woke up right as the movie finished, so we packed ourselves up and went to the mall so I could receive some running pants(thanks Honey) and dinner and Coldstone. Here is Clark riding on the trains. He is not as excited as I would have expected from someone who LOVES trains. He loves them more than cars, airplanes and probably dinosaurs.



Since it was getting close to dinner we headed over to Garlic Jo's and had a really good meal. We were all pleasantly surprised and full, but somehow were able to each scarf down a medium Coldstone ice cream. Mind you a Japanese medium is a bit smaller than an American small, so it wasn't as hard as it sounds.

Now we need to do our podcast! Oh, and Masaki made a wicked good breakfast for dinner tonight. I love fast Sunday. Breakfast tastes even better when you have it for dinner!