Challah Bread

My new friend Daphna taught a group of us how to make Challah bread. She is from Israel. It was a lot of fun and interesting to hear about her life at "home." She also made us homemade soup and a salad. The bread was delicious. Daphna had in mind for all of us to take home a half loaf. We all laughed as it came out of the oven because it smelled so good. Needless to say each of us took about a roll size piece home!!

Feeling Lucky!

I'm just a sucker for blog giveaways! I am sure that one day I will win. I can't really remember how I ever came across Camille Roskelley's blog but she designs the most darling quilts. I have seen them displayed at the Quilt Shop at Gardner Village. Anyway, she is having a give-a-way over at her blog so I am now entered to win. Heather you should go check it out! It would be almost as fun if you win!! wink wink

Dirty Dish Store

I have been looking forward to this day since the first week we arrived. I heard about the Dirty Dish store and knew it was my kind of store. It is a big warehouse full of odds and ends. I was filthy by the time we left. Everything in the store is already pretty cheap but you get to subtract 40% of the total. I got some new plain every day dishes and then some odds and ends to serve with.



Don't look too closely there could be gifts in these photos! hmmm
The square ones above were less than $2 each. The small blue sushi plates were less than $1. The only bargains to be found in Tokyo.

I LOVE these dishes with the sakura (cherry blossoms.) I got some "dessert" plates and a couple of serving dishes.

The happy shoppers at Sizzler. Yes, that is me leaning back so my face isn't in the picture. What a great day!!

More funny things around town...

My friends and I really had a hard time obeying this sign!!

A special place for dogs to wait while you do your shopping. There was also a small drinking fountain for dogs only.

Nathan's Halloween Party at School

Nathan's Teacher, Mrs. Takeuchi and her son. The little giraffe. He was so cute!

A really "brave" boy or should I say Michael Phelps

Nathan, the non-costume loving boy!

Halloween -- Yoyogi style. . .

We went to a friend's house to celebrate Halloween. We heard that their street was the place to be. There were crowds like this for a good two and half hours. It was amazing. We saw dogs in costumes, thousands of kids and gave out tons of candy. Nathan and his friend tried to go trick-or-treating but the crowds were so dense that they gave up and handed out candy for the rest of the night.




Little girls like Princess costumes wherever you go. So cute.

There was a good old fashioned Halloween party at the school too. Not a Fall Festival or a Autumnal Equinox Gathering but an actual Halloween Party. All of the teachers dressed up. Most of them with themes through the grades. Games throughout the school that the kids could run wild through. Not a lot of structure and tons of candy. They had the traditional parade to start out the events. I don't think that Nathan had nearly as much fun as I did.

On a side note -- there is now another scratch on the rental van. Not of my doing!!

Stuff . . .

I haven't written anything for a while because it doesn't seem like I have much news. Since this is supposed to be a journal of sorts I probably should make note of the mundane as well as the exciting!!

There are a few COSTCOs in and around the Tokyo area. I decided on Friday to go to a different one (since the last one was an all day outing!) Full of confidence I looked up the address and phone number and input the number into my "Navi". Not being able to understand Japanese or read it I think it told me that the number wasn't available. No problem I thought as there is an option for the post code. I figured it would be pretty obvious to me because there should be a COSTCO sign. Keep in mind that I have still only driven a handful of times. I packed up the cooler and headed out with my list in hand. The "navi" said it was only about 30km away. Anywhere but Tokyo that wouldn't take too much time. Still feeling confident I continued on my way.

The trouble with these GPS systems is that they are so good that they tell you which lane to get into and everything. The trouble is I have a hard time concentrating on the road and looking at the screen at the same time! Most of the highways in Japan are toll roads. Good old "navi" tells me which is automatic (for people that have a special ETC card the gates just swing open and they don't even have to stop) for the rest of us we have to pull up to the right window and pay.

As I pull up I realize that I am in the wrong lane. There is NO attendant to take my money. I look in the rear view and the cars are lining up behind me. UGH. First bad omen. The nice little attendant came running over from the other booth to take my money. I do know how to say sorry in Japanese so I kept repeating it. . . Why me??
The toll was 700 yen which is about $7. That is just one way and not the only toll. Crazy!!

Slightly shaken up I kept driving. Smooth sailing from there. Met up with a little bit of traffic once I was finally in the vicinity of COSTCO but all in all not bad. I was anticipating that pepperoni pizza slice and an icy diet Coke. Unfortunately "navi" pointed me into the center of town. No COSTCO sign anywhere. . . Any one who knows me knows that my sense of direction is not that great. hehe

Anyway to make a really long story short -- after driving around for FOUR hours I finally called the COSTCO and they gave me a different phone number to plug in. Lo and behold the store was located on the opposite side of the highway that I had been driving around. Frustrated and slightly grumpy I finally made it. Let's just say that I added a cinnamon churro to that pizza order!!!

The bright side to the story is that when you are lost in a city and driving around one does get a lot of good driving experience. I chalk it up to another driver's ed day!!

I also must admit that I was the first to scratch the van. Backing in to our driveway I hit the wall. According to my neighbors it is nothing that a little duct tape won't fix!! Glad all this experience is in the RENTAL van. Maybe by the time we get our REAL van I will have all the kinks worked out. Not to mention that our new "Navi" will be in ENGLISH!