Octoberfest

Yokohama stages a pretty good Octoberfest. All german beers, the food wasn't great, but the beers were really good. We went down for Brandon's birthday, and had a few drinks together. Was a good afternoon, not the best weather, but managed to not let a little rain scare us off. The only problem with events like these, is that even if they generate a little interest they will be massively crowded. Basically you've got 20 Million people who live within a couple of hours train ride away (or less.... ) and its not hard to get 10,000 people to show up. So yeah. It was pretty crowded. But we got seats, and sat. And drank. Goodness.



Beers were all german (well some from Yokohama brewery ... but were german style and good!) Eirdenger, Paulaner and even the Hoff Brau Haus. The crazy thing was the deposit on glasses, 1000 yen for a normal glass, and for the cool stiens and big one liter glasses was two or even three thousand yen!! You got it back. Some advice... watch out for the Yanks from the base trying to take your glasses to get the deposit back.

Windows 7 Burger

This is no bulls*t. I am not joking. If you didn't hear about this... in Japan, Burger King and Microsoft teamed up for a special promotion. The Windows 7 burger. Seven patties for only 777 yen (if you were on of the first 30 in the store). I think the special ended on October 28th. I didn't try one, but some guys at work did, each one of them wasn't able to finish... and felt quite sick. The guys who went to the store actually saw a group of skinny Japanese guys finish these things. Ug. Wonder how many calories are in this, as a regular whopper is something like 1000!!!

One guy had asked for one to be brought back for him... It was unbelievably heavy ( I think it was about 800G of meat). Here is the unveiling.






I guess though you can do this kind of thing at In n' Out burger in the US. Anyone up for giving it a try?

Pottery Show

For those of you who don't know ... Kiyomi's Dad is very much a potter these days. I guess you could say he's just pottering around in his retirement. He's really found a passion for something that fills his days with something, and I believe that he finds a lot of solace and meaning in his work.

Recently he got together and had a gallery show with a group of people (all older students) who were at Kyoto school of Fine Arts that attended at the same time. Here is some of the work that was there... Kiyomi and I actually picked up a couple of pieces that we liked and thought we could use around the house.





I thought a lot of the work was really of a very high caliber and the gallery was small, but a really good space to show work. It was in Yokohama, very close to Motomachi.

If you're interested in pottery... let me know, I'm sure we can get you some pieces.

Vegas Baby! Yeah!

Just had a quick trip to Vegas with Paul and Mike. Was a good time and hope that the boys enjoyed it too. We'll have to have another boys trip... but I think it will be a LONG time away. Anyhow, here are a couple of quick snaps!

The three of us near the famous Las Vegas Sign.


This is a scene at night near Paris.


Paul and Mike hanging out at Red Rock Canyon. I dig it there, and would like to hang out for a day hiking. Maybe next time!

New BBQ

Check out my new BBQ. Its a pretty cool little thing. Runs on these little gas canisters. Easy to clean and quick to use. We've used it a couple of times upstairs. Stop on buy... we'll cook up some Sausages and steak.



Also... here is the new seat on my bicycle... its pretty cool too. Makes the bike feel so different. I won't tell the cost, as it would shock most people who aren't bicycle people.

Mike's Stuffed Tomatoes

What you need

1 clove garlic (just one piece)
1/2 a medium onion (or one small one) (chopped)
2 table spoon fresh chopped basil (fresh... not dried)
2 table spoon fresh chopped parsley (fresh not dried!)
6 normal tomato (one box that they sell now)
little bit of sugar
salt
pepper
1/2 cup of rice
table spoon of olive oil.

How to make it

Clean the tomato and cut the tops off (keep the tops).
Use a small spoon to take the "guts out" in to a bowl
add the chopped basil and parsley into the bowl and mix around (break up big chunks)
Put the tomotos into a pan for the oven, and then add a pinch of sugar to the bottom of each one.

cook the garlic in the olive oil
then add the chopped onion
once the onion is soft add the tomato, and then the rice... cook about 5 minutes... should start to look a bit like risotto. Add salt and pepper to taste
Spoon into the tomato - each one about 1/2 ~2/3 full (it will expand)
put the extra rice and sauce around the tomatoes.
Then cook in oven for about an hour on 180 degrees C.

Actually not really mine... found the recipe on the web... but changed it for what I had in the kitchen and what can get in Japan. Was pretty happy with it.

Been a Long Time

Well... its been a while since I updated my blog. In fact, haven't done anything on it since Golden week. Some big changes I guess, and I think that Facebook has taken some of my time away too. Micro blogging is a little less demanding than sitting down and writing. Sometimes, don't have much to write about, and therefore just didn't put pen to paper. Or... type to LCD as the case may be.

Some changes around the house... as you can see by the picture below, we finally got rid of our old Sofa. The new one is a good size... although I'm still getting used to it. Need a couple more pillows. It fits the space perfectly though, which is a big thing. Not many did.



Our search took a LONG time... and I think we got a pretty good deal on this one. Hopefully it will be with us for many many years to come.