If you haven't noticed, I normally like to give my blog entries song lyrics for titles. Sometimes I modify it, sometimes the words work out beautifully and I don't have to change a thing.
I have this blog and another for what I've used (or, more honestly, absolutely abandoned recently, but plan to go back to) as a motivational track of what I've done for exercising. As I've mentioned in the last blog entry, I now have a pretty good handle on my home, so I feel freer to do the things I want to do to help me 'normalize' my life.
But, here's something completely not that.
Every now and then, I'll be posting different recipes that I will try.
This is also so that I can keep track of what I've tried, the variations
I have or want to implement and to keep myself motivated in these efforts.
I hope to dovetail my sudden momentum on regular blogging and my food
blogging to my exercising and blogging about that, too. I won't be
clever enough to title my food entries with lyrics, but forgive me - I'm
sad about that as well :)
I have dabbled in cooking. I know which end of the mixer to hold. I have yet to sever a limb while chopping. But am I good at cooking? Not one bit. There are various reasons why I'm 35 and still not comfortable with cooking. Mostly, it's because I HATED to cook for just myself and now that I have a little more time, a lot more inspiration and a few mouths to feed, I want to start refining whatever skills I've gathered so far.
I don't want to just be a Pinterest recipe hoarder or a cookbook collector. I want to try things out. I'm a tad handicapped by the fact that I have been and probably forever will be a picky eater, but I'll try to be braver, just so I don't pass on the same handicap to my daughter (dang kids learning by example).
But, don't judge me when you see that the majority of my food blogging is about desserts. It's easier and I must follow my bliss ;p
First up - Moscato Cupcakes. More on that after I try it!
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
The night the lights go out in (Fussa)
Hello gentle readers - I hope life is treating you nicely in the warmer weather.
Here at the lovely Yokota AB, we have the warmer, breezier climate of Japan, right at the cusp of the rainy season. So far, it's been dull and gray only a couple of days, and sticky-humid even fewer days than that. Most of the time, it's beautiful and sunny, much like the climate I remember from NJ. Though, this also means that my allergies have revisited my immune system. Sneezing like it was going out of style. But, alas, as long as the warm breezes blows, I shall welcome the constant sneezing nose. (I've been reading Dr. Seuss a bit, can you tell?)
As some of you may have been seeing in my Facebook statuses, we've been experiencing some scheduled power outages. One in April, one in May and one to kick off June. As I understand it, that will be the last 'scheduled' power outage. Why are we having these no-power, no-hot water days, you may ask? If what I read on the various Yokota-related-Facebook group pages is accurate, these few days of inconvenience are the base's preventative measures against what happened last rainy season. Apparently, one (or more) of the residential towers were too waterlogged and caused some major damage to the power in the building(s) and the people had to be moved to temporary housing. So, while the power is out, the workers here are doing something to make sure things run smoother this season. Plus, our part of the base has been going through some repaving, and someone guessed that was also a factor. Who knows if these speculations are correct, but it's better than anything I've come up with.
Power Outage #1 was spent in an unfurnished apartment. I honestly can't remember what we did to pass the time, but since we are still alive to talk about it, I guess it was fine.
Power Outage #2 was our first time (or more pointedly, Scott's first time) driving off base. We only went about 2 miles away to the Seiyu (think: Japanese Wal-Mart, since they bought out the chain in the early 2000's. I will always think of it as the place I got to roar like a dinosaur next to the blow up T-Rex when the Seiyu opened in my old neighborhood) and did very light shopping. The two things that stood out that day were 1) I got my hair cut super short at the BX hair salon so that I didn't have to worry about sticky hair on the back of my neck during the future humidity and 2) We bought 3 bottles of sake, only one of which we had on Mother's Day.
Power Outage #3 was supposed to be the day we were going to take Violet on her first mass transit train ride to a park not too far from here for a change of scenery and possibly a splash pool. What happened instead was an ok walk to the Fussa train station, followed by hollering and tears because the extra sunblock I lathered onto Violet's face had smeared down and caused her eye to get irritated. Mommy-fail. Luckily, it was before we purchased the train fare (though, that would have only been a small cost) and after wiping off her face with a WetNap, I bribed Violet to calm down by promising a treat. Back to Seiyu and the candy aisle I am getting far to good at navigating.
As for socializing, I've been taking Violet to a playgroup that is a short walk from the apartment and she's been braver about playing with new kids, while I am also getting braver about meeting new people. Between the moms I've met there, the people at the language class, the girls I've met at the Girls Night Out group, one karaoke night with the Enlisted Spouses Club and the one wine night I went to in my building, I'm feeling pretty good about how I'm going about meeting people at this base. Some of you may know that this is totally out of my comfort zone, but I'm doing my darndest to not be a recluse.
We were able to set up our home in a record-breaking 4 weeks (eek!), so I now feel like I can spend a bit more time updating the blog and pictures. Mostly, I want Aaron to be green with envy ;p (Hi Bells!!)
Here at the lovely Yokota AB, we have the warmer, breezier climate of Japan, right at the cusp of the rainy season. So far, it's been dull and gray only a couple of days, and sticky-humid even fewer days than that. Most of the time, it's beautiful and sunny, much like the climate I remember from NJ. Though, this also means that my allergies have revisited my immune system. Sneezing like it was going out of style. But, alas, as long as the warm breezes blows, I shall welcome the constant sneezing nose. (I've been reading Dr. Seuss a bit, can you tell?)
As some of you may have been seeing in my Facebook statuses, we've been experiencing some scheduled power outages. One in April, one in May and one to kick off June. As I understand it, that will be the last 'scheduled' power outage. Why are we having these no-power, no-hot water days, you may ask? If what I read on the various Yokota-related-Facebook group pages is accurate, these few days of inconvenience are the base's preventative measures against what happened last rainy season. Apparently, one (or more) of the residential towers were too waterlogged and caused some major damage to the power in the building(s) and the people had to be moved to temporary housing. So, while the power is out, the workers here are doing something to make sure things run smoother this season. Plus, our part of the base has been going through some repaving, and someone guessed that was also a factor. Who knows if these speculations are correct, but it's better than anything I've come up with.
Power Outage #1 was spent in an unfurnished apartment. I honestly can't remember what we did to pass the time, but since we are still alive to talk about it, I guess it was fine.
Power Outage #2 was our first time (or more pointedly, Scott's first time) driving off base. We only went about 2 miles away to the Seiyu (think: Japanese Wal-Mart, since they bought out the chain in the early 2000's. I will always think of it as the place I got to roar like a dinosaur next to the blow up T-Rex when the Seiyu opened in my old neighborhood) and did very light shopping. The two things that stood out that day were 1) I got my hair cut super short at the BX hair salon so that I didn't have to worry about sticky hair on the back of my neck during the future humidity and 2) We bought 3 bottles of sake, only one of which we had on Mother's Day.
Power Outage #3 was supposed to be the day we were going to take Violet on her first mass transit train ride to a park not too far from here for a change of scenery and possibly a splash pool. What happened instead was an ok walk to the Fussa train station, followed by hollering and tears because the extra sunblock I lathered onto Violet's face had smeared down and caused her eye to get irritated. Mommy-fail. Luckily, it was before we purchased the train fare (though, that would have only been a small cost) and after wiping off her face with a WetNap, I bribed Violet to calm down by promising a treat. Back to Seiyu and the candy aisle I am getting far to good at navigating.
As for socializing, I've been taking Violet to a playgroup that is a short walk from the apartment and she's been braver about playing with new kids, while I am also getting braver about meeting new people. Between the moms I've met there, the people at the language class, the girls I've met at the Girls Night Out group, one karaoke night with the Enlisted Spouses Club and the one wine night I went to in my building, I'm feeling pretty good about how I'm going about meeting people at this base. Some of you may know that this is totally out of my comfort zone, but I'm doing my darndest to not be a recluse.
We were able to set up our home in a record-breaking 4 weeks (eek!), so I now feel like I can spend a bit more time updating the blog and pictures. Mostly, I want Aaron to be green with envy ;p (Hi Bells!!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)