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Food
Found this entertaining marketing tagline while shopping in our neighborhood San-A grocery store over the weekend. Impressive how much meaning can change when you leave off a single syllable (e.g. "-piece" or even simply "-y") to a word like "master."
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| From Engrish |
Have you ever wanted to eat a master of curry? Now you can. This is it."
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Food
We discovered a new contender in the "highest price for fresh fruit" contest, along with the mangoes that we saw last summer at the same store. This cantaloupe at our neighborhood San-A was about the same price per piece as the mango, at 2580 yen. But with our bank's current exchange rate at only 97 yen per USD (vs 115 last summer), the cantaloupe is winning according to our finances!
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| From Okinawa FOOD!!! |
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Food
We eagerly accepted the Wheelers' invite to a party at their place, which included a delicious omu-rice dinner & then a movie in our pajamas before sleeping contentedly on a futon on their floor (& also partly on their leather sofa). Thanks for having us, y'all! It was fun!
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Food
We spent an overcast & blustery Saturday afternoon at Torii Beach celebrating with Betsy's PT coworker Soomin on the occasion of the safe return from deployment of her husband Marty (an Air Force pilot) & more obviously (from these photos) her daughter Caleigh' 4th birthday.
The kids thoroughly loved the bouncy castle (complete with monster pickup truck perched atop, see it in the 6th photo in the album below) as well as the nearby playground. They also enjoyed draining juice packs, munching on hot dogs, devouring a gorgeous b'day cake, bashing the butterfly piñata, singing & watching Caleigh open gifts. The adults were well fed on excellent Korean cuisine & had almost as much fun as the kids. The weather was just nice enough to make the event a definite success!
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Food
After a lovely Saturday enjoying some of Okinawa's northern areas, we stopped for dinner at a restaurant that we had quite enjoyed for Aaron & Masayo's rehearsal dinner last year (on Josh's 30th b'day), Casa La Tida, in Onna-son. This was our first time to actually peruse the menu & choose our food, last year's visit having included a set menu for the entire party. The four of us (Aaron, Masayo, Betsy & Josh) each chose a different entree to sample - grilled chicken, Milanese-style pork, fish cartoccio & Okinawan vegetable paella (ranging in price from 1200 to 1600 yen per dish). Each was quite tasty, or as Betsy was insistent upon declaring, "Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-licious!"
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| From Okinawa FOOD!!! |
We understand that when spoken/heard that the sound of the letters "r" & "l" are not easy for the Japanese ear to distinguish. But do they really look that much alike when written too?!
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| From Engrish |
We spent a gorgeous Saturday in northern Okinawa's Higashi Village at their annual azalea festival on the next to last day. We were delighted to share the experience with our friends Aaron & Masayo. The blooms were lovely & the Sonmin-no-Mori (Citizen's Forest) Park's lush hills afforded some marvelous views of Okinawa's east coast. Besides snapping photos & strolling thru the scenic grounds of the park, we did not spend too much time checking out the live entertainment or vendor booths. Although we did snack on some "deeeelicious" fresh "biwa" (a.k.a. loquat) fruit that we purchased for only 250 yen for a bag of about 16, a nice snack for all 4 of us.
We were enticed to attend the celebration of azalea blooms by such sources as Japan Update's write-up & Kadena ITT's tour on the same day (although we decided to skip their $19 price tag & just drive ourselves, paying only the 200 yen/person entrance fee on top of gasoline).
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Food
We found time for lunch at an izakaya that we have been wanting to try since it opened recently. It's located RIGHT beside the "Globe & Anchor Gate" of Camp Foster, off Route 130. The lunch sets mostly consisted of an entree selection (they had a reasonably array of options, we thought) accompanied by Okinawa soba, for about 900-1000 yen on average per set.
Being decidedly in the mood for some maki-zushi (sushi rolls), we chose to feast upon 3 tasty selections, one as part of a 950-yen set with a very decent (but not remarkable) bowl of soba & the other 2 from the specials of the day, listed (in English) high & prominently in the middle of the seating area, for 700-yen each. We knew this would be enough food for the hungry 2 of us, but we didn't realize that it would actually be uncomfortably too much, as the rolls were, shall we say, um, sizeable. However, since they were also quite tasty, we found digestive homes for every last bite. :-P
These photos are of the broiled salmon roll (with crab & avocado in the middle) & was quite deee-ricious, especially with that wasabi-based paste on top!
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| From Okinawa FOOD!!! |
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| From Okinawa FOOD!!! |
One of us has finally achieved a status we've been wanting to pursue for months now. In order for drivers on Okinawa under SOFA jurisdiction to be licensed to operate 2-wheeled vehicles, it is required to successfully complete a Motorcycle Safety Foundation course on Kadena. Since we fall into the "new riders" category due to the fact that we are not experienced riders already, this means a 2-3 day introductory course that covers critical skills involved in the operation of a 2-wheeled motorized vehicle. Typically, the class is offered during the week, Tues-Thurs, which means civilian contractors (like Betsy) must take "Paid Time Off" (a.k.a. vacation time) in order to be able to attend. So, despite the fact that we've been wanting to purchase & ride a scooter in the gorgeous Okinawa weather & slow traffic (relative to the US anyway), we've been dragging our feet because of this required course. However, as a 1-time special event, there was a WEEKEND course (Fri-Sat) offered. And Betsy was able to take part thanks to our friend Chris, who allowed Betsy to use his Yamaha BWS scooter. So Betsy was able to complete the course quite successfully, as did the other 3 students, & she is now licensed to operate a scooter. So now we're bike shopping!
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Military
Consolidated Public Affairs Office
CAMP FOSTER — The “Period of Reflection” has concluded and a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew with alcohol restriction for all service members is in effect. There are no continuing limitations, restrictions or curfew for civilians or family members.
The decision was made by LI. Gen. Richard C. Zilmer, the Okinawa Area Coordinator and senior U.S. military commander on Okinawa March 3rd, following a meeting with senior military and civilian leaders from all services.
“The curfew, coupled with ongoing cooperative initiatives with our Japanese hosts at the national and local level, will offer the best atmosphere for our service members, family members and civilian employees while reducing the possibility and risk of misconduct,” said Zilmer.
Service members are limited to U.S. military installations or the off-base residences of SOFA status personnel during curfew hours. However, they are authorized to transit between U.S. military installations or off-base residences of SOFA status personnel during curfew hours via privately owned vehicle, military supported transportation, or commercial taxi.
Service members are restricted from consuming alcohol off-base, except within the confines of the off-base residences of SOFA status personnel. There is no restriction on alcohol consumption aboard any U.S. base or installation for service members and there are no alcohol restrictions for civilians or family members.
The curfew and alcohol restrictions will be periodically reassessed by senior service leaders.
“As we begin to venture outside our gates, I remind all of you that we are guests in Japan and must represent our Nation with the utmost pride, professionalism and respect for our hosts. I know the overwhelming majority of you are great ambassadors of America and will strive to reinvigorate the great relationship we have with our Japanese neighbors,” Zilmer said. “Please look out for one another.”
After our first visit to the San-A grocery store in weeks (due to the aforementioned lock down), upon exiting the store, we witnessed a beautiful sunset sky & scurried across Hamby Town Road to the amphitheater in Araha Park to snap a few photos (6) with our camera phone. Aaaaaaaah, freedom in Okinawa is so beautiful! Don't you agree?
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| From Okinawa Sunsets |
Even though we weren't allowed to leave our apartment building to get a better view, we think we received a message of hope & encouragement from the heavens. Because we found a pretty awesome view of a gorgeous sunset during our recent patience-testing period of restriction/lockdown/curfew/unjust punishment. We just went up on the roof! From that vantage point, we were above the power lines & other obstructions that were in the way from our balcony. And we remembered our camera so you can enjoy it too! We took enough photos to warrant it getting its own album (double digits) instead of getting crammed into our general "Okinawa Sunsets" album.
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