the baking begins

The weather here has been perfectly autumnal, so we have been trying to spend as much time as possible out doors. We planted our fall vegetable garden, went to the park, the zoo, and today we had plans to go on a bike ride to Kingman Island, but it rained so our plans were thwarted.

The cool weather makes me feel like heating things up in the oven, so Mayumi and I made our first batch of cookies today. It is a concoction of oats and brown sugar and butter and peanut butter and chocolate chips and walnuts... whatever I could find that sounded hearty and satisfying and yummy

And Maya was a wonderful helper.

I kind of want to call this the sugar dance.

Maya's Cookies
(adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook)

1.5 cups butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter

1 cup rapadura sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 3/4 cup flour

4 cups rolled oats

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup sliced almonds

Beat butter and peanut butter until smooth, then add sugars, baking powder and soda. Beat til combined. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. Stir in flourrest of ingredients. drop dough by rounded teaspoons on cookie sheet and bake in 375 degree oven for ten minutes or until edges are lightly brown. Transfer to wire rack and let cool.

Non-chan & Co.

On to Odawara, in Kanagawa Prefecture. Another beautiful locale - mountains and ocean. One of my dearest friends, Noriko (aka Non-chan) lives here with her family. When we came to visit two years ago I was 5 months pregnant, so this was her first time meeting Mayumi. Maya was SO happy to be there. She had spent almost two weeks out in the country with no playmates and now this little social butterfly finally had some friends: two very attentive boys! Noriko's sons Yuga (7) and Haruki (3) treated Maya very well; they shared their toys, held her hand, gave her hugs, and generally watched out for her as though she was their little sister. We were only here for two short days - not enough time to play and catch up!

While we were in Odawara we got to visit Wampakku Land, an amazingly vast complex of playgrounds, parkland, trails, petting zoo and other fun features built into the side of a mountain. It was a wonderland of fun and it was free!!!

of course, Mayumi was content just to pick up rocks and put them in the grate.

Mike and Taro on the Manly Path - was there ever any doubt?

After Wampakku Land we went out for some rockin' good ramen. Yes, in Japan they actually have ramen restauants, and they are good!

How could we possibly pack any more fun into one day? By visiting a Karaoke Lounge, of course! Public Bathing, ramen, karaoke... the Japanese know how to have fun.

Seriously, this is one of my favorite things to do ever.

They have a great selection of kids songs in Japanese and English.

And some rooms come equipped with toys to keep the kiddos happy.
I LOVE this place.

This is the view from Noriko's living room.

Our farewell dinner was okonomiyaki. We don't have anything like it in the States, so it is kind of hard to explain what it is... sort of like a pancake with cabbage and other veggies inside and you top it with yummy things like worcestershire sauce and mayonaise and seaweed... see, I told you. Nothing like it.

And then... we went home. We got back on an airplane (but it was so much better this time around having Mike with us!) and we headed back to the good ol' US of A. It's good to be home, but it was really sad to leave. Because Japan is my home, too. And I miss it already.

Sendai

After our two weeks in the countryside we switched gears and headed for the city. My mom's Uncle Seishiro and Aunt Keiko live in Sendai, which is the capital of Miyagi prefecture and the largest city in northeast Japan. I hadn't seen Keiko and Seishiro since Mike I lived in Japan 9 years ago, so it was about time for a visit. We hopped on a bus for the almost 4 hour drive through some beautiful vistas - and Maya actually napped for a while, which made the drive go by that much faster.

Keiko and Seishiro are consummate hosts and always take such good care of us when we visit them. They lived in Australia for 6 years and can speak English well and they have impeccable taste and style, so it is always a treat to hang out with them. Upon arriving they took us on a drive up to the old castle remains to get a view of the city.

They live in a charming condo downtown, where they park their car in this sardine-like garage. The condo complex has a few guest suites that are available for rent for out-of-town visitors, which Keiko arranged for us. Keiko is one of the most amazing cooks ever and she prepared many tasty meals for us. On Friday they took us out to visit Matsushima, but we stopped at a fish market on the way.

Maya checking out the octopus

Matsushima is a collection of about 260 tiny islands dotted with Japanese pine trees and it is designated as one of the Three Views of Japan (famous sites, like the Seven Wonders).

We took a boat tour of the islands. Mayumi really loved that the seagulls followed the ferry - Aunt Keiko bought her some snacks to feed to the gulls, which they caught in midair.

Dinner that night was kaiseki at an elegant organic restaurant. This very traditional, multi-course (expensive!) dinner was AMAZING. There were about 14 different dishes and I was very brave about eating almost everything... except the octopus (I just can't do it. The texture!). But everything else was surprisingly delicious. Mayumi was such a trooper, being dragged around on all sorts of site-seeing activities, but she had her moments of pleasure as well. Keiko and Seishiro have a sharming dog named Cherry. She and Maya got along splendidly.

The only downside was that we had so little time to spend with them, but I'm hoping I talked them into coming out to visit us in DC. I don't think I could ever tire of their company! (Sei-chan would call that oseji, but I'm being sincere!)

Leaving Baba and Grampa

Today started off on a scary note - Mom had to take Ojii-chan to the doctor because he could barely breathe. The stubborn man refuses to quit smoking even though he has developed asthma and for the past two days it has been compounded by a cold. He returned with an arsenal of meds and is doing much better, so we decided to go out for a hike. We climbed the road behind the house up to the local temple. We agree that it is one of the loveliest temple complexes we've ever been to, with gorgeous grounds, a view of the ocean, and nobody around, which must add to the charm. Maya fell asleep on the walk home, allowing us to enjoy a leisurely afternoon of reading, napping, and snacking.

Some photos:

hana-bi (fire flowers) - Maya's first time with sparklers. she seems a little stoic, but trust me, she LOVED it.

Mike teasing Maya with the pincers from his crab dinner

helping Baba sweep away the cobwebs (and the sorrow - til there's none)

the flowers, I get. the offering of coffee, Coke and beer? that's funny.

admiring an inchworm/caterpillar - lot's of new creatures in this part of the world

how we hike with Maya

Baba making "mixed rice" which is now one of my favorite dishes

she is a whiz at bubble-blowing

It was going to happen eventually, but we've been enjoying out stay here in Nozumi so much that we tried not to think about leaving. But tomorrow that is what we do. We board a bus for Sendai to visit my mom's Uncle Seishiro and Aunt Keiko. I'm not sure what our computer access will be like for the next week, so this may be my final post until we're back in the States.