Celebrating Father's Day with a Shokugiki!

Happy Father's Day to this guy- a great father!  Nearly every day, we go by a little Chinese restaurant.  It's the restaurant that is closest to our home.  So we walked over there on Father's Day eve to try it out.  We both ordered Chinese-style Yakisoba.  It was pretty good. 

Father's Day isn't really celebrated here.  But one sweet sister knew it was Father's Day and gave Elder Hinton a card.  But, every third Sunday in our little branch is Shokujiki.  That, being interpreted, is Food Meeting- my favorite kind of meeting.  On the third Sunday is Potluck Lunch.  Everyone brings something to share.  It is a delightful cultural experience. 

First of all, the large blue tarp is put down to protect the carpet in the "chapel."   Then the ping pong table is put up.  A cloth is put on it and everyone pitches in and finishes the preparations on the food.

Ayaka is making a delicious drink.  She first put canned fruit into this large bowl, then filled it with Sprite.

Anticipation!  Everyone brings their bundles and puts them on the kitchen floor or in the fridge before church.   Many are packed with ice packs.   I love how they wrap up their bundles in a cloth.  That is the Japanese way.

Sister Hirayama made pizza with a crust made from rice.  It was really tasty.

I usually make an American dish of some kind and they enjoy tasting it.  This time I made penne with meat sauce. 

Brother Murayama is just starting to come back to church.  We love having him. 

I love sweet Sister Ikeda- the oldest active sister in the branch. 

Two young adult women are back home in Tsuruoka with their parents now.  They have been living in Tokyo, but have come back home to live.  We are so excited to have them in the branch.  Remi is holding our newest branch member- Amane kun, and Rezumi is on the right.  Their mom, Imi is on the left. 

This sweet little girl ( in the blue and white) is visiting from America.  Her mother is Japanese and she has come to stay with her mother's sister for a month.  She speaks fluent Japanese and English and can even read the kanji.  She is a member of our church, but her aunt and uncle are not.  But they bring her each week.  Can you imagine coming to Japan by yourself at age 11?  She even attends Japanese school each day.  Ayaka is fixing her bow. 

The prayer is said, so let the party begin!

Everyone reaches for what they want with chopsticks

Soup accompanies nearly every Japanese meal.  There is always soup.

Happy Father's Day!

My Concert

Is it even legal for a sixty year old to put on a concert?  Several months ago, Sister Shin Sato asked me to do a concert for a Relief Society activity in June.  Because I didn't bring any of my music with me, it was a little tricky.  But I used accompaniments I had in my ITunes and Michelle and Brian found music for me at my house and sent it.  This 'ol gray mare ain't what she used to be, but I think it turned out okay. 

I asked a friend to sing a duet with me.  It was a privilege to join my voice with hers in testifying that our Savior loves us.

We invited our friend, Kadowaki san from the Community Volunteer Center to come.  She and her daughter, Shiho san came.  That was so nice. 

After the concert, Shin and Fumi made okonomiyaki and tacoyaki for everyone for lunch.  It was a delightful time.  The best part of the whole day came as we were sitting around the table eating.  We mentioned that our daughter and her husband are planning to come and visit us next spring.  They all looked puzzled and one asked, "So you'll come back to Japan?"  "No," Ken said, "We'll still be here.  We don't go home until the end of May?"  There were squeals of  delight, rejoicing and happiness.  This was all in Japanese.  "What?  What's happening?"  Then Ken explained that they thought our mission was just a year and that we were going home in December.  When they found out it is a year and a half, they just exploded with happiness.  They have had missionary couples before in this little branch, but only Japanese couples, and they've only stayed for one year.  So they just assumed that is how long we are staying.  Oh, it is just so nice to be wanted!!

Happy 60th Birthday to Me!

Sixty?  Really?  That used to sound so old!  I had a great birthday.  In the morning, I had facetime calls from all my family!  It was fun to talk to all of the grandkids and their parents and hear their happy birthday renditions.  Something about getting on facetime makes kids go crazy!!!  We love our crazies and miss them like crazy!
We took time and went out to lunch at a special place that had all- you-can-eat sushi and other stuff.  It was delicious.

Being a chocolate girl, I surprised myself and tried several fruity sherbets for dessert.  This was actually Ken's bowl.  Mine was gone by the time I thought of a picture.

The eikaiwa students all signed a card for me.

Our next door neighbor made me this little decoration out of clay.  She speaks no English, but I had Ken ask her how she even knew it was my birthday.  They are not members of our church, but she has been bringing her granddaughters to our eikaiwa class at the church.  On the bulletin board at the church is a paper with our picture that tells our birthdays.  She took note and made this for me.

Miki Endo- my Japanese twin- gave me this beautiful strawberry cake.

I call Miki my twin because she was born the same year as me, just a few days after me.

This delicious oreo cake was made for me by good friend, Imi chan.  She is a fabulous cook.

Me with Imi chan.

I received several cards and notes, and gifts.

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Card from the branch FHE group

10 Things You Should Do Every Day

I recently read a list on the Internet of things you should do every day for good health and happiness.  I've thought a lot about those and added a few of my own.  I'm trying to make sure I do all of them each day.  I think it's a pretty good list.  Anything you would add? 
10 Things You Should Do Every Day
1. Get some sunshine
2. Get some fresh air
3. Eat Fruits and Vegetables
4. Drink plenty of water
5. Pray
6. Read the scriptures
7. Get exercise
8. Serve someone
9. Express love to someone/ hug someone
10. Get plenty of sleep

Kiss Your Countertops, People!!

Before we left on our mission, we went to visit a couple- the Hills- that lives in St. George (Bloomington) that served in this same mission.  Considering there are only five senior couple missionaries in the whole mission, it's quite remarkable that there was another couple from our little town.  They were most helpful in preparing us for what we would encounter.  She said, "Here's what you'll have in your kitchen: a fridge, a two-burner gas stove, a microwave oven that doubles as an oven,  a large sink, and a two-and-a-half foot countertop.  I wondered at the time how she could know what I would have.  When I got here, I found out.  EVERYBODY has the same thing.  EVERONE'S countertop is 2 1/2 feet.  Actually, the mission home has a large kitchen with a real oven, etc, but I'm sure it was custom designed.  But what we have is standard for a Japanese kitchen.  At home, it seems I (and so do you!) have miles of countertop space.  Here, the same little space has to be used to drain dishes and do all of the meal preparation-everything.  It is a constant challenge- especially with all of the baking and cooking I do.  So I guess the purpose of this post is to help you appreciate what you have.  Kiss your countertops and tell them thank you . . . for me!

Five Phrase We Should Say Often

I was studying Elder Steven E. Snow's talk from the last general conference.  He suggested five phrases that we should say often in our homes: " Think of all the heartache you can avoid by humbling yourself to say:
1) I'm sorry,
2) That was inconsiderate of me,
3) What would you like to do?
4) I just wasn't thinking,
5) I'm very proud of you. "

Great words that could make a difference in any home. 

Eating Our Way Through Midori's Menu

We had a goal: To eat our way through Midori's menu.  Midori's is a little restaurant in our neighborhood with delicious Japanese food.  It's really a home converted into a restaurant and is run by a group of ladies that we assume are all related.  They are cute and absolutely delighted when we come.  I think they feel honored to have foreigners come to the restaurant. They have a variety of favorite Japanese foods.

Katsu don may be my favorite thing I've had there.  Katsu don is a fried pork cutlet served over a bowl of rice with a special sauce with caramelized onions and eggs in it.  It is delicious. Served with Miso soup.

The tempura tower is the most impressive of their dishes- well that and the fried chicken.

They even tempura an egg- don't ask me how.

Oyako don buri (Chicken and egg and onions over rice)  It's the same as katsu don, but is chicken instead of pork.

Ramen noodles are a favorite in Japan.  In fact, there are ramen shops on every corner.  They are mostly only open for lunch.  The noodles are delicious.  They are topped by a variety of different things- you choose.

This is the fried chicken set to be consumed by Elder Luke Myers.  Now that's a lot of chicken!

This is the curry set

Elder Hansen had the tower of terror(it starts as the tower of tempura, but by the end you're calling it the tower of terror!)

Over the months we were making our way through the menu, and really quite enjoying the experiment.  Then one evening, we went to eat there and found this:

It says that Midori's is closed until further notice.  It was run by the same five delightful ladies all the time.  We enquired at the store across the street and found out that the owner is sick and in the hospital.  We don't know what kind of illness, but it must be serious.  It's been over a month now.   This place did a booming business.  The parking lot was always full.  The locals loved going there.  We are missing Midori's.  We are missing the sweet ladies there who always treated us so nice.  We hope she heals quickly!!!    And, of course we are missing the delicious, inexpensive, and authentic Japanese food.