Midori's Re-Opened!!!

We are happy to announce that Midori's reopened this month.  You may remember this post about our favorite restaurant here in Tsuruoka- Midori's.  They were closed because the owner was ill, but they reopened and are doing a booming business.  They used to be open for lunch and dinner, but now they are only open for lunch.  We tried to go on Friday for lunch, but they were too busy.  So we went on Saturday.  I had my favorite katsu don and Ken had his favorite- niku don. 

Their miso soup is particularly delicious.

Leaving with our "doggy bags."  Their portions are huge!

This is a Japanese style banner or announcement- this one announcing that they are open again.

Yea!

And I Love Her, Love Her, Love Her, Yes I Do!

Kristen sent us this precious video.  She heard her three-year-old Audrey singing and recorded her.  This is a little ditty I made up and used to sing to her mama (and her sisters) when they were little.  It made our hearts sing to know that the tradition is being passed on.

Snowmagedon

We like to check the weather here as well as where our family lives on a weather app.  For awhile there, Logan and Boise were getting so much snow, and then were so cold.  But then we had our turn.  It snowed and snowed and snowed and snowed.  Here are my screenshots of the weather in the four places one afternoon:

We had blizzard after blizzard . . . or maybe it was just one, big long one.  Even the locals said it was an unusually big storm.

Snow, wind, and cold!

Driving is scary in near white-out conditions.

We cross these tracks very often as they are close to our home.  It was very difficult to get across them for a few days because there was so much ice built up.  I was afraid we would get stuck on the tracks.

Ken paused to take a picture as he was beginning to dig us out.

This picture was taken after the big storm.  This is the beginning of the huge mountain of snow they create in a local  parking lot.  You have to put it all somewhere, so most business parking lots choose a corner and pile and pile it all winter.  This parking lot had the biggest mountain of all last year, and it looks like it is getting a good start on this year's.

And here is the start of the mountain they create in the vacant lot across from our apartment.

One day, on Tuesday of the big storm, Ken shoveled for hours.  He scoops it into this big scoop and deposits it across the street on the mountain of snow.  On that day he had over 25,000 steps on his step counter and over 9 miles.  That's just the steps.  That doesn't count the digging, scooping, bending, and hauling.  The steps are the easy part!  After a few hours, though it was cold,  he shed his coat and hat and scarf.

We were blessed to travel over the mountain on a relatively clear day with mostly dry roads.  But I wanted to show the blue line they paint on the sides of the snow along the road.  It's purpose is to guide during white-out conditions.

I like to take pictures from inside the warm house from the window!

Yesterday morning, we were literally snowed in.  The city's snow removal crew was working on our area.  They made huge walls of snow as they scraped the streets.  We couldn't go right. . .

Or left. 

We just waited and finally they cleared it and we got out!

Here's the mountain across from our house.  It is even bigger than this now.

I should title this post Snowmagedon 1 as I'm sure there will be more.  We hope we survive the winter!!

O Little Town of Bethlehem

One of the numbers from our Christmas program was this special number by two sisters that we love dearly.  We helped the one on the left come back into activity earlier in the year.  I simply can't tell you how much we love her. They were so nervous, but did a beautiful job.  This was the rehearsal the day before. 

Relief Society Luncheon- in a Blizzard

A tradition in this branch's Relief Society is to go out to lunch together in January at a local restaurant.  Many of the sisters look forward to this annual outing.  Last year, we went to a sushi restaurant.  This year, the plan was to go to a traditional Japanese restaurant.  But I didn't know that.  It is all discussed in Japanese, and all I get is the date and time.  If I had known, we may not have gone- for reasons I'll explain.
When we woke up and looked out the window, this is what we saw.  We were in the middle of a huge blizzard.

We all met at the church.  Then we drove out to the home-turned-restaurant- in a horrible blizzard.

It was near white-out conditions.

We had Sister Hirayama and Ritzu with us.

When we got there and inside (out of the blizzard) was when I learned what kind of restaurant it was and that I would need to remove my boots.  Taking them off isn't too bad, but getting them back on is really hard- and I need to sit down to do it.  Ahhh!  Well, when in Rome . . . so I took them off.

Then we went in and found that it was the low tables where everyone sits on cushions on the floor.  I can't do that.  They did find a very low chair for me, but that provided no comfort because it was so low.  I was miserable.  Ken suggested he could go out and get the folding chair we always carry in our trunk for when we have this kind of situation in homes.  It was embarrassing, but I finally agreed that would be best.  So he went and got the chair.  It was so much more comfortable.  The sisters were so nice and got me cushions to make that folding chair more comfortable.  These are kind, good people. I was embarrassed, but they were so nice that it was almost worth it.  Many of the sisters sat there the entire hour and a half seza style- with their knees folded under them.  I was in awe they could do that.  But they've done it their whole lives and it is comfortable to them. 

The meal was very traditional Japanese food: Soup, rice, pickled turnip, fish egg salad, Japanese vegetable salad, and grilled fish with mugicha (a bitter hot drink made from wheat)  to drink.

Some had marinated beef instead of the fish.

It was a very old, traditional Japanese home with the paper walls and ancient furnishings.  It was indeed a cultural experience. 
After we ate, I asked everyone to tell us their favorite food.  That was such an interesting discussion as we learned about each sisters' likes.  They said things like tempura, fried meat, spring rolls, soup, and just rice.  Japanese people love rice- rice with skemono (any vegetable pickled- like shown above, a pickled turnip.) And that is good.  The rice here is very tasty and delicious.  I loved that everyone participated in the discussion- and that Ken interpreted it for me!
After it was over, I was blessed to get my boots on without too much trouble.  I worried through the whole meal, but ended up doing just fine. 

I took a couple of pictures out in front of the restaurant.

If you look closely, you can see birds up in the rafters in the building next to the restaurant during the blizzard. 

It had snowed a lot while we were inside, so all of the cars had to be dug out and cleaned. 
So though it caused some embarrassment, I was glad we went.  The sisters are all special friends and they are good to invite Elder Hinton along to help with the language (and I think they like him.)  We were grateful to make it home safely.  We spent the rest of the day holed up inside our cozy, pretty warm apartment.