Yoshihatchi Sushi

Japan is a sushi-lover's paradise.

Everywhere I go, there's an abundance of good, relatively inexpensive sushi.  (Even the convenience store sushi rolls are delicious.  You can't go wrong with a 300 yen bento box from Family Mart.)

Loren and I usually frequent the sushi restaurants near the Sunabe Seawall, such as Kouwa Sushi and Sushi Zen.  They're delicious, but they're usually packed with other Americans.  (It's nearly impossible to get away from other Americans on this island.)  So on Friday night, I was in a daring mood and wanted to try something truly authentic.

I did my research and memorized every possible Japanese restaurant-related phrase.  Kore o onegaishimasu.  ("I'll have that one, please.")  Osusume no ryouri wa nan desu ka?  ("What dish do you recommend?")  One of my coworkers suggested trying Yoshihatchi restaurant in Okinawa City.

Sure enough, the restaurant was a random hole-in-the-wall down a side street off of Highway 23.  Big red, white and blue Orion Beer lanterns swayed in the breeze outside the restaurant.  I felt hopeful -- this was going to be a genuine "Japanese experience."

Sorry for the low-qual photos -- I used my iPhone that evening.

 

It's a Jungle Out Here

Okay, let's start by addressing the giant elephant in the room; it's been an inexcusably long time since I've updated this blog.  (I'm not talking about a matter of a few weeks.  I didn't post at all in 2013.)

I think the main issue is that I didn't think that I had anything particularly interesting to post.  Life overseas in Japan, on a beautiful semi-tropical island, had become a bit mundane.  You live anywhere for an extended period of time, and I think you start to take everything for granted. 

It took a trip back to the United States in December to make me realize just how special Okinawa is.  (Sorry, no offense to my family back home.  The vacation was lovely, and the company was amazing, but it was COLD.) 

Cold enough for Dad and me to be wearing coats on a train.  Thanks, Illinois.

I came back to Okinawa with a renewed sense of wonderment.  Everything seemed new and exciting and different again. It's my goal to maintain that feeling of curiosity and awe for the remaining year and a half on the island.  Sometimes I need to stop and remind myself to look at everything through fresh eyes. 

Christmas, Oki-style!

To put it bluntly, this holiday season had the real potential to suck.

Let's be honest -- I'm in a foreign country, thousands of miles from family, and my husband is deployed.  It would be really easy to hunker down into hibernation mode, watch sappy movies and feel sorry for myself until Christmastime is over.  Luckily, I have a great set of friends, coworkers, neighbors, etc. who have been keeping me busy these last few weeks. 

One of those friends, Karin, invited me to the Okinawa Children's Zoo's "Christmas Fantasy" show last night.

Sorry for the blurry iPhone photos -- I forgot my camera at home

Getting Lost

One of the best parts about Okinawa is loading the dog in the car and just driving in any random direction.  There's something really liberating about getting lost and not caring about it.  (As opposed to getting lost when you actually need to BE somewhere, which is an entirely different situation ...)

After yoga this morning, Lucky and I headed up the coast.  We stopped along the side of the road at Cape Zampa and wandered around for a bit.

We've officially entered the drizzly, rainy season in Okinawa

Biker Rally, Japanese Style

For some reason, when I think of Okinawa, the image of a big biker rally isn't the first thing that comes to mind ...

Is that a marijuana leaf on the back of that blue bike?

Yet that's exactly where I found myself this afternoon.  Hundreds of motorcycles lined up along the street outside Kadena Gate 2 for day two of the Okinawa International Festival.

Thanksgiving

Hope everyone found fulfillment this Thanksgiving -- both in the stomach and the soul.

Moving around so much during the last 12 months has made me realize just how thankful I am to have a solid group of family and friends to keep me grounded.  Loren's still deployed, so this was the first Thanksgiving without him in five years.  I have some great neighbors who invited me over to their get-together, though, and we had a blast.

Here's a belated recipe to celebrate the holiday.  (Because, let's face it, those leftovers aren't going to last forever ... eventually, you're going to have to cook again.)  It's a paleo-friendly dish from over at the blog The Clothes Make the Girl.  (She has some other great recipes -- I highly recommend her site.)

Spicy Roasted Squash (serves 4)

-1 butternut squash, halved & seeds scraped out
-1 head of garlic
-1 T coconut oil
-2 T coconut milk
-1/4 t salt
-1 T ras el hanout (see directions below recipe)
-1 egg
-1/4 cup pecan halves

-Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

-Line a baking sheet with tin foil.  Place each half of the butternut squash cut-side down on the baking sheet.  Sprinkle a few drops of water around the squash.

-Peel away the papery skin on the outside of the head of garlic.  Wrap the head of garlic in tin foil and place on the baking sheet.

-Bake the squash and garlic for 45 minutes.

-Allow the squash and garlic to cool for about 20 minutes.

-Increase the oven's temperature to 400 degrees.

-Scrape the squash into a food processor.  Separate the garlic cloves and squeeze the roasted garlic into the food processor.  (Note: this is surprisingly fun.)

-Process the mixture into a smooth puree.  Add the coconut oil, coconut milk, salt and ras el hanout.

-Beat the egg in a small bowl.

-Scrape the squash mixture into a large bowl and add the egg, mixing until well-combined.

-Grease the inside of a baking dish with coconut oil.  Pour in the squash mixture and top with pecans.

-Bake 25-30 minutes.

Ras el Hanout

Mix the following together:

-2 t salt
-2 t cumin
-2 t ginger
-2 t black pepper
-1 1/2 t cinnamon
-1 t coriander
-1 t cayenne
-1 t allspice
-1/2 t cloves
-1/4 t nutmeg

Store in an air-tight container.  The recipe originally called for 2 T of ras el hanout, but it was pretty spicy.  I recommend cutting it back to 1 T.

Happy belated Thanksgiving!

Note:  Trying to do the 30 day primal challenge wasn't the best idea around the holidays.  I fell off that wagon pretty quickly.  But more info about that to come later ...

Sick Puppy

Sorry, I've been too busy exploring this beautiful island to post in a while.  I've been too immersed in the rich Okinawan culture to sit down and write about it.

Okay, that's a lie.  I think I venture off-base about once every two weeks.  (Not including treks to the dog-park, which is technically off-base, but still owned and operated by the U.S. Air Force.)  I promise to bring you more culturally-stimulating posts in the future.

Today I was forced to go outside of Kadena Air Base.  I woke up this morning to the sound of Lucky's stomach gurgling.  I thought a freight train was rumbling through the poor guy's intestines.  He refused to eat breakfast and skulked around the house lethargically all morning.  

"Mom, I don't feel very good today.  Can I stay home from school?"

We went for our usual noon walk around the neighborhood, and he stopped to do his business in someone else's yard.  However, it became apparent really quickly that something was terribly, terribly wrong with his digestive system.

The vet on Kadena Air Base is closed on the weekends, so I scheduled an emergency appointment at NOAH Animal Hospital off-base.  Luckily, the entire office staff spoke English and they were super-helpful.  Lucky's on antibiotics now, and he's already acting like his normal, energetic self.  Plus, they gave me his medicine in this cute little envelope.  How very Japanese.

The kittens have little cat-shaped space helmets!

The visit, fecal exam, steroid shot and medicine cost about 5800 yen, or $73.  Not dirt-cheap by any means, but it wasn't as much as I expected.  (I've been warned that everything -- car service, hospitals, vets, groceries, etc. -- is more expensive off-base.)  Hopefully Lucky's digestion will be back to normal in a bit, and he won't require further care.