UGH!!! It is so humid!

Ok....seriously....October is around the corner and I wouldn't know it by going outside. It is soooo humid here! That whole refreshing fall weather is just a dream. The other day the taxi driver proudly said that the weather lately must be similar to Canada. I laughed a little and said....ummm....I don't remember sweating this time of year in Canada!

I have to say that I often feel like it is only me that really feels this weather. Japanese are already dressing as if it were in fact fall....ok....maybe it is on a calender but not in terms of temperature. It was about 27 Celsius plus 80% humidity...how could wearing a turtleneck sweater be comfortable?!

Ok...I will stop complaining about the weather.

The other week I was talking to my student about how much I missed spaghetti squash. My hubby and I had eaten it in Canada and we both missed it a lot. At first she didn't know what I was talking about and then she figured out that I meant "somen uri". "Somen" are thin white noodles eaten mostly in summer so we call it "spaghetti" and they call it "Somen". Anyway, she said she had only eaten it once in her life and it was a long time ago and she didn't really like it. She had eaten it boiled with "ponzu" which is a tart citrus sauce (I am pretty sure I wouldn't have liked it that way either). So I told her how I cooked it....roasted in the oven with butter and salt and pepper. She said it sounded interesting. Well, last Wednesday she came bearing gifts! She found 2 small spaghetti squash for only 100yen (about $1) each at a vegetable stand. Apparently, they aren't very popular so not many farmers grow them. She bought 2 for me and 1 for her. She cooked it the way I had told her and she loved it! Tonight I cooked mine and was in heaven!

Yesterday I worked my butt off doing some work on our http://www.from-japan-with-love.com/ store. We now offer gift certificates! I have had many customers ask for them but we weren't able to do it until I did some things to the site. Anyway, we now offer them in $25, $35, $50, $75 and $100. Here is what I made for our site yesterday. They are emailed out but I wanted a pretty graphic for the site.

I state that I email it out within 3 business days. But I was thinking about stating that I could send the email with the gift certificate code in it to the buyer if they wanted to print it out and send it in a card. It won't be pretty like this but rather it will have all the info on where (my store), how to use it, the code etc. Hmmm...maybe I could work on making a pretty one for people to print off themselves. Any thoughts?

I LOVE this commercial!

I love this commercial. The music is such a perfect match for the car! I have no idea what language this song is in but it makes me smile every time I hear it. Sadly, the car is WAY too small for us. I watched another video that said that a 190 cm person can sit in the back behind a 190 cm person in the front. I guess, since Futoshi is 197cm we would have to cut a hole in the roof!

I'm in LOVE!!!! Mameshiba Bentos!

The other day honey and I went into town and I had to go to the bookstore for my job. While we were passing this one section they had a display of mameshiba items. And I saw this bento book and fell in love! If I had a kid I would totally make these!!! How can anyone not love them? These are just a few of the pictures that are in the book.

I bought the book to sell but I'm not sure as the recipes are all in Japanese. The pictures are amazing though and certainly would inspire people. Any thoughts?

Need a chuckle?

This was so funny I just had to share!

The other day we did the laundry and it was a nice day so we decided to hang it out to dry. Because it is still really warm/humid in the day time and we get the afternoon sun, we have had our typhoon shutters (the metal type that roll up and down) closed to keep me from baking while on the computer. So, in order to hang up the laundry, we have to roll it up... only that day, honey didn't roll it up all the way (don't ask me why) and he had to kind of crawl under it. After he was outside I rolled it up all the way and I could see him swatting frantically at his face. He said to me "there was a small alligator on my face!!". Of course I had no idea what he was talking about. He sees my confusion and realizes that "alligator" is the wrong word so instead he says quickly "there was a wizard on my face.....a WIZARD!!". Now at this point I'm bent right over I'm laughing so hard....seeing him swatting his face yelling that a wizard is on his face! Seeing me laugh he knew he has made a mistake and finally I told him "lizard"...or rather it was probably a gecko. So now every time I see one I say to my honey..."look at the wizard!".

Oh and here are some pics of a very interesting thing I saw the other night. The pics aren't great as I was trying not to be too obvious and it was at night but it was the first time I saw a mini van that had video screens on the back of each head rest!! Can you see them? It sure would stop kids from asking "are we there yet?!"

More Great News!

I found out yesterday that our store was mentioned in a New York Times article about Bentos! We are mentioned in the "where to get bento boxes and supplies" section on page 2 of the article.

It has been a great week (even though I was sick with a bad cold!!)!!

Enjoy reading!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/dining/09bento.html?_r=1&em

Big News!!!!

Well....we got a great thing in the mail today! It was the October 2009 edition of the Ladies' Home Journal! Now you might be wondering why this is a great thing....well...it is because one of our products was featured (pg 152) with, of course, the link to our store!!!! Check it out!

We cropped the picture because above it is a recipe and I just wasn't sure about copyright etc so I played it safe. This is so exciting! We were contacted months ago about our sponges and we emailed back and forth and I sent in 2 for them to see and then we didn't hear anything so I just thought it wasn't going to happen especially since we are located in Japan but I was wrong! I don't think I have ever been so happy to be wrong about something!

In other news.... we are caught up with orders, in the process of restocking and I'm trying to deal with the weather. EVERY September I get frustrated. You would think that after 11 years here I would be used to it but NO! Every day, in September, I open the door to go outside and my body is expecting a rush of cool fall air. What I am greeted with is a rush of hot wet crappy air! And the nights are no better!!! All my students talk about how the nights are cooler....oh yeah...except for that humid wet air that makes it feel much hotter than it is! Forgive me for the rant but I am so over this weather....where are you fall??!!