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??!!

We're Back!

Well....we made it back...and just a warning...this will be a long post!

In my last post I said that I was jet lagged....turned out I was wrong! For the first time I wasn't jet lagged! I did get up early but I never crashed! As I stated though, my honey was hit hard by it! But now that we are home, we are both jet lagged! I got up at 5 am and can barely keep my eyes open at 7pm. I keep looking at the clock thinking it must be late and it is only 1 pm!

Well...the trip was fabulous!! We did lots but also had lots of down time. We ate many things that were on our list....subway subs, whoppers -both on hubby's list-Chinese food, Vietnamese food, barbecues etc. I was SHOCKED at the size of the food!!! And whenever I said that everyone said "it is worse in the States". Seriously, how do people eat that much?! At many restaurants, hubby and I would share 2 appetizers and that was all we could handle! Hubby took MANY pics of food to show people.....here are 2 that were very delicious! The hamburger was a specialty at one place we went.

Hubby really enjoyed trying some Canadian beer....here is a pic of him ...um...very...happy! This pic is of my hubby and my student who now lives in Cambridge Ontario and works at Toyota.

Here are some pics of my student's kids....so cute!!! When we were at the restaurant together and I was speaking Japanese...boy did we get looks and lots of questions!

We went to Niagara Falls....it was the first time I have ever gotten absolutely soaked from the mist...it was terrible but fun at the same time!

We also went to the casino and it was a first for both of us and I won $25!! Woohoo!
Then we went up to my mom's house in Southampton. I LOVE it there! Here are some pics.



Here are some pics of the main street.

While at mom's we barbecued, went to see the windmill farms and sat in the hot tub! One night it was perfect-58 degrees out-perfect for the hot tub and while we were in it there was a meteor shower!! Don't have pics of that but here are some others.

OH and I fell in love with my mom's little dog. I am NOT an animal person but she melts my heart...especially when she danced for me!!

When we went back to my dad's for the last day we went to a restaurant where they asked us if we were celebrating something due to all the picture taking and when we told our waitress that it was my hubby's first time in Canada she devised a plan. She came out and announced to everyone that it was his first time here and they made him wear moose antlers and gave him free ice cream. He was soooo happy. Oh and they made him where the moose antlers because the restaurant is called Moose Winooski's - a Canadian restaurant.

We took over 1000 pics! Basically my honey was in charge of the camera and he took pics of things I would never have but he had a great time and he kept telling me " you married Japanese....deal with it". But I did take some pictures for my students...pics of the supermarket and food they have never seen, great deals on fruit etc. It was fun!

I have to say that for the first time, I didn't want to come back to Japan. I really enjoyed being there not just with my family but I LOVE Southampton so much! And, I knew the weather would be crappy here in Japan and sure enough, once we got to Tokyo all we did was sweat!

Being away and taking a break was a great thing. We have some new ideas and feel refreshed and ready to go....well....once we get over the jet lag!

Hi From Canada!!

As they say in Canada...good morning eh! We are here!! You might be wondering why I am blogging but I will tell you....jet lag!!! I am up at 6 am and frankly,....there isn't a lot to do at this time!!
So...the flight was ok but I learned just how broad my hubby's shoulders are because man he took up space on the plane!! I also learned that American airlines has better food then Air Canada. And...I still can't sleep on airplanes!

When we got off the plane I basically wanted to claw my eyes out as they were stinging so much! My hubby met my dad and they hit it off!!! We went to Guelph (from Toronto) to my favorite Chinese restaurant and it was sooooo fabulous!!! My dad's girlfriend and her daughter met us there and we had so much fun because they not only did they hit it off with my hubby but they also love his cute English as much as I do!

So that night, we basically crashed when we got home but we could only sleep for 5 hours. We got up at 5 something and frankly, I was ok all day but hubby wasn't. Jet lag hit him hard. We had to go out as I had a dentist appointment and an eye doctor appointment but he didn't make it. At the dentist, he fell asleep in the waiting room which I told him was fine given that he was exhausted but he knows that we basically don't sleep in public (totally opposite of Japanese as they can and do sleep anywhere). After the dentist we went to burger king and he ate a whopper...he was so happy to eat it but basically fell asleep while eating his fries. So, we took him home before I went to my eye doctor. He crashed and slept for 14 hours.

I went shopping!! I totally forgot how high Ontario sales tax is....15%!! But I LOVED going to the supermarket where the cheese section is huge (unlike in Japan where there options of shredded cheese is "pizza cheese" or "sandwich cheese")! I took pictures of some food and other products to show my Japanese friends/students. I was just so happy!!

The weather is FABULOUS and actually my honey thought it was a bit cold! I am so happy not to start sweating as soon as you open the door!

My hubby is in love with my dad's HUGE flat screen TV which is in the newly renovated basement where we are staying. It is huge and there are so many sports channels so basically he is in heaven!!

I have been speaking Japanese automatically which causes some looks and lots of questions. I also looked stupid because I got confused by things like...they pack the groceries and I had started to do it. I drew a blank looking at the money and trying to figure it out because it changed again and the coins are so small! I am surprised by how friendly people are here and how they joke with you. At burger king I asked if I could change something and the lady looked at me and send "no" and then winked! Another worker at burger king just started talking to us about stuff. At Second Cup (like Starbucks) some customer started telling us how delicious something was. People just talk to you here!! I forgot about that as that NEVER happens in Japan. They are polite but just do their job with no chatting or joking. It is also weird that I can understand EVERYTHING but hubby can't. I am also shocked by the fact that everyone looks different. I know that sounds weird but honestly....I am used to seeing black hair and most people are around the same height and size etc but...here you see everything...counter culture shock...it hits me every time I come back!

Well...hubby is hungry as he missed dinner last night so I'm off for now!

We are off to Canada!!

Well...tomorrow we are off to Canada!! It is our first real vacation (IE...not in Japan) together ever and our first vacation since we opened our business. We are both excited and nervous. We have been so busy this last week or so which is why I haven't blogged.

We have decided to keep our stores open but posted lots of notices about it and we will have computer access while away so I will be in touch with people but we really didn't want to close our shops. Little nervous about this but hopefully all will be good.

I shopped for "omiyage" (souvenirs) and bought a ton of snacks, sweets, tea etc. We are also bringing green tea so we can make it and bottle it to take with us when we go out. Neither of really drink sweet drinks so the idea of only have water as an option when we need a drink from a store doesn't really appeal to us. I remember the last time I went home and went to a 7-11 and the choices were pop, juice, milk, flavored milk, water, sweet iced teas etc. Perhaps it has changed in my dad's area but I doubt it and my mom's area is even smaller so there is no hope there.

I am so excited to go to my favorite Chinese restaurant in Guelph (Ontario), my favourite Vietnamese restaurant in Cambridge (Ontario) and my honey is dying to eat a sub from Subway and a whopper! We will also go see my university. http://www.uoguelph.ca/ and maybe go to Niagara Falls as all Japanese consider it a must if you are within travelling distance...the problem with that is that it is supposed to rain on Saturday and that is the only day we can go. Of course we will go SHOPPING!!! Both of us are excited by that! My honey is 6ft5inches so finding clothes and shoes is almost impossible here so we will buying him lots of things!

I am taking my new cell phone...I really wanted to blog about it before but didn't have a chance. What can I say... I LOVE this ketai (cell phone). I get great TV reception and by using a 4GB micro SD I can record up to 24 hours of TV so.....on Sunday, I recorded my favorite TV show "before after" ...the home reform show so my parents can watch it! I am so excited. This phone, if I were to buy it outright would cost about $900 but in Japan most people don't do that but rather pay a monthly fee and sign a 2 year contract (which at the end, the phone is yours and you don't pay anywhere near that amount). I am also happy because this phone has an 8.1 M pixel camera so I can take even better pics for my blog! I can also surf the web, make video phone calls, play games, listen to music (but I have a great ipod for that). And I can use this phone in Canada! I was imagining try to find a pay phone to call a taxi but now I don't have to! I know there are more great features, but totally can't think of them now.

Here is a video about it from youtube....

I might tweet sometimes while in Canada but for now...gotta go finish packing!