In case of emergency

In Mr X's hotel these signs are posted up on the balconies between rooms. Apparently in Japan, if there's an emergency and you need to escape quickly, you really ARE supposed to karate chop your way to safety.

To Market, To Market

Here are some random shots from Mr X's ventures out and about. The first is from the local market. The second is a photo of the local beach. Mr X reports that it's always this crowded.

Ready for some home cookin'

As most of you know, I love pictures of food. So before Mr X left I instructed him to be sure to take lots of food pictures for me. He's done a great job with it too. This first picture is one of his more recent meals. He wasn't pleased at all when they placed this feast before him:



The next picture is another memorable meal. I've included an excerpt from Mr X's email describing it:

"I ate lunch at the Latin Oasis. They have tacos on the menu and their special is taco rice. You would think it's a taco with rice on the side. Nope - a bed of lettuce, a pile of rice, little bit of meat, a couple of beans and some crushed chips."

I think the crushed chip looks like a Dorito rather than a regular corn chip.

The next picture is from a shopping excursion. Here's what Mr X had to say about that:


"I stopped by the store in the neighborhood. The glasses in my room are too small. I wanted a big giant cup I could fill with ice and water but they only sell tiny little glasses for the tiny little people. So I bought a couple of beverages. CC Lemon Zero. It's 'the new zero calorie refreshment with a plentiful of vitamin c'. That's what it says on the bottle. It tastes like lemonade that never got stirred up."

Then I challenged Mr X to quit with the disappointing restaurants and go to the store and find himself something a little more palatable. This is what he came back with:

Teriyaki Chicken with plain white rice. (Slightly boring, right? But probably decent to Mr X.) And below we have "Apple Pie" from a french bakery. He said it was more custard-y and didn't taste quite right.

Presenting Owen Tucker

This is a severely belated (my fault) photo of my newest nephew, a Mr Owen. He was born back at the end of June. He's having a nice sit with his big brother, Jack.

My Handiwork!

Check this sweet picture out:





That's the hat I painstakingly made and gave to my SIL for the arrival of her new son. It didn't fit at the time but it sort of does now. Look at it - it doesn't even cover the poor tyke's ears. Good thing it's August and he doesn't need to be bundled up. By the time his little noggin' needs to be kept warm the hat will probably fit him like a yarmulke. Oh well, I tried. Thanks so much for sending me this adorable picture, Nicole. It made me smile.

Wicked

This past weekend a girlfriend of mine took me for a night out to see the play Wicked. I had a wonderful time and thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you, H, for a delightful evening out. My verdict? The play is better than the book, hands down. (But I still like Phantom more.) You can go here if you want to see pictures.

Snorkeling

Recently Mr X decided to go on a snorkeling adventure in Japan. I'm not sure exactly where he went, but the views were beautiful and he had a really nice time. This was the day before the Typhoon hit, actually. He said he saw all sorts of sea creatures - lots of different fish, lobster and plenty of creepy looking eels. The water was cold but not cold enough that Mr X needed a wetsuit, but he was pretty chilled after swimming around for two hours. But the Japanese think of everything so they had these old boats that had been converted into hot baths for all of the shivering bodies to enjoy. Mr X climbed into the boat to warm up with everybody else. He said it was really nice until he warmed up enough to think properly. Then he came to the conclusion that sitting in a big giant boat/tub full of strangers was kind of gross. So he got out.

On the way to and from the snorkeling spot Mr X captured breathtaking views of Mt Fuji:

Cheese Glorious Cheese!

One day, way back in June Mrs Nye called me and asked if Mr X and I'd like to come over for a Cheese Party the next weekend. I immediately thrust my microwaved mug of low-fat part-skim Mozzarella aside and enthusiastically said "Yes!" (Okay, maybe I didn't actually have a steaming mug of cheese in my hand when she called, but the chances are good that her call interrupted me while daydreaming about cheese.)

Each couple was to bring two different types of cheese of their choice, preferably of the stinky variety, along with some sort of salami-type meat. Mrs Nye baked some incredibly delicious European style bread and I brought some fruit so we wouldn't get rickets. (Mrs Nye also improvised with some tasty olives because she's just good like that.) The result is what you see below and I believe it to have been one of my favorite meals of the year so far. I'm sure that doesn't surprise you since my idea of a tasty indulgence is a a mug of melted cheese with some sort of chocolate chaser.

My point to this post? Go have a Cheese Party...you won't regret it, trust me.

Another one...

Mr X was in yet another earthquake yesterday. This time it was a 6.5 magnitude quake. Still large enough to cause damage and kill people - at least that's what I heard on the news this morning on my way into work.

Check it out

Go check out this picture and then come back here and tell me what you think of it. I think it's pretty gross. Why would a grown woman who should know better take it that far? I wonder what her kids think when they look at her.

Not calm or collected

When Mr X first got to Japan, I saw news articles about the unusually high amount of rain in that area which was resulting in massive and deadly mudslides. I wasn’t happy to hear this. Then I relaxed some as the days and weeks progressed. Then Mr X called me this weekend to report that he had just been through the largest earthquake of his life. It was a magnitude 7.1. That’s pretty big. I don’t think I’ve ever experience any that were over 5.0 here and those were scary enough. I guess the last earthquake that Japan had was a 7.2 and it resulted in a lot of deaths and destruction. Mr X assured me that he was safe and sound, though he definitely felt the quake since he’s on the 13th floor of a hotel. He said the whole building was swaying back and forth and that it lasted a long time. That was Sunday night (for him). Then Monday Typhoon Etau hit Japan and so far it has caused 13 deaths and 20 people are missing. Oh and it initiated another slew of mudslides again. I DO NOT like this one bit. I want Mr X to come home NOW. Okay, maybe not now – but just as soon as the typhoon has passed over completely and the skies are calm again.

Dining Options

Mr X has run into some interesting places to dine while out and about in Japan:

This place wasn't open when Mr X encountered it so I can't report to you what the Japanese version of a pie is like.

This place also wasn't open. Mr X wanted to see what what served at an Amish restaurant in Japan. The menu was posted, but unfortunately that doesn't really help Mr X out much.

You would think that with a name like "Lasagna Cafe" this would be an Italian restaurant, but you would be wrong.

Japanese Landscaping

These are my some of my favorite pictures the Mr X has sent back from Japan. I just love the beautifully manicured landscaping and the lush green of it all:

Buddhist Temples

This past weekend Mr X hopped a few trains/buses and did some exploring. He visited several Buddhist temples and had a nice time checking different areas of Japan. He visited the Hase Temple as well as the Kōtoku-in Temple in Kamakura and the Kenchoji Temple. Here are some of his pictures:

(That green thing in the front is a watermelon tied up in rope, in case you were wondering.)

(This is the Great Buddha. It's over 13 meters high, so almost 44 feet tall.)

(That's more fruit as offering/gifts below the enormous Buddha. The orange things are grapefruit.)

(This was a tiny cave with Buddha carved into (among other things) and people would buy the tiny little Buddha statues and put them in there. Mr X says the cave was very short - even the Japanese people had to hunch over to go inside.)

Mr X's digs

This is Mr X's hotel room door. It's very 'apartment-like' to me. Mr X, who is just shy of 6 feet tall, reports that were he any taller at all, he would have to duck to walk through the doorway.

The hotel has some special 'health observations' for their patrons. They don't really make much sense but that's why I enjoy them so much.

This is the view from Mr X's room:

Just a typical alleyway nearby:

This little food stand is one of the places where Mr X actually enjoys eating. But he's not getting the skewers of intestines or pork livers or chicken tails (what exactly is that anyway?). He's just getting the more standard skewers of straight up chicken and pork and those are pretty tasty.