Merry Christmas

I know that we are a little late, but we wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas! Although we were not able to be with our families in person, we were with you all in spirit. We had a very memorable and warm Christmas. Here's a little something to show you our first Christmas in Okinawa.



Sorry there aren't more pictures from Christmas Day - we spent most of it on the phone!

Tonight is New Year's Eve in Okinawa. Happy New Year to all!

My Sweet Wife

I noticed that Linds has been putting up pictures of me but you haven't seen her for awhile. Lindsay has been in particularly good form the last several months, and some of my favorite pictures of her on our island explorations follow.






































Also, due to gentle criticism regarding a shortage of photos with both of us (this one's for you, Kate!) we give you this picture.
















As we prepare for our first Christmas so very far away from dear family and friends, we hold you close in our thoughts. A very merry Christmas to you all, and may 2010 be filled with love, the blessing of good hard work and its rewards, and joy!

Getting ready for Christmas and other things

I'm sorry I've been a little distracted lately! We've both been getting ready for Christmas for the last two weeks -- mostly me with baking!


Last week, Joe had a day off and helped me prepare for Wigilia (traditional Polish Christmas Eve dinner) by making pierogi. Pierogi are a little crescent-shaped bundles of joy. :) It's a sour cream dough filled with potatoes and/or cheese (if you're fancy like my grandma, you could do sauerkraut or prunes). You first roll out the dough, and cut out little circles. After filling the circle, you fold it in half and press the edges together.

We forgot to take a picture of all the steps (as you can tell). Once they're pinched you boil them in water. You could eat them now, but what fun would that be? Of course the Polish think that frying their pierogi is a best next step :)

Delicious! We've got them in the freezer, ready to go for Christmas Eve. Add a little sour cream and a sledgie, and you're all set!

The weather here has cooled off considerably since we got here in July. We're not quite at a white Christmas, but it is cool enough to wear pants and sweaters and try a hot beverage...

Remember the vending machine post? Well not only to vending machines vend cold cokes and teas, but hot green teas as well! This was great! It was a hot green tea, it a little metal can.

Joe, the Navy Dentist

Some of you have asked for a picture of Joe all Navy-ed up. Last Friday, he had a dress uniform inspection. Here he is in his dress blues:


In regards to Joe's dentistry, he recently inherited this office space. The clinic he was assigned to is undergoing renovations for the next year. So, Evans Dental Clinic is now in a temporary facility (the barracks). Joe was lucky enough to snag this little office. His window looks out to the East China Sea.

Thanksgiving

I know I'm a little late in posting this -- it's been a busy week! I was baking, baking, baking Christmas cookies and getting ready for my preschool program.

Joe and I had a lovely Thanksgiving! We cooked our own Butterball Turkey... ...with the help of Joe's birthday gift from Mom & Dad Szwed.

Unlike many of my Thanksgivings growing up, I just let Joe carve the bird (and ate a little that fell off).

We had one other dinner guest, Chun. He's one of the dentists that works with Joe.

We even talked him into playing our new favorite game, Carcassonne (thanks Colleen & TJ!)

And of course, no Thanksgiving would be complete without:

Pecan Pie

Christmas Vacation (kind of weird to watch with the ocean right there)

and Pumpkin pie with fresh whipped cream!

Sushi with the Farrands

Right before Thanksgiving we had the Farrand's over for some sushi-making. The Farrand's are friends of Joe's family, back in Indianapolis. So, we all went to the Awase Fish Market to find some sashimi fish and came back to our apartment for some sushi making!

We had vegetable rolls....

Some octopus sashimi and salmon and tuna nigiri.

We also made spicy tuna rolls....

Those turned out wonderfully!

We all had a great time and no one left hungry!

Missing Rock Bottom

The weather has started to get cooler here, which in turn makes us miss certain things from home. One of our favorite activities in Indiana (in the fall) was to walk to the Rock Bottom Restaurant by our apartment in the evening. On a Thursday night we would order a pint of the Double Barrel Pale Ale, have some Spicy Spinach dip & pretzels and a bunch of $.25 Stout BBQ wings. Those were the days.



Anyways, we were able to find some Sam Adams Octoberfest beer, so we thought we might try to re-create the Rock Bottom experience! Unfortunately, the only thing that came out well, were the pretzels!

At any rate, we had fun in the kitchen :)

Yakiniku

One of the "road signs" on the way to our apartment is a Yakiniku restaurant. Yakiniku is the Japanese version of Korean BBQ. (Meaning that you grill your food on your table).


The Yakiniku restaurant by us has a LARGE gorilla out front. Neither Joe or I are sure why exactly, but it makes for a great direction: "When you pass the giant gorilla, turn left!"

Anyways, we went last Sunday and it was pretty good. I think I prefer the Korean BBQ better, but this was an experience. For a set price you get appetizers, drinks, meat, veggies and dessert. It was kind of like a Japanese Ponderosa. There were tons of kids in their sports uniforms and families. I guess it was the place to go after the game!

Farmer's Market

There is a local Farmer's Market in Awase. Joe and I tend to go there multiple times a week for fresh vegetables and fruit. Here's a couple of photos. (We aren't sure how to ask in Japanese if we can take a picture -- I guess locals don't like having their picture taken).
We mostly buy vegetables (lettuce, spinach, cucumber, peppers, garlic, onion, potato, tomato, green onion etc.). Lately there have been some great fruit deals - a bagful of clementines for about 240 yen!

Rainbows at White Beach

After we had Spicy Tantan last week, Joe and I decided to go to White Beach to check out the many ships in Nakagusuku Bay.
I think we counted 16 total!

We were then distracted by a beautiful sunset. The water is no longer like a warm bath -- it's cold! Well, it's probably what an outdoor pool feels like in the Midwest's Summertime. But my internal temperature is all mixed up now!

Joe is so very observant! He's the one that noticed this rainbow. It was hard to capture in the picture, but you can almost see the second rainbow to the right.

Spicy Tantan

During the Veteran's Day holiday Joe and I decided to try some new food (well, new to me). He took me to "Spicy Tantan" on 58. I don't know if the restaurant's name is actually "Spicy Tantan", but that's what Joe and his dental pals call it.

Spicy Tantan is actually a ramen noodle dish. This is Joe's lunch - Super Spicy Tantan.

I had the Spicy Tantan. It has ramen noodles, bean sprouts, ground beef, green onion and a spicy, creamy, meaty broth. It's very good!

This was the first restaurant where we got a "soup" spoon to eat with.

Of course, you can still drink you soup right out of the bowl!

Shuri (Syuri) Castle

On Veterans' Day, Joe and I decided to make our first foray down into Naha. Our morning was spent at Shuri Castle. You may have seen our earlier post about Nakagusuku and the ruins there. Well, Shuri has been restored and was the chief gusuku (castle) of the Ryukyu Kingdom. This was one of our most interesting exposures to local culture since we've arrived.

The grounds outside the castle are lovely.



As with most of these Castles, there are several tiers and gates for each one. This is the outermost gate.



On the second inner-most tier (where they have the ticket booth to gain access to the castle itself), they had a series of different Ryukyu dancers performing to recorded music.

In this video clip you're hearing the sanshin (stringed instrument similar to a guitar and precursor to the shamisen of mainland Japan), and the sanba (the castinet-like instrument the dancer is holding in her hands).

The grounds around the castle are free, it's 800 yen to get into the castle itself. This is the inner courtyard. They're doing a little work on the main complex here.

This is the throne.

After our time at Shuri, we went from the ancient to the modern and visited Kokusai Street in downtown Naha. This is a street known for all its shops and street vendors. We found a great little spot for lunch:

I know this is way off the mark, but with its dark, cozy interior it kindof reminded us of a pub in Scotland!

I had stewed pork rib meat, and Joe had a cut of pork boiled in a marinade of soy sauce, sugar, sweet sake, and salt that was to die for. Afterwards, we noticed that everyone left their business cards all over the walls of the restaurant, so we asked the proprietor if it was okay and we left my card! You should be able to click and enlarge to find it among all the other Japanese ones.

On our way back to the car, we indulged in a little American-ness and stopped at... Starbucks! Yes, they're over here too, and we fed the monster. Nothing like sipping an iced vanilla latte while Jingle Bell Rock is playing in early November... in a tropical island in Japan! I'm so confused.