Nothing too earth-shattering to report...
Sunday we woke up to a beautiful winter wonderland! The roads to Yamanashi (for church) looked (according to the internet) like they were going to close anytime, so we decided to have church at the Klaus house. It was a good thing we left early to pick up Li-san, our dear Chinese friend, because we could hardly make it out of our parking spot. Akihiro started driving first and the wheels were really spinning. We had about 3 inches of snow at that time and it was tough for our non-snow tires! Finally we made it out after a bit of a push from me. Then we had to make the rather tight turn off of our "street". We were pretty well stuck and Akihiro thought we should give up on going, but I insisted that if he would just gun it a bit, we would be ok. As we are driving his brother's car, we were a bit nervous, but I agreed to give it a try myself while Akihiro scoped out the larger roads just down the street. Ah..just what we needed--an experienced Illinois snow driver! I got up some momentum and went fishtailing down our narrow street to pick up Akihiro. I was a bit proud of myself! We had a nice service and then ate rice balls around their table before returning home for a relaxing afternoon and evening at home. Akihiro is busy studying bookkeeping for an accounting test he will take this month.
Yesterday I went to visit one of my friends from Tokyo church. She taught me how to make Japanese hambagu--that's Japanese for hamburger! It is a lot like meatloaf--lots of onions mixed in with bread crumbs, egg, and garlic. They were yummy! She also tried to help me learn how to make a Japanese omlet--you put eggs, sugar and fish broth together and keep frying thin layers and rolling them all together. I know the fish broth sounds kinda funny, but these omlets were also very delicious! I hope me and my rectangular shaped fry pan can do the same at home!
Another food we have been eating lately is ojiya. I boil some seaweed broth and add cooked rice and onions and boil that until it is soupy--then add a beaten egg and stir. It is like a rice pudding, maybe. We put a bit of a citrus (yuzu) soy sauce on it and eat it for breakfast. This morning when we were eating it, Akihiro again commented on how much better this is than oatmeal. Why would anyone want to eat oatmeal, when there is rice? (I guess the answer is...perhaps only if they are Japanese!)
I'm also enjoying a treat from America that Akihiro does really like! I bought a bread machine and have been turning out some quite tasty morsels of honey wheat bread! We can't hardly find wheat bread anywhere here, so it is a real treat!