As Promised: Something About Beer Machines

The Japanese appear to like their beer. But perhaps no more so than any other beverage. They just happen to be very ingenious as well. In fact, anytime you're driving along in what feels like a remote, deserted part of Japan you're likely to find a vending machine on the side of the road within any 2-mile radius. There may be nothing else around it, so if it's snacks you want, you're out of luck. But soft drinks, beer or cigarettes are generally easily accessible. Just be sure to stand next to the machine, drink the entire beverage, and throw the empty can in the recyling bin located next to the machine...otherwise you'll be carrying your empty can around forever since there are no other public trash cans in Japan.

Japanese beverage ingenuity doesn't stop there, though. While eating at a shabu shabu (think healthy "Japanese fondue") restaurant with a large group, we discovered for a mere 1,000 yen more (less than $10), it was all-you-can-drink alcohol. It was then that our friends discovered the effortless beer machine shown here. Good for us lazy Americans I suppose.

Even though many of us didn't overindulge (none for me, I was driving), it was a great way for some to try different Japanese beverages such as various types of sake (brewed rice wine), or shochu (a distilled alcoholic beverage that can be made from rice, barley, potato, etc.) Shochu is served several ways, including diluted with hot water, or mixed with carbonated soda and citrus juice (usually lemon or grapefruit), at which point it is called chuhai.

Chuhai (or chuhi) is also available commercially prepared in cans...for the vending machines of course. Here's a homemade recipe for grapefruit chuhai passed on from a friend. But you'll have a hard time finding shochu if you're in the States--in a vending machine or otherwise. You can substitute vodka if you like. Or stick with Sapporo or Kirin beer. Either way, kampai ("cheers") and think of us!

Homemade Grapefruit Chuhai

Fill tall glass with ice.

Then add:

40% Shochu

40% grapefruit juice (either grapefruit mixer from a Japanese store or you can use frozen concentrate mixed double strength)

20% club soda

Juice of 1/2 of a fresh grapefruit

Juice of 1/2 of a fresh lemon

Trivia Contest #3

Why do Japanese people place these bottles on the curbs throughout our neighborhood?

The ground rules:

• If you live in Japan and know the answer, please refrain from commenting.
• However, if you live in Japan and you don't know the answer, please feel free to guess.
• No cheating (i.e., Internet searches) allowed until 12:01AM on Tuesday, May 29 (our time...something else for you to figure out!)
• Yes, there will be a prize!

Driving in Japan

Have you ever wondered what it's like to drive on the left (some might say "wrong") side of the road? Wonder no more! Watch this video and all your questions will be answered! (It's short, but it always makes me laugh out loud. Probably because it is a seven-second glimpse of what our marriage is really like...)

You will also feel the "joy" of riding in the 1996 Norwood Nissen Prairie Joy. (Ezra, we have sliding doors, too, but they're not automatic...although sometimes they slide closed when you're not quite ready...or open while you're driving if the door wasn't shut all the way. But it only cost us $900. Now who's envious? I won't even tell you what we pay for gas on base.)

Aren't you glad you asked for more videos?!

(In case it isn't obvious, no, this entry was definitely NOT Brian's idea.)

Sea Paradise in Yokohama

Yesterday Sydney and I went to the Aqua Museum of Sea Paradise in Yokohama. It was Sydney's first trip to an aquarium and she enjoyed it even more than I had anticipated. Thanks in part to the "sea life" theme in her room, she has recently learned how to say "fish." In fact, almost every morning when I come into her room to get her, she points at a fish on her sheet and emphatically says, "Fish! Fish!"

It was an especially fun trip because we went with Sydney's friend Violet and her family. The two girls are already like teenagers, mimicking each other and cackling at each other's silliness. (Here's a cute video that shows it best.) Unfortunately, they are preparing to leave Japan next month and we will be very sad to see them go. But we've had some great times together. Here the girls look very seriously at the walruses and their big "teeth."

Sydney especially got excited about the penguins swimming by her at her eye level. She shouted out, "Whoa!" And she had to get down lower for a better view.

We ended our visit to the aquarium at the dolphin show, where Sydney was too excited to sit down to eat our picnic lunch. So, she grazed in between dancing to the music played at the show. Here's a video where she's clapping to the beat. I'm not sure why she doesn't look happier...if she's my daughter, I guess she's concentrating on keeping the beat.

Camping at Ikego West Valley Campground

The year Brian and I were married, we received sleeping bags for our birthdays and a 2-person tent for Christmas. The following February, we learned we'd soon be a 3-person family (plus Mitch, the dog, of course). This month, two-and-a-half years later, we decided "person #3" is old enough to take camping and it was only this past weekend that we finally took the tags off of our fabulous L.L. Bean camping equipment.

One might have thought it wise to open this "new" tent and insure there was room enough for 2.5 persons and a dog. But did we do that? Of course not. After all, Sydney's rather small for her age and she gets it from both her parents. Plus we (I) had grandiose ideas of making Mitch guard the tent from outside and only squeezing Sydney in between us. Well...only part of this plan came to fruition and we all ended up in the tent. Are you all that surprised? I guess it's clear who I look out for and who Brian looks out for--it's girls versus boys in this family. Of course, Sydney got a head start staking out her share of the tent. That's my girl!

Saturday after lunch we drove about 30 minutes to Ikego, which is a "satellite site" for Navy base housing. In 1937, it was a former ammunition depot in Zushi City for the Japanese Imperial Navy. There are several family campgrounds on the base, each of which holds up to 20 people. We were hard pressed to round up two friends to make us a total of 5 people. Needless to say, there was plenty of room for our two tents.

Each campsite has a campfire pit, a charcoal grill and a picnic table. No toilets or running water though! But in Japan, we're used to supplying our own toilet paper for public restrooms, which being the holes-in-the-ground that they are, squatting in the woods isn't all that different.

You've gotta love car camping. When I told Brian we'd be having hamburgers and hot dogs, he thought I was crazy to prepare something so complicated for camping...until he learned there'd be a grill. Even knowing there'd be a grill, he really gave me one of his skeptical "looks" when I told him I'd be making campfire cobbler for dessert. He had told me he had never been a Boy Scout, but it was at that moment that it became very evident to me.

Sydney pitched in with "k.p." and carried the Dutch oven for the cobbler. And, perhaps our menu was a tad more "gourmet" than I even remember having in Girl Scouts. Dinner entailed hamburgers and hot dogs, grilled corn-on-the cob, grilled skewered vegetables, baked beans, campfire blueberry cobbler, and of course smores over our bonfire.

Breakfast was even more delicious, thanks to Rebecca and Josh, our brave--for more than one reason--friends who joined us camping. (Rebecca is 31 weeks pregnant!) They brought fresh fruit, o.j and milk, and baked oatmeal that we topped with brown sugar, dried fruit and coconut for a delicious hearty start to our morning of hiking...

Little did we know we'd only be hiking for 5 minutes. The trail was both extremely muddy and steep. Somewhat alarming was the fact that the thick rope to hold onto was tied with a very skinny piece of string to a tree trunk with an even skinnier diameter than the string. (Think "twig.") And since Brian was carrying Sydney on his back, and Rebecca and I are both pregnant, Josh was the only person not carrying two people. So, we we sent him ahead to determine if we could trek on. Alas, after a brief 5 minutes, we decided the risks outweighed the enjoyment.

All in all, it was a successful first family camping trip. We were very well prepared. Although, along with our matching "Indiana Jones" hats, I now believe Sydney and I need head lamps to match Brian's. Oh, and maybe another 2-person tent for the kids. But maybe we can wait for Christmas 2008, judging from how frequently we go camping. For more great camping photos, click here.

Sydney's First Haircut

Some might say it was long overdue, but Sydney finally succumbed to her first haircut today. There are two main reasons for waiting until 18 months for this rite of passage to take place.

Number 1: Who knew the "bangs or no bangs" dilemma begins this early in life? I was trying to decide this for Sydney, but finally let her decide. (No barrettes for you? Okay, you must want bangs.)

Number 2: I dreaded having to be the one to hold the wiggling screamer while someone approached her with a sharp object.

But alas, we both survived. And her hair looks better, even if the bangs are a little crooked thanks to said wiggling and screaming. Something tells me her dad will still call her the "crazy hair lady."