New Year's Eve

As the clock approached midnight, we broke out the soba noodles that Nile brought back from Hatae-san in Japan. Matt waned to eat them raw; he had had a little too much to drink.


We boiled them. They came out just perfectly. Mmmm...


Q-chan and Sussy fixed a broth and added some toppings to make it extra tastey. Matt slurped them up like a good little Japanese. Ami-chan isn't even 3, and she can eat noodles with chop sticks.

Shortly after midnight, we went to a nearby temple to ring a bell and bring good luck for the new year.

Top Pot Mmmmm

This morning we had Top Pot donuts. (The best donuts in the world.) The pink one is their seasonal called Pepermint Snowdrift. The green one is macha-an cake. The big brown one is Matt's favorite, the apple fritter.

Bitter Melon

Nile made a fantastic dinner tonight from the recipe she got from Yoshie. She made bitter melon stir fry (goyachanpuru) and it was pretty tasty, but pretty bitter.

Ice Skating

We went ice skating tonight at the Seattle Center. They don't have a zamboni. Instead people push around little scrapers on foot.

Ice skating reminded us of when we used to go skating in Canada.

up and around in Seattle (with Aliyah)

Aliyah, Nile's friend from college, is visiting her family in Seattle. Nile and Aliyah went to Bainbridge Island to have lunch.

Nile liked how you didn't even have to go to information to find out where to get coffee in Bainbridge.

It was a sunny day for Seattle and here you can see the new sculpure park (where the red thing is in the middle, and yes it is kind of hard to see).

On the way home, Nile went to the market and saw cute pigs.

I guess we're getting ready for the terun of the pigs?



The next day, Nile was driving on Renier Ave. and figure out why it was called Renier Ave. It is kind of hard to see but you can see Mt. Renier at the end.

Chrismas food

For Christmas we went to Anita and Jim's house. We made and decorated cookies. There were some injured cookies. A Far Side cookie "Bummer of a birthmark".

An alien cookie, and Matt had to show off his cake decorating skills with the holly wreath.

For dessert on Christmas day, we had poached pears with white and dark chocolate sauce. Jim and Anita putting the finishing touches on. We finally got to the bottle of sparkling wine that we won on Halloween. :-) It was very good and it was nice to help finishing the bottle since we're cheap drunks.

Nile seeing friends #5 Chisato

Nile and Chisato went on a breakfast date without her son Cay. Once we got home, Cay's grandma showed off Cay's shirt with a backpack printed on it.

Chisato and Cay. Hiromi, Chisato's sister was home and she showed off her new tatoo. She is studying to become a tatoo artist.

Here is Cay getting ready for Chirstmas.

Odd things in Japan

2007 is the year of the boar. This is a boar made out of acorns and other tree parts.

Nile went to the Fukuoka Zoo and Botanical Garden. They sold air plants in blown glass bottles.

Across the street from the zoo is a panda statue for no aparent reason.

Taxis run on natural gas in Japan. This is an LP gas station.

Toe socks are pretty popular in Japan, but this black one is crazy. There are no tips on the toes. We've all seen gloves without finger tips so that you can feel things, but who feels things with their toes?

This parking lot lets cars park three high.

Nile seeing friends #4 Yusuke, Lina and Yuko

Nile went to see her friend, Yusuke, who is getting married. He is not married yet but already had his ring on. He and his fiance are expecting in the spring. Lina and Yuko joined for dinner too.

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Yukiko's husband has a bar where she took Nile to. Here is Mizuki, Yukiko's husband working hard.