Tofuesday again.

well we managed tyo get bsack on the tofu wagon today. the mrs also made her mint bean salad. with a little miso soup on the side it was great. love out.

Fissues

Well seeing as it was tofuesday we got a little grief for not having the other, other white meat. However since the salmon was scintilating and the rest of the grub was great we managed to get away with it.
The Mrs. found a whole sockeye salmon at the store and decided to cut it up into steaks and fry it teriyaki style. Apparently there was some miso involved in this operation. I was not privy to all the details but the end result was awesome. There are also a lot of leftovers so either I make a pig of myself later tonight or we get a second meal out of it. The salad was lettuce, red pepper, and feta cheese with the red onion vinaigrette. Awesome. The miso soup was made with some special ice cubes the wife had made and had some of the chinese cabbage along side the sea weed. Great and Great. The white rice was a fluffy understated cloud from which the rest of the meal could be properly viewed. In total this meal was so great that I started thinking something. I started thinking we need a notebook and pen in the kitchen. After eating a meal which worked as well as this one I am even more disappointed by last nights mediocre curry. I have to start using the measuring spoon and writing things down so that when I hit on something that works I can remember it and come back and make it again. I really enjoy experimenting but not being able to retrace my steps when I want to is frustrating. A photographic memory sounds pretty good about now but I think I will have to settle for a notebook and one extra step while cooking. If it works out and I do manage to capture some lighting in a bottle (nothing like a cliche to hammer home a point, another one right there) then I plan to share on the blog in full cook book style. The most important word in that last sentence was plan. Don't hold your breath.

In other news I fed the little guy tonight. Mostly ended up on my hand as he is real big on grabbing the spoon and putting it in his mouth himself. Is it just me or is he looking much bigger these days. Hard to tell on a day to day basis but now that its on the blog it feels kind of alarming. Where did our little baby go?

Tofu-esday comes early.

Really we did have a plan. The plan included meals that ran from Monday to Thursday. Then we realised that it was our daughter's true birthday on Tuesday. Which meant we couldn't have a tofu-esday as usual. Under intense interogation she cracked and let slip that she wanted gyoza. It was tough getting it out of her but if the Bush administration can use water boarding, we ... well you know what I mean.

So that is tomorrow all sewn up but left us a little short for this evening. When we suddenly realised we could use tomorrows original plan for tonight. Thus the tofu monday.

As I sat reading my current novel the mrs boiled some water. As I walked around with book in one arm and fussy baby in the other the Mrs. diced vegetables and boiled up a pot of rice noodles. As I sat reading with a contented baby in my arms the Mrs. sat patiently waiting for my portion of the meal to get made. I eventually got the hint and put the book down. Within half an hour I had whipped up the tofu stir fry pictured above and we were all eating. All of us but the daughter who had fallen asleep watching a movie and waiting for dinner. She ate later.

Now everyone is asleep and I need to make some birthday coupons for buying a fish and all the accompanying accesories to lay out or possibly hang from the ceiling for tomorrows wake up. We were going to do the surprise you have a fish thing but couldn't find a time to buy it or decide were we would have kept it until nine o'clock this evening. So now I will help my son get to sleep as a thunder storm rolls in and hopefully reawaken to get the coupons all made.

It ain't so bad. I had a nap this afternoon. Or was that before lunch.

Part two

Well it turns out I was motivated enough to get out there today and finish off the garden. I realise that the battle with the weeds is an ongoing unwinnable war, however, I really needed an all out, scorched earth beginning to get me back in the game. Now hopefully I can get a hearts and minds campaign going and keep them at bay.
(Please check out the before picture from yesterday's Post. Honestly, it looks way different)

I also managed to get the last two tomato plants planted. Then I went and popped the scapes off of the garlic. This is a very good sign and means that we are getting close to the end. Speaking of which it is time to do a second wave of planting. I am thinking some swiss chard, tonnes of carrots, some basil and pretty much anything else I can get my hands on. Cilantro, yes I have to get that in for the mid summer salsa season. Usually it has already come up by now and has gone to seed by the time the tomatoes have ripened. Speaking of which I have my first tomato flowers starting to blossom. Giddy with excitement I am. Well that and the incredible crop of raspberries that are budding. You have to know that some plague of locusts or itinerant bear will take them out but my fingers are crossed.

As for dinner the wife made some spring rolls. She also whipped up a nice green salad and some dark miso soup. I was already pretty full from all the water I have had today (32 degrees for the second day in a row) but I managed to put back five of these bad boys. We also made home made slurpees again. I sort of used this recipe here. We had it after dinner so there is no pic. However, the kids like it and the cost margin can't be beat. We will not be going to the shell for slurpees this summer if I can help it.

Light eating.

Well with Miso soup and pan fried salmon you have to be feeling like a culinary king. Not to mention the steamed veggies. Yes I ate very well this evening. Only, I had most of a hollow chocolate Easter egg from my kids left over Easter candy right after getting in the door. Bad me.

Note to self. Next year buy the kids chocolate yourself and limit others to small gifts(under ten dollars per kid), not chocolate . Really though it was a great dinner. However, the picture could probably be recycled. I mean we have pan fried salmon with rice and miso, sometimes the veggies are steamed, sometimes stir fried, sometimes salad. The daughter was raving about the garlic slices that were fried up with the salmon. It was good. I'm just saying it wasn't inspiring. Maybe I am just feeling the second year blahs. Everything seems to be repeating. Didn't I already say that.

Lunch and Dinner

Well the lunch today looked so good I just had to take a picture. I was in charge of the french fries and because I started early and didn't rush things they turned out great. A little basil, salt and pepper backed in the oven at 450 for 35 minutes and then broiled for about two. I also nuked them for 3 1/2 minutes in a bowl in the microwave before starting and rinsed off the starch before and after the microwave. The grilled cheese were your classic sandwich maker grilled cheese. I love our 3 dollar sandwich maker. Picked it up at one of those garage sales in the parking lot of city park. Anyone can come and sell their junk at the tables. It looked so sketchy at the time and since then it has been used almost as much as the pizza oven. Lovin it. The Mrs. did a great job of her coleslaw and it was a complete meal. All the major food groups, vegetables, fried potatoes, cheese and ketchup. Those are the four main food groups...right?
After the rest of our event filled day (Bank, Post office, library, shopping, visiting friends, swimming) We arrived back home to a wonderful Te-maki spread with a simple yet heart warming bowl of miso soup. My classic blunder of the day was not buying the main thing I was sent out to buy. During the shopping I had taken a can of Tuna off the shelf and put it in the shopping cart. However, it never made it onto the conveyor belt or into the bag because it wasn't on the receipt and it sure isn't in our kitchen. So we were lacking the fish department. However, the rest of it was awesome and I am pretty content. Nothing a cold beer or warm back rub couldn't improve but that is true of pretty much anything.

Not so Bad.

Well the first day back wasn't so bad. I mean work is work and lets face it, there are plenty of worse jobs out there. Dinner however, could not have been better. It was kids choice tonight and that choice was perogies and mashed turnip. Mashed turnip has turned into a fan favourite. Now I can understand this because I have always loved mashed turnip but it seems to me that there are people out there who don't love the giant root vegetable (sometimes called a rutabaga... Research time... Okay after looking it up on good old Wikipedia it turns out our "yellow turnip" is indeed a rutabaga where as the true turnip has white flesh and seems a little rounder). The green salad was originally going to be a coleslaw but we didn't get to our favourite organic cabbage store on the weekend so it was a no go. We hope to haveslaw later in the week. Also gotta get the wife into making salad dressing mode. I am tired of the store bought stuff. I mean its good but I need my vinegar, oil and onion dressing fix. The miso soup was also a nice touch. It was cooked up two days ago and then fridged. Heat and serve. Two of my favourite words.

Bedraggled.

That is how I felt today at by 4:00. My head was nodding at my desk and I need a change. So I came home. But no one was hear. Had I missed them in passing. Was the wife searching for me with contractions only two minutes apart. My mind raced. And then I got over it. I was so ready for a birth this weekend that now that it has passed I have the feeling that its never going to happen. I am resigned to working up to the beginning of spring break. Of course now I am going to be caught unawares with nothing prepared for the next day of school and a pile of marking waiting to be done. But that is neither here nor there. You, careful reader, want to know about dinner.

I mean if you don't want to know about dinner then you may be in the wrong spot. Not that I question why you're here. Okay, dinner.
. When I awoke from my afternoon nap, its a good life sometimes. I found everyone else was fed and messing around post dinner. There were fish and faux chicken (tofu based) sticks in the fry pan and rice in a bowl. The miso soup was still warm and the salad still fresh. I served me up this picture you see in front of you and sat down to tuck in. Then I am hit with a "sorry about dinner," from the wife. She thought chicken and fish sticks was a little paltry for an evening meal. I of course pointed out that rice, miso soup and salad can be accompanied by anything, and I mean anything (examples: apple slices, box of raisons, leftover mac and cheese) and be one heck of a meal. Especially after the wicked boxed lunch I had today. Did I mention my wife is like 8.75 months pregnant. She is a trooper. Well back to marking papers.

Packed

That is the best way to describe today. Not that we went out anywhere or had anything special planned. It wasn't like that. It just seemed packed with importance. I will explain. Oh yeah and there is even a dinner picture.

Yesterday, I brought home some marking and planned to do that today while at home. Of course this meant the wife could get out for some errands and I could be here for the kids. Not emotionally but on an emergent parent in charge basis. As I explained it to the daughter there would be some playing in the morning. Then some lunch. Followed by some outside playing. Followed by a movie. Followed by dinner. Followed by brush teeth/book time/bed time. Well the kids playing inside this morning was great. Maybe it was the whole wheat pancakes but they were fully into playing together. I uploaded some cd's so that I could transfer them onto the daughters Ipod. After this I set her and her brother up in her room dancing and got down to work. Surprisingly this lasted for almost an hour. Then they started pestering me and lo and behold. It was lunch time. So I set up some lunch and then packed them outside to play. While the wife and I facilitated from inside they got up to this outside...

The dancing with drums came later. I felt like pretending to do a Chinese new year dragon type dance (do not want to offend anyone, it was just the whole cymbal type sound) with a washed and dried pot and lid I was putting away and everyone else wanted to get in on the act. I thought they did a marvelous job. Especially my son's high kicks right at the end.

After the festivities we sat down to watch The Bridge to Terabithia. Really cute kids movie until it cut my heart out and stomped it on the floor. The sadness was all done off screen so the kids didn't really pick it up. However, they were both sitting in my lap and my sobbing kind of shook them up. Literally. I can't quite recall having been that overcome by a movie. Ever. They watched it a second time right away because it is a good kids movie and I got the last of my marking done. Meanwhile, my starlet of a wife was whipping up some wicked gyoza for dinner.

Well I scarfed down a bunch of these home made honey's but the daughter has the new record as she just kept going back for more. I think she must have had more than 20. I mean she was unstoppable. We made her finish her rice, salad and miso soup (which was outstanding miso soup, I mean its always good but it was at that peak level tonight) so it wasn't like she was lacking anything. Just feeling the gyoza fever.

After dinner we did a quick home reading and then we read about swans before I sent the kids off to join their mom in the bath. At this point I headed back to school and was about to get to work when I noticed a colleague of mine was also burning the weekend candle. So I went in for a quick chat and an hour later I was emotionally limp after talking about things ranging from our fathers to the stresses of the job. During that conversation I tried to recall an idea I had come across recently and I couldn't clearly recall it or where I had found it. When the conversation ended I got back to work for an hour and then came back home. Then I realised, it was in the book I was reading last night just before bed. Another colleague had recommended it to me(gotta love having great colleagues), "Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot", by Jim Stockdale. The image I was searching for was that of Job, from the bible. The virtuous man to whom life is unfair. And there is no answer. The virtue is in the struggle, even though there may be no reward.

To me this seems like a Monumental idea. Life is not fair. (I by the way may be monumentally naive but the verdict isn't in yet) But that doesn't mean you should give up. One of the main beliefs I have is that I should be working toward making the world more fair. Redistribution of wealth, universal properly funded social programs like health care and education, inheritance tax. Sometimes the lack of inequity in the world makes me angry. That may just be the way the world is. However, it doesn't mean I have to stop trying to change it. But the anger doesn't help.

Something else that I touched on in the conversation with the first colleague was my pride. I mentioned that my pride in who I am may be a problem. Searching for recognition for the things I do, or have done, from the outside world may or may not come. But does it really matter. The virtue is in doing the things I can, to the best of my ability. And I am the only one who can really judge that. As the colleague put it, " you are just the same as everyone else, not worse, not better, just a person trying to live." I messed up his words but it was something like that. So for tomorrow, keep trying to change the world, lose the pride and false modesty, and don't sweat it if things don't seem fair. Life is supposed to be challenging. In the challenge lies the virtue.

What a day. And on a Sunday to boot.

Still standing

With one day remaining before I begin my christmas vacation I am still alive and blogging. As the snow gently falls I have shovelled, swept and put down six more layers of spray on our ice rink. I have been in to work and prepared for tomorrow. I have even watched a bit of the christmas concert, not a packed house but a good crowd and a great show. One of our grade nine students has the potential to be a superstar. She had a solo number where she sang and played the piano. Holy cow. Talent.

As for today's gustatory delights I first bring you lunch.
Mine is on the left and was wicked awesome. An assortment of leftovers along with a egg stirfy/omelete on the bottom and some onigiri covered in furikake and some chopped up muffin above. With a piece of fruit and a yogurt it makes for a lovely lunch. It also brings a smile to my face. The daughter had noodles, with some pork and cheese. She didn't finish it as she was having a bit of a fussy day. I on the other hand practically licked mine clean. Imagine having that lunch and then coming home to this dinner.
The miso soup was bracing on this cold day and as usual hit the spot. The salad had some hard boiled egg chopped and crumbled over the top for a little added flavour and protein. What you see on the right is filo pastry stuffed with a tomato based vegetarian sauce/stew mixture. I loved mine. I actually ate three and I was even eyeing up the daughter's. She as was previously mentioned was having a fussy day so I cut a deal to eat her carrots. I was sure she would turn her nose up at the turnip but when she was reminded of its japanese name, daikon, which she loves pickled, she dug right in and even finished before her brother. Who was also having a fussy day.

Managed to keep the rudder firm and flew straight through today. Hopefully we can keep our head down for one more day and sail in to the vacation. Stress be gone.

The return of Monday

So I know things have been a little suspect as of late. Weak dinners with no thematic substance. Whole days missing off the calendar. But it was back to things as usual today. My son was playing with the camera so I ended up with a short video clip of dinner. Then the batteries died so I couldn't actually take a picture. However, things were back to normal in more ways than one. Dinner was a feast for all of the senses. From the heat of the miso soup wafting up over my face, to the succulent taste and smell of the salmon cooked with dill it was awesome. The squash omellete/quiche was exquisitely sweet, the wife actually said, "taste this its amazing," as I walked in the door. When you have a chance to leave a squash out in the cold I find it really brings out the sugars. The green salad was served with our old standby vinegar and onion dressing and the sharp sweet flavour offset the more muted tones of the rest of the meal wonderfully. We had frozen raspberries for dessert.

Interesting story related to me by my wife today. The Mrs. is starting to feel like she is seven months pregnant and has taken to having little naps downstairs by the fireplace. My son, with his new more highly refined reasoning skills, has taken to foraging for food up stairs when he figures she is trying to catch forty winks. His favourite targets are the frozen fruit in the freezer (right at easy grabbing level), apples in the fruit drawer (he is now tall enough to reach one of his hooks over the drawer) or candy from the cupboard (you know the chair as a ladder then standing on the counter routine), usually some of those mints the daughter bought a week or two back of some dentyne chewing gum. Between this new found resourcefulness and his increasing capacity to act like a marauding transformer from another galaxy he is a handfull, as the boarder puts it, "he sure is a boy."

Sushi at last

So we finally got around to frying up the salmon and the making the te-maki sushi that was on the menu last night. And when I say we I mean my lovely wife. She sure puts on a spread. Notice the hand of my son reaching into the picture to take another piece of pan fried salmon. He loves the skin. I love the flesh and I think it is a pretty good trade. The other usuals were out in force, from our homemade daikon pickles to the cheese and avocado I tend to favour. The umeboshi was also nice. This evenings miso soup was a little flat. I think the wife forgot to put in the miso. She swears she did but I have my doubts. Eaters can't be complainers and I was sure happy to be eating this evenings meal.
This was the best my son could give me when I asked him to smile. He was bummed about not being videotaped so I had to get a least one shot in. Personally, I feel he is going through a very unphotogenic time. He just makes weird faces whenever there is a picture. I harken back to a certain grade 1 class picture where some of my classmates parents actually called my mom and complained about the face I had pulled in the middle of the back row. I thought it was the right thing to do at the time, not that any thought actually went into it. It was just one of things that had to be done at that moment. In the intervening years I have slowly overcome that habit of acting on impulse. For the most part. I don't think people can really change. They can curb their tendancies but they never leave. I am prone to being an idiot first and thinking about it later. Most of the time I really do think it will be funny.

Delightful

This was the word with which I summed up this evenings meal. It was just delightful. Let me paint you a picture. You arrive home and its already dark. You have worked from 8:00 to 5:00 and even worked through your lunch. It is cold outside and winter is moving in yet Christmas seems forever away. Everything is pushing you down and stealing your light. Then you open the back door. There stands your wife, your heart and centre. She is busily doing the things she does in the kitchen while your children play on the floor behind her. There is a plate of tonkatsu (pork cutlets) with the heat shimmering off of it. A big pot of nimono is on the stove after stewing down stairs all day. You remember seeing it being put together just before you left that morning. And suddenly the dreary gloom of late november is gone. You fill the water glasses while your daughter and son set out the fork, poon(son's pronounciation) and hashi (chopsticks). The wife ladles out the miso soup and you serve up a big plate of green salad with vinegar and onion dressing. At the table there is talk of what happened that day and you truly feel like you are home. At this point you pronounce to all, "this is just delightful." It didn't sound quite as goofy as it writes.

I love my family. They make my life so much better its kind of silly.

Back to business

So after a wonderful weekend of not thinking to hard it was back to the grind today. Meaning we have pics of dinner.

The wife had whipped up a wonderful, nutritious, non-french fry meal. I have a weakness for the potato sticks of death when on the road. Practically every meal I enjoy ordering comes with. Thankfully at home, when we make them, we only make them in the baked variety so I only need to worry about the road. Anyways our dinner was a bowl of miso soup, thick with chunks of tofu. This was followed by a serving of brown rice and ginger pork stir fry. The veggies were all really crispy, just on the verge. They were in the stir fry zone. The sauce was not over powering and I made the good decision not to add extra flavouring. The green salad was accompanied by the yogurt dill dressing. This also gave the last few bites an extra kick. We all finished off the meal by having some of the kids candy. I sure wish I had the guts to actually ask for some. Oh yes, I will burn in hell. Make no mistake.

The kids both wanted to have their pictures taken at dinner. Getting to like the camera I guess.

Hump Day

Well I am just delirious. I totally crashed after dinner. Too much work and not enough sleep makes daddy a tired boy. And I still gotta get back to work. Thats life eh. Fortunately dinner was a balm for the soul. No chicken soup though.Lets start with the soup we did have. It was a lovely miso type affair with quite a clear broth and some chopped up bok choy. Gotta love those dark greens to keep your energy up as the days grow short. The salad was lovely. Two major players were the carrots that were pulled out of a friends garden today. She is also a co worker and said she has more than enough to last her and had asked me if I would like some. I was all like, "don't even tease me, we'll be over to pick at 3:00" about it but she brought them to work. Then she was all self deprecatory about the size of the bag and the carrots. Well I should have known. They are delicious, firm and very carroty. They along with the tiny toms that we are still eating from our garden made the salad. The toms are the little red one's we picked still on the vine and are ripening down stairs. Every week the flavour gets more intense. Lovin it. I finally come to this evenings entree. It was a rice and turkey casserole. There was a layer of cabbage layered over the top and it was all topped with some grated cheddar. The seasoning was wonderful and even thought the wife thought it might have needed some salt it did not. With some of my crazy hot salsa and some natcho chips to start and a small bowl (come on I had to finish the carton, it was practically empty) of the fudgesicle ice cream I was in heaven.

Post dinner we finished the last chapter of Harry Potter, the dude in Jail one. Then I suddenly felt a little sleepy. It is now an hour and a half later. Wow, I missed all of As It happens. One more day. I think I can make it.

Saying no can be good.

Someone should have told Sarah Palin this. I have been very much out of the media loop for the last 3 years so the fact that I didn't realise Sarah Palin was insane until yesterday isn't as bad as it seems. Okay, how the SNL crew talked her into that wickedly funny parody is beyond me. Does Palin really believe that any press is good press. Then I watched all those Katie Couric interviews. Brutal, brutal, brutal. I can see where Matt Damon would get steamed up enough to circulate that lambasting he gives her. In the womans defense she must have something going on up there but it sure doesn't show. I have to think that McCain was searching and searching and no one wanted the job and he called her up and she didn't think, "why is this guy calling me?" She had a big enough ego to think she was the best choice for Vice President, even though she seems to know nothing about foreign policy, economics, or how to answer a question posed by the press. She should have said No. I mean really. I hate to say this but she makes Dan Quayle look like a political genius. The scariest thing is that Damon is right. Should the Republicans win she has a 50/50 shot at running the country some time in the next four years. Strange days indeed, most peculiar mama.

Things back here at the ranch are still moving along well. The kidlets went to a birthday party today. Dad and kids made the cards and shopped the presents yesterday so I let mom go for the ride along today. Everyone seemed to have a good time. I mean who doesn't have a good time when you score a loot bag.
The wife made up some spring rolls for dinner. These are the heavy duty spring rolls. You eat one and you are fullish. You eat two and you are stuffed. I held myself up at one, seeing as I had had a pre-dinner snack. Not a good habit if you were wondering. The rolls were accompanied by a cucumber and bok choy salad and some miso soup. Now that fall is here the miso soup really hits the spot. After some late afternoon trampolining I was feeling a little chilled. The miso put it all to rights.

And once again we back around at Monday. Will this roller coaster never stop. I think we need like a 20 day week with a 7 day weekend. Think about it.

Debate night

So it is Thursday and the big debate was crack a jar of salsa or make some fresh with the ingredients we have. Fresh was the big winner and subsequently so was I. The wife whipped up her guacamole and this served as a side. The kids managed to get her to make their favourite bean sprout in vinegar salad. And the pork and potatoes were slow cooked to perfection. The just fell apart in your mouth. What I didn't manage to get into the picture were the miso soup and the after dinner bowl of butterscotch ripple ice cream. I am stuffed and I have a full day of work ahead of me tomorrow. What is the deal with working on Fridays? It just shouldn't be allowed.

Left overs sort of

Phew, that was a killer week. I am totally thrashed. Post dinner I literally poured myself into the couch only to come to suddenly two hours later. I had slept through the kids watching videos on both the tv and the computer. Still feeling it.

Other than being tired down to the bone, I was also quite satisfied after having a great meal. The miso soup had some nice spring onions sprinkled in. The son said he didn't like the things that look like donuts, the spring onions. Such a cute paraphrase. His second day at school went well and he had some tales to tell. Apparently there is some kind of art project with a set of eyes on it. Looking forward to seeing his first school craft. Getting back to dinner the salad was just chopped cucumbers and tomatoes. These being the last of the cucumbers and with the threat of frost the last of the picked ready to eat tomatoes I really really savoured them. This evenings main dish was Oyako don, its been done before. The chicken and egg stew/sauce served over rice. I picked up the chicken last night on the way out of the meeting. Heck someone had to take it and the president kept saying that she needed someone to take it because she couldn't finish it and there was no room in her fridge, no I'm not going to feel guilty. It was delicious, nuff said.

After the post dinner nap and watching a video we ended up having fresh salsa and humus with nacho chips. There was also some pudding served up. A lovely way to start the weekend. Hope you are all well.

Fabulous First

Well the first day of the school year went great. After the walk to school as a twosome my daughter had a great day in grade one. A colleague of mine was in her school and commented on how pretty she looked, the daughters response, "Don't I" honestly I have no idea where she gets it from. She also introduced one of her friends to the teacher when the teacher asked the other little girl her name. Talk about having to be in the middle of everything. As for my son these are his tonsils. Gotta find a higher shelf for the digital camera. The batteries are already low again and I just changed them. On the food front we had an awesome day. There were boxed lunches for the whole family. I could get used to this. And then dinner was an amazing assortment of dishes. The miso soup is pretty standard, there was a mostly from the garden green salad which had the left over feta crumbled over it. There was a slightly spicy, potato and vegetable stir fry and there were home made gyoza served over rice. So good I didn't even have chips and salsa. The amazing dinner along with my 7 k run today and I am feeling like a king. The only down side was not getting in my afternoon nap. How many days is it till christmas vacation?

Back to work

So I went in to work today with the camera so that I could get off last nights post and lo and behold left the camera at work and couldn't take a picture of this evenings dinner. A true shame as we had a lovely dinner. Green salad with the onion vinegrette dressing, a turkey and bean sprout stir fry served over some truly perfect white rice, and a full rich bowl of miso soup. The picture is of myself and kanko-an chan eating hiyashi somen in the Kag. Good times. We just finished watching "Forgetting Sarah Marshall." Pretty cute and funny. You also gotta love a guy willing to do not one, not two but at least three full frontals in the same movie. Bold. The wife goes in for some bakery work experience tomorrow. Things are starting to roll here.