Independence Day

I LOVE AMERICA YAY! I hope you had a happy and gratefilled (past tense of greatful?) holiday all you luckies living under those magical stars and stripes!

Before I post videos: I know some of you can't look at the videos, which is sad because they're so much fun and not being able to SEE them means you probably aren't able to make them which isn't so fun either ._. So I'll post this part first:

I looked at this on the Fourth of July. It's from GoldTeeth.com . Go to the site and tell me, which grillz are yo style gangsta!
These are my favorites:




If I really did have to choose, I think I'd go for some random single tooth-caps (like the top one) and go for that whole super-stylin'. Jack'oLantern look. heh.

This is also what I did on Independence day (and the day after). Ryan made a REALLY funny video, but he doesn't want to share it, so I'll just share mine. It's really long...sorry.


Oh, and there's also an add-on which didn't fit into the 10 minute restrictions set by YouTube, so I added it as it's own thingy. It's specials from Parents the Grube! Watch 'til the end to discover the BEST way to eat fruit roll ups ^_~

Grapefruits!

This was a TON of hard work. The actual video looks really really cool, unfortunately, YouTube currently changes all files into Flash and it looks kinda crappy.

Still-please check out this weekend's work ^_^

I Made This!

All by myself!

Vlog

I've created a slightly lame Vlog (Video Log). Hit the play button to play.



Most of my future blogs will be in this format. We've actually begun recording (finally!) again and will have at least one song up in simple--as in, no editing, just girl and guitar, not even Ryan!--format by the end of next week. お楽しみにしてください！

Thief! Thief!

A few times I have "stolen" Ryan's posts, or so he kinda says. I guess I should agree with him since I was tempted to post his experience at the Tobu World Square.

Since that would be actual thieving, I'll just tell you all to visit this post of his and tell him how cool all the little 1/25 scale of famous world things is!

I think all my friends will probably consider the park that's displayed to be one of the coolest places on earth! I'd also like to say that before Ryan ever heard of this park, he had in mind the creation of a huge park with life-size recreations of many of the buildings you see. We both agreed that a park like that would belong somewhere in the desert areas of New Mexico or in the further reaches of Montana or North Dakota. Like Wall Drug, only with stuff to see...

Tanaka Ballet Studio Performance

Most of you don't know that I had been taking ballet lessons with a sweet friend of mine named Hitomi. I went to lessons from lastDecember through half of April in Mobara, which is a 20 minute train ride from Toke. When Hitomi moved in April, I stopped going to lessons, mostly because I was too shy to go alone. I've wanted to begin again, but a recent leg injury has kept me from even keeping up with my daily runs.

Yesterday, Tanaka Ballet Studio had a wonderful recital at the Mobara Theatre House. Ryan and I went to the 2 1/2 hour show, which was very varied and entertaining. The lights were pretty dark and we had to use digital zoom, so they're a bit blurry, but suitable I think.

The children's recital was first. It was a 45 minute set of small and large group shows displaying all the students from the adorable little girls to high schoolers who spun on point (using toe shoes to stand on the tips of their toes) very naturally. We didn't manage to get any good images of the junior high and high school students group performance. Sorry.



Next there was a 45 minute set of performances by those who are still amateurs, but have been studying for a very long time. It was also another chance for the school girls who were very advanced to show their stuff. The (only) man and the woman in white are are around 40-50, the rest are in high school or junior high.

Ryan really wanted to wear the guy in the middle's Bluebird Costume.



Then there was a final 30 minute group show in which all the little girls were flower fairies--soo cute! This was also the show in which most of the junior high school girls had the opportunity to do a solo dance on the center stage as well.

So Cute!

Yakitate! 焼きたて！

When Melissa visited last summer, she loved the characters from the show Yakitate! Japan. Yakitate means something like "hot and fresh." Since "pan" is the Japanese word for "bread," Hot/fresh Ja-pan is a cute pun. The Japanese initially learned about bread from Portugeuse missionaries (and later Dutch as well) in the 16th century, which is why "pan" is called "pan."

Recently, Ryan and I have been watching many slow-moving, dialouge-overloaded episodes (i.e. anime) of this show in which Azuma Kazuma and Friends work to be the best breadmakers ever. Azuma's goal is (very cute) to create a bread called "Japan" that will be more delicious than rice. It will also represent Japan to the world, as French bread represents France. Ryan loves it for the drama and wierdness and I love it for the drama of Ryan being super happy about a bread cartoon of all things. There's a lot of yelling from the computer (where we watch it) and from Ryan on the couch.

Anyway, the point is, we were getting a bit down about not having an oven lately, since we both love to bake and create. Ovens have yet to become a staple of the Japanese household. In our apartment, we live using a 2 range gas stove, a rice cooker and microwave. So, especially after watching the bread show we truly desired to make some homestyle bread! Japanese bread is very different from Western bread, it's very spongy/doughy feeling, most breads here are wonder-bread-white and it's difficult to find nutrient&fiber-filled wheaty bread. While the breads here are yummy, I really miss the not so sweet, yet flavorful, wheat bread loaf that you can find for just 60 cents in any U.S. market (or, better yet, fresh and for free at Ryan's Mom's house!). Also since eating brown grains is known to prevent weight gain around the belly and the fiber in brown breads is VERY important in digestion and can also assist in dieting or just daily calorie balance ^_^

So we were delighted when the 27th episode of Yakitate! Japan demonstrated how to cook bread in a rice maker! I made my first (and second) ever loaf(ves) of bread yesterday!

The first loaf was milk-tea (chai)! (Sorry, for some reason this upright picture only tranlates sideways.)
It's a white bread loaf (only white flour in Toke! Wheat'll require a trip to the big city) using a bit of brown sugar and milk tea mix. The texture is a little heavy, yet soft/fluffy and the taste is sweet with a hint of tea spice flavors--good for eating while having black tea!


The second was made with cranberries and oats. It was a bit like a soft scone really. It was thicker and a bit more crumbly than the first since the oats soaked up the extra water I added while baking. Next time, the plan add a bit more water and some marmalade jam to make an oaty orange-cranberry flavored bread! YAY!


In other news, Ryan wore the 1/2 piano-key necktie I found for $4 for him in Harajuku! When he stepped into the living room that morning I thought he was on his way to go play in a ska band, but instead he just went to school and recieved many many compliments and even played a duet rendition of "Heart and Soul" on his necktie with a student.

So Completely Charming He Is.