Just for the record:

A note to all: 

WE REALLY WANT VISITORS!!

Don't think this would be putting us out.  We have a spare room, and are not even 10 minutes from historical Kyoto.  We would love to share our life with you!!

Kyoto and Sushi-the perfect match??

After returning from a day of exploring in Kyoto, we returned home and spent an evening making our own sushi - absolutely delicious.  We all ate until we were stuffed!

Our First VISITOR!!

On Tuesday, my friend and Iceaxemen student from Eugene, Heidi Ma, came to visit.  Yesterday, she and I went to Kyoto and spent an incredible day exploring the old castles and shrines.  Kyoto is a phenomenal city, rich in history.  One of the monuments we went to was built to honor the fallen foreign soldiers of WWII.  Another, Kiyomizu Temple, was shockingly beautiful.  It was built in 700 A.D..  Mind you, all of these temples were built without the use of nails...

To close our day, we visited the Geisha district.  Wonderful narrow, winding streets and quaint tea houses, pottery houses, cafes and shops...

Japan is charming!

The TEAM

(Most) of Ray's team has now arrived, and as a result, we have the privilege of enjoying many gatherings and lots of food.  On Tuesday night, the team members and families, and team staff, headed out to "Japanese BBQ".  DELICIOUS!!  They came out with huge platters of veggies, lean lamb meat and noodles.  We sat around a huge grill and grilled our own meals.  This also gave us an awesome opportunity to get to know Ray's teammates and their families.  I had a particularly good time trying to communicate with the wives and female staff- lots of sign language!!

A (needed!) Day Off

Ray and I grabbed his new teammate, Bobby, and headed up the lake for a day of swimming!  The water was so refreshing.  I was beginning to go crazy imagining the cool water of Oregon streams and lakes this time of year!  So wonderful...

When we got home, I treated Ray to some good country cookin' by presenting him with some steak and potatoes.  As we know, the way to a man's heart....

conveyor belt sushi

A fun night with Bob, Sanae and Joy, our friends who live down the street.  They took us out to an exciting evening of sushi.  And instead of paying nearly $5-8 per plate like in the states, this place was only $1 per plate. Ray and I stretched our comfort levels with some new tastes, but everything was OYSHI (tasty)!!!

We gotta eat!

More FOOD!

                           

I am having a blast experimenting with new dishes.  If anyone knows Ray, you would know that the way to his heart... well... is through his stomach.  So, I have been trying to be as creative as possible in the kitchen to give him something good to enjoy after practice.  With no oven and limited ingredients this can be tough.

The dish with the prawns was a favorite.  They have incredible seafood here.

And alas, we could not curb our craving for Mexican food any longer.  You can not find ANYTHING Mexican or latin here to eat or to cook with.  Using a little creativity, I cooked up a dynamite meal of fajitas/tacos last night.  They hit the spot!  The homemade tortillas were especially good.  It always tastes better when made at home!! (Notice the awesome apron Aunt Laurie made me!!)