They are coming soon...

... the new chairs, that is.

We want 2 chairs for our living room. We have been looking for these for um... probably 14 months. I guess I'm having a hard time deciding.

Looking at http://www.target.com/, I spied not just one, but TWO chairs that I really really like. Still couldn't decide, so I ordered 2 of each. I'll only keep one pair of chairs and return the other two to Target. Oh, the beauty of shopping on the internet knowing you can return to the store in town!

So here they are:

Wow, doesn't the one on the top look like the background on my blog? Cra-zy-ness. Maybe I could start a trend... furniture to match your blog. Hmmmm.

I like them both in different ways. Sort of like children. But, I'm not returning the children any time soon. Shoot, they are beginning to pick up their clothes without being told and even put themselves to bed at a decent time!

I'll keep you posted on them. The chairs, that is.

Jack's winning morning

UPDATE (4-21-10): I found a recording of this very winning on Spirit's web site. Listen for yourself! Click here. Look for the "Related Audio" box and click the 4-20-10 button. Now, back to the previously posted blog entry...

My hubby is so smart. Today he won "Gender Game Without a Name" on Spirit 105.3.  The topic was MUSICALS... piece of cake for a guy who:

• used to direct high school choir
• has a crazy talent for remembering details of musicals, and
• never seems to forget people's names

The question was this: What is the name of the lead female character in My Fair Lady?

Without a moment's hesitation, Jack answered, "Eliza Doodlittle". No stalls, no guessing, no clues needed. He made the guys proud and also won himself 3 CDs! Wonder if one is the soundtrack to My Fair Lady?

Now, let's see if I can find an image from Google to help out this blog post. Searching "Eliza Doolittle"...

Oh, here's one:

Nope, that's not it. Somebody named their 4H goat after the cockney country girl. Isn't google amazing?

Nope, not this one either. This is the pop singer of the same name.

Ah, that's it. Eliza, in all her glory.

"Come on, Dover! Come on, Dover! Move your bloomin' arse!"

Way to go Jack! You never fail to surprise or amaze me!

Reality check

Not too long ago, I signed up to receive emails from http://www.allrecipies.com/.  It's a great little website for people like me who need some cooking inspiration. Every few days, they send an email with a link to a recipe. It's a great way to think about cooking up some different items to add to our dinner menus.

Yesterday, I was just starting to think about dinner. I had decided on split pea soup. YUM! Now, I know that doesn't spin everyone's beannie, but I grew up loving this and my family likes it too. Ham chunks, pieces of carrot, a small squirt of fresh garlic; what's not to love about a hearty soup? Before heading to the store for the needed ham hocks, I quickly checked my email, and was greeted by a new recipe idea from allrecipies! YEA! Maybe I would find fresh inspiration and cook something new. I mean, I love pea soup, but something new is always exciting.

I opened the email to find this darling of a recipe waiting for me:   

Southwestern Chicken Lasagna

Here's the description: "A spicy, cheesy, Mexican flavored dish assembled and baked much like lasagna."

It sounded like it should definitely trump the split pea soup idea. Now to make a new shopping list.

chicken: have it, check

cheese: check

olives: add those to the list

spaghetti sauce: check

corn tortillas: need those

all of the other ingredients: check

All I needed were the olives and corn tortillas. This was going to be great! I would surprise my family with a delicious, new, yummy thing for dinner. Perfect on a night when we are coming and going with golf, track and dance all in one night.

Then came a pivotal moment. I clicked the nutritional content link. Let me just say this: If I ate stuff like this all the time, I would need new pants with a big elastic waist band.

Here's what it said:

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 902

Total Fat: 47.4g
Cholesterol: 194mg
 
HOLY CROW!!!  That's a lot of calories for one entree! Never mind the salad and some bread or something to accompany the dish. And a glass of milk. I could eat my entire day's worth of calories in one sitting. Bad. I think it may have had something to do with all of the cheese. It did call for 4 cups of shredded cheese. That's probably also what got it the 4.5 star rating and rave reviews from 46 subscribers.
 
If I was going to eat that many calories at one meal, I would just eat ice-cream instead. It's a lot quicker to prepare. And probably a lot tastier, too.
 
So, in the end, it was split pea soup for dinner, at a mere 200 calories. Fat grams were only .7 and there were 5 miligrams of cholesterol.
 
Good thing I really like the soup!
 
 

Just a quickie post

I want to get more pictures posted on Itsuka's visit before she leaves us on Saturday. Hello to people in Oito, Japan (Itsuka's home town)!

Playing Twister gives good practice on colors, body parts and left/right!

This little treasure has been invaluable

This is a trip to Cabela's (http://www.cabelas.com/)

Emily and Itsuka in coon-skip caps, so American!

My four children for the week. Back from a hunt.

Back at home, Itsuka taught us origami

The next day, we taught her how to dye Easter eggs

It's hard to see here, but the egg has her name written in Japanese with crayon

This morning, Thomas was sad at breakfast, saying, "I wish Itsuka could stay. I will miss her and I wish she was my real sister!" Tears, sobs... yes, the whole thing. He has really taken to his Japanese sister. With all the fun we've been having around here, who can blame him?

Something got lost in translation...

What a treat we had last night! Itsuka cooked teriyaki chicken for us! I had emailed her mom to tell her Itsuka was cooking for us, and she wanted to make sure her daughter had the recipe so she sent a link to one. Below is what the top of the website looks like. Notice it's in Japanese!

If you want to see the whole thing, it's at: http://cookpad.com/recipe/131380

What I learned is that if you right click the link, a choice to use Google Translator comes up. So, not speaking any Japanese, I clicked it. Here are some of the directions that gave in English...

• Put all seasonings in a pan, then "low heat" and then burn.
• Shake occasionally, please burn the sauce on both sides to take the inside out.
• In the list of ingredients, it calls for "2 photos of chicken peaches"

The whole translation thing can be a tricky adventure! Good thing we had Itsuka there to actually demonstrate how to make the dish.

Assembling the ingredients for dinner

Her mom would have been proud! The dinner was delicious! She taught Amanda how to use chopsticks, which we have been working on since Amanda's first trip to Happy Teriyaki (13 years ago?).  We all tried the miso soup she brought and had green tea. Itsuka obviously enjoyed the taste of home and I have to say that I will never make teriyaki chicken any other way. It was so yummy! Good bye Yoshida's sauce!

Making the teriyaki sauce

Here is the recipe, translated by me:

Itsuka's Teriyaki Chicken

3 Tablespoons soy sauce

2 Tablespoons white sugar

1 Tablespoon maple syrup

6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

Mix the first 3 ingredients in a cup. In a fry pan, heat 2-3T vegetable oil. Brown the chicken on medium heat, turning as needed, until chicken is almost cooked through- about 8 minutes. Pour sauce on the chicken, turn heat to medium low and cover. Turn chicken after a few minutes. Cook until chicken is done and sauce is reduced to a glaze.

If you have a large family, you will want to double the recipe as those thighs cook down pretty tiny. I think you could also use white meat instead if you prefer and it would be just as delicious. Also, it didn't need any other flavor, but ginger or garlic would add a nice taste to the sauce.

Itsuka brought instant miso soup that came in brightly colored foil packets

From the Land of the Rising Sun

Emily and Itsuka, shortly after meeting

This week we have a young student from Japan staying with us. Her name is Itsuka and can I just tell you what a doll she is? She is 14, polite, kind, fun... everything you would want in a guest! She is here through Emily's school, Chinook Middle School. There are about 33 students total coming from her town in Japan and they are all 12 to 16 years old.

We greeted the students Saturday at a potluck lunch, complete with clowns for entertainment. Can you imagine? You travel many hours on a plane, feel the effects of having been up all night yet it is only 2PM, and you sit down with complete strangers to eat an American potluck... with clowns there to entertain? I wasn't sure how that would all go over with the Japanese students. My own children all expressed their distrust of anything "clown" and wondered if the Japanese kids wouldn't leave America terrorized by the experience.

The potluck spread

Despite our wonderings, the potluck lunch was pretty tasty and gave us a good chance to become acquainted with our new little friend.

Us with Itsuka on the left, the "J" family and their student on the right

After the lunch, we were amazed to see the Japanese students were actually interested in the clowns, who, it turns out, weren't so scarey after all! They made balloon sculptures for the kids and pretty soon kids were showing off their newly obtained balloon-flower or animal. Some of the boys were having balloon-sword fights. Everyone was smiling, and that was the goal. I guess the organizers of the event really did know what they were doing!

 

waiting a turn for the clowns

Thomas and his balloon-sword, Clown, and Itsuka with her balloon-flower

The students all came with brightly colored, hard, suit cases. When all 33 were lined up, it was quite a site. Almost pretty, as far as a bunch of suitcases go.

We drove home, pointed out a "very American farm" along the way. Cows, red barn, farm house. It brought a clear and loud, "Oh! Yes!" from our shy and quiet Itsuka.

Once home, Itsuka got the tour of the house and was introduced to the cats. She quickly presented us with gifts from Japan; me- a beautiful scarf, Jack- a bank in the shape of a Japanese good-luck posed cat, Thomas- a wind sock on a stick with cool Japanese writing on it, Amanda and Emily- each received a little make-up type of bag. Very sweet gifts and she was so cute giving them to us.

About this time, we looked up the time difference between Olympia and her town, Oita. They are 15 hours ahead, so it was 9AM Sunday in her poor, jet-lagged body. It was only Saturday afternoon in Olympia. Poor thing, she had a whole evening to go before she could go to bed! Her eyes were beginning to really droop, so off we went to Tolmie State park to get some fresh air. It was just the ticket!

The forest part of Tolmie

Throwing rocks at Tolmie beach

A pretty cute bunch, don't you think?

We came home and I made hamburgers and fries. She ate like a champ, took a shower and went to bed. I forgot to show her how to open the sheets to get into the bed, so she slept on top of the cover and used an extra blanket to cover herself. I don't think it mattered, because she slept for 12 hours!

Sunday she was spunky and awake. In the morning she at Rice Krispies (they have those in Japan, we were told) and she played Wii Sports with my kids. That afternoon, we drove to Seattle and took her up the Space Needle. It was Thomas's dream come true. He has wanted to go up there for a couple of years now! Itsuka recognized Mt. Rainier as "Mt. Tacoma" from Japanese TV shows. Of course she understood about the Mariners (and Ichiro!) and was interested in seeing Safeco Field.

Introducing Itsuka to some of the fine snacking done in America

Today, she and Emily are at school together. I can't wait to hear how the day went! The two girls get along nicely and I am impressed at Emily's way of speaking simply to Itsuka in a way that is understandable to her. I'm sure they will have a fun day!

the Wii has been a great way to start a friendship!

A new kind of recipe

Recipe for a happy boy:

1 hammer
1 towel
1 standard screwdriver
1 phillips screwdriver
1 wire cutter
1 rachet and socket set

Gather the above ingredients together. To them add:

1 old computer

Lay the towel out flat. Put computer on towel. Point out to the boy how the screws can be turned to the left to open the computer up. Leave the mixture alone for 1 hour.

Return to see a beat computer and a happy boy!

Need your computer worked on? I have just the boy to do it!