Sushi Sushi Sushi!!!!

Its no secret that Chris and I are both HUGE fans of sushi. Even while living in Minneapolis we frequented the Byerly's Sushi Bar several times each week. 

Needless to say, the sushi in Japan is FANFREAKINGTABULOUS. (go figure, right?) Chris and I go to our favorite sushi restaurant in Tomakomai at least several times each week. Its going to be emotional when we have to say good bye to our sushi chef friends.

The most commonly found sushi in America is probably the rolled type, or 'maki sushi.' While maki is certainly popular in America, it is probably the least popular form found in Japanese stores and restaurants. In Japan maki is made with the seaweed as the outer layer, with the rice, fish and everything wrapped inside. In American maki is typically made with the rice outside of the seaweed.

A picture of the two different types of Maki. 

The most popular sushi found at Japanese restaurants is 'nigiri' sushi. Nigiri is consists of a oblond mound of sushi rice that the chef forms between the palms of the his hand, usually with a bit of wasabi, with a topping draped over it. Toppings are typically a type of fish, seafood, vegetable or tamago (sweet egg). Chris and I get criticized because we always tend to alternate between salmon and tuna....but we can't help it. Its tastes just too darn good to order anything else.

Nigiri Sushi. (from top to bottom) Tuna, Shrimp, and salmon. YUM!!!!!!

This week the team chef and Taka came to our house to teach Chris and I how to make authentic Japanese sushi (no cheating by using molds or special tools....) Now we are fully prepared to host sushi parties this summer for friends and family. So just be warned, if you are coming to our house for dinner in the next few months....chances are you will be eating sushi....

Chris and the chef starting to slice the salmon for the nigiri

Taka couldn't wait for the sushi to be done....so he decided to much on some nori (seaweed) 

A picture of our freshly handmade nigiri sushi (tuna, salmon and octopus)
And yes, Chris and I made all of this!! Pretty good, huh?

Chris took a picture of our completed sushi dinner! We learned how to make nigiri, maki, sashimi and carpaccio. Yum!!

Chris and I are now fully prepared to make homemade sushi once we get back to Minnesota! We are quite worried that Japan has ruined sushi for us forever. The seafood and ingredients are so fresh and delicious here, we know that it will be hard to find comparable quality seafood back in Minnesota!!!

OJI EAGLES: REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONS!!!!!

Congratulations to the OJI Eagles, who are now the Regular Season Champions!!!!

We had a VERY exciting weekend in Shinjuku. The Oji Eagles won in overtime on Sunday, which clinched the regular season title! It was a very exciting and close game, with a great ending!!

 Next up: A 5 game series against Halla, which starts this weekend with 3 games in Tomakomai!!!

Nikko Trip

Last weekend Chris surprised me with a Valentines Weekend Getaway to Nikko. The Oji Eagles played three games as a part of the All Japan Tournament so needless to say I was SO EXCITED to be able to go along. Not only do I love watching Chris's games, but the town of Nikko was fantabulous. I cannot even tell you how wonderful the trip was. Nikko is a beautiful, quaint little resort town nestled in the mountains and covered with pine trees that are several hundred years old. As much as I love the other cities we've traveled to within Japan, Nikko is my favorite thus far. 

We stayed in a hotel that was very similar to an American 'bed and breakfast' or 'boutique hotel'. The only guests at the hotel for the weekend were the team, so we were able to take full advantage of all of the facilities. The mens and ladies locker rooms had their own indoor hot tub and also an outside hot spring. It was amazing to sit in the outdoor hot spring while there was a foot of snow on the rocks surrounding the bath. It was very relaxing and a great way to spend the night after sitting in a cold ice rink all day!!

On Saturday Chris's coach arranged for his brother (who lives in Nikko) to take us to the Toshugu Shrine. We met his friend who works at the shrine who gave us a 'VIP' tour of the shrine grounds. It was an amazing experience, as we were able to view many rooms of the shrine that are closed to the general public. One of the private rooms we got access to is the Worship Room of the oldest Shogun Family in Japanese history. It was veryexciting to sit in a room that is generaly competely off limits to anyone besides member of that particular family.

The Toshogu Shrine was built in 1616 to honor the late shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa. The present buildings of the Toshogu Shrine, which consist of fifty-five main structures, span over 80,000 square meters. Construction required a total of 4,533,648 workers over a period of 17 months. Total expenses being estimated at $400,000,000 in the present currency.

 Five Storied Pagoda which was constructed in 1818.

'See no evil, Say no evil, Hear no evil Monkeys'
These monkey (along with many other carvings) are featured on the Sacred Stable within the Shrine.

 A view of the Shrine.

Yomei-mon Gate
Front Entrance of the Shrine which houses the two Ni-o statues which protect the shrine grounds.

 Chris and I in front of the Shrine's main entrance.

The Skinkyo, or Sacred Bridge, which crosses the Daiya River was constructed in 1636.

After the third game on Sunday we headed to Tokyo for the evening so we could catch an early flight on Monday morning. We took advantage of being in Tokyo and went to visit Taka's family and to see his childhood home. It was a great experience to visit with his family and to see a 'traditional' Japanese home.

We are off to Tokyo again this weekend for the last two regular season games against the Nippon Paper Cranes! Hopefully the team will play well and claim the regular season title!! Go Eagles!!

Tomakomai Skate Festival

 Yuiko and Nigi going down the ice slide

 Ichiro, Nigi and Yuiko on the Skate Ride

 This is the 'grill' we used to cook the lamb. It was delicious!!! 

It was a great way to cook it and I kind of felt like we were tailgating!!

Chris and Nigi watching the entertainment stage.

Last weekend Chris and I went to the Tomakomai Skate Festival with Taka and The Takahashi Family. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and we love getting the opportunity to spend time with the Takahashi Family. The festival had everything from Ice Slides, Tube Sledding, Entertainment Shows and TONS of food. We had a great time and even went sledding with Yuiko, Ichiro and Nigiro.

Sapporo Snow Festival

On Monday afternoon Chris, Taka and I headed to Sapporo to attend the Sapporo Snow Festival. The Festival is one of Japan's largest celebrations and each year attracts over 2 million people from around the world. This year there were over 250 snow statues and ice sculptures scattered among three different festival sites within the city of Sapporo. We visited the Odori Park site, which is the same location the Sapporo Christmas Market was held at. 

Chris spent the day practicing his photography skills, and we sure got ALOT of great pictures from the day! (Check out our Shutterfly page, as we uploaded over 200 pictures and videos from the festival) While Chris was snapping away Taka and I decided to celebrate the Packer Super Bowl victory and sampled a wide variety of 'celebratory' beverages. My favorite of the day: Hot Cherry Beer. My least favorite of the day: the Russian Vodka that tasted way too much like hairspray. Yuck

Odori Park is composed of 12 different blocks, each of which held its own 'theme' for the Snow Festival. The Festival also had an ice skating rink as well as a Snow Boarding Hill right in the middle of the park! They held snowboarding competitions throughout the week, with many of Asia's best snowboarders in attendance. We were able to watch the boarders practice and take part in an Opening Night Exhibition.

Here are some highlights from the festival!!

GO PACK GO!!!

In case you haven't already heard....THE PACKERS WON THE SUPERBOWL!!!

After waking up early to watch the Pack win the Super Bowl we decided to head to Sapporo for the Sapporo Snow Festival. It was a great day and all of the ice and snow sculptures were amazing. Chris and I are going to spend today recovering from our exciting and long day yesterday. We've have a couple very exciting adventures over the past few days, so I'm hoping to put together several new posts before we go to Nikko for a long weekend.

Here is a picture of Chris and I sporting our Green and Gold!!

Family Photo

Our Japanese Family:

Chris, Jennifer, and Taka aka 'Our-son'

2011

It's certainly been awhile since I've blogged about our Japanese adventures. Instead of writing a long (and most likely boring) post I thought would put together a photo journal detailing our fun adventures of 2011 thus far.

 Chris and I were invited to a friends house to celebrate New Years Day. The Japanese celebrate The New Year very similar to how Americans celebrate Thanksgiving or Christmas. Both New Years Eve & Day are spent at home with family, while eating TONS of food. We ate delicious food and were so thankful to be a part of their holiday.

The highlight of my New Years was being dressed in a kimono for the first time. I had no idea how much time and effort went into wearing a kimono properly. It took well over 30 minutes to get me all dolled up, and that was with three people helping to get me presentable!!! The kimono I wore was absolutely gorgeous and it was an experience I will always remember!! 

 Chris and I have started hosting weekly dinners for several of the guys on Chris's hockey team. We thought it would be fun to make the guys some of the dishes we have back at home. So far we've made: Tacos, Fajitas and Italian Meatballs. This is a picture of Taka making a "Taka Taco"....

 Chris and I discovered a great indoor golf range in our town. We cannot believe we waited so long to check it out.The range is so unbelieveable that I think I may save the details for a later post....get excited...

 I've been bugging Chris for awhile to teach me how to skate better. My first time ever skating was last winter in Germany and I've been itching to get back out there ever since. We found a great outdoor skating rink in our town which hosts open skating everyday. The rink is split in half, with the inner circle being a training rink for speed skating. These speed skaters are AMAZING. All I wanted to do was sit and watch them, which almost caused me to fall several times because I can't exactly skate forward and look backwards yet..... I'll get there. Chris was a great teacher and I'm looking forward to going again to practice my moves.

We went 氷釣 (Ice Fishing)!!!!

Hello Everyone! 

Chris and I had spent yesterday ice fishing with several of Chris's teammates and their families. It was easily one of the best days we've experienced in Japan so far.

Chris's teammate Kei, his wife and his daughter picked us up bright and early yesterday morning  for our big day 'on the lake.' (I'm not exactly sure if I'm using proper ice-fishing lingo....I am a beginner, although after yesterday I may consider becoming a regular) Originally the forecast looked suspect, however, the day could not have been any better. The weather fully cooperated and we had a great day of sun, clear skies and 'warm' weather.

Once we arrived at the lake we unloaded the car and waited for our 'Fishing Master' to drill our holes and pitch the tent on the ice. It's actually a great setup. For a small fee, the Ice Fishing Lodge will provide (and setup) the ice holes, tents, chairs and other various equipment that one may need to spend a day fishing. That way all one would need to bring is their fishing poles, bait and warm clothes. 

 Our guides drilling the ice-fishing holes.

 

Our guide(left) and Kei (right) setting up our Ice Fishing Tent.

Nico (Kei's daughter) hanging in the tent, waiting for fishing to start.

Nico is BY FAR one of the cutest kids ever!! She will turn 1 in a few weeks.

We eventually got settled into the tent for our big day of ice-fishing. Neither Chris or I were prepared for the sheer magnitude of the fish we were about to catch. I've never been ice fishing before, and I knew we weren't going to catch 5 ft. long Muskies.....but I sure didn't expect to catch the fish that we did.....

 Below are pictures of Chris and my first fish of the day.

 I snagged the first catch of the day. 

Chris was REALLY EXCITED about his fish.

(Yes, that is a fish on Chris's line)

Japanese ice fish for a fish called Wagasaki. These fish can only be caught in the Winter months, and are typically eaten as tempura. Chris and I neglected to take any of these beauties home as we prefer to eat fish that are large enough to be filleted and de-boned. Even though we caught well over 100 fish over the course of the day, we still do not understand the appeal of eating these fish or even whether one would eat them as a snack, a meal or as an appetizer. It's one of those things I may just leave unanswered.....

Jun (Chris's D-partner) and his family joined us later in the morning after Ichiro's hockey practice was finished. I sit with this family during Chris's hockey games and really enjoy his wife and children. Jun has three children: Yuiko, Ichiro and Nijiro. Nijiro (Niji) is the child that I previously deemed as 'the cutest girl in the world.' I originally thought he was a girl because he is four, and has NEVER cut his hair. His hair is always is the cutest ponytail, complete with perfect curls.... Even though we now know he is a boy, we still believe he is one the cutest kids in the world.

Yuiko was simply the master, or 'Sensei' as Chris began to call her. (Sensei is Japanese for 'teacher') As a group we caught over 100 fish. She easily caught 40 by herself. Just as I would get her fish off the line, she was catching another one. At one point I put my line in the hole and upon her simply tapping the line to show me how to 'put on some action' I caught the biggest fish of the day. Chris called her 'sensei'....I called her Jesus. She was too funny and really enjoyed hanging out with Chris and I for the day. For the majority of the day Chris and I had all three children in our tent and Jun and Aiko were no where to be found. I think they enjoyed their free time away from the children, which was great for us because I think Chris and I had more fun than the children did.

 Chris and Ichiro

 Nijiro (Niji)

Me and Yuiko (aka Sensei)

All in all we had a great day ice-fishing. The weather was gorgeous and we really enjoyed spending the day with the Takahashi and Tonosaki families. After spending 8 hours outdoors: ice fishing, sledding and playing with the children, Chris and I were EXHAUSTED. We both were sleeping soundly on the couch by 8 p.m. Days like this make us feel thankful we can play with the kids and then allow them to go home with their parents.... :)

Here's a pic of the fish we caught throughout the day (and no, its not our bait)

We posted tons of pictures and a few videos of our fishing expedition on our Shutterfly Account.
Please check it out!!

I made a (late) New Years Resolution to get back to regularly posting on my blog....so I'm hoping to keep it going and have some more new posts soon!!!!!

Most Exciting Day Ever (Or at least since 1996)

I admit that I've been quite absent from the blogging world. I've been dragging my feet and have been struggling to find a perfect 'return' blog topic to get myself back into the swing of things. Well, the has moment has finally arrived......

THE PACKERS ARE 

SUPERBOWL BOUND!!!!!

We had to wake up at 5:00 a.m. local time in order to watch the game....and it was completely worth the nap that I will most likely have to take this afternoon.

Yes, the game was PRETTY brutal to watch. Just ask Chris, I had at least 15 meltdowns. But right now all I can think about is that in 13 days the Packers will be playing in the Superbowl once again!!!

Now I just need to figure out it there are direct flights from Tokyo Narita to Dallas/Forth Worth.