Throwback Thursday. Thanksgiving 2008...

Hi everyone! Today is Thursday, and a holiday for us in Japan! It's called Culture Day which is called "Bunka no Hi" in Japanese. The kids have no school today! So anyway, today's TBT takes us back to our family's Thanksgiving from 2008 here in Japan at our home. For Americans, as soon as Halloween is over. We start thinking and dreaming about and looking forward to Thanksgiving! A day we share with family and loved ones. A day we think about being thankful and having gratitude and being lucky and grateful for what we have. Just a very grounding holiday. A family holiday that we totally love!  Plus we get to eat lots of yummy delicious food too. A holiday that we are already thinking about and looking forward to! We can barely wait! Happily looking forward to with great great GREAT anticipation. : ) 

And homemade pumpkin pie for dessert as always. : ) I love November so much! : ) Gobble gobble, I can't wait! : )

We will be watching this one tonight. This movie is a straight up American classic, doesn't matter what age you are, it's such a great short movie. : )

Anything else to add? Tomorrow/Friday morning, Noboru and I have a date. A morning movie date to go and see the new movie, Bridget Jones's Baby. Starts at like 9:50am. Noah doesn't even get out of school tomorrow until 3:45pm and Bran gets out at 4pm. So, we will have a nice morning movie and more than likely some lunch together afterwards. I am so glad tomorrow is Friday. Anyway have a wonderful Thursday everyone. Today's plan? Just relax and rest since it's a holiday here. The house is pretty clean. I kicked it so hard...house cleaning-wise all this week. We are going to have a fun 1 pot meal on the dinner table tonight, we will be having curry nabe, the 4 of us. With lots of fresh veggies, sliced chicken breast, nabe meatballs, udon noodles and of course sides of rice.  We will watch this 30 minutes Thanksgiving DVD, to get us revved up for Thanksgiving. And then I will watch my regular Thursday TV shows. Little Women LA and tonight, the premiere of Little Women Dallas. And after that American Horror Story Roanoke. Alrighty, Happy Thursday everyone! : )

Costco in Japan info share, looks like we have bacon again. Finally!!! And the Thanksgiving turkeys are in stock...

As you all know, for my specific nearest Costco. Costco Chiba New Town, I have been on turkey watch 2016! LOL. : ) As in...I have been checking once a week to give you all the heads up! Again if your Costco in Japan had them earlier than this...then good for you, you're lucky. : ) For our specific Costco though... they made their appearance last week! I count 7 in this picture. And I spoke to a lady (Costco meat woman) and she said, they had more in the back. So that is awesome to hear! I did not buy one, as of yet. Because it's still too early for me to buy one. But they are here. Those American delicious Butterball turkeys came a *very* long way to reach us! So, yep, anyone needing a turkey? Not to worry they are here! Gobble Gobble Gobble. : ) 

About 10-11 years ago, Costco's in Japan sold American style bacon that gets all delicious and crispy. And then they just stopped selling it. Completely out of the blue. Just one day it was there and the next day, it was gone. And has not ever returned. Costco's in Japan sell microwave bacon from the US...but omg it tastes so funky weird! So for the most part we've been without bacon for our household unless we bring it into Japan ourselves and do the paperwork for it and get it cleared at customs. Which we are experts by now for doing that. But yes...it is a pain in the butt to have to go through that too though. Imagine my surprise when last week...I had went down an aisle at Costco that I had not gone down.. in about a month. I was down that aisle in September and it wasn't there. But..all October I have been just zipping in Costco scratching things off my list and leaving. Last week however I strolled so many aisles. And was shocked ...okay pleasantly surprised to see this! I was like...holy crap! I bought a pack. We had it over the weekend for breakfast and it's delicious! We will definitely be buying this twice a month from now on! I only hope...that they don't stop carrying this! : )

Costco cart pic. That handmade pasta is nearest my camera. 2 packs of chicken. Shredded cheese for Mexican food. Bacon. Umm what else... Costco amount of tortillas. Green chili is coming up soon. Big bag of potatoes far right. 4 frozen Costco pizzas. A cheesecake and something is hiding underneath that cheesecake. This cheesecake is called a cheese tart. But if you're American...this is a regular delicious cheesecake. It's so good.

These maple pecan danish are underneath. My friend, American mama good friend also living in Japan... rec'd me to try these. And ever since she told me to try these. We've been buying them ever since. She's right because these are so delicious. 

These are the best things to eat in Fall and Winter for breakfast. They don't seem to sell them in summer. But...that just makes these even more special...since they seem to be seasonal. : ) 

Noboru wanted me to get him the takoyaki. We get Costco emails weekly of what's on sale. And he mentioned wanting these since they were on sale last week. Hahaha. While I eat bologna and cheese sandwich or grilled cheese for lunch, Noboru if he's home for lunch (most of the time he's not) if he's home though..he is enjoying his octopus balls. For lunches he eats what he likes and I do too. We eat the same stuff for dinner though. : ) 

A couple years ago Coco Ichiban Curry sold a nabe here in Japan. For those of you not living in Japan or Hawaii. Coco Ichi Curry is a famous restaurant that sells curry. Delicious curry. Anyways...they started selling a curry nabe and it wasn't sold at their restaurants, it was sold at supermarkets all over Japan. Now slightly switching the subject lightly. In Japan....there is hidden seafood in so many foods that you would never even realize it. Unless you check. That is a post for another time... that yes I will write. But...the Coco Ichi nabe the first 2 years it sold here in Japan had zero fish or seafood...no dashi (fish broth) nothing. So, I happily bought it. In Japan, Japanese families look forward to eating nabe in a big communal pot at the dinner table and eating as a family. So families do really look forward to eating nabe. We enjoyed nabe...curry nabe those 2 years. I enjoyed it too. Then the 3rd year they sold it...the ingredients were changed and it now contained fish broth. I'm just not down for seafood at all. Like at all...at all (okay I do like shrimp and lobster but I don't want shrimp in a soup though or on my potato chips.) So, we stopped eating it. Which is a bummer. Anyways...so the day I went to Costco and saw the turkeys. This Besia is right next to Costco in Inzai/Chiba New Town. Anyways...I saw this. It's a curry soup. But after looking at the pictures on the back. There's that same ceramic pot and communal eating. I thought...you know what. We should try this. Oh and this has zero fish...zero anything from the sea. We have since tried it once and it's delicious! I have about 35-40 plus foreign mama really good friends in Japan that enjoy seafood. But I also have about 7 foreign mama friends who hate seafood as much as I do. So...this is for you. This has no seafood. If you see this packet. You may want to give it a shot. Again if you love seafood this obviously wouldn't be information you'd need. But again if you dislike seafood...you may really appreciate this info. Again as always just trying to help. : ) 

Close up pic. Ajinomoto makes this. There's 8 packets/base of soup. We used all 8 for our family of 4, for 1 nights worth. So...this may give you a round about idea of how much you'd need. Again...just trying to be helpful. I guess I could say absolutely nothing. But no..if I can help out...I will. : ) 

Yep we ate this in a pot and enjoyed our meal. Also...this expires in 2018. This makes me wonder...and worry...what if they too change their recipe/ingredients next year on this? I wonder if I should buy a few extras just to stock pile this a tad. That way...if next year they change the recipe...we will still have some of this one. Hmm. I might. : )

Just random other things I bought while at Besia that day. Frozen veggies and fresh veggies. I always keep frozen veggies in my freezer. This time I have...frozen corn, green beans and broccoli. And fresh bell peppers, onions, zucchini, carrot and frozen wedge fries. 

Best fries ever ever! From Hokkaido. Hokkaido is famous for potatoes, same how Idaho is. : ) Besia always has the cheapest fries. I prefer wedge fries, I'm not sure why, but they're my favorite. Anyways, 2 weeks ago, I was making "make your own Cheeseburger night" And needed fries. I went to the freezer section to buy the fries that I have been buying for ages. And they no longer sell the kind I used to buy, no worries. They now only sell these wedge fries. I bought them. These are honestly...the best french fries ever! I am not sure if these are so good because they are from smaller potatoes? Or what. Aren't smaller veggies supposed to be sweeter and tastier?  These were so delicious and they tasted almost sweet. Not sickening sweet. But...such delicious fries. And trust me...I have tried fries from all over. Anyways...these fries they sell at Besia are the best. I am so glad I tried them. So much so...I bought another bag last week. My 2nd time buying them. : ) Anyway...lots of information for just 1 post. : ) Happy Tuesday everyone! : )