Holy goodness it's been forever since I blogged! What have we been up to? Not a whole lot. Just honestly really, enjoyed the holidays and time off the boys got from school quite a bit. We've been playing Wii quite a bit. Watching the dvd's, I got for Christmas. Especially the Everybody Hates Chris the first season we got through those..... they were so funny we hope to get another season when we can. Also I finished the Keeping up with Kardashians seasons 1 and 2 by myself after the kiddos went to sleep. And I really liked those a lot. And the George Lopez show season 1 and 2 finally got here and we just started watching the first season now. Though I've seen the repeats on TV in the US before. So basically long story short....we've been just hanging home, and enjoying quiet home life. This is what we had for dinner for January 1st. Not a traditional New Years meal in Japan. I know. But since Noboru works for an American company and doesn't really get off Japanese holidays. The likelihood of him ever getting off for New years is rather slim and why we can't get to Osaka, which is sad because I know he'd like to his family. However he does get off American holidays like Christmas and stuff. Which is great for me. But I do feel badly for Noboru never getting to see his family for New Years. So we spent New Years here at home in Chiba. He got home in time for dinner and to enjoy a quiet evening with us here. I asked Noboru what he wanted for dinner from days before and, he said something simple. And so we had a ready made just throw in the oven lasagna. I made some salad and some garlic bread. It was quite delicious though. It was nice we were all together at home and could eat and enjoy dinner as a family. : )
I baked a NY style cheesecake. Made some blueberry sauce. And we had rice krispie treats for dessert as well. So we had quite a bit of good things for dessert for our January 1st dessert.
Noboru had 1 big slice of cheesecake and 1 very big rice krispie for his dessert. The kids had 1 of each too. And I just had a slice of cheesecake with blueberry topping and a hot pumpkin coffee.
The kids received otoshidama from family members.
One of the mornings, while the boys were playing Wii. Noboru said...I'm going to be right back he would be picking up something for the Wii. So he left the house. And came back 30 minutes later with 2 extra Wii remotes. So now all 4 of us have one to play. Needless to say Noboru has been playing quite a bit of Wii.
Here are our Mii's. That's the Branden Mii on the left, then a Noah one and a Gina one and Noboru. We have since tweeked/switched Noah's eyebrows since this pic. You can change all the features of your Mii.
We have been bowling nearly every day since Christmas. Here Noah won. He's actually quite a very good bowler.
Here I won.
And sorry, I won again. Gomen gomen. Noboru and I are really equally matched bowlers so when we play against each other, it's either he wins or I do. It's always a tough call. Very close to say who will win.
Tennis. We have been having so much fun playing together as a family. I would have never thought a video game could help make family time so fun before. But wow this Wii is very good. It has something for everyone.
Noah and Branden love playing swords. Here are his new eyebrows on his Mii, lol. Looks the same but it's a slight change. Anyway...they are both equally matched. Here Noah won twice as you can see, he won game 2 and 3. No wonder this game is approved by the American heart association it definitely keeps you active. It's hard not to feel like a jedi in training when playing swords. ; )
Alright to prove we haven't truly been sucked into Wii land completely or a dvd "Everybody Hates Chris" haze. Well before the kids both started school last Friday January 7th. I pulled everything remotely related to school. And I washed it. Every shogako gym uniform. Seat cover. Every yochien gym uniform and winter school uniform. Yochien seat cover. Lunch mats, handkerchiefs. red/white hat for both kids. You name it....I washed it. I stuck their seat cushions outside for 2 days (brought them in before 5pm each night though) to get even fluffier. By the time school rolled around they were ready.
Noah's Christmas outfit...all us mom's had to wash their kids costumes before sending off to school. I washed on the gentle cycle in my washing machine and hung it out to dry. And returned to the school.
White inside shoes also got chucked into the washing machine and stood outside to dry.
Noah's clay mat I trashed. And good thing I always keep a few extras. I put some new name labels on the new yellow mat I had tucked away in his closet for a day like last week. And meanwhile washed his clay tools.
Threw this clay shaper in some hot soapy water. Scrubbed it and soaked it.
Even pulled out a skewer and picked out any clay bits hiding at the ends of the clay stamper thingy. Come last Friday...both Branden and Noah were ready! It was just a half day anyway for both of them. But they brought all their stuff back to school. And they were ready. ; )
These movies came for us for January from Tustaya Discas. Resident Evil the new one. And "Our Family Wedding" with America Ferrera (from Ugly Betty)
Do you remember the yellow raincoat and green winter coat my dad picked out from Old Navy and Gap for the boys for their Christmas present? Well....you will never believe this, but we got them. Finally and wow what a ride it was. Let me back up. The kids didn't really need anything and I told my dad the boys didn't need anything. And then he insisted. And then we went back and forth and finally I said what about a coat. He said perfect and so we both sat online from both Japan and Guam. Anyway. The order was placed like before December 5th. Way way way before. And it was supposed to arrive according to the delivery estimate date. By December 14th or 15th. So no problem..when I was there December 20th or whenever we were there, it would surely be there right? Wrong. It was not there. In fact...we left Guam minus the coats. When I got back to Japan. Both my dad and I tracked down the coat. It was MIA. Missing. It was at some post office that wasn't in Guam. We saw the whole tracking of it online at USPS online...when it left and was scanned out of NJ. And everything and then it fell off the radar. We called Old Navy. They also were awesome and searched for it. And they said in the meantime they would ship out a new order immediately. Just in case the stuff ran out, went out of stock. They are very cool that way. So they sent out a 2nd exact shipment. Said it would be there by January 4th. And as you guessed it..it also never got there either. This time we asked for a delivery confirmation signature thingy. And so now 2 packaged either hit the Bermuda triangle or were mysteriously lost! And I order from ON and Gap a lot and this has only happened 1 other time to me...like when Branden was 3 years old, so it's very rare this happens. To make matters worse...by now Branden's coat in size 10-12 was/is sold out! And we are like what the flipping heck? So we called and spoke with ON two more times. Lovely people. Were doing everything humanly possible to track both packages down. By now....we are just about at wits end. And about to call it a wash. So one day my dad runs to his post office box to check his mail and guess what's waiting for him? The original package!!!! It was sent to a US military base by mistake. And though Old Navy had put an electronic message on that packed when scanned to say...ship back to the company ASAP. That wonderful US military must have thought it was a lost or missing Americans' Christmas present...which it was. So they sent it to Guam. Right on! So, we got the original lost package. The military shipped it on for us. They just sent it on...forwarded it. That was very cool! And very appreciated! So my dad was a little shocked and happily surprised it got there. After we sort of gave up hope. And he mailed it on to me in Japan. And that's not all....he went home called ON/Gap and thanked them. They told my dad to give me a code coupon...for 30% off my next order. So, I have that now. Plus I told my dad that Branden's coat was $44 US but now since it's on sale can they price adjust and they did so Branden's coat was adjusted to the sale price of $25!!!! So an amazing deal. Also ON said if the other package ever makes it there, to please refuse it and have it sent back. The following day....guess what came in? The other missing ON/Gap package. @_@ Talk about good luck. My dad refused it as they wanted us to do. And it was sent back to the company. And every one's happy. Phew! If you're reading this and thinking holy goodness. Yes....we were thinking the same thing since mid December. : ) : )
You know, I've heard of "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" before but wow...could these be like the the brotherhood of the traveling coats or what? @_@ And now...whenever I look at this raincoat or winter coat I will wonder where they traveled to. Did they wind up in a military base in the middle east somewhere? Or where? Anyway like the saying says don't look a gift horse in the mouth. I won't question it....I'll just be happy they're here. : )
This winter coat is for Branden for next year. And at $25 on sale....a very good deal. And Noah desperately needed a new raincoat. His raincoat now is a size 4!!! : ( And I have Branden's size 7. But that's ginormous on Noah. And so...this was much appreciated. And very needed.
The color of B's coat is a very bright happy green.
Size 10-12. Though he just turned 9. It'll be perfect for next year.
Though Noah is 5, this size 6-7 will be perfect. With room to grow, as they say. ; )
We honestly gave up hope of ever getting these. But as luck would have it...they came. This is turning out to be a wonderful lucky year already.
Branden is such a sweetheart. A kid who just wakes up. Didn't even get a chance to fix his hair yet bless his heart. But if I ask him...honey can you try this on for me please? He says sure. ; )
Sunday...the Sunday that just passed....we all had french toast. French toast and sausage for the hubby and the kids and just french toast for me. And coffee. Again not a whole lot going on here.
Has anyone tried this cereal? With the boys being on holidays. They were going to the grocery store with me weekly. And they saw this. Something I would've not noticed maybe by myself. But the kids wanted try to it. Pancake flavored cereal? I relented and said why not. And the next day. Wow it really did smell like pancakes. Syrup and a touch of buttery flavor. It was very good. I wasn't thinking it would be...but wow. Very good indeed. Think I'll have to rebuy this one. What else...Current music that I have been really liking/recent downloads on my ipod lately.
1)The Time (dirty bit) by the Black Eyed Peas (I love this song so much right now!!!) Have been dancing to this around the house every chance I get! : )
2)Like a G6, by FM (The Far East Movement)
3) DJ Got Us Falling in Love Again by Usher
4) Raise Your Glass by Pink (love this video)
5) Hold My Hand by Akon featuring the late Michael Jackson : ( Great song though.
6) Club Can't Handle me by Flo Rida (love this one too)
7) While My Guitar Gently Weeps by Santana, the guitar part in this is beautiful.
What else. Branden and Noah have their dental apointment, every 6 month check ups coming up soon. I also have observation day coming up this month for both Branden and Noah. And also Noboru's birthday is coming up shortly too. January 18th for him. : ) Branden lost 1 tooth last week. Needless to say the tooth fairy has been kept quite busy all Fall and Winter long. ; ) January is looking good...quiet but good. : )
My BIL (brother in law) is going on vacation this January with his family. He's taken 2 weeks off. And I think that's fantastic. My BIL works very hard and he's a very good guy. And I really like him a lot. And my SIL Satoe, I like her a lot too. In fact I think the absolute world of her, I think she's quite amazing. And my niece...a total sweetie pie. And, I know they work hard. I imagine at times it's hard on my SIL being a housewife and an active and busy yochien mom. I can imagine. Because I also am often being kept on my toes with both Branden and Noah's school stuff too, plus the housework and cooking etc. So, I can definitely understand and relate completely. So, I think them going on vacation sounds lovely. I hope they have a wonderful time. They deserve it. They're just really good people. : )
Noboru and I are quietly planning to go someplace in February with the boys. I really can't go into more detail until I know his days off were accepted/okayed. So, I am hoping and crossing my fingers. : )
Okay....anyway I better get going...I have to change clothes before I run and pick up Noah from yochien. : )
Okay....anyway I better get going...I have to change clothes before I run and pick up Noah from yochien. : )
So, did everyone have a nice weekend? We had an excellent weekend here. Not a whole lot going on, but it was nice to just unwind and chill out all weekend long. On Saturday evening, we had hot (meaning temp wise, as in baked) pepperoni sandwiches. Except Noah wanted a hot ham and cheese instead, so he had that.
Cut the sizes of the bread according to who was eating it. ; )
Sprinkled the cheese on top and whacked in the oven for a bit.
This is what we had for dinner Saturday night. A hot pepperoni sandwich, with hot melty cheese on a crusty baguette with crunchy lettuce. A bowl of pasta and a blueberry tea with ice.
A close up of this little beauty. The pepperoni all crispy around the edges, oh man! Gotta make one of these again real soon!
Sunday morning at 10am the doorbell rang, it was "the boy next door" He's such a good wholesome kid. And since he actually really lives right next door, that's why we call him the "the boy next door" I think you can see the boy next doors legs going down the slide. B meanwhile was on the top of the playground with striped sweatshirt. They were playing beyblades and whoever lost had to slide down the slide. These kids, I swear invent the most interesting games.
There he went sliding. B had to slide down many a times too. ; )
Branden and the boy next door played from 10am, to 5pm when the bell rang in the neighborhood for the kids to go home. Oh yeah at noon when the lunch bell rang, the kids went back into their own houses. For lunch though. : )
Noah meanwhile, played basketball with Noboru. Just dribbling contests. And then finally switched over to playing soccer later. A good day was had Sunday. And the weather heated up to a nice warm 49-52 degrees F. Okay certainly not Summer temps but boy did it feel like a nice change of pace.
The Gap/Old Navy package arrived Sunday. Getting mail on a Sunday always surprises me because we don't get mail on Sundays in the US. So, definitely caught me off guard. Even emailed my dad....."My package came on a Sunday, definitely not in Kansas anymore ; )" He got a chuckle out of that one. And no, I'm not from Kansas, but you kwim. : )
The Gap 3/4 length sleeve cardigan and Old navy dress for myself were perfect fits.
Slipper flip flops. lol.
Noah needed some socks. And the polo's were $6 each before the sale went off, glad I picked those up when we did. 
Noah needed socks. : )
4 polo tops for Branden and 2 pair of flip flops, I was happy to get all of the tops on sale and the flippies were also on sale. Of course the sales off now, but glad we caught it before it ended. Nothing wrong with catching a good deal and getting while on sale. Smart actually. The navy blue hibiscus flip flops were only $2.50 when on sale, and you know in Japan, at shogako they swim and their uniforms are navy blue swim suits/trunks. And a pair of flip flops are also needed. Figured these being navy blue and at $2.50 each were perfect. So Branden's flip flops for shogako this coming Summer are no worries now. That is a load off my mind.
These were all washed on the fast cycle and are now hanging in his closet and same goes for Noah's stuff too. I have 1 last package coming. And then I won't need to get anything else for the kids or myself. So this hopefully is nearly out of the way real soon. 
Baked a homemade cheesecake Sunday early afternoon while the hubster and the boys were outside in the backyard.
And made nikujaga for dinner last night. And cheesecake for dessert.
Dessert for Sunday. My cheesecake this time is thicker then last time and I think I got it down right. I meant thicker as in not talking about the actual consistency of said cheesecake, but am talking about the actual thickness/widthwise of the cheesecake. Last time I split the cheesecake batter between 2 and this time I made 1 big fat cheesecake and we prefer this way. Noboru loved it. So did the kids. Oh yeah and can't forget me too.; ) I liked it too. 
So how has everyone been? What's everyone been up to? As for me, just been hanging out, staying home. Cooking, baking. Watching the Hills on MTV and repeats of the Osbourne's. Hell's Kitchen on the Fox Life channel, Bones and "So you think you can dance" on the Fox channel and Cold Case on AXN. I've got 2 lunch dates with friends planned, one on the 20th and one on the 26th (one is to an Italian restaurant and the other is at my favorite Indian restaurant). Just chillaxin' basically. Someone asked me about the amount of homework Branden got over the Christmas holidays and while I took a pic before we headed to Guam, I didn't get around to emailing the picture yet. So, I know she'll read it here anyways, and be happy I finally got around to it. Sorry it took me so long, gomen ne. ; ) This pic of above is of the Christmas holiday homework Branden got this year. So this is the load he got as a 2nd grader. Two sheets of Japanese and loads upon loads of math sheets.
Multiplication worksheets, he got 4 of them 50 problems on each side, so 100 problems per page (front and back) So 400 math problems during the couple week Christmas break. Yup, they really drill the math into their heads. And I sorta think that's okay because they get it, like really "get it". Memorize it and all the reps they do it's like etched into their brains forever type stuff. ; ) ; ) I wish I could have learned math this way when I was little too. They go through this stuff like 800 times - 1000 times a month, between homeworks and the reps us parents are supposed to stamp off when they do them in front of us at home. Drill type stuff.
The addition and subtraction. They still have them do this but only 1 worksheet each. That way they remember this stuff.
The Japanese, B got 2 worksheets of this.
See the worksheets, one sheet is the multiplications between 2-5 and the other page is the multiplications tables of 6-9. The kids can do this stuff in their sleep, they really get an awesome foundation down in elementary school. Anyway that's a brief little look at the homework they got over Christmas break. All the kids turned their homework back in on the first day back from the winter holiday. Branden returned back to school last Thursday January 7th and Noah returned January 8th but Noah had only a half day.
January 8th, Branden brought home this paper. It's a project his 2nd grade class is doing. Like mini biographies of themselves. They were due Wednesday January 13th. What time was he born? 9:19am. Where was he born? Honolulu Hawaii. What was the first thing that happened after he was born or first thing said? The doctor mentioned B had a dimple. ; ) How he was at age 1, 2-3, 4-5 and at age 6. They wanted pictures that matched the age groups they asked about. And stories. They said to ask your mom. ; ) So, as you can imagine Branden and I have been talking about his baby years and I have been regaling him with my sleep deprivation stories, the first food he ever ate tale etc etc. He wrote it all down nicely. Noboru read it through and he brought it to the school on Wednesday with his fellow classmates. They are gluing and making some project from this mini biography. And I look forward to seeing it when I attend observation day at the end of this month.
Branden and Saya-chan and Nozomi-chan and Kouiki-kun came to play last week. It was so cold outside that I had them come in the house, they went upstairs in Branden's room and Noah's room. Noah's room has the toy boxes and Branden's room has the keyboard. They were good, quiet and polite so it was fine they came in. And frankly I was worried the kids would freeze being outside.
Kumon has been closed for a great deal of the winter holiday. Especially near the New Year's holiday. The Kumon teacher gives little study type presents to her students and I like that, I think that's nice. the kids enjoy it. He received 2 plastic folders for holding his homework packets. 1 eraser, 2 garigari pencils, which Branden just loved, 1 glue and a lollipop. I bet all of her students enjoyed her gifts. ; ) What else have I been up to?......
I went through the shoe closet in the genkan (boring mundane stuff but hey it really happened, lol) and I am sort of thinking these are getting a bit small on Noah. No, we're not talking foot falling off the foot bed or anything drastic but I can definitely tell these will be outgrown soon. These are a size 8-9 in Croc sizes, lol.
After poking around in the shoe closet, I found these. Hmm, Branden was wearing Crocs even when he was as young as Noah's age? Not that it matters but, I didn't realize,anyway....Noah can put these to good use. And yes we will buy him a new pair of yellow or orange near Spring but great he can use these as well though.
Size 10-11, the next size up and the size Noah will need this coming Spring and Summer.
These light blue ones used to be Noah's way back when and I took all the jibbitz off the smaller ones and put them onto the navy ones.
Also found 2 pair of sneakers for Noah, Adidas and Nike, he can play in the backyard with these and an old pair of Gap flippies. Some good finds in the shoe closet indeed. I did wash the sneakers and hung them outside and they washed up pretty good.
Getting the jibbitz off and on from shoe to shoe, ouch... did my finger nails a job! Good thing they were short length nails to begin with. ; )
Noah had been asking to make chocolate covered bananas. We make them about three times a year. I'd like to say we do it more often but nope, 3 times a year is about it. I will try to make more effort into making them more though because the chocolate kits are under 300 yen so they are affordable to make. I'll try to make them once a month with the boys.
Nuke the chocolate....then slice bananas in half and done! Couldn't be easier! The kids loved the dunking and the sprinkling and I felt happy watching them get a kick out of making them!
I thought the boys did a wonderful job!
The first day back to Noah's yochien. My friend gave me a bag of cucumbers from her garden. Very nice. I peeled two and ate them with just a sprinkling of salt and the others I used up in a salad.
Thanks to Parents magazine who mentioned these cupcakes first a year or a year and a half ago and I cut the picture out to remind myself to make them someday. I made some yellow cupcakes and then put a bit of Nutella. Good god we love Nutella. Baked them in the oven the day that Saya-chan and Nozomi- and Kouiki played upstairs with Branden and Noah. They could smell these cooking. Branden came downstairs and said, "my friends said whatever you're baking smells good and wondered if they could have some?" I said of course, that's why I baked them to begin with. : )
I could smell the chocolate and hazelnuts from the Nutella. I gave one batch for the kids to eat and 1 batch was for our family for dessert that night.
The kids devoured all the cupcakes on this plate! I was glad these cupcakes passed the taste test. I will be baking more cupcakes with Nutella in the future for sures.
We rented some DVD's. One was a flat out scary movie so the kids couldn't watch that with us. Now, sci-fi, like Star Wars and Terminator, they are okay with. Branden now that he's 8 even likes watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer with me and that's okay. But flat out scary such as, Halloween, Friday the 13th, Amityville, Exorcist you know what I mean is off limits in our family for the kids still. So we watched this after they went to sleep.What scary movie did we rent? A Japanese one about a cell phone and if it calls your keitei....yikes... you will be dead next! @_@ Double yikes! In Japanese, it's called Chakushin-ari. This was so good and so scary, it scared Noboru and I quite a bit during the movie. We watched that last Saturday night after the kids went to bed. The other DVD, we rented was called "The Reader" this was with Kate Winslet and was set in the nazi era. She was a guard at the camps and was tried for war crimes. But the story is more so about her relationship with a young man before she worked at the camps. It was an okay movie, not exactly my cup of tea but good all in the same. I'd never watch it again but it wasn't a grade B or a flop at all. I watched this a night when hubby would be at work because I knew he wouldn't be into this movie at all and this was way too mature for the kids to watch. That leaves 2 new DVD rentals for January still. And we chose, Hachi with Richard Gere (a remake). But it doesn't come out until January 27th? So we have quite a bit of a wait. The last DVD we chose is "Knowing" with Nicolas Cage. It's released already but they come in sets of 2's, so it won't come until Hachi gets released.
What have we been eating or what have I been cooking lately? I'll tell ya, I don't mind, I'll share. ; ) One night, I made a beef curry. I bought a nice sized little hunk of beef, fried up the cubed beef in a bit of oil and boiled until tender. Pretty easy.
For the most part I am still trying to stay on track with my meal sizes. Because I know sometimes my meal sizes can range from good.... to a bit large portion wise. So while I am keeping mindful about it. I'm not going all out and out, crazy about it either, like all fanatical about it..... if I'm really hungry one night, frankly I eat, and enough to fill me up. So, I'm mindful but not going all extreme or overboard either. I'm human, I'll have slips and I'm okay with it.
All the beef, onions, mushrooms, potatoes, carrots, the curry roux, you can even see the steam from this pic. It was a good thing to eat on a cold night. Seems Chiba has really been having a cold spell this past week. Like a deep freeze without the snow! @_@
We really enjoyed our beef curry that night.
Another night midway into making nabe. Didn't add the hakusai or noodles yet.
Another great dish for the cold weather.
Also, beef. I like ground beef, but lean ground beef. When we lived in Denver, I would buy lean ground beef I think it said, 93% fat free? So pretty lean. Living in Japan the ground beef at the local stores, have a lot more fat content in it then I'm used to. I would buy the ground beef at Costco because they have lean ground beef, but it's only88% lean, I think? Wouldn't bother anyone else in the whole world. I know. And if I lived closer, to Costco, I'd probably happily buy the 88% and not give it a second thought, because that's still way leaner then I find at the regular stores. However, since I live way way far from Costco that's out. And then I started thinking, there's so many butchers in Japan, I bet they could help me out. So, I went to the little city that Noah goes to yochien in and went into the butcher, a really nice kind elderly butcher. Asked him a quick question. Just basically, would it be possible to get some 93 or 95% lean ground beef? And he said, "of course" Well in Japanese but you kwim. : ) Why didn't I ask this question sooner? Say like a few years sooner? @_@. Oh well, better late then never. Anyway he has been grinding beef for me for the past 2 weeks now. I'm really happy with it. And it's close to me so the convenience factor I love, so that's a plus.
I order 1kg at a time. I made homestyle cheeseburgers and the rest I made hamburg another night.
Some very good lean cheeseburgers. Some onions, pickles, tomatoes some melted mozzarella cheese. Some crispy fries. We loved having burgers last week. Wish they woulda had hamburger buns but hey, they taste just as good on bread. ; )
Another night, I was making fried pork chops and augratin potatoes. First I buttered my dish and started slicing the potatoes, midway, I sprinkled salt and pepper.
And when I was done, I sprinkled some more pepper and salt but just a bit.
A basic butter and flour roux, easy peasy.
Some milk until it got a bit thicker.
Added some cheese.
The cheese melted nicely.
And put the sauce on top and covered the pan in foil and whacked it into the oven for an hour and a half. 20 minutes before I took the tin foil off though for the top to get nicely brown.
And done. My husband loves these potatoes. I seriously mean he LOVES them. He could probably eat the whole thing but he restrains himself. He came back for not only 2nds but he came back for 3rds on these potatoes. The next morning after B was getting ready for school after he had regular breakfast, he asked me, "are there any potatoes left?" And I sadly said just a wee bit but those were for Noah's obento. Hmm, maybe next time I'll double the recipe. ; P
Pork about to become American style fried porkchops.
It was just a simple non fancy dinner. Just augratin potatoes, pork chops and some veg, No big marching band or trombone playing type meal. No bells or whistles just simple easy good food.
I was thinking of baking a blueberry pie. But then I saw how many cups of blueberries I'd need just for 1 pie and realized how many bags of blueberries I'd need and the cost of the pie sounded ridiculous. I mean I like dessert but not a dessert that costs an arm and a leg!! So, I switched that to making a blueberry cheesecake instead. I was going to get Philidelphia cream cheese but this brand was considerably cheaper. 1000 yen for a kg of cream cheese. 89 yen for the coconut cookies. I only needed 1 pack, but bought 2 because I just didn't know. And I bought the sour cream on sale and it wasn't even gonna expire for 2 weeks still. So a double score! LOL.
I think this is definitely expensive for the US. But living in Japan, 138 yen was quite the bargain. I was glad I was able to make it affordably.
I was thinking I'd need 2 packs of the coconut cookies but was way off, I only needed 1 pack and even still, think I could have gotten away with just a half of pack of cookies. I'll remember this for next time. And the light coconut flavor crust was perfect for a NY baked cheesecake.
Yup how much did the 1 pack of cookies make? Enough for 2 cheesecakes. Hmm, yup, definitely will try making just a half pack of cookies for the crumbs next time, plus it wastes less. But again, I didn't know, but I know now. ; )
I only needed 680 grams of cream cheese so this was more then enough however the smaller packs were name brand and actually costlier then this big 1kg pack. Hmm.
It made a lot of cheesecake filling.
I think if I wanted to be fancier, I should have used a spring form pan etc etc. But, ahhh. For a midweek dessert this was perfect and we actually liked this way, it was easy to cut.
The blueberry topping I made myself, I just added a little sugar, water and lemon juice in a sauce pan and heated up and reduced until it got to the consistency I wanted. Some recipes say add, cornstarch for thickening etc. I kept mine simple, water, a bit of sugar and blueberries and a bit of lemon juice. We ended up with 2 blueberry cheesecakes. I think next time I'll make a strawberry one. But we loved the blueberry cheesecakes for sure.
I'm not really a new year resolutions type gal. I figure, why make em' if I'll probably only break them anyways, knowing me. ; ) So, none for me. But I told myself that I would get the boys photos all gathered and into order. I bought these for 400 or 450 yen at Besia/Cainz Home. One for Branden and one for Noah. I probably need about 5 each for Branden and 5 for Noah to even make a dent in being caught up, but...a starts a start.
I bought these because I have pictures in 4x6 US sizes and also the Japanese L size and some in different sizes and the free size this book was worked best for me.
I also have a medium sized plastic box with scrapbooking stuff inside. And that is also greatly behind as well.
Here's one of Branden's pages, with a bit of information, also in the little pouch is his hospital wristband nicely sealed up. An actual pic of my Ob-gyn in Hawaii holding Branden, who delievered him so he can see what she looked like. I am going to do more with this page but, I did this page a few years ago.
Lots of stickers (acid and lignin free). Different papers designs and colors.
I've got a lot of work ahead of me.
Stickers for borders.
I have a baby and also another book for kids and so I have been trying to get the boys scrapbooks done and also the photo albums I bought at Cainz done too.
Noah's scrapbook, shades of purples and blue his is called "watercolor" And I liked it for a little boy.
Loads of those acid and lignin free stickers and embellishments for scrapbooking. Again not showing off, I'm sure some people might have more supplies then me or whatever, I'm just trying to make sense of this madness called my scrapbook and photo books. ; ) I wish I had a better system or way of keeping my stuff but since it's not really a hobby type hobby of mine and I seldom do this, I don't make the space for it.
Every trip to Disney Sea or Disneyland we've taken, I have to go and make copies of the pics and then I'll use these Disney stickers and embellishments to be a bit more creative. I think, if I would have done this even once ever 3 month's I wouldn't be so behind. I'm *so* behind that I am wondering if I'll ever catch up? In a way I think...just give up, don't do it. It's too much work. But then in a way, I think how great it will be when I get finished. Either way, I am going to give myself until March 1st. I'm going to go slow and try and get as much done as I can. I'll try to keep a bit of progress on this blog on how I am doing until March 1st. I may even have to extend my date who knows. But for now I am trying to shoot for March 1st.
So many embellishments, yarn, name plates, mini card stocks. I think I'll need more beach things. But I'm going to go as far as I can and hopefully catch up a great deal.
I have been giving my Fiskars paper cutter a workout. And basically been in a photo book and scrapbooking zone lately. For a lot of people they have a gift or talent with this. And I am in awe and honest admiration they're gifted with this. With me, I would certainly say I don't have this gift or talent, ha ha ha, it doesn't come naturally to me at all. I'm just doing the best I can to store some memories for the boys is all.
What am I doing with these? The ones I got at Besia/Cainz Home. I'm not making scrapbooks out of these or making them fancy at all. No fancy stickers or doodads, I don't think for now, but we'll see. I'm just making simple photo books with them. I am not saying photo albums because mine actually have words and stories so they're more then just plain albums but way way less then a scrapbooks. So not as good or cool as a scrapbook, but at least a step above a flat out photo album. But nothing wrong with albums either though.
Here is a peek at one of Noah's pages on his photo book (not his scrapbook). And I left space to write stories and I am calling this one, "bibs bibs who has the bib?!!!" Note Noah is wearing a bib on all these pics except the 2 where he was at home naked just wearing a diaper in his high chair, lol. I'll put little blurbs under each picture and a story or two and that is it. And I am making both of the boys scrapbooks too. But since I am so behind, I will make them quite a few quick and easy photo books. The reason I have 2 pics of him naked with no bib, is because I wanna tell him when at home we were so carefree we let him eat in diaper and that's it and any food spill just got cleaned up in the shower. ; P
This page will be called, me and my brother. The pics covered are where I am in. And I will make little blurbs under each picture and a bigger story in the space I left, something in my own words, to my son Noah. I think he'll appreicate this so much when he gets older. And the 400-450 yen for the albums at Cainz was definitely easy on the pocket book. Definitely not nearly as cute as a scrapbook for sure but save worthy all in the same.
I filled up one for Branden's yochien years. And I still will probably need another one to finish up Branden's yochien years. So, B will get 2 photo books for his yochien years. And I am writing little things under each picture.
The page on the left is when he was a pink badge and went to the sweet potato dig! I left a big space to tell him a few stories that are fresh in my mind. I think B will really like this book when he's older.
The page on the right is of one of his ensoku's/field trips. And I'll give him a story.
When Branden was a blue badge and he had that sleep over. All the blue badges had to spend a night without their parents. All the fun he had, I have the pictures of and I'm going to write to my son how I cried and missed him so much during that night and the next morning he was just fine and I felt so silly afterwards!!! : ) All these stories I want to write down and put them behind the protective plastic that way he'll always have those pictures along with the stories behind the pictures. Anyway...I'll keep you all updated with this little project I'm working on. ; )
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