See How My Garden Grows

Awhile back I bought some corn.  As in tiny corn stalks.  Three for about $1.50.  They're planted in my front yard.    You don't see much corn growing around here and the ears they sell in supermarkets taste like plastic.  If I get so much as one ear I will be thrilled.  Heck, at this point, if I can just get it to grow to a respectable sized stalk I'll be pretty happy.

I'm much more confident about my cucumbers, although this is also my first time growing them.  They're growing as fast as the baby.  Is this not the prettiest little cucumber you ever saw?

Tomatos and I are old friends.

And my herbs (basil, oregano, parsley) are doing nicely, except that the empty space on the end has had a couple of cilantro (called coriander here) seeds buried in it for almost two weeks.   The other herbs were bought as tiny plants.  I don't do very well with seeds for some reason.  I always thought you just put some seeds in dirt, watered them and set them in the sun but apparently I'm wrong. ;)

The Great Outdoors

Since this is the time of year in which we first arrived in Japan, many things are reminding me of that time.  Things such as the deafening sound of a bajillion happy frogs in a rainstorm, the state of my yard, and the merchandise being offered in stores.

One thing I did not know before I moved here is how much Japanese people love to camp and cook out.  And they have the cutest, tiniest camping paraphernalia here.  In Aeon there is currently a display (the exact same one that was there last year) of camping equipment complete with mannequins.

they look like they're having a good time, don't they?

the telescope is a nice touch

In the first photo, see if you can find the teeny tiny grill. 

Don't see it?  Here.

This is pretty much the only style of grill available here.  Charcoal only, from what I've seen.  I actually finally bought us one yesterday (after eyeing them for a year) but I got the deluxe model that is twice as wide and has a tray attachment for small food.  But it's still a teeny tiny grill.  Hopefully we'll get around to actually using it.

Update 6/22/12: I saw big American-style grills at Costco recently.  But the Japanese people weren't paying them that much attention.  You can also get other large camping equipment (i.e. tents) at Costco in early summer.

I also purchased another thing that I have been eyeing for a year.  The company sends some dudes to mow our yard twice a year, but it just hasn't been quite enough.  By the end of last summer my front yard was a mosquito-infested jungle.  So I bought a lawn mower.  Not just any lawn mower, but a Japanese lawn mower.  It may be the most awesomely ridiculous and adorable thing I have ever purchased.

In the photo above are the two styles of lawn mowers available here.  One is old-school manual, but another expat got one of those with her house and reported that it wasn't that great.   So I bought the yellow electric one (approximately $175).  It's child-sized.  And it plugs in.  Like a vacuum.  It's awesome.   (It really bothers Chad when I talk about it like that so if anyone else out there thinks I'm a moron, YES, I realize it has a blade in it.  It's the same as the manual mower, but with a tiny little motor in it.)

yes, I scalped it a little

And you have to squeeze the handle to make it cut--because it's a toy--so I think it would be really hard to cut off an appendage.  I think the biggest problem I'll have is keeping the cord out of the way--because it's a vacuum cleaner.  In fact, I'm probably going to call it the yard vacuum, because "lawn mower" is pushing it a little.

The only bad part about it? 

It terrifies my frogs.

he's not too alarmed, because he's up high, but his friends on
the ground were freaking out

Things I've Purchased: Panda Donabe

When I first started perusing the kitchen supplies in local stores I immediately noticed an odd stone bowl with a lid like an upside down funnel.  They were everywhere, in all colors and styles and I didn't have the foggiest clue what to do with them.

I have since learned that they are donabes and at Thanksgiving someone explained to me how to use them.  Basically you put a little water in them with some meat and vegetables of your choice and put it on the stove top covered.  It steams the food.

With all this new information I decided it was time to give in and buy one.....my decision may also have been influenced by the adorableness of this particular brand, also available in a cat, a bunny, a fox and a brown bear:

it's hard to see from this angle, but the nose sticks up in a dome shape

But I still had to come up with what to cook in it.  Chad and I are both a tiny bit picky about food, especially vegetables.  My donabe came with a little recipe book with pictures but everything in it looked like most Japanese food, i.e. cabbage-y seaweed and fish.  Blech.

But then I had a moment of inspiration....meat and vegetables....steamed....that sounds to me like.....a low-country boil!

how's that for fusion?

It worked out just fine, but I had to make up my own seasoning with wasn't quite up to snuff.  If I can acquire some Old Bay I think it will be a hit.  I'm also open to suggestions as to what else to cook in it.  ;)

Things I've Purchased: Anything With Totoro On It

I am a sucker for anything with Totoro on it.  Fortunately, I don't find such things very often.  For those of you who don't know who Totoro is, he's the big gray creature in the cartoon movie I posted about here.  He's kind of like Winnie-the-Pooh for Japanese children (although actual Winnie has made it over here too) and I enjoyed his trippy little movie.

"Hey, let's go, hey, let's go...."

As you can see, I have a fishing Totoro 2012 calendar, a Totoro keychain, and no, that is not a Totoro washcloth.  It is a tiny hand towel.  I had to go purchase a bunch of these tiny hand towels (you can find them everywhere) for both Chad and myself.  See, public restrooms here never have paper towels available and often don't even have hand dryers.  Instead everyone carries around their own little towel to dry their hands.  I just happened to come across one with Totoro on it.  And I'm not the only sucker---Chad bought us both T-shirts on the Internet that have the Neko Basu (cat bus) from the movie on them. ;)

a whole shelf of Totoro in the Shinjuku Tokyu Hands store

Things I've Purchased: Dressing Table

This will be the first in a series of posts about any remotely unusual items I have purchased here in Japan. 

So, as I mentioned previously, we have to put a little effort into the heating and cooling of our house.  But no matter what we might do, our bathrooms are always the least comfortable rooms, temperature-wise.  So, I don't really want to spend a lot of time in there primping.  When I do have to look decent I tend to take over our computer desk and leave makeup and bobby pins all over the place.  For some reason, this really bothers Chad.

Fortunately, I had just the solution to his problem....I had recently seen a remarkable array of cute little dressing tables in a furniture store called Nitori.  Nitori is kind of a really small-scale Ikea-ish chain store.  I wish I had a photo of all the tiny dressing tables (maybe sixteen different ones) or that I could find them on their website but no such luck.

While purchasing one I discovered that the store didn't keep them in stock, but instead would deliver it (for free) to my house on a day I named.  Accomplishing all this in Japanese was a trick, but I managed. 



The actual process of having it delivered, on the other hand, was excruciatingly difficult.  I know how to say "please come in", "put it here please" and "thank you very much".  I thought that would be all I needed.  Instead, two guys showed up and started jibbering at me and handing me forms to read.  My neighbor wouldn't answer her door, and Chad (who has bilingual co-workers all around him) wouldn't answer his phone.  So the poor delivery man and I conducted almost the entire conversation on our cell phone translation programs.  Turns out, he had to inspect the walls in my house and point out every little dent and ding to me before he could bring the table in.  I had to watch him bring it in very carefully.  Then I had to inspect the table very carefully.  Then we had to go back through the house and review all the dents and dings and agree that they were the same ones as before. 

All while pecking on our cell phones and holding them up to one another.  Sigh.  I feel like I am making progress on speaking Japanese and reading Japanese but understanding a native speaker who is speaking natural Japanese at their normal speed is extremely challenging.

But I have a really cute dressing table now. ;)