So Very Thankful

Hi, gang. I'm hoping you'll let me slide this blog back on like a comfy sweater from last winter.... ok? Yesterday was Thanksgiving here in Oki. And I celebrated with local family, much as we did last year. The Neatherys have left to move back to the states, but life does go on. We celebrated at Val & Cat's house down at the end of our block. No - not two women who live together, two families who live next door to each other and have taken out the glass panel between their balconies so that we can roam freely between TWO apartments! Killer setup for a big party with 4 little kiddos.

First, a shot of our kiddo before we left the house. She's playing on my iPhone - a fishing game. How long-legged and giant is she now? I can't believe this is my kid.
I made stuffing, a home-made (no cans) green bean casserole, and my famous fruit coffee cake. We headed to Val's and as we entered, the smell of the perfectly cooked turkey wafted up my nose and made me giddy. Here she is carving. I don't THINK I drooled on the turkey. Too much.
I looked over and saw Guiness, their dog, watching closely for a dropped morsel.
Kinda brought back memories from 2006 at the Kollegian home in Carmel Valley...

Chris popped open some champagne.... gotta love that.

Sweet nectar...
The hors-douvers spread... and some coconut/butterscotch/chocolate bars. Who says you can't start with dessert?
The ladies...
(Myself, Cat, Val - Val is the one I went to Kyoto with.)

The guys - Craig and Nate (Cat's hubby). And Val in the background grinning while carving.
Maddie (AKA "Wormy") running into Cat's apartment through the open balcony.
The spread...
And THE TURKEY. Mmmmm.... I can still taste the juicy goodness....
Hostess #2, Cat. (She made crazy awesome mashed potatoes, a leg of lamb - she's Australian - and apple pie among other things...) Isn't she a classic beauty?
Her daughter, Victoria, in Tinkerbelle regalia.
And Guinn-Dog. Wearing a St. Patrick's necklace, if you can spot the green. He is a sweet & handsome devil.
After the feast (they made me put down my camera while I ate...), the ladies all grabbed their cameras. There is a REASON the three of us work so well together. HELLO - Canon 5D..
And Canon 40D... (and possibly one of my favorite portraits of you, Val... even though there's a camera in your face)
Some fruits of our after-dinner-shoot-out. George, Cat's other kiddo:
Wormy girl:

And of course, my kid being a goofball with Victoria.
Last one - I felt I had to make up for lost weeks of photos... This is just so sweet!
All the photos are here. Hope your holiday was happy!!

Hi There, I'm Aviva!

Yeah, I figured you thought I'd forgotten about this blog - but I haven't! Bear with me.

Catch up time - things are good. Busy with work. Craig's fine. Mia's working hard in school and playing piano, I'm thinking she might try out for swim team but not if she isn't into it. We're using weekends to do some exploring despite the fact that it's still hot as blazes outside. But when the typhoon winds aren't blowing, it makes for amazing skies... as you can see from our recent trip up north to Hiro's Coffee Farm!
About 1 1/2 hours' drive north is this little gem. I read about it on Okinawa Hai! and had to see for myself. What a hidden little paradise for the coffee lovers!

What.... I said farm, right? There were chickens. Mia was fascinated. This guy was just hanging out under our table. Very friendly, even when Mia decided to pet it.

Now just MENTIONING Mia petting chickens reminded me of this:

Pardon the quality - they're screen shots from an album on Kodak gallery from October of 2004 at Bates Nut Farm in Valley Center (aka "Nate's Butt Farm"). That is Mia. Carrying a chicken. A poor defenseless small and fuzzy chicken. Who, surprisingly, did NOT peck her eyes out. Many of you reading this blog didn't know Mia when she was 3, so here she was - in all her long-haired cuteness.

Onward to Mia (and BOTH Craig and I!) in the present day! Enjoying our time at Hiro's Coffee Farm. Hiro himself took this shot - he offered, and as he took my camera he lifted it with a surprised face and said, "Whoa, big camera." No kidding.


We got macro tubes. For those who don't know, these are cylinders that attach between the camera body and the lens that extend your focal length. It allows you to focus in to details of things MUCH closer (like flowers, bugs, water droplets...) - so we experimented, and I think these are quite nice.

One of my favorite flowers - particularly for its incredibly delicious smell - the plumeria.


Of course the Hibiscus.

And some bouganvilla.
Here's the kid with her dad. She enjoyed a couple of cookies and an OJ while we downed a fantastic mug of iced coffee. (as you can see here, Craig's is already empty)
The inside ceiling was lined in burlap coffee bags.
Here's the menu. We knew to bring a cooler with lunch food because there's not much food on the menu here... but that was quite alright with us. Mmmmm...

We bought a small bag of freshly roasted beans from Hiro, and he brought it in this cute paper sack. Craig snapped this interesting shot, I'm pointing out a photo in a magazine to Mia in the background.
This is a milk canister as far as I can tell (or cream). I just thought it was cool.
Here are some young seedlings. Hiro told us that the 1000 plants he harvests from on his farm are 20 years old.
Here are some new young beans on a 10-year-old plant:
Neat, huh? And here is Hiro with Mia & Craig. What a sweet man, very appreciative - and definitely doing some good business. By the way, we tried the coffee this morning - and it's fantastic. Though the atmosphere up north while sipping iced java on a hot day is EVEN better.

A few more photos from the nearby beach to come - soon, I promise - more of Mia (for you, Mom) because I know it has been a while!

Emerald Beach & Pizza in the Sky

On a whim last weekend, we trekked up to Emerald Beach. It's just north of the Churaumi Aquarium, and it's a gorgeous and friendly spot. (I blogged about the folks we met on the photography blog - too funny!)

I mean really. It's quiet, secluded - we paid 500¥ to rent a beach umbrella like this one and relaxed all afternoon.


Then we drove up a really big hill, through turns and twists I can't even explain - I think we turned around about 4 times because we said, "There's NO WAY this could be right.... look at this little street!"

Then we spotted some Y-plates and said, "FOLLOW THEM!" At the top of the hill, after parking and then coming around the corner and putting your name in at the front stand, you walk past the outdoor tables and see this.
Sesoko Island is there in the distance with the bridge, if you can see it. Obviously we know why this is referred to as "Pizza in the Sky". Gorgeous.

We sat with some friends and the couples they had arrived with - there were a good bunch of us, with a good bunch of kids. This is the menu:

Don't you just love that? And by the way... it's not kinds of pizza - it's just PIZZA. You get what they give you, in a small or medium pie. Done.

I ordered a guava juice for Mia - and it came in a glass cube.

Mmmm... this is the scrumptious salad. It was GOOD. Though we made the mistake of ordering one each (for Craig & I) and should've shared one!

Now tell me... wouldn't the world be a better place if iced tea were served with a little pinch-pot with tiny flowers and its own bingata place mat on this tray? More examples of Japanese presentation. So lovely (and yes, they laughed at me for taking a photo of it - but I mean really, look at it!).

Pizza. The rounds were somewhere between a hot dog and a sausage. Green pepper, corn (Of course - something about Japan is that pizza has corn on it. It just does.) and delicious sauce and cheese - wow. We ate too much.
In the evening while on our way back the sun began to set. And wow - it was a crying shame we couldn't pull over when we saw it go all the way down behind the silhouette of the hills and the ocean. It was incredible. But we did stop when we saw the amazing golden light in a marina on our way to the expressway.

There were a couple of guys out there fishing. And I'll tell you, there were fish literally JUMPING in this area. Mia, Craig and I were watching in amazement as rather large fish leapt from the water and splashed back down!

Such a pretty spot, isn't it? I've been meaning to take photos of this - so I was happy when we passed it at just the right time.
Hope you enjoyed this! I'm thinking the next photos you might see here are of Mia's first day of 1st grade.... heaven help me.

Things That Make You Go, "Mmmmm?"

Every so often (ok, almost every single time) at the grocery stores out in town, you'll pass by a Japanese twist on some American candy creation. As my friend Jen says... the saying in Okinawa is, "Why not?"

Hot soba soup on a 90 degree sticky sub tropical day? Why not?
Garlicky pasta restaurant and an ice cream parlor under one roof? Why not?


Chocolatey KitKat goodness - in watermelon flavor? Why not?

I was intrigued, to say the least. I like chocolate, I like watermelon - how bad could it be? I mean they do have curry-flavored Pringles, and wasabe-flavored Doritos out here.

So I opened the bag, and instantly it smelled of sweet watermelon Jolly Ranchers. These little snacky dudes came out:


What's inside looks like a regular KitKat snack bar, but since there is no smellivison yet - world wide sniff? Monodor... ooh, I like that one - I'll tell you. It's a kit kat that has watermelon flavor in it. I can't describe it, that's just what it is. And it's odd - but yet, still chocolatey enough to be kind of good. Will I buy another bag? Probably not.

Interesting side note - the other day as I was coming upstairs, a homeless man came up to me. He was holding a small bottle of that bright blue Gatorade. He was pointing and asking, "Drinku? Drinku?"

Finally I pieced it together and said, "YES! You drink that, it's ok to drink. Hai."

Honestly - the stuff could be a Windex refill, I mean nothing naturally occurs in that color - and the bottle was in English.