I Won a Trip to Tokyo!

That's right, I won a trip to Tokyo.  Actually, this was nearly a year ago.  I won a trip offered on base that involved a bus ride from the base to Tokyo (not as close as you may think) and then a few nights at a military hotel down there (only military members and dependents can book rooms there).  They offer this once a month but it was difficult to find a time that worked for me, Ryan and another couple.  Oh yes, it was a trip for 4!  

I was so excited to win because I never win anything.  I was even more excited to actually be able to use the trip before it expired.

Here is the room.  It is American style, so a little bigger than your average Japanese hotel room.  The other bonus was that there were American amenities, like a pool, APO (military/US post office), restaurant with an American breakfast, fitness center, and what equates to a BX and shoppette (which probably doesn't mean much to you unless you have been on a military base).

We arrived just in time for excellent weather and sakura.  Sakura means cherry blossoms.  If you are familiar with Japan you will know this is a big deal.  Cherry blossoms are synonymous with Japan, especially Tokyo.  I feel like that should have been on my bucket and I am more than thrilled to have experienced this.

After checking in and putting our stuff down, we headed to an area known as Ginza.  We love Ginza. Yes, it is probably the most expensive area in Tokyo, but we enjoy walking around there window shopping and checking out the fancy cars.  Plus, you can guarantee that almost any place you find for food will be excellent.  We didn't have anything specific in mind, but when we walked by this sign, we knew we had to check it out.  This place is called Nataraj.

Yes, in Japan it is normal to find a random sign like this outside of a building or on the street and then pop in an elevator and head to the floor indicated on the sign (7F on this sign let us know to head to the 7th floor).  In fact, this is how we find most of the excellent places we have eaten at in Tokyo.

We started off with some papadum with onions and tomato.

We ordered two dishes to split. Lots of awesome vegetarian options, plus they even had a vegan naan.    This is the matter paneer, which is an Indian cheese with peas.  It happens to be my favorite Indian dish and has been since I was probably 14 years old.

This is the baingan bharta, which is an eggplant dish.  

Of course we had some rice to go with this.

And naan...because what is an Indian meal with out naan!

After dinner we headed out and about around Ginza, winding down walking streets and alleyways filled with stores.

This place was so cute that it definitely caught our eye.  These are cream puffs. 

Cream puffs decorated like bunnies with different kinds of filling in them.  Yes, we bought some, but we couldn't eat them there, so we took them to go.  Sadly, they weren't good the next day.  But at least they still looked cute!

We did manage to find one place that had both dessert and a place to eat it right there.  The amazing smell wafting out of this waffle stand was enough to make anyone stop dead in their tracks and wait for a Belgian waffle. 

As soon as I spotted this sign for a chocolate caramel waffle, I was sold!

This was nearly 9 at night and they were still fully stocked with waffles.  Not because no one was buying them (we waited at least 10 minutes in line), but because they were still making them at this hour!

The chocolate caramel is a little hard to see because it had a plastic piece over it, but you can get an idea.  It was amazing!

After that we headed home, but not without getting a glimpse of the cherry blossom craze that was starting in Tokyo as the trees were now blooming.  These are traditional Japanese sakura mochi treats.

Stay tuned...more to come on our 2 full days down in Tokyo.  By the way, Tokyo is one of my favorite cities in the whole world.  If you haven't been, I hope my blog inspires you to book a trip or at least add it to your travel bucket list.

QUESTIONS:  Do you have cherry blossoms where you live?  What is your favorite Belgian waffle topping?  Have you ever won a trip?

Dining Japanese Style

Wow, it has been quite some time since I posted.  Not that I need to make excuses or even that it matters what excuse I have for being away from my blog so long, but I did want to say I am sorry and fill everyone in one why I have been absent from the blogging world.  First, if you do not already know, I started working at the WIC office on base.  I absolutely LOVE my job!  But in the meantime we had 2 employees leave (one back to the US and one had a baby) so I have been picking up more hours than usual.  I went from a 20 hour work week to 31 hours most weeks.  It may not seem like a lot, but because I have other jobs it means work spills into my evening hours and into my weekends, which means less time to blog.  I am currently teaching 3 classes between 2 different online universities.  In total I have 60 students to interact with and grade the work for each week.  Needless, it's busy.  On top of that I am also taking 2 doctoral classes, both of which I am really enjoying.  

I wish I could say it stops there but I also continue writing monthly for 2 websites and I do some volunteering on base.  Just last week I spoke to the Daisy Scouts about healthy eating.  They are so cute!  My main volunteer role, which I enjoy so much and is a part of my everyday life so I forget it is volunteering, is as a Key Spouse.  Basically, this is an appointed position (appointed by my husbands squadron commander) and I serve as a liaison between spouses/families and the squadron.  The official role helps spouses out when the active duty member is deployed, but because we are so remote, our squadron spouses also work to stay in contact with spouses all the time and plan events to boost morale and keep families connected.  It has been great for the past year and a half and I am now ready to accept my new role as Lead Key Spouse for the squadron.  I am really excited and hope to do a lot of good keeping spouses in the loop about what is going on around base and provide a support network for them here, miles and miles away from their families.

Yes, I do get some free time to take a breather, head to the gym, and enjoy good Japanese food out with friends and Ryan.  Obviously some things, like blogging, get pushed to the back burner.  But I can't complain!  I love my life and all that I do.  Plus, I have some travel coming.  I haven't been to the US since Sept 2011, so I am happy to say that I will be in the States for all of April.

Now, on to the good stuff.  I have some fun food pictures to share.  The first is from a traditional Japanese restaurant that Ryan and I went to with our old next door neighbors.  This was a few days before they moved back to the states.  I am sad because I had become very close with Jasmine and it was great having a friend next door.  We were often over each others places and our dogs went back and forth playing with each other.  So when it was time for them to move back, we made sure to all go out to dinner.

You can see here that it is a traditional Japanese style of dining.  We had to take our shoes off and sit on the tatami mats.  At least here you can put your legs down under the table instead of sitting with your legs crossed.  Ryan is over 6 feet tall so this is a little easier for him, assuming the floor goes down far enough!

We started off with edamame.  Very Japanese!

Jasmine and Andre tried the yakitori, which is meat on a stick.  They made some faces with some off the odder meat choices.  Ryan wasn't even brave enough to try!

I loved the presentation of Ryan's meal.

Still not sure what it is, but it was some sort of meat and onion dish that was cooking in this pot.

Mine was served with a traditional presentation as well.

I had the lobster tempura.  Yes, it was as good as that sounds.  I actually think it was a giant prawn and not lobster, but I am not complaining.  It also came with some veggies.

Next up are some pictures from Coco's.  Now, this isn't the world famous Coco's curry place.  It is a different Coco's that is more like a Denny's or IHOP (minus the pancakes) sort of establishment.  Honestly, we heard mixed things about it, but I loved the atmosphere.  I think because we went in not expecting the curry house we were not disappointed like so many others have been.

One thing I thought was cool was that the menu had calories listed.  It is hard to see here, but it is listed just about the 880 yen.  At least you can see what the dish looks like.

Now you can see the calories a little better.  It is 661 calories, and I think it is 32.2 grams of carbohydrate, but I am not sure if one of these is supposed to be fat.  I need to look into this a little better and see what those other numbers really mean. 

I was excited to see that they offered half portions of some things.  In fact, this looked so good that I ordered it.  Not too bad for 155 calories.  Although now looking at this I wonder if it is 13.4 grams for the fat...or is it protein?  I give up!

Whatever it is, this was tasty!

For dinner I ordered something I don't usually get and wasn't even sure I would like it.  I went with the grilled mackerel.  I was surprised that I enjoyed it this much.  Now, the grated yam (white stuff in the bowl) is definitely not my thing.  Neither Ryan or I are a fan.

It also came with rice and a soup that had meat in it so I just didn't eat it.  I tried to order this not as a set but the server didn't understand me.  Oh well!

Since I didn't think I was ordering the set meal, I ordered bread.  In the end I wound up with too much food.  But that's ok!

Ryan tried out the onion soup.

Dinner for this was a steak.  He rarely gets the chance to eat meat, so he decided to go for it since they had so many steak options.

The best was dessert.  I knew everyone said this place is great for desserts.  There seems to be a strawberry festival going on (no idea why this time of year) and almost everything, everywhere is flavored with strawberry.  So I ordered the strawberry parfait.  Ryan and I shared.  It was really good.

Next up was a trip we made to a cafe for lunch one weekend.  This cafe is just outside the gate for the base.  I couldn't believe we had never been before.

They had a nice set for lunch.  We both ordered the egg salad sandwich and it came with the best corn soup I have had yet.  Corn soup is a very popular soup in Japan.  Just about everywhere that serves soup will have the corn soup.  This is by far the best I have tried yet.

Last up are some sweets.  First are some baked goods that I split with Jasmine and Andre on their second to last day at the base.  They had never been to this bakery and always wanted to try it so I took them there as a farewell.  We picked out a few things and then split them all up.

The items they are most known for is the banana cream filled French toast.  It is heavenly!  Definitely a treat. 

I thought this was a cute way to end this post.  I love the Japanese and this is one reason why.  How cute!  It is a little roll filled with chocolate.  

Well, that is all for now but I hope to post again soon.  Just keep checking back.  I'm still here.  I promise!

One last thing...Andrea is the winner of a copy of my book Train Your Brain to get Thin!  Thank you all for entering.  Congrats Andrea!  The book will be on it's way soon.

QUESTIONS:  What has been keeping you busy recently?  Any travel plans in your future?

Idols World Tour VIP Style

That's right, I was VIP for the Idols World Tour this past Tuesday night at the base.

Ok, maybe it's not the biggest performer in the world, but I still won VIP tickets and backstage passes, so I am happy about that.  Plus, we don't get a lot of entertainment out here, so it is good to know that performers are willing to come out on tour and show their support for the troops abroad and give families a chance to enjoy some entertainment.

First, let me tell you about Idols World Tour.  You are probably thinking it has something to do with American Idol, and if you are, then you are correct.  The performers on this tour are all former Idols contestants.  If you watch the show a lot, you may recognize some of their names.  

Performing for us on this tour was (taken from the Armed Forces Entertainment website):

Creighton FrakerThe American Idol Season 11 contestant is well-known for the original song he wrote for his Pittsburgh audition. Fraker's unique personality and amazing voice quickly made him a fan favorite.

Jen HirshJen Hirsh auditioned for Season 9 ofAmerican Idol but didn't make it very far until she returned to audition for Season 11. She’s a Berklee College of Music graduate and has come out with an album titled Myself In Two.

Jovany JavierJovany was a top 16 finalist onAmerican Idol Season 10 and brought his "dual-threat" style of music to the stage by dominating his performances bilingually. He has been on several tours around the world performing for our troops and is currently involved in commercial modeling and soap operas.

Ashthon Jones

Jones has a powerful voice that helped her advance to the semifinals on Season 10 of American Idol. She was raised by a family of singers and got her start singing in the church choir.

Aaron MarcellusMarcellus was a music teacher from New Jersey before he made it as a top 42 finalist on Season 11 of American Idol, which was his second time auditioning for the show.

John Wayne SchulzSchulz was a contestant on Season 10 of American Idol and debuted his first record, Ropin’ Dreams, at the tender age of 14. The Texan is also an authentic cowboy, having grown up on an 800-acre ranch in Karnes City, Texas.

Lauren TurnerTurner made it to Hollywood during Season 4 of American Idol, but it wasn't until Season 10 that she made it to the Top 24. Born in New Orleans, she became the first New Orleans contestant to perform for Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez and Stephen Tyler. As a blues/soul singer, Turner is in the process of writing and recording her first album.

Rachel Zevita

Zevita auditioned for Season 6 ofAmerican Idol but was not selected as a contestant for the show until Season 10. The young opera singer’s big voice was unique among the other American Idol voices and it took her into the top 12.

Second, I want to tell you how I got the VIP treatment for this show.  Tickets for this show were free, but you had to sign up for tickets, which I did.  Then the group on base responsible for fun stuff (called FSS, and they actually do a lot more than just the fun activities) was giving away backstage meet and greet passes and VIP seats.  They did puzzles and games on their Facebook page.  Curious how I won mine?  You won't believe how crazy this sounds, but I was the first person to show up in their office with a penny from 1978 when they asked for it.  You may think that is an easy task, to find a penny from 1978, but military bases do penny rounding.  Did you know that?  Yeah, we don't use pennies on base (except at the post office), so pennies are in fact scarce around here.  So when I saw the task posted, I decided to scramble around where we store the pennies.  I checked my wallet, but only 1977 and 1964 or 2000+.  Darn.  So I tried my old wallet, which still had pennies because it was the wallet I used when I moved from Las Vegas to the Azores.  Nope, nothing there.  So I sat and thought, and thought, and thought, and went to where Ryan stashes his US coins.  I dumped all the quarters and nickels and dimes out, and with much amazement, out fell one penny.  A 1978 penny!  I ran back to check the FB page and see if anyone won yet, and since I didn't see anything I made a dash for my car and headed to their office, which is thankfully only 2 minutes from where I live.  I ran up the stairs, busted through the door, and asked if anyone else had come with a penny yet.  No, no one else came yet, so they congratulated me and gave me my tickets.  So, you can see why I was so proud of my win, even if this wasn't the biggest tour of the year.

Once we arrived we were let in first and we could sit where ever we wanted.  Then we were escorted backstage to meet with the performers and take pictures with them.  They were all really nice and thanked all of us (or our spouses) for their service and we thanked them for coming out to give back to our community.  We get a few performances each year and it is nice that they are able to work with the military to provide us with things we would otherwise miss out on because we don't live in the States and we can't just go see any concert we want.

Now that I gave you some of the backstory, here are some pictures from backstage and then from the show.  They all did a great job performing.  In fact, with very limited AC, they managed to put on a very high energy performance for just over 2 hours.  They did most of the current top pop songs and even a few oldies.  Something for everyone!

Here I am (yes, I know my eyes are closed) with the performers for this show.  

Here I am with Aaron Marcellus.

Here I am with Jovany Javier.  He was the host of the show for the evening.

And here I am with John Wayne Schulz.

You may have noticed that I took pictures individually with only the male performers.  There is a very good reason for this.  They were all ready to go so they hung out with us and chatted.  The girls, understandably so, still had to finish up getting ready to go on stage.  But everyone was very nice and friendly.

We sat a few rows back.  Sorry, some of the pictures are blurry.  I tried to pick the best shots.

They called all the kids up on stage and sang with them there.

Last up, some country action!

I would say this was a great treat for a work week night out.  I was glad I was able to meet the performers, who were genuinely happy to provide military families with some good entertainment.  It was a lot of fun.  We sang and danced.  We definitely enjoyed ourselves.

QUESTIONS:  Do you watch American Idol?  Who was your favorite performer on American Idol over the years?  What was the last concert or show you went to see?