Happy Hanukkah from Japan

Happy Hanukkah everyone!  Yes, I am a little late, but better late than never.  Right?

Last year I tried to get my friends together for a Hanukkah party but the close proximity to Christmas and lots going on made it difficult.  This year I decided not to even try and just celebrate at home with my husband.

That was until my friend Emily asked if I was having a party.  I said no and she told me she would love it if I did.  Emily is an amazing woman so I was not surprised that within days she secured a room on base with a kitchen right in the midst of holiday season.  In nothing short of a (Hanukkah) miracle, we had a location, so all that was left was getting the word out.  Emily had learned about Hanukkah as a child and wanted the same experience for her children.  I quickly learned that some of my other friends also really wanted to celebrate with me.

So last Saturday, on the last day of Hanukkah, I threw Misawa's first (or what I believe to be the first) Hanukkah party.

Here is Emily helping me get ready.

I found Hanukkah plates and table cloths last year on base which meant that I had them for the party this year.

So cute!

I made matzo ball soup and latkes.  I know matzo ball soup is not your typical hanukkah food, but since my sister and I don't eat meat we always had matzo ball soup at every holiday.  Now a holiday just isn't a holiday without it!  I was really excited to see that I had so much room to cook.  Trust me, this room will be on my list of places to reserve for future parties.  It was awesome!

I make my latkes from the box mix.  Grandma always did when she hosted the party, so making them just feels right.  I think next year I plan to make them from scratch, but the thought of it not smelling like grandma's house from frying up the mix makes me a little hesitant to give up the tradition.  At the same time, I know I really should be making them from scratch.  We'll see how it goes.  I have a whole year to figure it out.

I decided to order a cookie cake.  My friend here has a cookie home business and does amazing work.  She did not disappoint this time!  I love how this turned out.  Amazing!

Emily made some rugelach, which are a kind of Jewish cookie/baked good.  They were awesome!

Since everyone else there was not Jewish, I went over the story of Hanukkah, explained the traditional foods, taught the kids to play dreidel and lit the menorah.  We had an awesome time.  I am really thankful that Emily asked me to do this.  I am also really thankful to find that so many of my friends cared and were interested in learning more.  It was a lot of fun.  I hope we can make this a Misawa tradition.

QUESTIONS:  Did you go to a Hanukkah party this year?  What is your favorite holiday tradition?  Di you host any parties this year?

Happy Hanukkah!!!

Hanukkah might be over, but I will be enjoying my gifts for years to come.  I would have posted earlier as the holiday was December 1-9, but I was trying so hard to get caught up on all the other pictures I had to share with everyone.  Now that the holiday is over and things are less crazy, I can fill you in on my holiday.

Actually, I almost didn’t have a holiday.  Somehow I forgot that I could not get candles here for the menorah.  At the very last possible moment, I had my dad send some.  We only get mail once a week, so if it did not get here the weekend before Hanukkah started, they would not be here until the very end of the holiday.  Thankfully, they arrived on time. 

 

I was able to light the menorah on the first night.

Usually there would be a nice traditional meal to go with the holiday, but I was planning that for Thursday, so we went out to dinner at an Italian Restaurant.

I love their Greek salad.

Ryan had the chicken vodka penne.

I had the spicy squid, which made my sister super jealous.  Sorry Rach!

Before I get to my pictures of my own holiday meal, I have to show you all of the wonderful gifts that my husband bought for me.

This was the year of kitchen supplies. 

Night 1: Now I have an awesome Japanese cookbook.  It is really amazing to see the beautiful color pictures inside of some of the recipes.

Night 2: This is a taco shell maker.  You take a tortilla and then place it in the holder.  Now you stick in in oil to fry it, yes I said fry, because how else are you going to make a taco shell.  Ok, I guess they can be baked, so maybe I will work on that idea.  I have never made taco shells before, but it is a funny gadget.  We figure we will find other uses for it too.

Lots of measuring cups.  I may have broken the 1 TBSP spoon we had and was using just the cup and not the handle to measure things.  It was sad.  Then I went to FNCE and grabbed as many 1 TBSP measurers as I could.  Even though I picked them up, Ryan had already ordered this for me, so he still gave it to me, and really, you can never have too many measuring cups.  These go up to 2 cups.

Night 3: I got a mandoline.  I am super excited to get to slicing around here.

  

Night 4: This is a heated towel rack.  No, I am not trying to be a spoiled brat.  We have no heat in this house, and it gets cold and shower time gets to be dreaded.  Actually, any time not in sweats and multiple layers is a dreaded time.  The towel rack also acts as a dryer for the towel, which is really needed around here because of the humidity.  Things do not dry.  I usually use wet towels to dry off, which makes me even colder.  This has really helped so far because I am enjoying using a dry towel to shower with.  Even towels that come out of the dryer, if they sit around a few days before you use them, they will be damp.  Don’t ask…remember we live on an island, and a very small island at that.

I really, really wanted a Dutch oven, so I am so happy that I got this.  I remember when I went to unwrap and I was thinking this is the heaviest thing I have ever lifted and could not even imagine what was inside.

 

Night 5: Ryan also gave me some more flexible cutting boards.  This was another one he found funny because he had already bought them before FNCE and I came home from FNCE with quite a few flexible cutting boards.  Oh well, you can never have too many cutting boards too.

 

Yummy!  Look at this cookbook.  I have already flipped through it and I am excited to start making some of these dishes.

This one was actually a gift to myself.  I spotted it on a lightening deal from Amazon and I had to buy it.  I had flipped through this too and you can’t find a more complete guide book to vegetarian food than this.

 

Night 6:  This is really my big, big gift.  The way we do presents here is random.  I just pick which wrapped gift I want to open, unless there is really one Ryan wants me to open first.  This year was just pick which ever looks good for the night.  I would say this was the biggie for this year.  I only have a mini food prep, and I should add that was one I bought Ryan when we first started dating, so it is really his, as in I never really owned one.  I felt I desperately needed a food processor.  Now I have the smallest and largest versions on the market.  I can’t wait to use this.  Ryan also bought me another blade for this that he gave to me with this gift.

  

Night 7: Heck yes, a tortilla press.  If you remember the time we made tortillas from scratch, this was what was missing.  Rolling them just did not work as well.  Maybe with practice, I would get better, but I am all for the gadgets and gizmos that will make things move faster.  Now I can make tortillas from scratch and then make them into taco shells.  We have not forgotten about From Scratch Weekends, they were just put on hold for a little because things got hectic, and I am OK with that.  More from scratch meals will resume soon, I promise.

This is a spiral slicer, which will be fun for making all kinds of curly things and rings and slices of things.  I need to get to the store and get some veggies so I can try out all my new toys.

Night 8:  This is the final night of Hanukkah.  I got these nice cutting boards.  They are different because they are not flexible and they double as serving trays.

Some spatulas in a pretty shade of blue.

 

Last, but not least, this very awesome cookbook.  Again, I have flipped through this and I am very exciting to make many of these recipes.

 

That does it for all my gifts.  the only thing missing for Hanukkah is some traditional Jewish food.  I made matzo ball soup because that is my favorite.  I always make it from the box mix because that is the kind I always ate as a kid.

This year, however, I discovered that I can add to my soup and really improve on the box mix.  I added some carrots.

 

Then I added some noodles.  I did this for Rosh Hashanah and it was a hit, so I decided from now on I am making my soup this way.

 

It was delicious.

Hanukkah is not Hanukkah without latkes, or potato pancakes.  This is the essential food.  Hanukkah is the festival of lights, and this celebrates the oil that was found after the temple was destroyed, and this small amount of oil burned for 8 days.  Therefore, oil is essential to this holiday.  Latkes are potato pancakes fried in oil.  Again, I use the box mix. 

It is like a power and you add some oil and water and then it thickens up.  Next year I think I will be shredding my own potatoes and making my own.  In fact, Cooking Light magazine had a few recipes for homemade latkes that I think I want to try.

 

Here they are.  Some got a little more golden than others.  This was only from my first batch.  After that I had to put the camera down and get to frying.

 

YUM!  I ate mine with apple sauce and they were so good.

 

QUESTIONS:  What did you get for Hanukkah (if you celebrate it)?  What have you asked for or hope to get for Christmas (if you celebrate it)?  Anyone else celebrating any different holidays this season?  What is your favorite holiday tradition?

New Camera Randoms

I have taken about 50 or so pictures with the new camera and I have finally gotten them uploaded to my computer, meaning I have some new and very random pics to share.  I am still playing around with the settings, but here are some of my shots and some of the things we have been up to over the past few days.

Extreme close up!

Some very delicious strawberries...

4th night of Hanukkah

Look closely, it's a stand off...

Here is the first box of cereal I tried.  Very tasty!  Don't you just love my Kashi smiley face bowl?

Some books I ordered.  I loved looking through this at the health and wellness center here.  It is not a diet book, but rather a book to show the calories and fat levels in various fast foods and compares them with what has more or less.  I guess it is a tool to help you make informed decisions.  It is just really interesting to see what is in some of those restaurant meals.  Have you seen these books before?

This cute little guy came from my mom last year.  You squeeze the foot and he sings "dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made you out of clay..."  So cute!

My friend Judy sent me and Ryan this card for the holidays this year.  I love it!

Ryan was on an egg kick for dinner, so I went along with it.

Ryan bought me this cool craft book for Hanukkah.  Lots of interesting things inside to make and to learn about wacky fads in this country over the years.

He also bought me a lemon zester in case I need it for any of my bread recipes.

I got a major craving for sweet potato, but Ryan was still on the egg kick, so we did both for dinner one night.

Then another night Ryan gave me these nice cashmere socks, gym pants and a sleep tank top.  In case you can't tell, I really love hot pink!

Another of those fresh yogurts from the island.  This was peach and passion fruit.  Really good.

And the last of my gifts so far from Ryan, which he gave me last night.  Awesome workout DVD's since I know so many of your talked about the 30 day shred, and I am behind on the times, so I asked for it for Hanukkah.  So psyched that I got all 3 videos.

So that is it for my random pics from the new camera.  I am super excited to have this camera and be able to use it to get awesome pictures. 

On to some not so happy news.  There was a major rain storm here the other night that struck the town of Agualva pretty hard.  This village is not that far from here.  There is a river near there and I guess it flooded.  Some people had mud piled into their homes, some people had their cars flipped upside down and then slid into houses, some houses had major structural damage and others had flooding so bad they were almost completely underwater on the first story.  These are all stories I have heard or from pictures I have seen.  What an awful time to be struck with disaster, just before the holidays.  Tomorrow morning Ryan and I have volunteered to help with clean up as they desperately need help cleaning up.  They have also been colecting donations as they are still without water there.  It was a pretty bad storm and the damage is clear.  This severe weather is apparently unusual for this area, but as this is just a small island in the ocean, anything is possible.  I think it reminds us that even the unexpected can happen.  Hopefully there are enough people helping out so that these families can get back on their feet and restore some normalcy to their lives.  I'll keep you posted on the clean up efforts.

QUESTION: Where have you volunteered this year?