A search for coffee and sweets

A few ladies from church went for coffee this week. We were on a search for the perfect place. Good coffee, cute place, good food, hopefully an English menu!!!, and a good view maybe. The coffee was the main goal however.

Our first stop was not too far off base at Trouvere. This was a cute little coffee shop and bakery but he was closed except for food take out. So we all bought a pastry. I got a fresh fruit cheesecake tart thing. It was really really good! The sweets here are not as sweet as in the states but this was perfect.

And the search continued….Next stop was this place. It says Mountain but I think that might be the kind of coffee they serve. It had an European style inside.Picture of us ladies, minus Christen. She was the photographer. This place had a view. We were sitting right on the river.And it had delicious coffee. The lady working however didn’t speak English and they didn’t have an English menu. All we managed to order was coffee!

And the search continued…Next stop was this place. Not Japanese style either. Swedish? German? I don’t know. Someone will recognize this.Storefront. There were lots of goodies in here but no coffee. Super cute store. The lady behind the counter gave Cora some shortbread cookies and I bought some slices of sweet bread.

 

Overall we had a lovely day on a wild goose chase for the perfect coffee place. We didn’t find it all in one store but I found three new places to visit. It was a great success for me!

King Café

We had great intentions on checking out a festival in the town over this past weekend but we couldn’t find it. Instead we came upon this place and had to try it out.

Stake and hanburg anyone?

Cora nibbling on the salad bar goodies. She picked out all her broccoli and set it on the side. Silly girl. EAT YOUR VEGGIES!!!

Our meals were identical looking we just had different sauce on our meat. Peter went with what I would call the house sauce (mainly because I can’t remember the flavor) and I went with teriyaki. They both tasted the same. Instead of eating the meat on a bun which we had the option of we mixed it up in our rice with the cooked veggies. It was super yummy.

Bouncy Bouncy Baby

Cora’s friend Kegan celebrated his 5th birthday Saturday. He celebrated like all the cool kids do here in Iwakuni, with a jump house. Awesome!

Cora had never been in one so I was super excited for her to get in! Also a little paranoid that she would break her neck but she survived and had a blast falling down and not getting hurt!

Matthew 24:36

Matthew 24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no [man], no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
Today the World ended for someone but no one will be able to predict when our Lord will return. They've been trying since the beginning of time. But on another note for all of you nay sayers, wouldn't you rather be prepared, than wrong?

Dear Heavenly Father- We thank You for the day You have given us. We thank You for Your Son You sent to take our place. We thank You for the knowledge that Your return is coming. We thank You for Your forgiveness and love. All these things we pray. Amen.

She helps me better understand the love the Lord has for us.

MOPS

I was asked to join a leadership team for this upcoming year. I am super excited about the program and growing with the Lord as I encourage other women to as well. I had a great time going to the meetings last year. A lady stopped me in the grocery store to invite me to come to a meeting. I had no idea what to expect other than free babysitting and other moms to chat with. I quickly learned that it is lots of fun and Christian based. I got to meet lots of moms like me that I wouldn’t have have otherwise. I’m excited to be on the planning team and can’t wait to see how we touch lives. Every mommy needs a place to go, relax, and know that there are other people out there going through the same things they are. MOPS provides that and so much more! New mommy/mommy-to-be friends…look for a local MOPS!

America?

Oh no…it’s not…but hey look they have Curves here too!

Izakaya

The restaurant we ate at after the game is referred to as an izakaya. These are Japanese drinking establishments that also serve food. They had a little bit of everything and it felt like we tried it all.

Inside the restaurant and our friend MasaRaw tunaCucumbersPickled cucumbersMasa said this was fried fish but now that I’m looking at this picture…those round things look a little odd. I’m not sure what this was.Korean Kimchee (spicy cabbage)Chinese dumplingsfried chicken skinI think this was some kind of fish dish as well. I’d like to make up something  crazy to blow your minds…but I won’t. Fish. Masa said the skin is the best part. Living on an island you eat every bit of the fish. He did remove the bones but if you noticed in a previous post Peter ate an entire fish…bones and all. We finished the meal off with some Korean Sake.

Hiroshima Carps

The Hiroshima Carps are one of the professional baseball teams here in Japan. We went to a game with our friend Masa this past Saturday. It was a great game against the Tokyo Giants and we had an amazing time! We rode the train up there for the first time since we’ve been back in Japan, went to the game, went to a local restaurant (will come in a later post), then went back to Masa’s house to visit with his parents and of course eat some more!

Headed to the stadium.

The news later said there were close to 30,000 people there that day.

A view of the field.

Go Carps!!

The normal stadium food back in the states is hamburgers, hot dogs, nachos, popcorn, cotton candy. They had all types of food. People were carrying around ramen and bowls of soup. Sushi, of course. There were full meals of all different types. I was impressed. One of snacks came from this place. Shin-Bashi-Ya.

The sign said “Eat delicious food and you will be a Carp slugger”

The food was delicious but I still couldn’t hit a baseball if I tried…and I would not be able to hit it out of the ballpark like their sluggers! haha! Nice try though. I won’t sue.

Little Carp fans.

We were behind most of the game but the fans stayed faithful that they would pull it off! Cheering, chanting and rooting them on the whole way. And yes, the person in front of me is wearing a Jeter jersey. They were American.

At the end of the 7th inning the fans blow up balloons and let them go into the sky. Just another way to show support.

Getting our balloons ready!

Everyone waiting for the end of the 7th inning!

The Carps pulled it off. Winning 5-4! The very last play the batter got hit with the ball and won the game! It was awesome! Everyone went crazy!

30,000 people leaving the stadium. If you look closely you can see the Shinkansen (bullet train) in the background.

Awesome day! I got a little tan on top of it all to make it even better.

5 years

May 8, 2006 is a special day. It’s the day Peter and I decided we would share the rest of our lives together. We’ve known each other since 2nd grade and have been best friends since high school. Every day hasn’t been roses but we are very lucky to have each other. For our five year anniversary we decided to try out a new place we’d seen a few times on the way to Miyajima.

Quick snapshot at the neighbors before we left.

The restaurant, Zizo/ Pas De Chat. It had two names…I’m not really sure why. Perhaps it was two different restaurants in one.

The view from the restaurant. You can kind of make out the mountains in the background. It was foggy and rainy that day. On the drive out we decided it reminded us of Washington state.

The patio outside where I would have loved to eat if it wasn’t raining!

The stairway up to the restaurant. Peter ran ahead while I got soaked taking the necessary picture.

Appetizer one. Creamed corn soup that was delicious.

Appetizer 2 & 3. Garlic bread with tomatoes and then the random appetizer platter. There was bread with cheese, beef wrapped asparagus, chocolate drizzled strawberries, some kind of green colored smushy something or other (that’s the best way to describe it-ps. it was good), a clam, porchetta, and a whole fish.

The whole fish..dun….dun…duuuuuun.

There was no way I was doing it. As my mother would say….that’s fish bait!!! haha. Peter put his big boy pants on though and ate it. That face says it all. Mmmm….fish brains and eyes and guts and bones…..

My main course. Cabanara pasta. Yummy.

Peter’s main course. Shrimp and asparagus pasta. Pretty delicious…but mine was better!

After we left the restaurant we went and shot pool and played darts. We enjoyed a few hours of togetherness to celebrate our many years together (almost a whole decade) and then we went home to our love child. Where we belong.