Okinawa Food & Drink

To entertain ourselves one night this week, we decided to walk up to the store for some snacks.

I wish I had remembered to bring my camera with us so I could have taken some pictures of the other food items. Imagine tentacles and other scary looking animal parts in a plastic bags like it is candy.

We each got a Japanese beer. Orion is Okinawan beer and Kirin is Japanese beer. 

For sweet tea lovers like myself, the Japanese have liquid sugar. It is AMAZING!!! Unlike normal sugar that won't dissolve in cold water, liquid sugar is super sweet and tasty and well it's liquid so you just stir it in. Problem solved.

 

White Beach

Contrary to popular my belief that I would spending weekends at the beach when we came back to Okinawa, we had yet to make the trip to the beach until this week. 

I had a doctor's appointment one afternoon and since I can't drive out here, Tom had to take me home afterwards. Since it wasn't an entirely busy day, he ended up leaving work a few hours early. This does not happen often and I was excited to have an afternoon with him. Added bonus: it was sunny and decently warm outside. I persuaded my sleepy husband to take me to the beach. 

We decided to go to White Beach Naval Base. We got there at low tide and were able to walk out pretty far. Tom wanted to wade through the water to get to an island but it was way too cold for me.

 

Slimy Lil' Ocean Creature

Tom wading towards the island

Sunset Kayaking

As a Floridian, I am used to being extremely hot at the beach and praying for a cloud to cover the sun so I might be comfortable for a few minutes. Therefore, when we got to the beach and it was cold and windy despite the sun, I was upset. I need a tan badly! Instead I wrapped myself up in a towel and stayed that way till we got back to the car.

Before we left the beach, Tom wanted to swing. So like two little kids we played on the swings. 

I wish the weather would warm up before I leave so we could spend more time at the beach. There are some great areas to snorkel and dive in Okinawa.

Pack It Up, We Are Going Home!

I knew the day would come when Tom would come home and say, "WE HAVE ORDERS!!" And in my mind, he would be screaming it and I would smile and we would be so excited. Just as how Tom imagined me saying "yes" to his proposal, things were a bit different in this scenario too. (For those who may not know the story of our proposal, I said seriously three times before I said yes. Oops :) Click here for the full story.

It was a normal day for me - reading, cleaning, watching TV - housewife stuff. Tom got home relatively early and I was excited as he greeted me with a smirk that reminded me of the Cheshire Cat. I should have known something was up but I fell for it and we slipped into a conversation where he lead me to asking him how work was. As he went over the basics of his day, he nonchalantly said "oh yea and I received orders." SAY WHAT? So I was told to go grab the paper and I was so excited I couldn't flip it over to read it myself so I made him. And this is where I lost it.

I cried. Not happy tears but sad, heartbroken tears and not for myself but for my wonderful husband who wanted nothing more than to move back to California. But nope, the Marine Corps was sending us to Quantico, Virginia (one of two places he would have preferred not to go back to as he spent his first 9 months in the Marine Corps there for training). I felt awful as Tom had to console me as I cried for him when I should have been telling him all the great things about moving to VA. This will be the last time I cry over where the Marine Corps sends us - at least I really really hope so. 

We started thinking about all the good things that would come from this move and within a few hours we started to call our family to give them the news that we would be coming back to good ole 'Merica. 

Once we knew where we were PCSing, I figured that was it. Ha. The next day, Tom called me in the morning to let me know we might have another option but it was even lower on his list of places he wanted to be. But we would have to wait until after dinner to make the call back to the states to get more information. 

During the call, I knew it wasn't turning out in his favor. So when he hung up and told me "change of plans, we are moving to Jacksonville, North Carolina," I wasn't going to cry again but I wasn't sure what to do. For the last 24 hours, I had been researching the area, looking for houses, found a perfect potential job, and thought of all the fun weekend plans we would do living so close to friends in DC and Richmond. All of it crushed with one sentence. Bummer. Such is the military life. 

We re-called family and friends, all who had the same question, "could your orders change again?" Well they could have but it is definitely official now. We will be moving to North Carolina this summer and I must admit I am excited! Tom will come around soon enough - for now he is just ready to be anywhere in the country that he serves.

Beach near Jacksonville, NC

 

Southern Cravings

There are few foods I ever crave. I'm not a huge chocolate fan nor do I have a big sweet tooth. But I could drink several glasses of sweet tea every single day. It isn't good enough if it doesn't taste like sugar with a little bit of water. But I have yet to find sweet tea worth my time. So I figured maybe I could do it myself. 

So to go along with my sweet tea craving, I decided to make BBQ sandwiches with coleslaw. A real southern meal. Since we had been eating tons of chicken these past few weeks, I switched it up and made it with ground turkey but it's super easy to do chicken. Just poach chicken and shred before mixing it with the BBQ sauce.
(Recipe for Poached Chicken following Sweet Tea recipe) 

Southern Sweet Tea Recipe

Makes about 2 Liters

4 Lipton Iced Tea Family Size Bags 

9 cups of water 

1 1/2 cups sugar 

1/2 tsp of baking soda 

(DO NOT skip this ingredient - it makes all the difference) 

Boil water. Take 2 cups of boiled water to put into pitcher. Place the iced tea bags in the water and cover. Let it sit for 10-15 minutes. Once the time is up, take out the tea bags. 

Add baking soda, sugar, and the rest of the cold water (6-8 cups depending on your preference for sweetness) and stir. Let it sit in the fridge to cool or pour a glass with some ice. ENJOY! 

Poached Chicken Recipe For Crock Pot:
 Depending on your recipe, place frozen chicken into enough water (or chicken broth) to cover the chicken. Add chopped celery, onions, and/or carrots (optional). Add salt and pepper and I usually add some garlic powder, parsley, and another spice on hand. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.

Spicy BBQ Sandwiches with Cole Slaw

Spicy BBQ Ground Turkey

Serves 4

1 lb of ground turkey
1/2 cup BBQ sauce
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup ketchup
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 gloves of chopped garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/2 teaspoon pepper
hamburger buns

Cole Slaw

Serves 4 

1 head of cabbage
2 large carrots
1/4 cup chopped green onions
(or you can buy a bag of cabbage mix)
  1/4 cup light mayonnaise

1 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp light sour cream
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp honey
  1/2 tsp celery salt
Sea salt and pepper, to taste

To make the Spicy BBQ sauce, place the ingredients above (minus the turkey and buns) in a saucepan over medium heat. Allow it to simmer while stirring occasionally for 10 minutes as the sugar will begin to dissolve.
In a large skillet, place the ground turkey over medium-high heat. Once the meat is no longer pink, add about 1/2 cup of the BBQ mixture. Cook for additional 3-5 minutes. 

To make the cole slaw, chop the the cabbage, carrots, and green onions and toss together in a bowl.
In a smaller bowl, combine the vinegar, lemon juice, mayonnaise, sour cream, Dijon, sugar, honey, celery salt, sea salt, and pepper. Whisk together until well combined. 

Add to the cabbage mix and toss until evenly coated. 

For best results, toast the hamburger buns. Put the ground turkey on the bottom with cole slaw over it. Add about 1 tbsp of the leftover BBQ sauce on the top.

I love this meal! The first time I made it was for my family for lunch right before my undergrad graduation from UF.  I have changed it up since then but it is still delicious.

Oh and for dessert, if your sweet tea wasn't enough, St. Patrick's Day sugar cookies :)

St. Patrick's Day Weekend

St. Patrick's Day on Okinawa is not quite the festivity it is anywhere in America. We had very few options - go to the Officer's Club on Kadena AFB, go to an Irish Bar closer to our place with the wilder crowd, or trek down to Naha to the other Irish Bar. Since a few of Toms' friends wanted to go to Naha, we decided to head down there as well.

Naha is the capital city of Okinawa and reminds me a bit more of an American city. There are bright lights, lots of hotels, streets with little shops, and it just seems a bit more updated. The street where most Americans on the island go for nightlife is called Kokusai Street. There are small bars and clubs like any normal downtown area and parking is even worse. It took us at least 30 minutes to find a paid parking spot.

The Irish bar we went to was called The Smugglers. It was decently backed with a band sitting at a table in the back playing - blocking the path to the bathroom but oh well. We were able to enjoy a beer or two (one dark, the other green) before we decided to head out and walk around before making the trip back home. 

Tom stopped at McDonald's for all of us to get our American fast food fix for the night. I have only had fast food once or twice since coming out here in January - it was delicious!!

We enjoyed our little evening in Naha. Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

 

Japanese Nail Art

Today I had the pleasure of going with Caralee to get a pedicure. I would have been excited to just get out of the apartment for the afternoon and have some girl time but this was even better! We went to a well known nail spa on the island - Cocok's Spa. It is best known because of the LARGE binder of nail art pictures to pick your design; there are thousands of pictures of designs from the basic polka dots to detailed pictures (the lady doing my toes had a different design on each finger and one looked like a painting of a sailboat!). 

Caralee took me to the Cocok's by the Seawall because if you get a chair on one side of the spa, which is on the second floor, you have a perfect view of the ocean. It was cloudy and raining (typical) so we didn't ask for a specific side of the salon. Other than that it was a normal salon - except you sit in La-Z-Boy chairs during the pedicure. At first I thought it was super strange but they have mats over the area for your feet. 

The most amazing part of our afternoon was how little effort and time it took for these girls to finish the nail art. They didn't use tools or tons of nail polish remover; they simply would ask what we wanted and if we wanted to change the colors and get right to work.

My Leopard Print Toes

Caralee's Watermelon Toes

We decided once these designs start to fade we will be going back before I leave Okinawa - I plan on coming back to the states with pretty toes for summer! 

 

Oh Wait... Where am I?!?

Warning: This content contains whining, griping, and lots of complaining!

Sometimes on rare occasions I actually forget we live in Japan! It's crazy considering there is very little about Okinawa that resembles America, but it happens and for a few seconds I think I can walk out the door and I will be back in my neighborhood where the houses are made of brick and there are sidewalks and palm trees and people walking their dogs and sunshine. Then I come back to reality and all the buildings are made of concrete, there are no sidewalks, it's raining and cold, and no one walks their dog.

If you haven't already guessed it - I am homesick. I dream day and night about being back in the states; about where we will be living even if we have no idea; about actually being able to drive; about seeing family and friends. There are a few things that often make us think we are back in the states and yet easily remind us we are no where near home.

1. We typically Skype with family on the weekends. We really enjoy being able to talk and see them, but when there is a 13+ hour difference and the best time to chat is when one side is waking up and the other is getting ready for bed, it is a big reminder of how far we are.

2. Driving - It is easy to forget in the car where we are until a car pulls out in front of you only to turn and you are stuck waiting. I may not like how people drive anywhere in the world, but I long for the days where we don't have to watch out for people who PARK on the side of major roads. And I will feel much safer when the roads are big enough to actually accommodate for two lanes instead of one and a half.

3. Even cooking is exactly the same as it was when I lived in my apartment. That is until I try to fit a normal size baking sheet into the oven! I don't know why but the oven is only 13 x 13 and it doesn't cook things evenly - drives me crazy.

4. We have various ways of watching American TV; a Slingbox is set up in my room at my parents house and we also have a way to connect to Netflix. So why is this a huge reminder we are not in the US?! Because the process to get any of them to work is starting to annoy me. I cannot wait until we can just turn on the TV and oh wow, a football game is playing and it isn't 3 AM in the morning!

Now don't get me wrong, I am grateful for the opportunity to be here and to be with my husband, but I am ready for us to come home. We really miss our family and friends & hopefully we will be seeing some of you soon!