Wine Tasting to get ready for Sonoma

Yesterday we had some people over for a mini blind wine tasting, to gear up for our trip to Sonoma this coming week. Mike and I invited the Guests, the Yuparis, Rob and Yoko over. Each couple brought over a bottle of red and white wine to taste. We covered them up in paper and labeled them. Then we sampled 2 wines at a time and compared them. We printed out some score sheets we found online and a wine wheel that tells you all the different kinds of tastes, aromas that are present in wine. To accompany our tasting, we had a selection of cheeses (cheddar, pepperjack, brie, blue cheese, gouda), crackers, some grapes, and pinwheels filled with a mixture of cream cheese with red, green, and orange peppers. The snacks were yummy. Here is what our spread looked like prior to beginning (well you have to picture it because I lost all of the pictures prior to dinner.) Actually, Becky is to the rescue for taking some and sending them my way.


Next is just the ladies. Yoko was unable to make it for wine tasting, but joined us for dinner. So here is one of us as we started and then one of us as Yoko arrived before we left for dinner


So in between the white and red tastings, the boys decided they need to play fooseball.

But then it was on to red wine, yum. Funny how the tasting went. Everyone scored all the reds higher than any of the whites. I think this group just enjoyed red wine more than white. So after tasting, it was on to dinner at Lawry's restaurant, which is this really good steak/prime rib place. Here is a great group shot right as dinner started and then one of us!


And to my dismay, I was unable to eat meat. The meat carver came to our table and cut each slab (b/c it was a slab, not just a piece of meat) in front of us. Mmmm, look at how good it looks


So, my lovely husband decided he was not going to give up meat and had this juicy slab of meat right next to me.

I ordered the seafood entree, which consisted of lobster tails, so I didn't quite miss out on a good dinner. And, I'm such a nice wifey, that I let Mike have a taste of my lobster.

We ended dinner with dessert, which was also yummy. I had the chocolate cake and Mike, of course, had the cheesecake.

Then it was on to karaoke, for about an hour. I took quite a few shots, but a good portion of them were slightly blurry. Here is a good one of most of us singing.

It was time to go home and go to bed. This morning, I woke up feeling like I had drank alot of wine last night, which I did. After some lunch, I felt much better and so did Mike. He went to get lunch and didn't get me a cheeseburger like I asked, but came back with a fish sandwich. He is being a stickler about me not eating meat, but one of these days I think I am going to drink beer and possible eat a pizza in front of him. hahahha

Anywho, it was fun night and I think everyone had a good time. We are definitely ready to head to wine country this week for barrel tasting.

What a Productive Day

Today has been filled with things to do. Right after Mike left for work at 7, I watched the Olympics until 7:30 and then started cleaning the bedroom and bathroom. I needed something on, so I channel surfed to find a Mickey Mouse cartoon on the tv. This was the real cartoon, but it was in japanese. had no idea what they were saying, but I was going to watch. all the characters were present, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Lady Goofy (don't know her), and the chipmunks. It was too funny. Here are some pictures of our tv...

Well, I lost all of the pictures I had on my camera Saturday night, so yeah. use your imagination

After that, I got ready, had some coffe and was watching the women's hockey game, as my Japanese teacher showed up. My lesson was good, even though I really hate learning all their verbs and conjugations. Ugh. When discussing what things I like, my teacher made it a point to say that she thinks I like beer and alcohol more than sweets. She even laughed while saying this and I couldn't believe it. Oh well. After my lesson I had some lunch and watched the female figure skating. It was really good and that Korean girl was amazing. I even talked to my for a bit and that was good.

So figure skating is over and I had to finish cleaning the living area. Mike complained that our apartment was cleaner when I didn't live her and I had to laugh because I clean everyday. He really did have the nerve to say that he kept this place cleaner than I currently do. Well, Mike lies! I am vacuuming our living area and moved our chair. To my great discovery, there was a bunch of dust that had collected there over a long time. I don't think Mike ever moved the chair to vacuum under it. So then I continue on and discover that he never picked up the edge of the rug that our table sits on because I found all kinds of crumbs. Oh Mike, was severely wrong when he said he kept this place cleaner. As a good wife, I let him rant about it and then when I found all of this extra dirt, I made it a point to tell him how wrong he was!

It's been a very busy day, but the house is clean and ready for our guests tomorrow. Let's hope Mike doesn't come home and dirty it!

The Charming Sale

The sun was out and I was not going to stay in at all especially since I missed out on enjoying it Monday when I was still sick. I am basically better even though there is a bit of congestion left.

Becky, another ex-pat wife, who likes to get out and go, and I were going to paint Tokyo red. On monday, she went to meet another friend of ours, Zana, in Yokohama and stumbled upon the "Charming sale." It hadn't started yet, so we decided to go today. "the Charming Sale" is a big sale that is held in Motomachi along Motomachi street. The entire street is closed off as all the shops have everything on sale and have stuff out on the sidewalk. The pre-sale street is where we found some great stuff for really cheap. Becky and I both found cute rings. Then we found this great clothing store that had cute stuff for 1050 yen. I bought a cute purple dress and leggings. Becky found me these cute black leggings that have a bow at the end of them on the back. I know it sounds odd, but you can hardly tell it's there and the bow isn't obnoxious. I don't do obnoxious or bows, so you have to know it's subtle. Then we walked onto the main street, where the majority of the shops are pricy, but it was still fun to walk down it and see what they had to offer.

I took some great pictures of the both of us and of some of our fellow shoppers. However, I lost those pictures, so sorry. One of the stores Becky and I found was named "wood and pecker." Don't find many stores named "wood and Pecker," so I got a picture of it. We walked in to check it out, but nothing resembled anything to do with wood or pecker. It was a women's clothing store, but didn't have great stuff. It was funny though!

We continued walking around and finally decided to come back home around 4. It was a long day of shopping, but well worth it. The sale ends this weekend, so I'm glad we got to go during the week, before it gets more crowded this weekend!

Make-up cooking class

Today I was making up my cooking class that I missed 2 weeks ago because I forgot about it. I was excited because it was all Japanese cuisine and my cooking friend, Helen Tso, was also in the class. Our class started promptly and in total there were 5 students. I didn't enjoy this cooking class as much because our teacher let the Japanese girls cook most of the stuff and Helen and I didn't do much. We did have alot to cook, but come on. Anywho, we helped out here and there, but they mainly did everything. So we made a total of 8 dishes.

First we started out with alot of soy milk. We heated it and added some sugar and other stuff. Then ladled it into little bowls and put it in the fridge. It was a pudding. Next we cut all of our veggies. We were having daikon as a dish and then veggies in a soup. We steamed the daikon with some bay leafs and then on top of it we, put in a bowl of cut veggies, mushrooms, eggplant, onion, carrots, pumpkin. They all were pressured cooked for about 10-15 minutes. For the daikon, we made a sauce that you poured over it. We started out with some sake and ground chicken, white miso powder, brown sugar and water. We mixed it all together until it started to get sticky and then turned off the heat. Right before we served it, we added some fresh lemon juice to it to keep the tasted. I was good and didn't eat any of the sauce because of the chicken, which means I only ate half of my daikon.
Our next dish had two uses. To the soy milk that we had left, we heated it until it boiled and then gathered all top boiled stuff. It was served with some soy sauce and wasabi. With the rest of the soy milk, we added some dashi powder (Japanese ingredient), white miso, and then poured it over the veggies we had cooked.
The next dish was some boiled broccoli. After the boiling, we made a sauce that we tossed them in. The sauce consisted of soy sauce, water, nairin (japanese ingredient), and karashi (spicy Japanese mustard).
Next we mixed some carrots, mushrooms, and daikon leaves into tofu mush. The teacher described it as the left over product after you squeeze the soy beans to make tofu. not really sure, but it was pretty bland, so good thing we added in some stuff. Next we added some water, salt, brown sugar, and dashi powder. Lastly we added the okara (jap. ingred) and a bit more water. It was ready.
Our last dish, which we finished first was super easy. We microwaved some yurine (like a potato) in water and salt. Then we mixed it with some white rice and yukari (a sweet/sour seasoning).
The next dish was eggplant and fish. We cooked the eggplant, skin side down, for a little bit. Next we added some water, brown sugar, soy sauce, Japanese sake (the sweet kind), melein (Japanese ingredient). Next we added the pieces of fish and fresh ginger to the mix. We let it boil for 10 minutes on medium heat. Afterward, the majority of the sauce should soak into the eggplant and fish.

As usual, there was too much food, but I did try everything. I liked the rice with potato like veggie. That seasoning was pinkish in color, but definitely added flavor. The tofu mix was ok, but not the greatest. Then again, I am not a fan of tofu anything, but at least I tried it. It was really was mush! The broccoli appetizer was not good. The spicy mustard sauce was waaayyyy too spicy and it popped in your mouth. Needless to say, I didn't finish that one. I liked the steamed daikon, but can't comment on the sauce. The fish and eggplant dish was really good and I enjoyed the sauce that we cooked it in. However, I was sure if they left the bones in the fish and I just don't eat bones, so I picked at the fish. I did eat all the eggplant! The soup had to be my favorite. The soy milk was really rich and added the veggies to it was another comlexity, but reallyl good. The soup was just thick enough and not overly thick or too thin. The top of the boiled soy milk was not good. Lastly, for dessert, we had the pudding that was topped with some Japanese black syrup. The pudding was good, but the syrup was way too sweet and took away from the actual pudding. Oh well.

Overall, definitely a good meal and I will be re-creating the fish/eggplant dish minus the bones. I also didn't like that so many people were in the class b/c Helen and I didn't get to do much. After class Helen and I were talking and she mentioned that our teacher likes to book her classes earlier so she can pack them with as many people. This made me annoyed especially since the class after ours was the same class, but with only 2 people. I don't like to be annoyed, as you all know.
Anywho, Helen and I had a good time and she gave me some dried mango that she brought back with her from Taiwan. I've had dried mango before and it's good.

My next cooking class won't be for a couple of weeks. We are leaving next week, the following week our friends come to visit, so cooking is on hold. The March menus look good, so hopefully they will be and let's hope not so many people.

Chinese Cuisine for Lesson # "ni (2)"

Today was my 2nd cooking lesson and we were cooking Chinese food. The lesson was very fast today, so I wasn't able to take as good of notes as last time, but considering we used some random ingredients, not sure if I will be making these dishes again. We started out with boiling the broccoli and cleaning the shrimp. I was hoping she would not ask me to clean the shrimp because I hate doing that part. At first she didn't and then she told me to which with the girl. I was like RATS.
Next we started making this white sauce that went on top of the broccoli. We started with ginger and garlic paste. Then we added the chopped white onions and canned crab. Then we added in some Chinese sake. Next was some salt, sugar, powdered chicken stock, and some kacumchiko (sp?, some Japanese ingredient). Next was the water and some corn starch to make it sticky. We turned off the heat and added in the meringue from 1 egg white and some fresh cream. And it was ready to go over the broccoli

To the cleaned shrimp, with the shell still on, we added more Chinese sake, salt, white pepper, and an egg white. Then we added some potato starch along with some water, which is suppose to make it bubbly as you mix it around! We cooked the shrimp on both sides, just to change the color. Next was the spicy sauce (which wasn't spicy). We started out with some ginger and garlic paste, tomato ketchup, and some tobangan (spicy stuff). I think we added in some water next, followed by the onion and shrimp. once it was all mixed, my teacher added some Japanese vinegar and some oil, to keep it shiny!
We also scrambled an egg and then the last dish. It was a mixure of dried squid, which she made me try before putting it in. It chewy and interesting and yes, I did try, but not because I wanted to. We mixed it with some celery and kimchi. definitely interesting little dish. Here is our meal after it was done.


Everything was good and that celery, kimchi, squid thing wasn't bad except when you only bit into the squid. Apparently the Japanese eat dried squid when they drink beer. Not my idea of a beer snack, but whatever works for them. I think I will stick to nuts or better yet, chicken wings!! Next lesson is tomorrow, so let's hope no squid!

What a great weekend, kind of!

The weather has been quite difficult these past few weeks, but this weekend, it was beautiful. yesterday the high was 53F and sunny and today the sun is out again. Now you all know me, I would not say 53F and sunny is a great day since I am use to 75F, cool and cloudy as a great day in Houston, but since being here I have had to change my idea of what a great day is.

Mike and I went out to lunch and walked around just soaking up the sun. We got back to the apartment abour 3:30 or so and decided to hang out for the rest of the evening. Things were good until I started getting a headache and didn't feel very well. Next thing I know my nose was stuffed and I am coughing, which meant I was getting sick. Mike was like "are you allergic to sun that you are now getting sick." The answer of course, is no I am not allergic to sun, but allergic to the drastic weather changing.

I woke up to another beautiful morning and had a cough, stuffy nose, and can only breathe out of one nostril. It's a great day already. Mike won't come near me and says I can't go near him because I might breathe on him and get him sick. So I will unfortunately spend this nice day inside so that I can feel better.

I am currently searching the market for a new immune system, so if any of you know where I can find one, send the information, asap. Mike and I did crack some jokes about me being sick and he is hoping our future children have his immune system and skin since I get sick and have sensitive skin. I told him I hope they get my out-goingness and hair! Such love we have for each other!

Traditional Japanese sweets

Not much is going on here. The weather is crazy from snowing in the morning to the sun being out a few hours later.

On Wednesday, my Japanese teacher brought over some traditional Japanese sweets, that are served with green tea, and some green tea. During our break, she gave me the sweets and made me some tea. During tea ceremonies, you serve both soft and hard sweets. The soft sweet is the green thing below. It is a kind of Japanese dough that is filled with bean paste. The hard sweets are literally sugar, but the ones shaped liked flowers were good. I understand why she says you eat the sweets first and then drink the tea. Traditional green tea is made from a powder and is very bitter. She used the bowl to make the tea.

I definitely enjoyed my green tea and sweets. She is so nice, that she brought extra sweets for Mike to taste and gave me a mini jar of green tea powder. When I told Mike all of this, he just rolled his eyes. I think he is jealous because his Japanese teacher isn't as great as mine!

Lent begins...

Mike told me about a Catholic church about 15 minutes walking distance from where we live. I went to church this morning to get some ashes and things were a bit different. If I had read the posting before walking in, I would not have thought it so weird. Apparently due to the H1N1 virus, they have covered the holy water, only allow you to get communion in your hand, and everyone bows during peace. They want to avoid the spread of the virus, so everyone is doing these things. After mass, I read the sign and realized it wasn't so weird.

For Lent, Mike decided to give up pizza and beer, which is big. It also means that I will probably have to give them up as well since he would not appreciate me eating pizza and drinking beer while he sits across from me. I decided to give up all red meat and stick to fish and veggies for the time. I told Mike and he was like "what, well you do cook all the meals, so I can't really complain." We shall see how it goes, but hopefully we can help each other out. I actually thought about giving up alcohol, but we are headed to wine country in 2 weeks, and that would be out the door the minute we arrived in Sonoma.

To celebrate the beginning of Lent, we had pizza and beer on Monday. Then last night I grilled NY strip steak with caramelized onions & green peppers with roasted potatoes and green beans. YUM.

Now time to figure out what we will have tonight...

Happy Birthday Bailey!!!!

Today is Bailey's 3rd birthday and unfortunately I can't be there to celebrate with her, but I did her send a nice treat to make up for it. I realize she isn't going to know that I sent it, but at least she will get to enjoy it. I sent her a birthday cake in the shape of a bone, which is super cute.
Here is one of the last pictures Mike and I took with her before we left STL to come back to Houston and get ready for the move. Jan (Mike's mom) had to take a couple of pictures because she would not sit still, but then again, Bailey never really liked to sit still when people were around.

However, I did manage to get her and Murphy to sit still long enough to take this picture!

Then we went out to play in the snow, which Bailey is getting use to.



Below is a great picture of Bailey, as you can see, she is just like Mike. She steals the control and then falls asleep while watching tv! Before I had to give her away, I decided it was ok if she sat on the couch, since she was never allowed to. After I let her do it once, I would come out of the bedroom and find her sleeping on the couch. Silly dog!


I get reports from Jan about Bailey and it looks like she is settling in nicely in her new home, which is in Indiana, where there is lots of snow. The Cobbles say it is funny to see her play in 10+ inches of snow, especially since she digs her face in it and then comes up. They have figured out Bailey's flaw, which is...stealing socks! Good thing their dog, Tink, likes to steal shoes, so it works out.


Here are some pictures they sent us. Bailey is on the right in the first one. They also found out that Bailey likes ice cream!



I admit, when I opened them up, I did start to cry because I miss her and she was the one person/dog I spent most of my time with. It has been hard not to have her around, but I know it is for the best since she needs lots of room to run around and play. I must also admit, I do have her picture on my nightstand as opposed to Mike's picture or a picture of the two of us. Mike, of course, laughs at me, but knows it was hard for me to give her away.

So here's to Bailey, my crazy goof ball. These last two pictures make me laugh because it is classic Bailey. After being outside, she would run inside and go into the bathroom and jump in the tub. She didn't want to take a bath, but did want to drink water from the spout and then paw at the water. I have video of it and it's funny. Next was one of Bailey's many spots to squirrel watch. She would race between the balcony and the bedroom in hopes of catching them!



Happy Birthday Bailey!

Sunday at Odaiba

Sunday Mike and I spent the day at Odaiba, a man made island about 30 minutes from where we live. We took the monorail, which goes in a loop and under the rainbow bridge here. It was cool since we would look out the window and see the drivers driving by on the road. Here are some pictures of the water and bridge as we headed there.



While there we had lunch at this turkey place, which was good, as you can see. Mike nabbed the camera as I was enjoying my turkey leg!

We, I mean I, did some shopping while there. I found some cute scarves for $5 and bought a red and gray one. Then I also found a really, really cute white winter coat, which was great and on sale. YAY. While shopping, I saw this sign at one of the stores and thought it was great. They really want you to buy when its on sale, so happy price!

This place even has a statue of liberty and a great view.



While there we visited 3 floors of an arcade and a place where you can test your strength against various athletic tests. It was cool. Mike and I also went to the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation where they had a special exhibit on food. Of course we went to see it and learned quite a few things. We also enjoyed the rest of the science museum. Mike was bummed that the little kids didn't let him play with all the cool stuff! After we left the museum, we were walking back to catch the train and stumbled upon Snoopy the Smurf. Unfortunately, even this statue is taller than me. RATS.

As we kept walking, we walked past this hippo outside a building. This building was not a zoo, so we weren't sure what was going on. Never a dull moment in Tokyo.

This place is great and has many other things to see, but we didn't have enough time.

Sake bottle # 3

My quest for good sake continues. Over the weekend, we bought another bottle of sake in hopes of finding a really good one. This one was about the same price as sake bottle #2, so we figured it would taste just as well. Here is the bottle

Up close on the bottle - Not sure what the first word says, but the second word means "one" as in the number.

So we heated it up as usual in our trusty little carafe and tried it. This one was not as good as bottle #2, and it became cold quicker than the other one. The taste was ok, not great by any means and was a bit sweet no matter whether it was hot or cold. Both Mike and I agree that bottle #2 was better. We haven't this bottle but I am confident that we will. On to finding bottle #4!

Simulation Golf for Happy "Over-rated" Day

Happy Over-rated, I mean Love, Day to all....

Things are done a little different in Asia when it comes to Valentines Day. Here, women are suppose to buy men gifts including chocolate. Then, on March 14, it is White Day where men buy women gifts 3x as much as what they got including white chocolate. So while I was out this week, I spent some time looking at the chocolate selection at the store, debating whether or not to buy Mike some chocolate. After about 5 minutes, I opted out of it and decided it was against my beliefs. I don't care for this day and from the title of this post, you can see that I think it's over-rated! Anywho, when I came home and told Mike about buying him chocolate, he said "why would you do that, I don't like chocolate, you would eat them." I said "I know you don't like it and yes, I would eat them, but it was the thought that counts." So instead of chocolate, we went to the simulation golf bar instead.

Simulation golf is the one thing here that I know Mike LOVES and I bet he would buy one if he knew where to get it and he had a house to put it in. Simulation golf is just like playing real golf, except you aren't outside and you hit your ball at a giant projecter screen. For the most part, it reads the ball pretty accurately, but sometimes it is off. The platform you stand on even moves to adjust for slopes, etc.
We had a good time and were able to finish all 18 holes in our allotted time frame. Here are a couple of swing shots. Here you can see where Mike's ball hits the screen


Concentration face

Here is where you can see my ball hit the screen, towards the bottom.

Time for putting

And of course Mike had to take a picture of the score card. As you can see, I am still not a great golfer by any means. However, I did fairly well on Hole 8 and had really great shots on each hole.
I do like how Amanda goes through the whole blog and doesn't mention that I finished even par on the back nine. I'm still debating whether I can start to include these scores in my handicap - this was my best so far, either real or screen golf. And Amanda is getting much better. Many of her double pars came because the machine is not really set up to read her shot style. She likes to scoot it along the ground, and outside it would probably go 40-50 yards. The screen more often than not reads it as a mis-hit of about 10 (in one case 0.2) yards. We'll be able to test that theory once we make it out to a real course, hopefully next month.


It was fun and an activity that we will probably do frequently while here.

A sea of adventures

Today started out with my Japanese lesson, which went well. We managed to get on the topic of colors because the dialogue we were doing talked about the yellow train. So I learned the rainbow colors and when Fumi-san said that orange and pink are the same here and in the US, I said that is boring. Good thing I don't fantasize about pink like other girls. She also mentioned that they have some many Japanese names for these 2 colors, that it is easier to say pink or orange. Then she told me that green is named "midori" and I was like "oh like midori liquor." Of course, she asked me what that was and I was thinking, my mind goes to alcohol, wonder if that is a problem." So I explained to her that midori in the US is green, which makes it easy to remember it in Japanese. She laughed me! Then we continued on and were on the subject of calling people and which numbers I should use for emergencies. Well, she decided I needed to use the phone directory and ask for the number to a department store, all in Japanese mind you. So I call the number and ask for Matsuya Ginza and get the number. I had to listen to it twice b/c it was too fast for me. Then she made me call the number to make sure it was the right one and when they answered, I merely said "ok thanks" and hung up. Was not happy I had to do that, but she thought I did very well. whatever

Next I had to go grocery shopping for a few things and pick up the dry cleaning, which is conveniently located at the grocery along with a shoe/key repair shop. I couldn't find my ticket to pick up the dry cleaners and looked for it everywhere. I figured it is either in the trash or I placed it somewhere that I don't remember. Oh well. So did my shopping and then tried to get the clothes. She asked for my ticket and the only thing I could say was "lost ticket." Then she said a whole bunch of stuff I didn't understand and I said "lost ticket." Then she said "o-namae was," which I understood (yay japanese lessons) and told her my name. Then she said more stuff I didn't understand and asked for my number, which I gave her in Japanese. So she confirmed, I was who I was and then had to reprint the tickets, which I don't think she liked. Ooops. At the end, she did give me a 10% coupon, so it wasn't a total misfortune.

Next, I had my first hair cut appointment here, which I was a bit scared about. Mike goes to this salon and said the guy studied in New York for a long time, and knows what he is doing. So I show up and am ready. We start with the shampooing of the hair, which I always love. They put the normal towel around your neck and then I got a towel that went over my legs and another that went over my chest. Guess they didn't want to get my clothes wet??? After my hair was washed, I got a massage and it was great. The guy rubbing on my shoulders said "very hard shoulders" and I replied, "yes I know." This means, I obviously have been doing waaaayyyyy too much house work and am in need of a break and gives me a reason to go get a massage. Good thing I found 2 in Roppongi that have great reviews. Let's hope Mike sees eye to eye with me on this request. Time for hair cutting, Yuri (the stylist) asks what I want and I tell him 2-3 inches shorter, thinned out, cut my bangs, layered. In the end, my hair came out better than I expected even though I had to ask him to cut my bangs a bit more. I like the cut, but it isn't has short as I would have liked it and I am not sure he gave me as many layers as I wanted. He also didn't chi it as well as he could have, so it is a bit puffier than I would like, but tomorrow it should be flatter. In some places it looks longer than other places, so we shall see. Good thing about it, is that I got 20% off because Mike referred me and I continue to get this discount if I schedule my next appt. within 3 months. So I scheduled one for 2.5 months from now, right before we leave on the honeymoon. However, he will have to cut it shorter since I will want minimum hassle with it
while honeymooning. Let me know what you think even though it looks the same!



previous count
Japanese language - 5
Amanda - 3

Now
Japanese language - 8 (2 for dry cleaning situation, 1 for midori)
Amanda - 4 (1 for calling the store)

Sake #2

I continue my quest of sake and this is bottle #2 that we actually bought. I have had sake a couple of times in between this one and the awful first bottle, but they were at restaurants or bars, so I don't know anything about them. We purchased this bottle at the liquor store and had no idea what it said other than the name!

Here I am getting the cups and mini carafe ready to start the heating process. We picked up this set back in May when we took a trip down to Hiroshima/Kyoto/Nara. The carafe has the famous torii (shrine gate) that looks like it floats on water during high tide, painted on it.

Sake is suppose to be warm, so I had to heat it up. From what we have read, this is the way to heat it up. It is suppose to get to a 104F and then its ready to drink. Good thing I bought a thermometer with our wedding gift cards and brought it with me. Mike put it in to check the temperature.

And we had success. Kompai!


This one was more successful than the last bottle seeing as how it is actually clear! It really didn't have a flavor I could pin point. It definitely tasted better hot. As it started to cool, it wasn't as good, but I still drank it. I think I am on the right track!
Now for Mike's thoughts...
It tasted sweet and it's better when it's nice and warm.