Showa no Mori

Golfing is an all day event here, which can be good and bad. I have decided its both, but this is just the way the Japanese do it. So I joined this meet-up group, Tokyo women golfers, to meet some more women and hopefully practice this game, I can't seem to get a hold of. Well, the site developer, Laura, has played with Mike and full of all kinds of information. She also loves to golf and coincidentally is from Houston. So she scheduled a 4some outing for Saturday and I joined. I was scared and even hoped that it would rain since I am no means good, but it didn't.

I left the house at 6:05 am, yes you saw correctly, to meet her by 6:50 and then take our train. We finally arrived at the golf course, Showa no Mori before 8am and Laura showed us how to do everything. We checked in, got our lockers, changed into our shoes and then found our clubs, which I shipped to the place. We had a 8:42am tee time and we were good to go. I started out well and had some good shots. In order to keep with the pace of play, we did some scrambles, which I was thankful for. We finished around 11 and it was time for lunch, which we had an hour for. Then we started the back 9 at 12:15. We finally finished around 2:30/45ish and then settled the shipment of clubs back home. Next was the onsen, which everyone does since you can't go home filthy. I finally made it back home at 5:30pm and boy was I exhausted. It was a whole day affair, which I don't like. However, I do like the stopping to have lunch, probably b/c I like food!
here is a group shot of us...Chohi, Naomi, me, Laura



Since I was exhausted, I all I wanted to do for the rest of the evening was lay on the couch and be a bum, but that didn't happen. Our friend, Angie Lee, was in town visiting for the weekend, so we went out to meet her for dinner and drinks. It was fun, but I'm glad I have all of today to recover and be a bum.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE

Today Mike is officially another year old. We celebrated on Saturday doing a variety of things, as Tuesdays aren't really good days for birthday celebrations especially when time is limited after work. Mike and I started out his celebration by going to the golf bar and playing a round of 18. good fun. Then we headed to dinner with some colleagues. Mike had to pick the Mexican restaurant, Junkadelic, and I couldn't complain b/c it wasn't my birthday. It was fun and afterwards, everyone came back to the apartment to watch the Japan soccer and continue the party!


Now the festivities will continue today as its his actual birthday. I am sure he is anxious to open his gifts, which I brought back with me from my trip home, as they have been sitting in the closet. For dinner, I am making Mike's favorites and he asked for steak, mashed potatoes, and I am adding broccoli, since we need a veggie. As most of you know, Mike is not a fan of sweets, so there may or may not be cake especially since he will only eat one slice. I'll post some pictures of everything tomorrow!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY!!!
Here is the birthday spread ready for Mike to come home. I couldn't find any birthday banners that weren't $20, so I made one instead!


With the birthday spread and gifts


So I ended up getting the the cake part of birthday. I bought 3 individual slices: cheesecake, chocolate cheesecake, and mocha cake and put 29 candles on them. Mike had to blow them out fast or we may have had a fire on our hands!

Brisket, the home-made kind

So we have both been MIA for a bit, but not sure why. I was gone for 1.5 week and Mike had a golf tourney. Nothing much else is going on here, other the temperature and humidity increasing!

On sunday, I decided to try cooking this brisket that I had in the freezer. Now, I've never cooked a brisket before, but it was Sunday and everyone should have a good sunday night meal, right? Well, one of the pots we received as a wedding gift is a nice slow cooker that I can stick in the oven, which is great. I lathered up my hunk of meat with a BBQ spice rub and some extra things, on both sides, put it in this pot with some beef broth and into the oven for the next 4 hours. The aromas in casa Miles were getting stronger by every hour as we checked it and made sure it was cooking nicely. After about 4 hours in the oven, it was ready to eat and boy did we eat. Now it wasn't my mom's brisket which tastes yummy, or our friend Jeff's, who really slow cooks it overnight and checks on it every hour, which is also yummy, but for my first one, I thought it was delish!



Also, while we were having dinner, Mike noticed this random hotel guest doing who knows what. Mike sits facing the balcony, so he got a show. When I turned around to see, I was quite surprised. Here is when the guy decided to put a shirt on...And yes, I did take a picture of this, but from inside where he couldn't see me!


So here is to sunday night dinner minus random window shows, may they be enjoyed by everyone. What were you eating on Sunday night? And if it wasn't good, you should work on that!

Quick Trip

I am back in Tokyo after a much needed trip back home to see my family. It was my first time back since moving and it was nice to spend some time with the family. My nephew even knows my name now, which is exactly for me since he doesn't really know me other than, my face on the computer. I got to hang out with him all day on Wednesday as I decided to baby sit. good fun, but I was tired after the day was over!

In addition to visiting my family, I also went to visit my friend Ashley, since I had promised to visit last year and never did. We had a good time and it was great to see her, catch up, and hang out like old times. Then it was back to Houston for just a day before leaving and I got to see Rob and Allison, since I was staying at their house.

My trip was quick, but fun. Sorry to all of you who I did not get a chance to see as I was pressed for time and didn't have a car to run around with. No worries. Mike and I will be in town later August, first week of September and we have scheduled time for everyone! So if I didn't see you this time, I will definitely see you in Aug/Sept. Now its back to Tokyo where the temperature is increasing along with the humidity. Should make for a nice hot summmer!

June Golf Tournament

Since Amanda is gone and I had to keep myself busy this weekend, I signed up for a golf tournament on Sunday. And since I hadn't been to the range in a while, I got a few guys together to go to the simulation golf bar on Saturday to warm up. Both very good days.
At the simulation golf, I shot a 76, which included an eagle from 195 yards out! It could have been even better but I tripled the 18th, got in some woods. Nonetheless, I was encouraged.
Sunday morning I got up at 5:30 to go catch a 70 minute train ride, followed by a 30 minute bus ride. Got to the course - Jack Nicklaus designed, absolutely beautiful.



We got started a bit late, but were off by 10:00. Play was typically slow, and I played okay on the front, not great. We stopped for lunch (Japanese culture thing), and I explained my philosophy of how the beer at the turn makes you play better on the back nine. It turned out to be true. I posted a 38 on the back nine, which included my first eagle ever! I teed off from 305 down a hill, and it went perfectly straight, a little left of the green. At least I thought so. When I got down there to look for it, there was a ball sitting about 5 feet from the pin. Great feeling.
My partners had a rough hole, scoring a 7 and a 9, which meant that I was standing on the green for about 10 minutes just looking at this eagle putt. I could have sworn they were trying to ice me. Anyway, I looked at the putt from every possible angle and when it finally was my turn, nailed it right in the back of the cup. That would have been a tough miss.
The tournament was Peoria style, which means your handicap is made up at the end by the computer based on a subset of holes played. Basically it means the winner is determined by luck. But I was lucky, cause I ended up getting 3rd place with an 82, calculated handicap of 8. (I'd love to be an 8 handicap)
Anyway, Amanda's getting back on Wednesday and I'm going to be dragging her to the golf bar and golf course alot this summer if this keeps up!

Honeymoon Romantic Tour

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