Breakfast Pita

The title says it all and no real explanation is needed

Eggs
various add ins
pita pocket

Cook, fill, and eat

We used 1 slice of cooked bacon, red & green peppers, and onions. Tasty, quick and delicious. Obviously, the side should have been some fruit, but we had quite a few oranges last night and I wanted some potatoes!
I recommend trying this...

Gingered Pork with Couscous & Oranges

Look at us being good with those resolutions. Didn't I tell you we were going to keep to the eating healthy and working out unlike others!
Absolutely love the cookbook I got, so we decided to try another recipe.

It was simple, easy, and quick. Gingered Pork with Couscous and oranges. The recipe actually calls for the pork to be on skewers, but we didn't have any and to find them is a hassle. It also calls for grilling them on an actual grill as opposed to the gridle. But hey, we all know that when cooking, substitutions can be made.

Here's the pork and oranges getting those grill marks. And yes, they are on the same gridle, but I kept them completely separate and used different utensils for each

Here's the marinade you put on it right before everything is done. Fresh grated ginger, orange juice, honey. Very tasty

And of course, the final product. I think it would have looked nicer with the skewers, but whatever. And for those of you who are saying, wine isn't healthy...I say who cares, we weren't going to give up everything, because that just isn't us.

Everything was actually tasty and the couscous had some fresh grated orange peel in it, which had an extra flavor. The oranges were a nice compliment to the mains and just what you wanted. Will definitely be making this again!

Bonsai

Keeping to my resolutions already....

So the first luncheon of year was this past Wednesday (remember, I'm in charge of that and have to be nice to lots of women when they make me mad!). The speaker was a bonsai master. I was skeptical about the whole thing, but it turned out to be a really great program.

The bonsai master, Mr. Kobayashi, not only talked about bonsai, but did a live demonstration for us. It was really cool to see it change so drastically in so little time. Anywho, I also learnded some stuff about bonsai.
So first the facts and then the pictures
Bonsai is super, super old, but we all knew that. There are apparently 20 different kinds of designs you can choose from, each one highlighting something special. There are also 3, only 3, types of pots to plant them in, and their is a hierarchy of pot, as the square one is the best! Once a tree is trimmed, it does not need to be trimmed again for 3 years, imagine that. You just let it sit there and grow. One cool thing, was how they make the branches grow out to the side. Apparently you can cut out the inside of the bark, making it hollow and then breaking the branch to whichever side you like. Next you tape and wait for it to grow back and get healhty. Sounds simple right, but definitely looks like it hurts.
Ok, enough knowlege, here is the demonstration

Getting started

cutting away

some more working...so bare

The finished product...this style is Mr. Kobayashi's favorite, upright with little leaves. He didn't explain why its his favorite, so don't ask.

And just to show us a great bonsai, he brought along this guy, a 500yr old bonsai (not sure if I believe it, but who am I)

Definitely an interesting luncheon and better than I thought it would be. Bonsai can now be checked off my list of things to see/learn.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

And happy year of the Dragon...Let's hope it is a fiery and fabulous year for everyone!

Mike and I are back in Tokyo and ready to enjoy most of the year here before our move. Keep checking back to read about our adventures before its time to go

So resolutions...we should all make them right? Well, we have the usual ones that most people have:
- eat healthier
- exercise more/get in shape

except we have actually kept to them for more than a week! I got a great, healthy cookbook for Christmas and have been using it regularly

We each have our own personal resolutions, so let's hope we keep to those as well. One of mine is to blog more regularly and not like once a month or once every 2 months b/c then you are bombarded with 10 posts to read, if you actual read them.
So one thing, not so much a resolution, I am going to stick to is enjoying our time here in Tokyo and making the most of it.

Wishing you all joy, health, love, and happiness in this new year.

Happy Birthday to ME!!!!

We spent New Years in ELP, so we had to celebrate my birthday. Mike and I went out to dinner with my sister and Gabe on the 30th. We went to "Thyme," a restaurant that has great cutinis as Audrey calls them and drinks them!
At dinner

Well on my actual birthday, we went to the Sun Bowl game since Mike really wanted to go and mom always gets tickets. Turns out we picked a good year as it was the first time the game went into overtime!
We started the day early, 8am to tailgate with my Mom's friends. It was quite a spread, but all very delicious

Mom and Sister

Sister and I

The boys

Some highlights from the game:
The Sunbowl with the sun shining bright

And a final picture depicting how excited and how much fun Mike had while at the game

After a very long day at the game, we finally made it home and it was time to eat some cake. Time to blow out the candles with a little help from the little guy

The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful but with some cutinis. We stayed up until midnight to ring the new year and then I was in bed by 12:10. Should be a good year!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Merry Christmas in ELP

66 and extreme sunshine all day, which was great. We arrived and it was time to have another Christmas dinner and presents. Nothing like some Mexican food to start off the 2nd half of our vacation!
Here are some favorites of the kiddos:
Ella climbing on her name chair

Little man opening up his remote control car...

We had a great time in ELP mainly relaxing and watching alot of football. Needless to say Mike had a great time!!!