The Adventures of Ma & Pa Davis, Part I
Jeff's parents, now retired, are blowing all their money on a two-week trip to Japan, followed by two weeks in Hawaii. Then they will settle down and live in a tent in Madison, Ohio. Just kidding.
Their first week here has gone swimmingly, except for the crappy weather they seem to bring with them, or so we like to tease them. It's been really nice the last couple days, and we are off to Shimoda for a beachy weekend that happens to coincide with the Black Ship Festival.
Firstly, to satisfy my loyal readers the Piazzas, here's proof that they went to the famous Blue Corn Cafe. I did not take this picture. Look at it like those UFO-spotting photos.
Helen, Kevin, Cynthia, Michael, and Shingo joined us. Sadly for those that left (everyone but Helen, Cynthia, and me), they didn't get to meet the fabulous Hya-chan, who believes you are never too old for hot pants.
On Mother's Day, we had brunch at the top of the Landmark Tower
then caught the buskers outside
and spent some time at Cosmo World
Monday or Tuesday night, I forget which? Macky came over and cooked us a sukiyaki feast. We also tried whale meat.
The meat tasted like fishy ham. The blubber tasted like fishy rubber bands.
Macky had secretly invited Toru, Ben, Tomoi, and Nori-chan so Jeff would look popular in Japan for his parents. Hence a stupid amount of food and a late ending hour. He and I fell asleep on the floor while the feast continued.
We took the folks to the Ramen Museum, where Rich and Mary Lou got to try their first proper ramen. We ate a Fukuchan (which Rich liked to pronounce differently). I don't know who this guy was supposed to be, but he liked Rich.
Then next night, Mary Lou taught me to make homemade noodles for the Secret Soup Recipe from Rich's mother. I am privileged to have the secret passed down to me.
The folks spent the next day on the base. Or at least they tried to. They didn't bring their passports, and apparently those are needed to get on. They managed to amuse themselves in town, though, so it was OK. We had a big steak dinner at home. Rich is the steak-grilling master. I ate a whole deliciously rare steak, almost still mooing, and I can't remember the last time I did that. Seriously. I never eat steak. Usually too much jaw-work.
The weather finally broke yesterday, and we had a sunny afternoon in Chinatown, followed by a surprise at Yamashita Koen: all the roses were in bloom! Gorgeous colors and smells.
Dinner was at that crazy fish-for-your-dinner place in Tsunashima. D caught the first, and biggest, fish. M was a close second. Rich was rather unimpressed by the still-twitching sashimi. Luckily, he doesn't eat sashimi anyway, and they had lobster and a personal hibachi for him to play with, so he was happy. We ended up with a ridiculous surplus of fish, because the boys wanted to catch another one, and Macky caught one, and I don't know what happened, but it did all managed to get eaten, mostly by Jeff & Macky.
Today, as soon as the kids get home from school, we are off to Izu. Send us happy sunny wishes so we can do lots of hanging out on the beach.
Their first week here has gone swimmingly, except for the crappy weather they seem to bring with them, or so we like to tease them. It's been really nice the last couple days, and we are off to Shimoda for a beachy weekend that happens to coincide with the Black Ship Festival.
Firstly, to satisfy my loyal readers the Piazzas, here's proof that they went to the famous Blue Corn Cafe. I did not take this picture. Look at it like those UFO-spotting photos.
Helen, Kevin, Cynthia, Michael, and Shingo joined us. Sadly for those that left (everyone but Helen, Cynthia, and me), they didn't get to meet the fabulous Hya-chan, who believes you are never too old for hot pants.
On Mother's Day, we had brunch at the top of the Landmark Tower
then caught the buskers outside
and spent some time at Cosmo World
Monday or Tuesday night, I forget which? Macky came over and cooked us a sukiyaki feast. We also tried whale meat.
The meat tasted like fishy ham. The blubber tasted like fishy rubber bands.
Macky had secretly invited Toru, Ben, Tomoi, and Nori-chan so Jeff would look popular in Japan for his parents. Hence a stupid amount of food and a late ending hour. He and I fell asleep on the floor while the feast continued.
We took the folks to the Ramen Museum, where Rich and Mary Lou got to try their first proper ramen. We ate a Fukuchan (which Rich liked to pronounce differently). I don't know who this guy was supposed to be, but he liked Rich.
Then next night, Mary Lou taught me to make homemade noodles for the Secret Soup Recipe from Rich's mother. I am privileged to have the secret passed down to me.
The folks spent the next day on the base. Or at least they tried to. They didn't bring their passports, and apparently those are needed to get on. They managed to amuse themselves in town, though, so it was OK. We had a big steak dinner at home. Rich is the steak-grilling master. I ate a whole deliciously rare steak, almost still mooing, and I can't remember the last time I did that. Seriously. I never eat steak. Usually too much jaw-work.
The weather finally broke yesterday, and we had a sunny afternoon in Chinatown, followed by a surprise at Yamashita Koen: all the roses were in bloom! Gorgeous colors and smells.
Dinner was at that crazy fish-for-your-dinner place in Tsunashima. D caught the first, and biggest, fish. M was a close second. Rich was rather unimpressed by the still-twitching sashimi. Luckily, he doesn't eat sashimi anyway, and they had lobster and a personal hibachi for him to play with, so he was happy. We ended up with a ridiculous surplus of fish, because the boys wanted to catch another one, and Macky caught one, and I don't know what happened, but it did all managed to get eaten, mostly by Jeff & Macky.
Today, as soon as the kids get home from school, we are off to Izu. Send us happy sunny wishes so we can do lots of hanging out on the beach.
posted by Sandi at 12:29 PM
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