Photo-dump: Snowboarding

Way back in January, I went snowboarding with a lovely little crew. We took an over night bus from Tokyo to Nozawaonsen to enjoy three full days of snowboarding and skiing. I only had my camera for part of the trip, but I thought I'd throw up a couple pictures if you'd like to see.

The onsen town is beautiful and quaint, crawling with Tokyo-ites who want to get away for a weekend, as well as Kiwis and Aussies who have flown up for the fresh powder. 

We happened to be there during Nozawaonsen's annual, extremely intense, Fire Festival. 

Here is a basic description...

"One of Japan’s Top Three Fire Festivals, this intense event is held every year on January 15th. The 42 and 25 year old men of the village take on special roles. A massive tower is erected as a petition for the health and growth of first born sons. At night, villagers rush at the tower with torches. The 25 year olds fight them off at the base and the 42 year olds protect the top. The event climaxes in a massive bonfire as the tower succumbs to the flames. The festival’s power and energy have to be seen to be believed."

-from Go! Nagano

We watched as the 25 year olds chose their wood from the top of the mountain and ran with it (for hours) to the base of the mountain. The men rotated between helping carry the wood, and passing out sake to onlookers.

Fire and Ice,
Kate

                                                                     [The Latest]

Must Read: 20 Things That Ain't None of Your Business...Danoah.com.

Google Search: Pinterest.

Tune: Little Lion Man By Mumford & Sons. 

Accomplishment: Lots of cooking yesterday.

Obsessions: Koala cookies.

2 Ingredient Cookies

I know, I didn't believe the title of the recipe either when I read it!
But it's true! 

Well kinda...

Just to be clear...this is a pile of cookies, not just one.

I used two old bananas, a cup-ish of oats, which is really all the recipe called for, but I went ahead and added a few more things. I threw in a handful of chocolate chips and two handfuls of walnuts. Clearly I didn't feel like dirtying my measuring spoons. Then I mashed everything until the banana was all mixed in, then baked at 350F for 15 minutes, or until I thought the banana looked more baked then mushy.

I made these little cookies last night, and while they turned out a little more like banana bread and a little less like cookie, they still were a unique little treat.

The actual recipe with step by step pictures is here. 

Perfect over-ripe banana solution,

Kate

                                                                     [The Latest]

Must Read: Russian Outcry Over US Adoption Death...CNN.

Google Search: Yoani Sanchez.

Tune: We Come Running By Youngblood Hawke. 

Accomplishment: Watching my 2nd years answer some challenging reading comprehension questions. 

Obsessions: Homemade tortilla soup.

Photo Challenge 2013

I have been itching to take more pictures, so I started looking at Photo Challenges via Pinterest and came across this one. I love that it sticks with the Valentine theme of February, but is silly and genuine all in one. I plan on starting this weekend and will update in a few days when I finish.

Happy heart month, 
Kate

                                                                           [The Latest]

Must Read: Tokyo is Most Expensive City...The Economist. 

Google Search: Sky Tree Tickets.

Tune: 22 By Taylor Swift. 

Accomplishment: Managing to fit a ridiculous amount of groceries on my bike last nigt

Obsessions: Truffle salted popcorn.

Apple Crumble

One of my all-time favorite desserts has to be warm apple crumble with vanilla ice cream. YUM! Last weekend, my good friend, Mike made me a lovely dinner followed by an apple crumble while I played with baby Rido. I have been craving another bite of warm apples and ice cream all week. 

Last night, Kris, Rachel and I, attempted to make our own apple crumble. I googled a couple recipes, taking a few of their suggestions before throwing caution to the wind and completely wingin it. 

Here is my, notremotelyexact recipe...

*I peeled and cut up three apples, and placed them in a clear baking dish...while we watched Ellen YouTube clips.
*In a separate bowl, I mixed flour, brown sugar, and a dash of cinnamon....I simply mixed until I like the color of the mixture. (Somewhere, Julia Child just rolled her eyes).
*I poured my powder mixture all over the apples.
*Melted some butter in the microwave then poured that all over the place.
*Threw some muesli (my town doesn't really do granola) on the top.
*Chopped up a ton of walnuts and made a thick layer of those bad boys on the top of my creation.
*Then I baked it.
  -Because I have a microwave oven, that's in Celsius and doesn't pre-heat, I don't have any hard and fast facts about the baking process. I can tell you it was on 190 C for about 7 Ellen clips. I took it out when it looked golden brown and started to smell good. Good luck with that.

None the less, it was to die for! 

My friends and I gobbled it up. Either they really enjoyed it, or I just have really good friends ;) Thanks guys. 

Crumbled, 

Kate

[The Latest]

Must Read: Open-Minded About Marriage...Huffington Post.

Google Search: Simple apple crumble with muesli recipes.

Tune: The A Team By Ed Sheeran

Accomplishment: Answering all my emails.

Obsessions: Taco salad.

Airborne

I discovered a new favorite hobby: taking pictures from airplane windows. The view outside, assuming it's light out, is always stunning even if you are just looking at clouds. Plus, there is the added fun of not getting caught by a stewardess, so far I'm 4/4. Either I'm real smooth or they just don't care as much as I think they do. 

Here are a few shots from up above, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Narita, Japan.

The Air Above...

[Los Angeles]

[San Francisco]

[Japan]

I couldn't get my phone out in time before we landed of the seemingly endless rice fields. 

So, I had to settle for a pic on the ground. Next time. 

Those two symbols together mean, Japan.

Grounded, 

Kate

[The Latest]

Out of the clouds and back to reality. 

Hugs From Home

Arrived home in California safe and sound yesterday!

As my mom was at work, Charlie was the first one to give me great big welcome home hugs & kisses. 

It's good to be home. 

The Bohan Children,
Kate

P.S. Pam, thank you again for the early airport pick-up!

[The Latest]

Must Read: When Is Social-Media Use a Crime?...CNN. 

Google Search: Where to get additional passport pages

Tune: Accidentally In Love By Counting Crows.

Accomplishment: Staying awake for most of yesterday.

Obsessions: Chipotle.

Christmas

For some reason this only dawned on me today. 

Can you?!

I can,
Kate

[The Latest]

Must Read: 55 Years After Girl's Death Her Killer Gets A Life Term..NY Times. 

Google Search: Birthmark in Japanese

Tune: Christmas is All Around from Love Actually

Accomplishment: A fun lesson today at school.

Obsessions: A new wine.

Weekend Update

highlights included...

[1] a beautiful friday sunset to kick off the weekend.

[2] a friend's christmas party complete with santa and reindeer darts. 

SANTA! I know him!

[3] sunday night jazz to go with my red wine.

[4] costco sized chips and salsa. im stoked. thank you kris!

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

hope you all had a lovely weekend as well!

xoxo,
kate

Shreddin the Pow Pow! Translation: I Went Snowboarding

This past weekend I was able to cross another thing off my bucket list. Snowboarding! A friend of a friend had organized a group trip to Hakuba Mountain in Nagano. You may have heard of Nagano back in 1998 when it hosted a little something called the Olympics. 

I had been skiing, but never snowboarding, though had always wanted to try it. Deborah and Kris had yet to try snowboarding as well so we banned together, signed up, and pledged to hold each others hands through the learning process, promising not to laugh too hard when we tumbled face first into the snow. 

We boarded the overnight bus with 17 other soon to be friends and settled in for the 6 hour drive. We arrived to our snowy lodge, and Hakuba quickly became, the place with the most snow I had ever seen. It covered every nook and cranny, twice. It was layered on the tree branches and was waist deep along the streets. It was beautiful, cold, stunning, intimidating and mesmerizing all in one.

  

Groggy and hungover, we dropped our stuff off at the lodge then hopped back on the bus to head to a conbini to grab breakfast.

Then it was back to the lodge to layer up, mentally prepare ourselves, and walk the 10 minutes to the mountain. We rented gear and bought our lift tickets. Saw that there was a Subway and Haagen Dazs for lunch and told ourselves we had that to look forward to.

Mental Preparedness.

Bringin Sexy Back.

Today's Activity.
Note how many snowboarders are on the ground. Not a promising start.

 In a nutshell, here is how my Saturday went...

AM

-got our gear, got to the mountain, all the while trying my best to convince debs and kris that they were going to be able to get off the lift.
-received approximately 3.75 minutes of instruction from experienced snowboarders in our group before they ushered us onto the lift.
-i fiddled with my pants. i had borrowed a spare pair from one of the guys in our group and they were a few sizes too big. i looked like i had just robbed a bank, and not so discretely stuffed the loot in my pants.
-we approached the ski lift. debs started to stress.
-debs and kris made it off the lift beautifully. i did a belly flop and knocked the wind out of myself.
-we were ushered off the lift to the mountain and given approximately 2.33 more minutes of instruction.
-i decided i was ready to try.
-in one smooth movement, i stood then fell.
-stood...fell
-stood...fell.
-watched the expeienced guys from our group glide gracefully down the moutain and tried to replicate them, instead, i stood then fell
-stood..exhaled...fell.
-stood...fell...cussed.
-stood, scooted...fell
-watched debs stand and fall.
-watched kris stand and fall.
-stood...fell...looked up at how much snow was in the branches overhead.
-laid in the snow, looking at how far it was to the bottom of the mountain and wondered how socially inappropriate it would be if i used my board as a sled.
-stood..fell..cursed the little kids zipping around me.
-stood, managed to go for a few feet but couldn't quite steer, ended up off-roading.
-cussed.
-undid my bindings, picked up my board and hiked back up to the designated snowboarding zone.
-in the two hours before lunch i made it down the mountain a whopping twice, 75% of that time was on my ass.
-i had gotten separated from everyone, and could feel my face burning. i was already mad at the mountain so after finally making it to the bottom i took off my board and headed to the gift shop to buy chocolate and sunscreen. i was starting to feel better.
-found some other friends and ate lunch. for two hours. i needed some energy back and needed it to be fun again.
-kris finally convinced me to grab my stuff and head back to the mountain.

PM

-slightly more refreshed we hiked up the hill to the lift and surprisingly, gracefully made it off the lift.

-we decided to take videos of each other.

-i took kris' iphone and snuggled it inside my hat in my jacket pocket. so in case i did tumble face first i wouldn't break his phone.

-i went first and shocked myself when i successfully made it part way down the mountain, stopping to turn and film kris.

-gave him a thumbs up and watched him stand and fall no less than three times before successfully gliding down the mountain. 

-i stopped the video when he landed on his ass.

-i again shocked myself when i successfully stood, and glided down the mountain, even able to avoid a person in front of me. i was snowboarding!

-then i fell face first.

-met up with kris at the bottom of the mountain where we chatted about how ''good'' we had just become. 

-we went down the mountain a few more times. 

-i made it down twice without falling!!!

-it was just becoming fun, and then it was time to go.
-we got Haagen Dazs ice cream, ordering in Japanese from a white girl. that was weird.
-found debs, returned our gear and walked home.
-when we got home, we were asked if we knew why everyone else was late. we did not.
-they then informed us that one of the girls in our group had fallen about 50 meters from the bottom of the mountain, on her last run, and had broken her arm.
-she arrived back a few hours later with her arm casted and in a sling. poor thing.
-we showered, took a dip in the onsen to soothe our sore muscles.
-the 20 of us had nabe, a japanese type of soup, for dinner.
-then it was a quick change of clothes and a drive to a near by lodge/club, where it was 90% foreigners, 10% japanese people. i completely forgot i was in japan as i talked to a few australians who had flown over for the snow.
-kris, debs and i opted not to hit the mountain on sunday. we were so exhausted, and sore in places i didn't even know existed.

We got a great nights rest, and Sunday was spent eating, onsen-ing, and napping before loading up the bus again. First stopping at an amazing burger place, then heading back to Tokyo.

                      

                       

Sunday Morning Walk.

Back in the Day.

Potential Murder Weapons?

Romantic Brownie Scarfing.

It was such an amazing weekend and I'm already looking into where and when I can go again.

Sore,
Kate

[The Latest]

Must Read: I'm Not Ok With Chris Brown Performing at the Grammy's and I'm Not Sure Why You Are...from Oh No They Didn't. 

Google Search: Valentine's Day

Tune: Domino By Jessie J.

Accomplishment: Attempting a new recipe.
Obsessions: Olivia's homemade chocolate rice crispy treats, snowboarding