Kai - 9 months

 I love this picture so much that I'm a week early for Kai's 9-month photo.

Time-Lapse Video

You can click on the photo below to watch a short time-lapse video shot with my phone.

Photos from a Phone

 Remember when a phone was just for calling people?

 

   

   

   

   

   

 

iPhone 16

The coolest thing for me about my new phone is the camera. Still learning how to use it, not really understanding the technical stuff, but I like it a lot already.

Wendell's Easy Namasu

Wendell made this namasu the other day.  It was really ono and when I asked to see the recipe that he had found online, I saw that it was Didi's recipe.

 He added a bit of ogo that he got from Times.

Ingredients

• 1 Japanese cucumber, thinly sliced
• 1 medium carrot, peeled, thinly sliced, slivers
• 1 daikon (turnip), thinly sliced, slivers
• 1 TB Hawaiian salt
• Water as needed
• 1 inch ginger, peeled, thinly sliced
• 1/2 c. rice wine vinegar
• 1/2 c. sugar

Instructions

• In a saucepan over medium heat warm vinegar.
• Remove from heat; stir in sugar until dissolved.
• Set aside to cool completely.
• In a large mixing bowl toss together cucumber, carrot, daikon and salt. 
• Allow to sit 15 minutes.
• Rinse and drain well. 
• Squeeze all remaining water.
• Return to mixing bowl; toss with ginger and vinegar mixture.

How To Serve:

• Refrigerate for service. 
• Makes approximately 3 ½ cups.

New Toy?

Kai thinks I got him a new toy from Ross.  You can click on the photo below to watch a short video.

 

He was right!

  

Sam's Apple Pie Rolls

Wendell bought this lumpia-looking apple pie rolls from Sam's for $9 something for 12 pieces.

They recommend air frying, but I'm too lazy to bust out the air fryer.

 

Instead I pan fried in a little bit of butter.  It didn't come out as crispy as I would have liked, but I still enjoyed it.

   

The next time I threw a couple pieces into the toaster oven.  It came out even limper than when I fried them, but I still liked it.  Maybe I just really like the vanilla ice cream!

  

Kai's Door

Kai doesn't like new things, but he took to his mesh door super fast.  Wendell left a little gap on the bottom so that Kai could see the opening.  Magnets on each side help to cling it shut. Ingenious!  And the best thing . . . 8 bucks on Amazon!

You can click on the photo below to watch a short video. 

Cleta's Easy-Kine Shoyu Chicken

Cleta followed Foodland's Easy-Kine Shoyu Chicken recipe from last month.  Sure looks yummy!!

Note:  I made this the other night 'cause seemed easy enough for me.  I didn't do the extra-step broiling.  Didn't look as good but it WAS yummy.

• 1 cup Water
• 2/3 cup Aloha Shoyu (use Tamari for a gluten free option)
• 2/3 cup Dark brown sugar
• 5 cloves Garlic (finely chopped)
• 3 inch Piece of ginger (finely chopped)
• 4 Green onion (thinly sliced, whites and greens separated)
• 6 pieces Chicken thigh (bone-in, skin-on)

INSTRUCTIONS 

• In a heavy-bottomed pot, add water, shoyu, brown sugar, garlic, ginger and green onion whites, and whisk to combine. Nestle the chicken thighs in the pot, submerging them in the shoyu braising liquid as much as possible. 
• Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to low. Cover the pot and simmer for 30-35 minutes, until the chicken is tender and cooked through.
• (Optional step) Preheat oven broiler to 500 degrees. Make sure oven rack is on the top shelf. Transfer the chicken thighs to a small baking sheet. Place in the oven for 4-5 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through, until the chicken skin is crispy and caramelized. As the chicken broils, bring the sauce in the pot to a boil by increasing the heat to high for 4- 5 minutes or until sauce is reduced to desired thickness.
• Spoon the thickened shoyu sauce over the chicken and garnish with thinly sliced green onion.
• Serve Shoyu Chicken immediately alongside rice and mac salad.

Kai - 8 months

 

Bonanza!

The other night the wind and rain knocked down around 30 marungay pods.  I quickly raked them up and tossed them over the fence before letting Kai out.  Saved me the trouble of trying to knock them down myself.  

Duracell Flashlight

I got this from Ross for $6.99.  I wanted a bright flashlight so that I could see Kai when I let him out at night to pee.

 

It works really good.  I can clearly see that Kai got to a marungay pod before me.

  

Marungay Pods

I used our mango picker to knock down marungay pods overhanging from the neighbor's tree so that I don't have to worry about Kai getting to the pods that fall into our yard. He likes to play with them and will sometimes eat them.

I could only get to the ones on the right tree.  Am still trying to figure out how to reach the ones on the left.

Kai Boy Can

My grip strength has gotten weak and it's not possible for me to walk Kai.  I bought the gentle leader a few months ago hoping it would help.  It attaches to the dog’s snout so only gentle tugs are needed to guide your dog.

At first we would train in the backyard twice a day. But it was a chore. Kai just didn’t like it. Training got cut down to once a day. Then once in awhile. Then I quit. Twice.  

When I got back from Japan we started again.

And then finally yesterday we went on a walk.

You can click on the photo below to watch a short video.  Kai Boy did well. I’m so proud of him.

Jan Ken Po

 Click on the photo to watch a video of kids having fun in Kobe.

Kai and the Gentle Leader

I paid 25 bucks for this gentle leader, and after months of "training" in our back yard, now even bribes aren't working.

Pay Toilet

I wish I had gotten a wider shot of this much-needed pay toilet that we found in a shopping street in Kobe to show you that on the counter to the left was an honor-system box with a slot where you could insert your 100-yen payment.