so

the typhoons turned out to be lots of rain

thankfully no wind, just lots of rain

that in itself did its own damage in several areas, we were okay though

Friday, we did have this big earthquake from the area around Mount Fuji

dunno what we've been doing but I think Mother Nature is pissed at us...so many earthquakes and other natural disasters lately.

Hope you have a good week

typhoon malakas

It is only April and there is already a typhoon approaching.

Sign that global warming is real, yeah?!

Yesterday, I went to pick up food for the next couple of days.

Satoshi still needs to go to work though...

Stay safe everyone.

update

We are fine. (sunrise this morning)

Many of the rivers around Tokyo as well as other prefectures overflowed.

Residents near these areas were evacuated, the damage near these rivers were pretty severe.

News footage shows the damage throughout Japan.

We have sun today and the temps are supposed to go to 29C (84F)...rain to return tomorrow.

Thank you for checking up on us.

We had lots of rain and krazy winds, but we were lucky.

No loss of power or any damage.

Praying for those in the affected areas, hoping they will be able to get back to their daily routines soon.

Take care everyone!

typhoon hagibis

Typhoon Hagibis (or Number 19 as Japan calls it) is making its way towards Japan and is supposed to make landfall on Saturday.

It is supposed to be bigger (and stronger) than the one that hit Chiba Prefecture last month.

It is the start of a 3-day weekend here but we are staying put and hoping for the best.

Crossing fingers we don't lose power.

Hoping you have a nice weekend where you are.

update

Thank you for your messages.

Satoshi was caught in the krazy lines at the train stations, he said he started to get motion sickness on the last leg of his commute so he ended up walking a couple of stations to get home.

The news footage was scary...Kansai Airport (KIX) under water, roof tiles flying off of houses, even Kyoto Station had glass falling from their roof onto people below...

The winds were apparently 58 meters/second (129 mph)...yikes!

MIL said she wasn't affected but BIL apparently lost power and gas.

Tuesday night the wind was howling (very sleepless!) early Wednesday morning there was a small but long shaking (earthquake)...the world is falling apart...

We are thankful for your messages and grateful that we weren't affected.

Please keep Kansai in your prayers, they have a ways to go to get back to normal.

update

Lots of areas in Kansai were hit with tons of rain and wild winds.

Rooftops flew off, metal crushed easily like aluminum cans, tons of mud and flooding...even a wind power windmill fell over...pretty krazy news footage.

Luckily in Tokyo, we had some rain and winds but nothing really major...well, the heat and humidity were krazy!

Areas in Northern Japan hit 40C (104F) because of the typhoons...eep!

If I am not mistaken our typhoon season started in July and runs to November.

Can you believe we've had 6 in the past week?

Japan numbers their typhoons instead of giving them names and we are on 20 already!

Number 19 and 20 are heading for Hokkaido...together!

Because the humidity was unbearable, dinner last night was super simple, I just picked up some sliced maguro, topped it with some yamagata dashi and used the stove for 7 minutes to cook dadacha mame (which are similar to edamame).

With all these krazy natural disasters around the world, I'm pretty sure Mother Nature is upset with all of us...

Stay safe Hawaii, have a nice weekend everyone.

thanks for today

With the cooler weather over the weekend, we've been having beautiful sunsets.

This one is from Saturday.

Click on the photo above to see the short video.

This photo was take a few minutes afterwards...

This week...the heat and humidity are back.

Japan has two typhoons approaching in the coming days...I also hear that Hawaii has a hurricane approaching...stay safe everyone!

update

Yesterday we had an apparent category 4 typhoon pass over...

The wind started up at about 5-ish in the afternoon and didn't stop until the middle of the night.

With the wind came tons of rain.

So much rain that we had to put towels near our front door because the rain was coming in and we live on the upper floors of our building!

I'm pretty sure this one came really close to us.

This morning, the wind is still krazily whipping and there are some drizzles, but the sun is kinda out and we are okay.

There were other areas that weren't so lucky, and the typhoon is still making its way up the rest of Honshu today.

We hope everyone will be back on their feet soon.

Have a good week everyone.

p.s. I wanted to put a photo with this post, but Flickr is down...

typhoon

Three day weekend but we have a typhoon approaching....so I spent this morning stocking up on essentials...

(beer & ice cream)...

Have a nice weekend!

city bakery

Krazy weather this week...Tuesday, we had a typhoon pass over, luckily we didn't have any damage.

Then yesterday, it rained all.day.long.

Kyushu wasn't lucky and got hit the hardest with flooding and landslides.

I hope they find those missing and are able to return to their daily routines soon.

On to today's post...the last time I had a shakerato, was when I tried it for the first time at Coffee Labo Frank.

When I saw it on the menu at City Bakery, I didn't see the "alcohol" written next to it...

City Bakery's version has some red wine in it...

Not the best choice with breakfast (mixed berry scone)...but as reader V says..."it was 5 somewhere"

Am looking forward to trying their espresso soda (non-alcohol) next...

energy dust

The other day, as I waited for typhoon #16 (they don't give them names in Japan), to pass. I made half a batch of energy bars.

This was a new recipe that I was trying and the photo of the finished product was WAY different from what mine looked like.

The most depressing part was that when I tried to cut it after cooling, it just poof fell apart...dust!

Instead of throwing it out, I scooped everything into a container and "dusted" our oatmeal with it.

I'm thinking I will use it on yogurt too.

Reasons why I think this recipe may have failed...a)I over-blitzed everything in the food processor, b) there wasn't enough "glue" (honey) to hold everything together, c) the baking time (2 or 3 minutes) might have been a typo, d)all of the above...

Debating as to whether to try this again...will decide after the long weekend.

Since today is a national holiday, Autumn Equinox, we're off to Shikoku.

Talk to you when I get back!

this and that

Monday, it rained all.day.long.

A typhoon that was near Okinawa, boomeranged and came back towards Honshu.

It hit Tohoku and Hokkaido on Tuesday.

Can you believe that this is the 3rd or 4th (I can't remember) typhoon to hit Hokkaido this year?! They almost never get typhoons their way.

Tons of melons, pears, potatoes and onions, wasted by the storm.

I hope these farmers will be able to make ends meet.

Tuesday, the weather was cool! Like 10 degrees different from what we've been experiencing AND no humidity.

We had a notice that the gas company would be coming between 9:00-17:00 to change our meter.

Satoshi called them on Sunday to see if they could come in the morning.

The guy on the other end, said that he would put us down for the morning as a request, but wasn't sure when the guy doing the actual job would be able to come by.

9:15, the guy to change the meter came...9:30 he was finished and moved on to another resident's apartment! Whoo!

Talk about efficient.

Since the weather was so nice, I went for a walk. First time, since coming back from Hawaii.

Was nice to get out and about.

I hear that the temps will go back up later this week, so will enjoy this cooler weather while I can.

How are things where you are?

we're fine

So, typhoon Vongfong has passed us or as the Japanese call it Typhoon #19.

It was a good thing that Satoshi had the day off yesterday because of National Holiday. JR West shut down most of their trains at 16:00, though most of the private lines ran as usual.

Still, we stayed in all day...well, there was a point where Satoshi thought we could go out to have lunch, but after getting ready and walking a couple of feet from home, the wind picked up and it started to drizzle...so technically we stayed in all day.

One thing we did was bring in ALL the plants from the lanai. Usually I leave a couple of the bigger plants outside, but this typhoon sounded like it was going to be a doozy.

The winds and rain picked up at about 9-ish at night and pretty much didn't stop until morning.

Usually these typhoons break up and turn into storms, but this one is still a typhoon and making its way up the coast of Honshu.

Hope the rest of Northern Honshu and Hokkaido will be okay.

Take care everyone!

after the storm

The typhoon passed.

Our area was super lucky.

Not much rain nor much of anything...well, lots of icky humidity.

Okinawa, Kyushu, Shikoku and the northern parts of Honshu got hit pretty hard.

I hope these places can recover quickly.

I'm flying out to Hawaii today. Talk to you from the other side of the world.

Be well.

blueberry

Blueberries are available in the supermarkets now. They are coming from the U.S.

I saw on a U.S. news program that the price of blueberries was rising. The first pack that I bought was quite expensive almost US$4 for 150g. Another pack that I saw was organic and almost US$8! (I quickly put that one back.) The next time I bought some, it was US$3 for 150g. I think it may be timing.

All I know is that they are good with sliced bananas and muesli in the morning.

It is Friday the 13th...We are expecting a typhoon over the next couple of days. Okinawa has already had very strong winds and rain. It is already raining here, I usually go grocery shopping everyday, but just in case I can't get out on Saturday and Sunday, I'm going to pick up a few more things today. Satoshi is also supposed to go on a business trip to Guam and Saipan on Sunday, but with the typhoon coming, he wasn't sure if he would be able to fly out...wish us luck!

Have a nice weekend!

ugh...

Well, I jinxed myself by telling you that the weather had gotten cooler. There is now a typhoon passing over Japan and making it VERY uncomfortable...sigh. I just hope the places that got hit by the tornado will be able to rebuild quickly.

Tonight's dinner was farfalle (bow-tie pasta) with homemade pesto, I added fresh tomatoes and grated some parmigiano reggiano and also had a green salad.

With a food processor, pesto is the easiest and fastest thing in the world to make!

Hope your week is going well.