The garden state

Well, a week being gone and some if not most of the veggies were just destroyed by pests and insects!! The butter lettuce, gone. Absolutely obliterated. Basil, non-existent. Kale, goodbye. Cilantro is doing okay, but needed some TLC. The peas were half eaten, some are surviving but it's not looking too good! So sad!! The only thriving plants are basically the tomatoes. Lesson learned about this......there is no such thing as organic planting. One cannot grow veggies without using some form of pesticides or pest control :(

(At least my tomatoes are thriving, if nothing else)

In other news, of course I've been enjoying my grandma's company while she is here in the States, as well as her home cooking. She's the best cook ever! I love everything she makes, including her world famous (just kidding) Potato Salad, which the Man loves as well, her Kinpira Gobo (burdock roots and carrots) and Shirae (tofu mixed with spinach and sweet miso). All my favorites!

(Chikuwa brought from Japan!)

The Man also finally finished (well almost) his work table project, which we started in February. It came together quite nicely but it's heavy and sturdy as heck. It took both of us to flip this table over.

My grandma loves organizing and one of her things is cleaning up the unwanted weeds and growing plants. She basically took off all the fern on the shared fence so the tomato plants could get better sunlight.

We also planted more basil since the original ones got all eaten up. I also brought back some Shiso seeds from Japan which we also planted. Hope they come out well this time!

Green thumbing it,
The Lady

Hitting too close to my heart

I am so behind with my blogs. Still got stuff to post from Japan and then from Mother's Day, but this week, I was overtaken by the sadness and worry for Little P. 

My little affectionate baby, Little P was playing around last Friday evening in his little tube playground when I noticed a little bump and a blood spot on his side. I immediately freaked out and the Man and I examined him a little closer. Sure enough, like the picture below, he had a growth and had probably been chewing on it. My poor little baby. I cried so much that night. 

Unfortunately, we took him to the wrong kind of vet who had horrible bed side manners and made an incision in his growth, which is now still healing. The second image below shows how swollen and black/purple his growth is because of the vet's carelessness. We regret having him go through that, I'm sure it was traumatizing. We found out basically that it was a growth (not sure if it's cancerous) but it definitely was not a cyst or a pool of pus.

It's been a week now since I discovered the growth on him. He has been in such good spirits. My little boy is such a fighter, his scab is starting to heal better (first day was terrible, it looked so swollen) and he is still running around full of energy. We decided not to go through with his surgery and let him live the rest of his life full of energy as himself. I didn't want him to be weak and in pain after the surgery and who knows if he would have lived through it.

I'm so glad he is still himself and eats, drinks, sleeps and plays around just the same. He lets me pet him as well, which is nice. The Man has been giving him his antibiotics so the cut doesn't get infected. However, his growth is not getting smaller, it's about the same size. It's always so hard to prepare for death. It's inevitable but still, so hard when you get attached and your pet becomes family. I remember when our first hamster, Hamilton, had to be put down. It was such a heartbreaking and devestating thing for us to do. I hope that Little P lives a good, painless rest of his life and just goes in his sleep peacefully. He has brought me so much joy and love in my life, something I will never forget. 

For now, thanks for sticking by us Little P and being a part of our family. We love you so dearly.

Distressed and saddened,
The Lady

All the glorious foods of Japan

Anytime the Lady goes back to Japan, it is basically a food trip as well as seeing family. Basically binge eat everyday of all the yummy delicious foods that I miss out on while living in LA. Sure, we have great Japanese food in LA too, but nothing compares to actually having Japanese food in Japan, fresh caught fish, Grandma's home cooking, small Japanese portion, and all the things I normally wouldn't get in LA. It was glorious and very indulgent.

And yes, the Lady overate. I was full like every meal. I indulged. But it was just for a week, so that's okay right? :)

(If I could have marbled meat like this - Kobe Beef - I would just die of happiness. There is really nothing like
the marbled Japanese Kobe beef in Japan. Just delicious and melt in your mouth!)

(This case of futomaki and assorted sushi made me so happy, this is glorious!)

(And fried stuff!! Who doesn't like croquettes and kushi stuff?! Love yakitori, especially negima, I could
eat that all day)

(Yes, folks, that is really $6.80 - just about - for a small container of strawberries.
I feel blessed we get such good, inexpensive fruit in LA)

(This is heaven, sashimi galore)

(I just want to cry, there's so many choices!!! And 98 cents for one roll?! Can't beat that!)

(This fluffy, soft, chewy bread from LIFE market defines Japanese white bread. It was so good, so deliciously
fluffy yet chewy and soft and melty.....)

(My aunt prepared unagi for me! One of my favorites! It was delicious, and yes, I
ate this all by myself)

(I am not ashamed to admit it but this was my typical breakfast. The Man would laugh when I send him this
picture. I LOVE Japanese sausages like there is no tomorrow. LOVE LOVE LOVE!!)

(More marbled meat pictures just because. I droll looking at these)

(Lunch at home with my grandma!! This was awesome, fresh hamachi, scallops and cucumber which we made
into handrolls! It was delicious and so fresh!)

(Mmmmm nothing like homemade handrolls, you get to eat as much as you want!)

(My grandma's FAMOUS atsuyaki tamago, which is basically a slightly sweetened
egg omelet roll. She makes this so well!!!)

(Bought some delicious bread from a local bakery with my aunt. This again was
amazing and so fluffy!! How do they do it?!)

(Tempura feast made by my aunt and grandma! This was delicious! Kabocha,
kakiage, renkon, shrimp, tako and chikuwa!)

(I love Japanese eggs. The yolks are deep orange, not light yellow like we have in LA.
They are also rich in flavor and I love eating it like this, onsen tamago)

(Delicious cheese cake my uncle bought home, a little different from the usual
Morozoff cheesecake)

(I must admit, I ate all this for breakfast one day. YES! I'm a fatty, 4 sausages, 1 freaking tamago yaki, toast,
tomatoes and sliced cucumber!! Holy moly, breakfast of champions!)

(One of my favorite cuisines, sukiyaki!! With delicious marbled meat of course...droll....)

(My kind of dinner)

(Seriously can eat this everyday, hamachi belly - just so smooth and melt in your mouth -, amaebi - so sweet
and succulent-, and futomaki, because you just can't go wrong with futomaki)

I am just getting hungry writing this blog. There so much beauty in Japanese foods, from plating, to packaging to every detail chefs and cooks put into preparing Japanese foods. It's obviously my favorite and it really hits a sweet spot in my heart.

Hungry,
The Lady

The Lady in Japan, the Man in LA

So the positions have swapped, the Lady was in Japan for a week, the Man stayed home. Sorry for the late post, it's hard adjusting and getting back into the norm after being away for a week. Plus there are a ton of images that I have to upload, picking the best ones.

The plane ride was long but I expected it to be long I guess. Flying ANA was nice, the service, food, seating was all very good. It's just so damn long. Flying redeye, I thought I would be able to just sleep the whole way through, but that was not the case. Woke up about 5-6 hours in, just to realize we still had about 6 hours left.

Boy, I was glad to land in Osaka at 8am finally after having a stop over in Haneda, Tokyo, It's nice to be back in familiar grounds. My aunt and uncle came to pick me up in their new car and we drove back to their place. I love the smell of my aunt's house for some reason. That first whiff of smell you get as you enter her place brought back a flood of memories. Something about certain smells that trigger so much in your memory. I love it.

After washing up and getting settled, off to lunch!

(Sandaya, where we had lunch after my arrival)

(My dear old grandpa, he's the sweetest. Started crying when he saw me. This
is the appetizer ham and sliced onion salad)

(My sweet family, everyone looks well, grandpa's a bit teary)

(Oh the love of my life, love this woman so much. I was so happy to see her)

(Feast!)

(Yummy steak on a sizzling plate)

(On the way to lunch, I luckily caught some sakura sightings)

(Beautiful sakura cherry blossoms)

Back in LA.......

The Man had started to rip down the ceiling in the entrance and begin putting in more lights and drywall it....Apparently, the house was a great bloody mess. Thank goodness I wasn't there, because as the Man said, I probably would've had a heart attack.

(That's a lot of plaster rubble)

(Blocking off the way to the living room)

(New recessed lighting is in!)

(More recessed lighting and hot wires for the surface mounted light fixtures we
haven't picked out yet)

Busy busy!

The Lady