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Welcome Home, Clint!

After five and a half months of anxiety, lonely holiday celebrations, loooots of time with the cats and daily I-miss-yous, Clint has finally made it home! I prepared a sign, took a two-hour shuttle to the airport and surprised him. He was thinner, a stranger almost. But underneath all the gruff and grime of war and…
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Bun Thit Nuong Cha Gio

Ah. To be Vietnamese. What a culinary delight! Growing up in our (mostly) conventional household meant weekend feasts with family and friends. From the 50-pound crawfish boils to my mom’s fragrant pho, it was always a tradition of extravagance. Frankly, she didn’t know how to cook for a small group. One of my favorite dishes of hers is bun…
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American Haunted House in Fussa

This past Halloween, some guys from LRS put their wits together and created a terrifying haunted house for the denizens of Fussa. I got to participate by being the Special Effects Make-up Artist. (Self-imposed title.) It was fun gori-fying the actors, but I immediately felt bad for the small children going through. It brought back…
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Halloween MMXIV

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Costumery and make up are taken to whole new levels. This year, I had a few opportunities to dress up. We had a Fall Festival at work earlier in the month, so I dressed up as the counterpart to our mascot, Samurai Fox. Marketing had a party, so…
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Salmon Caesar Salad

This past weekend, I had a chance to lunch at Anniversaire in Harajuku. I opted for a delicious tandoori chicken caesar salad and finished every bite. It made me reminiscent of BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse’s salmon caesar salad. I had to make my own. Pan seared salmon over a healthy bed of caesar salad, sprinkled with pine…
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Pesto Cream Pasta

Wow! Super simple recipe with a complex flavor. Basil doesn’t come easily around these parts; so when I saw fresh basil plants at the Commissary, I snatched them up! I made the traditional pesto, and added some cream and cheese (I couldn’t get a hold of pecorino, but parmesan worked nicely). I’ve been favoring spaghetti noodles…
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Trey Songz Comes to Yokota

One of the benefits of living on an overseas base is the influx of entertainment “for the troops.” Tonight, Hip Hop/R&B artist Trey Songz performed at Yokota and all the ladies lost their minds. The show was slated to commence at 6:30 p.m., but fans were already lined up before 3:00 p.m. As soon as…
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Blood Moon

I’d been reading all about October’s imminent blood moon, but had no hopes of seeing it. And yet, by happenstance, I looked up last night and there it was! The lunar orb in all its vermillion glory. I ran for my telescope, but couldn’t set it up in time. The Nikon would have to suffice. By…
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You’re a Needy Girl, I Can Tell

This is Clementine. She’s needy. I mean stage-five clinger needy. It’s her way or the high way. You better pet her when she wants it. And don’t even think about eating your food, cause that’s her food. Really, only Chromeo can explain.
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Shimoda Trip 2014

As Clint was preparing to head to the desert, we’d be remiss not to make a trip to the beach. So we did just that. We got a van, grabbed a couple of friends and made our way to paradise. Shimoda was just as lovely as last year, but more enjoyable with barely any visitors.…
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Flower Festival at Showa Kinen Park

Cherry blossoms are gone, but spring has only begun. This past weekend, we drove to Tachikawa to see the Flowers Festival (which really ought to be the Tulips Festival) at Showa Kinen Park. The park itself is quite expansive! It took us three hours to walk around the entire thing. Since we entered the opposite…
