Rhea Rhea of the Mouth

My dear dear friend used to tell me that I had "diarrhea of the mouth" whenever I started babbling too much (which was quite often).  Eventually diarrhea was shortened to "rhea rhea"- which just sounds better and not as disgusting. She wasn't the only one to tell me that I talk too much of course- but at least she said it in a sort of affectionate way.  My old roommate just told me that I talked too much and would go in her room and shut the door in my face.  Whenever I find myself talking someone's ear off, I realize that I am having a case of rhea rhea of the mouth again.  Poor Hubby has been subjected to this condition of mine many times.  When he is super quiet and stops responding I realize I have overdone it again.  Maybe that is what draws me to blogging- I don't have to corner my victim to get him or her to listen to my ramblings.  Here you can take it or leave it and I don't have to know.  Of course I could always get a rude comment or two- but I am not too worried.

Speaking of ramblings...

One of  my neighbors keeps grilling really delicious smelling food every night, or every other night.  It really makes me miss our big stainless steel grill we left in storage.  We thought we wouldn't have room- turns out we do of course.  I didn't think I would start missing American food this soon.  But I do miss Red Robins.  We went there at least 3 times a month.   They have the best fries. Yummm...

I took the kids to Yuzawaya (the big craft store I raved about previously).  They loved it as well, I had no doubt they would.  It turns out there was a big festival going on right outside the train station.  So we meandered on over to find all kinds of booths- food, crafts and the typical businesses handing out promotional stuff- similar to what you would see at an American street fair.  We got to see a tea ceremony and even took part.  The nice ladies from the Yamato Tea School (I may have that name wrong)- some of which were American- presented us with a "sweet" and tea.  The sweet was some sort of white dumpling with a purple center- it was very pretty and very sweet- and different.  Brother DID NOT care for it.  He didn't like the tea either.  He was making faces while trying to drink it.  I looked up and saw an older Japanese couple totally enjoying his expressions and they were laughing.  I didn't tell Brother- I knew he would not appreciate that.  I asked where to buy the green tea powder.  The use it in the restaurants and it is so yummy.  I did find a sort of green tea latte powder.  It actually crackles when I pour hot water on it.  It is very good, but I am sure it is not as healthy as it is sweetened.  After the tea we bought some yakisoba and "meat on a stick"- there is a name for it but it is not coming to me right now.  It looks like chicken sate you get at Thai restaurants,  except this was a bigger stick with big pieces of pork.  Brother loved it.  Afterwards I bought the kids chocolate covered bananas.  I wanted to try the sugared sweet potato fries, but I was too full.  One thing I don't think I will try is the "fish on a stick".  I am sad I didn't get a picture- next time.  It was literally a whole fish- head and all- on a stick.  If it was frozen we could call it a "fishcicle".

                   
Speaking of food, I went grocery shopping at the local grocery store- Maruetsu.  It is an adventure in itself.  There are so many things to discover and boggle about- *what the heck is that??*  I have to say the fish section is beautiful- the fish looks like it was just caught an hour ago it is that fresh.  Makes the nasty commissary fish look even worse (if that is even possible.)  The cool thing I have noticed about these grocery stores is that if you go upstairs you can find a 100 yen store and all sorts of other goodies.  I think it is the Japanese version of a Super Wal-Mart in a way.

I had a thought about some of the food I have purchased at the commissary.  I bought some Chuka Soba noodles.  It was made in Thailand to be sold in the US.  So does that mean I just bought something that was shipped from this area only to come back?  That seems very silly.  It is definitely not very "green".  I am going to try to avoid that from now on.  Hopefully it was shipped directly to Japan in the first place and never to the US, but I doubt it.