Saturday, April 21, 2012

Fresh

This will be kind of a mundane post, but I’m going to miss having this fabulous farmer’s market available to us.  So now you get to see it and be jealous.

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I should mention that it’s open six days a week, year round.

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The kids enjoy the very large aquarium tank in the lobby/cart room.

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This is how we do it: Naomi rides, Logan pushes, Mommy shops.  Everybody is happy.

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On one side is the fresh fish market.  They have three ice beds like you see in the front, another set of cases like you see in the back, and a small tank for live creatures, such as lobsters and clams.

P1090482  Then there’s the produce market.

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The assortment of fruit is actually smaller than you might expect.  The Japanese aren’t as big on fruit as they are on vegetables.  They do have passion fruit when it is in season though—oh so delicious!
 P1090484Yep, the meat is fresh too.

P1090485Bins are marked with pictures of the growers.

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They also stock some dry goods type of stuff.  That is the BEST tofu.  Good ahead, laugh, but it it really is worlds different from the tofu that you get at an American grocery store.  The sea salt is locally harvested, and you can get big bags of rice as well.

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The veggies range from things that we find familiar, like eggplant and bell peppers . . .

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to things we were decidedly less familiar with, such as daikon and goya.  We’ve made a point of trying just about everything though.

P1090494The fresh flowers are amazingly inexpensive.

   P1090497There is also a small baked goods section, a place to pick up bento lunches, local eggs and a few other odds and ends.

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Best of all, our day’s haul, including the flowers and snack treats for everybody was only half the price of the equivalent amount of produce purchased at the commissary.  

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Our ritual, after we’ve gotten everything that we need, is to take our beni-imo muffins and shiquasa juice across the street to watch the boats.  And yes, we’ve seen people taking fish directly off the boat and carrying it into the fish-side of the farmer’s market.  Now that’s fresh!

Friday, April 13, 2012

Life and Times

Wow!  It’s been nearly a month since I posted here and I haven’t gotten any nasty notes from the grandparents.  Thanks for cutting me some slack :)  Must be the thought of this summer’s visit that is keeping you happy.

In the meantime, here’s what we’ve been up to:

P1090421Tricycle sailing.

P1090429Truck scooting.

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Two gentlemen competing for Naomi’s attention: super-cute boy next door vs. super-hero daddy.

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Mugging for the camera.

IMG_2807Reading with friends.
  P1090462Reading solo.

P1090445Falling asleep while reading.

P1090466Singing.  Dancing.  Laughing.

P1090470And just generally hanging around.