Joe's Birthday

March 26th was Joe's birthday. So, on the 25th here, which is officially the 26th in Japan, Joe got to open his presents from me: a good Calphalon pan to replace our 3-year-old frying pan he uses every weekend to make breakfast & a "Kung Fu Panda" DVD.

It's also Joe's youngest brother Mark's birthday (17 years apart exact to the date), so we had a traditional joint party at Joe's parents' house, with much more noise and lots more people!! Joe got geared up for the upcoming fishing season... hipboots, hooks, lures, and slimy fake fish bate. As soon as the thin ice melts by the breakwalls and that north wind quit biting just a little bit, he'll go out fishing for salmon.

March 26th also marked the three years since I had come back to Joe. We've made a Japanese meal our tradition as a part of the day's celebration. So the day after, on Friday (still fish Friday),we had sushi rolls, spring rolls (technically not Japanese but Vietnamese), and SAKE.

Salmon and shrimp along with assorted veggies made wonderful sushi fillings, dipped in wasabi-soysauce. At the end of dinner I made pretty looking maki-rolls with leftover everything... I'm now seriously thinking of getting a bamboo mat.

Reading and... Chopsticks!?

Last weekend I had to work... so there were no new adventures or discoveries. But on Fish Friday Joe did salmon on plank. Once again Joe mostly enjoyed grilling (or playing with fire) and watching me inhale fish like a Hoover! Other than that I was in the middle of reading a book "To Kill a Mockingbird." I had to finish it. Then Joe started to read "Angels & Demons" out loud to me. It's the prequal to "The Da Vinci Code" that Joe hasn't either read or seen on screen. I had enjoyed reading both books but hadn't wanted to see the movies. Maybe after Joe reads both books.

Tonight we had pork & shrimp stirfry for dinner. Joe wanted to practice his chopstick ability. It had been a while since he used them last. And now, he's goofing around with his chopsticks. Time to take them away from him.

Heat Wave!

Another warm sunny day today!! Easily up to 50s. The breeze even felt warm. We couldn't just stay indoors, but having learned from yesterday's lesson, we went somewhere easy. The Island. The road around it was still snow-covered, but hard packed. You notice how lightly we are dressed, comparing to our previous weekends' adventures. No more knitted hats or gloves!

Twas a beautiful day for a walk. And I thought shortsleaves was enough. Apparently not the case for this young woman. She has to be even more hot-blooded than Joe.

Joe's Lesson

Yestrday we went back to the Harlow Lake Trail, the one we couldn't find a map of. We just walked on the well-packed snow, since the temperature was reaching up to 40s!!! A heat wave! Anyway, our goal was to take the trail and hopefully to make it all the way to Harlow Lake.

The lesson I (Joe) learned was to never let Kayo lead the way, follow blue dots or take me anywhere when I'm sick. However it was fun watching her navigate thru the woods. She was usually 20 to 30 feet ahead of me if not more. So all I could see was her cute little head and bright colored jacket bobbing thru the woods. Barring one long wrong turn(before she started following the blue dots(DNR trail markings)) it was a very cool adventure. We never really got to Harlow lake. We however did see it from a distance from the top of Harlow Lake overlook. Did I fail to mention that there was a considerable amount of "up" on this trip. I am looking forward to going back there when I am feeling better and when there is no snow, because I want to look for morel mushrooms in the spring.

But I (Kayo) have to say, "Hey, I didn't kill him!!"

Cabin Fever

One of those nights of blizzard, about a month ago, Joe planted some seeds. Look how they've sprouted and started growing since(cilantro on the right and chives on the left). While Joe checks and waters them daily, I only dream about cooking and tasting them.... Even in this deep north we are starting to think spring, though in reality we'll have many more repeats of thaw and freeze outside. At the same time it's the time everyone seems to get sick. Joe woke up with a sore throat this Monday and has been fighting with the cold too. He's getting a lot better now and doesn't sound like Roz from "Monstors Inc" anymore. (Remember the big old female slug with the horn-rimmed glasses who was in charge of paperwork?) And I'm glad that I'm too slow to even catch a cold! Joe sometimes wishes I were a bit quicker to catch jokes and humor though... oh well.
Tonight I made spicy Mexican chicken soup, hoping its would kill any bugs.

RIBS FOR DINNER

Tonight we had RIBS for dinner, not just any ribs but Joe's world famous ribs. This time with a bit of a twist. I (Joe) grilled them on a cedar plank. And the result was Fabulous! I do wish we would have had a guest or two for dinner just to say that we had wittnesses to this culinary delight and so that they too could have enjoyed the taste sensation that we had. We are really looking forward to trying other recipes.

Ice Caves

Before temperatures get any warmer for longer periods of time, we hurried and went to check out the Ice Caves in Eben this afternoon (about 45 minutes from here). It was in the middle of nowhere, vast snow-covered farm fields to be more precise, yet there were twenty cars parked alongside the road. Quite a tourist spot!! The snow was already well packed, so we didn't even need snowshoes.

Across the field, into the woods, then up and over hills and valleys, at times Kayo sliding down on her butt, we got to the awesome Ice Caves.

We wandered around the ice caves, inside out! Looks like we were eaten by a huge monstor with ribs and teeth.
We saved New Moon Bar for another time. We weren't hungry enough for greasy burger and beer, though the place looked like it could make an entire blog post of its own. I was a bit afraid they served engine oil and anti-freeze instead of beer!! But please, if any of you are interested and come visit us in winter, we will do the complete Ice Cave tour with New Moon Bar.

Another Fifth!

Yesterday was another 5th, our monthly anniversary, marking 2 years and 10 months of our marriage! We went out to Lagniappe to celebrate as always. We've been going there regularly almost as long as we've been married and they've been in business. It wouldn't feel right otherwise. We even helped our waitress with her dessert list. We know it all by heart! ...(sinful) mud pie, warm bread pudding with Jack Daniel sauce, pecan pie, powder-sugared beignets, melting-in-your-mouth pralines..... Always a tough choice/ fit at the end of a meal. But last night we had the warm bread pudding and licked our forks clean to savor Jack Daniel sauce.

Onto the weather: it has gotten warm enough to melt snow through nights. Joe's starting to get trout fishing fever and smell trout streams in the air.

Kayo's New Paintings

I've been doing small oil paintings (mostly 12" squares) this winter... trying to get back to oil paintings of familiar landscapes around here and to get used to painting creeks/ streams. Since we got married, I've gone fishing with Joe many times, taken some photos, and tried fishing a bit myself. Slowly I'm putting that feeling of being on the trout stream onto my canvas. I need lots more practice, both fishing and painting. Well, Joe has spent loooots more time on trout streams in his life to understand his environment as he does. I'll be patient!!

Arctic(almost) Exploration!

We tried new snowshoe trails today. First we walked out to Wetmore Landing (lakeshore) and followed the shore, north bound, of course. The sun was out shining, but that north wind off the big lake was very cold. It's the arctic air that brings in the moisture contents from Lake Superior to produce snow clouds, aka Lake Effect Snow. Standing at the shoreline, we could watch the weather happen. Pretty cool. We got to see some neat landscapes and cliff lines, too.

Note: Both our faces were red from the chily wind, Joe's beard and nose hair frosted. Cold!!

Then, across the road, we checked out a little bit of Harlow Lake Trail. We have to go back another time with some snack and drink, because it looked like a long hike. But it's a beautiful wooded trail, sheltered from much of direct winds!

On our way home we stopped at Visitor's Center to pick up a local trail map. A couple of very friendly clerks gave Joe enough brochures and maps, including information about the ice caves in Eben. We definitely hope to go see the ice caves this winter, though there is always bad weather between here and Eben, like 10 foot snow drift across the road last week. p.s. holy crap was it cold!

That Ol' North Wind

Once again it's weekend and it's cold, accompanied by NORTH WIND. The internet says it's 3 degrees outside. Joe's cooking his world famous breakfast right now: bacon, sausage, hashbrowns, eggs, and toast... lumberjack breakfast before our snowshoeing adventure.

And now we need to get bundled up!!