March Snow-- Totally Normal!

On the calendar in Japan, March 3rd is a Girls' Day, celebration of peach blossoms. Well, up in the U.P. we are buried deep in the snow, in the middle of another snow storm. After hearty breakfast we went out to clear our driveway to make more room for more snow!
We assessed about a foot of fresh snow overnight, at least, and more coming. Look how tall our snow bank is, compared to Joe and his snowblower.
Big smile, frosty smile. Snow blowing #1 is complete!

Much Anticipated Snow Storm

On this leap day we are expecting a pretty good snow storm. Thank goodness it's my day off. I'm prepared to stay in. For a change I whipped up a small batch of buckwheat pancakes for breakfast.
Mmmm.... Tomorrow morning we'll have extra oatmeal.
Finally around 10a.m. it started snowing. Yap, it's a steady snow fall.
The Duke (red Cavalier) and I are not going anywhere today... but there's a list of things to do, including much procrastinated tasks of small number crunching for my tax. Fun!!

Homemade Kimchi

Finally I got around to make kimchi yesterday. My very first attempt. I will have to see how this batch turns out... in a few weeks!
And we picked up a new/ used hutch for our kitchen to hide miscellaneous stuff.
Joe's finger is healing pretty good. The stitches have been out. He got his x-ray images on disc today and printed a couple, so we are going to get them framed.
Lastly, but not least, my paternal grandma in Japan passed very peacefully. She was 92 and died of old age. Thanks to my parents and brother back home, she lived at home till the end, without any illness. Though Joe and I could only send our flowers, we were assured that she had a very nice funeral service.
Well, my kimchi brewing, our lives go on. Can't believe February is almost gone!

Valentine's Day

Hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day.
Since I had to work yesterday, Joe was in charge of cooking our special dinner.
Mmmm.... Joe's BBQ ribs, chipotle spicy version. So good!
For dessert I had whipped up bittersweet chocolate mousse the night before. Equally good!!
Today I have a day off. What to cook?? I'm thinking something Asian. A pot of Thai curry is on order for the rest of the work week. Maybe Pad Thai for dinner tonight.

Let's Post Prettier Pictures

Sorry we didn't update our blog photos from Joe's ugly bandaged hand pics sooner. Above is a much much prettier picture of my homemade bread. I've just started to try making this no-knead artisan bread regularly. In fact, as I type, a batch is rising, waiting to go into the oven.
Though no picture can do justice, here are some photos from the Winter Carnival at MTU yesterday.
Well, only one photo of ice/snow sculpture... because it was just so darn cold!! Maybe 12 degrees, snowy with wind gusts, wind chill of probably 20 below zero = I don't care who you are, it's COLD. We met with Phil and Judy who decided to bring along two young exchange students. These poor girls are going to hate winter permanently, I suspect.
Good thing we spent an hour and half to have nice lunch, then maybe 5 minutes to sort of see the sculpture outside. We most definitely enjoyed seeing the winter wonderland outside from the warm car.... The below picture of the mule wagon was taken through the car window.

Joe's Lesson: What Not To Do

Thursday Joe stupidly stuck his hand in an old snowblower when it quit, and Joe thought it was off. A surprise! it back-fired on him, followed with an emergency trip to a hospital, where he was treated for his broken bone, then given 12 stitches. The first thing on his mind was, "Oh, no. Am I going to be able to play my PS3?" And Yes, he still can.
More importantly they say his finger tip should heal fine and that his nail will grow back.
And really, this should keep Joe out of other stupid troubles, wouldn't you say?
Believe it or not, it was his first broken bone ever!

Winter Party?!

As we promised, Joe made a big plate full of Spam musubi today for his extended family to celebrate our local winter festival. Everyone remembered Spam musubi from last year (for the same occasion), and yet again we were left with an empty plate at the end of the night. (OK, I ate the last couple of pieces while doing the dishes.)
Earlier in the day Joe worked hard in making and tasting the musubi just perfect. That spicy Spam, directly imported form Hawaii, was a big hit!!
Like I said, we tried to have a Chinese/Asian theme for the Chinese New Year as well. For a main dish we had Chinese Spaghetti with savory soy flavored ground pork sauce.
On the side we had shrimp/pork pot stickers, sweet/sour meatballs, and Asian coleslaw.
The main event though was the firework display over Teal Lake that we could watch from our front porch. Thank goodness it was about 15 degrees ABOVE zero tonight. A heat wave!!