Holiday...Celebrate

Today I was off work for Culture Day. Apparently it's just a day to appreciate Japanese culture. I'm not sure that there is anything special people do on this day but we just relaxed. We did get out, though, to get my monthly dose of sushi. It was so busy. Busier than I've ever seen before. While we were sitting in the waiting area, my husband noticed that a giant poster for the YMCA was hanging on the wall displaying a rather large picture of yours truly. I was just praying nobody noticed. Luckily, I got out without being spotted.

Tonight I only eight about 10 plates of sushi (15 being my record) and some vanilla pudding.

It was in this jar type bottle and looked a bit like milk. Luckily, I was able to read the napkin and understand it was pudding but my husband didn't read it yet and thought I was crazy. The whole thing reminded us of when we first moved here and everything was a trial and error process. We'd go to the grocery store and choose things that had English writing on it or looked familiar. Many times we had to learn the hard way not to eat certain things. I think the most embarrassing moment for us was at a local restaurant, "The Western" (ironically), where there is a buffet of raw meat that you cook at your table on a hibachi grill. Anyway, I loaded my plate with everything that looked like beef or chicken to later learn that nothing I had chosen was beef or chicken. Rather, I had eaten intestines, colon, and marrow. They weren't terrible but not what I had expected. Actually, now I eat those items, no problem.

*****

Once we got home, I got the baking itch. So, I decided to make my first apple pie and since I'm trying to lose weight, I wanted a "healthy" apple pie. I went to two different websites but pretty much merged the two recipes together to make my own. Now I'm not sure the calories but between the two, I'm guessing one slice would be around 150 calories. Here's a picture...

If anyone is interested, I could put up the recipe on a later blog. Well, I think I have taken up plenty of your time. I'll see you tomorrow!