Happy Holidays!

Off to the USA for a family visit and to celebrate the holidays. Did a little celebrating here before we left. Thanks to Nakanosan's outstanding Christmas party.

Nakanosan leading party games.

Partiers!

Elvis makes surprise guest appearance.

Chistmas carols and good feelings.

Marcia brightened our own house with her decorations.

Thanks to Nakanosan from the Aussie Bar for a great Christmas party and to Marcia for her home Christmas decorating.

Happy Holidays to all and to all a goodnight!

Ja mata,

Gary

After the Turkey

We did indeed go to our local pub for Thanksgiving dinner. We actually blended Japanese and American cultures by downing a bottle of sake before we left for the pub.

I think the scorpion on the label might have been some kind of warning, but what do we know?

Anyhow, fortified and definitely in a Thanksgiving mood we descended on Laser Rush (our pub). The dinner was everything that we could have hoped for. David, a Kentucky boy, and Kimberly kept with the Thanksgiving theme and switched to Wild Turkey. Marcia and I stayed with the sake.

Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, broccoli, and even cranberry sauce. Looks like Thanksgiving to me!

The topper on the evening was homemade pumpkin pie. Definitely homemade and absolutely delicious!

We had an absolutely great celebration. However, the evening did have a touch of poignancy to it. In addition to celebrating Thanksgiving, Marcia and I were bidding farewell to David and Kimberly. They will soon be moving to Australia. They were our friends and neighbors and helped us settle in when we first moved here.

We will miss them greatly.

Ja mata,

Gary

Happy Thanksgiving!

Not much of a Thanksgiving celebration here in Japan (none), but Marcia and I and our neighbors, Kimberly and David, are going to our local pub that serves turkey and mashed potatoes. Works for me!

May we all be thankful and count our blessings.

Gary

What's Cooking?

Since one of my roles in Japan is still CC&BW (chief cook and bottle washer), I thought that I should document that I am actually performing these duties. With Marcia working full-time, the responsibility of providing a varied and interesting menu of home-cooked meals has fallen squarely into my lap. After all, you can't eat out every night. Cooking has definitely been a challenge and has certainly stretched my culinary skills. I'm not overly imaginative when it comes to cooking so my first task was to find some inspiration. I started by taking cues from my environment.

In Japan, presentation is very important in many aspects of daily life. In stores, any purchase, no matter how trivial, is wrapped, bagged and presented to the customer as if it were the Hope diamond. The exchange of business cards is done with great respect and ceremony. The presentation of food in Japan is also done with great flair.

Our neighborhood grocery store has a takeout section of prepared foods that is awesome. The food is prepared during the day and is put out in the afternoon ready to be taken home for an evening meal. The food is delicious, but the point I want to make is: even this takeout food has a nice presentation.


Union Market Takeout Meal
(Pork cutlets, egg, potato salad, rice, pink tofu creation)


Of course, restaurants are all about presentation. This simple dish of chicken and vegetables from a local restaurant is a work of art.



So......., since I knew I would never get into the intricacies of Japanese cuisine, I thought I'd better keep the cooking within my limited ability and work on my presentation. The thinking being: if it looks good, it probably doesn't taste too bad.

My first foray involved no cooking, so I knew I was on safe ground.

Avocado, tomato, and potato salad



I do know how to cook meat so this one was pretty easy.

Spinach wrapped in flank steak, tomatoes, and potato salad

Okay, now I'm rolling. I own a rice cooker. I've found good places to buy sashimi and sushi. And I know some basic condiments to serve.



Sauteed asparagus, tuna sashimi on shredded daikan, pot
stickers, and rice. Soy sauce, spicy oil, and wasabi condiments.

I must say that Marcia has been very supportive and has eaten some of my experiments that have been far from successful. The first time I attempted a fried rice concoction, it came out like a very thick wallpaper paste. Marcia dutifully ate it and said it wasn't that bad. I think she was being polite. I threw my serving out!

Ja mata,

Gary

Stream of Consciousness

Wow I guess I really haven't blogged in a while. I just spent an hour trying to log on to my blog dashboard. But I'm now up and running so here goes. First of all, I just found a partial blog that I never finished from June.

It began:

Last month, my neighbor (David Hodge) and I were very lucky to celebrate Memorial Day in a very traditional American way.......We went to a baseball game and drank lots of beer. It was an absolutely beautiful day in Yokohama, warm and sunny.

Not a bad lead in. So, first things first, I'll finish my baseball blog.

It really was a perfect day for watching baseball.

It was also a perfect day for drinking beer.

David had recently purchased a new camera so most of the pictures for this post are from him. (More about this later.)

After settling in with our first beer, our hometown Baystars were quickly behind 0 to 4 by the end of the first inning.

After another visit from the beer girl, David's photographic interests began to shift. (see below)

We weren't seeing double the beer girls were starting to multiply! I guess they knew who the good customers were.

Good weather. Good baseball. Beer girls everywhere. It doesn't get much better than this!

I should mention that the Baystars were making a comeback and were actually leading the game at this point.

We focus on the game for a minute.

Celebrating the Baystars making a comeback!
One of the few pictures that I took with my camera. A self portrait. I'm holding the the camera at arm's length. The green thing in David's mouth is not a caterpillar. It's called an edamame. They are green soybeans in the pod. Cooked and dipped in salt, they go great with beer.

Maybe we should have switched to coffee at this point? Nah!

coffee girl

Anyhow, we had a great time and the Baystars won the game 9 to 5. A perfect ending to a perfect day.

Okay.... Now I'm only 2 months behind in my blog.

I don't know what happened to the month of June. It just sort of disappeared. I'm sure we did stuff, but it seems to be a blur. Oh well........

Most of July was spent on a home visit to the USA. Marcia and I spent a lot of our time going to doctors, dentists, and optometrists. In other words, giving our bodies their 6 month tune-ups. In addition, Marcia had to spend some of her time working at Moog and I worked on the house and did maintenance on the snowblower, our car (including 4 new tires! Ouch!!) and the weed wacker. I also built stairs on a deck that Steve and I built last summer.

I did finish these stairs, but must have been too tired to take any more pictures.

We did manage to visit a few friends, enjoy our son's company, and have a music session with my band buddies. I also had a great golf afternoon and evening with Stephen and his roommate Jeff. One thing that we did plenty of, was eat. We are definitely caught up on American food for a while.

Our return trip to Japan was less than perfect. Our flight from Buffalo to Chicago was uneventful, but then our luck changed. We left Chicago and flew for more than an hour and then it was announced that we were returning to Chicago because we had no running water. This included water that was necessary for flushing the toilets! We returned to Chicago and waited 4 hours until we were able to leave again.

Once again in the air, I thought to myself, "What else could go wrong?" Bad thing to think! Within five minutes I had broken off a sizable piece of one of my teeth. The good news was that it didn't hurt.

Since we've been back in Japan, we had visitors from the US (Frank and Cecily) and had a wonderful time showing them some of the local sights.

Although, we bought a new camera in the States, Marcia and I seem to have gotten somewhat lax about taking pictures. I will definitely do better in the future.

More blogs to come. Hopefully in a more timely fashion.

Ja Mata,

Gary

Marcia and Gary Make the Big Time

You may know that I have made a few commercials since living in Japan, but Marcia's and my fame lies in another direction. This story starts last year. Marcia and I frequent a cafe/bar called the Aussie Bar. They serve ostrich, crocodile, kangaroo, great salads, and various other items. They even offer Buffalo wings! (More on this later.) Although this place definitely has an Australian feel, it has been owned and managed for 20 years by a wonderful Japanese woman.

Having lived in East Aurora for many years and studied the fine art of the chicken wing at the Bar Bill University, we of course, consider ourselves experts on Buffalo wings. (For those of you not living in East Aurora, the Bar Bill is a local tavern that serves outstanding chicken wings.) So we decided to do some field research and try the wings at the Aussie Bar. As Bar Bill graduates, our discerning palates determined that these were not wings as we have come to know them. Although they were delicious, they just didn't have that Buffalo wing zing. On our next trip back to Buffalo, we decided to pick up a bottle of Anchor Bar wing sauce to give as a present to our friend, the owner of the Aussie Bar.

She was delighted with our present and that evening while Marcia and I were having dinner and beers at the Aussie Bar, we discussed with the owner, the invention of and the mystique of Buffalo wings including celery, carrots, and of course, bleu cheese dressing for dipping. A few weeks later on our next foray to the Aussie Bar, the owner invited us to a special tasting of her new Buffalo wings. We were flattered and of course said yes.

We showed up at 5:00 PM the following Sunday as arranged and quickly realized that this was a special tasting for just Marcia and me. We were presented with beer and four different recipe interpretations of Buffalo wings. We were solemnly asked to give our opinion of the various recipes. This was serious business! Finally a chance to use all of our Bar Bill wing education. With the chef and owner leaning over our shoulders we began. Using the beer to clear our palates, we held forth on some serious deliberations of the merits of each type of wing.

Wow! This one's a little too hot! This one is too saucy and doesn't have quite the right flavor. This is pretty close. If you made it a little spicier it would be good. She took our advice seriously and when we were finished, she made another plate of wings and asked us to pose for a picture. We went on our merry way having enjoyed a very pleasant afternoon, not to mention free beer and wings.

The next time we went to the Aussie Bar, we were greeted by the owner who told us that she had made new menus and would like to show us one. Well, to our great surprise, inside the menu on the same page with calamari, octopus and tomato herbal marinade, garlic prawns, radish sandwich with pickled ume and herb was a Buffalo Wing entry. There was a picture of Buffalo wings complete with carrots, celery, and bleu cheese. To our complete surprise next to this was a picture of Marcia and me holding a plate of wings! The picture even included an introduction.





The caption under the picture read, "Marcia-san & Gary-san"
マルシヤさんとぎゃり－夫妻 (Marushiya-san & Gyari-san fusai)
Marcia & Gary husband and wife

This was followed by a brief bio/introduction.

"Mr. & Mrs. Kimmel-Hurt, came from Buffalo City, N.Y. & love Anchor Bar's original buffalo-wings. We have made real tasting of Anchor's Buffalo-Wings as per their advising. Please try tastes of the birthplace's Buffalo-Wings."

We were delighted with our new-found celebrity. Marcia is much cooler than I am and takes her fame in stride. I, on the other hand, want to go around to every table and point out my picture. What's the point of being famous if no one knows about it? I don't do this, but it is tempting. Once, in a while the owner will introduce us to someone and show them our picture. So I guess I'll have to live with that.

The owner tells us that the wings have become very popular.

With the help of Buffalo wings, I think that Marcia and I have helped to bring the world a little closer together. World diplomacy one wing at a time.

Why not?

Was getting tired of my layout on my blog. Think I'll start rotating a few different views in and out.

Ja Mata,

Gary

Fly Me to the Moon (on ANA)

Well, another commercial that I'm in has hit the airwaves. It's also playing on some of the subway lines in Tokyo. I play a guy sitting at a bar listening to a band. What a stretch! Ha Ha. To watch, go to the link below

http://www.ana.co.jp/anafan/cm/movie/movie40_1_60s.html

Ja mata,

Gary

It's out! Me and Orlando

Well, I just got back to Japan after having a wonderful trip to Thailand with Marcia and Stephen to find out that the commercial that I was in with Orlando Bloom and Chiaki Kuriyama (of Kill Bill fame) is now out. So, more proof of my fledgling modeling/acting career. In this commercial I'm actually recognizable. Look for the bald guy in the dark suit. (Side view and full frontal closeup). This commercial took 5 days to shoot.

Sightings of Gary in the video: :20 - :30, 1:30, 2:31. I think there are more but I can only watch the video so many times!

To watch, use the link below.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmLCu-zQjsI


Ja Mata,

Gary

Random Thoughts II

My neighbors, David and Kimberly, just returned from Vietnam and sent me their picture of the traffic there. Thought I'd pass it along.




Also, I've talked about translated sayings on T-shirts and jackets before, but this sign on a building was just too good to pass up. My translation of this sign is "smokers, please use designated smoking area outside". But, who knows?




Ja mata,

Gary

Random Thoughts

In June of last year, I was in Vietnam; Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) to be precise. Saw some really interesting things and never got around to mentioning them in my blog. Well, I'm not going to mention them now except to make a brief comment about the city and especially on the motorcycle/scooter traffic. The city is very beautiful with old and new architecture existing side by side.








However, Vietnam is rapidly growing and signs of construction are everywhere. Streets and sidewalks are torn up and debris is everywhere.



The motorcycle/scooter traffic is totally unbelievable! I tried to describe it to some people, but it is truly indescribable. The complete street is filled with scooters from curb to curb for as far as you can see. The scooters are so close together that there's barely enough room for the rider to put his foot down. Sometimes three or four people are on one bike.
At first, crossing the street with that many motorcycles is completely frightening, but once you learn the system and swallow your fear, the process goes quite smoothly. The traffic constantly flows and except for major intersections, stoplights seem to be only for decoration. After observing a few experienced street crossers, I learned the trick. Once you step off from the curb do not try to avoid the bikes just keep a steady pace and keep walking. The bike riders see you and figure out whether to go in front of you or behind. No one slows down, they just weave around. The first time stepping off the curb and testing my theory was pretty exhilarating, but it worked! I was never able to get a good photograph of the motorcycle/scooters, but luckily Marcia was in Vietnam a few weeks ago and took this great picture. This is one of the few times that the bikes were actually stopped. Must have been a very major intersection.



That's all for now.

Ja mata,

Gary

FYI

On the side of my blog there's a list of recently read books. If you're curious about any of the titles or want to share your thoughts about any you have read, please email me. Also, if you have suggestions for good books, I'm listening.

G

I'm Back

Well, it's been a while since my last blog. No excuses. I've been busy. Where should I start? Five days after my last blog, Marcia and I went home for Christmas.



Had a wonderful time with our son, Stephen and visited many friends. I'm still recovering from all of the eating and drinking.



Christmas Eve dinner with friends. Notice the silver crown party hats.


The band.
Our band was able to get together in our basement for two great music sessions. I miss playing music with my band mates! A fun time was had by all.
We didn't get any individual pictures of two of our band members so I'll mention them here. The good looking tall guy in the back of the picture is our lead singer, Larry. The good looking woman in the foreground is our backup vocalist and keyboard player, Marcia.
Our drummer, Al.
Our lead guitar and marraca player, Don.

Me. Our bass player, Mark.

You may have noticed a subtle shift in the lighting. Well, this is the lighting that we use when we play. It sets a better mood. The other lighting (bright!) was for the photographs.


After two wonderful weeks in East Aurora, we went to Singapore where the temperature was almost 60 degrees warmer than East Aurora. Quite a shock to the body. Singapore is only about 40 miles from the equator and is VERY tropical.

East Aurora, NY (Our back yard)

Singapore (Our hotel)

View from our hotel window.
Marcia actually had most of the weekend off so we were able to do some sightseeing together. We did quite a bit of walking. Saw some beautiful botanical gardens and took a cable car trip to Sentosa Island. The cable car was really cool. Very high in the air. The cable car ride was quite the experience. To say that Marcia is uncomfortable with heights is an understatement. Six feet off the ground and Marcia begins to sweat. Well, this cable car at times was more than 300 feet off the ground!


This is Marcia putting on her brave face.
Actually, she did fine and enjoyed the ride. There was one point on the ride back when the cars stopped and we hung suspended over the water for a few minutes and Marcia became quieter and quieter. I started to make a few "We could be stuck here for hours jokes" but the look that she gave me convinced me that a little silence might be in order. We started moving again and Marcia regained her "inner peace".

View from the cable car.

Singapore is a very large shipping port.

We finally arrive at Sentosa Island.


This is a Merlion. They are everywhere and have some special significance. I just Googled this so I thought I would throw it in. "Designed by Mr Fraser Brunner, a curator of the Van Kleef Aquarium, the lion head represents the lion spotted by Prince Sang Nila Utama when he re-discovered Singapura in 11 AD, as recorded in the "Malay Annals". The fish tail of the Merlion symbolises the ancient city of Temasek (meaning “sea” in Javanese) by which Singapore was known before the Prince named it “Singapura” (meaning “lion” (singa) “city” (pura) in Sanskrit), and represents Singapore’s humble beginnings as a fishing village." I was going to pretend that I knew this, but I knew no one would believe me.


Sentosa Island had a great aquarium. With many really nice displays. Marcia took this close up photo (no flash, don't want to hurt the fish) of some jelly fish.


There was also a long, circular glass tunnel surrounded by water. When walking through it, I felt like I was walking under the ocean.


Manta or sting rays.


This is as close to a shark as I ever want to get!


Marcia was recently back in Singapore and took these next shots from a restaurant in a very tall building (70th floor).





Since I've been back in Japan I've had two more modeling Jobs (commercials) and have returned to my volunteer work in Tokyo. I've had to miss some of my Japanese lessons because of my schedule, but I study whenever I can. Learning Japanese has been a struggle and a challenge. It's been very enjoyable but, at times, quite frustrating. I keep getting distracted by other things to do in Japan so my progress is slow. It's definitely not easy teaching new tricks to an old dog like me.

We're getting ready to celebrate the Lunar New Year here (early February). There will be many celebrations, especially in Chinatown, and we hope to take in a few of them.

I hope that this whirlwind tour helps to catch everybody up on our ongoing saga of living abroad.

Ja mata,

Gary