The Fowler Family Blog

Some of you may have heard of the band the Black Eyed Peas, well we dressed up as Black Eyed P’s for Halloween.  Some people “got it” and some people didn’t. 

So Ryan and I woke up at 4 am yesterday to go fly fishing with our friends Kim and Curtis.  It was a great experience and Ryan and I kept saying how proud our grandfather’s would have been of us.  The guide provided our outfits, and lessons on the proper technique.  Ryan and Curtis ended up catching one fish each.  Kim and I weren’t so lucky.

Ryan caught a fish early on.  It’s difficult to see how big it is with the fog, but it was “AT LEAST” a foot long!

Do you love our outfits?  They are called waders… 

I was asked to start teaching English (part-time) to Korean Navy officers and began that today.  It was a lot of fun!  These groups had to pass specific requirements to be able to attend these classes and they will be visiting the U.S for training in a few months.   I’ll let you know how it goes and if I enjoy it after teaching for 12 hours per week, but so far so good.  (It’s expressions like that which I would have to describe multiple times before they would understand it). 

Try for a day to really pay attention to the expressions and idioms that we use that probably wouldn’t make sense “right off the bat”…

I didn’t think we could handle much more bad news, so today’s appointment was very welcome.  After much poking and prodding, the Dr. has given us a good diagnosis.  It is still going to be a complicated process and take a few more months, but the possibilty of us finally being parents is so refreshing and exciting! 

We’ve been going back for weekly appointments and I’m on multiple kinds of ovulation induction medications, so please say prayers for us.  (Most of you know my strong fear of needles…)

It is quite possibly my favorite city in the world… Ryan and I had a wonderful time first in Tokyo and then at Navy Base Yokosuka.

Ryan met all of the “major players” in the U.S Navy. He met with the Director of Branch Medical Clinics and was assured that Chinahe and his clinic would be given a higher priority. He attended meetings most of the days, but his evenings were free.

Tokyo is completely bi-lingual and quite a few Americans live there. It’s very easy to get around either by Taxi or on the subway. What impressed me so much about the city was how clean it was. People are also very respectful and follow the rules. Smoking is only allowed in designated areas and it is respected. Here is a sign that I really liked.

We stayed at The New Sanno in Tokyo, which is a military hotel. It was very fancy, had a spa and several shops located there.

There were French bakeries throughout Tokyo and we took advantage of the fancy, beautifully designed treats. (You will see a resounding theme throughout our review of us eating excessive amounts of food…)

We ate at the Restaurant where Kill Bill’s famous fight scene with Uma Thurman was filmed

We met up with our friend Toshi (who is best friends with Hiroshi- who we know back in Columbus, Ohio). He spoiled us rotten and he spent the day Tuesday showing me around Shiboya, Harajaku and Roppongi Hills. We visited the Tokyo Tower, which is 330 meters tall (one meter taller than the Eiffel Tower)

On the way up… After we were finished…

The three of us taking in the views

Oh, we ate and ate and ate and ate. We were craving sushi and had to get our “fix” while we were in Japan. Toshi took us to a great restaurant in Shiboya.

Do you like my funky hair wrap?

Cindy and Norm

We were walking around a park in the city and happened upon a German restaurant. Norm is fluent in German and began talking to the owner as we walked by. We ate delicious brats and drank some fabulous German beers.

The Japanese are very in to fashion and love shoes. Everywhere you look all you see are glorious pairs of shoes.

We also got to see our friends Joel and Nicole from Pendleton. They are due to have their baby this week, so we visitied her in the hospital. It was great!

So overall we had an amazing time in Japan. I would highly recommend it!

Since Ryan and I haven’t really experienced “fall like” weather in 3 years, we are enjoying the leaves changing and the crisp air and cooler temperatures.  Here are a few pictures I just took.

Here is a recent pictures of us with the Dukester man

A view down our street

Beautiful leaves changing color

Duke engaging in one of his favorite activities- playing fetch

Last Saturday Ryan and I attended a Korean cooking class on base.  It was a lot of fun.  We made Bibimbap, which is a popular Korean dish The word literally means “mixed rice” or “mixed meal.”

Bibimbap is served as a bowl of warm white rice topped with sauteed and seasoned vegetables, beef, a fried egg, and gochujang (chile pepper paste). The ingredients are stirred together thoroughly just before eating.

Vegetables commonly used in bibimbap include julienned cucumber, zucchini, carrot, mu (white radish), mushrooms, doraji (bellflower root), and laver, as well as spinach, soybean sprouts, and gosari (bracken fern stems). Dubu (tofu), either plain or sauteed, or a leaf of lettuce may be added, or beef may be substituted with chicken or seafood. Many areas of Korea typically serve a vegetarian version of the dish which may well be the more traditional alternative.

A variation of this dish, dolsot bibimbap (돌솥 비빔밥, “dolsot” meaning “stone pot”), is served in a heated stone bowl, in which a raw egg is cooked against the sides of the bowl. Before the rice is placed in the bowl, the bottom of the bowl is coated with sesame oil, making the layer of the rice touching the bowl golden brown and crispy.

Bibimbap is first mentioned in written records around 1800, as 부븸밥 (bubuimbap).

First the chef cooked the Bibimbap and then we made our own.

Yummy Vegetables

Wow-Ryan is cooking!

The finished product

This is an example of a typical Korean meal- lots of veggies