AmyB Halfway Around the World

Have you ever broken a bone? If not, what's the worst injury you've sustained?

Yes. I fell off the top step of some bleachers in my 12th summer when I was in a theatre group. I broke my right wrist and they had to change my part around in Carousel. My parents didn't want to take me to the doctor but waited until the next morning to see how I felt. Yeah, it still hurt.

When I was 27, I was driving home from a night class and someone, passing on a hill, in the dark, in the rain, on a curve, hit me head-on. My right femur and my right knee-cap were broken. They put pins in my leg for the femur but the kneecap is what bothers me still sometimes because there wasn't anything you could really do for it. I also spent a week in the hospital. Then when I got out, I had to go finish my student-teaching on crutches. Fun times.

What's your favorite type of donut?
Submitted by tomatshonino.

Anything cream-filled. And, oddly enough, I also like whole wheat donuts. But not any of that Krispy Kreme krap. There's a bakery at home in Ohio that would put Krispy Kreme to shame and anybody who professed his undying love for KK and then ate these homemade donuts would hang his head in embarrassment at his previous declarations of love.  Schuler's donuts are heavy and light at the same time while a KK donut is merely light. Fluff. Schuler's donuts come with either more than generous amounts of thick white cream or with custard while I believe you can only get cream in a KK donut and not that much of it too boot. At KK, I can't get icing on my cream-filled, just glaze and my feeling is that if I'm going to eat a donut I might as well go all out, and it better be thick! You can get donuts at Schuler's with sugar or icing. And they don't need any fancy flavors. They still excel at the good old-fashioned ones like bear claws, jelly, glazed. No donut flavors of the month: Key Lime? New York Cheesecake? What are those? Desperation. When you're good enough, you don't need any bells and whistles...

What lesson did your father teach you that still helps you in life?

My father taught me to work hard, to speak little and to keep learning. He taught me about the importance of family, the beauty of nature, the joy of books, the wideness of the world and the comforts of home. He taught me that good friends are essential. He did all this by example because he did all this himself and enjoyed every minute of it.

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What are your first thoughts upon waking?
Submitted by Cher Cabula.

Is it raining?

What's the oldest book you own?
Submitted by Lies.

One morning last summer when I went out to my parents' to sit with my Dad while my mom went to church (she hadn't been able to go for weeks since Dad couldn't go anymore) I went upstairs to the bookshelf we used as kids to try to find something to read. Dad had taken to watching the television really loud and then falling asleep so conversation with him wasn't to be relied on. Anyway, the bookshelf no longer has only picture books on it but also my grandma's books that migrated there after she died and books that have been brought down from the attic (let's not even start on the whole library that is still up there). Included in these was a copy of Walden. I brought it down and started reading. It's a book that I was never required, either in high school or college, to read more of than a few significant passages, so I thought I'd try it now that I was going to have lots of time to do so. Anyway, this edition was printed in 1882 and was owned by my great grandfather and to me it is a treasure for many, many reasons. It might not be the oldest book I own (a lot of my books are in storage and I think my family considers all its books to be prime lending and borrowing material as well as collectively owned) but this one is special to me...

What's your favorite type of cheese? Or, if you don't like cheese, why not?
Submitted by Draegon Scribe.

Not like cheese? Not like cheese? How could someone not like cheese? Although, to answer my own question, it would appear that in Japan, they do not. Like cheese. Or rather, they don't seem to like real cheese.
There is a serious dearth of good cheese here in Japan although you can find the stuff literally everywhere. There is cheese stuffed in rolls and in danishes and muffins and, even in the dollar store, they sell these individually wrapped logs of processed cheese with different flavorings. I, of course, can't read the particular flavoring but I think most of them happen to be some sort of fish. Needless to say, we don't like them much in this household.
In the grocery store you can find bags of what looks like shredded mozzarella and indeed there are pictures of salads and pizzas right on the bags. However, don't be fooled. The cheese won't taste like any mozzarella you've ever eaten. There are also the ubiquitous cans of Kraft shredded parmesan which is one of the things least like cheese in the world. There is a lot of Kraft everything actually. But it all tastes like Kraft, if you know what I mean. It has that processed Velveeta taste that just isn't quite cheese.
For a while I was buying these little boxed up wheels of plastic-wrapped Camembert. They seemed promising, they seemed like real cheese. Gradually, however, I realized that they tasted just like that: boxed Camembert that may have indeed come from Paris but that was probably weeks and several preservatives ago.
I have managed to find in some of the higher-end groceries some different cheeses. I did find a wedge of real parmigiano to grate over pasta and salads and risotto. I found some goat cheese (over 700 yen a pop will hinder the purchase of that particular cheese, though). And I've seen bleu cheese. I bought some cheddar at Todd's urging the other day. We brought it home and sliced it up last weekend on some sandwiches. But it wasn't quite the same. You see, quite often, even when you think you've found the real thing, hit the jackpot, you bite into the cheese only to realize it still just somehow has that Kraft processed taste. Like most of the cheese in Japan.
Oh well, it's probably for the best. It's probably why I seem to have lost 10 pounds since we've been here the past 4 months. I used to pour myself a glass of wine every evening as I moved around the kitchen getting dinner ready. I would sip my wine and lay out a big plate of different cheeses and some crackers. Carrots. You know, whatever else was in the refrigerator and needed consumption. Now, there's nothing about most of the cheese in Japan that I look forward to. It's not a reward to nibble on some cheese before dinner but more like one more filler that I don't really need. Not if it's going to taste like that!
So, yes, I looooooove cheese. I love bleu cheese, goat cheese, feta cheese, brie, sharp cheddar. I love it on sandwiches, on pizza, cut up in little cubes on those relish trays. I love it spread on a cracker, baked or just popped into my mouth. I even love it fried up and dipped in marinara sauce! but you just don't find that in Japan...

Who was the last person you offended?
Submitted by May.

I think I offended my sister the other day. I think she was in a grouchy mood anyway and I was in a chipper mood so when I blathered on about her kids, comparing them to some kids I've recently met and don't exactly love, I think it turned that conversation permanently downward.
Oh well, she offended me, too. But maybe that was just her reaction...

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http://www.ginkoya.com/pages/childrensday.html

Are you celebrating Cinco de Mayo?

We did, yes. Did, because today is actually seis de Mayo in Japan.
My stomach seemed a little iffy yesterday so I almost didn't go with it and it was rainy and grey outside so we decided to just go with tacos and some corn instead of really going all out with grilled chicken and more fixins.
But we did have margaritas. Oh, yes we did...