Feeling Patriotic

I'm getting in the spirit of the Fourth of July and I'm not even in America. Today, I am feeling so patriotic...or should I say... so military.

We are in Japan visiting Nick and Sachiyo which always includes a tour of Nick's work at the U.S. naval shipyard in Yokosuka, Japan.

We got the tour in 2014 but this year it was even better because we got to go aboard the destroyer ship that Nick's engineering team is currently working on called the U.S.S. Curtis Wilbur and it was truly a thrill.

Last time we were here, he was working on the U.S.S. George Washington nuclear aircraft carrier. It's been long gone and doesn't even return to Yokosuka anymore. Now, it's the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan that returns for maintenance every year. But that carrier wasn't at the shipyard now. In fact, at that dock, it's now the U.S.S. Fitzgerald which is the ship involved in the collision a couple of weeks ago where seven sailors were killed. (No photos allowed) We did see it and the damage is extreme. Bruce and I both said "Wow!" when we saw it - it looks much worse in person even though it has been "stabilized" since it arrived in Yokosuka and is no longer slanted at an angle in the water. Nick can see it from his office window and he said it looked really bad when it arrived. It still had all it's weapons onboard so the whole area was blocked off until they removed them all. Nick said even he had to go through major security screening to go to work. He is very intrigued with the whole affair, of course, because it's his work, even though his team is busy on another ship. And we were so intrigued with Nick's work. He showed us around the U.S.S. Curtis Wilbur and explained how everything works as it goes under it's scheduled military maintenance.

Since Bruce is also an engineer, he was fascinated with getting up close and a personal explanation of the ships systems and how they worked.

I really liked wandering around the ship, going through the port and starboard breezeways

and all the (claustrophobic!) hallways and steps or ladders inside the ship. You have to be very limber to maneuver around such tight quarters. My Oh My!

It was fun and especially when we went up to the bridge. It was all under maintenance but you could definitely tell it was the bridge.

Bruce and Nick sat down at a couple devises that looked like video games but when these are functioning, they are actually chain gun controls; no games, real guns.

Next, we ended up in a room where Nick says they meet occasionally for meetings.

Nick pointed to his team's timeline for the ship - maintenance completion in August.

We continued to tour around the ship and Nick showed up the exact spot where the Fitzgerald was hit, explaining to us more details about what happened.

Then we went to the bow of the ship and by this time we were feeling right at home on this ship.

Getting a personal tour of the Curtis Wilbur was the highlight of our visit to the base but we also saw a dry dock

and some submarines.

This day was a quiet Sunday so there was not a lot of personnel around the base, a good day for us to have a personal tour.

It was busy, however, at our Sunday brunch at the Officier's Club on the base where Nick and Sachiyo took us that morning.

Framed photos of all the important officers line the wall here. (Nick has met two of these guys from various jobs)

The Officier's Club is actually open to any base personnel and is a buffet-type service. It's your basic good old-fashioned American food, if you get my drift. No photos needed. But for us, it meant another fun time with our family and little granddaughter. The memories in Japan keep adding up.

Trader Joe's Gluten-Free Oatmeal, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies

I don't have very many gluten-free cookies on my blog because quite frankly, I usually don't like gluten-free. But occasionally, I do find a good recipe and this is one that is from the back of the Trader Joe's oatmeal and it's a good one. My friend brought some over to our house last weekend when Nick and family were here for our birthday celebrations and we all loved them. My friend lives a few blocks away and we walk the neighborhood together on weekends. We can easily go 5 miles in no time, talking non-stop. She loves exploring our neighborhood as much as I do and we discover so many favorite little spots. We even found a property with a horse (or more like a pony, I should say.) The views are always quite lovely, too. Bruce and I had our thirty-ninth wedding anniversary on July 18th and I made a point of walking past the house where we had our wedding reception. I told my friend, "Thirty-nine years ago today, t...

Meatloaf by Mark Bittman

Once again, I turned on the television yesterday and saw that Mark Bittman was on the Today show and was making his version of meatloaf . This must be meatloaf season. It was surprisingly similar to the Pioneer Woman's version who was also recently on. I was a little surprised of his version because Mark Bittman is into healthy eating and has lost a lot of weight and improved his health by changing his diet which he writes about in his book, Food Matters . His meatloaf recipe also included bacon and cheese! I must be doing something wrong. The thing to remember, which he writes about in his book, is that you can eat healthy without going extreme or changing your whole life. If you don't know who Mark Bittman is, he is a food writer and a four star chef with multiple cookbooks who loves to eat but changed his food philosophy to improve his health. He tells his story in Food Matters and provides ...

Two-Bean Soup with Kale

This hearty vegetarian soup warms up chilly nights. Use any type of canned beans you happen to have on hand and add chicken or Italian sausage for a heftier dish, if you prefer. Makes 4-6 servings 3 Tbsp. olive oil 1 cup chopped onion 1/2 cup chopped carrots 1/2 cup chopped celery 1/2 tsp. salt, divided 2 cloves garlic, minced 4 cups vegetable broth, divided 7 cups stemmed, chopped kale (about 1 bunch) 2 (15-ounce) cans cannellini beans, rinsed, drained and divided 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper 1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar 1 Tbsp. fresh rosemary or 1 tsp. dried rosemary 1. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add olive oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onion, carrot, and celery, and saute 6 minutes or until tender. Stir in 1/4 tsp. salt and garlic; cook 1 minute. 2. Stir in 3 cups vegetable broth and kale. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simme...

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