Yoshi the gambler

The ferry from the Faroe Islands to Denmark was 30 hours. Yoshi and I spent our time playing 'hanafuda' or 'flower cards', which are traditional Japanese playing cards. It has such a nice name but they've been used for gambling since the Edo period. There are 12 suits representing the 12 months. January is pine, February is plum blossom, March is cherry blossom, and so on. Yoshi always told me he doesn't like to gamble and I finally know why -- he's a real gambler!

We played the game 'koi-koi', which literally means 'come come'. The object of the game is to create hands to gain points. Each time you make a hand, you can either end the game and calculate your points, or call 'koi-koi' and try to make a better hand. If, however, your opponent makes a hand before you make your second hand, he will get double the points for his hand. So it's a risk to take. And Yoshi proved to be a gambler! He was losing during the first half of the game, but then he called 'koi-koi' four times in one round and made an incredible come back!

Anyone interested in this game, check out this website.
http://www.gamedesign.jp/flash/hanafuda/hanafuda_e.html

Faroese Music

I'm so behind on my blogs!

Anyways... We spent three days in the Faroes and enjoyed their rich and vibrant music culture. On Jun 11th, Yoshi and I spent the day separately. I went to the Havnar Kirikja, the cathedral of the Faroes, to listen to the Vaaler Sangforening sing. They are a choir group of 20 male singers, mostly in their 50s and 60s. They sang all their songs in Faroese. There's something nice about listening to a song and not understanding the lyrics.



That night, Yoshi and I met up and we went to a local gig with a bunch of 18-year-olds Yoshi met at a bar the night before. We saw about 10 bands play and the genres ranged from soft rock to heavy metal. They were all very talented and warmly welcomed us 30-somethings. (Gosh, I felt old!) It was definitely a nice way to meet the locals and get a glimpse into their teenage lives. The band in the video is called The Nuclear Family.

June 11th dinner

Menu

Bruschetta

Carrots and tunafish dressed with mayonnaise

Cucumber asazuke

Smoked sardines in soy sauce

Green pea rice

Ingredients

Bruschetta

1 slice bread

1 slice cheese (leftover from breakfast)

4 tablespoons tomato sauce (leftover from the night before)

5g butter (free from cafeteria)

Carrot and tunafish dressed with mayonnaise

10 baby carrots

1 can tunafish (L)

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

salt (free to use in kitchen)

Cucumber asazuke

1 cucumber (L)

salt (free to use in kitchen)

Green pea rice

1.5 cups white rice

40g green peas (dried)

salt (free to use in kitchen)

Instant foods: none

Lessons learned: Next time, we should boil the peas before cooking them in the rice.

Travel cooking in full swing

In the Faroe Islands, we started our 'travel cooking' project. The purpose? To save money and to enjoy cooking. We want to be creative with the limited resources we have. Most hostels have a communal kitchen with basic cooking ware. In order to make the project more challenging, we came up with a few rules:

Rules for Travel Cooking:

1. Only 1 instant food permitted per meal.

(Instant food = food that can be made just by adding hot water)

2. Perishable foods should be eaten within 24 hours.

3. Don't leave anything on your plate, even if it tastes bad.

4. Use as many local ingredients as possible.

5. Utilize free stuff.

6. Be creative and have fun.

*****************************************************************

June 10th dinner

Onion pea soup

Bacon and tomato pasta

Ingredients

Onion pea soup

20g green peas (dried)

1/2 onion

1 vegetable bouillon

Bacon and tomato pasta

200g bacon

1/2 onion

8 mini carrots

2 cloves garlic

oregano

salt and pepper (free to use in kitchen)

olive oil (free to use in kitchen)

Instant foods: none

Bon appetite!

Lessons learned: Next time, we should drain the beans after boiling them.

paint or lotion?

A tube of mayo I found at a supermarket in the Faroes

Is it paint or a new L'Occitane lotion?

our typical lunch

salami and cheese sandwich

carrots and dip

1/2 an apple each

trampoline soccer!?

3 months from 3.11

Three months have passed since the 3.11 earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan and shocked the world. I still remember the horror I felt that day. Even in Tokyo, the calamity was immeasurable. My heart goes out to the workers at the nuclear plant and everyone who has suffered from this tragedy.

While in Japan, Yoshi and I volunteered at an evacuation center. We cooked meals for the evacuees and met a woman from Onagawa, one of the many cities that were submerged in the tsunami. Luckily, her house was not damaged, but she said she had to escape to Yokohama because she could not bear the sight of her city in ruins. Her niece was still missing at the time and her sister-in-law became paralyzed from an injury. Her story was heartbreaking. But what saddens me even more is that her story is just one of millions.

Yoshi and I have been traveling for about three weeks now. Everywhere we go, people offer their condolences and tell us that they are praying for Japan. The amount of international aid Japan is receiving is incredible. And to hear kind words from other travelers and people we meet is so heartwarming.

Faroe Islands: no immigration check

On Wednesday, we took a ferry from Seydisfjordur, a small port town in Eastern Iceland, to the Faroe Islands. The weather was not on our side -- rain and snow. After a bumpy 20-hour ride in rough seas, we finally made it to the capital city of Torshavn. The strange thing is, there was no immigration check. We never got our passports stamped. I hope we're not staying illegally! My first impression of the Faroes is that the architecture is very cute.

Old houses with turf roofs.

 Bert from Belgium

Bert was on the same ferry as us. He was working on a farm in Iceland for a month and was on his way back home. We ran into Bert three times in one day. Apparently, in Belgium, there's a custom to buy beer for someone if you run into them three times in the same day. (Chie, is that true?) We treated him this time, and he said he'll take us out when we run into him again in Belgium! Bert's dream is to have his own vegetable farm.