Weekend Events

On Friday, Mike's squadron had a family picnic and I made a yummy greek orzo salad. For some reason when I really want to impress people, whether it be a speech or my cooking skills, I have a really hard time coming up with ideas. I talked to Molly (my family expert) on what to make but finally I decided on a greek orzo salad. Here is the recipe:

Dijon Vinaigrette
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 large clove garlic, minced
Big pinch of salt
Black pepper, to taste
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

One box of Orzo pasta noodles
3 Bell peppers (red, yellow, and orange)
1 large cucumber
1 large tomato
1 container of crumbled feta cheese
1 container of kalamatta olives

Cook the pasta the day before and refrigerate overnight. Then cut up all the veggies into small pieces, toss in the vinaigrette and your done! Sooo easy and good! And healthy too : )

At the picnic, I made some new friends with the other wives. Later that night we went to the movies and saw "The Hangover." Seriously, it was one of the funniest movies I have EVER seen! Go see it!

Then on Saturday, Mike and I drove to Ikea to buy some furniture for our house! Before moving here, we were advised not to pack a lot because the houses were small. Well we didn't know we'd be lucky enough to get a three bedroom house and therefore, we needed more furniture. We tried to get a few people together to drive with us to Ikea since we'd never driven that far off base before but no one was interested. That left this monumental task up to Mike and I and let me just say we are so totally proud of ourselves! You may think it was a nice little Saturday...driving to Ikea and spending lots of money on new things. Now picture the Saturday we had. Milage-wise, Ikea wasn't very far away, maybe about 40 miles. However, it took us over two hours each way because of all the insane traffic. With Mike driving on the LEFT side of the road and me trying to point out signs in Japanese characters, you'd understand why we say we're so proud of ourselves. I'd say to Mike, "Okay, now turn left onto to Hajiochi" and Mike would respond, "Turn left on what? Hajiochi or Hachioju? How do you say it?" Then I'd say a little louder, "Hajiochi" to which Mike would respond, "Which way do I turn?" "LEFT!" I'd shriek. "Okay, turning left on Hachioju." Neither one of us could ever pronounce the word the same. We were so burnt out when we got to Ikea and it didn't help that every Japanese inhabitant was there as well. After navigating our way around and filling our shopping cart, we were able to buy everything that we had on our list, except for our couch. By the time we loaded our car with all our goodies, we were both hungry and decided to get a snack from the store. While Mike was in the bathroom, I waited in line in front of this weird machine with pictures of all the food that they served there. I was really in the mood for a green tea ice cream cone and Mike wanted the biggest coke possible. I pushed the green tea button and the coke button and inserted my yen. I waited for my tickets to print out...and nothing happened. Meanwhile, there was this huge line behind me and the damn machine wouldn't work. I tried again and same thing. Then I turned around and asked the Japanese man behind me for some help. He blinked at me a few times which I guess meant 'Get the hell out of line you stupid American' so I did and waited for Mike. When Mike came up and saw that I couldn't figure out the machine, he teased me a little bit and took me to the machine again. "What kind of ice cream do you want?" he asked, "Green tea!" I said. He pressed the vanilla button. "NO! I wanted green tea!" Out came my ticket for a vanilla ice cream cone. "Oops!" was Mike's defense. Then he pushed the button for a coke. When we got to the counter that actually served the food, I was given the worlds smallest vanilla ice cream cone while Mike was given a thimble with Coke inside. Very satisfying indeed. After our snack, we both headed to the bathrooms since we knew we had a long drive back. While waiting patiently for our turn, a woman casually walked right in front of me and stood her place in line. I almost punched her I was so mad! And when that bathroom door opened up, you better believe I ran ahead of her and took that stall first! Oh man, what a nice little Saturday.

And finally we get to Sunday, which was spent putting together furniture and Mike carpeting his man cave. He is so serious about this room that whenever I am at the door and he is inside, he tells me I must knock and ask permission to enter! Right now he's at work and I'm happily typing away on his computer, lounging on his couch, and rearranging his 'manly' collectibles. I wonder if he'll notice...