Halloween Report

I still don't know what to think about Halloween because I'm not a fan of the evil, scary side of it. However, ever since I realized it's pretty much the only day that a person can ring neighbors' doorbells (and then be rewarded for doing so with candy)...and not to mention that I think costumes are really fun... I can't just dismiss/ban it altogether. So here's how things came out for us. These photos are from my cell phone. I took scads more at Koji's school but we all know by now how it goes when I'm faced with transferring photos from the camera to this blog. Yeah. I don't want to be responsible for your death, so please don't hold your breath!
She HAD to be a pumpkin, it's a good look for her, I think. The fact that I picked this costume up for a dollar at a garage sale had nothing to do with my choice...
This photo doesn't quite do justice to the staggering amount of candy we collected today! We might be staggering if we eat any significant portion of it any time soon. Koji probably won't be since I hid it from him. I might be in trouble though.
Are they both going after the "severed ear" chocolate, which was by far the most interesting/disgusting item we collected while trick or treating?

Long Distance Dedication

Maybe it's an embarrassing reference to my age, or maybe it's just the reason I'm so darn good at "The 80s Game" (the one where Rich puts on 80s songs while we're playing Settlers and we try to name that singer) but I used to like the American Top 40. Particularly the part where Casey Kasem read some cheesy letter explaining why one someone, typically pining for another someone, wanted them to hear such and such song with love, which was also know as a Long Distance Dedication. However, I didn't like it when the dedicatees were pets.

The point is, I'd like to send a Long Distance Dedication to my mom on the occasion of her @#$% th birthday. Happy Birthday, Mom! Here's the cake we made for you. It's a plum-raspberry upside down cake (without the raspberries this time) from a recipe I found in the September 2001 issue of Martha Stewart Living. I've made this cake several times, but I know for sure this one would have been more delicious if we could have actually given it to you.

May this coming year be as sweet and delicious as this cake, Mom!

Her children arise and call her blessed...Proverbs 31:28

Didn't Mean to be Trendy

In case I was having any qualms about my daughter's name--which I wasn't--along comes this article to reassure me.

As you know well by now, her name is Izumi (ee-zoo-mee). Let's all say it together!

See Ya, Mitsuwa

Most everyone in the "Chicagoland area" (who makes these names up? when I lived in Southern California I thought that calling the Riverside-San Bernardino area "the Inland Empire" was bizarre...) who likes Japanese food and has ever needed ingredients to make it has heard of Mitsuwa. It's great, if you live in Arlington Heights and don't mind paying twice as much as your items would cost you in Tokyo. I exaggerate slightly.
Anyway, I may never go to Mitsuwa again now that Super H Mart has opened in Niles. Sure, it's technically a Korean store, but some significant number of their products are Japanese. Plus, they have a great produce section and a food court, which serves a delicious (spicy!!) tofu soup from the "KOREAN" section. Bring your own beverage though; they only have canned drinks for sale and they're not cheap.

Annyonghi gaseyo, Mitsuwa.

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