No, we're not in Japan, but this might be as close as we're going to get. We gave making sushi our best shot.

First: the cucumber slices, carrot slices, beef strips, rice, and seaweed sheets.
Second: cover the seaweed with a thin coating of rice.
Third: Lay strips of veggies and meat.
Fourth: Roll it up.

Perhaps our downfall was the lack of a sushi mat, or really cheap seaweed sheets, or that our rice was too hot or too wet... but there was definitely a downfall. It was still good; it just looked more like a seaweed massacre than an elegant night at a Japanese sushi restaurant.

Some people post pictures of their children doing adorable things. Who needs a child when you have Austin? His throat was sore, so he used this huge blanket as a scarf. So precious.

What do you do when you have a whole stinking bunch of bananas that you've completely forgotten about until it's too late? If there's just one banana, I'll toss it into the next batch of pancakes or maybe just toss it in general... but to waste a whole bunch?... Desperate times call for desperate measures... these are only a portion of the oatmeal-banana muffins that came out of our countertop oven... Austin was a happy man!

He loves to hear "I love you." He loves soft pretzels. Why not both in one?

Two of my eighteen classes of high school sophomores have particularly challenging behavior... and particularly low levels of English, often leaving me clueless as to how to teach and manage 75 students at once.

Well, this week, I decided to play a game using paper airplanes. If they could answer my English question, they could throw their airplane at a target and potentially earn candy.

My favorite part of the lesson was when I introduced it.

"Do you know "airplane"?"

The resounding reply, "NO!"

Though they didn't know "airplane," I figured I'd go out on a limb. "Do you know "paper airplane"?"

All 75 students at once, "YES! WE KNOW!"

They would.

I took this picture of some pancakes I made a few months ago and think, if I may say so, that it's the way all pancakes ought to look. Notice that I took the picture... there are some things you just have to remember because they're not going to happen every time... Of course, the most beautiful background for this picture was my lovely kitchen counter. Yuck!

Ahh, near-winter mornings... the perfect mornings for staying in bed a few minutes longer, drinking tea, curling up under a blanket, making pancakes, and... wearing your wife's pink accessories.

There's nothing like toast with peanut butter... except toast with peanut butter and Nutella! Wow! We have great friends in America-- thanks, David and Lauren! Austin made me this late night snack a couple of weeks ago... Just another reason to add to the list... Best husband ever.

In a country practically devoid of turkey, sometimes one must make their own. The first is a picture of a fruit turkey Austin and I made for last Thanksgiving; the second is a picture of a turkey cake we made in the basement of my old dormitory a few years ago, back when we were "just friends."