Valentine's Day

Hey everybody! This is Steph. The weather has finally started to warm up here! Thank goodness! The snow has started melting and I am praying that my snow shoveling days are over! Coming from Texas I never had to shovel snow until moving here to Japan. I used muscles that I didn't even know I had! Wow! Anyways...just wanted to post a new pic.
Gabe took me out to eat for Valentine's Day last night. We went to a yakiniku (yah-key-nee-koo) restauraunt. Yakiniku is the Japanese version of Korean BBQ. It's a really cool way too eat. You order meat and veggies and then you grill it yourself over hot coals. It is so delicious! We love it. In this picture I am grinding sesame seeds to use in a dipping sauce. The gold ring in the middle is the grill. They bring hot coals to the table after you order and then put the grill on top. It is really nice in this winter weather to warm yourself by the fire! Anyways, it was a nice evening out. There were no large crowds out for Valentine's dinner like in the States. Actually, in Japan, Valentine's Day is a day for women to give chocolates or other gifts (chocolate is the most popular) to men. There is a seperate holiday called White Day, where the men give chocolates to the women who gave them chocolates on Valentine's Day. Different huh? So, it was the first time that we went out on Valentine's Day and didn't have to wait 2 hours to get a table!
To see a few pictures of a great yakiniku restauarant chain that is here in Japan and in America click here. If you come to visit we will definately have to go out for a yakiniku night!
Okay,... if you want to practice making yakiniku before you come to Japan, go to this little game here and see how much yakiniku you can cook and put in the dipping sauce!