S. Perry St. Fair and our Asian market haul

This past weekend we headed out to the South Perry Street Fair. Our main objective was to see the Obon Festival being put on by the Spokane Buddhist Church pictured above. I have photos of my own of the church (except inside, I felt it was somehow disrespectful to take photos in there), as well as a short video of Taiko drummers, and some pictures of the actual fair, but they are on my other camera and I haven't pulled them off yet. I will, when I have more time at my disposal. 

The Buddhist church itself was a nice building and everyone inside, the Sensei and the folks down in the kitchen, were very nice. We had Chicken Katsu, a Japanese dish, and I bought some incense as well as some treats they were selling. Amanda pretty much devoured the teriyaki beef jerky before I could get a photo of it, but here are the other two.

Both were quite tasty.
After we ate, we went up to the main room or sanctuary of the church and listened to the Sensei talk about his branch, Shin Buddhism. Once again, while I value and appreciate Buddhist concepts and love it as philosophy, religiously speaking, I was reminded of how it just isn't for me. 

After the church, we walked up the street to see our friend Rachael at her Kettle Corn stand. We spoke with her for a little bit, and we walked up the street a little ways. But, I had to leave Amanda and our friend Fiona and head back to the car because my back was seizing up on me and worse, it had rained a little while we were in the chruch and thus is was horribly humid and muggy. I couldn't breathe very well. 

Once I got back to the car and had the air conditioner running, I was finally able to breathe easy. I called my Dad and told him about the Buddhist Church. He thought it was cool. We also talked about my computer and he had a couple of suggestions for me to try to fix my problem with blue screen of death.  We also talked about a couple of other little things. 

Amanda and Fiona caught up with me at the car and we headed back toward home. Well, sort of. I was ready to be home and yet not ready, plus I had pick up some toilet paper. So, I asked them if they would go with me to a little Asian Market I had found near our house. They, of course, agreed. I had three objectives. 1. Get macha green tea powder. 2. Get tonkatsu sauce. 3. Get red bead paste. I was only able to find one of those and it was the red bean paste. I did find plenty of other little goodies, just some things to try, and some things that I have had before and wanted a little treat of again.

From left to right. Red Beat Paste, some mushroom soup mix Amanda thought I would like although, the smiling mushroom on the package does creep me out a little, and Moonlight cookies. I've never had those cookies and would like to try them. The red bean paste is to make some sesame balls and a sweet treat. 

Strawberry and lychee ramune are always good. And I love the lychee water on the right.

 I bought two of the saffron flower packets, one for myself and one for a friend who makes saffron bread or buns. It was at a really good price. The sweet rice flour is to experiment with. I think my parents had a box of it in their pantry when I was growing up. I certainly recognized right away.    

I decided to try Assam Milk Tea. I have never had it before. I bought some Special Gun Powder tea which I have had and really liked. The Sunflower crackers looked neat, so I tossed them into the cart as well. 

Amanda insisted that we have green tea Kit Kats. She apparently really likes them. I really like them too and would love to get some more. I did some research on Amazon and learned that not only are there green tea Kit Kats, but there are Sakura Kit Kats! Which of course led me on an other search involving Sakura blossom tea and and then it kind kind of spiraled down from there- meaning that I spent a good hour looking up random stuff on Amazon and then ended up spending another hour looking at Gothic Home decor and clothing inspiration on Pinterest for another hour after that. Don't ask how I went from food, flowers, and herbs, to gothic stuff, my mind is messy even for me. LOL!

Lastly, for those of you who haven't seen, Narcisa gave me a rare photographic moment wherein she did not turn her head right as the photo was being taken. In fact, I dare say she posed for this picture and allowed me to take it. I am ticked pink, of course. We were playing in the bed. She loves to play in the sheets and blankets.

A sad day, a night out, and the cat's got his tongue out again.

Kitsune Guard is my Guild in Guild Wars

Galen, my grouchy kitty, has been so playful the last couple of days. It's really nice to see him play like a kitten again. Part of his playfulness includes sticking his tongue out, not sure why, but it's really cute. Yoda-Chan, my eldest kitty, is doing pretty well as well. He's staring at the computer with contempt, okay, now he's staring at me with stern expectation. Kind of like "Um, you're going to get off that stupid thing and pet me now". Well, no, I'm not, but I will give him cuddles later when I sit back to relax. I made my bedside table into a bed for him, not that he uses it much. Oh no, he wants to sleep on my face. *Sigh*

Yesterday was kind of an odd day. I got that lovely smack of depression full in the face. I'm not sure what triggered it though. Yes, I have severe depression and anxiety, but I think I do pretty well in stamping it down and trying to push on. Gods know I've been focusing on being in as good of a mood or be as positive as I can when I wake up in the morning. I started out okay yesterday but then, for some reason, it all kind of went down hill. I even got to the point where I didn't want to go donate plasma. So, I decided that not only was I going to my plasma donation appointment, but I was going to grab the gift card Skoora and I got from her parents for Christmas and go out for dinner.

I talked to Skoora about what was going on in the car while we were heading out to the plasma donation clinic. We didn't really get to go in depth but that was okay, I think I just needed to talk. We really haven't had the chance to talk or do much of anything together since before my birthday. We've had company, my birthday, the twins' birthday, she's been working, and she's been doing school work. We've also had a lot of health stuff going on with her Mom. It was time.

We went to Applebee's where I said "screw it" and ordered a drink. I rarely ever drink and most of the time when we go out because I am usually the driver. I also take pain meds and don't like to mix pain meds with alcohol. Anyway, I ordered one drink, which by the way not being an experienced drinker, I was shocked when I saw the bill. It was 8 dollars! 8 dollars! 8 dollars of tasty goodness! I want to learn how to make the Red Apple Sangria! Actually I want to learn how to make lots of drinks and do a bar party night with friends, at home of course. I don't want anyone trying to drive.

After and very yummy dinner at Applebee's Skoora took me to Wal-Mart to get the yarn I ran out of. I've been crocheting and watching Lost Girl on Netflix the last couple of days, just trying to relax and take things easy. Well, we were kind of silly at Wal-Mart. We called Skoora's Dad to tell him that we decided that Gin was made from Oompaloompas (because we were trying to figure out what it was made out of while we were at Applebee's and apparently our waitress even asked the entire staff to find out, no one could remember). It's actually made from barley (we learned that later when a friend texted us back, with the answer). Skoora also decided that it was a good idea scratch my butt while we were moving throughout the store. I growled at her and one of the employees got distracted and dropped stuff. She also tap-danced a little and another customer, an older guy, did a little dance move. It was really cute!

In the end, we came home and Skoora closed herself up in the bedroom to do some homework while I watched The Hunger Games: Catching Fire with her Mom. It was a pretty good movie. I really want to see the next movie to see what happens and as much as I really want to read the books, I think I will wait until I have seen all the movies. Or maybe I won't. I just have so much I have to read and I just got three more books for my birthday.

Octoberfest in August!!! Hooyah!

I don't drink often, maybe once or twice and rarely three times a year. There are a few things that I really like  for instance Spiced or Coconut Rum and Coke, Hpnotiq, Gin with Sprite, and Screwdrivers. I'm sure there are plenty of other drinks I would like if I had the money and desire to get my ass online to look recipes up and then go fetch the stuff but alcohol just isn't one of those things I feel a particular need for. However, there is something that I really like and fell in love with when I worked at the smoke/liquor store back in Kansas: Samuel Adams Octoberfest! I'm not really a beer person, I like Harp by Guinness but that was pretty much it until I tried Octoberfest one October just for shits and giggles. There weren't any shits and giggles, but I liked it enough that I didn't really want to share.

It's been about five years since I've really had the chance and money to get another round of Octoberfest. I pretty much cut two things from my shopping list in order to get it but I really don't mind. My girlfriend doesn't like it so that means more for me!

Actually, I'm a little surprised to see Octoberfest on the shelves this early. Maybe I'm not the only one who is   wishing Autumn would begin or feels like the Autumn season is trying to creep in early this year. For those in the Mid-west it probably doesn't feel that way, but up here, it's hot yet there is that cool breeze that kind of makes things nicer and certainly throws me off a little.