Garlic Lime Calamari with Wakame

Its another night to try something new! Well kind of new....I decided to put my own spin on this delicious, sweet meat and add some healthy green wakame to make it a small meal.

Calamari is the plural form of the Italian word for squid, Calamaro. In the Mediteranean, and served as a staple food in western seafood restaraunts, calamari is tipically fried and served with red or white marinara sauce. However, in Japan and other Asian countries, calamari is grilled and served whole!

 

Wakame is a sea vegetable, or edible seaweed.  It is listed among 100 of the worlds most invasive species, so it is like the kudzu of the ocean. Japanese famers have been growing and harvesting wakame for years and years Wakame is very high is omega-3 fatty acids, has high levels of calcium, iodine, niacin, and thiamine, and aids in activating fat burning proteins in the body! So basically, very healthy. It has a subtly sweet flavor and is most often served in soups and salads

Ingredients:

• 1 small squid
• 1/2 cup chopped wakame
• 2 tablespoons of garlic chives (or two cloves of garlic chopped)
• 1 tablespoon of lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon of butter

 

 

Directions:

• Wash squid and slice, set aside

 

• Slice wakame into 1-2 inch squares and set aside
  
  
  

• Heat small sauté pan on medium/high heat
•  Add garlic chives, olive oil, and butter, sautéing for 2 minutes

 

• Add sliced calamari to pan and sprinkle lime juice over meat
• Sauté calamari in pan for 2 minutes until shrunken down 

 

•  Add wakame and sauté for 2-3 more minutes to mix flavors
• Remove from heat and serve:) 

 

The flavors are delicious! Light on my stomach but also filling. Protein from the calamari and wholesome vitamins and nutrients from the wakame. If you have trouble finding fresh wakame you can also used dried. I would just recommend soaking it in a little warm water for a minute or two before adding it to the calamari and sauce. 

 

First Oki Photo Sesh!

 When Nick and I arrived in Okinawa there was two things I couldn't wait to do, eat sushi and go to the beach! Now, I have consumed my body weight in sushi already and been to a few beautiful beaches combing them for unique shells and beach glass. This past weekend the weather finally cleared up and I was able to take my camera out and take some beautiful pictures. The beach is less than five minutes down the road from our apartment, basically in Mackenzie's back yard. The sun was shinning and the water was so clear!

 Moss covered rocks at the water line.

 Green sea glass.

 Shelling.

 

 

 There is a good bit of trash that washes up on the beach. I try to pick it up when I can.

 Brown sea glass.

 Mossy rocks at the water line.

 My water diamonds.

 

Washed up cat. Sorry I know this is pretty gross but literally there are cats everywhere.

This is just a fraction of the beautiful pictures I have taken! I love the beach and I love Okinawa. More photos to come:) I'll refrain from the dead cats next time haha

Painted Glasses

 Sorry I've been away for so long! I have exciting news though, I started a new job! I am the new Traumatic Brain Injury case manager at the big naval hospital in Okinawa. I have been quite busy shadowing the other case managers and attending orientations.

 But hey its march!! Well its almost over, but it's almost mine and Ev's birthday, along with Eli, my granny, Mackenzie, Courtney, and Laura.....Man that's a lot of birthdays

 For Mackenzie's prezzie I decided to try something new: painted wine glasses.

 I used gloss enamel, a fluffy paint brush, a plate for mixing, and painters tape to mark off the rim of the glasses where it touches your skin.

 First I taped off the glasses. You can tape it however you want depending on the pattern desired.

 I then took my paintbrush and dabbed on the green gloss enamel, mixing in the white/cream as I went up the glass to create an ombre look. For the bottom of the glasses, I painted the underside of the base of the wine glass so that it created a smooth, radiant shine and would not constantly come into contact with hands holding it. After the colored gloss enamel was dry (only about 30 minutes) I applied the clear gloss enamel coating, where I had already painted, to create a nice seal the protect the paint from chipping.

 

 I repeated those steps when applying the blue and cream gloss enamel. I then let the cups sit and dry for 4 days per instructions on the bottle. After four days, peel off all the tape, place the glasses upside down on a pan, setting them in the cold oven, turning the oven on bake at 350 degrees and baking the glasses for 30 minutes. After the time was up I turned the oven off, opening the oven door, and allowing the glasses to cool before handling them. Once cool they are done! It is recommended that you hand wash them just to keep the paint bright and scratch free.

 I can't wait to try this again! I will do a different pattern for myself. I'm thinking a palm leaf pattern or something similar:)

Round 1 Arcade and Sports!

This past weekend Nick and I were in need of an active date day! The weather here has been so gloomy and rainy the past couple of weeks so there hasn't been much to do outdoors lately. Luckily we found some stuff indoors! There is a website, Okinawahai.com , that has all different lists of things to eat, see, and do in Okinawa. We ended up picking Round1. The drive was only about forty minutes south of us (it takes FOREVER to get anywhere around here) so we went right after lunch. Thank goodness it was really easy to find!

 

It doesn't look too big on the outside, but the inside was HUGE! There is 7 floors filled with arcade games, bowling, roller skating, sports games, and a sports complex on the top to play team games.

 

 

Needless to say, we pretty much tried it all!

 

roller skating rink 

Huge bowling alley!

 

gun range

 

soccer game 

tennis game 

derby racing 

car racing 

DJ Nick 

Nick the drummer;) He was actually pretty good at this one

(another floor of arcades)

 

Seriously we played every game we could figure out (which was only about 10% of them)! There was this Taiko game (traditional Japanese drums) that was like rock band and you beat the drums along with the music, it was my Favorite! I also rode a bull for the first time, shot a bow and arrow, and beat Nick in a 1 on 1 soccer match (at least I feel like I did :) We ended our ultimate gaming sessions with a nice 30 minute massage in the chairs lined up above the bowling alley. Nice right?

 

 Nick was pretty comfy but I had a tough time figuring out the remote, so I just pressed the buttons!

 

 

All in all, our date day was a success! We fit in tons of activities in just a short amount of time to last us for a few more rainy weekends:)

 

Delicious Chicken and Bacon Pasta Salad

So, I had this leftover half a box of uncooked whole wheat pasta and two chicken breasts hanging out in the kitchen. I had been in the mood for something light tasting like a piece of summer, searched the internet and came across this pasta salad recipe http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/black-pepper-pasta-salad-50400000121364/ . Now I had a lot of fresh vegetables, chicken, and bacon instead of the prosciutto so I made a few changes to the recipe. It turned out amazing! Will definitely be making this again. Nick really liked it and I have leftovers for lunch tomorrow.  

 

(not my picture, I used spiral whole wheat pasta, and didn't add tomatoes)

 

Ingredients:

• 2 Chicken breasts cooked and chopped
• 1 pack of bacon
• 8 oz of uncooked pasta (elbow, spiral, or penne)
• 2 cups broccoli chopped
• 1/2 red bell pepper chopped
• 1/2 yellow bell pepper chopped
• 1/2 large onion chopped
• 6 Tbsp Caesar dressing
• 1 tsp grated lemon rind
• 1 Tbsp chopped chives
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 3/4 cup mung bean sprouts chopped 
• 1 1/2 ounces grated Romano or Parmesan cheese

Directions:

• Cook pasta according to package directions. Add broccoli during the last two minutes of cooking. When pasta is done, drain, rinse under cold water, drain again and set aside.
• Heat skillet over medium-high heat. Cook bacon till crisp and remove bacon from pan allowing it to cool. When cool, crumble bacon and set aside. While skillet is still hot, add chopped onions to pan with bacon drippings an cook on medium heat for two minutes until tender stirring frequently. Set aside.
• Combine Caesar dressing, lemon rind, chives, lemon juice, and rice wine vinegar in blender, blending well. Add pasta and broccoli, chicken, bell pepper, crumbled bacon, cooked onions, sprouts, and cheese in a large bowl. Pour dressing mixture over ingredients and toss. Cover and let pasta salad sit for 15-20 minutes allowing the flavors to mix. Serve!