Okinawa Hai!

CONTRIBUTED BY CALYN PAQUIN Just how many of you crave for a bowl of hot soba noodle soup in the middle of Okinawa’s hot summer weather? As much as I like them, unless I’ve been in a building with cold AC, that won’t be my first choice. Recently, the caterer for the school I worked [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY KRISTY WELLS Being stationed overseas has its challenges. One challenge is produce selection at the commissaries. Let’s face it – everyone eats some sort of fresh produce at some point. Everyone! I close my eyes and I return to our last stateside base (and when we leave here it will have been 5+ [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY CALYN PAQUIN Minami Exterior Buying fruits and vegetables makes me feel good because I don’t seem to feed my family enough of it. Since I went to this farmer’s market, I’ve been back every time I need to get fresh produce. Minami Veg 1 The sign says Nakagusuku Farm. Choku baijo which means [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY SARRA MCMILLAN Green Papaya Even though I have been living in Okinawa for 2 years, there are still moments where I am struck with fear in Japanese grocery stores, standing in front of vegetables that I couldn’t name, let alone know how to cook. OkinawaHai offers a great wealth of knowledge for deciphering [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY KELLY ZENKEWICH Last week, Kelly started her list of seven great ways to use up those millions of little shikwasa that can be found in every corner market on Okinawa.  To read the first four ideas, click HERE.  And now back to Kelly… 5: Shikwasa & watermelon mint daquiri shikwasa06 This recipe was [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY KELLY ZENKEWICH shikwasa01 In September at the supermarket I noticed shikwasas available in large amounts, for very low prices. Their harvest season is normally late summer but you can find them at lower prices into the fall. When looking at the large bags for sale I was confounded; how are they used in [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY SARAH FILLMAN Spicy Sauce Ingredients Inexpensive, delicious and fun! My husband and I tried some of the local sushi the other night at Sushi Zen, along the Sunabe Sea Wall. It was good, but sushi can get so expensive! SO, I decided to take a trip to small Japanese grocery and find some [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY JULIE WOOLERY One of the greatest things about living in Japan is that you don’t have to go to an expensive restaurant to eat good sushi… you can easily eat it at home!  Years ago some Japanese friends introduced us to temaki-zushi or hand-rolled sushi.   I could never remember the name; I [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY MEGAN PARKER One of my very favorite Japanese foods is yakisoba.  For one, it’s just a fun word to say.  Yakisoba, yakisoba, yakisoba!  Two, what’s not to love about it? It’s quick, easy, and tasty.  Choose your favorite meat, some yummy, fresh veggies, add some noodles and you’re good to go!  It’s also [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY LEAH MAGID At the ripe old age of 40, I finally started carrying a purse.  My previous reasoning for just jamming a wallet in my pocket (causing a need to carefully plan clothing assembly each day) was that I would just lose a purse.  It had happened before, back in my early twenties, [...]

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