Adventures in photography, food, and moving

Yesterday was a real winner.

Tomomi is trying to get her learner's permit, but at the same time we're exploring the possibility that her sister, Izumi, can use power of attorney to get Tomomi an international permit in Japan. So Tomomi needs license photos.

Tomomi might also be taking the kids back to Japan for 2-3 months this fall/winter. Noah and Tomomi have their passports, but Minami doesn't. So Minami needs passport photos.

On Saturday, we went to the local photo shop at about 4:40. They were supposed to be open until 5:00, but, well, you can probably guess the rest.

So, we went back Tuesday... only to find out that sometime between Saturday and Tuesday the shop had changed its hours: they're now closed Sun-Tue.

So, we went back Wednesday... only to find out that the owner doesn't take kids' passport photos. Apparently, our brilliant State Dept. has recently decided that a single parental finger found holding up a child for a photo is no longer acceptable (it was when Noah got his passport in the summer of 2005), and the owner won't put little kids on the stool by themselves because of the liablity issues.

So, we went to AAA. I know, I know. We should have gone there to begin with. But the thing is, the closest one is more than 30 minutes from the house. The closest one to the Elkins Park Library, where we went to get some books for Noah and Minami to read in the car while we drove to AAA, turns out to be way up the Roosevelt Blvd. Way up.

In the end, I simply put Minami on my left shoulder and ducked out of the way, and the AAA photographer snapped a suspiciously blurry photo—the kind that gets used later on the local news as a mug shot. Hopefully the Feds won't give me any trouble about it.

All this running around meant that I got back home much later than I was expecting. 4:00, to be exact. And I had a meeting with Waggener Edstrom (in Oregon) at 5:00 that I was only partially prepared to prevent for, and for which the parameters had been changed rather significantly from my initial request anyway.

In the end, the meeting went fine and we got the pictures, so I guess there's nothing to complain about specifically.

The movers are a different problem. I've been trying to tell myself that they did a lot less damage to our stuff (and thus far to nothing of great financial or sentimental value) than the difference between their estimate and the closest competitor. Still, the crushed desk fan and dented wheel/rim on my new 10-speed are certainly not making me happy. Hopefully the wheel can be trued and I can ride my bike without too much inconvenience.

On a brighter note, I did ride the bike to test it out today. I took it to the PO and the produce wholesaler in Glenside, which are conveniently located across the street from each other and can be accessed almost entirely by residential streets. The market, Produce Junction, is great! It's nice to have it so close, because we can do big shopping at the supermarket and Asian market on the weekends when I have time, and limit ourselves to the produce market during the week. (There's also a Wawa within walking distance in a pinch.)

I got 2 lbs. each of red bell peppers, Japanese eggplant, and zucchini, and two organic, ready-to-eat mangoes for $11.50. The organic mangoes are 2/$1.50! I wonder how long mango season lasts...

I also made kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) bread tonight. Very simple, and very good. The recipe is all in grams, otherwise I'd post it here. I'll put up the link for the Japanese readers in the audience, though.

Well, back to work...