An Extra Day, An Extra Post

Happy Leap Year! (We can say that, right? That's a thing?) I decided to take advantage of the extra day to (finally) blog a little--not to catch you up all the way by any means, but just a little snippet into our latest weekend adventure.

One of the nicest parts about being in Okinawa is that there seems to be something going on in the community almost every weekend--and even when there isn't, there are plenty of beautiful things to explore.

This past weekend we took advantage of Brian's time off and did some new-to-us exploring. We started Saturday with a trip to the farmer's market to pick up some local produce. We've always been fond of farmer's markets, but it is especially fun to pick up unusual products and to try to cook them at home. For example, this week we will try our hand at making fried goya chips out of this guy:

Goya looks kind of like a bumpy cucumber and is often described as a bitter melon. It definitely bitter on it's own (almost too much for my taste), but the fatty/salty frying process helps to cut that bitterness quite a bit and makes for a delicious treat. It's often used here in salads and sautéed into Okinawan dishes like goya champuru (a stir-fry of goya, tofu, egg, and Spam).

After the farmer's market we made our way over to the Yomitan Yachimun (pottery) Market. The hand-made pottery here is uniquely beautiful--often earthy and featuring ocean-themed designs or Shisa-- but can sometimes be a bit pricy. Luckily the pottery market/festival days bring together a bunch of local artisans who will deeply discount some of their pieces for public consumption, so we went to see what kinds of things we could find.

Some of my favorite pieces there! But still a little too expensive to buy right now.

We ended up choosing two handle-less tea cups, made in the same style but each of us picked our own favorite design. (Same same, but different ;)) Brian's has a fish on one side and an hook/anchor on the other; my cup has a fun repeating triangle design all the way around.

Sunday ended up being a gorgeous day--which was more than welcome after the rainy and gloomy days we've been experiencing lately--so we decided to go explore some parts up north in Nago. We ate some delicious burgers at Captain Kangaroo's (well worth the drive up) and then walked along the beach at Nago Bay. 

It was surprisingly empty besides some birds, my hermit crab friend, and us. We spent some peaceful reflection time there picking up shells, listening to the coral tinkle through the waves, and getting some good ol' Vitamin D.

Before heading back home we took a detour to the Nago Castle ruins in hopes to see a last glimpse of the cherry blossoms. Unfortunately most of the tress have already lost their flowers and have sprouted green leaves in their place, but we were able to see a few blooms on our hike up the hilly staircase.

The castle ruins are really just that--there isn't much left except parts of a shrine and some signage as to where things used to be. However, the view from the top is lovely and worth the trip up. We stopped a few times along the way just to look at the water and the sprawling city from up above.

We capped it off with an evening walk to get some dinner with Amy--delicious ton katsu, or fried pork cutlets--and some FroYo on the way back home. All in all, a pretty wonderful weekend indeed.