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Welcome Grass Mats and Futons: Ryokan Stays in Japan
Nagano was our second stop out of Tokyo, and our first experience staying in a ryokan guest house. We found Chuokan Shimizuya Ryokan on Booking.com. With grass mats and sparse furnishings, it seemed huge in comparison to our city hotels. We took advantage of the baths, relaxed with tea in our room, used the window…
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Just In From the Country, Arriving in San Sebastian
I felt so at home out in the country with the horses and sheep and messy dog, that our arrival in San Sebastián was sort of a shock. We stepped off the bus near a large roundabout with a big fountain in the center, consulted our phones, and found we were just around the corner…
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Crema de Limón (Lemon Cream Recipe)
Our first visit to the town of Santander (capitol of Cantabria, Spain) was a quick one. Parking the 4×4 truck in an underground parking garage proved to be the biggest adventure, since we couldn’t bend the vehicle through the ramps. But once we stashed the car, we walked through the great Mercado de la Esperanza,…
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Once in a Lifetime, This is My Beautiful House
If you stop to think about it, moving into someone’s house for an extended amount of time and taking over the care and feeding of their animals, plants, house and garden while said owners are out of the country could be asking for trouble. Fortunately, we don’t give too much advance thought to these things.…
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Starting with the Stomach
There’s no good place to start when writing after a pause of several months and a transition from our latest spell in Spain to our current life in the Homeland. But eating and decision-making are always in play, so here I begin. This is an actual, real-time inventory of sweets in the Council Bluffs kitchen:…