I often think that we have lived a more healthy lifestyle because we live in Japan.  First of all, we exercise more. Not like "go to the gym where we have a membership dressed in stylish workout clothes and pump iron" exercise, although that is always a good idea. I mean we are active. We need something at the store? We hop on our bicycle and ride 5-10 minutes to a shop, purchase the needed item put it in our bike basket and then ride home. Even though we have a car, we rarely do errands in it as it is faster and easier to take our bicycle and more do-able to find a parking spot for our two-wheel, rather than four-wheel, transportation. So life in Japan keeps us moving and each time we spend more than a few months in the U.S. we find our growing girth sluggishly reminding us it's time to head back to Japan. 

So thanks Japan for keeping us trim...well, trimmer and our heart healthy....well, healthier. 

I also think we eat better in Japan. Not better in the sense of "Crispy Cream Donuts and In-and-Out hamburgers" better (this of course is the "better" we engulf in very happily while home) but the better I am referring to is healthy-better. We aren't too tempted by food around us (well besides sushi and ramen...but I never heard of raw fish and thin noodles in some salty soup on the bad-for-your-body list). If we want something really tasty, like cookies or cake, we usually have to make it. This of course makes the above happen (you know, hop on the bike to buy the ingredients...pedal, pedal, pedal...you get the idea). We also don't eat a lot of processed or frozen food because we have to make it ourselves. This includes a lot of soups and breads as well as sweet snacks like granola bars. It just isn't available. So if we want to eat it, then we have to make it.

So thanks Japan, for keeping our tummies healthy, well, healthier; with fewer preservatives and additives. And lots of homemade food from fresh ingredients in our kitchen which overflows on to our table and into our lives. 

             Sue's Fall Pumpkin/Kabocha Soup

2 cups of water (about 470ml)

1 to 1 1/2 cups of stewed pumpkin or winter squash (in Japan we only have winter squash)

(Plus about 1/4 cup of pieces of cooked, bite-sized pumpkin chunks)

about 1/2 a clove of garlic minced 

about 1/4 a cup of finely chopped onion

1 Tablespoon of fresh cilantro (optional)

1 Tablespoon of fresh parsley (not optional)

2-4 chicken bullion cubes (depending on size and taste) (I have grown to like the Japanese bullion best!)

about 1/4 cup of fresh heavy cream and 1 Tablespoon of flour

Sauté onions in butter then add garlic and sauté a bit more. Add all ingredients except cream and flour. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Stirring often. Whisk fresh cream and flour in a bowl until smooth. Pour into soup. Simmer another 20 minutes stirring often. (Whisk soup a little while simmering to make sure there aren't any lumps.)  Then add the bite-sized pumpkin chunks. Simmer for another 5 minutes or so. Salt and pepper to taste. And enjoy!!