Mail From Japan

I love when the mailman comes. I know it's juvenile to get all excited when I hear the clunk of the mailbox lid as it opens, but I can't help myself. Most of the time I get what everybody else gets - bills, but some of the time it's good stuff like products for review, birthday cards or packages from friends.

A few weeks ago I got the "good" kind of mail - a package full of goodies from my friend Jodie in Japan. She had told me about a few cookbooks she no longer wanted and let me know she'd be sending them. Well, I'm not one to say "no" to a cookbook and I've had friends send others as well, so I waited excitedly for my package.

When it first showed I thought it looked odd - it was packaged in a bag from the Japanese postal service. Not a box like we'd send from here, but a large shopping type bag, really neat.

The surprise came when I opened the bag and found more than cookbooks! Take a gander at all Jodie packed in there:



Look at all that stuff! Four really great Japanese cookbooks, tons of chopsticks in all sizes, little key chains in all sorts of colors with little panda faces on them, a Hello Kitty play mat and containers, two packages of curry mix, two packages of some other mix (still no clue, I made it and it was awesome, but I don't really know what it is) and two bamboo sushi mats.

The kids were so excited as I unpacked everything and they immediately started picking out key chains and arguing about who would get the Hello Kitty and Thomas chopsticks.

I'll have to start making some things from the cookbooks and sharing the recipes, but for now I'm reading and enjoying all those chopsticks. Thanks, Jodie!