Another Round of Bursts!

Here I go again - summarizing our time here in bursts!

DINNER IN A BARREL

Yes. This is a real restaurant on Okinawa. It's so big there are two stories inside!

A snapshot of some of the interior decor...

Big smiles for a big meal!

A group of us went out for Drucie's and Jose's birthdays - the food was fantastic (it's an Izakaya, meaning they serve a lot of small plates which equals more variety!) Check out this gorgeous cake one of their friends brought!

Birthday boy!

Fun times... in a barrel, LOL.

LOCAL CUISINE

So, a lot of the homes around our house have been converted into cafes. They are the cutest, coolest things ever! As you can see in the background of these pictures, we are basically eating in what used to be a living/dining room area and the little tiny kitchen is used to make all different sorts of food! 

This particular restaurant is called Exit Cafe and it's literally a 3rd of a mile from our house, so the Chauvin's and Blume's came over and we made the short treck up the hill!

So homey, nothing fancy. But the view is overlooks the Bay and the menu was so diverse! I can't believe they are able to produce so much variety out of that tiny kitchen space!

Hard to see in the lighting, but this was a buttered oyster dish.

Italian seasoned scallops - delicious! The other folks ordered chicken, pizza, pasta... all island Japanese inspired. Delicioso! 

Such a fun evening with wonderful friends!

CAFE and POTTERY

Courtney alerted us to a restaurant she had heard about on the other side of the island called Cafe Doka Doka. When I say other side of the island, I literally mean a 10 minute drive from our house, since we live on the narrowest part of Okinawa. Anyway, it overlooked the China Sea and was in this amazing log cabin!

What a view, right?!

The owner is also a potter, so the cafe serves as a store for his wares as well. All of the dishes and cups were homemade and absolutely beautiful!

Delicious dessert and even better coffee!

Some of the pottery for sale...

I loved ALL OF IT. I cannot believe I was able to walk out of there without making a purchase (Joel told me I will need to save up a lot of fun money to be able to afford the sets I want, LOL!)

I REALLY like the crab design on the top right!

Just neat stuff... I am IN LOVE with the beachy, rustic style!

THE MARTINS CAME TO TOWN!

Last but not least, our good friends, the Martins from Iwakuni, came to Okinawa for a vacation and they MADE us go on the famous Ferris Wheel! I was afraid it would give me a crazy headache, but it moved so darn slow, I don't think my head ever realized we were in motion, LOL. Thank you, Jenny, for the peer pressure to go on the ride! The views were amazing!

We miss our weekly dinners with you guys!!

Too much fun - y'all come back, now, ya hear? :)

Okinawa is an amazing place and we are so very grateful for all of the fabulous friends we have to share it with!! Stateside peeps, come on over!!!