What would you like to do?

Japanese assistant arrived in Houston on Friday and will be staying until my daughter and I move to Tokyo (October 28th). I met her briefly when I picked her up from the airport, she seemed; nice, intelligent, educated, quiet, shy, insecure, intimidated but professional, she seems to have a different personality around my in-laws and daughter. So I sure it's me that intimidates her (I honestly lack people skills.) I have been tasked with getting her out on the weekends while she is here. I left her alone over last weekend because she seemed a little out of it (jet lag I guess). Today I asked her directly if there was anything she would like to do or see, she said she's fine at the hotel. This weekend I was planning to let her and daughter wander the mall/shop and I will cook BBQ, grilled shrimp, boudin, and crawfish. She seemed interested with my truck, had my daughter take pics of her standing by the tires (they are almost as tall as her) was thinking about taking them somewhere and letting them 4 wheel around and run over stuff (I don't know anyone who couldn't have fun playing in the mud with a truck.) Anyhow, any 26-ish Japanese women here care to tell me what you would like to do if you came to Texas. I don't want to drag her to a bunch of places she's uninterested in or make her more uncomfortable but sitting in a hotel or office for 2 months teaching a 15yo Japanese and learning about subsea equipment is also unacceptable.

Well, I'm not in my 20s anymore, but was once lol. What a Texan thing to say that you don't know anyone who couldn't have fun playing in the mud with a truck! :) The truck and its size must have been simply so unusual that she must have gotten interested... whether she finds it fun to ride around in it is another question - it sounds rather "wild" to almost everyone from Japan.

Does she have a car that she can get around on her own? When I was in my 20s and lived in the States by myself, the freedom to move about on my own, instead of having to move around in a group, was what I wanted, so that at my leisure I could go shopping to a mall or whatsoever.

Maybe because she is with your family all the time she might want some time off on the weekends. Or maybe she likes reading books, you never know. Why not see how this weekend goes with the shopping and the barbecue, and take it from there?

I guess the majority of the issue was me, because I hadn't really talked to her since the airport she was getting the impression that I �gwell I'm not exactly sure what the impression was but I'm sure it wasn't good.�h Anyhow, after everyone ate and talked she was more relaxed, seemed to have enjoyed herself, and produced a list of things she would like to see and do. It turns out that she is related to my in-laws. As for playing in the mud with a truck being �gwild�h I did get her to do it but she would not drive it on the road. Shopping with her and my daughter was an experience. I noticed those two act like two devious sisters when my father in-laws not around. Since I was talked into letting them take my beloved Shelby Mustang to the movies, the last I saw of them they were taking the top down. I guess everyone is happy and all is good now so thanks for the help AK.

Subsea equipment, offroading, and a shelby mustang!?! It sounds like you guys are having fun!

How about exploring the restaurant scene? My brother is a 20-something that just moved to Houston and he was saying there's a good variety of eateries to check out. He mentioned going to a place with "the best bbq in Texas" a couple hours away from his place. He said they had to get up at like 4am to make sure they got there in time because the place tended to sell out before 10am. I'll have to find ask him the name of the place, but then again I'm sure you have your favorite bbq place that you could recommend.

I think I'm the only one that actually enjoys the equipment, failure analysis and reengineering part. I may be grumpy and despise change but I actually enjoy what I do; figuring things out, learning new ways of doing things, and fixing things. Sadly when I get somewhere it's normally because something went wrong. The best BBQ in Texas is actually in my back yard �gevery one in Texas claims that". A lot of the restaurants in the city will actually boil there meat for a few hours and then smoke it for an hour or so to save time �gnasty�h. I actually have to start cooking around 5am in order to have it done by 7pm. Hill Country BBQ on HWY-6 between Houston and College Station is the best restaurant I know of for BBQ but I guess it all depends on personal taste. As for the Shelby Cobra 500gt Mustang, I wanted that car from the day I could first drive and finally saved the money to buy one new in 2007. I love every last one of the 580 supercharged horses under the hood but almost never drive it because I�fm afraid a bug may get stuck to it. I figured letting them drive it would be the experience of a lifetime, since it�fs for sale now and heavily insured I guess it doesn�ft matter anymore have fun with it while you can. It's on Houston Auto Trader if you brother is interested. It's the only ebony convertible with black satin racing stripes in the area well actually there are only 3 for sale in the area. I was actually planning to give it to my daughter when she graduated, so I guess selling it is my way getting a little revenge. Anyhow, everyone seems to hate me less and not be hiding from me at the moment so I better leave it at that.

Visit a few of the sights. I for one do not like it when I go somewhere and people take me to restaurants etc that are from where I just came from. That being said, maybe the local museum / cinema / mall / historical sites might work.
Texas has a lot of festivals so maybe one of these as well....I think the Ren Fest is starting soon. Good luck!

What is that?

Houston has a big Japanese population and the consulate is there. Call them and ask them for ideas. I could help you if you were in the DFW area, my wife is Japanese.
BTW Sachiko, it is a type of sausage.

Thanks, she seems to be content with the local museums, beach, movies, theater, food and other attractions. I guess once you been in the same place for so long you just don't notice things anymore. Since I lost my house and am quiet busy dealing with insurance (at least I don't have to mess with selling it now) I keep telling her there's really nothing left to do at the office she should take a tour while she is here; Grand Canyon, Vegas, Smithsonian, something. I have more than enough confidence she could do anything she wanted without my help. (I honestly don't know why she's a PA)

Boudin, I guess you could call it sausage; it varies (A LOT) regionally but in general it's a Cajun variation on Boudin blanc (French) it is basically rice, spice, and pork ground up and stuffed in a sausage tube. Traditionally made with pork liver, I make it with pork roast (hate liver), but I have had it with craw fish, shrimp, alligator, unidentified sea food parts, and left over BBQ brisket.

Ingredients:
•3 cups of water
•1 1/2 cups of white rice
•2 lb. of pork liver, or boneless pork roast if you (like me) don't eat liver
•2 medium white onions, Chopped fine
•5 green onions, Chopped fine
•½ cup minced parsley
•½ cup minced cilantro
•1-2 cloves minced garlic
•1 teaspoons cayenne pepper (or 2-3-4 depends on your taste)
•2 teaspoons of salt
•1 teaspoon of black pepper
•1 teaspoon of Tabasco (or 2-3-4 depends on your taste)
•Sausage casings

Instructions:
•Place liver or pork roast in a pot. Cover it with water, and bring it to a boil. Skim off the surface, lower the heat, and allow it to simmer till you can pull apart with fingers
•Drain meat. Save 1 cup of the liquid.
•Cook the rice in a rice cooker with the 3 cups of water, or according to the directions on the package and drain.
•Remove as much fat as possible from the meet. Use a food processor to chop the meat. Add the onions as you go along. Don't overdo this. You don't want to end up with a paste.
•Place the 1 cup of liquid from the meat that you saved into a large bowl. Add all of the ingredients including rice and meat, Blend it together until it is consistent, (NOT A PASTE) all ingredients should have about the same consistency as plain rice.
•Stuff the mixture into sausage casings.

Notes/Substations
•Can substitute meat with a leftover brisket, seafood, or anything I guess so long as it's not fatty or you remove the fat.
•Freezes well in casings, I normally only make it once or twice a year but in a large amount and freeze it. Can reheat anyway you chose thaw and; microwave, boil, BBQ, smoke, butter fry,
•Best if served with fresh chopped onions, cilantro, a squeeze of lime, and crackers in my opinion.
•Boudin Ball = Remove from casing role into balls about half the size of a baseball; batter, flower and deep fry.

Don't know how I got those characters in there, I just copied and pasted the recipe??? Well if anyone cares they will figure it out.

Yea, this is totally late, but just though people might be interest that the bbq my brother was talking about was Snows BBQ in Lexington. I tried the brisket when I was visiting the US the other day and it was pretty good.

http://www.snowsbbq.com/