How awkward I am!

The other day I went to a friend's house, and learned this new sweet. Sorry I don't know the name.
It didn't seem to be difficult to make it.


First, we put two oranges and water into a pot, and boil them for 30 minutes.
After that we drain the hot water, and we do the same thing twice.

 

 



After that, we slice them into rings.

And major the weight.

We add 60 or 70% of sugar of the weight to the pot.

And we simmer them without water for 30 minutes.

 



 

 

Then we dry them on the pat.

 

The taste is good, but how awkward I am!

What are good points to scold someone?

These days every one says it's better to praise than to scold. I understand it, every one is very happy to hear words to be praised.
Every thing has both sides of good points and bad points.

What are good points to scold someone?
If we were  small kids, when we  were scolded, we could understand what is right or wrong clearly.
It means, we, adults have to scold kids when they did wrong things.
If we were were teenagers, when we were scolded, we could find out our week points.
In this case, we, adults have to scold them  while  we have to encourage them.

While I'm writing this blog, I'm thinking when was I scolded recently?
When I see my daughters, we often have a quarrel, and they often complain about me. But I'm not scolded. On the other hand, I think I give a good advice to them, they might think they would be scolded.
Yuki also sometimes complains about me, but I'm not scolded. I'm me. On the other hand, I often complains about Yuki's daily chores, he might think he would be scolded. But, when I complain, Yuki sometimes changes his attitude to do daily chores. So it's not bad to complain.

I remembered when I was scolded. Yuki and I god in trouble for touching the panel of air conditioner at N's house.  It was completely our fault. I say again "sorry J&N".

Well, what difference is there between "scold" and " get in trouble". "Scold" hears more seriously.

TOMOMI's group exhibition

Since I updated this blog, one week has passed. This weekend Yuki and I went to TOKYO to visit  "Paper work exhibition" organized our elder daughter T.

It was a nice exhibition. This time we finally met Mr.I who is Turkey. When he was  in his 20's, he came to JAPAN, and stayed with us. And since this spring he has worked in Japan as an official. Now he is in his 40's. Of course he got promoted and we aged. Three of us visited T's exhibition, and four of us had lunch together.

 

On the other hand Ms.M is to return to GABON. She completed her Ph.D.at Utsunomiya university. So Yuki and I had dinner with her. Unfortunately she couldn't find a job here in Japan. So she decided to return to GABON. While she continues her research, she becomes a teacher at a university in GABON. It must be the best choice for her. Additionally she is going to marry with her fiance in a year. Congratulations!

 

In March, I had a lot of opportunities to meet various people. It was exciting, and talking with them made me rethink myself.  ---- I know no one is same. Every one has a different background. I know, I know. Though it's important to know verious life styles, it's sometimes difficult for me to adjust to them.

Last weekend

How was your last weekend?

This weekend, my elder daughter is going to hold a group exhibition in Tokyo.

Before going to see it, Yuki and I went to two art museums.

 

One is Utsunomiya Art Museum. They are holding an exhibition to introduce artists who lives in Utsunomiya. Some of them are our acquaintances, and used to be our daughters' teachers.

 

 

A few of them can earn their livings with their works, but most of them have another job to earn money, though they are called "a professional artist". And some of them sell their works mainly in Tochigi, and  a few of them ignore Utsunomiya as a market, sell their works abroad. So some of them are popular as local artists in Utsunomiya, on the other hand, a few of them are not known in Utsunomiya even though they are  a little bit famous abroad.

 

And we went to another museum, in OYAMA which is next to Utsumoyia city. It is KURUMAYA Art Museum.

 

 

The artists are active in Japan. One of them live in KANUMA which is also next to Utsunomiya. I didn't know about him. It means he isn't a local artist. (It might be popular in Kanuma.) You can see all works on this hompage.

 

All of works are very interesting.

It's a public art museum, so they don't sell their works, but the homepages of each artists are introduced.

Let me record them for myself.

Fresco by TSUJINO GOU: glass works  http://www.studio-freso.com

Misao-Yajima; plates misao330@gaia.eonet.ne.jp 

Toomoko Soda; hats   http://mimiyama-mishin.net

Flame ;lamps http://www.flame-product.com

AFLO+ ;accessory http://www.afloplus.com

LA+h by Otani Keiki: cloths http://lath-/ath.com/

M pattern ;furniture http://www.m-pattern.com/

Ayako Sano; accessory http://atelieromoya.jp/mb_aya.html

RYo Chohasi furniture http://ryo.chohashi.com/

Hajime Tamura; pottery  calm@v1pgmail.com

Kuri Botella; socks www.kuri-botella.com

Fuki+Fushikino l clothes  http://fijiifushikino.com

Akira Higashi; toys and sculptures. www.akirahigashi.com

Maho JunHarada; cups  http://sodo.jugem.jp

Morie Yorigami ; furniture yrgm11@gmail.com

Junko Yoshida ; glass http://metrocs.jp/n-crafts/

Coova; clothes www.coova.co.jp

Takashi Oyama glass living in KANUMA http://www.808glassworks.com

 

 

Indian feast

Last Sunday an Indian couple invited Yuki and me for lunch. They came to Utsunomya last spring. For them this winter must have been a very tough season.

We sometimes go to an Indian restaurant to eat just "curry and rice or naan, but it was the first time to visit an Indian family. They are vegetarians, so we were really interested in their foods.

Their main spices are salt, cumin, coriander, garam masala, turmeric and red chilly pepper.

They served beans curry,

 

 

The tast was very rich and delicious. Though I don't like something hot very much, I like it.

And the white one is yogurt -----(sorry I forgot the name.) It's sour and salty. We (Japanese people) tend to eat yogurt as a dessert. So for me it was very interesting.

The yellow one is fried potatoes and vegetables. This tasie is familier for Japanese.

And we ate them with chapatti. (not naan)

As a dessert, they served this white one. It's kind of rice pudding, but not so sweet. It's an intresting taste.

 

The most surprising thing is  Indian pickles.

They served three kinds of pickles. This one is mango pickle.

 

When I hear pickles, it sounds sour, but they are very salty.

Then I understood the feeling when foreigners were served UMEBOSHI or NATTO.

They were interesting taste, very salty.

I got some mango pickles to serve my friends. I'm interested in seeing how my friends will respond when I serve it.

 

 



A French boy came to stay with us.

Now I removed the HINA dolls from the shelf. Because it's said that if we keep decorating HINA dolls after March 3, the girls in the house will not be able to marry. I put things about Easter on the shelf.

Last week a French boy who is 19 came to stay with us.
He came to do his internship in a art craft workshop near my house. At night he joined my class.
He made crepe, and tuna mossue.

  So I taught him how to make OKONOMIYAKI. I hope he'll make OKONOMIYAKI in France. In France it might be difficult to get thick sauce, but they have brown sauce. Probably it suits to OKONOMIYAKI. Or they yous ketchup and mayonnaise.

 

I'll show you the rechip of crepe and tuna mousse.

 

tuna mousse

1 kg of tuna (drained)
• A small concentrated box of tomato
• 4 tablespoons of lemon mayonnaise (or mayonnaise + lemon juice)
• Box of liquid/fresh cream (little square box)
• 1 bag of jelly in Madeira (24g of salt jelly)
- First, put the jelly in a pan with a half of a water glass and mix (to heat with a small fire),
- With a mixer, mix all ingredients except the jelly,
- Then, add the jelly when it is more cold and mix a second time,
- At the end, put it in a charlotte mold tupperware (tupperware box),
- Put in your fridge and wait the next day,
- The next day, turn out it in a plate [and decorate it with lemon slices and parsley].
IMPORTANT : Make it the day before eating !

 

crepe

For ~25 (big) crêpes
– 500g of flour
– 200g of castor sugar
– 1 pinch of salt
– 4 eggs
– 60g of melted butter
– 1 liter of milk
– 1 pocket of vanilla sugar (if you do not have it, you can just put a little of vanilla extract)
– (You can also add 1 tablespoon of rum alcohol)
• Mix the flour, the salt, sugar and vanilla sugar (or vanilla extract)
• Add the beaten eggs (Mix the white and the yellow of egg together before to add at the first mix) and, add also
the milk
• Then, add the cooled melted butter
Advices :
# Mix with a whisk in order to obtain a homogeneous dough without lumps
# Let the dough rest a bit before eating
# Grease the pan with a paper towel oiled
# If the dough is too fat to be baked, you can add a little of water.
# (If you have a blossom orange extract, you can add 2 tablespoon of it)