Last weekend

Last weekend, "suddenly" my younger daughter and Akari came to my house and stayed one night with us.
On Saturday we had already have planed something,  -- dentist, car-shop, golf-practice etc.
So Akari went along with us on everything, except golf-practice. While Yuki was taking golf-practice we were at a park nearby.

 

Of course at night we ate meat. Though Akari is about 2 years old (she will become 2 years old this July), she "can" already eat usual "meat".

 

And on Sunday

 

It was a sunny day, so we did a kind of BBQ at the garden.

 

And we went to a bookstore nearby.

On the day a man who is a son of a nearby electric appliance  shop owner hold his live performance.

He is probably in the middle of 30's.

As a neighbor we went to see "him".

 

As I expected some neighbors came, but --- unfortunately not so many audience.

We were going to listen to his live, but the sound was too heavy for Akari to listen to it, so we went to a book store and spent a time for a while.

 

And -- my younger daughter and Akair came back to TOKYO with these pre-cooked dishes made by me .

So I cooked "our" pre-cooked dishes on Monday. cooking, cooking, cooking, it was my Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

 

And the cooking is continued ---. I'll update another cooking  on my next blog.

 

In TOKYO -2- my liesure time

After I see my mother off at a subway station, I went to a place I've wanted to.

This is the Peninsula Tokayo hotel.

In this hotel they sell Lamington whose origin is Australia, or someone sais New Zealand.

I knew this sweet in a picture book "Possum Magic" . The sweet is sold only at this hotel, so I've wanted to come and get it.

And the café in the hotel is also famous for all-day live at café time.

So I had a good herbal tea listening to the piano & violin performance.

(Of course it costs very expensive, can you guess how much is it?)

Then I dropped by a famous bakery which sells only SYOKU-PAN (a loaf of bread? a sandwich loaf)

 

Fortunately I got this number ticket, and waited in a line for 20 minutes.

Here it is. The loaf was too hot to keep the shape until I got home. From Tokyo it took about 3 hours to my house.

Because I took a local train and bus to save my money.

I had a wonderful leisure time.

In TOKYO -1- with my mother who is 80 years old

This past Tuesday I went to Tokyo to see my mother and take her --- to a place.

 

Before taking the aimed place we dropped by here.

Do you know this place?

Since April it has been open to the public. It is GEIHINKAN, the State Guest House.

It seemed not to be so far from YOTSUYA-station, actually we can see it from the train platform at hand.

However it was  a little bit far for my mother who is 80 years old.

Moreover  though we see the garden for free, to enter the main house it costs 1000 yen per person and we needed to wait for more than 30 minutes because many people were waiting.

The aim of the today was not to visit there, so we just saw the garden and went to the "destination".

Anyway, if you are interested in the State Guest House, check the HP. It is not always open.

 

Our aim of the day is to go to a gallery in GINZA MITSUKOSHI department store.

My daughter's work is exhibited with other's works.

The them of this art exhibition was "rose".

 

So she made rose with Japnaese paper.

(Unfortunately this time it seemed not to attract any buyers.) 

 

And we went to "the real destination", it means --- to eat TEMPURA for our lunch.

In the department store, at a restraint we can eat TEMPURA sitting at the bar. So the Tempura chef serves fresh tempura as soon as he cooks one.

This is Anago-tempura.

The long thin one is a bone of Anago. (Anago is conger?)

 

After eating several kind of tempura, rice is served to finish up. BUT not just rice, we can choose TEMPURA-don, TEMPURA-soup rice with green tea, or mixed TEMPURA and Rice

 

This is Tempura-soup rice with green tea. We eat it after poring green tea.

We had a good lunch. Then I took my mother to DEPACHIKA.
DEPHACHIKA are department store basements, filled with high-quality food shops.  This is GINZA-MITSUKOSHI department, which is a topnotch department store. The quality is very very high and --expensive. Do you know why are these shops in the basement? One of the reasons is that, in big cities depachika connect to subway stations. so it's really easy to access from the station to food shops.
Actually after her shopping, she went to the subway station directly with lots of bags, and went home.

Then I enjoyed my time in Tokyo.

A letter from Akasaki Wednesday Post office

 

It is Wednesday, today.

Last Wednesday, I got this letter from AKASKI-POSTOFFICE".

Why?

 

 

It "was" a kind of event.

 

I'll try to explain this art event in English. (Unfortunately they don't have their English site.)

 

AKASAKI-POST OFFICE is not a post office. It is the just name of a building.

It is near the seashore in KUMANOTO in KYUSYU (Fortunately it didn't have any damage from the sever earthquake in April.)

The building used to be an elementary school.  There students used to swim in the see, or fish from the windows of the hallways. In 2010 it was closed because of deceasing the number of students.

However some people wanted to do use the place for people to communicate.

 

So, on Wednesdays they opened it as a post office and started to accept letters from anyone who joined their event.

If someone write a letter about their Wednesday story and send the letter to the post office, the post office becomes an mediator, and sends another letter  to someone (of course this person also sent their letter to the post office).

So someone get someone's letter on "Wednesday"  (the post office manages to do it) from someone and knows someone's Wednesday story.

 

I hope you understand it.

This event was finished last March.

I knew this event at the end of March, so I was wondering whether my letter would be accepted or not.

However my letter would reach to the post office within a time limit of it.

Because I got the letter from someone.

So probably someone got my letter on a Wednesday.

 

The letter was written by a woman who is in her 70's, I knew it in the letter.

She wrote her calm Wednesday, no complain, just watching her Wednesday was written in the letter.

What a calm letter it is.

 

In Japanese HOKKORI-SHITA.

 

The letter came last Wednesday, but I wanted to tell you this calm  and happy thing on Wednesday.

 

 

Lazy Sunday

It is Sunday, and it's almost around 4PM.

Today I decided to be lazy. However as Yuki woke up at 5:30, I also woke up.

Yuki went to play golf from early morning --- and --

 

I decided to be lazy, it means I don't make any plans to go out.

And I decided to do some things which come up mind.

 

First --- I noticed some eggs are left, so I tried to make smoke eggs with my quick smoke pan. HOWEVER --- one idea came up.

 

 

 

I went out the garden and picked some rosemary and fennel.

I made special dip-sauce and

 

 

I soaked tongue into it --- for about five hours.

It was the first thing I did in the morning.

I cleaned the rooms, organized gardens -- and

 

I tried to make two-layered tea.

 

 

 

I knew if the specific gravities of two kinds of liquid are different, when they are mixed (slowly, and softly) , they became a two-layered tea.

 

However --- I failed.

 

 

But it was tasty. I used  Mango-habanera syrup instead of sugar,
and I made lemon juice with honey.
I thought the specific gravity of lemon juice would be heavier.
It was right. My mistake is adding hot water into honey  to dissolve honey
Next time I'll make it completely.

While I was cleaning rooms, I also made refresher for shoes and mats using soda powder and some aroma oil.

 

 

After having lunch, it was time to  dry the meat.

 

In the afternoon, I made a leaflet of my club in English, and checked my house budget.

 
 
 
 
 

 

In 10 minutes I'll start smoke.

 

I hope I can make it.

 

I did it. A little bit salty. No problem.

I wonder what time Yuki comes back?

 

Thursday

Now I'm in my 50's. To round off the number of my age  --- I'm around 60, so I'm called "ara-kan(Kan means 60 years old) generation.
of course Yuki is the same.
I don't know until when he continues works  " for" me. We try to save money for our retired life, however these days it's difficult to use our money for my granddaughter, our hobby, and to visit Tokyo to see our mothers (and Akari)

What I can say, is I've started to count years when I close my English class.
Now having English classes is a kind of my work to improve the quality of our life and gives me energy after our daughters' leaving here, and give an opportunity to interact with young people.

So at the same time I've started to think about my life in my  60's. I focus to make or join a local community to enjoy something through English.
Not to learn, not to teach --- just enjoy something using English.

For example, the other day I held a meeting to make handmade postcards with HAIKU.
Most conversation was Japanese, but we try to translate our HAIKU (the shortest poem with three lines in the world) in English and send them into foreign countries.
(I'll hold it again, so if you join this event, please let me know it. I don't open your comment.)

I'm thinking to hold a temporary meeting, not a regular meeting.
For senior people it's difficult to keep the schedule, they or we sometimes get sick, or sometimes to go to their family to help them, nurse them, or  --- something.

To continue a temporary meeting, I need one-day members? temporary members?  -- so I want many local people to know that I organize such an event.
----

So I went to ask to put a brochure on the bulletin board at the community center.
They usually accept brochure of meetings which are not commercial, and are holed at a commuty center. So I thought it would be difficult.
---however, they accept it/

I don't know whether I get call from someone or not. Anyway it is the first step to do something I can do in this local area.

 

 

And after the talks, I dropped by at a café and had lunch for myself:

And --- I dropped by at a garden shop, bought some seedlings and made this container.

From the evening my lesson started.

 

It was my Thursday.

A private rose garden and rose jam

The other day I visited a friend'a garden, and I also vvisit anoternfreidn's garden

The friend, she, is into roses, and her husband also is into fruits. So not only roses  there many fruit  flowers,like blureberies, oranges, YUZU citron, and others  in the garden. 

Of course the garden is beautiful, however The main object to visit there is not to appreciate the beautiful garden, I visited there to pick roses and make jam.

They grown edible roses without using pesticide.

I got these. The pink one is delicious, but the color is too light.

The red one is a little bit bitter,but the color is very vivid red.

So I mixed them.

I boiled them about 15 minutes,and added pectin,

Here it is .

The red comes from just roses. Can you believe it.

 How wonderful the day was!

School lunch at cafe

If you know about Japan, you've heard about school lunch. At most of elementary school, and public junior high school, school lunch is served every day.

When I was an elementary school children, especially when I was in the first and second grade, the school lunch used to be ---- not so tasty. I hate "powdered skim milk". --- Have you had one?

And when I was in the third grade, usual milk appeared, and ---  sometimes coffee-tasted milk, fruit-tasted milk were served. I would look forward to them.

 

And the taste of school lunch is getting better, better --- and is really improved. Every kids are looking forward to school lunch, of course there are some students who don't like it.

 

And I don't know why, anyway these days "school lunch" is focused. In my city a café which is supported by our city started to serve school lunch, every Tuesday.

I went to have it.

Here it is.

The menu of the day is beef-bowl ( rice and tasted-beef are served separately, and we put tasted-beef on the rice by ourselves.), salad, miso-soup.

Usually at school milk is also served, however, the place is café, so milk is omitted.

 

 

 

 

I managed to come there, so I didn't drink coffee there. I "managed" to go another café to have "delicious coffee".

 

 

Can you see the cost?

The usual coffee is served at 300 yen, and espresso is served at 150 yen, and AMERICA-NO (at the café, it is the name) which means espresso mixed with hot water is served 150 yen.

==== I ordered of course AMERICA-NO.

 

We call such type of coffee American, which means thin coffee with mixed hot water, or light roasted coffee. It depends on the café.

 

 

Sunday

Now, it's already in the middle of this week.

This Sunday, Yuki and I went downtown again.

 

This time our citizen orchestra held their regular concert which is hold twice a year.

There are probably three citizen orchestra in our town.

For us it was the first time to listen to their performing.

 

 

 

By the time the concert started, the hall had been filled. The fee was 1000yen per person.

It was not so high,  in fact  the concert was wonderful than we expected.

 

On the day there were many events downtown.

We dropped by "cocktail festival".

 

 

Each glass, dish was 500 yen. Not so bad.

And a band Yuki's friend joins in played their performance.

 

Unfortunately  I get drunk easily, so while Yuki was listing to the live concert, I took a rest at a café drinking coffee and cake.

 

Then we went back by bus. ( Of course we went there by bus.)

 

Concert tickets cost 2000 yen,

cocktail festival cost 2500 yen.

my coffee& cake cost 390 yen.

And bus fair was 1000 yen.

 

Not so bad.

 

Current Japanese snack for high school students

The other day a French boy who is 18 years old came to my house, so suddenly I called on my high school students and hold a welcome party .
And I told them to bring your favorite Japanese snack.
These are like this,

Rice crackers, chocolate with green tea taste, cookies, KINOKONO-YAMA chocolate for adults (it's difficult to explain it. KINOKONO-YAMA chocolate is very very very popular chocolate snack for kids, the shape looks like mushrooms which is KINOKO in Japanese. And the chocolate is usual milk chocolate, but these days a new one was released for "adults". the chocolate is a little bit better, and the mushroom stem is  a crisp pretzel (traditional one is a biscuit), Japanese gummi candy and --

 

 

dry squid with vinegar taste. This has a long long --long histry. Yuki used to eat it as his snack.

This time I know it has a CM song.

 

 

 

If you are interested in it, I'll send one to you!!!!!

Making HAIKU and post cards

The day before yesterday  I hold an event at my house. It was "making Haiku in English and  a post card".
Three ladies came.

I served sweet black lentils which I made the day before yesterday to visit the garden of my friend, and, spiced mango jam my friend sent. Perfect! 

Every one made HAIKU

---- Haiku is the shortest poem in the world. It has only three lines and in Japanese it has 5, 7, and 7 syllables. In these lines people feel the poet's ideas and imagination. There is one important point about Haiku, it usually has KIKO, a season word.

KIKO is typical of Haiku. KIKO often expanded the reader's imagination.

There are my HAIKU.

Up up up   A Ferris wheel goes up   over the frying carps.

 

(People raise carp streamers to celebrate Japanese children day in May)

 

Thanks  Here is a strawberry with "very"

(Happy Mother's day)

 

At the garden   Enjoy soft breeze  With homemade rose pie

 

 

I sent these cards to some of my friends in foreign countries.

If you want such cards from me, please give me a comment.

 

visitng the garden of my friend

One of my friend, she is into gardening. 7 years ago she retired earlier, though she is as old as I. Then she has started "reorganizing " her garden which used to be organized by her mother-in-law. U fortunately her mother-in-law passed away a few years ago. (It means my friend's nursing task finished at the same time). And from next year she holds "open garden" for spring and summer.

She called me so I visited there with the woman who lives next to my house.
The neighbor is 10 years older than I, but she is a good person and (I think) we have kept a good relation ship since I came here about 30 years ago.
When I was in the 20's , 30's and 40's, she always helped me. Now I tried to give some information to enjoy her senior life.

So I decided the day as "enjoying the day".
In the morning she came to my house and cooked for our friend whom we were going to visit.

I simmered black lentils with palm sugar and coconut powder and added some cardamom.
For us, it was the first challenge,--- and "perfect".

Next we baked this which is called "rose pie" using sliced apples and pie dough.

And we had lunch by ourselves at each house. (To tell the truth I needed to take a nap for a while.)

And in the afternoon, we visited the garden.

 

And three of us had a good tea time.

What a relaxing and calm day it was!