Table tobics

Yesterday I attended a Toast Master meeting. There I was in charge of table topics.

When autumn comes, we hear or see these four expression here and there, autumn reading, autumn for art, autumn for sports and autumn eating. As you guess, I "love " eating, though not so much, and don't like "cooking" very much.
We'll focus on autumn eating.

The first theme is, what food do you thing of immediately when you hear the word of autumn?
The second theme is, do you have any food you tasted first for these five years?
The last theme is , what food would you like to serve when a foreigner guest stays with you, and the foreigner comes to Japan for the first time?

Some members made a speech about the themes.
I'll write my speech.
About the first theme, it's vine of sweet potatoes. Because this year I knew and ate for the first time vine of sweet potatoes.
About the second theme, it's rhubarb, this year I planted some rhubarbs, and got delicious jam.
About the third theme, actually I'm going to have two guests from Mongolia next moth, I'll take them to eat GYOZA (pot stickers) and cook OKONOMIYAKI for them.

I'd like to hear your comments. What do you think of them?

tiny things

I got this toy? gadget? from a friend. Do you know that what it is? It's a toilet. When the lid opens, a small face goes up and start to sing, of course in Japanese. Probably it sings "I did a huge poo, I'm refreshed, It'll be a nice day today." Until now when students open the entrance door, they find it, they open the door and burst into laughter.

I found a mantis on the gate. Now it is getting cold.Unconsciously I talked to my self "Are you OK?"

Not a tiny thing, they are long things. They a vine of sweet potatoes. Did you know that they are editable. I didn't know it. A woman who is into natural life told me. I cooked them into KINPIRA ; I grilled them quickly with soy sauce and SAKE. YUMMY!

Yuzu Kosyou

Once a year I introduce "the" yuzu kosyou, my friend makes.

Also this year the yusukosyou appeared. Thanks of everyone, her yusukosyou is in the market, though only in this area.

This year it costs 500 yen, it has gone up a little, but it can't be helped. I hope all yuzu kosyou will be sold out.

Well, yuzu is kind of citron, and kosyou means pepper.

My friend plants yuzu and red pepper with her friend in their farm.

They make two types, one is green using young red pepper , the other is red using ripe red pepper.

My husband and I love them. They suit to every dishes; grilled fish, grilled meat, something simmered, soup, and of course rice balls.

Today I simmered GANMODOKI (deep fried tofu) with soy sauce and dashi, and I put the yuzu kosyou on it a little.

YUMMY!!!!

Foods in fall

Now we are in fall. It is a good season to enjoy "foods", "art", and sports. (in my dictionary there is no word of sports).





I made Halloween cookies with kids.

I made persimmon jelly for my mother. The day before yesterday she came to stay with us.

I made persimmon jelly with KANTEN (vegetable gelatin) , made rice puddings, and bought ZUNDA (the green one, it made from green peas). And put them into a cup. What do you think of it? Does it looks suitable sweets in fall?


She loves persimmons and ZUNDA.





And finally we got "the " fresh caramel. Probably last year suddenly fresh caramel appeared in the market, and in a short time it is caught a big hit.


My mother-in-law traveled HOKKAIDOU, she couldn't buy it. I went to a department store in this city, but unfortunately I couldn't buy it. Every time they were sold out.





Yesterday by accident we got a chance to get this sweet. (We went to see red and yellow leaves in a mountain, but the road was really congested with traffic, so we gave up to go up mountains. So we got to an outlet earlier than our schedule.

Make meals for myself

The other day I read interesting reports.

The first one is "be impressed by something 10 times a day"

I'm a negative person, I like to quibble, or I like logical thinking ( I know quibbles and logical thinking are completely different.)

Anyway, I agree to it, though it might be difficult to find out 10 impressed things, but try 3 impressed things. And I want to note them, so I went to buy a small notebook at 100 yen shop(1 coin shop)

It's a cute note book, isn't' it? It's 100 yen. ( This is the first thing I was impressed.)

But why can such a cute thing make at 100 yen? --- I don't think about it, I'm not familiar with economy problems.

And another interesting report is that

"Though I was really depressed when my son left home, feeling "no one needs me", I could change the thinking way. Until now I made meals for my family, thinking the health of my family, now I make meals to enjoy my food-life. Do you know that red, yellow, and green foods make you cheer up."

I'm also a simple person. so I made carrot GYOZA. red carrots, and green NIRA.

Beautiful! Healthy! Yummy! (I was impressed 4 times.)

P.S My husband said "they are beautiful, good taste, healthy, but I want to eat usual meat GYOZA at the same time."

October starts

From tomorrow October starts. It means -- "winter" comes.

Now I've already had a slight cold, I'm easily effective by cold, on the other hand my husband still wears short-sleeved polo shirt. So, most people say " it is a nice weather".

It cant' be helped, it is what I am.

What event comes to mind immediately from October? Falling leaves? Halloween? Halloween is getting familiar in Japan. Here and there we can see pumpkin ornaments. At some cities they hold an event "making Jack-o'-lanterns" using American pumpkins. ( It means not Japanese pumpkins, usually Japanese pumpkins are hard and the outside is green. These days some farmers grow American pumpkins for Halloween.)

So I also put some ornaments on the entrance hall. Now my daughters are not with us, but students comes to my house, so I'm able to enjoy Halloween with them.

Can you see the net bag? It is a work. You put into the bag and make any shape as you like.

I call it "a ghost bag", though the artist doesn't agree with this name.

I put some books in my classroom. What books do you recommend on Halloween?

table topic -2- my memorial thing in autumn about spots

A member talked about SYOUSENKYO, where it was the first place to visit with her husband (she married this spring.)
Well, for me where's the memorial spot in autumn?
Probably it is NIKKO. As I wrote, NIKKO is the famous place for the beautiful colorful leaves. There is a famous steep hill, it is called "IROHA-ZAKA".

There are two hills, one is up-hill, and the other is down-hill. All up there is 46 or so corners that are named after the Japanese characters of the language ; I, Ro, Ha, Ni--(46 hiragana) - kind of ABC(26 letters). Now we use A,I, U, E, O (36 hiragana?)-- but until MEIJI area we used I, Ro, Ha,---.)

IROHA-ZAKA is the first place I went to drive by myself. I got my driver license when I was in the college. Autumn is the best season to drive, and NIKKO is the enough distance to drive from TOKYO. So I drove there and next to me my husband was sitting holding a hand side brake.

Now we are alive, so we got home safely. Since then more than 20 years passed. At that time we couldn't image we would live in TOCHIGI, and driving car is necessary to our life. (In Tokyo driving car is not a necessary thing.) I commuted to the company by car, I pick up my daughters by car. Fortunately I have a gold license even though I'm short-tempered.

table topic -1- my memorial thing in autumn with children

Last weekend I attended at a meeting of Toastmasters Club. A few months have passed since I attended last time. So I was really nervous to tell something in English. But unfortunately or fortunately I was asked to make a short speech about "my memorial thing in autumn with children".

I know, my speech was really bad, so to make my speech better, let me make(write) a speech(diary) here.

As you know, now my daughters are independent of us though not economically. So for me everything that we had in autumn when my daughters lived together is memorial thing.

The word of autumn reminds me colorful leaves at first. To collect colorful leaves in NIKKO was a kind of job in autumn. Correctly we went to pick clear and perfect colorful leaves to NIKKO. NIKKO is really famous for its autumn view with colorful leaves.
Why? It must be your question. They enjoyed making something with them -- drawing pictures with the leaves, making bookmakers, or just watching them as decorations.
I think whey they were in the kindergarten, they drew pictures with colorful leaves. Since then they were interested in making something with colorful leaves. So we went to NIKKO not to see colorful leaves but also collect them.
During the season there is an enormous traffic man in NIKKO. So to escape from it we used to leave home at 4 or 4:30. It means we could get home at 8. So since we got home we used to go to bed again.
Now I seldom get up before five, or I can say I don't need to get up such an early hour in the morning.

So I can say, getting up before dawn in autumn is my memorial thing in autumn.

Additionally this summer my husband got up before dawn on weekends to start golf at the break of day. (The fee of dawn hours is really inexpensive, and unfortunately they have such an inexpensive plan only in the summer season.)

fighting with a big pumpkin

A friend brought this big pumpkin to me. Though in your country it is a normal size, in Japan it is huge. It was too big to cut with a knife. So I cut it with a saw. Next I cut the hard skin (not peel), and put them into a big pot. Put some water, SAKE, and sugar and turn on the stove. A few minutes later it was soft and made paste.

Two- thirds of it, I put into some small prastic bags subdividedly. Using the rest of it I cooked soft pumpkin cookies and fried pumpkin daughnuts.

Now I'm planing that I let my students to make pumpkin dumplings at Halloween day's lesson.

ripe Goya

I waited for Goya in my garden to get ripe on purpose. Usually we eat green and hard Goya, the taste is really bitter (and the bitter taste is "Goya" itself).
The taste of ripe Goya gets milder. And it gets soft. So I touch it carefully.
And tempura of ripe Goya is really delicious.

If you have Goya in the garden, please wait for it to get ripe.

This weekend my mother-in-law came here, it was Respect-for-the-Aged Day, though on the other hand my daughters were treated by my mother in TOKYO.

Last Saturday, she came. And yesterday morning her son took her to play golf, and at night I took her to a concert.
She is really active and in good condition, though she often doze off.
We are glad for her to enjoy her life (now she lives in a nursery or senior home)

P.S I don't know how I correct the yellow part.

Fathers in their late 40's

Last Sunday I attended a party: thanks for your teaching for long years. My professor retired this spring.
At the party members separated into two groups naturally, one is "syouwa"group and the other is "heisei" group.
Do you know we have names of an era. Now it is "heisai". My elder daughter was born in the last "syouwa" era, and my younger daughter was born in the "heisei" era.
Though I don't have enough knowledge, in the syouwa era there were many changes in Japan, wars (well, in my generation the first half of syowa era is "unfamiliar" world.), the bubble economy, and the appearance of the computer. (The appearance of the car and appliances are in the first half of syowa era, and the appearance of the cellphone is in the heisei era.)

And I was one of two women who graduated in the syouwa era.
So I was talking with "men" in their late 40's at the party.
(Usually people I talk are kids, students, women and a few men in their 60's(neighbors), and my husband.)

Half of them are fathers (it means the half of are single).
They seemed to be---- really ----"tired" from working and daily life.
And probably everybody has something trouble about work, children, and their parents.
So they don't talk about current work, their children, though we talked about our parents because everybody was interested in nursery homes for senior people.

Last year I attended an alumni& alumnae meeting of my high school. There I was talking with talkative women with full of pep. They talked about their hobby, work (half of women were shingle) , children (even though they have troubles.)

So what were we talking about?
memorial happenings at the laboratory at that time, computers, deg ital cameras,--- and so on.
Everybody seemed to miss that good old days.

Fall comes

A few days ago I wrote --"fall is just around the corner." And now, fall has started. Because early mornings and nights are really "cold". So everybody seems to be difficult to adjust to the temperature. All of my adult students (only 4) have caught a cold, so they don't come this week. To be honest, I've have a slight colt. So fortunately I have enough time to take a nap in the day.

Fall is called like that it is for eating, it is for reading, it is for art&music, it is for sports.

For y husband and me every season is for enjoy eating.

I don't like doing sports (I know I have to do).So today I tried to be a artist, I made some props for my students.I made toadstools and a rafflesia; can you recognize them as toadstools and a rafflesia?Today I showed the rafflesia to some students.

They understood "Oh, that's something stinky"

I'm going to use these props in falls lessons.

My garden

Yesterday, I weeded a little. These days we had lots of rain, thunder and lightning. So it was a good reason for escaping weeding (and I often went out almost all day long.)
Anyway we feel fall is coming.Wild lilies are blooming, SYUKAIDOU (small pink flowers) are also blooming.
I cut (or pulled out) lots of SHISO leaves (they are a kind of weeds), and make SHISO juice.
Though fall is just around the corner, we have some GOYAs still now. This year, it seemed to be "GOYA's summer". I got "many" GOYA

s from here and there. To be honest, that's enough.But MOTTAINAI (I can't throw them away, What a waste!)So this morning I made Goya spaghetti with tomato sauce.

August has gone and Sepetember has started

August has gone but we are still in the "humid" summer. Fortunately it is not so hot today.

Last week end, or the day before yesterday "the concert" was finished with success.

What is "the concert"?

Our concert; my friends and my husband&Mieko held a concert.

The title was "a collaboration between Jazz & English picture books".

English teller; Mayuka Habbick (She is a little bit famous English trainer in Japan)

singer; Naomi Iwamoto

bass & piano & MC ; Mieko & her husband ( He doesn't like to put his name on this blog)

The tea room was filled. After the concert everyone looked satisfied.

Now, the lilies' scent permeated our living room.

Yesterday I was in TOKYO and participated in a debating session for junior high school students.

The theme was "did ants evolved into bees? or did bees evolved into ants?"

It has another meaning "do you want to be an ant? or do you want to be a bee?"

My first answer or wish was "I want to be a bee, because if I were a bee, I could fly, I could see all around the world".

But listening to the session, my thinking way was changed little by little.

Bees use their stings to protect themselves, and after they sting someone they also die.

Ants can live steadily.

The MC said, women tend to want to be a bee, they often said "the life is once", on the other hand men tend to want be an ant "steady life is important. Adventures are not all of the life".

What do you think of it?

(Sorr, there were (are) too many mistakes)

30 years passed, and 20 years passed

Yesterday we(my husband and I) weto to an concert, Yamashita Yousuke piano concert? Have you heard of him? He is a famous Jazz pianist. He came to a small pribate concert hall. The hall was built last April, after the owner retired. It mease he used his retirement allowamace to built this hall and to buy a piano of steinway. He is a big fan of Yamashita Yousuke.

And my husband was used to be a big fan of him, he often went to a live house.

30 years passed since he went to listen to his live piano.

Well, do you know? We (my husband and I) were members in the Jazz club in the unviersity, at that time, we often went to Jazz concerts together.

And yesterday 20 years passed since we went to a music consert together, without daughters, or our mothers.

This winter we are going to held a concert in this hall.

usual days have started

My mother-in-law, my mother, and my daughters & their friends all left. Now there are two (old) people in this house. And usual days have started again.

My husband and I can have breakfast together, but I have lunch and dinner alone. It's troublesome to cook everytim, so I make my lunch& supper box early morning. I have 40 minutes between an evening class and a night class, so I don't have enough time to prepare my supper.)

This week end we are going to go to a concert of YAMASHITA YOUSUKE who is a famous Jazz pianist in Japan.

It is an unbelievable thing. Because he comes to a private studio, the owner asked him to hold his concert there. And he accepted the offer.

(Well, thanks of the owner, we can listen to the concert at keen prices.)

Why such a famous pianist comes? Is he a friend of the owner?

No, but the owner is a big fan of the pianist, and he always chased the pianist, so he went to his concert from north to south in Japan.

Now the owner is retired, and he built his own studion. And he bouhgt a steinway piano. His dream is to hold a concert of the pianist.

And the dream is coming true.

Additionaly, thanks of his favor ? or his wife might have intereset to us, in December we ( my friend , my husband and I) are going to hold a concert in December.

everybody came back

Now only two days-off are left, though my daughters' summer vacaion goes on untill September.

Everybody came back with their friends (not boy friends). Today a big firework display is going to be held in this city. I'll let them take a watermellon, so now I put the watermellon in the bathtub to cool it.

The watermellon is called "YOICHI SUIKA", yes, it has a bland name. They are grown in the next city? villege?. Yesterday my friend brought it to see our daugthers.

They are fine.

And I forgot to say an important thing.

Now my gumes completly got well.

UNAGI

Anyway it is too hot, too humid and we have much thunder and ligntuning every evening or night. We are actaully in the summer.

This week my husband has one-week-off.

So the first half my mother-in-law, and my mother came to stay with us.

My mother-in-law is over 80. And one her hobby (she has lots of hobbies) is playing golf, on the other hand for this vacaiton my husbaand goes to play golf early morning. (because sunrise golf is really cheap). She also went to paly early morning golf. They got up "3", and left home "3;30", and came home "9;30". Of course when she came back to our house, she took a long nap.

My mother's hobby is "eating". So my mother and my family (eating is common hobby in our family) went to (took the trouble to go) KAWAGOE to eat eels.

We love eels, not dragon rolls. UNAHYU--eels &rice.

My husband ate 2 layers eels.

My daughter ate eel and soup rice.

Other members ate normal UNAJYU.

Well, his days-off are only three days including this weekend.

From this evening our daughters are coming back with her friends.

It means he turns into a chauffeur, and I turn into housemaid.

The busiest summer vacation is starting.

pumpkin noodles

I got intereseting pumpkins(squashes?). They are called "SOUMEN KABOCHA". I heard it for the first time. "Soumen" means Japanese thin noodles usually we eat in summer, Kabocha means pumpkins or squashes.

I tryed to cook according the owner's instructions.

At first I peeled thickly and cut them into about 4 pieces.

Take the seeds out.

I boiled the water, and boil the pumpikins for about 3 minutes until the colors turned thick yellow.

AND---

I put them into cold water, suddenly they parted naturaly.

I drained the water,

Are you surprised? I'm really rusrpised. Yellow noodles came out.

The taste is--- plain, tasteless, but looks coolish , beautiful and "fun".

hot, humid, hot, humid

HOT! HOT! HOT! HUMID! HUMID! HUMID! Actaully it is summer, so it can't be helped. BUT --- Too hot, too humid.

Well, how are you doing?

I'm still in trouble with my gums. The only way to solve this problem is --- days. (Can you hear my big sigh?)

Some troubles happend.

My bike ( Until 4 montts ago it was my younger dauthrer's) was stolen, not just stolen, an old bike was left instead of mine. we called in a report of the stolen bike.

We have a fault, because I didn't lock the bike. I thought it was too old to be stolen, but contrary to our expectations, much older bike came.

One of my friend and I have a falling out due to ----. I'm not sure the cause. But she doesn't want to do new events with us. (Or I can say I left a circle to start a new thing.)

And -- my daughter came back and stayed for a few days with us, she caused some small troubles "as usual".

On the other hand new things starts.

The end of month we are going to held a small concert. Fortunately the tickes are sold out. And we are offered another concert in December.

Last month the first English reading book meeting was held at a public libraly, and I'm offered to read Englihs books at a fall event in this city.

And I might start to teacn English at publish elementary school.

My daughters have gone, but fortunately new things run after me.

Life is intereseting.

This is a suvenior from KAWAGOE.

They are kind of rice crackers, but they are swollen, like balls. They are funny, aren't they?

The taste is ---- "so-so".