Rose petals water

Do you have roses in your garden? The rose season is almost finished here in Utsunomiya, though we still have lots of roses.

I'm not good at caring for gardens, but I like seeing beautiful gardens. Coincidentally one of my friends took a rose and planted. So I have one rose in my garden. It is very strong, so I don't need to care for. I hear that it's really difficult to let roses open their flowers without pesticide. However the rose in my garden opened the flowers without pesticide this year.

So I suddenly (unfortunately it bloomed the last flowers) had a good idea, "I can make organic rose petals water".

According to the recipe, 100g rose petals and 100 ml pure water are ingredient.

It's easy just put them into a pot, and put it on the stove. Then you should stop before their starting boiling. Then you  cool it, and filter it. You keep it one month in the fridge.

 

I weighed the last flowers petals--- only 25g

 

 

 

So I add 50 ml pure water (it was too difficult for them to boil.)

And --- most of water was sacked by petals, so I squeeze the petals including lots of water.

 

 

 

The color is clear red. It is said to a rejuvenation herb. (I know this English word for this time.)

 

The last weekday

In the morning after doing chores, I went to gym. And when I came home I had lunch -- one plate dinner. Do I seem to be lazy? -- though I put rice in another bowl. From some Japanese I seem to be lazy. Usually we serve one dish in one plate. (Does it make sense?)

 

 

 

Anyway  Friday is the most tough day for me. From 4 o'clock, students come in turn and the last lesson is finished at 10.

How ever the next day is Saturday.

This weekend Yuki and I are going to put chips on the grand to prevent from growing weeds. I know in America it's popular. These days here in Japan it is getting popular, but good chips are really expensive.

The gardener made them for free --- but he asked "is it OK with leaves?"

I thought I wouldn't mind ----

but ---

There are "many" ,eaves than we expected. --- what should we do??????

the 4th curry restarant

Today I had curry at an Nepalese restaurant for lunch with my friends who go to gym.

This week it was the first time for me to go to gym.

And it is the last week in May, it means it is  a day for  our once-a month lunch with my friends.

(Or you can say I have to go to gym to eat lunch with them.)

 

I go to gym usually by car or sometimes by bike, a woman goes to gym usually by bike, and another woman goes to gym usually by car. So we usually have lunch nearby at the gym.

This area is called by local people " curry street".

First a Nepalese restaurant opened, next a Pakistan restaurant opened, next an Indian restaurant opened, and this time another Nepalese restaurant opened. All of them serve mainly curry.

I don't know why so many curry restaurant opened 3km around .

 

Anyway I had good lunch.

 

Go into the retirement life

I bought this small magazine, the title is (probably in English) "go to the retirement life". The target generation of this book is in their 40's and 50's. So this magazine is really suitable for us.

 

Have you ever read such of this book?  Or, do you have such kinds of books in your country? Or have you seen such kinds of books your parents read?

 

The contents are mainly financial plans. Try to check current budget, consider about future life budget. Try to calculate how much you will get from pensions and other things....etc.

 

Only flipping pages gives us (Yuki and me) headaches. Oh, it's wrong. Only I feel a headache. Yuki says " Que Sera Sera"

 

More than 36 years passed since we knew each other.

When he was a college student, for a year he rent a small apartment. The day to pay the rent was coming, he managed to find a one-night job such a guardsman and paid the rent.

I don't say he is careless with money, however he is not a good planner about money.

On the other hand I'm stingy.

Well, it's is one reason why our marriage has been kept. We are probably in a good balance.

 

To tell the truth it is the second time to buy this kind of book.

I bought this book 3 years ago.  At that time I reconsidered our budget. However in these three years, my daughter married, moved and had a baby, our kitchen broke, and our garden needed to be organized. --- I gave up thinking about saving money.

 

Now it's the second opportunity to think about our budget.

 

Can you guess what I went straight to do.

 

I decided to prevent the decrease in the number of students in my class, (not need the decrease).

So for three days I put a flier of my English school in each post of houses nearby. I did 400 sheets.

I don't know  whether someone comes  and join us, but I want to show that "I still continue to run my English school."

 

 

 

 

 

One week has passed!

One week has passed since I updated this blog last time.

These days we sometimes have sometimes "hot" days, on the other hand we sometimes "cool" (or "cold for me) days. So I had the first "cool noodle" the last week. cool (or cold ) noodle is one of summer delicacy here in Japan. Additionally, there are two types, soy sauce taste and sesame taste. I love soy sauce taste.

 

Now here in Utsunomiya  a rose season has come. (Probably the most beautiful season is until next week), One of my friends, who is crazy into gardening is opening to her garden to people who love gardening. I'm not such a person, but I'm her friend, so I visit her garden to "appreciate" her flowers (though I sometimes go to her house to talk with her.)

Last Sunday and yesterday, they were volunteering days for me. I did some activities at the local library.

And -- Yuki came back from one week business trip to Korea. The souvenir is Korean seaweed. It's different from Japanese seaweed. So I was kind enough to grill fish which is suitable to rice for our breakfast. (having seaweed is suitable to rice, and having rice is suitable to grilled fish.)

What was your dream when you were a child?

Yesterday a senior lady came to take my lesson or you can say, talk with me.
She wants to speak English more fluently, but it's really difficult. Why????? the reason is because of lack of her English vocabulary? It might be a reason.

However --- We (it means she, I and most senior ladies) are not good at finding some topics to talk with somebody or introduce to someone.

So I decided to make a time for her to do one-minute speech in "Japanese".
I made about 100 topic cards. And I let her draw a card.

Yesterday's card was "What was your dream when you were a child?"

She tried speaking something --- however--- for most one minutes --"well, well, well,---".
She tried  a few times, and finally she managed to do one minute speech. Alright!

 well, well, here in this blog I try to do the same thing.

I don't remember my dream  I would think when I was a child. Probably-- when I was an elementary school student I wanted to be a pianist, because at that time I was into playing the piano, and I was the best piano player at school. ( too proudly?)
And when I was a junior high school student, probably I wrote in the graduation writings " I'll be a scientist", because I had a good score in math and science, ( it means I "hated" Japanese and social studies.)

Looking back I have been a very realistic person since I was little.
I always chose something among things I can do well.

I heard that an astronaut had had dream to go the space since he was a little when no one went to the space. He had a big dream, and pursued it.
There is a famous proverb "Boys, be ambitious".

The bigger you ambition is, the bigger world you live in.

However it's really difficult to have big ambitious.
How do adults let kids to have big ambition? These days I always think.

Do you know what day is it today?

February 14 is Valentine day. Its origin is in ???? anyway not in Japan. It is the day to show love to every one, or in Japan to show women's love to men.

And we ( not me) made some interesting days.
 For example March 14 is White day. It is the day to show love to men to women. Though on Valentine day usual women give chocolate to men, on White day women tend to ask more expensive things from men.  ( I forgot what I got from Yuki, probably " a little bit " expensive cake" I think.)


The preceding paragraph was too long, sorry.

And today May 13 is May storm day. Of course it is made in Japan.
It is the day to say good by to your lover. It is the 88th day from Valentine day.

Here in Japan  we have such phrase,  "the last frost before the end of spring (it means the eighty-eighth day from the beginning of spring) ". We can say goodbye to cold winter on the day. We love to use 88 describe season or weather.

May storm day seems to come from this phrase.
If you want to discard something, or say good bye to someone, today may be a suitable day.
Now it's past 7 PM.
Unfortunately I seem not to have used this day effectively.

Tuesday

The noisy GW seems to be far away. This week Yuki is in Korea, so I'm staying at home alone.This house is very quiet.

Last weekend Yuki (before he went to Korea) and I went to a rural area to see this small event which is called "healthy market". Because "he" hold his "small small" store ( I thought he would have a tent but it was a parasol). "He " was Mr.Kobayashi who grows vegetables without pesticide) in the rural town ICHIKAI. I buy a box of vegetables ( I can't chose the kinds) every week from him.

He was grown up in TOKYO, and studied environmental ???? in America for five years ( it means he couldn't graduate the college), and came to TOCHIGI to learn agriculture, and decided to make money selling his vegetables.

He bought land and rent land for his vegetables, and little by little the number of customers is increasing. Mainly he send his vegetables to TOKYO.

However he doesn't earn enough money yet, ----

On the other hand he is very busy in weeding so he doesn't have time to spend money. So he seems to be happy.

We love him.

GW has finished

Before writing about the latter half of GW, GW has finished. Now I spent usual days, though I'm not used to doing usual house chores.

The main character of our latter half of GW was , of course, AKARI. She came to here Utsunomiya  from TOKYO, and spend four days with us. However during her stayin she visited our mothers in TOKYO by car, it means she went to TOKYO (or returned to TOKYO), but she came back here by car, and the last day of GW she and her mother went back their home in TOKYO by "bullet train".

Now she eats foods like "senior" adults, it means she can eat soft foods, so "I" had to cook something for her, it means during her staying we didn't go out to restaurants. --- probably when she comes next time, she will be able to eat everything as well as adults, so we might go out to eat something.

the first half of Golden week

Here it looks summer, however---

 

 

The first day of Golden week (Yuki got 7 days-off), we went to Toyama prefecture and visited  Tateyama-Kurobe alpen route ---- by lots of cable cars and bus instead of climbing.

It was about 3 degrees C, so we put on a down jacket.

And we visited Kurobe dam.

 

 

Then, we climb down to the next prefecture Nagono.

We visited the famous temple ZENKOUJI.

Now it is the season of GOKAICYOU , which is hold once every 7 years. So we were lucky to be able to visit there, and touch the main pole, and see the main stature.

Now Akari and M comes, so I have to cook dinner for them. The last half of Golden week, we'll go to Tokyo to visit our mothers and see our elder daughter T.

a vegetarian couple came

Finally I could invite a Indian couple who are completely vegetarian (it means the wife cannot eat eggs.)

One years has passed since we (Yuki and I) became friends with them. We ate out together at an Indian restaurant, they invited us for tea and dinner. I could invite them for just tea. However I hadn't invited them to our house, because I didn't have confidence to cook something for them.

 

 

These days I found this perfect the stock for strict vegetarians. So I decided to cook something for them and invite them.

And I tried using spices as much as I could.

Channa beans curry, -- I made curry, however for them it was between curry and tomato soup. But anyway they seemed to be happy to have it.

Potato gratin with soy milk, --  it became their favorite. I used fresh rosemary to taste it.

Marinated kidney beans with fresh onion.

flash-cooked green leaves with Miso (made by soy beans) paste

Marinated NEGI (kind of green onion)

And

strawberry punch using soda and acerola juice instead of wine.

 

This winter they are going back to India. Because of their style, they have little chance to be invited to Japanese house (soy sauce is not their favorite either), it's sad. So I'm happy to have  welcomed them to our house, and have enjoyed dining.

 

 

 

Utsunomiya

Utsunomiya city is about 100 km north from Tokyo, it takes about one hour by bullet train,it takes 2 and half hours by local train, and (though depends on where you go to and where you come from, and if you are not caught by traffic jam) it takes about 2 and half hours by car.

Since Yuki and I came here, more than 30 years have passed. (At that time bullet trains didn't run.)

Is Utsumoniya city is a city or a country side?

It's not a big city and it's not a country side. it's between of them. It's a provincial city which has the prefectural office. ( Does it make sense?)

For a long time my eyes were alwase watching Tokyo. So I often said "compared with Tokyo", now I sometimes hear another phrase "compared with America". It's not a bad thing to compare with some things. However if it leads you to a negative attitude, it's not so good.

Now I'm interesting, sometimes my younger daughter says "compared with Utsunomiya" -- for her to nurse kids seems to easy here than Tokyo ( Of course it includes another meaning, because here I can help here, but in Tokyo she has to do most of things by herself.)
And now I also say "compared with Utsumoniya".

The reason is  --- anyway in Tokyo I have to walk, walk, walk a lot and "climb up and down " lots of stairs in  stations.

So I found people in Tokyo are slender, and people in Utunomiya are healthy (I don't use the word **t).

I took Jan to an art museum near the Tokyo station -- of course by bullet train. And I asked her "do you know which women or ladies lives in Tokyo and who comes from another area?"
She asked "what does it mean?"

I answered ---
"Check their shoes. If (young) women wear low heals, most of them live in Tokyo, and if (young) women wear high heals to show them good, they come from another area."

Of course it doesn't suit to all young women.

Jan came -3

I had prepared some foods which are eaten in at least 4 days before Jan came.

I thought that we will go out so often, so I won't have enough time to cook.

 

 

She said they are like food for the Sabbath day. ( though I don't know the detail, some people who belong to a religious group, have a day not to cook once a week? )

The big difference is that the Sabbath day is only one day. So they eat all dishes which are prepared the day before on the day. We had to eat at least three times every day -- because I didn't cook enough.

I used the word "had to", it includes the feeling that it's leftover.

 

On the other hand, I don't think it's leftover. I just wan to eat them little by little each day.

Because they are kind of appetizer.

It's a kind of culture difference.

 

Additionally I also cooked a pot of curry. Yuki and I liked to eat it for two days, but when we eat it for three days, it means the curry of the last day is "leftover".

 

I hope you understand what I want to write.

 

Today I also cooked these dishes for our. So I don't need cook many things at once. They give my (mainly) lunch and dinner more colors and appetizer, though I "have to " or "can" eat these food until this weekend.

 

 

 

Jan came --2

Utsunomiya is in Tochigi prefecture which have a famous world heritage sight "Toshougu shrines and temples". So if the guest interests to the big, famous and traditional shrines or temples, I take them there.
But if the guest interests an old traditional house, I take here.
This roof is made by straw, and it's 250 years old. The most interesting thing is that it has been used -- it is preserved as a gallery.
This house is big, because it was the house of the headman of this area. About 250 years ago which means in Edo era, the headman was a landlord and farmers were hired, so farmers were used to be poor. But now most farmers have their own land, so they are landlords and farmers, it means Japanese farmers are not so poor, though their work has been tough since ancient period.
 

This fireplace has been used now. The smoke helps protecting against bugs in the straw roof.

As I said this house is used as a gallery.

Jan came -1-

Finally Jan came from America by herself. She stayed with us for about 5 days here in Utsunomiya.
She is in her 70's. We were really surprised at her power!!!!
Anyway I organized a soft schedule for her.

First I wanted to show Japanese cherry blossoms. The season is almost finished, however, we could see some fully cherry blossoms.
We have this part many cherry blossoms are planted along a road.

 

We took cherry blossoms shower.

She looked happy to see cherry blossoms fully blooming. She loves flowers.

So probably she would be as happy as seeing full of roses or azaleas in Japan. Actually in May we have some beautiful rose gardens.

 

On the other hand Japanese people have a special feeling on cheery blossoms, which is sometimes described " nostalgia". It's difficult to explaining this feeling in another language. I know some of the reasons. One reason is it comes from the short period of blooming. Usually 7 days. Another reason is probably the soft color. (However we have various kinds of cherry blossoms, some one has think pink.)

 

 

And next I took her a western style restaurant. If it is the first visit for foreign guests and they seem to like Japanese food, you should take them to a Japanese restaurant. However they just want to enjoy lunch, I recommend to take them to a western style restaurant. Usually at most of western style restaurant they serve Japanalize --- ( I hope this word makes sense) western dishes.

Can you guess how this black sauce is made?

It's black sesame dressing sauce without oil. She shows curiosity, and she could eat it up.

 

 

Mountain cherry blossoms

It is a big mountain cherry blossom tree.

They are usually cherry blossom trees.

Borh of them are fully in bloom.

Do you understand the difference of two situations in bloom.

Usually cherry blossoms first put flowers and next the leaves starts to come out.

So we see perfect pink trees when they are fully in bloom.

When we see leaves and flowers, it means it starts to fall.

Last Saturday Yuki and I went to see SYOUGUN cherry bloosoms, but what we saw was a tree with flowers and leaves. So we thought we were to late to enjoy it in bloom. However it was wrong. Coinedently a man who is familier with nature was there, he said " You are lucky, today this tree is fully in bloom." and he said " This is a mountain cherry blossom tree, so it starts flowers and leaves."

If he weren"t there, we would have felt the day as an unlucky day, but we were very happy to see full of the mountain cheery blossom tree.

And on the way back home, we also see full of usual cherry blossom trees.

Well this week, our important friend Jan come to stay with us. I may not have time to update this blog, but if I have, I try to update via my i-pone.

I found a perfect poem.

Do you know AIDA-MITSUO? He is a very very popular poet.
Coincidentally I read this book after so long.

I found this poem.

Just Being There

Just being there
You brighten the space around you

Just being there
You warm the hearts of those who know you

Just being there
You so softly bring peace of mind to others

It is the person you are
That I long to become

It might to be difficult to make the last sentence real, however, this poem suits to my grandchild "Akari".

While she come to stay with us, she often cries. It makes us annoyed. But once she left here, we always remind her smiling face.

In May, she will come  --- and after she leave here again, I will remain this poem again.

It's in April, isn't it?

 

When I got up, roofs were covered with snow. And --- it has been snowing.
Today, it is the first day for junior high school students to go to school. How poor they are!!!

Finally I finished reading this book  Yuki and I try to lessen the numbers of books in our book shelves.
Some books are not read by two of us. This is one of them.
The title is "Japanese faith" (or the religious devotion, but this word sounds strong.)

 

To tell the truth, this book was very difficult for me, so I just scanned most of pages.

This book is not written about religion like Buddhism, and Shinto.

 

Japanese faith comes from rice culture. Rice is gotten under marvelous nature system with ground, enough water and four seasons. We can be alive only rice. So our faith of root is nature.

 

On the other hand  under bread culture, it's difficult to get enough wheat, so they need meat , it means hunting is necessary. The attitude of hunting means to persuade something, to seek something, so their faith of root is one strong God.

 

This is the contents I understood.

It was interesting.

 

It is still snowing.  In the afternoon my lesson starts.

 

Marche

Last Sunday I went out to a "Marche". I don't know the word of "Marche" is familiar or not.
These days here and there Marche is hold, where many shops who don't have their own real shops or they want to advertise their shops are temporary open in an each tent.

Well, we have another style which called "YATAI". They have the same style, at festivals many tents where mainly foods are sold  are temporary open, the people who held the tents are called "tekiya", they move from one place to another place to look for festivals.

Additionally when I was a young mother, "flea market" used to be popular. There mainly families or friends groups held a temporary store. I used to open our stores to sell children's good which we didn't need  with my family and my freinds' families.

The Marche I went to was a little bit different from usual Marche.
Usually Marche is crowded with young people, the main reasons is that the owner of each temporary store is  young and energetic to sell and advertise their shop. And they are proud of their things so the products and foods are not so inexpensive. So for senior people Marche is not so interesting place.
 
But yesterday's Marche was different.
Because it was hold at a day-care- center which is a kind of senior center.
Sometimes  center festivals are held like a school festival, but it was Marche.
Some attractive shops which are very popular with young people attended it.
On the other hand some volunteer groups in the local area attend it.
And a junior high school joined as staff.So from children to seniors enjoyed the Marche easily.









Even though we had a little bit rain, we enjoyed seeing a big cherry blossom tree.
We could eat delicious foods. I ate curry and rice served by a popular Indian restaurant. On the other hand we could eat two-rice ball for 100 yen which were served by a volunteer group.

These days I try not to buy things which decorate the rooms, I try to keep simple rooms. But it's difficult without buying something to enjoy such Marche.
I knew that a popular craft-woman was in the Marche, so I bought this thing and decorate the "outside" the entrance.

Cherry blossoms

Cherry blossoms season has come even in Utsunomiya. The period we enjoy the blossoms is just one week. This "early morning" Yuki and I went to see them to a park which is famous with beautiful cherry blossoms scenery.

 

It was about 6:30. Some people were doing "traditional" exercise with radio.

 

I found an interesting site about the exercise which is called "radio TAISOU".

 

 

This season the parking lot of the park is very crowded, but it was the early morning, so we could park our car easily. And I found this sign on the wall of the parking lot. We had a bitter smile.

Do you know what it means?