in Aiken about "Japanese food" (food 5)

Have you ever been to a restaurant which serve Japanese food in your country, if you don't live in Japan?
It was the first time to go to such a restaurant.
The first casual restaurant was TAKOSUSHI, probably it means TAKO (octopus) & SUSHI.

I was very surprised, why "EDAMAME"? Is it a typical Japanese food?????

I tried it, actually it's EDAMAME, but unfortunately it's not so crispy. I think now it is out of season for EDAMAME, or they use frozen EDAMEM.
I checked Sushi counter, not so bad,but it's expensive.
Yuki ordered a pair of Salmon, not so bad. They use Japonica rice, which is sticky.

The other day Jan took me another restaurant, which is called "Red Bowl", which means probably Miso-soup bowl.
Jan ordered Thaie-noodel, but it's actually "Yakisoba" in Japan. Not so bad.

I ordered Sesame-Toufu. Hmmmmmmm, actually it's sauteed Tofu with sesame, not so bad, but---- I think it's not a Japanese food, it's a kind of Chinese food. And the person who cook these dishes are not Japanese, a shop man said "Though he is an Asian, and probably he doesn' know Japanese food."

The taste was not bad, though a little bit thick for me.

And, anyway everything was served on "one" dish. Usually we serve rice in a rice bowl, and Tofu on another plate.
Anyway I'll show you Japanese sesame tofu.

I thought it must have been crazy to eat Japanese food in a foreign country, but it was fun to eat original domestic Japanese food in a foreign country.



in Aiken about food 4

Jan is good at using various kinds of spice. Of course she buys some bags of spice, she also mixes various kinds of spice by herself and makes her original spice.

Do you know this machine? She has a dehydrator. She makes her own dry herbs with it.

This time we made (just I assisted her) butter milk ranch dressing spice, and she already prepared rice mix spice, and other bags of spices for me.
She really enjoys cooking like a chemist. She has various measure cups, spoons, funnels (Is it the correct word?) And she always do everything carefully in a unhurried way. She's the lady I'd want to look to as a model.

When I came back home, I used the spice immediately for breakfast. I made coleslaw.

And I also made my celery salt more, though Jan presented her celery salt to me.

I don't have such a machine, so I baked celery leaves with oven.

 And next morning I cooked poached eggs with celery salt.

I learned a new way to enjoy my life from her. Thanks Jan.

in Aiken about food3

We went to Myrtle Beech to see "Atlantic ocean".

They said "The Atlantic ocean is calmer than the Pacific ocean." It's interesting,  because we say "The Pacific ocean is calmer than Japan sea."
There we had seafood --- without "say sauce".

It's called trigger fish. Of course it' was the first time to eat.

 It's Calamari,fried octopus.

It's fried crab cakes.

And it's haddock. It was also the first time to eat it.
I thought it would be also good to grill them with salt and to eat them with soy sauce.

In Aiken about food 2

We were in America, it means----
BEE====EEEEEF.

Jan baked wonderful beef steak. She has a wonderful high power electronic oven. ( sorry I forgot the name, it cooked steak perfectly  for about 10 minutes.  She served salad of heart of palm. Have you ever eaten heart of palm? It tasted like between bumboo shoot and white aspalagas.

We also ate pork.

The red one is plum sauce for pork. It took about two hours for her to cook all of things. She precooked them really carefully. It was amazing. Can you guess what I was doing beside her? I was just washing, and sliced onions.

Anyway everything is big.
In Japan it's very difficutl to get such a big roaf of pork or beaf.

In Aiken about food 1

Long time no see you. Now we came back from Aiken in SC to Utsunomiya in Japan. We had a wonderful time with good weather. (I heard that unfortunately in Utsunomiya  sometimes it was sunny, it was rainy, cold. That's too bad.)

For a while let me tell you about our trip.
First I'll tell you about food.

Jan always served wonderful appetizer every day. Of course she is good at cooking, then, they can get  various  types of cheese easily.

The last photo is cream cheese and redpepper jam Jan made. It was delicious. Jan are you reading this article? I have a question. How did you soften the cream cheese?

We had a chance to eat fried sweet potatoes, and Jan also baked sweet potatoes.

But the sweet potatoes are completely different from our sweet potatoes in Japan.  The outside of ours is more purple and the inside is more yellow, and ours are harder and sweeter. So American sweet potatoes seem to fit to cook with cheese and spices.

a gardener came

Though some people know how small my garden is, but we need to have the trees trimmed. Yesterday and today a gardener came and trimmed the trees. While he was trimming, I was weeding a little. (Of course after he trimmed the trees, he also weeded the garden.) After that I planted some herb seedlings.
Now all things I have to do before my trip are done. (In the afternoon I went to see a doctor to get some medicine.)
I don't have any classes in the evening and at night. And probably Yuki is coming back earlier than usual. I'm waiting for Yuki. Today's dinner is --- I'll just put something in the microwave.

This is the first trip for only "us"; Yuki and me. Usually in this consecutive holidays we call them GOLDEN WEEK, we spend with my mother in the first half, and in the second half we spend with my mother-in-law. We're  a little bit sorry to them, especially my mother-in-law. She was looking forward to coming to stay with us. So after our trip I'll visit them in TOKYO. So souvenirs especially for them are necessary.

The trip is expensive for us, but we decided to go when we can do. the older the mothers get, the hard going on a long trip gets. Even now they are fine, and this year we finished to pay education expense of our daughters. So for us it is best time to go on a overseas trip. And thanks to Jan & Nick, we are able to go to America without thinking our health problem.  (I'm not confident about my power, so  it's difficult to attend a tour trip.) And I "love " to experience a local culture. What is waiting for us?
I also have an opportunity to attend a Toaster Master Meeting in America. I'm exciting and nervous.

Yuki will take his computer, so I may update this blog from America.

Monday

Monday again. And after four days, our vacation will start. Yuki and I are going to America to meet our friends Jan & Nick. I can't wait. Yesterday we packed all things which are necessary for our tip into our suitcase. Yuki is used to such an overseas trip, so for him it seemed easy to pack. For me, I'm not used to it. So I packed various things into my suitcase, that the suitcase is bulging. Jan must be disagreeably surprised.

On the other hand, I'm not confident of my health. It's rainy and cold today. It's difficult for me to adjust this changeable weather. Actually this weekend I stayed home except going out to eat dinner. My throat has hurt a little, I hope it will be better soon.
On Saturday we went out for dinner nearby on foot. They serve fusion food.
MOTSUNI--- simmered guts with soy sauce is probably Japanese food.

 Grattin of asparagus is kind of Western food.

 KAKUNI-simmered block of pork is kind of Chinese food.

We had a good dinner, and as soon as I came back home, I went to bed.

On Sunday I relaxed at home in front of a heater. I couldn't attend a Toastmaster's meeting unfortunately.

When I was a child, I would be a powerful girl. Since I became adults, before trips or big events I often get sick. It's opposite, isn't it?  Have a nice week.

Wednesday's topic

Before I talk about Wednesday's topic, let me show this photo. I got lot of strawberries.

Now, it's the season of strawberries in TOCHIGI. We have lots of strawberry farms. For strawberry farmers, the busiest season is over. Christmas,and winter season is the best season for sellers, it means for our customers, strawberries are expensive. And in winter strawberries are grown up in greenhouse, so not only manpower cost but also fuel cost are included in the price. Now it's warm enough to grow strawberries without greenhouse. So the price is down. And people in Tokyo don't eager to get strawberries any more, so they sell strawberries more locally. When my daughters were little, we used to pick up strawberries at my friend's strawberry farm in this season.

The topic of this week is "lifestyle Changes".
1. What things do you think have mad our lives better?
Internet and Computer. Thanks to them, I can write this blog, and know many blog-friends.
2. What things do you think have made our lives worse?
Cellphone. Cellphones are really convenient. But many people got more unpunctual.
3. What do you think will be the "next big thing"?
If I knew, I would be a millionaire.
4. What's been one of the biggest change in your life?
Starting my own English school at home.
5. What's your biggest worry about the future?
I'm afraid to be alone.
Having a family is a great fun. And now there are two members in this house. These days I'm getting used to the life of two.

What do you think of these questions?

SAKURA (cherry blossooms) in UTSUNOMIYA

This year Yuki and I could enjoyed cherry blossoms in Utsunomiya, again. Last spring we were really disappointed because of the earthquake. However, we can spend usual life  now. We thank to everything.

Every spring our family used to go up a hill to see these cherry blossoms blooming, stop by  small food stalls and eat something. Now just Yuki and I see them blooming there. We just enjoy seeing them. Anyway I'm really happy to see this scenery this year again.

This week has already started. On Tuesday I have a meeting of our English Picture Workshop group. On Thursday, and Friday I'm going to visit to nursery schools to read English picture books. And on Sunday it is the day of Toast Maters (speech club). I hope everything goes well.

Let's enjoy this week.

Wednesday's topic, Feeling

Are you a cheerful person?
I often see elderly men and women walking with a frown. Such a face makes me sad. On the other hand when I see an elderly person sitting on the chair in the park with calm look, I feel calm.

Do you think women are more emotional than men?
I don't think so. Women might tend to be easy to cry, on the other hand men must tend to be furious. I think, kids tend to be emotional,  middle-aged people are easy to get their head and elderly people are --- depend on people,  tend to be emotional. For example, these days whenever I watch a sad story on TV, or listen to a sad story, my eyes water naturally. Additionally, some of elderly people act by their history. (Does is make sense? It means they are difficult to accept new things, so they tend to be stubborn. )

Well, well, do you know BUNTAN-orange? I got lots of BUNTAN yesterday.
The taste is between oranges and grapefruits.

This season we have lots of kinds of oranges; like HASSAKU, AMANATSU, BUNTAN, and so on.

How was the weekend?

In Tokyo, many people seemed to enjoy seeing cherry blossoms, though in Utsunomiya they don't start blooming.
In America and the Philippines many people seemed to enjoy Easter. And Dom, who is my blog friend, also enjoy Easter with students. (Thanks of your happy photos, Dom.)

On Saturday, I put away my winter clothes and took out my spring clothes  and I also disposed some old clothes. Then I organized my small garden. They were tough jobs for me. So after that Yuki and I went to take a rest at a cafe & gallery. (While I was doing such chores, he went out to play tennis.)

It was a nice place. We had early dinner. And Yuki went out again to participate jam session. I organized the house even though it was at night.

On Sunday, I had to prepare for lessons of this week. I copied some CDs for adults, made some craft for a kindergarten student. This week I often have to go out for meetings, or reading books to kids, so I won't have enough time to prepare, so it was a necessary job.
It made me really tired (it's just an excuse), so we went out for dinner to have "meat".

These days I don't eat meat so much, but the meat of this restaurant is an exception. The restaurant is my favorite restaurant. They serve many kinds of a la carte, so we don't need to order a full-course meal even though it's a French restaurant.

This restaurant made us relaxed and made us feel grace.

Well, even now these photos remind me of the graceful feeling. I 'd like to go to KARAKU to play the piano tomorrow keeping this feeling.

Bad Habits and Pet Peeves

I have some questions.
1,What's one of my pet peeves?
    I don't like it when someone shaking leg syndrome (jittering?). I think it's rude.
2,What's your temperament like?
    I think I'm a little short-tempered.
3,What bothers you most at home?
    I don't like it when someone left their shoes lying around. When I see it, I often tell them to put their shoes together neatly.
4,What's one of your bad habits?
   I often sit cross-legged. ( Please make an excuse myself, these days my knees get weak, so it's difficult to sit straight.)
5,What do you think is your worst habit?
   I often put my elbows on the table.

6,What pet peeves do your family members have?
   Yuki doesn't like  ?????? I don't know. Probably he doesn't like litter newspapers.
7,What bad habits do your family members have?
   Yuki smokes.

Saturday, and Sunday

Saturday, a new friend came to my house. She is from Gabon. Until I met her, I didn't know the name of Gabon. I knew many things about Gabon. It is fun to know other countries. While I was listening to her, I felt my world spreading. Late in the evening Yuki came back, so we went out to eat SUSHI for dinner.This is the cake I baked for her.Unfortunately I'm not good at baking cake, so I used this chocolate mix.

On Sunday, I went to a festival in the next town. There were many food stands. My friend also opened his branch store there.

Have you ever had pretzel? I know it as "snack". It was the first time to have pretzel "bread".

I learnt the origin from this book.

Well, April has started. Today 4/2　it is the first day for my younger daughter M to go to work. I sent cheering e-mail to her this early morning. Anyway today she seemed to go to work on time. I'm happy that my daughter stepped the first step for adults, on the other hand, I'm  a little sad to see her off directly at the door.

In what situations it is always necessary to consult a professional?

In what situations do you think it is always necessary to consult a professional?
Do you get your hair dyed? Now I'm thinking whether to get my hair dyed or not. I can't get helping old. I'm getting more gray hair. Well, we call gray hair "SHIRAGA" (SHIRA means white, and GA means hair.)

I asked my friend, who is a beautician. She said "It depends on you, if you prefer being natural, don't mind your gray hair. You look not so bad."
It's difficult to get gray hair dyed  black. So usually elderly people get their hair dyed brown. Young people get their hair dyed light brown to look them cheerful.
Anyway she is an important consultant for me.

And in what situations do you usually "do it yourself"?
Probably most of women get a hair cut. And some of them dye their hair by themselves. Do you dye your hair by yourself?

Today I tasted "pumpkin seed oil" with bread. It was the first time to have it. Not so bad. To my surprise, the color of the oil is "black".  Have you ever tasted pumpkin seed oil?

We see spring.

I have a small garden. I don't take it care well. But now we see spring in the garden.
 "Amnur adonis", we call them FUKUJYUSO.

We see pink  buds, I don't know the name.

.

This year we could see a sprout of rhubarb.It survived winter.

Can you see a hyacinth?

They are yellow daffodils. I love daffodils.

And here and there we see buds of strawberries.