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?

 

A certain cafe

Last Sunday, I attend a Toast Master's meeting after so long. And I made a speech.
In Toast Master's meetings, if you make a speech, the aim if the speech is set every time. In my case the aim of this speech is to enjoy audience introducing your real experience.

So I introduced a certain cafe, though I didn't tell about it I wanted to keep the cafe as my secret cafe.
On the other hand introducing the cafe I love and I happened to find is a little bit exciting because it's interesting how the audience will shows their reaction to me.

I know some people are interested in cafes but others, especially men, are not so interested in cafes.
After my speech if the male audiences  show their interests to the cafe I introduced  --- I would be happy.  --- And to tell the truth "I made it".

I tried the same thing to my readers. (The speech is done in Japanese, but here I have to write the contents in English.)



 A certain cafe is in the countryside of Utsunomiya. It takes about 30 minutes from the center of Utsunomiya.
So even if you like cafe, without a big interest you won't go there.

In the cafe they served a really good quailty of coffee. Here in Utsunoyima there are some famous coffee shops where they use Store-Roasted coffee beans. (Actually Karaku I play the piano once a month is one of them.) And the cafe use the beans the master get from a coffee shop.(unfortunately it's not Karaku). So you can enjoy good coffee.

And you can also enjoy listening good music with "good sound".  The master is an audio maniacs.
Though I don't know the detail, the master uses a special audio machine. -- This made Yuki attractive.

And if you are interested in DIY, you should check the walls and other things. The master and his wife have lived there for more than 20 years. And last year he retired. And they decided to open their cafe doing DIY. It is a really cozy and adult-taste atmosphere.




And -- these days wood stove seems to be popular with people who has their own house. And there it has a wood stove  which is dealt with Barmont Catsle. ( I don't know the detail.)  And both the body and chimney are enameled. ( It seems to be very expensive, and there are not so many around Utsunomiya.)

If you are not interested in coffee, audio, house and stove, --- you should go there. Because you can eat NAGOYA-style breakfast.
What is NAGOYA-style breakfast? It is toast with sweet-beans-jam.
(Nagoya is a big city between Tokyo and Osaka.)








AND --- if you are not interested in this cafe, you should go there to talk to the master -- when you would be retired.  The cafe is only open from 7:00 to 11:30 '(during the morning), though it's open on weekends. So if you are retired and have lots of free time, please drop by this cafe -- if you live in Tochigi.

A cup of coffee plus extra

You can see the sign oh "TSUTAYA", it's a book store. I went out to buy some notebooks (These days they deal with staionery at book stores, and the stationery are more fancy than the ones sold by convenience stores.).

Though I would excuse at first, I went out around 11:00 before lunch time,---

I was not going to have lunch outside,I was not going to have 350yen coffee at the nearby coffee shop. 

However there is a comfortable coffee shop in the book store. It's ok if I wanted to have coffee outside I will do it.

This time I was going to buy just some note books. Unfortunately  I had some extra money in my wallet.

So I paied more money for the coffee and "sandwiches" than the notebooks.

Yes, I happened to get cozy lunchtime. It's difficult save my pocket money. 

Eel

This is eel.We call this style "UNA-JYU". UNA means eel, and JYU means a square box. It is one of typical Japanese foods. Many Japanese people like tempura and sushi. On the other hand, the people who like UNA-JYU are separated. It means they love UNA-JYU or they don't love (or hate) UNA-JYU. I love UNA-JYU. Some people say why the taste is sweet? I love the sweet taste sauce, on the other hand I don't like sweet-sour pork called SUBUTA, and I don't get used to chicken with fruit sauce.

 

Yuki likes UNA-JYU, but if he pays same money, he prefers stake. So we seldom have UNA-JYU. Fortunately two other women wanted to have UNA-JYU together, so I had a chance to have eel outside. This is eel, UNA-JYU. That's it. Of course it was delicious and expensive.

One day trip in Utsunomiya

For  about one week our daughter and grand daughter (M & A) was staying with us.

Now A crawls on her "tummy" (she can't crawl on her hands and knees yet.) And she loves to go out like --us.

Last week  Yuki was with us only the Sunday, and it was the day the two of M & A had to go back to Tokyo.  It was sunny, so we went out by car and drove around Utsunomiya.

First we went to a big supermarket, and M was shopping while Yuki and I were taking care of A.

Next we went to a bagel shop in the suburbs (the bagels of which are our favorite) and had lunch near the shop. They accepted A kindly. It was OKONOMIYAKI restaurant. Usual OKONOMIYAKI looks like pancake, this time we ate OKONOMIYAKI with noodle.

Then we went to a temple which is famous for UME blossoms. It is the season of UME blossoms. (then the season of cherry blossoms will come soon.)

When we visited this temple, M was a baby. At that time we took Yuki's parents. It is a good place for elder people and babies together to enjoy nature. There are not so many people, people don't need to walk a lot.

Then we went to a department store near the Utsunomiya station.  While Y and I were having tea, M was able to browse in the department store.  Then M and A went back to TOKYO.

AND---

we didn't go back home soon, next Yuki started to browse in a electric shop --- And he decided to change the optical communication system of our house. 

So at the same time M & A arrived their house in TOKYO, we arrived our house.

To tell the truth, browsing a electric shop is not fun for me, however, thanks of it, I didn't have a lonely feeling. I had a usual complain to Yuki, this feeling is better than loneliness.

Pollen allergy

Are you suffering pollen allergy?
Here in Japan recently many people (more than half of Japanese) are suffering pollen allergy.
Of course I am, my daughters are, and--- my husband is not.
My younger daughter and I take medicine, my elder daughter doesn't do it.

Even though the suffers take medicine, some people take mild medicine and it doesn't work enough.  Because taking strong medicine often makes them feel sleepy.
In my case I take mild medicine and Kampo (herbal Chinese medicine).

And I take yogurt and Natto every day.
I heard taking bacterai has effect. So I have yogurt-bacteria, and Natto-bacteria. I think becaus of them Yuki doesn't suffer pollen allergy, and I don't need take strong medicine.
The important thing is that you should change the kinds of yogurt and Natto. taking various kinds of bacteria is important. So while I keep making homemade yogurt using keffia bacteria, I sometimes buy Matzoon yogurt.
And of course I buy vairous kinds of Natto.

Early Easter

This week is the last week of this fiscal year, so for some of my students the lesson of this week is their last lesson.
So I did an early Easter lesson for them.

 

It was the last lesson for three children together, one of three stopped taking my lesson.

 

I gave this big Easter chocolate egg to a girl who has 4 younger sisters, she will move to another town in spring.

And I put this bunny pot in the entrance hall to celebrate Easter.
Here in Japan, Easter is not as familiar as Halloween, so probably it is celebrated or enjoyed at Kids English schools.

The last lesson for an lady

For Ms.K, it was the last lesson today. Now she is 72. Since she started to take my lesson once a week, ten years have passed. Through her life I could watch how we are getting old.
When she came here, her husband had still run his firm. And she had also worked with her husband, using a computer, driving a car. When she was over 65, her eyes got sick, (not aged eyes), so she stopped driving. At the same time her husband reduced the size of his business. Since then he had taken her to my house once a week. Last year he stopped to shut his firm.
Now they have started their retired life together, though most days of the week he takes her to hospital.
Unfortunately her eyes won't get back to be in a good condition. I hope the condition won't become worse than now.

On the other hand, they really get along with each other. What a nice senior couple they are! What kind of couple Yuki and I will become??

These are the side dishes (sometimes main dishes)  for  the last three days of this week.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

I've just finished reading this book. If you don't read Japanese, you don't know this book.
This book became popular probably a few years ago. At that time, I was not so interested in this book, on the other had I was so interested in another book "DAN SHA RI".

What is "DAN SHA RI"?  Probably I've already introduced it on my blog. DAN means refuse, SHA means throw away and RI means get away. What do we refuse, what to we throw away and from what do we get away? It is our gadgets around of us. It is the book to introduce how to tidy up our houses.

 

And why I read the book I saw on today's blog is -- it won first prise on Amazon.usa.

The title is The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying up.

 

I was surprised to hear that, because though it's my image, American houses are big enough to stock many things, so for them it's easy tidy up their rooms.

 

Have you read it? If someone have read it, please listen to your opinion after reading it.

 

Actually, this book was also as interesting as the book of DAN-SHA-RI.

 

DAN-SHA-RI focused how we decrease the gadgets, and get away the feeling we want to get more and keep more.

I think it is the first step to tidy up our house and re-think our life style.

Next step is written in "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying up" . It indicates where is a proper place for us and things.

 

The writer is 74 years old.

This is a  comic book I bought recently. Since I became an adult ( though I don't know when  the time of being an adult started ) I haven't bought comic books for myself.

The writer MITSUHASHI CHIKAKO is a woman who is now 74. 

The title is CHISANA KOI NO MONOGATAI, probably a small love story.

Can you see the number of 43? This is the 43 book in a series, and the final book. Since the write was 21 years old, she had continued to write this story. The main characters are two high school students, the boy is tall, cool and smart, on the other hand the girl is very short, and --- an averaged high school girl. It is a kind of four-frame cartoon. The writer is good at poem, and she loves HAIKU-world, this comic book is famous for not only the story but also the poems.

When I was a high school, or junior high school student, I didn't like to read the book, even though they were really popular among girls, because I was so insolent and sharp that I looked down the poetic and pure world.

I didn't know that this story had continued for more 50 years. And at last the final book was published this winter. I bought one, and it was the first time to read all pages. Even in the final book the characters are still high school students. The mother of the girl whose name is Chicchi wears KIMONO, it looks strange nowadays, on the other hand she is allergic to pollen, such symptom must have not appeared in those days. High school students talk on the phone instead of their cell phone, on the other hand they wear current outfit. In the book the old times and current time are mixed. It's fun,

And of course the pure and simple love stores are continued, I read this book on one go with smiling.

It made me relieved,and I'm nostalgic for my old days.

If I were more biddable, I must have become an different adult though I'm I.

To be surprised, even Yuki read this book, of course it is the first time and the last time.

 

This book gave  us nostalgic feeling when we were old. ---- Since we knew each other , 35 years have passed.

HIna dolls have gone.

As soon as I did morning house chores, I removed the HINA dolls to the closet. It is said if you keep HINA dolls after the day of MOMO NO SEKKU, the girls in your family won't be able to marry.
Now, our elder daughter is still single, and of course our granddaughter AKARI is also single.

And I put ornaments of Easter on the shelf.

 

 

Can you see a Kewpie in a plastic bottle?

I like it, which used to be my daughter's.

Easter-- eggs -- mayonnaise, --- so Kewpie mayonnaise.

Here in Japan, Kewpie mayonnaise is very very popular and common.