年越しそば Toshi Koshi Soba

As the end of the year approaches, it's traditional to eat Toshi Koshi Soba. The long noodles symbolize a hope for long life.  They are frequently served with ebi tempura (shrimp) and a very nice dish...even eaten so late!

My noodle-loving son started asking "When are we going to eat soba?" around 10...but had to wait until almost midnight. Poor boy!

Our mix of traditions also includes popping open a bottle of champagne to toast the arrival of the new year. In this digital age, greeting cards also started to arrive on cellphones as well!

Happy 2011 to all! Hope you have a very happy, prosperous year!

New year

Well, after a long absence, I'm back and posting!  It has been an extremely busy fall, but now that the holidays are here, there is time to relax!  (More about other fall events, LATER!)

The B-I-G holiday is...New Year's!  Preparations start far in advance...or should!  Winter cleaning (O-soji), preparing special dishes including rice cakes (o-mochi), o-sechi and more, writing New Year Greeting cards, house decorations, etc.  Then...the holiday finally starts!

It snowed overnight and the 31st was just a freezing day!  I didn't want to leave the house, but had to pick up food to feed the hungry horde!  This year, I ordered o-sechi rather than making it, so food preparation was quite easy this year!  The in-laws made o-mochi, and father-in-law also picked up some seki-han (rice cooked with azuki beans that is eaten on celebratory occasions).  With that at hand, and the fridge stocked, I'm basically free of cooking duties for the next couple of days!

The house is also prepared....could (should!) do more cleaning, but that is a never-ending job. To prepare for the New Year, some decorations are put up. Outside the front door, we hung a special decoration, and in the genkan (entryway), there is a holiday flower arrangement.

Shimenawa above the front door....

New Year's Ikebana arrangement...

This year's arrangement includes matsu (pine), ume (Japanese plum), habotan (ornamental cabbage), kiku (chrysanthemum) and senryo (Sarcandra glabra-don't know the common English name!)

New Year's Eve dinner....The perfect dish to keep one warm on chilly winter nights is...Yose nabe (a combination of ingredients cooked in a large pot of broth) with pork, oysters, squid and tons of vegies + sashimi　=　maguro (tuna-red at top) and hamachi. (young yellowtail)..YUM!  Silver "cup" at the top is what we use to heat o-sake.  Fill it up, then put in a pot of almost boiling water to heat.  Of course, one glass of sake could be easily heated in the finally-replaced-microwave... There were no leftovers!

After dinner, everyone relaxed, watching New Year's Eve specials on TV and texting friends. Even with the heater, it was just so very cold today....

Family crashed out watching ghost stories on TV....

Now, just waiting for the countdown to 2011!

O-haka Mairi or Visiting the Family Grave

Today we made a visit to spouse's family grave.  My father-in-law (FIL) is a younger son, so he "started" his own grave site.  When mother-in-law (MIL) died a few years ago, the grave "stones" were purchased and arranged, along with the Buddhist altar in his home.  My husband, surprisingly enough, is quite careful with observing the visitation periods.  During Higan, around the spring and autumn equinoxes, as well as O-bon (the time when the spirits of the departed return) in August, we always make a visit to the grave site.

The paternal branch of the family has plots at a temple quite close by.  This temple is just up the road from the Shinto shrine where our children were presented at birth and for ceremonies as they've been growing up.  Observing rituals for both, Buddhism and Shintoism, is rather the norm.

The intense heat of this summer, which FINALLY broke today, has left the foliage a bit limp and withered looking.  However, the willows in front of the temple always seem peaceful and cool to me.  The temple grounds are surrounded by homes and another temple, but it feels a step removed from the everyday world. Spouse and son went ahead to the grave site, ducking under the very low entrance to the right. 


Once inside, it resembles a maze!  There really aren't sidewalks, so one must weave around all the grave stones to get to their family's spot.  Truly, there are even dead-ends, so you have to walk back, and weave around to get to where you're going.  There is a very hushed air; everyone quietly tends their family site, and speaks in hushed voices.

The first order of business is preparations to wash the grave stones.  Buckets and water scoops are handily kept near the entrance.  Son is doing the honors, and he has fresh Shungiku in the bag that will be placed on the stones.  As he fills the bucket, the scent from lit incense drifts along in the slight breeze. 

We walk towards the back corner, and there is MIL's resting spot.  The greenery is a little faded, but someone, probably FIL or my sister-in-law, visited quite recently.  If they were more than a day or so old, they would be completely brown!  MIL didn't drink alcohol, so instead of the frequently seen open can of beer or sake, a can of a popular sports drink (that the in-laws drink frequently!) has been left for her.

 On closer inspection, it appears we weren't the only visitors!  If you look closely, a frog has stopped for a rest in the greenery.  Son's perplexed comment, "Hmm...I didn't think Ba-chan (grandma) liked frogs..."  Not sure about that one, but even if her spirit is lingering nearby, I don't think she'll begrudge the little frog it's nap in her greenery!

                                                                             The next step is  washing the stones and replacing the greenery.  A handy little plastic container with scrub brushes, etc is tucked on the far side, to make it easy to do.  The first time son did this, he had to be lifted up to get pour water over the top!  MIL would love to see how much he's grown!

 Once the tidying up is done, it's time to light incense sticks.  There were some difficulties getting the sticks lit...nearly had to trundle off to find some other visitors in hopes of them having a lighter, but the Zippo pulled through in the end.  This is usually a two-person job for some reason!  Today, we'll blame it on the refreshing breeze, and occasional drops of rain!






The incense sticks are then placed on the altar.  Family members stand one at a time in front of it,  clap their hands, then stay in a moment of silence, to pay their respects, etc.  Perhaps some offer prayers; I take a moment to remember MIL and talk to her about the grandchildren she adored. 

Once everyone is finished, we pick up the bucket and the old greenery tidily bundled up in a bag, and weave our way back to the entrance, and back to the busy everyday world that barely intrudes on the temple grounds.

Autumnal Equinox

That's today, and here, it is a national holiday.  With the sporadic rain deluges and thunderstorms that started last evening, son's baseball practice has also been canceled, so we're enjoying a lazy morning.  My agenda for the day is a little translation, a make-up lesson, and a visit to the international library and Starbuck's for a coffee...the last may have end up being canceled as well!!

This morning, spouse said, out of the blue, that we should do "O-haka Mairi," or pay a visit to his family's grave site.  I checked to make sure of the days for paying the visit for Higan, and found some more interesting information about it, and an English reference, too at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higan .

Wikipedia says, "Higan (彼岸) is a Buddhist holiday celebrated in Japan during both the Spring and Autumnal Equinox. It is observed by nearly every Buddhist sect in Japan. The tradition extends from mild weather that occurs during the time of equinoxes, though the origin of the holiday dates from Emperor Shomu in the 8th century.^[1] People who normally worked in the fields had more leisure time to evaluate their own practices, and to make a renewed effort to follow Buddhism. Today, special services are usually observed in Japanese Buddhist temples, and Japanese temples abroad, based on the particular Buddhist tradition or sect."

I've always enjoyed the holidays for spring and autumn equinoxes, though wondered WHY they were national holidays.  Nice to learn a new thing today!

Has it been so long?

Wow...summer was here, steaming hot, and now is almost gone!  Despite being online daily, I didn't blog...what to say?  Complain about the heat?  Boring.  Whine about the broken a/c?  Depressing and boring! Though broken appliances seem to be a theme of 2010!  Microwave, living room air conditioner, and washing machine all died over the past 6 months.  The last two we've had for 16+ years, and most of my friends say every year after 10 is a bonus.  I've only replaced the washing machine (this weekend, in fact!).  It's been a challenge re-learning non-microwave cooking!  That DOES not mean I used only microwavable foods, but it is challenging to get an entire meal ready at the same time with only two burners on the stove!

Beyond cooking, I've been spending much of my free time (and time when I should be doing housework!) reading.  That is much more entertaining than TV!  Goodreads is my favorite site for my reading addiction now.  I'm pleased to see my favorite pastime being picked up by my child as well.  My son's junior high has a "set-aside" reading time every morning, and for books, not manga, etc., and I'm finding him exploring new worlds in books more often.  Now, just need to find a way to get him more excited about studying, too!

Speaking of which, it's time to go study with my students! 

Summer Drinks

I got busy in the kitchen today with one of my favorite summer rituals.  Though we won't be enjoying this year's batch for a little while, the next batch of Ume Shu (plum wine??) is underway.  I always think I should make a batch of ume-boshi (pickled Japanese plums) but end up stopping after making Ume Shu.  A chilled glass of it with soda water is a real treat to top off a muggy summer day.

 Our version is roughly 1 kg of ume, 1.8 liters of brandy for fruit wine, and roughly 500 g of crystal sugar.  This year, after reading the package on the brandy box, I decided to try a batch of Lemon Shu (3 lemons, 1.8 liters of the brandy, and about 200 g of crystal sugar).  Hoping that turns into a tart but sweet tasting drink! It needs to sit a few weeks, so will let you know later how it turned out!

These are "ume" or Japanese plums.  Whether they are actually plums or apricots is actually a small matter of debate, however, rinse these, dry them off, remove any stem bits that are left and poke a few holes in them for maximum flavor.  Then, pop them into the jar.

The other two ingredients are crystal sugar (like rocks of sugar) and brandy.  This type of brandy is for the fruit liquors/wines, and there are recipes for fruit including apples, strawberries and biwa (kumquats?).  An alternative to brandy is "White liquor" but we didn't like the flavor of that as well.

Here are the "finished" products; lemon on the left and ume on the right.  I usually let my ume-shu "sit" for about half a year (enjoying last year's now!) and then remove the shriveled up ume, and enjoy a few sips from then, too! I did double the recipe this year.... The lemon-shu recipe calls for leaving the lemon and lemon peel for at least two weeks...we'll give it a taste test then! 

Kampai!

Tai-iku-sai AKA Jr. High Sports Festival

Better late than never!  Son's junior high had their sports festival at the end of May.  His school is the largest in our prefecture, and the approximately 900 kids had a busy, fun day of it.  The requisite speeches were made in the opening ceremony.  The two students who made speeches did a very nice job! 

Following the speeches, it was time for warm-up exercises.  No radio-taiso (gymnastics) like in elementary school, but stretching to a popular song.

Then, the competition began.  Separated by gender and grade, the different classes competed against each other, with the "main" event being the relay.  Son's class didn't do so well overall, but I was happy to see one event he was in before I had to run off to work. 

The guys rolled out two tires, put them on a stick, ran to and around a cone at the end of the field, then back to their starting area.  Sounds easy enough, but is actually more difficult than one would expect!

Their next school-wide event will be culture festival in September.  Fun!

Tis the season...rainy season!

No official announcement yet, but looking at the weather forecast, it looks like we're in for drizzles and downpours for the next few weeks.  So, this drizzly Sunday, we paid a visit to the prefectural library.  The location is lovely...but the book search was a little disappointing. 

Supermarkets provide special "umbrella bags" on days like today (long plastic bags that will hold one dripping umbrella), but public buildings usually have umbrella stands.  When I first arrived in Japan, I was told to be careful or my bicycle or umbrella might be snatched...while lost wallets were often returned with ALL contents--including cash!--intact.  Having lost first bicycle on my first trip to the grocery store (it had a broken bicycle lock), at least part of the advice seemed quite likely to be true.  So, umbrella stands with locks are quite common.  Nifty, huh!

Though many people do just stick their umbrellas in, and trust they will still be there later.

Having stashed the umbrellas, we strolled into the library.  I went through the English books on the shelves (took maybe 20 minutes...)  I picked up one interesting collection by a local writer and friend that I haven't read yet (The Broken Bridge/Suzanne Kamata) and have wanted to,  and a couple of others, but not much in my favorite genre (paranormal).  Then I searched the database for more English books in my favorite genres.  On my list of 15 authors to still find, I found three...A. Christie (book I want @ the Osaka Pref. Library), R. Heinlein (@ Tokyo Library) and The Time Traveler's Wife (Hokkaido Library)...the staff will put in my requests and we'll see if I can get ahold of them for a bit.  Next weekend, I'll head to the local international association's library and hopefully have more luck getting some others that I want to read.  I haven't been to the library in awhile to search for books for me (Children's library is a visit a month...but just related to picture books for lessons) and it's still disappointing, but no surprise.  Amazon won't be losing me as a regular customer anytime soon!

 Well, after a rather frustrating search at the library (and sore eyes from their PC monitors), son and I decided to call it a day.  Feeling a bit thirsty, we stopped at one of the rows of vending machines on the way to the parking lot.  We opted for mineral water (me) and an orange soda (son) though he was tempted by the ice cream...a little chilly for it today though.  The v.m.'s are everywhere, and quite convenient, but also a bit of an eyesore dotting the landscape.

 Lined up are half of a coca-cola vending machine, an ice-cream v.m., a Poccari Sweat v.m. (sports drink), and two more that carried mostly tea and coffee.  Way at the end, you can see an orange postal box...just after the row of garbage cans for the v.m. bottles and cans.

MIA? Nawww

What a whirlwind of activity the past couple of weeks have been!  Teaching is busy as always, and now I've got a lovely stack of mid-terms to grade!  There has been a school sports festival (more later!), baseball play-offs (our team went to the third round) and all the regular everyday stuff.  We've also acquired two fish, and are moving into the rainy season (and it seems the outside miniature wild life is increasing at an exponential rate!) 

All of these are signs that it's June.  Agenda for the week is to stock up on mold-killer, as well as repellents for those outside pesks that won't stay outside (a full aisle is devoted to items to get rid of slugs, flies, ants, mosquitoes, mukade (centipedes), cockroaches and more, so just have to choose which ones!!)  On a more pleasant note, this is also the time to make ume-shu (plum "wine") and enjoy the gorgeously blossoming hydrangeas!  More on those later!!

 

Salvation from those embarrassing moments...

Some things are so funny!  One thing I never considered before moving here was the embarrassment of those "revealing" sounds when using a public restroom.  Basically, everyone goes there for the same purpose, so it seems obvious there would be tinkling sounds, etc.  Well, to preserve one's image (and the water supply so people won't flush to mask the sound) there is a very handy invention.  A wall mounted sensor that plays a "flushing" track to cover up any potentially revealing noise that is a natural part of using the bathroom. 

I'm sure the portable version for the image-conscious will be available soon...if it isn't already!  Ecological and convenient....

 

Wave your hand over the hand mark, and it starts.  Also convenient instructions in braille.  The sound will automatically shut off after 25 seconds.  If one's "business" isn't quite finished, just wave your hand again, and the masking noise starts right back up! The maker's suggested retail price starts at about 18,000 yen, but found it at half price on their site on sale (delete the last two digits for approximate US dollar price)(and NO, I didn't buy one).

(Apologize for the blurry pic...the camera click was actually more embarrassing...what would people think!  Will retake soon and leave the door open so people can realize I'm not doing something really weird--just kind of weird!)

Getting Out of My Funk!

Howdy.  Been awhile.  Still trying to think of a catchy phrase for a title, and also of what to post!  What a busy bit it has been.  As I still can't get my mind into the work I need to do tonight, I thought I'd take a breather and post a bit.  So, here are some random bits from the last 10 days or so!

Bit one:  Today, the great-grandmother of one of my students' families passed away.  She was in her 90's, so it wasn't such an unexpected event, but there is much sorrow of course.  My students (2nd, 4th and 6th graders) are handling it with grace, as well dealing with the impact on their daily lives.  The youngest was in tears today as the funeral of her much-loved "hi-baachan" is also on the day of her much-anticipated school excursion.  We sat together and held hands, and she shared what she would miss about her great-grandmother, as well as what she would miss about her event; in both, it was the care and shared experience with a special person.  Among people close to me, this is the third death in ten days.  Death is a part of life, though a hard part.  It's perhaps easier to let go at the end of a long life, but regardless of the length, finding memories to give voice to and lighten grief also affirms life.

Bit two:  On the other side of the spectrum, a friend had a baby today....one week "late," her daughter finally made her grand appearance～heartfelt congratulations!

Bit three: On the much lighter side, and in the category of "when I think about it much, I just have to find it weird," ferrets as pets.  Another baseball-mom shared about life with her pet ferret, and the image of her describing it long, thin body after a bath still has me chuckling (my Maltese looks like a giant rat, adorable, but still ratty so I'm not pointing fingers!). My son is also angling for a new pet, a very tiny mouse-like thing (yes, it probably is a mouse, but having had an invasion of the real thing and occasional alarming sounds almost like scurrying mouse feet, I can't willingly entertain the idea of one as an actual pet!!!!) and I've actually agreed to check into it, and sound out the other (human) residents regarding this!

Son saw this on TV last Monday (another tick in the "why TV is a negative influence on children" column--eeks!  I'm sounding like a hopelessly antiquated something-or-other!).  I'm thinking too much...my dog has just stolen my seat cushion, so now I'll steal it back and steal back to work!

Love Sushi

Golden Week (a series of 4 national holidays with a couple of regular days thrown in between April 29 & May 5) is underway.  My work is on holiday, but the family restaurant is in it's second busiest season of the year.  There isn't much time for anything, so before the holiday started, we took some time to do things we enjoyed.

For son K and I, we hit the batting cages, bookstores (on-line and in-town) and enjoyed a favorite meal.  In a couple of years (months!) it might become more expensive, but kaiten-sushi is one of our top faves for a cheap, delicious, quick meal!  Just up the street is a kaiten-sushi for 100 yen plus tax per plate (with soup and K's desert, we always come in @ about 2000 yen=a little more expensive than the burger joint, but feels much healthier!)

We enjoyed our perpetual favorites of maguro (tuna), hamachi (yellowtail), anago (conger eel), negi-toro (tuna with green onions), tamago (egg) and ebi-abokado(shrimp with avocado).  Well, K doesn't like the anago or ebi so much, and I pass on the tamago, but these plates ALWAYS cross our table.  I have a strong tendency to order the same thing, so decided to try something new.  It was a seasoned pork topping (buta sankaku) that was surprisingly good and tender.  Yum! 

Lots of national holidays, and delicious inexpensive sushi:  two more of my favorite things in Japan!

Here's the partial line-up:

Maguro (tuna) is a little more expensive, so one piece of sushi per plate.  The yellow plates have wasabi on the sushi, and white ones don't.  Of course, there are little packets of wasabi so you can add it if necessary.

The upper plate is anago (conger eel).  Another type of popular eel is unagi, which is usually dipped in a slightly sweet/soy sauce.  I like the lighter flavor of anago for nigiri-sushi.  The lower pictures are sake (salmon) with grated daikon radish and negi (green onions/leeks) and boiled ebi (shrimp) topped with slices of avocado, thinly sliced onions and mayo.

We tried this pork sushi for the first time today-it just melts in your mouth!  I was a little leery, but will definitely have this again.

K's stack with hamachi (yellowtail) on top....hungry boy!

While I enjoyed a final cup of green tea, he finished off his meal with kaki-gori (shaved ice).

Finally, ponderings from the parking lot after having stuffed myself.  I find the prevalence of English in Japan convenient and amusing at times.  But sometimes wonder why a sign restricting entrance would be posted in another language rather than Japanese.

Now, I'm off to prepare for another day at our restaurant=I'll tell you more about that later!

Update

Ms. H, son's homeroom teacher came for the home visit yesterday.  I think we were both nervous, and one of her first questions was, "Well, are you OK with Japanese?"  I reassured her that having been here for awhile, our chat would be no problem.  Then we moved on to how son is adjusting, what his interests, etc. are, and parents' view of how everything is going.  Lovely chat, friendly, but firm-sounding teacher so quite pleased!  My goal is to keep son enthused and working hard & well this year, and keep good communication lines open with his teacher/s.  Fingers also crossed that this round of junior high will continue positively!

家庭訪問: Teachers' Home Visits

The start of a new school year also heralds a visit from one's child's kindergarten, elementary or junior high teacher.  Today is our scheduled day for a visit from son's teacher.  When I first learned of this 11 years ago, I was quite shocked.  In my country, parents would visit schools, not the other way around!  It seemed intrusive and unnecessary.  Also, it seemed a rather stress-inducing event as I listened to other mom's talk about their preparations!  As we live outside of the kids' school zone, we had visits at Grandmother's house for the first few years.  She always made a major effort to have everything "just so" (she also chided me a bit when I showed up for visits, or went to school visit days NOT wearing a suit or the equivalent...but that's another tale). More recently, I've gone to the elementary school instead of the teacher coming to my home.  For junior high though, we are in the school zone....and the teachers have come here.

So, what happens at these visits?  Well, it is often the first time to talk one-on-one with one's child's main teacher for the year.  They get a peek at what type of home environment the child is in (and most don't take a look at the kids rooms anymore-never in our case--just are in the "guest room"), and inquire about the child's daily habits, talk about how the child is settling into class and so on.  It's actually rather nice now, though a few years ago I was terrified about having a formal conversation in Japanese.  Obviously, I'm not a native speaker, but it has always gone fairly smoothly anyway.

Now, I'm off to tidy up my public room (my classroom) and get ready to meet Ms. H this afternoon.  Later!

Entrance Ceremony: 入学式

入学出きた！Son is now in junior high school! The ceremony was fairly quick, even with calling all 270+ students' names, and the requisite speeches, standing, sitting and other greetings. His homeroom teacher is Ms. H, and son's impression is nice, but very firm.  That's a good thing.  The textbooks look interesting, think I might try reading them too--still need to work on my Japanese!  (Photos soon, no time yet!)  My other lasting impression (well, reinforced impression) is how junior high in some ways is almost military-esque.  The rules for uniforms are extremely strict, and the style for roll call, the marching order, and other things.  Son is fairly pleased with his class, and I am too.  Sorry there aren't better pictures though...

The girls' wear a "sailor" uniform, and the boys, a high-necked, military style one.  I'm not sure what the proper name for it is...

The guys with their school book bags, filled with all the textbooks they have to take home and write their names on, outside they gym.  Students in the upper grade were at the school as well for bukatsu (club) practice.

New Beginnings

April is the month for cherry blossoms, and the "beginning" of the year in Japan.  The new academic year, fiscal year for many companies & businesses, as well as for the government started this month.  So, March was filled with graduations, company transfers and all that.  This month, everyone is settling into their new place. 

My family is also settling into a new pattern.  Our youngest has his junior high entrance ceremony in a couple of hours; oldest has her high school ceremony on the 18th.  (Sunday events are fairly common here...ceremonies, sports events for school, etc.)  My lovely, but difficult daughter will be attending high school in a "tsushin" course, for at least this year.  That means she won't be going everyday, but completing most of her work at home through a correspondence-style course.  It is not what I wanted, but after the trauma and rebelliousness, etc. during junior high, I'm just thankful that she is motivated to be doing this. 

Today, I'm sending my youngest off to junior high, with much trepidation, as well as hope.  But, I'm keeping my fingers crossed and more....

Monday

Life is made up of good days and bad days.  Today is one where I've bruised my head running up against an unmovable opinion.  The horrible thing is I agree with the opinion, but the way it was laid out as an ultimatum has made this into a lose-lose situation.  Now, I'm trying to find a way to salvage it, while screaming inside my brain about the insanity and stupidity that lead to this.  Adages such as "a rock and a hard place" are flitting alongside "spilled milk"... Laying blame doesn't lead to results.  I believe you must deal with the situation/person who is in front of you, not the reality you want.  Ultimatums won't give you the situation or person you want, just makes most things worse.  Well, time to ponder... 

Tai-yaki

Less than a week of spring vacation left, so son and I decided to grab the chance to visit the batting cages.  He got in some good hits, and we decided to grab a treat at the tai-yaki stand just outside.  They had an amazing variety: traditional filling of anko (sweet bean paste) in a couple of varieties, popular custard or chocolate filling, and some unusual ones like potato salad or tuna & corn filling.  We were feeling adventurous, rather looking for a sweet treat, so got one with custard and one with chocolate (like a pudding).  I found the custard too sweet (son didn't, fancy that!) but the chocolate was scrumptious!

The golden one is usual style, with a crispy outside and the white one is lightly baked for a soft, mochi-mochi texture.  Crispy is my fave!

Back "Home," Spring = O-soji

I made a list of goals to accomplish while enjoying the long vacation.  One of those was to do some serious cleaning out in the upstairs rooms.  The season for "spring cleaning" (or o-soji) is before the end of the year here...love all the tips in women's magazine about how to clean the grit accumulated in the window tracks, or ensure you're pipes are sparkling all the way down! That's a half-sarcastic and half-sincere comment...sometimes they point out places I would have never even considered to be needing cleaning...and they DO need to be cleaned.  Well, starting a new year with a shiny, clean house is lovely, but the dual big holidays of Christmas and New Year's plus all the other stuff around then ensure that my house will never enter the new year in a pristine state.

For me, spring is the season.  Get some of it done before new year's, and then another massive clean right about now, when windows can be reasonably opened and EVERYTHING aired out without freezing off one's extremities, and life is good.  Well, maybe that is just a bit of an exaggeration, but it is quite nice to fall asleep in a freshly aired futon, with spring smelling sheets, no dust, no winter must, and everything actually tidily put away. Not to mention all the tidying, tossing, etc in every other corner of the house, and outside too!  I was very pleased to have my son help with tidying up all the junk the wind blew into our outside space, pull some weeds and plant seeds...flowers!

I lost track after 10 bags of "non-everyday" garbage thrown out over the past month, and am feeling quite pleased!  Hanging on to my high-school child's second grade textbooks is really pointless (the artwork is safely tucked away though!).  Also managed to get rid of tons of old toys, papers, etc.  Whew!  Cleaning is still underway...well, it's one of those things that if you ever stop, you might never get caught up on again!

The list isn't complete (and the cleaning part might actually be done by the time "o-soji" rolls around again), but feeling much lighter and springier now!

A Gift Fish

On Sunday night, spouse sent home 2 kg of chicken breasts (sasami) from the restaurant, as wouldn't be used before the expiration date.  He uses only Awa-odori chicken, which is a local bird, large size, and quite delicious.  That gift led to last night's dinner.  I split it with the neighbor, who is a fish wholesaler, and she gave me half of a Katsuo (skipjack tuna).  I'm not very creative with fish, so after a consulting with the family, we decided to have half as sashimi, and half as Katsuo tataki.  Served with salad, a chicken dish and rice, it was a delicious meal. (Also a "use-up whatever possible before it spoils meal") 

Sashimi

Always very popular. Dip it in soy sauce with wasabi mixed in, and squeeze in some sudachi juice if you have it (other citrus fruits like lemon or lime are OK too) Avocado dipped in soysauce with wasabi is also quite good.  I said I received half a fish, and had to separate the bones, as well as remove the skin.  I'm sure there must be a "proper" way to do this, but I don't know it.  I think I'll need to get my neighbor to show me how sometime... Somehow we managed it, (Son and I were cooking...punctuated by his comments of  "I'm STARVING...can't I eat this now????")  and there were no injuries.  I still think I prefer buying fish that only needs to be sliced, but am thankful for the gift regardless.  We put this half in the fridge to chill after slicing it for sashimi.

Katsuo Tataki

I have never made this before, but it actually garnered a compliment from Chef spouse.  Lightly salt the fish, then grill it for 15-20 seconds on each side.  Place it in ice water to chill. I prepared flavoring for it by mixing grated ginger, garlic and daikon radish with just a dash of lemon juice and soy sauce added.  Dry off the fish by patting it with paper towels.  Coat it in the flavoring, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate until just before serving.  Slice and serve with thinly sliced onions and soy sauce for dipping.

The rest of the menu was this simple salad, onions, shiitake mushrooms and chicken flavored with pepper and dipped in ponzu sauce, and of course, steamed rice.  Not beautiful and artistic, but still delicious!

Sunrise

I can't remember the last sunrise I actually saw...more of a nightowl than an early riser.  But, early start for the baseball tournament.  We all got on the bus in the dark, but within minutes, the blush of sunrise touched the horizon.  As we crossed the Yoshino-gawa Bridge, the horizon slowly turned to rose. Beautiful even through the windows (and nicer than facing it fresh in today's wind!)  We reached Okayama's Muscat stadium after one full tumbler plus one paper-cup of coffee (about two hours for those who use watches), close to one hour before the opening ceremony started.  It was nice to chat with some other mom's on the bus...filled out some of the comments son would come home from practice with!

Very brisk wind as we arrived at the stadium; unfortunately, it remained all day!  Lovely ceremony (well, too many speeches to be honest, but all FIVE fairly short), and then off to play baseball.  The kids had equipment inspection and warm-up, then settled down to watch the first game, until their actual pre-game warm-up.  The first game was a "cold win"...called at the bottom of the 4th due to point spread, in our favor.  Still, good practice for both teams.  Our next game was the fourth and final of the day.  Much closer in terms of team level, and a very exciting game.  Our kids took the lead, then the other team rallied.  It ended with a loss for our Hawks, but was overall an exciting game with lots of genuine effort. (So, I'm not "not" into all the technical de-briefing of games, but it is now Tuesday night, the games were on Saturday, and I've been over them a million times, orally, and via photos and video cam...lucky or not, you're call!)

It was a very long day, the field was in the middle of nowhere, but it was good.  Enjoyed seeing son play b-ball, and interact with teammates, enjoyed chatting with other parents and "nature-walking."  After arriving back home, enjoyed dinner with teammates family at a "new-to-me" izakaya(restaurant/pub), then dropped off supper for ill spouse and went to close the restaurant.  Was very happy NOT to have b-ball practice on Sunday!

What'll it be?

After thinking about it off and on for quite some time, I finally started a blog.  Now, I still have to decide what to "go for" in the blog-world.  There are many sites as diaries for families, cooking, travel, hobbies, music and everything in between!  What a mind-boggling array!!

I'm starting with a journal approach...random things on different days...which is helpful for maintaining my sanity in this soap opera that my life seems to be (considering taking up a new career in writing soap operas...seriously!), and I want to slowly introduce some of the fun, beautiful, exotic and weird things I encounter on a frequent basis in my "new" country.  Having lived here for close to half my life, I'm not sure I can call it that anymore, but as I'll always be a foreigner here in Japan, I'll just call it that anyway!

This next bit is on the  "save my sanity journal theme." This is actually entry #2 for today...while typing entry #1, unbeknownst to me, my spouse was having a CT test and MRI at the hospital.  He's been feeling bad, and decided to stop at the hospital on the way to work.  I got a call from the hospital about 4 hours later (one hour before his restaurant opens) saying, "Can you come pick up your husband?  He's in no condition to drive, and needs to be taken to see another doctor at another location."  Huh???  No phone call from him?  Well, his cell was out-of-order  (got that taken care of), got the restaurant sorted out, took him to the other doctor (apparently an inner ear problem, still sorting out what exactly, and he still can't walk straight!), but wow, another event to chalk up on the "OMG...I can't believe this" list that is getting quite full this year.

My students were very understanding about me suddenly canceling their lessons, the restaurant staff handled everything well (went to close it instead of going to bed early like I needed to...and now I'm writing here!! Oh dear!), and I got everything organized to leave for son's baseball tourney in the wee hours of the morning. (Yes, I bought the onigiri, and yes, there were comments...but instead of the "homemade" issue, it was why didn't I buy them on the way home from the restaurant so they'd be fresher....lol...it's always something!). What, still going to the tourney when spouse is ill (and though he hasn't even a drop of alcohol in him, is weaving around like he's plastered?!)?  Yes, still going, and at his insistence (with video & camera, and orders to catch every moment possible).  Fingers are crossed that I won't come home to find something MORE has happened (it truly has been an incredible year for slightly to extremely unpleasant happenings!).  And hopefully some pictures to share as well!

BTW...onigiri are rice balls (OK, they're most often triangular in my neck of the woods, but still called rice balls)!