Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Blooming Ume


Do you know ume blossoms?
Ume (pronounced like woo-May ) is Japanese plum, and is one of the most popular plants among Japanese.
They have enjoyed viewing the blossoms for more than a thousand years, and have pickled the fruits to make umeboshi, literally means "dried ume", which is red and extremely sour, and my favorite :)


In Japan you can enjoy ume blossoms from late February through early March. Here are pictures of them near my house;


































Unlike sakura(cherry blossoms), ume smells so sweet. I wish I could upload the smell too!

Friday, February 24, 2006

Gold came out of effort

Good job! An athelete has brought Japan its first medal; to our joy, the one shining in the most brilliant color, at the Winter Olympics in Torino!

Shizuka Arakawa is the gold medalist at women's figure skating. She reportedly is the event's first-ever gold medalist of not only Japan but also all Asia. How great!


Her contribution to Japan's Olympic history is obviously wonderful, but apart from it, I'd like to admire her for the medal, because domestically she is known to be a quite hard-working and self-disciplined skater.

She participated in the 1998's Olympics but wasn't ranked highly. Moreover, four years later she couldn't even enter the Games.
Bitter experiences including them must have set her on the path to a victory. She is said to have made tough, constant efforts to improve her skills; how hard it was would be much more than we can imagine. And she never gave up.



A TV news program has just reported that her mother used to make daughter's costumes herself until Shizuka's early teens to cut down the high expenses for the skating. Great mother.


Now it all seems to have paid off. Congratulations, Shizuka! May your future skating life also be a happy one to you...

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Valentine's cake

How did you spend the Valentine's day yesterday?
This year, I made a chocolate-flavored rolled cake that my husband requested, not opening neither of last week's sugar bags :) I used another granulated sugar.




You might have heard of this but, in Japan, for decades Valentine's day has been when women give chocolates to men they love. This has been said to originate in a domestic confectioner's sales campaign.


I was the one who was tempted by the trend.
Last year's Valentine's day, I bought my husband a very small box of chocolate(4 or 6 pieces) of what I 'd call some famous confectioner in New York.
That was pretty expensive, but I bought it for him, and the taste was good.

But, what do you think he said?


He went, "How many 'beef bowl'(= a bowl of cooked rice topped with shredded beef and onion simmerd together and seasoned with sugar and soysauce)s could I eat for the price of this box?" --- :(


Hey man!
You just love beef bowls, and lower-priced peanut chocolate of a major Japanese confectioner, do you?
OK, yes, my fault. I had almost forgotten it...... but won't you please give me back a fortune of 2000yen I spent for your unloved chocolate?! :)


--- So this year, I never thought of buying any one of mass produced chocolate; instead I bought strawberries and a pack of fresh cream.

He of course liked my cake (he must!). And, me too! It was just good! My great job.


By the way, if you bake cakes, did you know fruits jam instead of sugar greatly helps us to whip fresh cream?
Add one spoon of jam (and some sugar if you like) to one cup of cream, use a hand whipper, and in about 1 minute you'll have whipped cream.
Quite easy. No stamina and electrical whipper needed. Worth trying.



Well, that's it. How is your country's Valentine's day like?

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Oh sugar

This evening my husband has brought home something heavy.



Sugar! Two bags of 2 kilos(4.4lb) each! Oh heavens.
He received these at a wake as a gift in return for "koden," condolence money for a funeral.

In Japan, it is customary for us to attend a wake or funeral with some koden, and for the host to give every attendant a gift.

The gift varys; in most cases, a towel or a set of towels.
Sure, we sometimes have sugar, but... usually in smaller scales. This is the first time for me to receive such a big amount of sugar as a return gift.


The problem is, I don't like sugar so much!!


I like sweets, of course, but not too sweet taste. I prefer bland foods.
Once or twice a year I bake cakes or cookies, but who would be willing to offer a space for unused heavy white bags in a shelf which is a precious everyday storeroom in a small Japanese residence?...


OK, I've got a good idea.
Does anyone know the good way to consume much sugar? The prize is ---the set of sugar bags in question (ha-ha, joking)

Friday, February 03, 2006

Palace park and shrine

Today I visited Kyoto-Gyoen, a large national park around the Old Imperial Palace, Kyoto.

Kyoto had been the capital of Japan until 1869. Since then, the emperor has been in Tokyo. (Tokyo literally means "the Capital in the east.")


This is a back shot of Hamaguri-gomon (literally "clam gate"), one of the gates of the park








a lot of camellias had bloomed; there are thousands of trees and flowers planted in this large park










an artifical brook; so beautiful










The Old Palace itself locates northwest in the park, but closed to the public, except a few days in spring and autumn each.
If you can't visit during those periods, you can make a reservation for a tour a couple of months before your preferred date.


After the park I went to Yasaka Shrine, one of the major shrines in Kyoto.

the main gate









the 'dance pavillion' in the precincts, where dances are performed in dedication to the god of the shrine.
It is setsubun(=the day before the lunar-calendric beginning of spring) today, so the performances have done as part of the setsubun festival.





one of the approaches











It was quite cold today; I saw tiny snowflakes falling on my way home. Can't believe spring begins tomorrow! :)