Chai

I'm a bit of a tea fanatic! I've always liked traditional 'English' tea - black tea served with milk and sugar, and drink one to three cups a day. And I'm kind of fussy about tea, so if I come to your house, be sure to make good quality strong tea then add full cream milk :)

Actually, I'm probably addicted to tea because if I can't drink it for a few days, I begin to really crave it. Of course I always have tea (several kinds!) at my house, but my parents in law only have green tea. After a few days I go to a convenience store to buy tea bags .... I don't care if I don't have coffee for a few weeks, but I MUST have tea!

Australians think it is weird but I also like cold tea. I often used to let a cup of tea go cold so I could drink it later and my family members would almost always try to tip it down the sink. I was so surprised when I came to Japan and found that cold tea with milk is sold in bottles! Wow! I like the Kirin brand but it is a little too sweet. Another nice tea is by Lipton and is carbonated.

Another thing I discovered in Japan is 'royal milk tea' or 'tea au lait'. It is made by simmering tea leaves or bags in some hot water, then adding milk and bringing the mix to the boil again. I'm sure most people know about coffee milk but I had never heard of 'royal milk tea'. Now I love it and make it quite often.

My latest discovery is Chai I can make at home. I always choose chai when I go to Indian restaurants but could never make the same taste at home. But a few weeks ago I found 'tea marsala' spice powder at New Mira. It has spices like cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, pepper, black pepper, cardamom and bay. You can add it to regular tea or for a richer taste, to 'royal milk tea'.

Wonders of Nature

My favorite book is 'The Pillow Book' (Makura no Shoshi) by Sei Shonagon. Someday I'll write about it in more detail, but basically it was the journal of a court lady in the Japanese Imperial Household more than 1000 years ago. She had a wonderful dry wit and quite a sharp tongue!

One story I remember well is the tale of a 'Snow Mountain'. After an unusually heavy snowfall in old Kyo (now Kyoto), the ladies and children made a snow mountain. The women then bet how long it would take for the mountain to melt. Shonagon decided a date quite far into the future and the other ladies laughed saying it would surely be gone by then. It seems the ladies checked the slowing dwindling mountain every day, and day by day the other ladies lost the bet. Finally the day that Shonagan guessed drew near and she was excited to win the game. The night before there was still quite a lot of snow left, however on the date she guessed, she went outside to find the mountain gone. The other ladies laughed and said she lost the game, too.

In the end Shonagon found the truth that the other ladies decided to play a trick on her and asked some men to trample on the mountain and remove it! Whether out of spite or just in fun, it seemed the other ladies couldn't stand that Shonagon would win the game.

Remember more than two weeks ago I wrote about my snow bear and my husband's snow man? If you go back in this blog you can see pictures. Well, like Shongon's mountain, my creation has refused to disappear! We have had warm days and even two days of rain, but a small mound remains. It is a pity, but there is nothing left of the snowman. I am betting that some of my bear will still be there on Saturday (the day after tomorrow) which will make it 3 weeks since the snow fall. In the picture you can see what remained this morning. It was really windy today so now about half has melted. And tomorrow will be warmer. Hmmm.

Lastly, look at this wonderful ice crystal I found in the ground. I never saw these in Australia. They can grow to a few centimeters around here and it is fun to stamp on them and listen to them crunch! I am not sure, but maybe they are called 'koori bashira' in Japanese. (ice pillars)

'Most Confusing' Award

The winner of the 'Most Confusing City' award has to go to Mito in Ibaraki!

Yesterday I had to attend a meeting in Mito and unfortunately public transport wasn't an option because neither the bus nor train timetables matched my meeting time. After thinking about it for a week or so, I decided to drive and carefully checked maps for the best route. I found that I only had to take one main road after exiting the highway, then turn right into the street where the meeting was being held.

Everything went okay until that final right turn. NO TURNING RIGHT! Oooh. Okay so go another block. OH NO!!! It was a trunk road with no exits and it lead in a big loop around to Kairakuen Park. It took almost 30 minutes to get back again!

Why? Well, Mito is an old city so the planning was good a few centuries ago. Now it is a maze of one way streets, narrow streets, bad drivers, weird directions and to make matters worse, construction! It only took 40 minutes on the highway from Tsukuba to Mito, but 30 minutes to find my way to the Mito International Association building! :(

Thank you so much to the nice hair stylist who came running outside when I parked in front of his salon. Actually, I must admit he probably ran outside because I just turned the wrong way down a one way street. But I only went 3 meters to park in front of the salon. Luckily he was kind and sent me in the right direction.

Am I going to drive to Mito ever again? NO I DON'T THINK SO!!!!!

Lunch was really yummy though! Despite it being very old, the sushi restaurant on the top floor of the old Keisei Department building had great rice topped with raw salmon.