Spectacular Sunset

Sometimes simple things are so beautiful.

This afternoon there was a storm but after that a lovely sunset. I took these pictures from my bedroom window.

Couscous Cooking Class

Today I went to a cooking class. Amel from Algeria taught us how to make a couscous dish and a French salad.

It was really interesting to learn how to make authentic couscous and to hear about Algerian food. The couscous was served with a simple chicken and vegetable soup and was super delicious!

I'm going to try and make the same dish at home some time in the future. I hope it turns out well.

Flowers and Weeds

I always try to tell people it is very hard to judge "good" and "bad" English. I think it is simpler - you can communicate in English or you cannot. If you speak English and the people who listen can get your message then you are a SUCCESSFUL English speaker! Being a successful speaker is more important than being a good speaker. Why? Here are some examples:

1. Professor B works at a famous university. He is a native speaker and he has a very good education. His English is "good". But his lectures are very boring and difficult and his students cannot understand what he says.

2. D is an international soccer player. He didn't have such a good education and his accent is working class ( 賃金労働者;労働者階級 ). Some rich people think his English is "bad" because of his local dialect and because his grammar is poor. Of course his fans love him and never think about his English!



How about your Japanese? Do you think it is "good" or "bad"? Can you communicate? Which do you think is more important: perfect language or communication?

Yesterday I took a walk and I found all of these flowers. I thought they were lovely so I took pictures. Should I call them flowers, or should I called them weeds? ( 雑草 )








I guess most people would call them weeds, especially the ones that were growing in my garden where they shouldn't. But look at the last flower, a nasturtiam, which I bought from a shop. In some places in Australia nasturtiams are weeds!

Homemade Bread

I did this and that in Golden Week, and one day we had a BBQ.

One reason for the BBQ was that I wanted to make bread and use the BBQ to cook it! You might wonder how that is possible, but my BBQ has a lid and becomes like an oven.

I wanted to make my own bread because I wanted to make 'yomogi pan' (bread flavored with mugwort). I LOVE the taste of mugwort but wanted a different way to eat it. Tenpura is nice but too oily, and yomogi-mochi is nice but too sweet! Neither option is healthy. Bread seemed like a good choice :) I got the yomogi from my garden where I grow it in a pot {so that it doesn't spread and become a weed}. It's from Kagoshima, from my mother-in-law's garden originally!

Have you ever made bread? It's not so difficult but it does take time - you have to begin two or three hours before you even start to bake it.

The result? Wonderful! I baked the bread as rolls, using a muffin pan. The shape was interesting and the taste was SO MUCH better than in a shop! They were light and fluffy and the best bread I've eaten for a long time.

The only disappointing point was that they didn't have any yomogi flavor at all! At first I blanched the yomogi leaves before drying them and chopping finely to add to the bread dough. Maybe I didn't add enough, or maybe the flavor was lost in the blanching water because my rolls were just bread, not yomogi-pan. Oh well, the color of the bread was nice!

Something wonderful!

This afternoon I went outside to do some chores and instead I found a wonderful sight! I ran inside to get my camera but I needn't of rushed because it is still there now - 2 hours later.




I looked in my 'bug book' (an encyclopedia of Japanese insects) and found this is a kind of moth called オナガミズアオ (onagamizuao). At first it was hard to tell because there is another moth almost identical (オオミズアオ) but my moth has more yellow fluffy parts on his/her bottom wings. The moths in the book look very pale blue-green but my moth is still yellow-green becaue the wings aren't dry yet. I guess it is about 10cm across the wing span.

Anyway, it is wonderful - I have never seen such a beautiful moth before. Have you?

PS. I found out this is called a 'Luna Moth' in English. Do you know that 'luna' means 'moon'? It seems these moths are common in the USA, but it is difficult to find one.

Flowers and frogs

Remember the flower I asked about recently? Thanks to M, I know the name. She said they are 'musukari' in Japanese. I found that name comes from the Latin name of the plant - muscari. In simple English they are called 'Grape Hyacinth' because they look like a bunch of grapes! Actually I think they look more like little bells.

Here is a really nice homepage that shows a great picture of the flowers in a famous park in Holland. --> http://www.theplantexpert.com/springbulbs/Muscari.html

And remember the frogs? Well I haven't seen any in my garden this past week because they have all moved to the rice fields. The farmers have been filling the fields with water and the frogs are in paradise! You can hear them in the daytime, and at night it is like an orchestra of frogs :)

Rainbow Frogs

Wow, today's topics are all about gardening ...

This morning was such beautiful weather that I decided to work in the garden. You might feel envious that I have a reasonable sized garden, but it is really hard work! In the past two or three weeks, weeds have sprung up from no-where like magic :(

But one good thing about the warmer weather is that summer creatures are beginning to appear. You can find small lizards scurrying about in the sunshine and look at what else I found today: rainbow frogs!

My guess is that when they hibernate in the winter, frogs become brown and when it gets warmer they change back to green. Is that true? And why could I find an almost WHITE frog?

Mystery Flower

Can you tell me what this flower's name is? You can see them here and there in people's gardens.

It is a kind of bulb (I found out by accident when I pulled one up by mistake), and they are growing in my garden. I didn't put them there and I don't know if they are wild or someone planted them long ago.

Are these Japanese flowers?

Spring in my garden

For the past few weeks I've been taking snapshots of things in my garden. All of the flower pictures are from sometime in the last few weeks. I really like plants that take care of themselves, so pansies are just perfect! As you can see, I like all shades of blue and purple. Yellow is a nice contrast so I planted some yellow ones, too.

As for the tulips, the packet of bulbs was mixed so I got red and white as well as purple and yellow, so I put those in a different place.

Back again!

Um, yes, I am still alive! Sometimes you might wonder where I disappeared to, but just be patient and I'll appear again!

Life has been busy the past few weeks. I had a few events to organize and attend, plus daily life and work. I am sure I don't know where time goes :)

Lovely Gifts

Look at these wonderful things ....

First is an orchid I received from H last week. Sorry but I forget the name .... anyway, it is really beautiful and still looks nice one week later.

The second thing is 'sakura manju' (cherry blossom steamed buns filled with sweet bean paste). I was really surprised to get them from S, who remembered that I LOVE any kind of sakura sweets. They were really delicious, thanks!

Lastly I got some nice bath salts plus other little surprises from V. Maybe she was reading my mind and knows I like to relax in the bath!

The Best Dessert

You can find the best desserts in Parfum, a cafe/restaurant on Ninomiya Park Street.

The main menu is good too; very nice homemade salad dressing on the green salad, nice soup, good main dishes, excellent coffee.











But the dessert? HEAVENLY! :) Last time I went there the dessert plate had homemade ice-cream and fruit (as usual) and the main sweet was an almond-orange tart. I think it is really hard to get good tarts, but this was one of the best I have ever had! The base was still really crispy which is difficult. (Tart bases usually become soggy after a few hours.) We also got a small sample of another dessert for free. It looked like a mini creme brulee - the top was toffeed sugar and when you broke through the cruncy toffee, you found wonderful creamy and fluffy egg pudding underneath .....









Just be careful because if you order the special daily lunch menu for less than 1000yen, you don't get dessert. You have to order a pasta lunch or fish lunch, etc. The prices range from about 1200yen to 1500yen but it is worth it to get the dessert!

By the way, they only serve lunch and dinner so you cannot go there for afternoon tea and just get dessert and coffee.

The Best Sushi

The best sushi in Tsukuba is Yamato Zushi on Nishi Odori, just north of Route 354.

It is 'kaiten sushi' (sushi that goes around on a conveyor belt) though the price is a little more expensive than family type kaiten sushi. BUT the fish is always delicious and the pieces are quite large. Because of the quality and size, I think Yamato is much better value than cheaper restaurants. And I've NEVER had anything that wasn't delicious.

The best dish is one fillet of sea eel (anago). Just wonderful! Oh, and if you go to Yamato, you can get set plates for a party or you can choose your own varieties and make up a special party plate just for you. Here is a plate that my husband and I made. The price is the same as if you ate in the shop. By the way, if you phone ahead to make an order, you must get one of the ready made plates from their take-out menu, so I recommend you go and choose your favourite things or the fish of the day.

Yummy Yogurt

I've just started making 'Kasupi Kai' yogurt again. (Capsian Sea)

I made it a few years ago but stopped because the taste became a little funny. Actually, as I got the starter culture from a friend, I was also worried about the purity of the bacteria at that time.

To give you some background, a professor of Kyoto University (Yukio Yamori) visited the former Soviet Union country of Georgia in 1986. He was studying longevity (people who live to become very old) and found Georgians ate a special kind of yogurt. He brought some back to study it, and then it seems his wife who is a doctor, gave some out. Over the years the yogurt was shared all over the country. Prof Yamori became worried about purity and safety so he set up a NPO to distribute dried culture starter kits.

One strange thing is that the yogurt comes from near the BLACK SEA not the Caspian Sea!!! Maybe 'black yogurt' wasn't such an attractive name ...

That was a few years ago, and now you can buy Kasupi Kai yogurt in supermarkets. I thought the taste wasn't as good as the homemade one, so last week I bought powdered starter culture from my local supermarket. It cost about 1, 200 yen! {For two sachets of culture plus about four sachets of powdered collagen which I haven't used.}

The main point about making the yogurt at home is keeping everything CLEAN!

Here is the process I follow:

1. Get two big clean glass jars with lids.
2. Boil water and sterilize the jars and lids with boiling water. Also sterilize a metal spoon.
3. Heat about 800ml of milk to 35 degrees C. (You can just put it in one jar and use the microwave to heat it to the exact temperature.) DO NOT put your finger in the milk to test the temperature!!! If you want to check, use the spoon to get some milk out and drip it on your wrist.
4. Starting - put one sachet of culture powder into the milk and stir.
Continuing - put about 200ml of yogurt in the milk and stir.
5. Put a tissue over the top of the jar and fasten with a rubber band. (The yogurt needs air to grow.)
6. Put the jar in a warm place, 20 - 30 degrees. It will take up to 24 hours for the milk to change into yogurt.
7. To check the progress, sterilize a spoon again and mix. When the yogurt is thick and 'sticky' it is ready.

NOTE: This yogurt is different from regular yogurt. The best I can describe is that the texture is 'sticky' kind of like liquid jelly!

If you want to make the yogurt faster, get a large foam box (like a drinks cooler or broccoli box) and put the jar of milk/yogurt in there with a hot water bottle! If you do this before bed, the yogurt will be ready the next morning. In summer you don't need to do this.

After the yogurt is finished, put about 200ml into the second clean jar and put on the lid. There is enough air in a big jar for the yogurt to live. Keep this to start your next batch of yogurt.

REMEMBER: Keep everything CLEAN!!!!!

Natural Alarm Clock

Well finally I could get a picture of my alarm clock!

Here he is about 8am this morning, though he woke me up before 6, as he always does.

Yes, it is the male pheasant I wrote about a few months ago. I see him almost every morning but it is quite difficult to get a picture of him. This morning he was foraging for food on the side of the rice field across from my house. I guess he was about 8m away. Sorry the picture isn't so nice - I had to take it through the fly screen. (I managed to open the glass window without him flying away, but the screen is much noisier.)

I've only seen the female once this season, when I startled her in my back garden and she flew away. She is a speckled brown color so is difficult to see at any time. Plus she is very quiet! Not like her mate who spent all morning from 6 - 10am walking about calling at intervals.

Just to explain the pictures:
1. This is him on the bank of the rice field (which is dry soil at the moment). He pecks the ground like a chicken looking for food, but looks around every few seconds. (Maybe he could 'feel' I was spying on him!)

2. I don't know why, but every now and then he puffs out his body, fluffs out his feathers and then calls 'keeen keeen'. Looking for his lady friend???

forage (食糧などを)捜す《 for... 》; 糧食徴発に出る, 捜し回る, あさる《 about, through... 》; 略奪する
fly screen 網戸
startle …をびっくりさせて
speckled 斑点（はんてん） *
mate （動物の）つがいの片方
at intervals 時々, 折々
bank (of river, etc)土手, 堤, 盛り土
peck 〈えさを〉ついばむ《 up 》 ;《略式》〈食べ物を〉たいぎそうに少しずつ食べる

* This translation is more like 'spotted', but 'speckled' is smaller spots and the colors blend together more.

Oarai (Big Wash!)

Oarai is a port about an hour north-east away by highway. I think the name is funny because the Chinese characters literally read 'big wash' :)

To be honest, Oarai is not so beautiful but there are many things to do. Something was added to that a few weeks ago when a new outlet shopping mall was opened. It is crowded now, but I can't help think that after a while people will get tired of it. Actually the design is quite nice and will be good in the warmer months. It is open plan, so it will be freezing in winter! It is right next to the Marine Tower which is the first triangular shaped glass tower I've seen.









I like Oarai Aquarium. There are many things to see but my favorite are the sea otters. It is a pity they only have two (or I only saw two) and they are in relatively small tanks.










Another thing I like is the tank of wonderful jellyfish! They are so beautiful. I tried to take a picture of the mini-jelly fish next to the big ones but they are so small and clear that they don't show up in a picture.

Oh, and another really good thing is the tank of sardines in the entry hall! Like thousands of silver comets ...

I want to get a job working there :) When I was a university student, I seriously considered changing courses and study so I could work in a zoo.

Nostalgia

In Japan people use the word 'natsukashi' quite often. It is rather hard to translate it into English, but 'nostalgic' is the best I can do. However, like many one word phrases in Japanese that are used very often to describe feelings, 'natsukashi' (I feel nostalgic) is not something we would say in English!

But anyway, aside from language differences, my topic today is something that does make me feel a little nostalgic ...

I wrote that I went to Kairakuen Park in Mito and that it was my second time there. The first time I went was about 10 years ago, so only a year after I first came to Japan. At that time I was surprised to see black swans gliding about on the lake in the park.

Yesterday I found some again. I presume they are not the same ones but are the offspring of the birds I saw a decade ago. I have no idea why black swans are living in Mito because they are native birds of Australia! (If you don't believe me, do a search on the Internet. Start with a page from the Australian Museum - http://www.amonline.net.au/factsheets/black_swan.htm).

You can find them in many places in Australia, and as the above web page says, especially in the south. There are many on the Torrens River in Adelaide, South Australia. The Torrens flows through the center of the city, just near the Botanic Gardens and Adelaide University. Sometimes I took my books and studied in the parklands by the river and gave the swans bread from my sandwiches. But I think the Australian swans are larger than the ones in Mito, or maybe my memory just made them larger!

White swans are nice, but I really like black swans which look really elegant and never look dirty. If you have any idea how the black swans came to be in Mito, please write a comment and tell me.