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.

Bean's Throwing Day

Today is 'Setsubun' the dividing day between seasons in the ancient calendar. You can read all about it at a different blog:
http://worldkigodatabase.blogspot.com/2006/07/setsubun-festival-february-3.html

Basically, you throw roasted soy beans and shout 'Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi'. (Out with the devil/demon and in with good fortune.) Then you get to eat as many beans as you are years old. I got a mask from the supermarket, but it looks more like a cat than a demon!

Another tradition that seems to be more modern is eating really big sushi rolls. Check them out in the picture!

Spring is here? (Oops, it's gone again)

I've been really busy the past few days, so I felt really happy when the weather started to get warmer. In fact, this morning was so warm, the air was so fresh and clear, and the view of Mt. Tsukuba was so nice, that I was in a great mood by the time I got to work :)

And yesterday had another hint of spring - in the morning I heard "Ken, ken, ken", the harsh cries of a male pheasant. (The other sound they make is kind of like "took took took"!) I don't know why, but the male near my house always cries in a group of 3 notes! And I don't know if it is the male or female or both that go "took" but they do it for quite a long time. Pheasant conversation perhaps???

They are quite shy birds and while I hear them, I rarely glimpse them. But yesterday I saw one right across from my house - it seemed to be looking for worms or something near a bamboo grove, and quickly darted into the undergrowth when I approached. I am not sure what it was because it wasn't an adult male, nor an adult female. My guess is it was one of the 3 babies that were around last year and that it is a juvenile male.

The father bird is really beautiful (I saw him once last spring) but the mother is a boring brown color. Sorry, I'm not good at birdwatching (I don't like waiting around, nor lurking in bushes waiting for birds to appear) so I couldn't get my own picture. This picture is one I found from the Internet. And the link will let you listen to the cries of a male bird. http://www.ne.jp/asahi/qpon/b/tori/kiji/kiji_wav.htm

Anyway, after this nice burst of spring, it has suddenly become colder and now this evening is back to winter. Ah, I guess I'll have to wait another month or two for really nice days.

Latin Folk Music

Last night there was a Latin folk music performance at G-Clef cafe near my house. The music was from various Latin countries and the musicians had several different instruments. In the pictures you can see:

Kena flutes
Panpipe
Charango (5 stringed lute)
Classic guitar
Latin drum, with fur instead of skin

On Feb 19th there is going to be another Latin folk concert by a different group. I saw them last time they were at G-clef and thought it was one of the best musical performances I have ever seen. The music was so passionate and vibrant that I have been waiting for a chance to re-experience it. Unfortunately, I am going to be away that weekend, but I REALLY recommend that you go. There are only 5 tickets left (900 for admission and one drink) so hurry!

Wonderfully relaxing .......

I went to a hair salon today. A bit unusual because I usually work weekdays so can only have appointments on weekends.

I LOVE going to a salon and if I were rich, I'd go every week! Now I only go once every 6 - 8 weeks (not rich yet!). Actually, I should say that I love JAPANESE hair salons. And yes, there is a difference!

So why do I like Japanese salons? Because of the wonderful service. The part I especially like is shampooing after a hair color. Today was a perfect 20 or more minutes of washing twice, conditioning, followed up by a head, neck and shoulder massage. The washing part is really nice and like a scalp massage. By the time all this finished, I was so wonderfully relaxed and sleepy that I didn't want to leave!

I don't know why other countries don't have this kind of treatment for customers. Maybe it is because the chairs aren't so comfortable so your neck would be stiff if you spent so long at the basin. But on that topic, why DON'T Australian salons have those nice lay-back chairs like dentist chairs? Most are just regular chairs so you have to squish down and crick your neck back. Not nice.

I think the perfect experience would be a hair salon attached to a private esthetic salon. Imagine having a body massage, followed by a wonderful hair treatment! I'd want a bed too, so I could take a nap afterwards. Hmmm, I'd better start saving money!

By the way, you can see my salon here in English or Japanese -->

http://www.j-cool-japan.com/

Warm Feet

Nowadays we have a lot of new technology but sometimes old fashioned ideas are best.

All Japanese people should know what the orange thing in the picture is, but if you are not Japanese, can you guess? This thing looks very different in Australia and I guess not so many people use it now...

Have you guessed? It's a hot water bottle! Australian ones are flat and made out of rubber and sadly they get cold pretty quickly. This Japanese one is made out of special heavy duty plastic and stays quite hot of most of the night. I put it down the bottom of my futon to keep my feet warm. Actually, the water is still warm enough the next morning and I can use it to melt the ice on my car windscreen. Saves water and gas!

You can still buy metal hot water bottles in Japan but most are now plastic. Mine is a basic one that I bought cheaply at a pharmacy but you can get cute animal shapes or doughnut shaped ones. The doughnut ones keep the water in the middle and the outside ring doesn't get hot. These can be used for babies or small children.

One thing you should keep in mind with a 'hot' hot water bottle is that you can get burns from a low heat applied for a long time. So make sure the water isn't super hot and that you wrap the bottle in a towel as well as a cover.

I use this orange one in my futon every night but when I worked alone from home, I used to use it in the day too! I would put it under my desk and put my feet on it. If I dressed warmly and used the bottle, then I didn't need to use an airconditioner or heater. Very frugal! However, now I have to use an airconditioner - I don't think students at my school would be very impressed if I said "No heating, just hot water bottles!"

frugal - 質素な

Blueberry Cake

Here is an easy recipe for a basic rich cake batter.

1. 100g of butter beaten until white.
2. Add 90g of sugar and beat until creamy.
3. Add in two eggs, one at a time. Beat.
4. Mix in 2T of milk.
5. Combine 120g of plain flour and 1/2t of baking powder. Stir into batter.
6. Bake in 180 degree oven for 40 minutes.

Blueberry Cake (pictured)
Soak dry blueberries in a little hot water until they get soft.

Add a little vanilla after Step 2.
Add the blueberries after Step 4.

(You can use any dry fruit instead of blueberries. Chopped dry apricot is great and I swapped brandy for the vanilla. )

Coffee Cake
Add 1 1/2T of instant coffee to the milk before mixing.

I found the basic recipe in an Orange Page cooking magazine (2003 Oct 17). Australian cakes usually only have one egg and are cooked for 30 minutes or so.

Exhausted

I pay to go swimming but cleaning up snow is by far better exercise! And it is free!!!

My husband and I spent a few hours this morning and this afternoon trying to clear the snow and ice from our driveway, in front of our house, and the road through the rice fields. The rice field road is the best route to take because most of the snow had melted. We just had to clear 50m or so.

I am guessing the other road I always use near my house is going to be frozen snow and ice for the next week or more. Ah, this house is so cool in the summer because we are between woods and fields, but no sun penetrates the woods. It is literally freezing in winter!!!

Scooping up snow and trying to scrape ice of the road was such hard work! Total body workout! I'm exhausted ...

A Snow Bear

Well, it's been a long day. It stopped snowing about 5:30pm. We went outside about 4:30 and by that time there was 17cm of snow on top of the car.









It was nice to go outside, though at that time it was still snowing. You can see pictures of our creations. Umm, this was the first time I tried to make a snowman and it was more difficult than I thought - the body was kind of a triangle shape so it turned into a snow bear rather than a snowman. After that we shovelled most of the snow off the driveway. I hope the remainder doesn't freeze solid tonight. Crunchy powder snow is okay but solid white ice WON'T be nice to drive on!

A White World

This morning I woke up to find a white world. Snow was forecast to start later in the morning, but at 7:30am it was so silent and bright that I knew must have started snowing much earlier. Sure enough, when I looked outside there was about 4cm of snow covering everything.

Snow is rare in Tsukuba - just 2 or 3 times a year. I'm still debating whether or not I should buy snow tires for my car. Today I don't need to worry as I don't have to work so can stay at home all snug and warm! Well, actually I am waiting for it to stop snowing so I can go outside to make a snowman. The field by my house should be a great place to find lots of good snow!

You can see the field in the pictures, as well as the "God's Tree". I don't know what kind of god, but you can see a small hut at the base of the tree with a rock in it. The rock is the physical sign of the god. If you look really carefully, you can see that the rock has been decorated with a straw rope and lightning shaped paper. This paper is a mark of a Shinto god. My guess is this god is for good fortune for agriculture but I don't really know. The tree stands in a field and behind that are many rice fields. I guess the owner of the field and/or other farmers must have put the paper decoration on the rock as it appeared just before New Year.

Such kinds of sacred rocks are often found under big trees here and there in Japan. These are not to be confused with small stone Buddhist statues called Jizo. Next time I see a Jizo I'll take a picture and tell you all about them.

Splash!

This evening I went swimming for the first time in a month.

Just before Xmas I was busy, then after that I got sick. Then the New Year was busy again.

Anyway, tonight I went and was so disappointed. After 75m of backstroke I was ready to collapse so I spent the rest of the time walking up and down the pool doing different strokes with my arms, then went up and down using a kickboard - both facedown and on my back.

Actually I rarely, if ever, saw people walking up and down in Australian pools. Everyone goes to the pool to swim. I think there are some special rehabilitation pools for walking but I have never been to one. I wonder why Japanese people like walking in the pool?

Now I go to the Hotel Okura pool. It is really nice and a bonus is that they give you towels and there are showers where you can wash your hair, etc. There are even hairdryers to use. Public pools have communal showers that you use with everyone else before and after swimming so you wear your swimsuit and of course there is no soap or shampoo. This was also strange for me because ALL Australian pools have individual showers where you can shampoo your hair.

Another really good point about the hotel's pool is that there is a 60cm deep small semi-circular pool on the side. This can be used by children, but there are never children there at the time I go. (I heard they only go there on weekends and only if a parent is a member of the pool.) No-one else uses that pool in the evenings so I go in there at the end of swimming simply to relax. I float on my back with my eyes closed for 5 - 10 minutes. I probably look like a dead body, so once a minute or so I splash my hands back and forth to show I'm still alive!!! Other swimmers probably think I'm crazy, but it is wonderful to just lie in the water!

Curry + curry

I LOVE curry! Any kind is okay: Indian, Thai, Japanese ... Truly I like it so much that I could eat curry every day!

Today I had Indian keema curry (chicken mince) for lunch at New Mira and Thai yellow curry base mutton curry (homemade one) for dinner.


Japanese curry is a bit different. You can buy a wide variety of flavors, but most Japanese curry bases come as blocks of 'ru'. This Japanese word comes from the French 'roux'. Roux is some kind of sauce base that uses butter and flour as thickening agents. The roux can be kept to use later. I guess the closest thing like this in Australia is soup stock cubes. But Japanese curry 'ru' looks like big blocks of chocolate!

To make Japanese curry, you stir fry some pieces of meat and onions and then add chopped potatoes and carrots plus any other vegetables you like. Then you add water and simmer for a while. Finally you add the curry roux which thickens the mix and simmer for a little longer. Pretty easy! Actually, you can buy various stew type mixes that are used in the same way, including one for 'white stew' which is chicken stew made with a milk base.

If you've never tried it, add some plain unsweetened yogurt to hot curry. It not only makes it milder, but also deepens the flavors!

A Smile

Yesterday traditional poems created by Imperial family members were read out at a special ceremony in Tokyo. Each year the theme changes and this year it was 'smile/laugh'.

I read the English translations in the newspaper today and Princess Masako's poem was lovely. She wrote about her daughter playing with other children:

When one in the circle laughs,
So does another,
And the children's laughter
Spreads more and more


I think the princess has captured the innocent beauty of children all around the world. Someday her daughter might become the Empress of Japan, but in fact, Princess Aiko's spirit is the same as the poorest child.

It is such a pity that we lose such joy and innocence as we grow older...

Minus Four Degrees!

I'm glad I'm not a plant! Nights are so cold lately that most of the pot plants in my garden are frozen! Did you know that pansies can freeze every night, thaw in the day, and still be alive? I wonder if people can ever be frozen and brought back to life?

Yesterday was the first snow of the season in Tsukuba. My garden looked lovely covered in snow but I had to go to work before 7am so I didn't have time to take any pictures. (The pictures here are frost, not snow.) Actually, I was really worried because there was quite a lot of snow near my house and my car doesn't have snow tires. I drove at about 20km an hour for the first 300m, but when I got out of the woods surrounding my house, I found that the roads had no snow. Closer to the city center there was very little snow anywhere and light rain later in the morning meant it all melted. What a pity - I didn't get a chance to make a snowman! Next time I hope it snows on a weekend not a working day.


Actually, one reason I like living in the Kanto area (Tokyo and the prefectures surrounding it) is that the weather in winter is usually fine. Very cold, but sunny! Winter back in my hometown in Australia was depressing. Cold (not as cold as here though) and mostly rainy or cloudy. I really like the cold, crisp and very clear air here in winter. Mt Tsukuba looks lovely this season - a single blue mountain with twin peaks.

The only problem with the lovely clear air is that the humidity level is so low that my skin dries out too quickly. Ironic that in June/July I have to use a de-humidifier to keep mold at bay, but this season I use a humidifier so my skin doesn't look like a raisin ...

Andrea

at bay - (keep mold away) {The dictionary didn't have a good translation for this.}

Manners

Do you have good manners? I hope so. I really hate people with bad manners!

For example, right now I am so angry about the lazy people who park on the road near my office. Not just on one side, but on BOTH sides so it is almost impossible to drive down that road. Why do they do it? Because they are too lazy to use the carpark of the liquor shop they want to go to. Hey, just drive 5 meters around the corner, won't you!!!!! Not only is it bad manners, it is outright dangerous - I've seen so many near-accidents that I have lost count how many. I wish the police would come and give all the bad mannered parkers traffic tickets ....

Another thing I HATE is when I see sportsmen spitting. (I rarely see women athletes spit - maybe just marathon runners sometimes.) I think it is really disgusting so I was happy to see an article about this subject on the BBC website today. It seems some people are campaigning to make footballers stop spitting. Yay! --> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/4594052.stm

Sadly there was another article about manners in the BBC today, too. -->
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4245754.stm

Are our manners so bad these days? According to the article modern Brits have bad manners but Americans are better behaved. True??? I wonder about Australians? The article says that Japanese people have very good manners. Hah hah! Not any more!

Is complaining bad mannered? Maybe I am bad too ....

Seven Herbs and Rice Cakes

Today is Jan 7th - the traditional day to eat the seven herbs of spring. The 5 herbs plus two root vegetables (Japanese daikon radish and Japanese kabu turnip) are chopped in small pieces and added to rice gruel.


Gruel is rice that is cooked in over double the amount of water used for steamed rice. This dish is called 'nanagusa-gayu' -- seven herbs gruel, and is eaten to bring luck for a healthy year.



Before I showed you round rice cakes that my mother in law sent from Kagoshima, and today I got square cakes from Mr. T. Thank you! Some regions in Japan shape the freshly pounded rice into balls which flatten as they dry. Other areas spread the hot pounded rice into containers then cut it into rectangular cakes. My MIL makes mochi rice cakes with a machine, but these square ones were made the traditional way - pounding steamed rice in a huge wooden bowl with a giant wooden mallet. I think the handmade type is more delicious. If you check the picture carefully, you can still see grains. I grilled them and they're ready when they puff up. Mochi can be eaten with many different toppings, etc, but today we dipped them in soy sauce mixed with sugar.









Very healthy lunch, followed by green tea!

'Real' sushi?!

When I was talking to my sister on New Year's Day, she said she wanted to eat some sushi. It seems it is really popular in Australia nowadays. But actually when we talked more, she said she likes sushi that doesn't have raw fish!

Today's Japan Times newspaper has a really interesting article about the popularity of sushi in Australia. The story mostly focuses on Sydney, so I don't know if you can find 'new' sushi in other cities. --> http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20060107f4.htm

How about me? I LOVE sushi and have lots of favorite ones: scallops, salmon, salmon roe, horse mackerel ... in fact, most sushi! I eat it 2 or 3 times a month. Sometimes my husband makes it at home but he is a bit heavy handed with the wasabi!


A

scallop - ホタテガイ
salmon - サケ
salmon roe - イクラ
horse mackeral - アジ
heavy handed - (he uses too much wasabi) 苛酷な, {高圧的な, 無器用な}

Lucky Lion-dogs

Look at this cute pair! They are 'shisa' from the Okinawa Islands, the western-most prefecture in Japan.

I received them as a gift, along with some beautiful handmade glasses. Thank you so much N! :) Such a lovely surprise for the beginning of the year.

Shisa are lion dogs that probably originated in China. You can read all about them at this website --> http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/6330/Shisa.html

I put my new little pets in the genkan 'entrance room'. I hope they will protect my house and bring me good luck!

A