Summer festivals

Many local areas of Tsukuba had summer festivals this weekend.

I didn't go to any, and unfortunately my neighborhood doesn't have a festival. But I could enjoy just a couple of minutes of fireworks from somewhere. I don't know where it is, but every year I can see some fireworks from my bedroom window.

This year they truly only had a few minutes - so just a few rockets of fireworks. I guess that is because of the disasters. Anyway, my husband, Kuro and I enjoyed looking at them from the window. Maybe Kuro was just looking outside and wasn't really watching the fireworks! And Dusty was playing somewhere in the house by himself - he's not a "Japanese" cat :)

Cicadas near my house

The past few days some cicadas have been "singing" near my house. One type has a low sound that is just "bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz" but the cicada in this photo sings REALLY loudly. If you watch the video below, you can hear them.

Sorry, but the video is just a picture of the bamboo grove across from my house. I took the photograph yesterday - right next to my veranda. But today when I wanted to take the video, I couldn't find any cicadas, just hear them :)

Rotisserie chicken

A specialty rotisserie chicken shop opened in Tsukuba this week. "rotisserie" is a kind of roast chicken, but while it is being cooked, it is constantly turned around and around. You can buy it everywhere in Australia.

This new shop has special roasters from France. They only sell chicken, and take out coffee. (A strange combination.) Anyway, I bought a chicken today and was really, really looking forward to eating it.

The size is rather small - about half the size of a regular whole chicken. They are split down the middle when they are cooked, so they can be cooked evenly. It costs 1,250yen for one chicken, so not so cheap.

My opinion? I'm really sorry to say that both my husband and I were disappointed. The chicken itself doesn't have much flavor. But the big problem is some kind of soy and spice sauce that the skin is coated with. It was a little burned, so the taste was just burned soy sauce :(   It would be much better with no sauce.

Oh well, we shouldn't cook roast chicken at home now because of electricity cuts, but maybe next weekend I'll cook some chicken in my BBQ :)

A new shop in Lala Garden

I'm really happy because an imported food shop has opened in Lala Garden. I had always said, "If only there was an import shop in Lala ......."

Actually, the shop "Bon Sante" relocated from Dayz Town to Lala Garden. It is much more convenient for me because I must pass by Lala Garden every day, but I had to make a special trip to Takezono.

I don't buy many imported things because I think it is important to eat domestic foods. BUT things like Indian and Thai curry spice are best from those countries. And sometimes I want to buy imported tea :)

I wonder about Dayz Town ..... ? Many shops moved out of the building and are now more successful somewhere else.

Strange weather

Recently the weather has been strange, hasn't it?

A few weeks ago there was a heat wave and it was soooooooooooo hot every day and also at night. Then last week was suddenly cooler and Friday night was COLD. (I went to a BBQ and even though I had a cardigan I was still cold.)

Now today is warm and very humid - not a nice combination.

I'm really looking forward to late September and October because autumn is my favorite time of year. When is your favorite?

Swimming, 7/26

Here are my swimming results from this past week. If I keep a record I can check back later and see my progress :)

I take 500ml of Vaam sports drink to the pool. I make it from powder and 500ml of water - the sachets are very convenient, one sachet to one pet bottle. Actually, I use a drink flask which keeps my drink cool :)

It is really important that my drink enters my stomach and is processed into my body quickly. There are two reasons for this: one, I need to get water from my stomach and into my blood quickly, and two, my stomach needs to empty very quickly so that I don't feel sick when swimming!

How to empty your stomach quickly??? GULP the drink in big mouthfuls! I drink about 300ml of drink in the first 30 seconds of my break. When much liquid goes into your stomach, it will also empty out quickly. I read this in a sports medicine (science) paper. If you sip slowly, there is not enough liquid in your stomach at one time and it is more difficult for you to be re-hydrated.

This type of Vaam is the only sports drink I like - the others are too sweet. You can buy it at the pharmacy in Lala Garden, or at Xeebio, or even on Amazon.jp. 

A new toy

Here is a new cat toy that I found in my garden. I think it belonged to a crow because they are the only black colored birds near here.

Of course I could only find one feather, but we have two cats. This was a problem because when I gave it to Dusty, Kuro wanted to play with it too! Dusty took it in his mouth and ran away with it, growling at Kuro. "Go away! It is mine!"

An hour or so later, Dusty was tired of playing with it and let Kuro have it. That was last week and now the feather is ignored by everyone! Cats are like small children - they only like new toys and quickly get bored with old ones :(