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 :(  

at vs. in

I watched the Harry Potter movie at Cineplex in Tsukuba.


I swim at Hotel Okura which is in Tsukuba Center.


I'm working at Mitsukoshi Department Store in Ginza.


Can you find the pattern of AT  vs.  IN?

AT  is used to show the place you do an action
IN is used to show the location of the place

Swimming, 7/19

Now I'm swimming 3km every time and tried 3.5km but it made me tired.

Here is what I do:
* each lap is 50m, and 10 laps makes one set of 500m

500m kicking only, on my back (warm-up for backstroke)
500m backstroke
500m backstroke/freestyle (25m backstroke, 25m free)
1 - 2 minute rest
500m backstroke/freestyle (25m backstroke, 25m free)
500m freestyle
500m kicking only, swimming on my side to practice balance

For 3.5km, plus ...
500m freestyle, after kicking

2 minute rest and walk a little to cool down + stretching

My main purpose is to build strength and stamina, not speed. So I swim at a medium pace and I try to finish one set in less than 15 minutes. I do 3 sets (total 1.5km) with no break, rest, then do another 3 or 4 sets.

A visitor in the garden

The other day we had a visitor in the garden! I was surprised to see such a long one - almost 1m, and it had recently eaten lunch! (You can see his fat stomach - probably frogs ....)

Harry Potter - the final movie

Last night I went to see the final Harry Potter movie at Cineplex. I wanted to watch it in 2D, not 3D, so I couldn't go to Movix.

The movie was good but it didn't follow the book exactly. One day when I have time, I'd like to read the series again. From October, we'll be able to buy the books as e-books on a new website called "Pottermore". I hope they have e-books for Kindle. My Kindle is much lighter than the heavy hardcover books I bought :)

Swimming this week

I've been able to increase the distance I can swim and slowly my muscles are getting stronger. Now I'm concentrating on swimming with good technique and as smoothly as I can.

Swimming is like English - practicing and trying is important!

Watermelon and Tomato Salad

In a lesson last week we watched a cooking video on the New York Times website. The recipe was a watermelon salad. I thought it might be nice, but everyone said it was strange. 

I thought the only way to find out was to make it myself, but I changed the recipe and made it much simpler:

1 pack of cherry tomatoes, washed and dried

watermelon (same amount as the tomatoes)

1/3 onion chopped small

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

a little mint and parsley

Put the onion in a bowl and cover with the vinegar and oil. Cut the tomatoes in half, mix with the onions. Take the seeds out of the watermelon and cut the same size as the half tomatoes. Add and toss lightly. Chop the herbs, add and toss lightly. Put the salad in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, then serve. 

It was really good! Please try it. 

Fireflies

Yesterday we went to see fireflies in Tsukuba. I tried to take a video but it didn't come out clearly - here you can only see one firefly, but in fact there were many.

In the video you can also hear many amagaeru frogs - they were so noisy! And we could also hear an ushigaeru which is a kind of bullfrog.

It is really important that we don't use agricultural chemicals and try to keep the small rivers in Tsukuba clean because fireflies only live in clear water. I hope that in a few years there are more places in Tsukuba we can enjoy watching them.

Swimming again

Photo from Hotel Okura's website

On July 1st I started swimming again after a seven month break. At first I was busy, then the earthquake hit and the pool was closed, then the hours were shorter. From July the schedule returned to normal and I thought, "Right, now is the time to start again!"

For now, my swimming week starts on Wednesdays, so every Wednesday I'll try to give you an update. The week starts on Wednesdays because Tuesday is my total rest day. Last week I started on Friday (it was the 1st, and my holiday).

On Friday I was really shocked because my body simply wouldn't move like my head thought it would. I stopped after 1.5km. Before when I was swimming seriously, I could swim 5.5km five times a week. I guess it will take me up to New Year to return to my full strength.

By the way, I'm a member of Masters Swimming Japan. Of course I don't race, but it is interesting to read the members magazine and see the times of races for each age group. It is amazing that men and women in their 90s still swim races!

Super easy cucumber salad

This season cucumbers are very cheap so I buy a bag every week. There are lots of ways to eat cucumber and here is an easy salad:

Chop cucumber and mix with one small pack of daikon kimchi that you buy from the supermarket. Finished!
It is nice if you keep it for a day and allow the kimchi to flavor the cucumber, but you can eat it right away.

Beets

I was given some beets by a friend so my husband made some soup that was really delicious and healthy. I don't know exactly how he made it , but it contained beet, carrot, onion and pork. 

With other beets I made beetroot pickles. Beetroot is really nice in salad sandwiches - you should try it! (You can buy beetroot in cans, and the taste isn't so bad.) 

How I make a cup of tea

I've drunk tea since I was a small child. Most Australians my age or older like tea, but many younger people prefer coffee. I like also like coffee, but usually at home I make only tea. Why? It is difficult to make good coffee at home, and it is VERY rare for me to find a good cup of tea at a cafe. 

It is easy to make nice tea at home if you use leaf tea. You can choose a variety and a brand that you like best. For varieties, I like English/Scottish/Irish Breakfast tea, which use Assam tea. I also like Kandy tea and sometimes buy it. 

To make good tea, you need a pot so that the leaves can fully open in the boiling water, but a pot for one person is too big and troublesome. The answer? Use a net from a green tea pot and put it directly into a tea mug! Use one and a half to two teaspoons of leaf tea - it depends how strong you like your tea and how big your mug is. And you MUST use boiling water. After adding the water, let the tea steep (soak) for 2 or 3 minutes. 

The best pumpkin in Japan?

What kind of pumpkin do you like? I like to buy Kaseda Pumpkin from Kagoshima. It has a lot of flavor and can be used for both savory and sweet dishes. Some types of pumpkin can be dry, or the opposite, watery. Kaseda Pumpkin is a good texture.

I usually try to support local farmers, but if you compare Edosaki Pumpkin (from near Tsukuba) and Kaseda Pumpkin, I'm sure you'll agree that the Kaseda one is better :)

My favorite food

Do you remember in spring I asked you to guess what the pink flowers were? Well, here is the answer!

This year I was lucky to get two apricots on my tree. Yes, only TWO even though there were many blossoms in spring. But it's okay because last year I got zero ....

I adore (adore = LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!) apricots, so it is a pity I only had two - one for me and one for my husband.

I was talking to the farmer from the local farmers' shop and he said that apricots don't grow well in Tsukuba. Not only that, but the Japanese variety that is commonly grown in Nagano is much more sour than Western varieties.