Thanksgiving 2011

It's only very early morning on Thanksgiving Day in America, but Nozomi & I had our party yesterday. We visited her parents' house and had dinner together with them, her brother, and grandmother. Similar to last year's celebration, we made something fairly close to the traditional American style meal, but turkey is expensive and difficult to find, so we substituted whole roasted chickens again. Besides the chicken, we had mashed potatoes, green salad (both made by Nozomi's mother), stuffing, gravy and mincemeat pie (made by us). I also found cans of cranberry sauce at the import shop for the first time this year, so that was an authentic addition.

It felt pretty close to a traditional time with family in the USA. One difference that made me laugh, and reminded me that we're in Japan: the TV shows that would typically be watched in America (a Thanksgiving parade and a football game) were replaced with a sumo tournament. The family time, the food, and the sumo were all great!

Persimmon Jam

How many of you native Oregonians have tasted persimmons? I don't remember ever eating a persimmon until shortly before I came to Japan. I immediately liked the taste, which is a good thing because they are very popular here. Farmers grow them to sell in supermarkets and fruit stands. People use them as ornamental trees in their yards or gardens. They grow wild in the country and even in cities. Suddenly, the season starts, and you see trees full of orange fruit everywhere you look. Then everyone (at least everyone who likes persimmons) eats them non-stop for about three weeks until they're gone.
The first year I was in Japan I asked if kaki (the Japanese word for persimmon) is available at other times of the year. The answer was no. You can preserve them by drying, but that's all. I asked if people made kaki jam. The answer was no. I asked why. No one seemed to have an answer. This happened for three years, then I finally thought, "Oh! I can check on the Internet..." (Yeah, it took me three years to think of that...)
As it turns out, you CAN make persimmon jam, so tonight Nozomi & I tried a simple recipe for freezer jam. The recipe listed lemon peel as an ingredient, but we both really like yuzu taste, so we substituted that. We won't know until later exactly how the jam turned out, but a little sample on bread as it was cooling tasted delicious!
So why isn't kaki jam more popular in Japan? I don't know, but just for a moment I thought, "hmm..... a new business opportunity?" On second thought, however, English teaching and music is enough without adding mini persimmon jam factory to the list. Besides, quince season starts in a couple more weeks....

Neighborhood Walk

Yesterday was such a beautiful, sunny day that I thought it would be a waste to not go outside, so I took a short walk around the neighborhood and took some random pictures. The tree with orange fruit is a persimmon tree; very common here, but I rarely saw them in Oregon, and didn't really know what they were until shortly before I came to Japan. It's the season to harvest and eat them now, so no surprise to see that. But I was surprised to see roses blooming in several places. The last picture is our apartment building. We're on the top floor, just above the one airing out their blankets and futons.

Sendai trip part one

Thursday, Nozomi and I drove to Sendai, about three hours north of Utsunomiya. It's very close to the area where the tsunami hit in March.

We spent the afternoon and evening sightseeing and having a delicious dinner with Nozomi's cousin and her family.
Rokuro & Megumi, thank you for a wonderful time!