Magomusume (Grand daughter)

Hadley Jan born 7 March 2008, 6.94lbs and 20 inches.
Our first grandchild at 1 day old

They are building some apartments behind us. Before they start the actual construction, they had a Shinto blessing for the construction. First the Shinto priest did a ceremony in the tent and then he went to each corner and performed a special little ceremony (throwing salt to purify the ground, etc).

Trip to Saitama

Saturday I went on a small sightseeing trip with the Masudas to Saitama prefecture. We went to Oshi-jo, a castle in Gyoda formerly known as the floating castle. It got the name because after an attack in 1590 in which water was diverted to flood the castle, it still stood and was said to be floating above the water. After the castle visit we went to a very nice onsen in Gyoda. We tried all the different baths from hot to cold, although I only stayed a few seconds in the cold ones (1 was 16.8C, about 62F).

Dinner with Friends

Tonight we cooked western style for our friends. By that we mean lasagna and a vegetable stew. In the picture are Shinji and Masae Masuda + Nobuyoshi and Kiyoe Yamada (my yoga sensei). It was nice to catch up on old times.

Sushi Party with Shinji and Masae

Our friends, Shinji and Masae(Mr. and Mrs. Masuda) invited us to eat sushi. The components of the sushi are provided at the table and each person makes his own sushi roll to taste. All fresh ingredients of fish and nori and vegetables are sliced and laid out decoratively atop the rice along with shredded daikon and shiso leaf. The rice is flavored mildly with vinegar and stirred in a special bamboo bowl made especially for steaming food. The dipping sauce was soy or teriyaki with wasabi. Believe me, the taste was wonderful--I just can't do it justice in writing. [If our blogspot seems a little focused on food, well, we do love Japanese food!]

Meeting Cooking Class members

What a nice treat to have lunch with some of the members of my former cooking class. We met for a Japanese meal at a restaurant tatami room. There is a picture of the group who met including Vickie, another American here who has also taught them in my absence. The food includes sashimi, eggplant with miso sauce on top, vegetables, and tempera, to name only some of it. We had fun speaking in a combination of English and Japanese.