Hiro's temporary filling was just that... it fell out yesterday fortunately he has an appointment at the dentist tomorrow and also fortunately I have come by a sweet potato pudding recipe that enables pain free nutrition.
Oimo or Kabocha Purin (Sweet potato or pumpkin - I think Japanese pumpkin is better for this recipe than Qld blue)
Boil 400g sweet potato or pumpkin and push through a sieve.
Lightly whip 200cc cream in a blender, add 250cc milk and blend in a mixer with the sweet potato.
Put into saucepan and heat on low, adding 100g sugar.
Cool slightly and then add 4 eggs. Put through sieve again.
Pour in rest of mixture.
Scoop into containers (I used individual pudding serves but a cake tin, lasagne or quiche dish would also be ok mine were probably 5cm deep)
Fill oven tray with water and heat oven to 160C.
Steam bake in oven for 40-50mins
I served them refrigerated, maybe hot is ok too?
You can make a light caramel sauce - as for creme brulee - to go in the bottom before the mix goes in. I didn't.
Friday, 6 November 2009
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
Umi hotaru
The winter is fast approaching, which means the end of the biking season is also approaching - at least for me anyway. Sunday we took advantage of the sunshine and decided on a trip to 'umi hotaru' 海ホタル. Umi hotaru - or firefly sea - is an artificial island in the middle of Tokyo bay, located at the point where the tunnel from the Kawasaki side meets the bridge from the Kisarazu, Chiba side. The aim of the 'Aqualine' is to enable traffic to by-pass Tokyo by connecting the two sides of the bay - at a distance of 14kms. Umi hotaru itself is a somewhat tacky collection of eateries, souvenir shops and statues designed for people to pose next to for photos. The air was less clear down there and the shoreline was not as visible as it would be some days. Nonetheless, it was worth the trip.
We had brunch at a fish shop on the Chiba shore where we have eaten at several times and always has very good fish before taking a look at some of the southern shoreline and returning home before the forecast evening rain.
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| Looking towards Chiba |
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| Fish drying at a market near Hota |
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| More fish drying |
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| Chiba coastline |
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| Chiba coastline |
culture day
Yesterday was Culture day, which brings to mind the Goering quote - 'when I hear the word culture I reach for my Browning (revolver)'.
We celebrated Culture day by cycling to Rikugien park in Komagome, not far from here. It's an old park, built in the early 1700s. Despite it being too early for kouyou (leaf changing season) and a chilly 13 degrees the garden was rather busy. There seems to be a sizeable part of the Japanese population that enjoy 'hitogomi' 人込み - being in places crowded with people .... (it's only been a recent realization that the gomi （込み）of hito (people)gomi means 'crowded' not 'rubbish' 塵 - same pronunciation、different character. I long marvelled at the aptness of 'human rubbish' in crowded places.... hmmm...
Rikugien was also celebrating Culture Day by inviting in traditional puppeteers. The marionettes had more than 20 strings... even though, Hiro was more impressed by the Vietnamese water puppets in Hanoi (which Madeline and I mostly slept through - first night in Hanoi after a very long flight via HK - so I'm not in a good position to compare.)
While tangentally connected to Goering, there are two other quotes of his that seem rather apt at the moment. Though I admit it is disturbing to be quoting Goering as proof of anything....
1. “Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”
and, more pertinent to my daily life
2. “Guns will make us powerful; butter will only make us fat.”
There was no mention of Goering's words of wisdom in the mass media, at least as far as I noticed.
We celebrated Culture day by cycling to Rikugien park in Komagome, not far from here. It's an old park, built in the early 1700s. Despite it being too early for kouyou (leaf changing season) and a chilly 13 degrees the garden was rather busy. There seems to be a sizeable part of the Japanese population that enjoy 'hitogomi' 人込み - being in places crowded with people .... (it's only been a recent realization that the gomi （込み）of hito (people)gomi means 'crowded' not 'rubbish' 塵 - same pronunciation、different character. I long marvelled at the aptness of 'human rubbish' in crowded places.... hmmm...
Rikugien was also celebrating Culture Day by inviting in traditional puppeteers. The marionettes had more than 20 strings... even though, Hiro was more impressed by the Vietnamese water puppets in Hanoi (which Madeline and I mostly slept through - first night in Hanoi after a very long flight via HK - so I'm not in a good position to compare.)
To celebrate the new cultural diversity in Japan, we opted for Indian (run by Nepalese) for lunch, rating it acceptable but too sweet (modified for Japanese tastes) and not nearly as nice as a Nepalese place we ate at a fortnight ago.
While tangentally connected to Goering, there are two other quotes of his that seem rather apt at the moment. Though I admit it is disturbing to be quoting Goering as proof of anything....
1. “Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”
and, more pertinent to my daily life
2. “Guns will make us powerful; butter will only make us fat.”
Monday, 2 November 2009
The winter generals
The winter generals are on the march.
After yesterday's balmy 25 degrees today is 16.
After yesterday's balmy 25 degrees today is 16.Japan, a land where most things can have a spirit and anything can (and is personified, experiences a radical weather shift when the warm typhoon winds stop blowing from the south and the cold winds from Siberia start to blow across from Korea: the winter generals (or fuyu shogun) are marching and the weather reports show just that. I don't have the technology set up to take an image from the TV news and put it here, so I've pinched one from another (Japanese) website.
The weather reports here tend to be cheerfully helpful. In the much the same way that Sydney or Newcastle weather reports might tell you tomorrow is a great day for heading down to the beach, the swells are ideal for surfers or to make sure that you smother yourself in factor 30, weather reports here remind you to take an umbrella, tell you it's a good day for hanging out your futon or that the weather is perfect for doing the washing.
The heater is out though, and the winter generals are likely to be here until Feb or March when the date of the first winds from the south are meticulously recorded by the Japanese Meteorological Agency.
The heater is out though, and the winter generals are likely to be here until Feb or March when the date of the first winds from the south are meticulously recorded by the Japanese Meteorological Agency.
d.hatena.ne.jp/bluesapphire/20051107/1131372787
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