the sun will come out...

You know, I should talk about rain all the time. Why? So that the sun will come out. This morning started a bit overcast, but then the sun came out and raised the temperature 6 degrees to 30C (86F), 9 degrees in other places, yipes! The weather report didn't help by reporting that the humidity was 74% (I think it is WAY higher, though!)

I wanted to share with you about the different ways people protect themselves from the sun here in Osaka. There is the sun umbrella, these umbrellas are made of fabric and sometimes so frilly I think they are just for decoration. The one I have can be used in rain or sun, but the best part, is that it has an aluminum coating on the inside, this is to supposedly stop the UV rays.

Or you could be like this lady and cover up from head to toe. They also sell UV gloves here, you can get them in short versions or long versions.

If you look closely at the picture with the ladies walking above, you'll see a lady with white gloves on as she pushes her bicycle. I am puzzled as to why women wear gloves to only cover up their hands, what about the exposed area from your wrists to the end of your blouse? She is also wearing a visor that pulls down over your face, I have often been scared by some of these women speeding around on their bicycles looking like welders or Darth Vader!

Changing the subject, awhile back I had bought a pre-made curry rue and totally forgot all about it in my pantry. So, yesterday, I made a pot of curry. Curry? but it is so hot...it is also another one of Satoshi's favorite foods.

The good thing about using the rue is that it makes making curry easy! The bad thing about the rue is that there are LOTS of preservatives in it. This version also had a demi-glace sauce packet. After sauteeing the onions, I added hamburger (or mince as it is called in Japan), then added the water amount that is written on the package and added my veggies. After the veggies are soft, add the rue and demi-glace packet and you have dinner! The demi-glace really toned down the spiciness of the curry.

If you ever eat curry with rice (curry rice as it is called in Japan), most places just have the curry sauce and rice, no meat, no veggies, just the sauce and rice.

Tonight's dinner was the curry with a pre-made beef croquette and green salad. Beef croquettes are made with mashed potatoes, onions and ground beef, they are molded into a little patty and then fried.
Well, I have started eating into my dark chocolate stash which I bought on my trip home this past April.

Baratti & Milano's Ecuador bar is a 75% cacao dark chocolate. It is quite bitter but really delicious.

Hope you are keeping cool where you are!

sunny day = laundry

It's funny, now that I am a housewife (sengyo-shufu = full-time housewife...does this mean I qualify for retirement someday?), a sunny day during the week isn't means for outings. Oh, sure, I do go for longer walks on my way to the grocers. But in essence, a sunny day during the week means laundry day. I love to hang our clothes/towels outside (especially when the other neighbors on the other floors aren't smoking on their lanais(we call them lanais in hawaii, in Japan these are called verandas, in other countries they are probably called balconies...) And feel a bit confined when I have to hang them inside because of rain, cloudy weather or the smokers.

I'm not too sure if I told you or not, but the washing machines here in Japan only have cold water washing. This means during the winter you are basically swishing your clothes around in ice water and hoping they come clean...there is also a hose that connects from the washing machine to the furo (bathtub). This is so that you can re-cycle the bath water and use it to wash your clothes. What it does is suck up the bath water, and filter the water as it transfers it to the washing machine. Still, I usually try to wash our towels or sheets with this water. The washing machine also doesn't have the agitator in the middle or the holes in the basket to drain (this is to prevent mold from forming on the outside of the basket (the areas you can't see), as mold is thought to be one of the causes of atopic dermatitis (atopi) here). The load takes about an hour (if you are adding softeners...so be prepared to spend some time doing a load or two...)

Another thing you'll see is that there are a LOT of detergents, softeners and stain remover products on the market. There is even a product that boasts not having to iron if you add it to your wash. I think I tried most of them. Although, I know our clothes aren't as clean as they could be if we used American detergents, the water is hard here and the detergents are made to "protect" the environment, and with all the mixtures of chemicals, I'm sure they aren't doing much for our skin.

Oh, and when hanging your clothes outside, don't drop them, the lanais are so dirty with this greyish dust probably from pollution, that you have to re-rinse or re-wash whatever you drop! (trust me, I've done this several times...)We don't have a clothes line instead we have these l-o-n-g metal poles called monohoshizao (poles to dry things on), so I usually put the clothes onto hangers and then use these big clips to keep them from flying off the poles (the crows also like to steal hangers so that's another reason for the clips). If I'm hanging towels, I usually have to wipe down the poles before doing so because of the dust. And I'm sure we must be breathing in that dust too (probably a reason why some people have asthma (zensoku) here too). Still with all these cons on washing clothes, I still enjoy a sunny day to do laundry, and if our washer should ever "die" (knock on wood) I have my eyes on a washer that has a dryer built in...

Changing the subject, we got this dekopon from a member of Satoshi's staff. (I decided to take a photo of it next to a kiwi so you could see how big these dekopon are.) Dekopon is a cross between a kiyomi orange and a ponkan. Ponkan is a citrus fruit originally from an area called Poona in India. The Japanese took the Pon from Poona and kan from the Japanese word for citrus, kankitsu and made up their own word for this citrus fruit, which is similar to an orange, and called it ponkan. So, why is it called dekopon? Deko means bump. I think when they crossbred it the new fruit had a little bump at the top, so they named it dekopon. I combined it with some other fruits for a fruit salad.

I also wanted to share with you what Satoshi gave to me for Girl's Day. A hinamatsuri card and also these sweet treats called "Gaufre" (I think it is short for Gaufrettes) These thin wafer-like cookies have flavored cream in the middle. In a package, there is strawberry, vanilla and chocolate. Made by Kobe Fugetsudo , they are sold in these colorful tins(so the cookies don't break). They often have different themes decorating their tins.