よん X 5 Four X 5

お買い物の帰り道。。な。な。なぁーーー！！！

On the way back from shopping, whaaaaaaaaaaaaat!!!!!

見て見て！見て見て！！すごい事が！気がつきました？

Look, look!  Look, look!!   Did you notice?

スピードメーターが「４４４４４」になった瞬間！

The moment when the speedometer turned "44444!"

危ない予感〜！！　ぎゃ〜〜！！

Oh No!!  I have a bad feeling about this!!

＊The pronunciation of "4" is the same as the pronunciation of "die" in Chinese and Japanese.

＊＊ちなみに皆無事に家に着きました。FYI, we arrived home safely.

おやき Oyaki

こちらは「おやき」。小さい頃から食べてきた味です。

This is "OYAKI."  The flavor that I grew up with.

家でも作りますが、今回は村にあるこちらのお店で買って来ました。

We make them at home, but we bought them from this store in our village.

中身は、茄子やミックス野菜、そして味噌。

Fillings are eggplants, mixed vegetables and Miso.

野菜を小麦粉の生地で包んでさっとフライパンで焼きます。

Wrap the vegetable fillings with flour dough and lightly pan-fry them.

 そして、灰の中に入れます。

Then, put them into the ashes.

熱い灰の中でぬくぬくとゆっくり焼けているおやき達！

Those OYAKIs are slowly cooked in the hot ashes.

葉っぱ Leaves

この葉っぱ、面白いでしょう？！

Aren't these leaves interesting?!

 近くに寄ってみてみよう！

Get closer and take a good look!

可愛くする為にわざわざ葉っぱの周りにハサミで切り込みを入れたみたい。

It seems like somebody gave many cuts around the leaves to make them look prettier.

 あれれ？？その隣には、切り込みの入っていない葉っぱ。。。

What??  Right next to them were the leaves without cuts....

え？！そしてその近くには、切り込みが入り始めた途中の葉っぱ達。。。いつどんな風に切り込みが入っていくんだろう？ずっとそこに立ち止まってその瞬間を目撃したいと思ったけどそうもいかず。。それにしても、自然て不思議ですね。この葉っぱがこういう風になるのには何か理由があるのでしょうね。。ちょっと探求してみたいけど、今は時間がないの。。誰か知ってたら教えてね。

And what?!  Close to them were the leaves in the process of getting cuts.  I had to wonder how and when this process take place.  I was tempted to stop and stay there to witness the moment, but I had to keep going...  Isn't the nature so wondrous?  There must be some reasons why those leaves are how they are.  I am curious to find out, but I got no time at the moment.  Let me know if you knew.

10日間 10 days

１０日間もブログを更新出来ませんでした。その理由は。。。

I couldn't update my blog for 10 days.  Here are the reasons....

名古屋からお友達が遊びに来てくれて、養生園にお泊まり。

A friend and her family came to visit us and we stayed at YOJOEN.

マクロビ晩ご飯。

Macrobiotic meal for dinner.

朝はヨガの後にこちらのお食事。

Breakfast was served after the Yoga lesson.

養生園のカフェの建物気に入った！

I loved this building of the Yojoen Cafe.

ケビンとたけちゃんと東京へ出かけた。東京でお友達に会った。

Kevin, T.K. and I went to Tokyo.  I met with a few friends.

青山にあるとっても素敵なフランス料理店ですんばらしい料理を御馳走してもらった。

We were treated for a gorgeous French dinner at a fancy French restaurant in Aoyama.

久しぶりの渋谷。３０年前？！（じぇじぇじぇ）この辺で買い物してた頃を思い出した。

Hadn't been in Shibuya for so long.  Suddenly, I remembered the days I used to shop around there 30 years ago (what? 30 years had passed?!) 

  たけちゃんがアメリカに帰った。その前に新鮮でおいしい寿司も食べたー。

T.K. went back to USA.  We had very fresh yummy Sushi before he left.

 それから、逗子のお友達を訪問した。干潮の海に行ったー！

Then, Kevin and I went to visit our friends in Zushi.  We went the ocean during the low tide!

ウニがいっぱい。でもこのウニは食べても美味しくないらしい。。

Many sea urchins!!  Unfortunately, those were not the kind that taste good.  

ケビンとその友達がたこを捕まえた！

Kevin and his friend got a octopus!

 彼らは釣りにも出かけた。釣った魚で素晴らしい晩ご飯を作ってくれた。美味しかった。
They went fishing, too.  And they prepared a wonderful dinner with the fish they caught.  It was delicious.

東京からの帰りの電車の中で弁当を買って食べた。美味しかった。ここ１０日間でなんだか特にお尻に肉がついた気がする。歩く時に感じる。。。:-(

On the way back from Tokyo, we bought BENTO on the train.  They were delicious.  I think I put some weight especially on my buttocks in 10 days.  I can feel it when I walk.  :-(

？？？ ？？？

ウインク~!　♡　Wink~!　♡

誰かなにか気がついたー？

Did anybody notice anything different?

初付けまつげー！！可笑しくて笑いが止められなかった！

First time putting on false eyelashes!! I couldn't stop laughing!!

良い商品 Good product

田舎の小さなお店には、昔ながらの良い実用的商品が置いてあります。今週見つけたこちらの腹巻きは、私が探していた丁度いい具合の気持ち良さ。腰のサポートにも、出たお腹もちょっと引っ込む？、そしてお腹も暖かーい。冷え性の私にはとーーっても嬉しい商品です。この写真、のせてオッケー？！
The small rural store carries good old practical products.  This bellyband I found this week gave me just right comfort I was looking for.  It provided the support for my back, helped keep my stomach flat a bit? and kept my tummy warm.  I have poor circulation and tend to feel cold all the time, so this product makes me very happy.  BTW, is this picture ok to post?!

８０歳のお誕生日会 The 80th Birthday Party

今回は私の父の８０歳のお誕生日会。本当は１月で８０歳になったのですが、みんなが揃った今月にパーティーです。８人の孫と２人のひ孫に囲まれて嬉しそう！

This time is MY father's 80th birthday.  He turned eighty in January, but the party was postponed until all of us were here.  He was very happy to be surrounded by his eight grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

我が村の近くの町にあるイタリアンレストランで晩ご飯。

We had dinner at the Italian restaurant in a town close to our village.

 お魚。Fish.

 私の一番のお気に入り。信州和牛のステーキ。めちゃ柔らかくて、すっごく美味しかった！

My favorite was this, Shinshu Wagyu steak.  It was super tender and delicious!!

お誕生日おめでとう。Happy Birthday!

京都で。。 In Kyoto

行ってきました、京都。理輝の寮は新しくて綺麗でいい環境。iPhone５もゲットでとてもハッピー。学校は９月から始まります。

We went to Kyoto over the last weekend.  Riki's dorm is very new, beautiful and in good environment. He got iPhone 5 and was very happy.  His school will start in September.  

京都は本当に綺麗なところが沢山。週末だけでは廻りきれません。

There were so many beautiful places in Kyoto.  One weekend wasn't definitely not enough to visit all the places.

そしてもちろん食べ物が美味しい！！本当に美味しい！！！

And of course, there were so many good foods!!  They were really really delicious!