The Taniguchis gave me a lot of "yuzu" (citron) from their garden. Around this time of year it's customary to put them in the bath type.

Japanese Cuisine

The one reason I renewed my one-year contract with JIU in 1992 was that I wanted to have more time to enjoy the food and also learn how to cook and how to make the pottery. The consequence of that decision is that I've gained about 13 kilos in twenty years.... I do appreciate the food, learned the names and also learned how to make some but mostly how to buy good pottery! My appreciation for the refined culture has improved.

Photos of a crab gratin taken at Umenohana in Chiba. The food, the decoration and the company were great!

Monday night: thunder, earthquake and snow

What happened Monday night? The thunder was quite scary and then I started feeling the shakes--not big but small and long--and after that the snow! This region is not prepared for the snow and of course there were train delays and traffic problems. I ended up taking a taxi to JIU today but I had to wait two hours for one.

Tiring shopping in a busy mall

Wow, in twenty years in Japan I had never seen so many people at Chiba Sogo. Actually this is probably the first time I went there on December 23--a national holiday in Japan. We were lucky we decided to be there at 10. When we left around 4:30 there was an announcement saying people had to wait 90 minutes in order to get a parking spot! In any case, the crowd made shopping really exhausting and not fun at all. Shiori, Shuko and I enjoyed eating though! We went to two different restaurants.

Artichokes in California

I forgot to share this photo with you the other day. For those who have never seen fresh artichokes, here they are! These a big ones and they can be found at good grocery stores in California. Unfortunately it's not so easy to find them where I live in Japan....

A day in Riverside with my brother

I was finally able to see my brother! He lives in England and our academic schedules are just too different. He spent the month of August doing a research project at the University of California, Irvine and we were finally able to spend some time together. We visited with some of my friends and also enjoyed some great food together. He used to live in California, too, and we both missed good Mexican food.

We had the honor to spend time with Sheila and Ed who prepared this fantastic high tea for us. I had never had anything like that in Riverside. Everything, everything tasted great, but I have to say that the artichokes with the mushrooms and cheese were my favorite. Many thanks, Ed!

We then went for Mexican food with Sharon and John, and I had this great beef tostada. It was really good and I ate it all after the high tea--really hard to believe?!?

The day didn't end there....We went for dessert and drinks at Mario's and look at their ginger creme brulee--my favorite in the world! I love it but I had to share it with my brother--I would not be able to walk to the car otherwise.

Summer vacation in Brazil

My stay in Brazil this year was really short--probably the shortest ever--and there was only time to get over jet lag and then fly out to the States. It was good to see my family and friends and especially meet my only niece!

My cute 11-month-old niece playing on the table.

It's extremely difficult not to gain weight in Brazil when your friends come visit and bring delicious desserts like this....

With my four-year-old nephew who now can talk non-stop!

A view from our porch.

Flying to Brazil

Next time you hear from me I'll be writing about Brazil. I'll be visiting my family for about two weeks.

Surprise! Eiji Ishida in my office!

I met Eiji when I was working at the Extension Center at UC Riverside 22 years ago. He was a student from Josai University and was studying English there for a year. When I was hired at JIU in 1992, I contacted him and found out he was actually from Chiba Prefecture and was working in Tokyo. More specifically he was from Mobara which is just next to Togane where I was going to be working. So he helped me with this and that when I moved here. We met once in a while, but then he moved to Osaka and we only exchanged New Year cards the past three years. He showed up in my office on Tuesday. What a great surprise. He had driven his sister's children to JIU. They were taking part in a workshop here. I introduced him to some teachers who happened to come to my office while he was here and they were all shocked at how young he looks. I agree. Eiji has not changed in the past 20 years.

Lots of beautiful sushi

That's not what I had but I decided to take a photo of the beautiful sushi prepared for the people next to us....

Apologies

Unfortunately I caught a bad cold and haven't been able to write for a week. When I get home at night, I go straight to bed trying to get as much rest as possible. I'll be writing again soon!

Lunch, Tea and Dinner

I had lunch with Chihiro-san and Daiki at an Italian restaurant near UCR. I did eat artichokes.

Dr. Hartley came to Riverside to see me. I was so grateful and happy to see him.

I had dinner with the Hartzells and, if you are curious, I did eat artichokes again.

What a treat: artichokes twice the same day!

Riverside: Personal

I had lunch with Sheila and Ed on Monday. She was my boss and mentor while I studied and worked here at UCR. Ed is my favorite American potter--the kindest and most talented person. He treated us to this great meal at Phood on Main. With all that is going on in Japan and with my family, it was extremely comforting spending time with them.

Beautiful flowers in Ed's garden.

Another humid summer??

I know summer has come when the temperatures are not really high, but it feels extremely hot because of the terrible humidity. It was a very humid day today and in an attempt to save energy we opened all windows in the classrooms and didn't use the air conditioner. It was not that bad, but I cannot how it's going to be in a month! Here are some flowers that we can enjoy this season: look at how the colors fade in one day.

Birthday celebrations continue....

More kindness

More kindness

Turning 25

Thank you so much for the cards, e-mails, flowers, chocolates, cake, hugs and wishes. Thank you for remembering I'm turning 25 today!

A Special Meal

I was fortunate to be able to have the company of a few friends on Saturday despite the very last minute invitation.

What a day!

Today was one of those days when everything goes wrong, but towards the end of the day I received two gifts that helped me forget the bad things for a while: the thank-you cookies I wrote about a little earlier and some wild flowers. Every year I get to see them in the mountains in Kamogawa, but because we canceled our two-day trip with the Freshman students this time, I hadn't seen any until today. Mr. Iguchi was so kind to remember that I love them and brought a bunch to class tonight. What a great day to end my day. Thank you, Iguchi-san.