lasagne

singular form; lasagna

tortilla

casserole:avogado roll

squashes

We can see lots of squashes over here.

I tried a lot kinds.

I found Spaghetti squashes(left) which are quite like

Somen Kabocha in Japan.

The material is a bit different but quite.

Another favourite one of me is acorn squarsh(right).

I just put them in the microwave and

dip with bell pepper dipping cream.

unique fruits

This is one of my favourite fruits called uniquie or ugli fruits.
Poor these fruits! We shouldn't call them like this.
but....they look actually ugly.
It's quite juicy on the contrary to the weird surface.
You must try.

http://whatscookingamerica.net/UniqFruit.htm

mango

It didn't taste sweet enough for me.
just miss Miyazaki mango.

Starbucks in Nassau St.

A guy working there could spell Japanese.

Aloe Vera

I've got a slice of aloe vera.

Does anybody know how I can cook this?

funny stuff found in US

6 for $1 from walgreens.
These are for kids but perfect size for Japanese.
Normally toothbrushes for adults are twice as long as
Japanese one.
First time I tried American's, I felt I were like a horse.

Look at those!
What colourful brushes they are!
and they can stand on their own with suckers.
so funny!

peanut butter cookies

Last night I baked some peanut butter cookies. I

had tasted just a couple of those, because

I'm gonna give them to my friends tommorrow

as little gifts.

I hope they like the cookies.

It did taste lovely and remind me when I was little.

First time I baked peanut butter cookies,

I was, if I remember rightly, in the second grade

of primary school.

There was a church near where I was living.

I used to take part in the service and

sunday school for children every sunday.

At that time, a missionary who is American,

apart from the preature who belongs to the church,

was working there and his family were living near

to the church.

I was invited to the house by the missionary's wife.

Two other pupils from the sunday school and I visited there.

The house was really big for the city, especially the yard.

We walked down to the long path to the house.

I can still remember it's like Ann's house in Green Gables.

The main purpose of the meeting was to bake "Peanut butter

cookies" for volunteers of the church.

Easter was coming up at that time.

I guess, at the moment, it must have been busy

for them with the preparation such as colouring

easter eggs and things.

That's why ms. planned to give these gifts away to them.

At the beginning of cooking, I was thinking

it's like cooking school and we could have a

cup of tea with them later on.

HOWEVER, I wasn't sure why we were baking

hundreds of cookies.

Anyway, I enjoyed doing it much.

I especially enjoyed crushing the dough with folks

to put some cross shapes on each dough.

You can have a look here what it is like;

http://elise.com/recipes/archives/001641peanut_butter_cookies.php

The folk work is absolutely fun!

Towards the end of this enjoyable time,

ms. started to put these tons of cookies

into her cans.

Nothing into my mouse...

Then finally I knew I was actually a cookie baker

volunteer, ha ha.

good memory...

kimono

I like Kimono very much.
I think it sounds like a kind of fabric museum.
Different patterns have different meanings and
so do the fabric, which is quite interesting.
For instance, if you wear it in mid summer,
kimono has to be chosen the one made of hemp.
The texture is called "RO-絽-" in Japanese.
The season which is expressed by pattern and picture
on Kimono is supposed to be ahead of what the season really
is at that moment.
It gives everybody a kind of good expectation
towards the upcoming season.

I'll take an example of dragonflies which is a simbol of autumn.
They are often drawn on summer kimono.
If you walk on the street with it in a hot day,
people watch you might feel cooler.
Thus kimono has beautiful magic.


I prefer wearing them quite tightly.
Once you get a tip, you can find you feel
much more comfortable rather than wearing it loosely.

The photo is the one which was taken
at a party. I brought quite a few of them from Japan.
The party was planned as fancy so that
I decided to put it on.
Does it go to me?

osechi

I wrote a bit about how I could manage to keep a sort of Japanese traditional things in foreign country yesterday. I think cooking is one of good ways of doing it. The photo here is "Osechi"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osechi
I made it in new year's day this year in US.
There were lots of alternations in terms of
materials.
Yam, Taro root, raddish, Okura and so on.

I've forgotten to take a picture after I put the
pine shaped rice by "MOSSO" a kind of mold
http://www.ezoya.co.jp/goods/mossou.html,,
on the rightest dish below.
I always use paulownia mold and it gives you
relly lovely smell.
Such a shame you can't see it.