This evening my husband and I went to spa. I like onsen, a hot spring bath, very much and it is regrettable that we learned that there was onsen near here only after visiting several hot springs in the mountains very far from here. We live in Tokyo and still we have onsen in this vicinity. The reason is that they excavated 1,600 meters down; we will get a hot spring anywhere if we dig such a depth! Anyway, I am really happy that now I can enjoy spa lightheartedly.
Today I aired futon for guests. Because of the long rainy season this year, we had much humidity in our house, more than usual. For the last several days I have been wondering if something might be wrong with my room and today I noticed that our oshiire, a wall-cupboard, smelled -- mold was growing there. Agh! So I removed all covers of futon, washed and hung them, and aired heavy futons over the veranda. It was very fine today; the temperture was in the 30s and the sun was very fierce so that it was perfect for airing. I heard some people living in a housing complex feared causing a nuisance to the nighborhood and could not beat futons, but I beat a lot. By the way, why do we beat futons when we air them? I do because my mother always did so, but I want to know what it's for.
In summer my husband and I eat nukazuke (pickled vegetables) every day. Salad is western food and we Japanese ate nukazuke before we learned French, Italian and American vegetable dishes. Nukazuke is vegetables pickled in nukadoko, a fermented medium of rice bran and brine, Our nukadoko is very special one; it contains a yogurt fungus so that vegetables can be pickled fast. Today we ate cucumber, carrot, aubergine, pumpkin and myoga (mioga ginger). Because of the long rainy season this year prices of vegetables are very hign now. I hope fine weather will continue and we will get vegetables easier.
Tempura is one of the dishes that I prepare best. Before marriage, I seldom ate fried dishes, like tempura, tonkatsu, and ebi-furai (a fried prawn). I hated greasy food. But now I am fond of eating these dishes, partly because we don't cook meat in my house. My husband somehow does not eat any kinds of meat; chicken, beef, nor pork. In a vegetable diet, one begins to seek deep-fried food. Therefore I often make dishes using cooking oil: agedashi-tofu, ebi-furai, aji-furai, and so on. Today's tempura was kakiage, a mixed tempura. I used carrot, gobo, shiitake mushroom, shrimp, and edamame (green soybeans). It was colorful and delicious!
This evening we went for a walk of about half an hour and on our way back we dropped in at a kaiten sushi, a conveyor belt sushi bar. The sushi was good as always; we started with raw tsuna (maguro) and ended with a mango parfait which was my favorite. The restaurant is on the second floor of a building, and when we went upstairs we were welcomed by a beautiful view of Mt. Fuji. This is the fourth time in one week to eat out and I'm afraid that it is too much. Hope I will be able to prepare dinner tomorrow.
A friend of my husband's came to see us today. He and my husband were teammates in the basketball club when they were high school students. We haven't met him for two years; the last time we saw him was at our wedding. Today we had cold pumpkin soup, salade Nicoise and pizza margarita for lunch which I whipped up after posting a resume and an essay which was requested to apply for a job and I was kept revising all night long. At the table we talked a lot; in addition that our guest was an attractive man, his talk was very interesting because his job was quite unfamiliar to me, which I wouldn't like to write here. He said that one out of three hundred Japanese does the same job as his but somehow I have never had an acquaintance like him. Anyway we had a nice afternoon and I am very happy. I really like to invite friends to my house and I had home parties every weekend in my twenties. I am not enthusiastic for having parties these days but I recall those days with fondness now and then.
One of my friends in graduate school is getting married today. There's no clouds, the sun is shining, so the weather is very fine; I am only afraid that it will be too hot. I rather sympathize with today's guests, not sour grapes for not being invited to the wedding banquet. I myself got married two years ago and since then I have really been eager to attend someone's wedding. We did our best to satisfy our guests on our reception, and now I want someone to satisfy me with great treat. Wedding party is a great occasion to enjoy a wonderful time as if we are in a fantasy, separated from daily lives. Anyway I hope she will be a beautiful bride and will get many happy returns of the day. Yesterday I sent a telegram to her at the last moment, which I hope will be read during the reception.
I've just set up my blog for keeping a diary in English everyday. I am reading a book on improving one's English, and the author recommends his "patient" to keep writing everyday's incidents in 50 words, and I will try to follow that method. Hope this will work well. -- so, how much have I written so far?