Jinja and Shoga: Life in the Land of the Rising Sun

     Right as we were leaving our apartment for good last week, our farmer friend (the one I mentioned saying good-bye to in the previous post) appeared and gave us a HUGE bag of satoimo. What he thought we'd do with a big bag of potatoes en route to England, I'm not sure, but it was kind of him nonetheless. And we did find time to use them, luckily. Too bad I don't know his name or address in order to thank him. We usually just called him Doc, since he resembled Doc Brown from Back To The Future. Minus the Delorean, unfortunately.
  ...Known by the name of taro root in English, satoimo is a kind of starchy vegetable/potato that is rather slimy once peeled. You can avoid the sliminess by boiling the satoimo first and then getting rid of the resulting gunky water, or I'm told that you can also fry them to form a sort of crust on the outside, thus preventing said sliminess from occurring. Or, you can embrace the sliminess and use it as part of the dish you're making. Which we did when we made this big batch of satoimo/tofu crumbles. It was a really easy recipe and tasted even better after chilling overnight. Yet another Japanese food that I'm going to miss!
 PS This may be the last post for a while, since I'm told that our internet and telephone in England won't be up and running for another couple of weeks. Sigh. Resisting the urge to compare it to Japan's ever-speedy service and keeping fingers crossed that weekS is an exaggeration!

                                       Raw, unpeeled satoimo

       
                                    The cooked product: looks unappetizing, tasted great!

  Our now-former apartment wasn't actually in the country at all, but if you walked to the next street over and started hiking up a hill, this is what you came upon. Such a beautiful area in the middle of housing developments; it's basically a group of plot gardens lining an old road, with the land in these pictures located at the very top, where the road dead-ends. I was hoping to walk up it with Keila one last time before we moved, just to tell the local farmers good-bye, but we were so busy on our last day that I never got the chance to. We did get to tell one farmer who was always working the land behind our place that we were leaving, however. In typical farmer fashion (they were constantly giving me food), he kindly sent us off to Yokohama with a bunch of sato imo (taro root). Now to figure out how to make something with them....

   Well, it's definitely fall here in Japan, as evidenced by the abundance of Mont Blanc-flavored products appearing on shelves recently. The latest I found is Gateau du Mont-Blanc Kit Kats. They're a bit pricier than the usual pack, but you get 6 minis to a box so I guess it justifies the rate hike. We tried them after lunch, and they were quite good! Maybe an 8 out of 10? Definitely worth buying if you come across them. Keila once again preferred the box, however. Still working on learning what's edible and what's not!

  Keila turned 11 months on Thursday! Unfortunately, our internet service was turned off that day due to moving, so we're a bit late in posting.
  Here's what's been going on with her in the past month:
 1. She's talking a LOT more lately. Definitely saying 'Mama' on the rare occasions that I'm not around, and she'll also call for 'Dada' when he leaves the room. However, she tends to call any and all animals 'Daaaa' or 'Dadadadadaada', so we're working on that one. I'm sure it's more than a bit confusing when Daddy tells her the cat is called 'neko' and I tell her that the cat is called 'kitty' or 'kitty cat'.
 2. Keila's fangs are now fully in, so she's definitely ready for Halloween! However, her upper middle teeth just broke through as of yesterday, so she might not get to be baby Dracula on the 31st after all. In addition to those 2 new ones, another upper tooth came in some time earlier, but I didn't notice it for a bit because it's off to the left side of her top canine. Meaning, she's now got 9 teeth in all, and she knows how to bite!
 3. In terms of sleep: she nows goes down for naps on her own on most days! This is a MAJOR accomplishment, even though I hear it's the norm for most babies. Night-time wakings are still pretty much a given, although she is sleeping for longer periods at least. Maybe one day she'll begin sleeping through the night again....maybe...
 4. We're still scooting all over the place and terrorizing the cats; no walking yet however. Standing has become quite routine, especially at night when I'm trying to get her to lie down and go to sleep. There's nothing quite like the sight of baby Keila in her sleep sack, wailing and shaking the bars of her crib!
 5. I've fallen behind on introducing many new foods since we've been so busy with moving preparations. Once we're in England I plan to get right back on forcing organic veggies into this kid. Cheese is still a huge favorite, as are crackers. We have been attempting more textured foods, but so far they're simply spit back out and then flung at the wall.
 6. New favorite activities include: feeding Mom or Dad whenever she gets full herself; pulling up Mom's shirt in order to pinch her stomach (OWW); and Keila will also clap her hands on cue now! She's realized that we get really excited whenever she does this however, so she'll then keep clapping and clapping...and clapping. Give her some cymbals, and she'll rival the Energizer Bunny!
 7. Separation anxiety will still rear its ugly head off and on, but for the most part fear of strangers is a thing of the past. Now if we can just train her to let anyone besides Mom put her to bed at night, life would be even better!
 8. Finally, Keila is still around 9.5 kilos, so she's at least maintained her weight since last month. I think she's in about the 60% percentile currently, so she'll see how she does come November and the 1 year mark.

  Check another one off the Japan bucket list: today we had ton katsu for lunch. Ok, actually I had fried shrimp and veggies (but incredibly unhealthy so still counts) and Keila ate zucchini with oatmeal, her foot, and a chopsticks wrapper....a good time was had by all! Now, back to packing, aka flipping through British magazines and telling myself it's still equivalent to preparing for the big move....
                                    My lunch

                                 
                                  Ton katsu, cabbage, and fried oysters


                                                    Keila rather enjoying her lunch


                                         Yum, yum!

Once again, just a quick post since the nasty duty of packing boxes still awaits me tonight.
  ...We had a great time in Atami last night and this morning! Ate way, way, WAY too much lovely seafood and thorougly enjoyed relaxing in the hotel. Thank you, Otousan!!!

                                   Family pic

                                      Sashimi, I will miss you



                                       MASSIVE sashimi boat

                                             Overhead view



                                      One of the countless courses at dinner



                                      View from the breakfast buffet....enlarge the picture and look closely to note what this lady is drinking...at 8 am. When on vacation, all rules are out!

  Well, in case you don't already know, the big news here is that we won't be here for much longer. We're being transferred to Worcester, England. And while I'm really happy in some ways to be heading to Europe, I'm also really sad to be leaving family, friends, and life in Japan. Especially since time has suddenly sped up, and we've got maybe a month left. There's sooo much to get done before the big move, so I'm not sure how many posts I'll get in before we go....but I'll at the very least try to put up photos as we work on our bucket list for the time left in Japan. (In case you're not familiar with the concept of a bucket list, it's a list of things you want to do before you die...or in this case, things we want to do before we move).
  For now, here's our list:
 1. Eat ikura aka salmon roe. Lots of it! (Already did it once, again would be nice)
 2. Visit Kamakura again. And eat at Hachi no ki (great vegan/Buddist monk cuisine)
 3. Eat Belgian chocolate soft cream from Mini Stop. (Did it, will post pics soon)
 4. Visit Kyoto (did it last month, see pics from previous posts)
 5. Take Keila to the zoo
 6. Eat houtou (a type of noodle/stew) near Mt. Fuji. We really like eating, what can I say.
 7. Eat unagi (eel). I'm going to gain 10 lbs before we move!
 8. Returnee friends reunion in Tokyo
 9. Yuki's final band concert
 10. Have dinner at Budou no Oka (great buffet near our place)
 11. Relax at Kinzaburo green tea shop
 12. Photograph favorite sites along our daily walks
 13. Stay in Atami with family (planned for next week)
 14. Mountain drive/hike near Shizuoka
 15. Buy more Nontan for Keila

  I may/may not add more to the list if: 1. we remember anything else and 2. time prevails. I think that our list would be rather different if activities weren't restricted by Keila's nap times, etc, and also by our own lack of time here. As it is, we've tried to think of things we'll obviously miss and won't have access to in the UK.
 Obviously once we move, this blog will no longer be about life in Japan, but instead will detail England and whatever European trips we take. Not sure yet if I'll keep the same web address or will change to a new one; details on that after we get settled, though!