Persimmon Bread

Let's see. Doing last minute things for Christmas.

Yesterday I finally spent two hours at Starbucks writing Christmas cards. I say finally because I had planned to do this two weeks ago on Friday and then last Friday but since I was down and out I only squeaked under the wire yesterday. If I stayed at home I knew I'd putz around with other things; house cleaning, knitting, dog walking, house cleaning, blog reading, house cleaning, Internet browsing and house cleaning. Not to say that all those things don't have to get done too but sometimes I feel like a mouse in a maze and so I scheduled Christmas cards at Starbucks. I brought my own mug, sat in a corner and enjoyed a sinfully delicious piece of chocolate cake. Well, I still have Japanese cards to send out but I've got til New Years to do those. One to-do thing checked off of my list!

I came home and decided to bake. See, I get off on all these tangents! I didn't have to bake. But I had the ingredients and the persimmons that were softening up nicely and just right for making Persimmon bread so I baked for two hours and worked on Tetsu's vest at the same time. I'll take the bread to the church pot luck on Sunday.

Here is my Persimmon Bread recipe (actually it is Marlene's). It tastes much better than it looks (I'm very bad at presentation and wrapping things.) I love baking in the little paper loaf pans so that loaves can be given away as is and no pan washing afterwards!

Persimmon Bread

• 1 cup raisins
  
• 1/2 cup brand or hot water
  
• 2 cups brown sugar
  
• 1/2 cup white sugar
  
• 2 cups persimmon pulp
  
• 1 cup oil
  
• 4 eggs
  
• 4 cups flour
  
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  
• 1 teaspoon ginger
  
• 1 cup walnuts
  

1. Soak raisins and hot water.
   
2. Mix sugars, persimmon and oil. Add eggs.
   
3. Add dry ingredients. Add raisins (and any liquid from soaking) and walnuts.
   
4. Pour into 4 greased and floured loaf pans (or use the paper ones like I do).
5. Bake 50 minutes at 350 degrees.
   

Hope you're getting done all that needs to be done!

Whoo!

Can you tell what this is?

This is trying to be an owl. My nice neighbor, whose name I don't know, whom we refer to as Yuzu's (the dog), dad, gave it to me. He is a friendly man who comes to watch over the neighborhood kids with Yuzu while I do crosswalk duties. He often brings me presents such as hand painted baskets, pickles, a scarf, hand-made Girl's Day dolls and now this little owl. He and his sister run a care center for older people in the neighborhood and every day maybe 5 or 6 obaachans and ojiichans (grandmas and grandpas) come for the day and make hand crafts. I get the fruit of their efforts!

The little owls are seen quite a lot in gift shops etc. in Japan especially in the country tourist spots. In Japanese, "owl" is pronounced fukuro and fuku means "happiness" so this is a play on words. People will often collect owl decorations as a sort of good luck charm.

Here are some loose directions for making an owl. As it was explained to me, the fabric is cut into a triangle and a smaller triangle is appliqued on one side. Two triangles are sewn together with the bottom left open for turning and stuffing. After lightly stuffing, the bottom is gathered and tacked and the tip of the triangle is turned down to make the head and beak. The eyes and a small triangle of felt are glued in place as is a stick from the forest to make it look like the owl is sitting on a branch. Sort of clever and easy enough for the obaachans to make.

Whoo!

Ribbons

Every month at the kindergarten where I teach, there is a birthday party and lunch for all the children who have birthdays in that month. In the morning when the children arrive, the birthday boys and girls get to choose a ribbon which is pinned on their shirt or dress. The children and staff gather for a lunch and party prepared by some of the mothers, and throughout the day the ribbon adorned children are recognized and congratulated. The children take home their ribbons and most of them treasure the simple pins for years after.

I never thought about it, but where did those ribbons come from? It has been a tradition at Mifumi Kindergarten for the past 15 years which adds up to a lot of ribbons when you consider that each year the enrollment is about 100 children.

I found out on Monday.

Last Friday when I made an appearance at the kindergarten I was talking to the kindergarten principal and learned that her mother, Mrs. Sato, wasn't well. For many years Mariko-sensei's mother would attend the kindergarten entrance and graduation ceremonies, would come to enjoy the festivities on Sports' Day and would sit quietly on the sidelines during the Christmas pageant. I know that this sweet lady confidentially donated funds to buy the kindergarten playground equipment and that her heart has been directed towards the kindergarten for more than 20 years.

On Sunday night I got word that this lovely lady had passed away at age 91 and Monday I attended her funeral. The kindergarten playground is situated just below the church sanctuary and so the happy sounds of children playing drifted up and seemed very appropriate to the somewhat cheerful funeral service. Besides the sermon and hymns and words from the family, 4 or 5 of the kindergarten children came up quietly from the kindergarten and brought flowers and all of them were wearing their birthday ribbons. Birthday ribbons that Mrs. Sato has made for the kindergarten children for 15 years!

What a testimony of love and commitment! What a message of doing what you can in the place where you are put! Making ribbons is not a big job (actually making a hundred ribbons a year sounds like a big job!) but it was something that this lovely grandmother could do at her own pace and she did it right up until her 90th birthday!

And yes, one of her own ribbons was sent along with her on her eternal Birthday!

Keeping warm

Yesterday Mart Bright commented about the cat in my picture.

"Is that a cat on top of a printer, or some other piece of electronics?? Honestly, these people who let their cats get on everything. I just don't understand them... Hee hee"

Mart has 7 or 8 cats of her own (her cat population changes) so I know she is teasing me. Actually there were two cats in yesterday's picture but I think she was referring to Patora who was sitting on top of the kerosene stove. (I know, this would usually be called a room heater but in Japan we call it a stove). The stove is a favorite spot for all the cats and during this season one or the other of the cats is usually sitting there. Looking at past posts I see that we bought the stove in January of this year but already it is dented on the top because of cat weight! Someone besides me needs to go on a diet!

I don't like kerosene stoves at all but it is what I've lived with for the past 30 years and will probably have to live with for the next 30. This is fairly typical of Japanese homes and everyone has these little room heaters that have a small tank that can be filled with kerosene. The heaters are actually electric and they have a fan that blows the heated air into the room and keeps the heater itself from getting too hot, that's why the cats are able to sit on it.

When I first came to Japan everyone used kerosene heaters that had a grill on top (non-electric) and one could place a kettle on there so that there would be hot water for the every present green tea that Japanese drink. It was very handy for putting a soup on to simmer or for grilling a quick rice ball or sweet potato. In the evenings the metal hot water bottles could be placed directly on the grill and the beds could be warmed before bed. There were dangers however when children bumped into the stove and were badly burned (Tetsu has a horrid scar from an experience with a stove when he was only two). Often the stove was placed in a play pen like gadget to keep animals and children safe. The kerosene stove has played a major role in Japanese culture. (Picture of the old style stove from the Internet.)

But maybe the reasons for not liking them are obvious. The tanks have to be filled about every other day which means that kerosene has to be bought and kept someplace on the back step. Sometimes I make the trek to the gasoline station myself but it seems foolish to me to be hauling around very flammable tanks of kerosene in the trunk of my car. Sometimes we have the kerosene delivered but that costs quite a bit more. Getting the kerosene into the stove tank has been made easier by a hand held battery run pump (someone once suggested that this looked like a bovine enema contraption!) but still it is a messy business and bad on the back. And think of all the fumes that we breathe in all winter long! The heater makes little chirping sounds every hour or so telling humans to open the windows to get fresh air into the room but of course fresh air means icy air and there we are trying not to shiver while the room heats up again.

I augment my room heaters (I have two) with a small heated carpet under my dining room table and a heated cushion that Velvet has adopted. Besides that we run from icy room to icy room (no heating in the bathroom!) and though I can't sit on the stove like the cats, I strip down and change clothes in front of it every morning!

Brrr!

Christmas wreath

So many of you have made such wonderful Christmas quilts and decorations. I always think I really should get to work and add one piece every year as a tradition but December is really too late to be thinking about that isn't it? I should start in July... But I never do. I have lots of little Christmas ornaments, many of them hand made but I only have three small Christmas quilts for my walls. I thought I showed this before but I can't find it in my blog so maybe not.

Here is another quilt without a date on it so I don't know when I made it but it was at least 5 years ago. Maybe 10. One summer I bought the book Quick Watercolor Quilts and decided to try my hand at the techniques introduced there using fusible interfacing. I made three or four of these little quilts but only kept this Christmas one. I found some pink poinsettia fabric with metallic outline and cut it up into 2" squares. I also found some light pink striped fabric and cut that up likewise. Then it was only a matter of arranging the squares on the fusible interfacing (I'd drawn a grid) fusing and then sewing.

But... It all seemed too squared off and too many corners so I started cutting out the leaves and flowers from the poinsettia fabric and fusing them to the pink fabric. It turned out to be a long~~ process but I'm glad I did it. After fusing, the interfacing is just folded and sewn so it really is a quick process if one doesn't get carried away like I did. I especially liked the way the striped fabric made a woven effect. Finally I hand quilted with metallic thread around all the flowers and leaves (getting carried away again).

Since this quilt is in pink it doesn't look quite so Christmassy so it stays up on the wall until nearly Valentine's Day! It doesn't go with the red, white and green of the rest of the house but that's the best I can do right now. Maybe I can make another one in more traditional colors next year... Next year... NEXT YEAR!!!

Poor eyesight

Good glory, I can't think of a thing to write about today. My brain must be numb from cold medicine, or the weekend in bed just doesn't give a person a lot of reporting material. I'm back to knitting though so you can see I'm perking.

Guess I haven't showed a picture of myself recently so here's one of me knitting last night. Tetsu said I looked "cute" with my hair tied back. Isn't that a nice compliment? His greying, double-chinned wife, peering over her reading glasses and he thinks I'm cute. That's what love can do. Either that or I need to buy the ol' guy some glasses for his poor eyesight.

Down and Out

I have messed up another whole weekend. And the Christmas program to boot! Well, I didn't mess up the Christmas program but I sure did throw in some cogs. Whatever cold I started with a week ago went to my stomach and Friday I could barely do anything. I had to call Tetsu and have him come home and take me to the doctors. Saturday I was better and I debated having Tetsu drive me to the kindergarten, wait until I'd finished leading the kids in their three English songs and take me back to bed but... Isn't that a pretty egotistical way of thinking?

"I have to be there. Without me the kids will be lost. My presence is so important I need to get out of bed and carry on and everyone will see my sick face and know how wonderful I am."

Forget it. I called and said I'm sorry that there was nothing I could do about the situation and then I stayed in bed all day again and sulked (I admit).

Do you think God is trying to get me to slow down? Or maybe He's saying "There. This is what you wanted isn't it?"

So, I'll back up and tell you about Thursday. I did have a relaxing day with friends at patchwork. Mrs. Harada drove 4 hours to spend the day with us but we mainly chatted and got caught up on our lives and did very little quilting. Still trying to decide about next year's bazaar quilt. I guess we're committing ourselves to that again. I even brought my knitting along instead of quilting because I'm getting close to the deadline for Tetsu's vest.

Mrs. Furui had gotten a lot done this past month. She showed us some of her little embroidery decorations that she'd made for Christmas. She tries to make at least one every year (a different pattern) for her own house and then she'll make a couple for her sisters and if she has time I've known her to sell a couple in an out of the way boutique.

Mrs. Furui is also making great progress on the star quilt for her son. She wasn't too flattered about my post about this quilt and my lack of confidence in her ability to get this done so if nothing else, that has lit a fire under her and she is determined to get this all quilted by March. She may do it too!

She has three of four different quilting designs that she is doing in a dark variegated color and they show up beautifully both on the front and on the back.

Okay I need to get back in gear for Christmas at home... Hopefully I can pace myself better this week...

This and that again

I had a busy day yesterday (I'm going to try to strike that word from my vocabulary. I don't think being busy is all that great of a thing to boast about.) I had to take Choco to the vet for annual shots and she was a very good dog while she was there and all day stuck in the car. She absolutely loves riding in the car and will hang her head out the windown like she's the admiral of a ship setting out on a voyage. Seems sort of subdued when the car stops though. I bought her Chicken nuggets at Mac Donald's on the way home.

Kindergarten in the morning and the children were going through their dress rehearsal for this Saturday's Christmas program. Every year it is nearly the same (different songs) and I did write about it last Christmas so I'll just show a quick picture. Yes, the older class (the top three rows) are holding real candles. I do pray while the program is going on and I do keep a bucket of water handy and I am very thankful when the Christmas program is over. I wish you could hear the beautiful children's voices mingling with the mothers choir. It really brings tingles up my spine.

I also had a stop at the pre-school and they gave me an absolutely gorgeous Cyclamen! That will grace my entryway for the rest of the winter season. I hope the cats don't decide to play with it. Plants don't last very long at my house though I remember when I was in college I filled my dorm room with ferns and spider plants and wandering vines. Now all those leafy things get eaten by the cats... As I recall from last year, they didn't like the taste of Cyclamen.

And finally in the evening I worked on another block for my Mini Round Robin quilt group. I won't show what I'm adding on to this block. This is only the original block and one more has been added already. We forgot to tell people to specify a theme so I don't know what this lady really has in mind... I'm adding a chic flower block. (Whatever that might be.)

Ginko nuts

Do you know what these are? These are ginko tree nuts! We have a lovely ginko tree at the entance to our neighborhood and it has been turning lovely colors of pale green to yellow to brown and now it is bare of all leaves. Did you know that ginko trees come in male and female? The female tree smells!

On the bare branches of the female ginko tree are little pods and the pods have been falling into the street where I am a crosswalk guard. Someone told me that inside the fleshy pods were the nuts that are so delicious when used in stir fry dishes and Chinese custards, so.... I wanted to go natrual and decided to gather up some pods and see if I could really use the nuts.

"Don't!" someone warned me. "Those pods are smelly. Just go to the supermarket and buy some already de-podded nuts."

But no, I wanted to do it the organic way so I picked up about a dozen pods and peeled off the fleshy part. PEEWHEW!!! Smelly is right!!! Throw away that pair of workman gloves! I peeled the rest of the ginko pods by stepping on them with my shoes. When I took my shoes off in the entryway the cats found my smelly shoes intruiging.

Next I washed the nuts that were inside the pods and ended up with a kitchen that smelled like a stink bomb had gone off. These things are deadly!

Finally I put the nuts into a paper envelope and popped them in the microwave. The smell is only in the pods so no more smell and the hard shells burst in the microwave so that I could get the green meat on the inside. With my 12 nuts I made Chinese custard with chicken, vegetables and eggs. Delicious!

But maybe next time I'll buy my nuts at the supermarket. This was a lot of work for 12 nuts...

Thoughts

Thank you for your thoughts. I'm on the mend and up and about again.

So what have I been thinking about the past three days? Not too much. Worrying about things that weren't getting done, reading old books and as you know contemplating the blessings of having a good husband.

Just before I came down with my cold my neighbor informed me that she and her husband had gotten divorced. This was a big surprise to me because they had seemed like such a happy family; mom, dad, two children, a cat and three dogs. My neighbor told me about some of the reasons and in some ways they seemed valid. It must be absolute hell to live continually in a situation where love has been replaced with disdain and contempt.

For years divorce in Japan was unheard of. Families married, not young people. Marriages were arranged (and in many cases still are by the way!) and the newly married couple learned to love each other. A bride was officially given to her husband's family and daughter-in-law and parents-in-laws lived together. When I first came to Japan I wondered about this situation. Often it didn't look like love was in a marriage but rather a weary acceptance on both sides. It was difficult for women to go back to work after having children so even if a woman wanted to get out of an unhappy situation there was no way for her to support herself. Children were considered the husband's family's "property" so a woman who wished for a divorce had to leave her children behind too.

This has changed though and now divorce is prevalent everywhere. Most women have to work anyway these days to help pay off the home loans and children's education and in general Japanese women are becoming very independent and vocal. However, there is still the men's society and the women's society in Japan and couples don't seem to do much together once children are born. Everyone works long hours, children are shuffled to different after school lessons, and I don't think there are many chatty dinners over the dinner table with mom, dad and the kids. This was true in my family too and yes, Tetsu and I had some ups and downs in the past too. What I'm saying is that the divorce rate is rising in Japan though it isn't as high as it is in the States.

Although I was surprised at my neighbor's admission about her marriage, thinking about it I realize that there were signs. The 6th grade boy is no longer cheerful when he comes to English. He has a "I couldn't care less" attitude towards everything (I thought it was the pre-teen rebelliousness.) He rides in with his mother and sister from a new apartment and is often late going to school as is his sister. She can no longer ride her bicycle to school with her friends because she might make them all late so I've seen her making the lonely ride by herself. And even the animal situation has declined. The dogs bark long into the night, lonely I'm sure with no children around. I've found one dog roaming the neighborhood twice, he doesn't get a regular walk anymore. The cat sits meowing by the front door waiting for someone to come home and feed it.

So sad for all concerned. There's certainly nothing I can do or say to help this once cheerful family. I'm more grateful than ever for what I have and I pray that Takumi and Leiya will someday be able to make and maintain their own happy families.

Angels watching over me...

I am hanging in there... What do you think these three are saying?

Under the weather

I have been down and out the past two days so no pictures to show nor events to record. A mild cold caught me and I've been sleeping away ever since. Not so great for my schedule. I really had lots I needed to get done... But lazing about has been nice too.

Tetsu is a natural born nurturer. He's not around much during our normal days but when I get under the weather he comes through with flying colors! His presence is comforting and he works like a beaver so that I feel guilty for all that I don't do and don't get done for him. Yesterday he spent most of the morning when I was sleeping, cleaning the upstairs. Yes, I knew the laundry room was getting out of hand but I didn't realize he'd have to work an hour or more folding clothes, stacking Christmas boxes and putting the whole room back together! And this morning, Tetsu's worked an hour or so vacuuming, cleaning Choco's cage, shaking out sofa covers and in general making the downstairs nice. Tetsu has always been someone who can fix something that is broken, who cheerfully does the dirty work, and he has old-fashioned ideas of "men-work" and "women-work" which I guess doesn't include vacuuming and folding laundry.

28 years ago I finally accepted Tetsu's proposal of marriage the night he stayed at my apartment until 2:00 AM un-thawing the pipes that had frozen. We lived in icy Morioka where the temperatures plummeted in the winter and I would wake up in the mornings with a layer of ice on the bathwater (bathwater is reheated for multiple usage). We had dated for over a year and Tetsu had already introduced the topic of marriage but I just couldn't see me living out my life in Japan, not to mention that I didn't really speak Japanese all that well and Tetsu's English was nil. International marriage? Very impractical idea.

However, in late January after an all day date Tetsu took me back to my frozen apartment where I found that the pipes had frozen. Being a Southern California girl I had absolutely no idea how to go about de-frosting them but Tetsu took over and spent an hour or more wrapping the outdoor pipes in towels and pouring hot water over them (probably had to break the ice in the bathtub to get the water to begin with!) There I was, in the warm apartment and Tetsu outside in the frozen night air cheerfully taking care of me. That night it struck me that I'd found somebody I'd be safe with for the rest of my life even if it did mean I'd be living in Japan. I was good for him (I made him laugh) and he was good for me. But I think I got the better deal.

Even though it sounds very old fashioned, Tetsu is still cheerfully taking care of me. I don't know about how much I make him laugh but he says I'm good for him and I know he's the best for me!

Sorry. When I'm sick I get all gushy and nostalgic.

Messes

I'm off in a few minutes for the kindergarten so just a quick picture or two here.

Sigh. Well, so much for the Christmas tree. Toi is the culprit. He loves those hanging ornaments. Chip was overjoyed at the mess on the floor. There is now a blank spot on the table and I've put the decorations back in their box. It must be hard for cats to realize the stuff mouse hanging from the cat tree and the stuffed snowman on the Christmas tree are different.

And as for more messes. This is what Choco has done. It is so cold outside but she does not appreciate my thoughtfulness and instead ripped her cushion to shreds. Dumb dog is now sitting in front of her kennel complaining that she's cold. I'm not giving her another cushion.

Batiks

I have a treasure! The Calico Quilter from It's the Cat's House, I just live here sent me a package of batiks! She was having a giveaway on her blog and was generously offering three prizes, a book on Baby Quilts, a mini-Jacob's Ladder quilt and 5 fat quarters of batiks! All three prizes were lovely but I really loved the batiks! Batiks are not popular yet in Japan and so I don't think I've ever seen any being sold, at least not in the fabric stores around me. I really want to make a batik and hand-dyed quilt someday and I've had ideas in my head for ages (quilting ideas are like that) but first I needed to collect some batiks, soooo...

A couple of California summers ago my sister-in-law conned my brother into driving us to a few quilt shops. Marcy (SIL) does not quilt but she was willing to wander the quilt shops with me. Of course my brother has even less interest in fabric but dear brother gave up his day off and chauffeured us up and down the freeways of Southern California with Google maps in hand. We hit 5 quilt stores that day and while I drooled and hyperventilated, Marcy made suggestions, and my brother stood by the shop doors or sat on the car fender and smoked cigarettes.

With all this family support, I really couldn't go into my normal shopping mode which is to look a long time, ponder prices, color combinations, and project plans, decide that it is all too confusing, put everything back in the racks and leave the store empty handed. This drives everyone crazy and with my brother sacrificing his time and gasoline I decided on the outset of the day that at every one of the quilt shops I would buy three fat quarters of batiks (for the someday quilt). Oh what a wonderful day!!! After 5 quilt shops I came home riding on a cloud and had a wonderful selections of batiks.

I've used some of my summer batiks for a Wonky quilt for Leiya, and I gave a few away to some Japanese friends who fell in love with them. My batik stash has been somewhat depleted but now with the Calico Quilter's beautiful assortment my mind is starting to get into gear again. I just love the colors and the leaf patterns on these!

Thank you Calico Quilter!

Prayer quilt in blue

On Sunday I got the okay sign to make a Prayer and Square quilt for one of our church members who will be facing surgery and we would like to present it to the congregation for prayers next Sunday. Since I had a couple flimsies in the drawer I thought I would chose one of those, safety pin baste it, and then put on a binding this week. However the flimsies in the drawer were sort of flowery and in pink hues. The prayer recipient is a man. Yeah... I guess I can get a new flimsy made quickly...

I put aside my knitting (I've finished the vest back!) and yesterday after morning teaching I spent about three hours in my sewing room. I was horrified to see that the sewing room calendar is still turned to August! Do you mean I haven't really used that room since the summer? I'll have to check my back blog posts and see if I've done any quilting at all this year!

Yes, I have lots of blue and green fabrics and I quickly made my strips and sewed them together. Really once I get started I hum along at a very satisfying pace and before my afternoon class I had the flimsy made up. Well, I'm back at square one for basting and putting on the binding but I think I can still get this made up for Sunday worship.

I have a feeling that the prayer recipient visits my blog occasionally (he likes cats) but he knows we are praying for him and part of the Prayer and Square policy is to always get permission from the person to make them a prayer quilt, so this is not supposed to be a surprise. On Sunday the church members will tie the threads into the quilt and with each knot they will say a prayer. And I have had the privilege of praying for this dear man while upstairs in my sewing room.

Christmas decorations

Tetsu and I spent Saturday putting up Christmas decorations around the house. I still can't find one box but I think except for the Christmas tree decorations everything else is up. Tetsu put lights up around the house and on one of our outside trees. My little plastic Christmas tree sits on the end table next to the sofa but it is still bare. Maybe the English kids will enjoy decorating it for me today.

HOWEVER... We seem to have a major problem this year because Chip and Toi find the decorations I've put up to be the absolutely most wonderful cat toys they've ever seen. They especially like my plastic canvas needlepoint creche that at the best of times tends to fall over. The creche figures are light, furry and have pretty colors, just right for kitties to carry around and play with. Toi and Chip have invented a type of ornament hockey and they bat Jesus, the sheep and the Wise men around the floor and I find donkeys and shepherds in my shoes (Japanese shoes are taken off at the front door and are left at a step lower than the floor right?) I can't think of another place to put my needlepoint creche this year so maybe it will go back in the box before some of the figures are lost.



Here is what this creche is SUPPOSED to look like. I shudder to think what the cats are going to do the hanging Christmas tree ornaments.