A Fish Out of Water

Christmas in Canada

We celebrated Christmas with my family in Canada last year, a first for Shuma and the first in 15 years for me. Christmas Eve began with our traditional lasagne dinner, then Shuma checked out the tree and all the Christmas loot (we'd been home for almost a week and it had been a daily battle to stop him from opening them all, but he showed restraint on Christmas Eve). Then Baboo, my dad, started a fire.

And Shuma and I opened our Christmas Eve boxes and changed into our new Christmas jammies, then after a reading of A Visit From St Nicholas we hung up our stockings.

One stocking for each person, and one for the cats.

Christmas morning brought a nice sunset, which was especially pretty glowing through the ice-encrusted branches of our trees. We'd had an ice storm, one of the worst in history, a few days before. It made the trees look beautiful, until their branches bent over and broke off- bad luck for the trees, and for the people who lost electricity when those branches took down power lines. We were lucky and although two of our trees were heavily damaged (including a beloved old willow that lost over half of its volume in branches) our power stayed on and we didn't have a cold and dark Christmas like thousands of others did.

And then everyone was up and it was time to check on the stockings. Not only were there too many presents to fit under the tree, but the stockings were so full they couldn't fit on their hooks.

Then breakfast, and after a day of playing with our new toys, dinner.

We missed Hideaki, but otherwise it was an excellent Christmas.

Happy New Year!

Here is this year's nengajo (new year postcard). For the first time ever it doesn't feature this year's zodiac animal (which is the horse), because Shuma doesn't pose well (I did buy a stuffed horse but he wouldn't sit still with it for pictures) and there is a law in Japan that says once you have children you must include a picture of them on your nengajo. So it's just him. He's looking at an airplane by the way, a tiny one way up high that nobody but a little kid would notice.

Anyway, wishing a very Happy New Year to all of my readers!

Birthday

Shuma turned three earlier this month. The actual day was rather low-key, as it was a weekday and Hideaki was away, all he got was a big Thomas balloon and a "Happy Birthday!". But as soon as we were all together again we had a little party. (Big birthday parties with lots of friends/classmates are not normally done here.) First he woke up to find the living room all decorated, then he saw the pile of presents (it looks kind of obscenely large- and it doesn't even include the presents from his grandparents, which arrived later- but it's mostly books and practical stuff).

Then we went out for a sushi brunch. He had his own plate of ikura (salmon roe) for the very first time- until now he's just stolen ours (of course he still stole ours this).

We stopped at a park on the way home and Shuma did some climbing for a while before becoming fascinated by an old lady who was sitting watching her grandkids play while smoking and blowing bubbles. She might also have been drunk. He just stared and stared until she offered her bubble wand and then we spent the next four hours (or what felt like it) blowing bubbles and playing with her grandkids.

Below is Shuma's "Infinity!" pose- you know, where Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story says "To Infinity-- And Beyond!" before flying away. Except that Shuma can only say "Infidi!" and is not a great flyer.

Then back home for cake. This little thing started out beautiful but got a little jostled on the way home from the bakery, and then further damaged from a tussle over the candle. See the bite mark? Shuma did a great job blowing it out by himself, but then he grabbed it and took a bite. Lord knows why he thought it was edible, but he soon realized it wasn't and he spat it out. And then while I was cutting the cake I guess I was too slow because he took another bite. Lord knows why he thought it would taste better on the second try.

 

This is a very typical Japanese cake, by the way. It's called "strawberry shortcake" or "decoration cake" and is very popular for birthdays and Christmas and consists roughly of 95% whipped cream, 1% cake, and 4% strawberries. Shuma enjoyed it much more than he did the candle.

And on to the presents. He wasn't just excited, he was literally bouncing off the walls.

And furniture. I swear, he did this move where he jumped on the sofa, did a headstand and tumbled off move about a dozen times. His favourite presents seemed to be a garbage truck that makes an ungodly loud noise (why couldn't they mention that on the box) and a pack of alphabet fridge magnets. He is really into his ABC's now so spends a long time reading the fridge each day. They also double as chew toys, and every single one now has bite marks on it. I thought he outgrew his biting stage when he was an infant, but I guess not. The kid is three going on zero.

Easter

Although we didn't do anything special for Easter at home this year (I can barely remember what my family does- I think it involves ham maybe?) Shuma got to participate in two Easter egg hunts. That's him above with his bunny bag that we'd made the week before at Polar Bear Club, one of our playgroups. Well, I did most of the making, his main job was tearing off the whiskers. Which he has a real talent for!

The PBC's (Polar Bear Club) egg hunt was at Koishikawa Botanical Garden, which has some beautiful old cherry trees that are just gorgeous when blooming. There were a few trees in bloom but it was a bit early for most of them, but the main problem was the weather- one of the biggest storms in decades was due to hit that afternoon.

So we got right to it, with some moms reading Easter books while others hid the eggs, and then we let the kids loose. Shuma was too little to really participate in the PBC egg hunt last year so this was basicly his first time, and he needed to have the first few eggs pointed out to him.

Which kind of felt like cheating, but when I saw how carefully he picked up the eggs and put them in his bag, and how proudly he carried that bag around, I figured I'd helped exactly enough.

After the hunt the kids checked out their loot and did some sharing and trading, and we had a very quick lunch.

Shuma ate one piece of avocado, all of the chickpeas, and not a single bite of anything else in the lovinvly prepared bento. Sigh.

Then we had to hurry home to avoid the wind and rain, and also a looming tantrum: I'd foolishly given him a piece of candy and he wanted more (a soft kind, don't worry- what are those little white pill-shaped candies that have the texture of chalk called? grr, that's going to bother me now). Thankfully he's still easily distracted, and the walk home did the trick.

It was a really nice walk, actually. A good portion of the way from the park to Myogadani Station is along this cherry blossom-lined street, and a section of the median has a nice walkway, sculptures and even a little river. Koishikawa and this road are definitely top on my list of cherry blossom viewing spots for next year.

The next egg hunt was with Oizumi Playtime, another playgroup. This one is run by my friend Ayako and myself, and for Easter we invited our members' families and friends to our local park for a picnic. We snagged a spot near the only cherry tree in bloom.

We made paper Easter baskets while the dads hid the eggs. It was their first time hiding eggs, and for most of the kids it was their first time finding them.

Shuma, however, is now a seasoned pro so he found four eggs, without us having to point any out! He's such a fast learner. A real genius, I tell you. Of course, the winner of the hunt found eighteen, so Shuma has some practice to do before he can truly compete at the highest level.

Then the kids were free to play, and of course Shuma wanted bubbles. So bubbles he had, until Hideaki was out of breath. Good news for him though: a few days later Shuma learned how to blow bubbles on his own, so he's off the hook. I told you Shuma was a genius!

Note that the photos from the second event aren't mine. I was too busy being proud of my genius son to take any pictures myself.

New Year round up

Yes, it's the middle of February, so it seems a little late to be blogging about our new year's holidays, but they tend to drag it out here (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it). So I already shared our nengajo (new year postcard) but I thought I'd show a few of the outtakes. He's holding the ball in some pictures partly as a distraction and partly to represent that flaming ball or pearl that Chinese and Japanese dragons are often depicted holding (don't ask me what it actually means).

This year we were only in Osaka for a few days and we stayed at a hotel. My mother-in-law broke her wrist in December and was unable to cook, clean or drive so we just visited during the day and helped out in the kitchen as well as we could. My sister-in-law took charge and did most of the work, but I was able to learn how to cook some of the osechi ryouri (the traditional new year's dishes) that my mother-in-law usually makes. No pictures as we were rather busy, but there are years of osechi pics in the archives (here is last year, for example). Here is a picture of the whole family taken at our hotel after a dinner out.

We had lunch at Haneda airport on our way back, at one of the small restaurants in Terminal 2's 3rd floor that share common seating overlooking the departures lobby. We've always avoided this little alley despite some interesting looking restaurants because it's kind of like a food court and the seating looks crowded and uncomfortable, but we noticed some nice big chairs in front of a Sri Lankan place called Court Lounge. The food was good and not outrageously overpriced, and upon sitting down we noticed that every chair is different and we'd definitely snagged the best ones- Shuma loved swiveling around his his big armchair. I think we'll eat here every time we fly from now on.

Back home I decided to try cooking some more osechi. I've never, ever had to do it because my MIL always does everything, so I didn't want to get too ambitious. I decided to just try a few simple favourites, so I did yakitai (roasted sea bream), kani sarada (crab salad) and ozoni (soup with mochi), along with some quick cabbage pickles (not really osechi, I just wanted something pickled). My in-laws always order a great big sea bream that comes already cooked, wild-caught in the Seto Inner Sea, known for its delicious bream. I've always been under the impression that it must be really hard to cook, but mine (a little farmed one from nowhere famous) turned out beautifully and was surprisingly easy. I want to make this again, not just for new year's.

The crab salad was nothing special, my MIL's is much better and is presented really beautifully.

But the ozoni was good, it's very hard to screw up. It's almost the same as MIL's: a clear dashi broth with chicken thigh, hakusai (Chinese cabbage), mitsuba (trefoil) and square-cut mochi (rice cake), but instead of namafu (raw wheat gluten) I used shiitake. That's it above, with some of the sea bream.

Just like in Osaka, the day after eating yakitai we had taichazuke, which involves making a broth with the leftover fish head and bones and serving it over rice with any leftover meat. This is probably my favourite new year's food of all.

On January 7th we ate nanakusagayu (rice porridge with the seven herbs of spring) without taking a picture, but the herbs and the final dish look exactly like this every single year so I didn't bother with a picture. A few days after that is Kagami Biraki, which is when you break the kagami mochi (rice cakes displayed during the new year's holidays). That's our kagami mochi above, and you can tell how busy/lazy I've been because look at this year's compared to the one we had a few years ago. I mean, no little altar, an ugly fake citrus on top- I'm not even trying.

The mochi was stuffed into abura-age (pockets of fried tofu) and added to oden (a stew of vegetables and various fish and tofu products), which is not at all traditional but as you can probably tell by now I'm not too big on perfectly following tradition these days.

It was yummy though, even if this picture makes it look gross.

The final chapter in a Japanese new year is (I think) Setsubun, which falls on February 3rd. This is a time to drive bad luck out of the house (in the form of oni, best described as an ogre or troll) and bring in good luck. This is done by throwing around dried soybeans, which is really fun to do but rather annoying after because the floor is littered with beans. I really want to sweep them up as soon as they are thrown but seems wrong somehow, so I always mean to leave them overnight and clean them the next day, but by then they are already crushed or kicked away into crevices and I forget. And then for weeks or even months after I find the stupid little beans in random places. Like finding a forgotten chocolate easter egg in June, except not because it's a tasteless bean.

This year I got smart and decided to throw something different. A lot of people through whole peanuts instead, because they're easier to clean up, but I'm not a fan of raw peanuts (and like I have time to sit around shelling them). So I went with little bags of mixed nuts, and it may look like total cheating because there are no soy nuts but it was in the Setsubun section next to all the proper beans and accessories.

Besides being easy to clean up, these packages contain corn nuts and now you too know how to say corn nut in Japanese. What an awesome name, and if you think it makes no sense think about the name "corn nut". It's not a nut, people!

Some families get festive and dress up the dad or other volunteers as the oni. Oni are always red and blue and have horns (or a horn) and usually look rather grumpy. These ones were made at my playgroup so are on the friendly side.

Shuma would only tolerate wearing it for a second or two, so Hideaki and I had to be the oni.

But Shuma happily participated in the throwing part. All other customs, like eating your age in roasted soybeans (yuck!) and eating ehomaki (a fat sushi roll that is supposed to bring luck but is just a made-up thing to get you to but sushi were discarded. I will consider eating my age in giant corn though.

Happy New Year!

Here is this year's nengajo (new year's post card), starring Shuma as this year's juunishi (zodiac animal), the dragon. He may not look particularly dragony but we were busy at the end of the year and didn't have time to create the perfect costume or take the perfect picture. This was as close as we could get to perfect, and that's good enough.

May you all have a close-to-perfect year!

Christmas 2011

Christmas has come and gone, way too fast as usual but it was good while it lasted. Shuma was a good boy so his stocking was full of presents from Santa and the tree was surrounded by presents from his fans.

We started Christmas morning with mimosas, because we're fancy like that.

Don't I just emanate Christmas cheer? This is before I had my first sip, obviously.

That's better. Shuma doesn't need much to get in the spirit, a little water and a Cheerio or two will do the trick.

On to the stockings, and after hearing about how kids this age care more about the packaging than the goods inside, we were slightly disappointed that Shuma had no interest at all in ripping the wrapping paper or playing with boxes. He did like the presents themselves though, so we're taking that to mean he is extraordinarily mature for his age.

His favourite presents were the banana, which he insisted on eating right away, and the clementine, which he doesn't think of as food but made a pretty good ball.

Next up was breakfast, with Shuma eating close to his weight in strawberries. We opened the rest of the presents after that, and just enjoyed ourselves without bothering with the camera. It was nice.

Christmas dinner started with oyster soup for the grownups and Cheerios for the little one.

Then roast chicken legs, greens sauteed with bacon and garlic, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy. I knew I wouldn't have time to roast a bird this year so went to the local chicken shop a week early to order a roasted chicken (a delicacy only available at Christmas). The owner replied that there would be lots and lots so there was no need to pre-order, so of course when we went to pick it up on Christmas there were none left. He was very apologetic and we were happy to buy just a few of the momoyaki (broiled drumstick with thigh attached) that are available all year. That's the best part anyway, and it was nice not having to deal with leftovers.

Shuma ate the same as we did, minus butter and gravy. He especially liked the chicken.

Dessert was a chocolate truffle cake from Nakataya, our local cake shop. Exactly the same as last year, and exactly as good.

Shuma made do with more strawberries, and had no idea what he was missing.

Now we're off for a very brief visit to the in-laws in Osaka. Happy New Year to all of you!

 

 

Ready for Christmas

It's late as usual, but the Christmas spirit has finally arrived at our home, mostly thanks to my mom. Thanks, mom! First she sent some Christmas colours for Shuma to wear, above.

Next came the tree, which unfortunately mom couldn't send. Like last year I picked it up at Ikea, and carried it home along with my other purchases (and Shuma) on two buses and two trains. Hopefully that will help explain why I picked one that is barely taller than Shuma (especially after I had Hideaki saw off a good portion of the trunk to help preserve it).

Then my mom sent a couple more boxes of Christmas treats, which of course are 99% for Shuma. And he knew it. He was so excited to open the boxes, pull out and manhandle the presents, and take them off to his various hiding places. The littlest presents keep disappearing and I suppose in a few months I'll find them in a secret hiding burrow of his (along with the TV remote control, several odd socks and a spoon that have gone missing recently).

He was really excited about "The Night Before Christmas", which parents want me to read to him on Christmas Eve, a continuance of a family tradition. I think I'll be reading it every night till then, along with "Good Night Moon", because he keeps insisting.

Finally, I got the decorations up, and not surprisingly Shuma loved "helping". I really wish I had the video camera handy, because he kept saying "Oooooh!" whenever I turned the lights on. He's also taken it upon himself to redecorate the tree, and putting his toy box in front of it doesn't help- he just climbs right in the box and grabs what he can reach. I think I'll have to get a bigger toy box, or a higher piece of furniture to put the tree on, or maybe my mom can send some electric fencing.

More birthday stuff

Between August 20th and October 4th we celebrate Hideaki's birthday, our anniversary, Shuma's birthday, and my birthday as well. We also lean towards "birthday months" rather than big bashes on the days themselves, so please forgive me for kind of spreading out and jumbling up these birthday posts.

So I got a big surprise the weekend after my birthday- a delivery of ten fresh oysters from Akkeshi, Hokkaido! I'd dropped hints last year that, with a brand-new baby taking over our lives, went unfulfilled. This year Hideaki came through, and although they weren't my beloved Akkeshi kaki-emon oysters (which were apparently mostly wiped out in the tsunami) they were from the same brackish lake and tasted quite similar.

Aren't they pretty? He even shucked most of them for me, and I was nice enough to give him one. He doesn't like his oysters raw, so we cooked two in the microwave as recommended in the information that came with the delivery. Amazingly they were really good that way, just liked steamed but much easier.

These oysters are so flavourful that they don't need anything added, but a squeeze of sudachi citrus was nice for variety's sake.

The birthday dinner that followed was a humble but tasty meal of yaki-udon (fried udon noodles) and wonton soup. Hideaki uses fish sauce and ponzu to flavour his noodles and I'm totally addicted to that combination of flavours.

Dessert was a store-bought berry cake, and you can tell it's for my birthday because he hates these sour kind of berries. It's actually quite hard to find a simple cake like this, but since I don't like a lot of whipped cream and goo this is really all I want.

No candles or "Happy Birthday" singng, but then if those were really important to me I would have married a woman.

Then Shuma got a late and wonderful birthday present from some former students of mine who took us out for lunch. It's a birthday cake from Noe (pronounced "Noah", a much-loved cake shop in nearby Shakujii Koen). The chocolate heart says "Shuma-kun,Issai no Otanjoubi Omedetou" (Baby Shuma, Congratulations on Your First Birthday).

He was fascinated by the candle. He's recently learned how to blow but wasn't up for it so I took care of the candle for him (my wish was that he'd outgrow his dairy allergy so he could eat his next birthday cake).

He did get to eat his fill of fruit though, and his mom and dad really enjoyed the rest. Actually Noe cakes are the only ones I'll happily eat, cream, goo, and all. Yum.

Birthday

We recently celebrated Hideaki's birthday, and Shuma gave him the best present he's able to give: a whole day of very good behaviour.

For the actual birthday there was an ice cream cake, which looks awful here because we forgot to take a picture before eating it.

But it was delicious and was addressed in way Hideaki has never been cake-addressed before. I was afraid he'd think it was cheesy but he loved it. Shuma was his usual fussy self- the good behaviour was on another day (we like to stretch our birthdays out).

A few days later we had lunch at Girandole at Park Hyatt, which is kind of a fancy place so we were prepared to bolt at the first sign of fussiness, but it never happened. I wish we were always so lucky.

I started with salmon rillette and mixed greens with passion fruit sauce. It was really lively and fresh but would have been better with a few more of those crispy bread things to scoop up the salmon with.

My main course was pan fried kurodai (black sea bream) with Herbs with chive sauce, which was perfectly cooked and very tasty.

Hideaki had sirloin with Lyonnaise potatoes and Bourguignon sauce, also nicely cooked and delicious.

Dessert was next door at Peak Lounge, where Shuma started to get a bit wiggly but still well under control.

This was the same place we had high tea at last year near the end of my pregnancy, and Hideaki was tickled that we now had before and after pictures.

I had a blueberry tart and iced latte, Hideaki had a mochaccino and tiramisu, and Shuma had a few of our berries.

We stopped by the neighboring Shinjuku Chuo Park to reward Shuma with a little playtime. My sister-in-law tells me their grandmother used to live nearby and that they used to come here all the time as children. When I told Hideaki that he used to play here he was like "We were homeless?" That's exactly the kind of image this park has, but it turns out to have a really nice playground, complete with a splash pool.

We weren't dressed for the pool, but we did find one thing of interest:

That's right, a baby swing! Finally!

It's actually more of a toddler swing and he is way too small for it and probably was in danger of flying out of it, plus we had to wait our turn and then finish quickly because a whole bunch of other people wanted to use it. Maybe they should think about putting in a few more?

But we can't complain, finally finding a baby swing was a great end to a great day.