Sunday, September 18, 2005

WTF2: Delicious Cooked by the Thunder

This week, instead of a Food WTF? we have a Sartorial WTF?
Check out the front of this great long-sleeve tee-shirt I scored for 7 bucks today at the local flea market:
I think "burned deliciously" is supposed to be a translation for "grilled". Maybe. Who knows?

I also had a kimono lesson. Actually, it was more of an obi lesson. I'm so dense that it has been decided I will start from zero. So today, I learned to tie a basic knot. My homework assignment was to go home and tie ten good knots. As crazy as it sounds, this is sound schooling. Everything builds from the basic knot. And I did tie my ten good knots, but with my own particular interpretation:
I am in the tatami room, practicing my knots with various obijime (cords). I ran out of room around my waist after the fourth knot, so I tied them 'round my legs. You can see part of the shoji screens over the window, as well as a bit of one of my uchikake (wedding robes) and you can see my box of practice stuff, too.

September is traditionally tsukimi (moon-viewing) season. The Japanese are mad for the moon. People have moon-viewing parties, which are basically a picnic in the dark. There is also a religious element to tsukimi. There are special foods associated with this traditional activity (of course!). So tonight is the full moon and of course it is raining here in Misawa. However, I still bought a tsukimi dango, a traditional Japanese sweet made from pounded rice. It is made to look like a pale full moon and is almost too pretty to eat. Almost. In a few minutes, I am going to brew some tea and sit and enjoy my mochi. If it wasn't raining, I'd go out on the balcony and look at the moon and eat my mochi and drink my tea.

1 comment:

Candice said...

A moon party? I don´t believe it, these japanese kids are cool!

Now that´s enjoying the simple things in life.