Tōji: Winter Solstice

Clear, cold winter night
Bright lantern hangs from a branch
Full moon through the pines

Clear

Step outside, listen
Distant cedar waxwing calls
Winter evening

Lunch Date

He thought I'd share my lunch with him, but I was already done.

Do

“Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.”

 

~ Alan Watts

Godzilla Invades Old Town

 Amphibiophiles rejoice: Urban salamanders storm the walls of the Ritz Building. Identification is pending.

Seasonal

Petunias are gone --
pumpkins have taken their place.
Autumn at the drug store.

Tsukubai

In June, we hosted Kristin and Pia's birthday chaji and I was motivated to make the first baby steps toward a proper roji, a Tea garden.

This is at the entry to our house. Harvey designed the arrangement, I shlepped the stones. We plugged the drain hole in a cast concrete pot to create the basin. No stone lantern yet.

Envy

My neighbor's maple,
crimson blushed in autumn cool
Our cherry tree: green

Cooking with Dog Makes Onigiri

Harvey found this video from Cooking With Dog about how to make onigiri.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACOmKiJDkA4&feature=related

Oishi!

Baby phoebe grows up

Black phoebe, Oct. 6, 2010

This little fella obligingly posed for me last weekend. My guess is that it is one of this year's hatchlings. Why? Bear with me as I elaborate on the gory details.

We host a friend's bee hives in our garden, and our yard has become a rich hunting ground for phoebes. In late spring I observed (to both my delight and dismay) phoebes predating these bee hives. They'd perch on the fence behind the hive, swoop out and snatch a bee, then return to the fence to vigorously bash its prey to death before sending it down the hatch. It would gobble up two or three more bees in similar fashion before heading off, presumably to the nest. As I was working in the garden one Saturday I observed phoebes hunting and returning in this fashion, and estimated that, in one day, they dispatched at least 70 bees, probably more.

Later in the summer, these phoebes brought their fledglings to our garden to feast upon the bee buffet. As observed earlier, the adult habitually killed its bee before eating or feeding it to a fledgling. Juveniles hunted awkwardly, occasionally catching a bee but most often coming up empty-beaked and begging a treat from its parent.

I watched this weekend's visitor it for several minutes before it flew away to its next destination and its my guess that it's one of this year's fledglings. Its plumage was fresh, not worn as an adults would be after a season of caring for young, and its hunting behavior seemed somewhat awkward. It wasn't particularly skilled at catching insects, and when it did make a catch it held its prey in its bill for some time before eating it. However, when it caught a bee it failed to dash its little bee brains on a fencepost. I'm anxious to see if Little Baby grows up to be a bee basher like Mommy and Daddy.

Excalibur Faire 2010

If you can't see the slideshow, click on this link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/hollymharvey/ExcaliFaire2010#

Medievalesque

Harvest moon rises,
illuminates pavilions --
a look back in time

Sept. 27, 2010

Sock it to me, Kitty!

"Quiet Kitty" came to Harvey for his birthday last year. She doesn't eat much, spends her time curled up in bed with a good book and is generally good company.

I made Kitty from a couple old socks and a pattern from Sock and Glove -- Creating Charming Softy Friends from Cast-off Socks and Gloves by Miyako Kanamori:

Almost autumn

Quiet, red berries
Summer, flower-covered
Cotoneaster

Aug. 27, 2010

Napping

Cozy, fat spider
Hides among the ripe seed pods
Autumn has arrived

Hush

Poppy pods rattle
September breeze brings the rain
Summer flower bones

My new cure for seasickness

RRAS Pelagic birders in good form

A last minute cancellation got me aboard a Redwood Region Audubon Society pelagic birding trip this weekend with Kristin. It had been a while since we had gone on a birding trip together, and years since I'd been on the ocean. I was both thrilled and apprehensive.

During our dockside orientation, trip leaders Rob Fowler and David Fix instructed us that it was our duty to scream if we saw a bird (their emphasis, not mine), and throughout the trip they commented on bird identification tips, behavior and biology. The rest of the group was equally cooperative and friendly, pointing out birds and making sure as many people as possible saw them (unlike some terrestrial birding groups I've been with).

I anticipated the possibility of wet, cold and seasickness, but birding on a bobbing boat was something new. It was much like shooting a moving target with bare sights while standing on a teeter totter on a roller coaster. It was a constant struggle of up, down, sideways, pitch, roll, yaw, heave, ho and where the heck did that darned bird go? Eleven o'clock! It's coming across the bow! No wait, it's at back at 10:30! Then gone. Then back again. After a few hours, my onboard birding skills improved.

Seasickness was almost a problem. I feel the queasiness start up once, when I tried to get out of the wind and warm up a bit, but then got a whiff of diesel. Getting into fresher air and hearing the cry of, "ALBATROSS!" cured whatever sourness was coming on. The beautiful bird whirling around the boat was the perfect cure for seasickness.

Bird of the Day: a tough choice between black-footed albatross, south polar skua and northern fulmar. Albatross wins by a beak.

:: :: ::

Here's Rob Fowler's eBird report:

Location:     Pelagic trip from Trinidad
Observation date:     9/11/10

Notes:     RRAS pelagic trip aboard "The Shenandoah." Leaders: David Fix and Rob Fowler. We left the dock at 0730 and arrived to the eastern edge of Trinidad Canyon in thick fog around 1100, about 25 miles out. We laid a slick out which attracted birds pretty quickly, where we got a skua slam with all 4 species seen very well by all on board along with Sabine's Gulls and all the expected shearwater species. During this time the fog burned off with the sun peeking through nicely. We then headed further west to the 30 mile mark but decided to head south after that since the seas progressively got worse the farther west we went. We then headed back to the east edge of trinidad Canyon where we laid another slick and attracted a few more birds. Best bird here was the Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel that only Fowler got brief, unsatisfying views of. From there we headed back to Trinidad, arriving around 3:45 pm. <br>Other animals: Harbor Porpoise-10, Northern Fur Seal-1, Mola Mola (Ocean Sunfish)-1, California Sea Lion-5.
Number of species:     20

loon sp.     2
Black-footed Albatross     8
Northern Fulmar     25
Pink-footed Shearwater     80
Buller's Shearwater     26
Sooty Shearwater     50
Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel     1     One seen only by Fowler at the east edge of Trinidad Canyon flying through the 2nd slick we put out in the area.
Brandt's Cormorant     5
Wandering Tattler     1
peep sp.     30
Red-necked Phalarope     45
Red Phalarope     21
Sabine's Gull     10
Western Gull     55
California Gull     35
South Polar Skua     2
Pomarine Jaeger     8
Parasitic Jaeger     6
Long-tailed Jaeger     10
jaeger sp.     5     too far to id.
Common Murre     44
Cassin's Auklet     25
Rhinoceros Auklet     22

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Konbini onigiri

Make the morning dash to the train station with a side trip to the 7-11. You won't have much time to stop for lunch, so grab a couple onigiri (rice balls) from the cooler. Onigiri fillings can include salmon, tuna salad, konbu or shrimp. Labels are color-coded. Try not to take too long in making your selection. Near the cashier, get a warm pork- or an-filled steamed bun for breakfast.

Finish the dash to the train and get a warm tea from the vending machine. Quickly, try to eat breakfast before the train arrives. Train arrives on time. Save leftovers until you arrive at your destination. Breakfast and lunch, including tea, costs about ¥600.


:: :: ::

Traveling in Japan required reining in expenses, and one place we economized was meals. Our schedule was demanding as well, so we relied on konbini (convenience stores) for a supply of quick, tasty and cheap eats. Americans will recognize the familiar facade of the 7-11, but there are also Lawson Stores, Family Mart and others ready to provide an array of pre-packaged food, snacks, beverages, groceries, cosmetics, newspapers and magazines. Some have fax and copier services. Some have ATMs. But unlike American convenience stores, you won't find aspirin here. Pharmaceuticals are sold at drug stores.

Onigiri hit the trifecta of convenience store foods: They taste good in addition to being fast and cheap. The key to their tastiness is ingenious packaging which keeps the nori separated from the rice ball until the moment of consumption, but it can confound the neophyte. Our first encounter with konbini-bought onigiri was horrifying. Our host offered them to us for lunch. We removed the packaging, but not in the fashion the elegantly-designed wrapper indictates. We mangled it. Nori and rice went everywhere. Our host giggled with embarrasment, then demonstrated the elegance with which an onigiri aficionado dines:




Grasp the tab at the top of the triangle and pull downward to separate two halves of the wrapper.




Gently tease away the wrapper from the rice and nori, then press the nori back onto rice.

For best nori crunch, eat immediately.

Solstice

Crows pecking a tree
Nesting? Or gathering food?
Long days soon shorten

Correct answer!

The assignment seemed simple: our friend was to take us to Shinjuku, stop at a bookstore, show us a department store, have dinner and get us to our bus to Kyoto by around 11:00 p.m. This was a deceptively mundane to-do list: The bookstore was eight stories high, the department store had a grocery on the ground floor, and the bus station was secreted deep within Shinjuku Station, one of the largest train depots in Tokyo.

We recovered from the eye-poppingly extensive bookstore, and made our way to Isetan, an eye-poppingly large department store. Automatic doors slid open to the grocery floor and we were greeted by an elegant display case stocked with a rainbow of cakes and confections that could have easily graced the pages of Gourmet magazine. But what we inhaled was not eau de creme -- it was fragrance of fish counter. Fresh fish, to be sure, but fish nonetheless. We wandered the aisles, tasting free samples of tea, snacks and sweets. Filling up on samples might have easily become our dinner had not our observant guide asked if it was time for dinner, perhaps a drink first? A drink first, by all means, we agreed. "Correct answer!" he exclaimed.

After we'd enjoyed several tokuri of sake at Rikka, a tiny, seven-seat bar, our friend began to make motions as though it was time to leave. We rose with him and began to put on our coats. As he straightened his collar, he said, "What would you like to have for dinner?" We looked at each other blankly. With a slight smile, he added, "We could eat here."

Here? Intrigued, we agreed to stay in our cozy little bar. "Correct answer!" he exclaimed again. Almost immediately, another tokuri of sake appeared and then a dinner of unique bar cuisine: dried fish, grilled fish, grilled vegetables, salty-sweet omelette. All prepared by the bartender/owner, served in turn as she casually cooked each course, measuring our appetites and serving us accordingly.

Since that delicious evening I have learned that that this style of bar and restaurant is known as Izakaya. Izakaya-style restaurants are gaining popularity in the U.S. (SF Gate: Imbibing izakaya style).

Shall we have a drink or get dinner? A drink, of course.

Correct answer.

Practice

Ladle hot water
Each time more familiar
Each time different

The randomness of Google ads

I understand why I'm getting tea ads, travel ads and maybe even lunch bag ads. But "Lunch Dent Island" is a mystery.

Kaiseki – The Ultimate Locavore Cuisine

Kaiseki a light meal served during a Japanese Tea gathering
Locavore one who dines upon food grown or produced close to home

Laura has been studying Chado for several years but had not yet enjoyed a formal Tea gathering, or Chaji. She, along with friends Pia, John and Tony, joined us for a chaji in February in honor of her 50th birthday.

I've had no training other than working at the shoulder of my Sensei and Sempai, but I have an deep love and respect for what I believe is the epitome of locavore cuisine: Kaiseki. In cha-kaiseki -- kaiseki for the Tea ceremony -- the ingredients must be seasonal to reflect the theme the host has chosen for the Tea gathering. By extension, seasonal ingredients are fresh and grown locally or, at the least, regionally in California or the Pacific Northwest. (How on earth could something shipped halfway 'round the world be fresh?) Naturally, the best ingredients would be plucked from the garden that very morning.

Themes for Tea gatherings vary. Traditional Japanese holidays are common themes (such as New Year or Children's Day), but so is the observation of the turning of the seasons or simply honoring a guest. Take the spring equinox, for example. In late March, the weather might still be chilly, but we begin to anticipate the coming of warmer weather. Days lengthen. Migrating birds return home. Spring flowers are beginning to bloom. After the winter dearth of fresh vegetables, baby-fresh greens are coming to the market. The host selects spring-heralding flowers to decorate the Tea room, and utensils and a scroll will be chosen to also reflect this light and celebratory mood. Winter is finished, we celebrate spring!

It follows, then, that the menu for a Tea gathering must also be in harmony with the theme, and so it was for Laura's birthday chaji. In February, we were still in the grip of winter but getting the first hints of spring and deciding on what to serve at the Chaji was a challenge. Humboldt County's forgiving climate gives us an embarrassing abundance of ingredients to choose from. We can have greens from the garden or ocean-fresh salmon pretty much year 'round. Failing that, several natural food stores offer regionally-grown produce, plus Farmer's Markets operate from May through November. Locavores have much to choose from, with the exception of grains (which some Hum Co farmers are now beginning to grow).

As far as we know, rice has yet to be cultivated on the Arcata Bottoms; that was an ingredient that needed an exception to the "local" rule. Same for the edamame, hijiki, sesame, tofu pouches and others, but many key ingredients were grown close to home. And close to our heart.

Laura's February Birthday Kaiseki

Chaji 2/20/10

Food Adventures

Gohan -- plain white rice, cooked with a pinch of salt and a slice of kombu (kelp)

Misoshiru -- kombu dashi and a mix of red and white miso pastes (about 70%/30%), with simmered home-grown daikon topped with a dab of Sweet Mama Janisse's Sticky Love Sauce (a sweet mustard sauce manufactured in Humboldt County)

Muukozuke -- mixed sea greens with ginger and lemon zest

Sake #1 -- Momokawa Organic Ginjo Junmai (from Oregon)

Wanmori -- tofu pouches stuffed with seasoned portabello mushroom slice, hijiki and edamame, and tied with konbu; bamboo shoots, carrot, young broccoli and lemon zest garnish in a lightly thickened vegetarian broth

Yakimono -- tofu negi dengaku (tofu from Arcata's Tofu Shop grilled with Westbrae Soy miso dengaku sauce made with a generous amount of sauteed spring onions)

Azukebachi -- 1) simmered California-grown spinach seasoned with sesame dressing; 2) braised carrot and home-grown daikon with a creamy tofu dressing

Sake #2 -- Momokawa "Diamond"

Hashiarai -- seasoned lightly with umeboshi (pickled plum), lemon zest and a fresh plum blossom

Hassun -- 1) California asparagus seasoned with sesame; 2) "fans" of nori seasoned with miso sauce and lightly toasted

Omogashi -- daifuku (mochi and anko) freshly home-made by Annie (see "Microwave Mochi")


Further reading

The Heart of Zen Cuisine, A 600-Year Tradition of Vegetarian Cooking. Soei Yoneda, Kodansha International, Tokyo and New York, 1982. Originally published as Good Food from a Japanese Temple. Yoneda was the Abbess of Sanko-in Temple of Kyoto.

Kaiseki: Zen Tastes in Japanese Cooking. Kaichi Tsuji, Tankosha Press, Kyoto, 1972. Lovingly illustrated with original woodcuts and beautiful full-color photographs. Detailed notes seasonal foods, serving ware and preparation and arrangement of food.

Untangling My Chopsticks, A Culinary Sojourn in Kyoto. Victoria Abbot Riccardi, Broadway Books/Random House, New York, 2003. "As Victoria Riccardi goes in search of culinary enlightenment in this intimate and beautifully crafted memoir about living, cooking, and falling in love with Kyoto, the reader is seduced and transported by the scenes and flavors she paints with words. Riccardi writes with a sensuous eye for detail that brings alive the extraordinary beauty of Japan and the sumptuous pleasures of its table." --Lora Brody, author of Growing Up on the Chocolate Diet

The World in a Bowl of Tea, Healthy, Seasonal Foods Inspired by the Japanese Way of Tea. Bettina Vitelli, Harper Collins, New York, 1997.

North Coast Journal, selected articles about the Humboldt County local food movement and local grain farmers

• Here Come the Grains (April 10, 2008)
• Hardcore Locavores (Nov. 6, 2008)
• Feeling our Oats in Humboldt County (March 30, 2006)
• Extreme Local Eating (March 9, 2006)

Graphics and Signs, Japan 2010

No shockwave plugin? Click here to go to the album.

HSU Don Translates Hiroshima Haiku

Father Eric Freed, director of Humboldt State University’s Newman Center and a lecturer in the Department of Religious Studies, has put into English the story and haiku poetry of a Japanese woman who was a teenager when the U.S. struck Hiroshima with an atomic bomb on August 6, 1945.…

http://now.humboldt.edu/news/hsu-don-translates-hiroshima-haiku/

Microwave mochi

Annie is a genius. She found a recipe for microwave mochi that actually works!

On and off, over the years, both Annie and I have tried to make mochi at home. Unsucessfully. Motivated by our February's chaji we took up the cause once again. We both found recipes and instruction on the Internet, and set out on parallel paths to achieve mochi proficiency.

I studied what I could in my cookbooks (better if I could read Japanese) and used a recipe I found on the Internet. My first two attempts were inedible.

Overcooked. Pasty and dry. I was demoralized.

Then came Annie's breakthrough. Two days before the Chaji she called, ecstatic. She was able to make daifuku mochi that was tender and delicious. She made a fresh batch on the morning of the Chaji.

Her secret? Corn syrup. And microwaving in short bursts. I tried her recipe a few days later and had similar success. Not quite so pretty as Annie's, but definitely edible.

For this week's at tea practice, she brought some beautiful homemade wagashi. Tasty little works of art.

Here' s the recipe that Annie found online:

Easy Daifukumochi Tea Sweets

http://sweetpersimmon.gaia.com/blog/2008/1/japanese_tea_sweets

Oishi desu!

Small World

Kristin learned of a friend of a friend who has a house in Kyoto. As we will soon be in Kyoto, she thought it would be worthwhile to contact this Kyoto person. She turned out to be a friend of ours who we had not seen in many years, Yoshiko Skelton. It was delightful to reconnect with her.

Tea and cake with friends
Cinderblock in the garden
A modern torii

Monster daikon!

I'd say Eureka's climate favors daikon. This bad boy weighed in at more than one kilo.

Birding with Gary

Virginia's warblers had been hanging around the Bloomfields' house for much of January, so we thought it would be worth a try to see it. Thanks to Gary and his friend Pablo we were able to see the Virginia's warbler, plus Townsends, orange-crowned and yellow-rumped warblers too.

North Jetty Birding Day

The NoCali Bird Nerds eschewed cleaning up after the earthquake, and headed into the tsunami zone for an afternoon birding trip. The highlights of the day were a burrowing owl, red-necked grebes, black turnstones, surfbirds, surfers, the surf itself, plus sea lions and porpoises.

Birding on the North Spit, Humboldt Bay

Earthquake Jumble

Earthquake Jumble

A magnitude 6.5 earthquake hit Humboldt County on Jan. 9, 2010, around 4:30 p.m. Mostly just tossed books and DVDs around. Our only losses were suicidal tchachkas and a liter of olive oil on the kitchen floor.

The year of Friday Poetry

Skies redden, sun settles
Rain storm puddles on rooftops
The view from the Hall

: :

With the closing of the year, my Friday Poetry Project is at an end.

My original goal was to post one haiku per week -- not necessarily to compose a poem, just post one. Some of the poems I posted this year were written in years past. Some weeks I wrote several poems, other times were dry spells. And a couple posts weren't my poetry at all, but simply about poetry or haiku.

I find myself taking a mental snapshot of a moment, then later writing about it. Sometimes finding the right words is a struggle, but writing more makes the words come a little more easily. Not always, though, and that's part of the challenge that fuels creativity.