Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Only one spcecial marmalade in the world


So as I worte before about Chinese citron fruits in my garden, the next job for me was to cook them into homemade marmalade. I've been doing this for years and years since I got married and moved to this house. It is nothing new to me all. However, after I went through all the steps to marmalade and taste it, it was not as good as usual. Where did I made a mistake? I did something wrong? I pictured all the steps I had followed and all of a sudden I realized that I failed to wash the sliced peels in the water more than twice so that scums are removed. I skipped this step only to mix the peels into sugar. That explained it. No wonder it tasts a bit bitter. Well then since I didn't put any poison into the ingredients, just a taste of bitterness won't do any harm on you. In fact my family like it. After all it is the only one unique marmalade in the world.

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Living in a big city may not be so bad


Along with my new digital camera,I went up to the new skyscraper called Midland square, a 247-meter skyscraper, the tallest building in Central Japan, where Toyota offices moved in. It has an observation dec called Sky Promenade, fills three floors from 44 to 46 where you can excitedly enjoy the grand panorama of Nagoya city. Night view is really something.
This newly opened building has many luxurious brand shops and restaurants of the world. I'm sure I can enjoy windowshopping for the time being. Well, I can drop by for a scoop of icecream from Pierre Marcolini Chocolatier on the basement floor. Mmmm---I can't wait. It was too bad last night when I came down from the deck, it was almost 9 o'clock and the shop was already closed.

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Spring is with us now


Spring has just arrived here much earlier than usual owing to the global warming.
We have two Chinese citron trees in our garden and they both have fruited earlier as well. So this morning I picked them up from the trees. It's fun. You can pick them up by twisting the stems as high as my arms reach. Otherwise, I use the shears with a long handle to pick up the fruits way high up in the trees. Once I start it, it is really fun to do. It didn't take long to find dozens of fruits landing on the ground.
Well, it's not the end of the story. What will become of those fruits? I gave some to my neighbors and I'm going to cook the rest of them into handmade marmalade. It's such a nice treat that the great grand mother had once planted the trees way back in the past.