WANISAN

We were a little late this year because our schedules were crazier than ever, but we finally got our Christmas decorations put up.

The tradition in our family is to put our tree and lights up the weekend of the US Thanksgiving holiday. We also only leave them up until the weekend after New Year’s Day.

My boys and I put up the lights outside, and then we all have to be home together to put up the tree and decorate it.

I also finally got a time for the outside lights, but one set still has to be plugged up and unplugged every night. That’s not so bad, except someone has to go outside in the cold to do that… Next year, I will take care of that one, too.

We have a few new things to add to our decorations this year. I’m particularly happy with our new Christmas moose!

Here are a couple of photos and a short video (the link below) to see the lights.

Christmas-lights-2015

My house has several cool things around it. One is the blueberry trees I’ve mentioned before. I’ve had those berries on my cereal, or in yogurt, and even made jam and gave it away because there were so many of them. Nice to have them, but it’s even nice to share them.

We also have a tree that grows this strange little fruit that we didn’t recognise. One of our neighbors told us one day the tree is a pineapple guava tree and the fruit was good for eating.

Well, we tried to eat the fruit. There’s a ton of stuff out there, but just because it’s edible doesn’t mean I want to eat it. This fell into that category for me, too.

Until the same neighbor recommended I try making jam with the fruit.

It does take a considerable amount of time, but the steps are very simple.

Cut them fruit in half, spoon out the fruit into a pan. Heat the pan for about 30 to 40 minutes on medium heat (don’t add water – but stir constantly).

The next step was to put it into the blender. I tried this once just using my hand mixer, but it didn’t make the fruit smooth enough. This time, I went all in and used the blender. It’s very heavy, so you have to be careful not to overload the blender, but it worked great.

Back in the pan, add a teaspoon of lemon juice, a tablespoon or so of cinnamon, and one cup of sugar for each 2 cups of fruit. (some recipes I saw called for lots more than this, but this was great for me).

Keep stirring for 30 minutes on medium heat.

Take it out, let it cool, then refrigerate it – eat it soon, on toast. There are no preservatives so it won’t keep long and even a couple dozen fruits only makes a couple of cups of jam, so if you’re going to eat it, just refrigerate it. If you want to keep it longer, make smaller portions and freeze it.

The consistency and taste are unique. Maybe it’s like a mixture between a crisp apple and a pear?

Definitely better than just tossing them away again and again and again. 😉

Here are a few photos of the process and the results:

I’ve seen a few interesting designs and paint jobs on cars, mostly vans though, here in Japan. This car was parked in the corner of our lot as I was leaving the university.

It looks a little forlorn out their all by itself, but all of those colors make it look like it’s fighting to stay cheerful.

I’d drive it, no problem.

And, yes, this is a regular university, not the Clown Academy 😉

I have seen a lot of odd images in Japan. Many of them are on t-shirts and often along with some even stranger, text messages. Mostly they’re just odd, or outright funny, but they can run to offensive and profane as well.

This week in class I just happened to spot this pencil case.

I hope everyone enjoyed their break time here in Nagoya and especially at Aichi Shukutoku University.

I know I did. I was surprised by how much I really needed that break. I rested, a lot. I feel great and I’m ready to get back after it again.

Now the weather is turning cooler, and the sun is going to down sooner (no Daylight Savings Time here). It’s usually dark by 5:30 now and creeping up a little day by day.

Right now the sun is shining late in the afternoon and the temperature is around 20 degrees Celsius. Very nice for sitting outside in my garden. But soon it will be dark, and cold, so for now I’ll leave you with this photo taken a few days ago of a lone rose in my garden.