対策

先日の岡山行きの新幹線でひろってしまったのか、少し風邪気味でした。生姜入りの紅茶を飲んだり、室内でもスカーフを巻いたりして、何とかこじらせずに済みそうです。明日から12月。少しずつ寒さが増してきたので、今夜は冬用の毛布を出しました。どうか皆さんも風邪をひかれませんように。

Countermeasure

I must have picked-up some cold on a Shinkansen train on the way to Okayama the other day. I have been having ginger tea and been keeping a scarf around my throat even indoors, which seems to be working not to make this cold any worse. It will be December tomorrow and I took some winter blankets out this evening to be prepared for a colder season. Please take care of yourselves, too.

22,000歩

今日、初めて岡山に出かけました。後楽園の紅葉、隣接の岡山城、名物のばら寿司、倉敷の街歩きと続き、最後はひとりで大原美術館の印象派の絵も鑑賞してきました。盛りだくさんの日帰り旅行で歩き回って、今夜はぐっすり眠れそうです。

ちなみに；22,000歩というのは、私の携帯電話に付いている万歩計のカウントです。もっと歩いたような気がするのですが…。

22,000 steps

We went to Okayama for the first time today. We enjoyed autumn leaves at the Korakuen garden, Okayama castle next door, the local cuisine of Barazushi and the historic district of Kurashiki.  I completed my satisfaction with some impressionist pieces at Ohara Museum of Art at the end. Because we did a lot of walking, I should be able to sleep tight tonight.

By the way; my cell phone has a pedometer function and it counted 22,000 steps today. It feels I walked much more…

来客

週末は久しぶりに我が家に来客がありました。エリックの大学の関係者でアメリカの方です。出張中は外食が続くのではないかと思い、素朴すぎて申し訳ないけれど、水炊きでおもてなししました。お鍋を囲んで、日米文化の比較や世界の珍料理などについて話し、楽しいひとときを過ごしました。

写真：左より梅酒、しょうが焼酎、神戸の地酒です。今回はソーダ割りでしょうがの焼酎をお出ししました。

Having a guest

We had a guest at our place after a long absence. He was here to visit Eric’s university from the States. I thought that he should have had enough of restaurant food by now and decided to serve Mizutaki, which is pretty informal home cooking. We all enjoyed the food as well as interesting conversations about the cultural comparisons between Americans and Japanese, unusual food around the world, etc. over the pot.

Mizutaki: a Japanese-style fondue. Vegetables, tofu, and chicken and/or fish are cooked with broth in a pot on the table top and people help themselves as the ingredients get cooked.

From the left in the picture: Plum liqueur, distilled spirit and local sake of Kobe. We served distilled spirit with ginger-flavour this time.

ナチュラル・メディスン

図書館でアンドリュー・ワイル博士の『ナチュラル・メディスン』を借りてきました。20年以上も前に書かれた本書には、予防医学の知識が沢山書かれています。たとえば、カフェイン摂取に関する記述を読むと、「明日からコーヒーはやめよう」という気にさせられます。まだ半分も読んでいませんが、私の気持ちはすでに健康志向に傾き始めました。

Natural Medicine

I borrowed Dr. Andrew Weil’s “Natural Medicine” from the library. In this book, which was written over 20 years ago, there is a lot of knowledge about Preventive Medicine. When I come to its part about caffeine intake, for example, it makes me think “we should stop drinking coffee tomorrow.”  I have not even finished half of the book, but I am already leaning toward health-consciousness.

安堵のため息

昨日からの大ニュースは、アメリカでオバマ大統領が再任されたこと。エリックも安堵のため息をついています。そのエリックは、英語教育のカンファレンスに出席するため、今日から台湾に出かけます。2年ほど前に旅行で訪れたときは、人々が親日的で食べ物も美味しく好印象でした。私も機会があれば、もっと近隣の国々を訪れてみたいと思います。

Sigh of relief

The big news from yesterday was that President Obama was selected for the second term in the States. After releasing a sigh of relief, Eric is now heading to Taiwan to attend a conference of English education. I had a positive impression of the country when we visited there a couple of years ago. People were pro-Japanese and their food was good. I would like to visit more countries in the neighborhood when I have chances.