１１月１７日（日曜日）２０１９
渋柿をいただいたので３日前に干し柿作りに初めて挑戦しました。地元の言葉かどうか分かりませんが柿を吊るして干すからか、子供の時からうちでは「つるんぼし」と呼んでいました。さて作り方が分からなくてもネットを見れば動画で説明してくれる時代です。私でもできそうだと思えるのはありがたいです。でも柿を吊るす紐が短すぎて吊るした後の眺めがカッコ良くないなと笑っちゃいました。美しく見せるのは何でもバランスが大事だと干し柿作りで納得。台から降りて目に飛び込んできたのは綺麗な虹で、よく見ると二重に掛かっていました。しばし、穏やかに見とれました。Since I received astringent persimmons from my friend, I took on the challenge of making dried persimmons for the first time. I'm not sure if local people call it the same way but probably because it is hung for drying, my family members were calling it  "TSURUNBOSHI (hung-dried persimmon). It is convenient now because even if you don't know how to make it, you are able to learn from youtube and I feel encouraged to make it. Actually the procedure was simple and not difficult, but as a result, it made me laugh because the strings were a bit short and when I hung them, they were ok but didn't look aesthetically nice to me. Well, I learned that things should be well balanced to look nice.  When I stepped down, a beautiful rainbow came into my sight!!  Looking at it carefully, it was a double rainbow which fascinated me. 

IZANAMIマーケット 

２０１９年１１月１７日（日） ９：００〜１５：００

絵馬通りはまてつさん駐車場

地元とれたて野菜、お茶、信楽焼、占い、
アート、フードなど 

「多賀あさひや」はイザナミランチ（１３７３円）を
１０食限定で ご用意します。

お天気も良い本日、皆さんぜひいらしてくださーい！！

１１月１５日（金曜日）２０１９ 
少し前に彦根の農家の友人が落花生を根っこごと持ってきてくれました。落花生は地中に実をつけることは知っていましたが、実際に見るのは初めてです。掘り起こして１日経っているらしく葉は少し乾いていましたが畑の土はそのままついていて、どこまで土に埋まっていたかすぐ分かりました。枝から落花生を取って、きれいに洗って、それから少し多めの塩を入れて殻のまま茹でて、殻を外して中のピーナツを取り出すと塩加減もちょうどよく半なまの美味しいピーナツ完成。後を引くような美味しさで、ビールのお供にぴったり。仲間とのおしゃべりも弾みました。A few days ago, a friend of mine who is in Hikone and whose husband grows rice and vegetables, brought peanuts with their roots and leaves still attached. I knew that peanuts grow in the ground but it was the first time for me to see them in this condition in front of me. Although it had already been one day since the plants were dug up, I could recognize the level of soil. I took off the peanut's shell, washed them well, and boiled them putting extra salt, then took out the nuts from the shell. They were very good half raw peanuts. I couldn't stop eating them. My friends and I enjoyed talking while drinking beer which went well with these peanuts.

１１月１２日（火曜日）２０１９
９日（土曜日）は多賀あさひや始まって以来の沸きに沸いた賑やかで楽しいRone & Gigi (https://www.op-sesame.com/) のクラウンショーで、１０日（日曜日）はRoneこと高野呂音さんによる「怒りのコントロールと笑顔のコミュニケーション」の講座でした。 前々日に多賀入りしたロネとジージはまずは絵馬通りを歩いて多賀の人たちへご挨拶。先日、朝日新聞でクラウンショーの案内が写真付きで掲載されたので、町のおじさん、おばさん達が新聞で見たよ！と言って喜んでくださったそうです。二人は多賀大社にも。七五三詣りの家族連れは突然のクラウンたちの出現に胸が弾んだことでしょう。９日のクラウンショーは子供達の元気な声と飛び入りで舞台に上がったお客様達のおかげで盛り上がりました。プロとしてクラウン歴３０年のロネとジージ、二人のステージは流石です。クラウンがよく分からないまま観に来て下さったお客様も彼らのこと少し分かって下さったのではと思います。翌日の講座は怒りについてとコミュニケーション術をロネさんの落ち着いた温かい語り口で勉強しました。腹を立てて怒っていると体によくないそうです。笑って過ごせる時間が毎日あるといいですね。Last Saturday, on Nov. 9th, we held Rone & Gigi 's Clown Show (https://www.op-sesame.com/) which was the most lively, funny time since Taga Asahiya opened. The next day, on Nov. 10th, there was a lecture of "Anger Management and communication with a smile" by Ms. Rone Takano ("Rone" in the clown duo). Two days before their performance, Rone & Gigi came to Taga and the following day they walked along the main street to greet people in Taga. Since they were on the Asahi Newspaper with their photo, upon greeting senior people, they were met with exclamations of " I know about you!". Rone & Gigi went to Taga Taisha, too. There were many families who visited the shrine with their seven, five or three-year-old children to celebrate their growth and well-being. They must have been excited by the appearance of the two clowns at the shrine. The Clown Show was really lively and we thank the kids and audience who joined in the show. Rone & Gigi have 30 years of experience as a professional clown duo and their performance was really great. I think many people who didn't know what a clown was got to know about it. Rone gave a lecture which was about anger management and the technique of good communication. Since Rone's talk was calm and warm, the lecture was really convincing. According to the talk, losing temper is the cause of losing one's health. I wish people have the time to laugh or smile at least once a day.

１１月５日（火曜日）２０１９ 
連休最後の昨日、カフェを開けようかどうしようか迷いましたが定休日なので思い切って閉めて 宮島幸雄さんのステンドグラス展に出かけました。会場は守山の「うの家」で滋賀県から唯一人わが国の宰相になった宇野宗佑氏の生家です。江戸時代は宿場に馬や人足（労働力）を提供していたようですが、明治以後、造り酒屋になったそうです。明治初期に建てられたという建物は重厚で風情ある佇まい。数年前に守山市に譲渡されてからは中にレストランが入ったり様々なイベント会場としても使われています。さて、今回の展示会はランプが主でした。以前、宮島さんからステンドグラスの鑑賞の仕方や製作にあたって非常に綿密な過程を踏んでいらっしゃることなど伺いましたが、光がステンドグラスの微妙な色彩や濃淡、屈折を通して優しく目に入ってくるのを作品から間近に鑑賞できました。グラスを囲むハンダ付けも繊細な技術で見事でした。ところで、南彦根に帰って買い物をして自転車のところに戻ると、何とかわいいピンクのアンパンマンの自転車が隣に並んでいました！こんな嬉しいことってあるでしょうか？ご褒美をもらった気分でした！Since yesterday was the last day of consecutive holidays, I hesitated to close my cafe, but finally decided to do so as it is a regular closing day on Monday. I went to an exhibition of stained glass by Yukio Miyajima. It was held at "Uno House" in Moriyama where Mr. Sosuke Uno was born and raised. Sosuke Uno was the 57th prime minister of Japan and he was the only prime minister from Shiga prefecture. In Edo period, Uno House provided horses and laborers to a posting station but after the Meiji era, it became a sake brewery. The house was built in early Meiji (around 1870), and it is profound and tasteful. After the ownership of the house was transferred to the city of Moriyama from the Uno family, the house has been used as a restaurant and place for many events. Well, this time, Mr. Miyajima exhibited lamps mainly. I heard from Mr. Miyajima about the way of appreciating stained glass and the delicate processes of creating his works. I am grateful to appreciate his works, where light comes out gently through sensitively colored and shaded stained glass. The soldering around stained glasses are also superb. By the way, when I came back to bicycle parking after stopping by the grocery store, I found a cute pinkish children's bicycle with Anpanman's character next to mine. What a pleasant scene it was! I thought I was very lucky to stop my bicycle in that spot.

宮島夫妻

１０月３１日（木曜日）２０１９ 
１０月半ばで日にちが経ちましたが、岩手の友人、Yさんから贈り物が届きました。 「いわて三陸　海と森のなたね油」と、やえはた自然農園のクッキー二種「みそっこ」「HOPI COOKIES（ホピクッキー）」。なたね油は山田周生さんが代表をつとめるユナイテッドグリーンが復興支援の活動で作られているものです。https://www.magariya.net/makers/united-green/ 今年は鹿が入り込んで菜種の収穫も減ったことでしょう。 貴重な油を送っていただきました。やえはた自然農園は花巻市の藤根さんご夫妻が農薬も肥料も使わずに農作物を作っていらっしゃるようで、そこで、このお菓子も生まれたようです。http://yaehata.com/wp/「みそっこ」はその名の通り味噌クッキーでパッケージが３つあって「レモン」「三陸なたね」「マヤナッツ」の味に分かれていました。クッキーがふうせん形で可愛らしくラベルもやさしいです。美味しくいただきました。ホピクッキーは、アメリカインディアン、ホピ族のカチーナと呼ばれる精霊を形作ったクッキーで、一人一人の精霊について丁寧な説明書がついていました。山田さん伝授のクッキーでしょう。山田さんはホピ族と一緒に過ごされた経験があるようですから、今度滋賀にいらしたらその時のお話をお聞きしましょう。先の台風で岩手も大きな被害があったようで皆さんご苦労なさっていることでしょう。滋賀から遠く離れた岩手ですが、ふとしたキッカケが点と点を繋ぎ、思いを馳せることができるのは幸福なことだと思います。Yさん、ありがとうございます。A while ago in the middle of October, I received gifts from my friend, Ms. Y who is living in Iwate prefecture. They are rapeseed oil from Sanriku Coast and two kinds of cookies "Misokko" and "Hopi Cookies" from Yaehata Organic Farm. The rapeseed oil is produced by United-green of which Mr. Shusei Yamada is a representative, for the purpose of reconstruction support following the Great East Japan eathquake. https://www.magariya.net/makers/united-green/ I guess that the harvest of  rapeseed oil must have decreased because recently wild deer entered their farm and ate the rapeseed. I appreciated my friend to send this precious oil to me. Mr. and Mrs. Fujine in Hanamaki run Yaehata Organic Farm. http://yaehata.com/wp/ They are growing rice and vegetables without using any pesticides. They are also making cookies. One of the cookies which I received are Miso Cookies which are balloon shaped and the labels of the packages are cute. They are very good! The other cookies are named HOPI COOKIES. The Hopi are a Native American tribe and the cookies are shaped like kachinas (invisible spirits of life). I learned about six different kachinas by an explanation sheet coming with cookies. I guess Mr. Shusei Yamada gave the idea of making these cookies because he had an experience to be with the Hopi for a couple of weeks. I look forward to hearing more about the Hopi from him when he comes to Shiga next year. Due to the previous big typhoon, Iwate region was also damaged a lot and people there must be having a hard time now. Iwate is very far from Shiga, but I am grateful that we got to know each other by chance. Thank you, Ms.Y.Y!!

１０月２８日（月曜日）２０１９ 
今年１月２８日に仕込んだ味噌が出来ました。正真正銘「手作り味噌」です。去年教えてもらって初めて挑戦した味噌があまりに美味しかったので今年はその倍仕込みました。ちゃんとできているか心配でしたが、納屋から出して壺を開けると、鮮やかな明るい茶色の味噌に仕上がっていました。半分ぐらいを深めの保存容器に入れて冷蔵庫へ。残りは丁寧にならして、その上に冷蔵庫に残っていた板粕を敷き詰めラップで覆って空気に触れないようにして、もう一度納屋に置きました。来年のお正月は自家製味噌を使った粕汁をメニューに加えようかと思っています。I prepared homemade miso at the end of January this year and it is ready now! It is really "Home-made miso". I learned how to make miso from Ms. N.N, a farmer in Taga and I took on the challenge with some other people. I was very satisfied with "my miso" which was preserved in a jar in a storage house and became a very mild and tasty miso, so this year I prepared double the amount of last year. While waiting for ten months until it was done, I was worried whether the process was OK or not. Today, when I took out the jar from the storage house and opened the cover, beautiful bright brown miso appeared underneath. I am relieved and feel so happy now. I took half of the miso out from the jar and put it into another container to keep in the refrigerator. Smoothing the surface of the remaining miso in the jar, I spread sake lees which had been in the refrigerator on top. I then covered the jar with wrap to not let the miso contact the air in order to prevent mold, and put it back in the storage house. I am now planning to serve home-made miso soup in the cafe on New Years Day.