Tuesday, November 28, 2017



11月28日(火曜日)2017


日曜日にカフェをS.Kさんにお任せして群馬県の上州富岡へ行ってきました。近くに2014年に世界遺産に登録された富岡製糸場があり、外からちょっとだけ見学しました。東京で一泊して家に帰ってきたら、何と桃原ごぼうの頂き物が置いてありました。桃原ごぼうは多賀町で廃村の危機にある標高350mの桃原集落で3年ほど前から復活栽培が行なわれています。かつては「多賀ごぼう」と呼ばれ京都の料亭などに年末の正月料理として使われていた高級食材です。去年は私も収穫のお手伝いをさせていただきましたが、赤い粘土質の土に埋まったごぼうを途中で折らずに掘り起こすのは至難の技でした。中が真っ白で香りが良くそのままでも食べられるほど筋もなくシャキシャキとした食感です。その貴重な高級ごぼうを手伝ってもいない私がいただくなんて勿体無く有り難い限りです。今夜は鮭の糟汁に少し入れて美味しくいただきました。Last Sunday, I asked Ms. SK to take care of my cafe and went to Jyooshuu Tomioka in Gunma. There is a Tomioka Silk Mill near where I visited which gained World Heritage status in 2014. After staying Sunday night in Tokyo, I came back to home to find a package of Mobara Goboo (Mobara burdock). It was a gift from a friend. Mobara Goboo has started being planted again since a couple years ago in the Mobara area which is 350 meters altitude and in danger of becoming a ghost village now. The goboo root was called as "Taga-goboo" and shipped to Kyoto until several decades ago. Many high ranked Japanese restaurants bought them and prepared a New Year's special dish for the customers. I helped the harvest last year which is very hard because we have to dig up the root in a clayish ground. You definitely need a special technique to dig it up if you want to take a whole root. Mobara Goboo is beautifully white inside. It smells and tastes so good! I am so lucky to get it even though I didn't do anything to help the harvest this year.





Thursday, November 23, 2017



11月23日(木曜日)2017


普段は静かに眠っていますが、時々張り切って動き回るものがうちに います。お掃除ロボット、ルンバ君です。実は掃除機をかけるのが好きではない私の悩みを察してか、高校時代の友人たちが贈ってくれた便利な機械です。今日は二階の寝室を彼に任して外から帰ってきたら、いつもは出発点に戻っているはずのルンバ君がいません。「ルンちゃん!どこにいるの?ルンちゃん!」とベッドの下を覗き込みましたが彼の姿がありません。おかしい。部屋は閉め切ってあるのでいないはずはありません。今度は懐中電燈でもう一度ベッドの下をよく照らしたら、一番奥の隅にルンちゃんは止まっていました。暗いところでおうちに帰れずに引っかかっていたルンバ君が可哀想でした。I have a "pet" at home which is usually quietly sleeping but sometimes moves around actively. It is a vacuum cleaning robot, Roomba. I have to confess that I don't like to vacuum very much. My high school friends sympathized with me, and they gave me this convenient machine for celebrating the opening of my café. Today I set the Roomba in my bedroom upstairs. After a while when I came back from outside and took a look there, he was not back in the starting location. "Hello Room! Where are you? Hello!" I called to him and looked under the bed but he was not there. He should have been there because there was no way he could escape the room. I searched under the bed with a flashlight again, and then I found my Roomba stuck in the rear corner. I felt sorry for him as he had to stay in such a dark place and could not get back to his home. My poor dear Roomba.



Wednesday, November 22, 2017



11月22日(水曜日)2017


少し前になりますがご近所のお菓子屋さん(風月堂)から大きな柚子をいただきました。鬼柚子(又は獅子柚子)というそうです。持ってきて下さった時はあまりの大きさにびっくりしました。ユズの名前がついますが調べてみたら実は柚子とは別種でザボンやブンタンの仲間だそうです。冷たい空気の中でしっかり頑張ってこんな立派な実をつけました。A few days ago I received a huge Yuzu (Citrus junos) from a woman from a Japanese sweet shop near my cafe. It is called "Oni yuzu" ( demons yuzu). I was surprised at the size of the fruit. According to the web information, it has the name "Citron" but it belongs to pomelo. I am impressed by it as it finally came to grow to such a huge size in this cold air.



Monday, November 20, 2017



11月20日(月曜日)2017


18、19日の週末はJapan Coffee Festival 2017 for workshop-cafe in TAGAというイベントが絵馬通りで行なわれました。空き家を借りたり、テントを張ったりして焙煎コーヒーの試飲販売でした。多くの若い人、家族連れで賑わっていましたが、「出展」の意味がよく分からず、我がカフェ「多賀あさひや」はマグカップを片手に歩く多くの若者たちを眺めるだけの2日間でした。それにしても冬本番の寒さながら、イベントに来ていた人達の元気なことには驚きました。そんな中、半年振りに顔を見せてくださった長野塩尻からのご夫婦。尾道へのご旅行の途中、春に多賀に寄り道をして偶然カフェにおいでくださった方達です。昨日は風知草(フウチソウ)と長野のリンゴをお土産にお持ち下さいました。サクサクの甘酸っぱいフジ、美味しくいただいて元気がでました。During the weekend of 18th and 19th, "Japan Coffee Festival 2017 for workshop-cafe in TAGA" was held on the front road, Ema Doori. Using vacant houses or pitching tents, they sold their original coffee and beans. Many young people and families came and enjoyed the event. Since I didn't get the meaning of "running a booth", I didn't make a "booth". Most of the people just passed by my cafe which was so unfortunate. Anyhow it looked like people were enjoying the event even though it was windy winter weather. By the way, I had a happy surprise yesterday. A couple from Shiojiri in Nagano stopped by my cafe. It has been half a year since I met them this spring when they were heading to Onomichi. They parked their car at Taga Service Area by the highway and came down to Taga. They brought a pot of Fuuchisoo (Hakonechioa macra) and fresh apples for me. Their visit cheered me up and I thank them for their warm gifts.



Friday, November 17, 2017



11月17日(金曜日)2017


昨日、多賀植物観察の会で犬上川の上流で犬上ダムの近くの萱原(かやはら/かいはら)に行ってきました。萱原は山あいの奥まった地域ですが100戸近く家が並ぶ静かな集落で、植物観察会では中川信子さん、森小夜子さん、種村和子さんの三女史の親切丁寧な説明を受けながら20名ほどが山道に生える植物を勉強しました。次々に植物を勉強しましたが、写真が撮れて名前の分かるものを少しだけここに載せます。赤い実をつけたコマユミ(小真弓)は葉っぱがピンクに染まって優しい感じ。ノブドウ(野葡萄)は薄紫、濃い紫、青、エンジと微妙に違う紫系の実が美しかったです。フユイチゴ(冬苺)は甘酸っぱく優しい味を楽しみました。誰かが「へえ、こんなところに?」と言って皆が一斉に見たのはサラシナショウマの白い花でした。調べると生薬になり解熱、解毒、抗炎症作用があるとのこと。紅葉の中での楽しい時間でした。Yesterday, I participated in an observation meeting of plants in Taga and went to Kayahara (or Kaihara) where which is up-stream of Inukami River and near Inukami-dam. Kayahara is a beautiful mountain village where nearly 100 houses are gathered. In the meeting, Ms. Nakagawa, Ms. Mori and Ms. Tanemura lead and showed plants beside the pathway to the group of about 20 participants. The following are just a couple of plants among many. Komayumi (spindle tree) has pinkish leaves and a gentle image. Nobudoo (wild grape) has beautiful berries which are of delicate purple colors. We enjoyed tasting Fuyu-ichigo (Rubus buergerl) which were sour-sweet. Someone pointed out the white flower with surprise. It was Sarashina-shooma (Cimicifuga) which had white flowers. It is used as a herb medicine for fever treatment, detoxification, or anti-inflammatory effect. We enjoyed the observation time by the fall-colored mountainside.









Tuesday, November 14, 2017



11月14日(火曜日)2017


しばらく良いお天気が続いて七五三参りの家族の微笑ましい光景が多賀大社やカフェ「多賀あさひや」でも見られましたが、今日は朝から雨で通りを歩く人の姿もありません。暖房なしではいられない11月半ばのこのごろです。先日、毎週1、2度お手伝いいただいているS.K さんがドウダンツツジの枝を持ってきて下さいました。山に入って靴をどろんこにさせながら枝を切って下さったのでしょう。有り難いです。ツツジの名前がついているので、春に咲かせるのはピンクのよくある花を想像して調べてみたら、白い小さな提灯のような花でした。秋は紅葉した枝が華やかです。緑の中に白く咲いているのは椿の花。床の間が秋の彩りで賑やかです。It had been fine weather for a couple of days until yesterday, when we saw many pleasant scenes of families with Shichi-Go-San at Taga-taisha and in my cafe. It is a rainy day today and there are hardly any visitors in the front road. I definitely need a heater these days in the middle of November. The other day, Ms. S.K who helps me one or two times a week brought branches Doodan-tsutsuji (Enklanthus campanulatus) for me. She must have had a hard time cutting the branches in the mountainside getting mud on her shoes. I thank her for her effort. Since it has "tsutsuji" on its name, I thought that it is similar to the flower tsutsuji (azalea) which we see in the spring, but it is a small white one like a lily and is different from what I had imagined. The branches turn to red in the fall and they are so beautiful. The white flower in the green is camellia. The alcove looks gorgeous with these fall colors.




Thursday, November 9, 2017



11月9日(木曜日)2017


晴天ながら風の強い一日でした。久しぶりに朝の散歩に出ました。神社やお寺、山々の紅葉はこれからますます深くなっていくのでしょうが、多賀大社も控えめながら品の良い紅葉が見られます。境内の菊花展を見て、亡き父もこのような大菊を毎年趣味で育てて品評会にも出していたのを懐かしく思い出しました。春に楽しませてもらった田んぼ道の桜の木は枯れ葉になってもまだ枝についていました。季節の移り変わりがくり返す中でゆっくりと年月が経っていくことを実感します。Although it was a clear sky, today was very windy. I went out for a morning walk for the first time in a while. The autumn foliage in this area has started and in a couple of weeks the colors will be much deeper at the shrine, temple and mountains. It is not glamorous but we are able to enjoy the elegant fall colours at Taga taisha. There is a display of chrysanthemum at the shrine and I recall my father who grew big flowers of chrysanthemum as his hobby and often exhibited them into an exhibition fair. The cherry blossom trees which I enjoyed the beautiful pink flowers in the spring have dry leaves now and still stick to the branches. With the repeating cycles of the seasonal changes, I feel that the years are slowly passing by.






Friday, November 3, 2017



11月3日(金曜日)2017


雨が多く台風のおまけまでついた10月が終ってまずは穏やかなお天気の11月の滑り出しです。床の間のしつらえを少し新しくして気分を変えてみました。11月は「霜月」。「霜が降りる月」とのことです。暖房を少しつけてはまた消してという日々になりました。季語を抜き出してみると「時雨(しぐれ)」「山茶花(さざんか)」など風情のあるものから「七五三」「大根」など微笑ましいものまでたくさんあります。多賀大社は七五三参りで晴れ着を着た子供たちとその家族で賑わっています。After October which had many rainy days and a typhoon, November has started with gorgeous clear days. I changed the arrangement of the alcove a little. In Japanese, November is called "Shimotsuki" in a classic way. It means "a month which has frost". A heater is sometime needed but not always these days. I picked a couple of seasonal words for Haiku poems. "Shigure (drizzling rain in late autumn)","Sazanka (camellia)" which sounds elegant. Some words are cute such as "Shich-go- san (celebration of child's third, fifth and seventh years)' and "Daikon (radish). We could see many dressed up kids and their families at Taga-shrine because of Shichi-go-san. We enjoy the festive mood.