３月４日（金曜日）２０２２
米国で仕事をしていた時から仕事を離れて日本に本拠地を移した今も温かく応援してくださっている先生とご主人に中華料理のDim Sum（点心）と海鮮料理をご馳走になりました。シュウマイや透明な包みの中にプリップリッのエビが入った蒸し餃子など次々にテーブルに並べられるお皿に圧倒されている私の前で取り皿にご主人がどんどんそれらを置いてくださいます。圧巻はロブスターが生姜とネギのソースで絡めて炒めて出てきた大きなお皿でした。ボストン名物の蒸しロブスターを溶かしバターレモンで食べたのは記憶がおぼつかないほど何年も前のことで、まさかこんな立派なロブスターが中華風に目の前に出てくるとは想像もしていませんでした。中国の青菜と一緒にいただきましたが、中華を久しぶりに口にする私が勧められるままにどれほどガツガツ頂いたことか。ネバダの砂漠を何日もハイキングして帰ったばかりというお二人との話も盛り上がりましたが、お腹は超満腹。お返しなど何もできていないのが情けない限りですがお二人の優しいお心遣いに感謝の気持ちでいっぱいです。
インディアンが作ったドリーム・キャッチャーはネバダ州からのお土産。枕元や窓辺に吊るしておくと悪い夢はネットに引っかかり良い夢だけ真ん中の穴から出てきて見られるそう。悪夢どころか地獄のような事態が現実に起きているウクライナに一刻も早く平穏な時間が戻りますように…
I have a friend who is an emeritus professor of the college where I used to work and both she and her husband have been warmly supporting me even after I have already left and moved to Japan. I met them with my daughter at a Chinese restaurant and we were treated to Dim Sum and Seafood dishes. While I was overwhelmed by the many kinds of dim sum such as steamed dumplings, her husband kindly put them on the small dish which was in front of me. The most surprising dish was a big plate of lobster with ginger and scallion sauce cooked in the Chinese way. When I ate steamed lobster with lemon butter sauce, it was a long time ago and I was not expecting to have such a gorgeous dish for us on this day. It came with sauteed Chinese green leaves. Since I hadn't had Authentic Chinese food recently, I ate a lot of what was offered and my stomach was full. They had just returned from Nevada where they hiked in the desert for days, so we had a good talk about their experience. It was a really wonderful lunch and I thanked them so much, but I was feeling bad because I did nothing in return.
They gave some gifts to me and among them was a Native American Dream Catcher. It is said that if you hang it by the window or at the head of your bed, the bad dreams get caught in the web and the good dreams work their way through the hole in the center. At this moment, unbelievable destruction which is much worse than bad dreams is happening in Ukraine. Wishing they get back to their normal peaceful days immediately.
