December 21, 2016

Winter Solstice This Year/今年の冬至

The winter solstice falls on today, 21st December, this year. As requested by my father, I collected some yuzu from the tree in the yard around the house.
今年は、冬至は今日、12/21です。父に頼まれて、家の周りにある木から柚子をいくつか採りました。
 

Watch out for the thorns!
とげには注意しないと!
 I got more than 30 in no time.
すぐに30個以上取れました。

Store-bought kabocha:
市販のかぼちゃ
It's not that my father hasn't grown kabocha this year but that he is so generous that he has given all of his kabocha to relatives (including my family), leaving none for himself.
今年はかぼちゃを育てなかったわけではなく、太っ腹なので、かぼちゃを全部親戚(我が家を含む)にあげてしまって、一つも残っていないのです。  
Put them in a pot, and add water enough to barely cover them.
鍋に入れて、ひたひたになるよう水を入れます。
Bring to a boil, and add some sugar (1 tsp in the photo).
沸騰させ、砂糖を少し(写真では大さじ1)。
Place an otoshi buta (drop lid) or something similar (two paper towels in the photo).
落としぶたなど(写真ではキッチンペーパー2枚)をします。
By the way, I've been struggling with these and other knives, none of them are sharp enough! Well, that's another story.
ところで、このような包丁と格闘しています。どれも鋭さが足りません。それはまた別の話ですが。
Simmer for 5 minutes, and add some soy sauce.
5分煮て、しょう油を入れます。
Simmer for another 2 minutes or so.
さらに2分程煮ます。
We are going to have simmered kabocha as part of supper tonight, and put four or five of the yuzu shown above in the bathtub to take a "yuzu yu" (yuzu bath)!
今日の夕食にはかぼちゃの煮物を食べ、柚子を4,5個浴槽に入れて、柚子湯に入ります!

6 comments:

  1. Good afternoon, I love cabocha.

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  2. diu: Yes, almost everyone likes kabocha!

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  3. I love kabocha, too, but it's funny...my friends do not enjoy it! I think it is so delicious. I guess everyone is different.

    I hope you can get the knives sharpened. Where I live, it's very nice; you can take your knives to the grocery store, and the butcher department will sharpen them for free for you while you shop. It's a helpful service.

    Take care,
    Erin from California

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  4. ErinBear: Well, I don't like melons, oysters, and eggplants, and people just don't understandy why I don't like them. Neither do I!

    Lucky you! I will have to buy some good whetstone to sharpen all the dull knives by myself!

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  5. I am the only one at home happily munching simmered kabocha or hokkaido pumpkin (this is a japanese kabocha variety and has absolutely nothing to do with Hokkaido I suppose) It is so delicious. My family only wants to eat pumpkin soup or pottages. But that is fine with me. I can easily eat one small Hokkaido type pumpkin by myself. Thanks for sharing. Did your father never sharpened his knives? As a farmer? My mother is the same she owns tons of dull knives. I hate to prepare food in her kitchen.

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  6. Kiki: Lucky you! Then you can eat all simmered kabocha!

    Well, I told my father that all the knives in the kitchen were dull. He sharpened some of the knives for me, but the knives were still dull! I checked the whetstones he had, and found they were not properly flattened. I will have to get a decent whetstone and sharpen the knives by myself in the near future.

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