The birthday cake which I made today.

for my on-line friend I bought a cheese cake , some ornaments and a whipped cream. After I came home, I just decorated the cake. That's it! My quick and easy cooking! LOL

The last samurai and Heart Staion.

The DVD and the CD which I rented today.

魂（tamashii) means spirit.

侍（samurai)

My praying beads (数珠）

数珠（jyuzu in Japanese)

I eat a grilled salmon almost every morning.

↑This is my friend's homemade ハスカップ　jam. Yummy! I don't know how you say "Hasukappu" in English.The jam looks and tastes like a blueberry jam.

Asa gohan(朝ご飯）Breakfast

This morning's breakfast.

Some more Bon lanterns(盆提灯）

A pair of Bon lanterns are enough for us. My relatives gave us these lanterns, so we decorated them.

土用の丑の日（July 24th this year),the hottest period of summer

Yesterday was the hottest period of summer day. We call this "doyo no ushi no hi" in Japanese. On that day, we eat "u" something foods, such as "Unagi" or eels, "Udon" or Udon noodles, "Umebosi" or pickled prams. It is said that if we eat "U " something foods, it's good for""summer pooped out".
あ～～！夏ばてって、英語で何と言うのだろう？いつまで経っても、英語も上達せず、・・・・ため息がでます。

water melon

My mother's friend gave us this water melon. It was waterly and tasty.

None of the orange pumpkin seeds have sprouted!

Since I wanted to make a jack-o-lantern, I seeded some orangepumpkin seeds. However, none of them have sprouted. I don't know why?

M2

The earthqueke occured 24th 0:26 in Northern Japan. My place was M2. 私は、横揺れを感じたんだが・・・

The nasty, foggy, and muggy weather

My fake Caprese salad

This salad looks like a Caprese salad, but it was a tofu salad which I made two days ago. I used the fresh herbs from my garden. It was a healty cheap salad. The next day I bought a balsamic vineger to make a fake Caprese salad again, and I made it.

I still had some sun dried tomatoes, I made the simple sun dried tomato pasta with Aojiso, or Japanese green peril leaves. Sigh, this picture is blurred!

The Bon lanterns (盆提灯）

本当は１組あれば充分なのですが、いただいた人たちに申し訳ないので、これから、どんどん、提灯を飾ります。たくさんぶら下げたこいのぼりのような、ごちゃごちゃした感じになります。（泣）

I will edit later.

The alter in my house(仏壇と仏間の天井）

お盆が近いので、こういう話題にしてみました。The alter in the alter room.

The ceiling in the alter room.
Since Bon(盆）is coming soon. Today, my mother and I took some lanterns from a storeage shed. We will deck lanterns later to pray for our ancesters until middle of August.

We are buddists, but we cerebrate Christmas. What do you think about it?

Two other yellow lilies

I will take out the pollen tomorrow.I don't like ↓these lilies's color.

The breakfast July 20th.朝ご飯

18℃　in the evening.

Kira kira,

It's been raining for the past few days.

My mouring Kimono, bag, obi, and zori.

バッグ（bag), 草履（zori）
These are my Japanese black formal for mourning. We wear mourning kimono for a family and relatives.　

喪服(mouring kimono)

帯（ obi）
I will edit later.

Since I bought the sun dried tomatoes,

The imported sundried tomatoes from Italia .

Haha! I can't see the tomatoes.

Rain drop

The movies what I want to see now.

"Juno" .....I think I know none of the cast members of "Juno",
but I really want to see it.

"Hana Yori Dango Final".......This is a Japanese big hit movie which is based on Japanese teenage comic. I've seen Taiwanese version of this TV drama series and a Japanese version of this TV drama series. Both of them were sillly, but very fun!

"Dragon Kingdom"←Maybe Japanese title?? This is a Hongkong action movie(?). I like Jet Lee's action movies.

The rasberries

A couple of days ago, I made this rasberry jam with the fresh rasberries from my garden.

I forgot to put a pinch of citric acid in the jam, so the color became a little dark.

The yellow lilies

Some lilies start to bloom. Once the pollen sticks, it never comes off, so I usually take it. Lilies are beautiful, but their pollen is nasty. Is pollen"singular or plural?

My handmade Kintyaku bag (手製の巾着）

This is the reversible Kintyaku bag which I made last night. We usually carry these types of bags , when we wear Yukata, or Japanese cotton kimonos. If we chage sizes or shapes, we can carry bento, or lunch, and stuff like that.

The other side of this bag.

This is the reversible kintyaku bag which I bought.

My mother made the gnocchi again two days ago

I used this creamy cheese sauce and the fresh herbs.

Thinking about GH issue

I rarely buy clothes, but I buy books very often. When I thought about the envioroment, I bought the kids book titled "Salmon Forest." It was very easy to read this book, so I bought the same envirometalist's book titled "Good News". This book was toooooo dificult for me to read, so I could read it only a few pages. I should read it little by little. The books which I have not read are piled up, I should read them!!!!

Blessed rain (恵みの雨）

Whenever it starts to rain, I am soooo happy! It's because we don't have much rain this year.

When I looked up「めぐみの雨」, my English dictionary said "Ｗｅｌｃｏｍｅ　Ｒａｉｎ"and"Ｂｌｅｓｓｅｄ　Ｒａｉｎ". I sometimes dubious about my dictionary .←Are the two words correct English?

Pesto?・・・ pesto alla genovese

I mistook "Pesto" for a contagious disease. It is an Italian pasta sauce what we called "ジェノバソース"or "basil sauce" in Japanese. I wanted to make this sauce from scratch, so I went shopping. I saw two imported Italian pesto and a Japanese company's pesto. I thought that a Japanese company's one is not so rich. Therefore, I bought the Japanese one, instead of buying some ingredients. Also, I made a loaf of rosemary bread. lol As a matter of fact, I wanted to make some "Focaccia", but I thought it was pain in the neck to make them. I used some semolina flour with some bread flour, so the texture was crunch.Also, I used some fresh rosemary from my garden, so it smelled nice.

＊I finally figured out "pesto"means "paste".

The tenugui tote(手拭いのぺったんこバッグ）

When I go shopping, I bring some eco-bags. The other day, I found a very cheap tenugui , or a Japanese cotton towel at a store. The two kanji mean "the third",not "Ichiban",or "the best". I don't know why I just giggled to see this towel, and I bought it.Today, I made this medium size tote bag with the towel. I reinforsed inside with "接着芯". I don't know what you say this in Engｌish. （adhesive liner,fabric?) I love this bag, and I will bring it when I go shopping next time.

What a shame! I can't read the top of the kanji!!!

Tabbouleh

This is the first Syrian cuisine what I made. Since one of my on-line friends told me about this dish, I made it. I used the fresh veggies from my garden except for the onion and the barleys. I want to make other Syrian cuisines. What shall I make next?