みなさん、こんにちは。

１２月に突入し、いよいよ年の瀬も近づいてきましたね。

クリスマスプレゼントを考えたり、年賀状を書いたり、大掃除のスケジュールを立てたり、

大忙しなシーズンではありますが、インフルエンザの流行の季節でもありますね。

生徒の中にもちらほらとインフルエンザの為レッスンを欠席する子もでてきました。

ワクチンが絶対効くという保証もありませんし、予防が難しいとは思いますがなるべくかからないようにしたいですね。

インフルエンザは英語では省略した言い方の「flu(フルー)」という言い方を覚えるといいでしょう。

それでは、みなさん体に気をつけながら今年最終月の英語の勉強を頑張ってください！！

My family has some hallmark recipes that we adore and make regularly. The most iconic, for me and most other people, is our squash rolls. They’re made with canned pumpkin, ten tons of flour, and way too much hard work. Plus some other ingredients like, y’know, yeast and sugar and whatnot. But the bulk of their delicious girth is provided by the pumpkin, flour, and effort that goes into making them. We have two variations of the squash rolls now. Thankfully. The original recipe used by my mother for so many years is unquestionably delicious– the results cannot be argued with– but they’re a huge pain to make. It takes many hours to make these rolls. They require hand kneading, multiple proofing stages, and a lot of working overall to produce. And we of course have always made them in bulk, because we like to hand them out to all our neighbors, extended family, and friends, plus have a bunch leftover for our own enjoyment. It’s this big huge production that can take multiple days to pull off, especially if we don’t plan ahead responsibly. Even with planning, it will take up literally an entire day.

Recently, my sister found a squash roll recipe online that claimed to only take thirty minutes to make! An outrageous claim. While it does technically produce squash rolls in thirty minutes, their quality pales in comparison to my mother’s hard-worked recipe. So we put the two recipes together. The time-saving tricks of the online recipe, complemented with the hard-earned experience of the traditional recipe, have combined to create some truly delicious but less back-breaking pumpkin rolls for the holiday season. We’ve been using this modified recipe for the most part for the past few years quite happily. Well, that and our KitchenAid mixer. Worth every overpriced penny. It’s made our lives much, much easier around the holiday season, although baking ten billion rolls in bulk like we do still takes an entire day. But it’s a less laborious day overall, so progress!

I’m in Japan now, but I still wanted to be able to make this traditional family recipe around the fall/winter holiday season. So I decided I would make these squash rolls for Thanksgiving. On my own. In a foreign country. In my teeny, tiny kitchen, with only a single baby counter. And no KitchenAid mixer or mother or sisters to assist me. Or an oven; only a toaster oven. Omigod, what have I done?

When my sister visited in October, we made a half-batch successfully. She did most of the work, as I was laid low by a rather vicious cold at the time, but it was a successful proof of concept.

Then Thanksgiving arrived, and I knew it was time for my trial by fire. Could I make this ancient family recipe by myself? Well…..

Yes! It took six hours, but I successfully made one batch of squash rolls! And they turned out delicious. They weren’t as perfectly shaped as when we bake them in our much roomier oven in America, but that in no way impacted their flavor or texture, which were wonderfully spot on. And then, the best part: watching other people enjoy them and appreciate all that hard work and history. Thanksgiving was a good day this year.

先日テレビで外国人に人気の日本のおみやげをやっていたので

見ていました。

食べ物、置物、小物といろいろありましたが、

中でも中部圏のものが入っていたのは何だか特にうれしかったです。

ミカン・奈良漬・八丁味噌・信楽の狸・梅酒・鳩サブレー・さるぼぼ

山椒・抹茶・古着・竹籠・白い恋人など。

やはり観光地の物、日本らしさのある町京都の物も多く納得。

当たり前に思っていたものをもう一度味わってみたくなりました。

翌日親戚から鳩サブレ―が送ってきたのにもびっくり！

今は味わって食べています。

今週は、抹茶もかってみようかなぁ。

外国の方へのおみやげの参考になれば嬉しいです。

About a month ago, Coffee Worth turned 100 years old. I first met Coffee while working in an intentional community in Comer, Georgia. Although Coffee was by far the oldest resident in the community, she set a perfect example of what it means to live in community: give a little, take a little and be patient. After my evening garden chores were completed, I would often visit Coffee to gleam some words of wisdom or special insights from her. My evenings were filled with stories of Coffee’s time living in South Korea for 10 years or fighting against racism by participating in marches during the civil rights movement in the states. Coffee is an amazing woman and although I cannot celebrate her birthday in Georgia this year, I can pause to reflect on all that I’ve learned from her. Happy 100th birthday Coffee!