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September 30th. sauce Yakisoba and hot sandwich .I got up early and made sauce Yakisoba. The ingredients were noodles and a variety of vegetables such as cabbage, onion, green pepper, carrot and more. It was enough for two meals, so I split it into two and had it for my breakfast and my evening meal.
I made hot s sandwich for my lunch.
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September 29th. the instant Ramen Chalumera. 。I made the instant Ramen Chalumera and coleslaw salad for my breakfast.
I baked graham bread in my electric bread maker. I put in 5cc more milk than usual today, it expanded a little too much and overflowed.
The room was filling up with cat hair so I cleaned it.
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September 28th. black callant. 。I cleaned my balcony and organized the flower pots. I brought some of the flower pots back indoors. I planted some black callant's seedlings in the ones that had died.
I had vegetable salad and a jimanyaki for my lunch.
My cat spends much of the time near by me, when I stay home.
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September 27th. the Photo Kano ClubI went to the Kensei Lifelong Learning Center in Chikusei City to attend the Photo Kano Club's monthly meeting. We prepared for the exhibition at the Center Festival in October.
I had evening the meal at home. I made it myself.
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September 26th. Mini Cooper S Clubman I received a call from the Ibaraki Mini Cooper branch saying that my wife's car had been inspected and serviced. So we went to Tsukuba to pick it up. I also did some shopping at Costco.
My wife's car is Mini Cooper S Clubman that I boat 2013 October. She loves it. It had no so big problem past 10 years. The total cost of this maintenance and inspection was 234,800 yen, which was an average. She will continue to use it next 10 years. So I have to prepare for a major repairs cost expected. I asked them about upcoming cases of her car.They said, the three big are the replacement of shock absorbers, the replacement of the air conditioner compressor, and the replacement of the cooling water pump. They will need more than 250,000 yen each.
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September 25th. at the Usami-te.My wife made our breakfast. Not only does it taste good, but it also looks really good. For a few days, I didn't have to worry about cooking.
My wife and I went to Mt. Hokyo and climbed it. It started raining halfway through. We just went to the top and came back, so I didn't take many photos.
From 6:00 p.m, my wife and I had dinner with my wife's friend and her husband at the Usami-te. We had a delicious steak and a lot of fun talking.
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September 24th. Imanoya. Imanoya is a ramen shop in Moriya city. It follows the tradition of Kitakata ramen, and it`s my wife`s favorite.
We went to there and had lunch. I had the soy sauce flavor and my wife had the salt flavor.
My wafe and her friend say the salt flavor is more delicious than the soy sauce flavor.
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September 23th. the Jean Michel Folon exhibition.My wife and I went to Tokyo Station Gallery to see the Jean Michel Folon exhibition. He was a Belgian artist. 300 pieces were on display at the special exhibition marking 20 years since his death. It was worth seeing, quite good.
When I see art, it influences me in some way. For example : a way of life, a daily routine, a way of taking photographs. But it always disappears after 3 days, so I have to go to some museum every 3 days, however I can not. Then my life isn`t changing.
In the afternoon, my wife went window shopping in Ginza. I went to Yodobashi Camera in Akihabara to look at new cameras, laptops, and more.
For dinner, we each bought bento boxes at Tokyo Station and ate them with white wine at home.
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September 22th. Higan. My wife made a matcha-flavored chiffon cake. We served it with whipped cream to entertain our guests during Higan. The period of the equinox and the three days before and after is called Higan, and is a period of Buddhist events. In many homes, family members and visitors make offerings to the Buddhist altar.
Today also my wife made our meals.
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September 21th. the three type of medicine 56 days worth. I saw my doctor today nothing to change. So he gave me the three types of medicine, 56 days worth as usual.
My wife went to her favorite hair salon in Iwai.
My wife and I drove two cars to Tsukuba City and had soba at our favorite soba restaurant Kimura for our lunch. Then my wife asked the Tsukuba MINI dealer to inspect and service her Mini Cooper.
When my wife comes back to Iwai, she cooks our meals, so I have no worries about them. She made our evening meal fried chicken with sour sauce. We had it with her father at her pealent`s home.
I received good sweets from an acquaintance as a summer gift. It was produced by a long-established Japanese confectionery shop in Otsu City. They were really delicious sweets, so I took a memorial picture.
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September 20th. Funky AKO.Kana Channel introduced an English conversation practice method. She has said many times it is good for pronunciation practice to sing an English song. I hate karaoke, I`m not good at singing. However I want to sing at least one English song for my English pronunciation practice. I asked to Yuki san who is my English classmate, how to sing Karaoke well. She quickly answered it is practice same as English conversation. So I was looking YouTube channels for practice methods of singing English songs. Finally, I found a good YouTube channel for English pronunciation practice. It is Funky AKO Yougaku Eigo Hatsuon Kouza (English Pronunciation Lesson for singing English songs)
My wife drove back her car from Ueda to Iwai city. It usually takes about two and a half hours, but the highway was more crowded than usual and it took more than 4 hours.
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September 19th. taste delicious even when they're cold.I discovered a way to make hot sandwiches taste delicious even when they're cold. After baking, leave them upright for a few minutes to dry, as shown in the picture. This removes just the right amount of moisture, so they stay crisp even after a while, making them perfect for lunch boxes.
I pulled weeds in my lawn from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Today, as always, I cooked myself. I had tonkatsu that I bought at Torisen for my evening meal.
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September 18th. the place where paper waste was piled up. I had self made chicken curry rice topped with chopped bell peppers, chicken nuggets, seaweed sliced tomatoes salad, sweet and sour myoga, and cafe au lait for my breakfast.
It felt very nice in the early morning, but by 10;00 am it was very hot.
After the medicine time, Miyao-chan lay down in a well-ventilated place for the whole morning.
I had the blue cheese toast, seaweed sliced tomatoes salad, sweet and sour myoga, and cafe au lait for my lunch.
Myao-chan was spending her time in the place on the first floor where paper waste was piled up. I think it's cooler and more comfortable for her.
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September 17th. a Vietnamese instant ramen. I had steamed nikuman, seaweed salad, sliced tomatoes, sweet and sour myoga, granola yogurt, and cafe au lait for my breakfast.
I made Pho, a Vietnamese instant ramen. The combination of rice noodles, spices and chicken broth was amazing. Will make it again.
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September 16th. Garden maintenance. 。For breakfast, I made Charumera, an instant ramen filled with ingredients.
It rained last night a littel bit.
I made hot sandwiches with mozzarella, Parmigiano Reggiano, ham, cabbage, peppers and carrots for my lunch.
I had sandwiches, steamed nikuman, tofu, cucumber and seaweed salad, sweet and sour myoga, yogurt, and Budweiser.
I took care of my garden in the morning and did the practice English conversation in the afternoon with my cat.
I watered the garden and my lawn after sunset.
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September 15th. soba restaurant Kimura. 。For breakfast, I had grilled pumpkin, grilled peanuts, sliced tomatoes, yogurt granola, and cafe au lait.
I baked graham bread in my automatic electric bread maker. It turned out great.
I weeded the lawn from 10:00 to 12:00. I have used selective herbicides, but the most effective method is to pull out all the non-grass weeds by hand.
The grass is slowly recovering. I can feel the positive effects.
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September 14th. soba restaurant Kimura. 。I made fried eggs, coleslaw salad, sliced tomatoes, granola yogurt, and cafe au lait. I also added grape buns for my breakfast.
I joined Saturday English class this morning。
I went to my favorite Tsukuba city soba restaurant Kimura, and had the large sarving of Seiro soba for my lunch. Then I took a 3 km walk in Douho kouen. I went to Costco to buy groceries and fill up on gas in my FJ.
I had beer, anko and moch, and pickled myoga for my evening meal.
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September 13th. the 8 works from my photos. I cooked fresh rice in this morning, so I had tamago-kake-gohan for my breakfast. I love it.
For my lunch, I ate yakisoba noodles from Noboriya that my younger brother gave me. It's very cheap. There are very few ingredients other than the noodles. But it has some unknown identifiable spices, the smell and taste is not bad. So I don't dislike it.
For a snack, I made an anko paste cream cheese sandwich.
I chose, printed, and framed 8 works from the post year`s photos. They will be exhibited at the Kensei Lifelong Learning Festival 2024 in 6th October. I actually chose 12 works, but narrowed it down to 8.
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September 12th. too hot. I neglected my lawn last year, so it is really bad. I set the goal that refresh them until this summer end. I spent more than an hour every day pulling out weeds by the roots in my lawn and watering in the evening. The weather forecast predicted rain, so I did`t water yesterday. But it didn't rain.
I sprayed a lot of water on my lawn this morning.
I had clam rice, coleslaw salad, pickled myoga in sweet vinegar, sliced tomatoes, and also grilled eggplant, grilled carrots, grilled peppers and grilled ganmodoki, granola yogurt, and cafe au leit for my breakfast.
From 10:00 am to 3:00 pm, it's too hot to go outside. I ate cold fig jelly, practiced my English conversation, and organized my photos. I stayed in an air-conditioned room with my cat.
My evening meal was the same as my breakfast. I was served in a different dish with a different design to change the look, so it looks like a different menu.
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September 11th. pickled the harvest myoga. I pickled the harvested myoga in sweet vinegar.
200cc vinegar
2 spoons of sugar
2 spoons of maple syrup
A very small amount of plum syrup for coloring
Bring to a boil and pour into a jar filled with fresh myoga.
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September 10th. soba restaurant Kimura. I made pork curry multigrain rice, sliced tomato ,Myoga and carrot salad, grilled Gorojima Kintoki, and cafe au leit for my breakfast.
Last month , I had put the back seats of my FJ cruiser back in place for a vehicle inspection. Today I removed them to make the rear cargo area flat for daily use.
I got a lot of raw figs free. Then I made fig jam today. The fig jelly I made the other day is so delicious I eat it every day.
I had pork curry multigrain rice, sliced tomato ,Myoga and carrot salad, and grilled Gorojima Kintoki, the same breakfast for my evening meal.
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September 9th. my few minutes virtual driving in San Diego. I had a leftover half sandwich from yesterday, for my breakfast, with sliced tomatoes, coleslaw salad, yogurt granola, and cafe au lait. I made figs stewed in red wine without sugar.
I took good care of my lawn 7:00 to 10:00 am. The air temperature went high about 10:00. The humidity was very high. A little moving gave me a lot of sweat. So I stopped the outside works.
I harvested a lot of Myoga. Then I made a salad with Myoga and carrots.
I bought some food at Torisen. I bought Gorojima Kintoki brand sweet potatoes. They were discounted because they had been in the store for a while. I like sweet potatoes that aren't sticky. My favorite sweet potato brand is Gorojima Kintoki. I baked it my Dutch oven 15 minutes, it became delicious like Yokan.
I served baked Gorojima Kintoki with fresh figs and fig jam to make it like a cake.
Last English class I had Mr Michael's parents house address in the US.I flew to his parents' house in San Diego just 3 seconds by the Google Street View. In front of the house there is a big pine tree.
I saw the letters 6045 on the structure likes a garage gate painted brown on the bottom of painted white on the top. I could not see all of the house, except for the roof. It had a solar water heater and a brick chimney. It has big triangular windows just under the roof. It looks bright and comfortable.
Chare Street is a residential street I have often seen in American movies. I took a little virtual drive around the area. There were so many kinds of trees in the houses and on the side of the roads. I felt it is wonderful place to live.
There were some Avenue and some Street crossing. I drove Governor Drive to Miramar Base. I couldn't get inside the base because there was no Google Street imformation data.
I enjoyed my few minutes virtual driving in San Diego.
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September 8th. Stand it up to dry.I made a hot sandwich with onion, carrot, cabbage, green pepper, ham and two kinds of cheese. As shown in the image, I set it up and left it for a while to dry out. This way, even when I put it in my lunch box and it cools down, it still stays a littel crisp and delicious. I had half for my breakfast, with cafe au lait, and granola yogurt.
I got a lot of raw figs free. Then I made fig jelly.
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September 7th. Saturday English class. It was Saturday English class, but I completely forgot that it starts at 10:30. So I went to class room at 10:00 like usual. The citizens class of English conversation was ongoing, but I opened the door. That's when I realized that the class started at 10:30. I waited until 10:30 with a classmate who misunderstood the start time, like me.
Mr, Michael returned to his parents' home in the US in August. Although he must have been very busy, however he correct my poor English picture diary for June. I wsa very grateful. But, I made the same mistakes a lot each month. I'm so sorry. I'm truly sorry.
I thought prepositions are difficult, so please forgive my mistakes. I want to reduce to zero, my mistakes in past tense, singular and plural, and spelling. But now I can't reduce my mistakes yet. However, I gained some new English expressions from his corrections and advice. Thank he lot.
I had grilled sweet potato, Myoga tomato salad , granola yogurt, cafe au leit for my lunch.
The weather forecast predicts a very low chance of rain. So I watered my lawn this evening.
I had clam rice, coleslaw salad, sliced tomatoes, vinegared wakame, and tofu for my evening meal.
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September 6th. the sweet corn with the husk on. 。I had nattou, tofu, asari gohan, wakame cucumber salad, yogurt granola, and cafe au leit for my breakfast.
I had a croissant and the coffe au leit for my lunch.
Three years ago, a medical check-up revealed a slight abnormality in the retina of my left eye. I have my eyes checked every six months to see if there are any changes. I don't have trouble seeing yet, and no trouble in my daily life.
I went to Ishikawa Eye Clinic, where I had an appointment at 5:00 pm. First, I had a visual acuity test, a visual field test, and a fundus imaging test. Finally, Dr.Ishikawa examined me. He said "There has been no changes since the last time, so we will continue with observations and check again in 6 months."
Some TV program said sweet corn farmers roast the sweet corn with the husk on. I roasted sweet corns with husk on to compare to the husked corn, the texture was somewhere between steamed and roasted corn. It was delicious and had a nice slightly burnt aroma.
I made salad with sliced tomato Myouga wakame. I grilled potato, atsuage, and hanpen. I added the grilled sweetcorn, and had them for my evening meal.
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September 5th. herbicides work well. My wife made for our breakfast.
The weather forecasted on TV said It woud be very hot today. I did some outdoor work before it got too hot. I harvested a lot of myoga ginger. They are still coming out so I should be able to harvest them for about another two weeks.
On days like these, herbicides work well. I sprayed glyphosate-based herbicide on the outside edge of the lawn.
I defrosted frozen self made pork curry and made curry rice. My wife made a salad. These were our lunches.
My wife was going to Ueda, so I took her to Shimizu Park Station at 2:30.
I had baked potato with butter, deep-fried tofu, konjac and carrots steamed in Hatcho-miso, sliced cucumber and wakame salad for my evening meal.
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September 4th. a MRI of the brain.My wife and I went to Tsukuba together to undergo medical examinations at different medical institutions. She had a MRI of the liver and I had a MRI of the brain.
I have an aneurysm in my brain. I was in the hospital from 10am to 3pm for an MRI and diagnosis. It was woothly waiting time. I spent it reading a book.
There were no changes in either of us, my wife and I, so we were put under observation for one year later.
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September 3rd. the Cocos Beef Hamburger.For my breakfast, I made grilled onion, zucchini, okura, hanpen, salad with sliced tomato and boiled egg, granola yogurt and cafe au leit.
For my lunch, I made sauce yakisoba with many kinds of vegetables.
I picked my wife up at Shimizu Kouen Station at 3:45pm. She returned from Ueda.
We went to the BMW Moriya branch and I handed them the spare key for my wife's Z4 I sold them. After that, we went to my favorite Moriya bakery Bäckenbart, and bought tow of the usual almond croissants and 5 small round loafs of bread.
We had dinner at Coco's. It was been a while since we've been to Coco's. My go-to menu item at Coco's is the Cocos Beef Hamburger, which I think has gotten better than before. The cost is almost the same. It surprised me.
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September 2nd. using selective herbicides I am weeding the lawn by a combination of using selective herbicides and pulling by hand in this area. I sprayed selective herbicides 2 weeks ago. Today, I pulled out the remaining weeds by hand. A heatstroke warning was issued in Bando City. I stopped working at 10am and went back home.
For lunch, I had miso-braised konjac and vegetables with clam rice.
For my evening meal, I had leftover pork cutlet and a salad with grapes and cherry tomatoes.
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September 1st. I tried making tonkatsu. I made a salmon cheese hot sandwich. I thawed a frozen salmon fillet and grilled it, removed the bones and skin, and sandwiched with cheese togather and grilled them. I also made salad with grapes, tomato, and cucumber for my breakfast.
I hate making fried food, but I love eating it. So I usually buy ready-made fried food at Torisen. But today I tried making tonkatsu for my evening meal. Although it wasn't as good as the pork cutlets my wife has made, it was better than the ready-made ones I have bought at Torisen. Fried foods taste better when they're freshly fried. I had it with shredded cabbage, tomato salad, and Budweiser.
