Dear You: Day 2
Hey you,
Our day started early today. Usually we each start practicing instruments around 7am, but today we were busy getting ready for our day of practice, and, helping our teacher complete the final step in preparing the soil of the Tanbo (rice paddy).
Continuing from the “Kuronuri” we did yesterday, today’s task was to break up the soil even more finely, and flatten it out using a long wooden pole tugged behind the tractor.
Our teacher started around 6am, and we joined a couple hours later to even out the edges. But he did most of the work today, because we were pressed with time, and, it’s a pretty complicated task.
Getting the mud flat is actually really important, because it will later effect if the water and nutrients will flow evenly across the paddy, and most importantly, the parts of soil that stick out from the surface of the water, is where the weeds will grow.
And trust me, spending hours pulling out weeds that look just like the rice you’re trying to grow, bent over with your feet buried in thick mud half way up your shins… is something you want to avoid.
So, the difficult task of driving a tractor in mud without leaving tire tracks was left up to him.
Tomorrow we’ll fill up more water, and wait until the rice shoots arrive for planting probably sometime next week.
With the Tanbo filled with water, the tiny frogs already seemed happy to jump in; the “frog chorus” is about to get serious.
This, and sealing our latest batch of smoked cheese all happened before starting our day-long group practice for the upcoming show in July.
You know I love cooking big batches of food for groups of people—I don’t get to do that much these days, but today I did make lunch for our group. I was so excited to share one of my favorite dishes I learned from my aunt—tuna pasta salad—it was all prepped last night, but….without going into the gory details, basically it bombed :( The pasta turned into mush, and I regretted hyping it up to the group the night before… wups.
But I DID learn an amazing new little dip/sauce that saved the day! You should try this too, you’ll be so glad you did.
Ingredients:
Miso
Mayo (Japanese type)
Grated Ginger
Toasted Sesami Oil (just a tad)
Use about the same amounts of Miso and Mayo, and maybe about a teaspoon of grated ginger per 2 TBSP each of Miso and Mayo (but it’s all up to your tastebuds). Just the slightest dash of sesame oil for aroma is enough.
Also using Japanese style Mayo is CRUCIAL! You know what they say: “Once you go Japanese Mayo, there’s no going back.” …Or something like that.
Mix it all up, and dip fresh cucumber sticks, and watch yourself shove more cucumbers in your mouth than you ever have. I’m sure this dip will have the same effect on any other fresh vegetable.
So I guess you win some, lose some. But with this sauce under your belt, you’ll definitely be winning.
Tomorrow we’ll be digging a new hole for the compost, and find out if our performance gig in Tokyo next week will still be happening. Wish us luck!
Now putting these sore legs to rest…
From today’s practice