Orion Draft
Written by: adekun on 30 July, 2008 9:21 pm - Filed under: beer review — No Comments »
4
5%
¥217
Brewer Asahi
Style Japanese Rice Lager
This should be different to Orion’s Orion Draft. I hope so, it doesn’t taste any different to Super Dry. 
Sumi
Written by: adekun on 28 July, 2008 6:26 pm - Filed under: blog — No Comments »
The activity for yesterday’s edition of DASH村 was the making of writing tools for sumi-e.
First off was the ink stick (sumi); a tablet of soot bonded together with a warmed animal glue. After sweeping the stove and kiln’s flue, the shortfall was made up by burning more resinous wood.
Once ground in a pestle and mortar a little of the glue was added. Continue reading
Steaming weeds
Written by: adekun on 27 July, 2008 11:49 pm - Filed under: blog — No Comments »
Instead of knocking something up in the kitchen a couple of hours were spent in the sweltering heat pulling up weeds. Only a week prior had a strip been cleared but that was already engulfed. The relaxed ‘living mulch’ approach isn’t working at this time of year. Following a thunderstorm seemed like a better time to set about the task. The bulk of the weeds are grasses in addition to the ubiquitous kudzu and Japanese knotweed. I’d quite like to find out the names of to of the other weeds. One is a grass that produces a big clump of roots and the other little rootlets or perhaps weedlets.
Sniffing potatoes
Written by: adekun on 25 July, 2008 4:09 pm - Filed under: blog — 2 Comments »
I’ve just whittled away the afternoon smelling potatoes. The spuds have been hanging up in the garage waiting to turn green. Despite checking them when digging them up, a few had turned putrid. The smell was horrid; hot cat shit.
I am anxious about storing them without anywhere cool to store them. The humidity is a real problem. The spuds were spaced out between layers of newspaper in a few boxes. Hopefully the orderly three layers will make checking them easier.
Monkey rocket launcher
Written by: adekun on 24 July, 2008 10:36 pm - Filed under: blog — 3 Comments »
In the news a few days ago was a report on hordes of monkeys descending upon gardens. The old residents have put dozens of giant stuffed tigers in an attempt to keep them at a distance. Those bold enough get faced with a barrage of rockets propelled from makeshift launchers and pistols.
Kabocha
Written by: adekun on 22 July, 2008 4:02 pm - Filed under: food — No Comments »
Kabocha a few days old
These are a variety of mini kabocha; both the fruit and leaves are smaller than the usual. From the two plants only three squashes are good. The majority of the vines are now yellowing. This is in part to my idea of growing some of them up poles to make better use of space. Besides what I think was a pollination problem, many of those that did start to bear fruit soon died. I shall certainly aim to try again; in the meantime there is some new foliage to gaze at.
Kabocha harvested
Nichinan
Written by: adekun on 21 July, 2008 11:54 pm - Filed under: tottori — 3 Comments »
Just off route 180 in the town of Nichinan is a small set of waterfalls near an old ryokan. It’s just a short walk from the road. Inside the former hotel we watched a weaver at work on an old loom. Hanging on the walls were many traditional patchwork pieces. Coffee was served with a danshaku potato and miso wrapped in hoba. Continue reading
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