Vive La France!

La France Pears

Pears in Japan are generally the asian kind, and there are so many varieties that I can't keep track of each one's peculiarities. They start appearing at the markets towards the end of the summer and the different varieties keep on coming until late fall when apples and tangerines take over. I had never had an asian pear before coming to Japan, but I hadn't been that much of a western pear eater either. Before coming to Japan, between the years growing up in Brazil and those spent going back and forth between home in New Jersey and boarding school in Tennessee, I knew what a pear was, but I certainly didn't know that they had names like Bartletts and Boscs.

Japan is famous for its exorbitantly priced fruit. The attention to detail and the coddling each one of these fruits receives is extraordinary and more than explains their high price. Though mediocre to good fruit is available year round at most supermarkets, I generally manage to get through the year with my homegrown berries and figs along with some locally harvested fruits I am given or find at the farmer's market. As you might guess, the chance to eat one of these exceptional fruits is not an everyday occurrence so when it does happen, it leaves a deep impression. One such occasion was the time we received a box of exceptional mangoes from a friend in Okinawa. The details of that mango experience are forever etched in my mind and on my palate. My mouth waters just thinking about it even though it happened over fifteen years ago. Last month, I was once again delighted to receive a gift of magnificent Japanese fruit, a box of La France pears.  The bliss that came from biting into the velvety flesh of one of these perfectly cultivated pears suddenly opened a floodgate of memories taking me back to the first time I tasted a La France pear with close friends in Osaka over twenty years ago. This "Proustian moment" got me thinking about the great power that food, and aromas in general, have on our memories. It made me want to create food experiences that can carry people away to another time and place.

With the holiday season just around the corner, what aromas and flavors will stir up memories of Christmas Past this year?  I'm considering making eggnog for this year's celebrations. It would be the first time using my own chicken's eggs.  A homemade eggnog to warm the soul and evoke memorable Christmas choir parties that took place at the rectory of Grace Church Plainfield.  It might just make me homesick.  It will certainly make me miss gathering around the piano to sing carols.

Haile Selassie's address to the United Nations, 1963

                           

                     

"That until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned: That until there are no longer first-class and second class citizens of any nation; That until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes; That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race; That until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained."

           
A while back, I began listening to podcasts on my morning walk with Canter instead of music. There are a few that I listen to regularly and one of my favorites is BBC's Desert Island Discs.  Not only is it fascinating to listen to interviews with people from all walks of life, but I also enjoy listening to some of the music that they like. There's something thrilling about finding out that an acclaimed author or actor likes the same musicians that I do.  On my walk today I was especially delighted with Lauren Laverne's guest Vanley Burke, a photographer who emigrated from Jamaica to England at the age of 14.  One of his choices to take to the desert island was a recording of Haile Selassie's 1963 address to the United Nations.  Since I am a Bob Marley fan,  I was familiar with the excerpt from the address that was played on the podcast.  In light of the situation with the upcoming midterm elections in the United States,  listening to the recording of Selassie's actual speech at the UN was particularly moving.  Once I got home, I did a search to find out more about this Ethiopian emperor and Rastafari  messiah who I knew so little about. His words are a great source of inspiration and particularly meaningful as I anticipate the results of tomorrow's elections.

Vanley Burke, as well as describing the racial tensions he and his family experienced over the years in England and his career as a photographer, went on to choose two pieces of music which I adore. I highly recommend listening to this episode of BBC's Desert Island Discs, though I must warn you, after you've listened to it, you may just find yourself sipping a rum & coconut water listening to Miles Davis' Blue in Green.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00010pq

https://www.azquotes.com/author/13294-Haile_Selassie

Squatters

I've come across some pretty beautiful creatures while going about my business on the property.  Most of the time, I'm not in a position to go and get the camera to photograph them. Sometimes, by the time I do get the camera, the creature is nowhere to be found. Those usually have wings. This time I was in luck. This little green guy with the golden stripes had no wings and was obviously not much of a sprinter. He caught my attention sitting on the rim of my potted lemon tree. I was entranced by his intense gaze until I decided to look up to my little tree with its three beautiful lemons growing nicely on it. I soon found out that this quirky fellow had a whole family with him and that they had unabashedly made my lemon tree their home. Something needed to be done about this. I didn't know how fussy this family was about its lodgings, but I wasn't about to let my lemon tree be subjected to rash renovations by a family of squatters. There were a million other plants on the property that they could renovate as far as I was concerned. I took the liberty of using a twig to start the moving process, and began with this fellow who seemed to be the father figure, or mother figure, for that matter. He indignantly stuck his tongue out at me!

I stuck to my guns and one by one moved them over to a tree stump that was close enough to various forms of wild vegetation which they could freely choose from for their new abode.
The situation made me think of a podcast I listened to recently in which the question of whether vegans realize that an immense number of critters are killed in the vegetable growing process. I try my best to not judge people on the choices they make about what to eat or what not to eat, but I must say that this was an angle on the topic I hadn't thought of before. Food for thought.

The rest of the family:

Bunraku

"Bunraku"

"What kind of music do you like?"
-"Good music!"

It's a big part of my life, music is. Memorable concerts have been held here at The Speakeasy,
rhythm and blues, soul, and gypsy jazz are the genres that generally get top billing.  Today I'd like to shine the light on one of the few other memorable guests I've had visit over the years.  I've had the pleasure of enjoying some amazing music in what you would call an intimate setting. Years ago, when Hugh was still in elementary school and living at home, we were honored to have Tsuyoshi Onaga, an award winning opera singer from Okinawa, visit and sing an aria in the living room.  I remember it as though it was yesterday.

The most recent visit by a surprise musical guest was this past summer. Pictured above is Julia playing her cello. Julia was spending the summer in and around Kanazawa studying Japanese and playing the cello before heading back to Oberlin for the fall semester.  I had the pleasure of her company on a rainy weekend at the end of June.  Three of us made up her audience, and we were captivated by her selection,  "Bunraku".  Pizzicato had a major role in representing what one would normally associate with shamisen music at a traditional Bunraku puppet theatre, but the bow was no less dramatic in its portrayal of the puppet theatre world.  Thank you Julia for the opportunity to travel back in time to the day I spent at the National Bunraku Theatre so many years ago.
Best wishes at Oberlin and beyond!

I Am a Cat

Gypsy Girl

I am a cat. There's a famous novel by Natsume Soseki by that title, have you read it by any chance?     My name is Gypsy and Caroline's Speakeasy is my home.  You probably won't have a chance to meet me since I'm not one to come and hang out with the house guests; my sister Django is better at that, always wanting to be the center of attention! I generally do my own thing, but I've noticed that Caroline is taking way too long to get started on this blog so I thought I'd lend a paw on this rainy morning to get the ball rolling.

Since it's supposed to be a "Random Ramblings" blog,  I'll take the liberty to comment on a few things I've noticed around here lately:

1. Have you heard of Lady Myojo? She is the cat who lived in the palace in Sei Shonagon's days and is mentioned in The Pillow Book. Something about her being a "Lady" and me a "Girl" is irksome, but I guess that's the difference between living in a Palace and a Speakeasy. I will make an effort to subdue my green eyed monster and be thankful for my good fortune.

2. A young man from Brazil recently came for a visit and there was a lot of lively conversation in Portuguese which I didn't quite understand, but I did catch the part about him living in Tokyo and studying to become a Manga cartoonist. Do no young people study Japanese Literature anymore? Seems as though all the young people who come to Japan these days have been influenced by anime and manga.  Folks should read more Japanese literature, they don't know what they're missing!  I particularly like Jun'ichiro Tanizaki's "A Cat, a Man and Two Women". Fumiko Enchi's "Masks" is pretty good too.

3. After an extremely hot summer this year, things have finally begun to cool down. Before you know it,  it'll be cold enough to light the fire, but I'm getting ahead of myself,  fall really is my favorite time of year around here.

Ta-ta, that's all for today, it's purrfect weather to curl up with a good book.