Tastes of Fall

Fall is definitely my favorite season in Japan for food. The persimmons are perfect right now, we are starting to see baked Japanese yams, everything is pumpkin flavored (the local pumpkin is called "kabocha" and tastes like pumpkin pie with no sugar needed). There's also a lot of toasted sesame seed (kinako) treats and chestnuts. Mandarin Oranges (mikan) are just coming out again and there are many apples and pears to be had. I fully support Fall.

On the way home today, there was a guy selling piles of persimmons out of the back of his truck. One pile was about $5. I jumped on them and he threw in a persimmon from his misshapen pile and tiny pile as a bonus. Thanks, dude.

One of my co-workers recently took me to an out-of-the-way international grocer. There were all sorts of imported goods at fairly reasonable prices. Its easy to find import stores in the center of town, but everything is too expensive. This place had better selection, too. They even had real, hearty, chunky peanut butter - the kind with oil on top when you buy it.They also had homemade marzipan, all kinds of cheese, and a whole 10 pound turkey. I was hoping to find canned rhubarb, but no luck. We asked the owners and they had never heard of it. Alas. However, I went back again this weekend and, lo and behold, there was a jar of rhubarb pulp available. They had stocked it for me! Of course, I had to buy a jar. Later, I found a jar of rhubarb ginger jam also. I bought it to share with my students. I'm excited for Monday.

All week is going to be a mix of crazy fun and extra work. Of course, its the week before Halloween, and we can't just let that slide by unnoticed! On Wednesday, our swing dance is costume themed, then on Friday we are having an impromptu Halloween party at school. Later, on the 30th, we are volunteering at a school festival for our sister college so, of course, that will be Halloween themed too. I need to go out today and see if I can track down some face paint. Wish me luck!

The work part is going to be the extra work for all these parties all while being down two hands. Our study abroad coordinator is taking a much deserved vacation for the week and my boss is out for medical reasons - oh, and another co-worker is taking most of the week off to prepare for her wedding this coming weekend. Ugh. Hopefully things will stay relatively quiet this week. Let there be no drama!

I'm off to shop for face paint. I will try to post again soon. I have several big events still in the hold list, waiting for a nice quiet afternoon or evening so I can do them justice. More coming...