Inspiration

Today I am thankful for my neighborhood, which is full of inspiration.  I found so many cute knits - poncho, dress, jacket - in this year's style.  I wanted to record everything I saw, especially how they were knitted, but I was too shy.  I love this cape in below picture!

Connections

(Sorry, no Japanese today)

Today's photo has nothing to do with the content. It's just beautiful.

Let's talk about connections. Everyone has myriads of events and things in his life that are all tangled up like a beginner knitting project. But many strands of yarn are weaved together to create a picture, and when you look closely, you start seeing patterns and connections. You see the exact stitch with which things went all wrong. Or, quite the opposite.

I spent an enormous time studying English grammer, pronunciation and conversation before I even knew how to write "airplane" in chinese character. My mom bought me a radio and a textbook of an English program because, at that time, I was very ill and was in a hospital and at home in bed a few months at a time. It was a time when they didn't teach English in elementary schools, so it gave me a huge advantage afterwards. Actually, I spent a lot of time studying and reading.

Being a billingual opened a lot of opportunities to me. When I first got a real job, the company just let me get on the plane and fly all over the world to meet prestegeous architects. And on that plane I met a person who still remains as a good friend. I spent this afternoon chatting with him for hours and it was very truly refreshing.

But I guess I thought about "connections" because I saw this on a platform this morning.

It looked oddly familiar to me, for it resembles something - yes, a landscape plan drawing.

Back in school, my dream was to become a landscape architect who specializes in ecological design and regional planning (meaning planning for a big region, such as a whole Tokyo Met region). Plan drawings are done with a very specific style of a handdrawn font: a slightly-slanted block type. The dotted lines and the letters on the platform brought me back to where I was, 10 years ago.

And this dream, which only led me to my first job, is still floating somewhere up in the open air. I believe I am still holding the other end of the rope, so that one day, if I want, I can pull back the string and will find the connection.


I guess, I am thankful today that I came this far and my life is still great.  I must have done something right to deserve this.

ヒルズで囲碁フェスティバル

というのがありまして、11日午後に六本木ヒルズのアリーナを貸し切って行います。
年に一度、スポンサーに付いてもらって大掛かりにやるそうです。
っといっても、今年初参加なので詳細は分かりませんが、こちら。

囲碁フェスティバル

囲碁は半年前に習い始めた超初心者です。が、無謀にもボランティアで参加することに。
ステージでプロの女流棋士の方々が対局するかたわらをサポートいたします　。

初心者にはプロや有段者のボランティアがゼロから親切に教えてくれますし、おまけも貰えるようです。近くにお立ち寄りの際は是非。

Test Knitting

Japanese follows. 日本語は下に。

Here comes a yarn picture (knew it would come at least once this month, for photographing yarn is the primary usage of my beloved camera).

Today I am thankful and honored that veera (link works for Ravelry member only), my knitter friend from Ravelry, asked me to become her test knitter for her new design, and sent me the pattern.  I am so so very happy!!!!!!!!!!!

Not only I love the design of this particular sweater, I love everything she knits and design.

So above yarn is a candidate for this project.  I have another yarn in a different color, and I haven't decided yet.

(I also went to Adam Lambert concert here in Tokyo tonight, but that will be on another post.)

１ヶ月のあいだ毎日これをやるのであればいつかは毛糸の写真が出るとは思いましたが、こんなに早く。
今日のわたしは「初めてのテストニッター」になれたことに感謝！フィンランド人のデザイナー、veeraさんが最近デザインしたセーターの試し編み隊に選んでくれたのです。
編み図などに間違いがあるかないか確認するための試し編みですが、素敵なパターンがタダでいただけるし、他の人よりいち早く新しいデザインを試せるし、やったー！
と、舞い上がっています。
上の毛糸にするか、他の色にするか、まだ迷い中。

（ちなみに、今日はAdam Lambertのコンサートにも行ってきましたが、それはまた改めて。）

October

Today I am grateful about the beautiful weather we had in Tokyo.  I wanted to take a photo outside, but I had been pretty busy and had no chance during the day.

It's a kind of weather when, long time ago when I was still in highschool, my sister and I took a "voluntary" day-off from school and went on a picnic in a park.  I can't remember what we told the school about our absence ...  It was a beautiful day, and we had so much fun.

It's a little sad that I can no longer do that with my sister.

But still, I am truly grateful that it's October and it's so beautiful.

最近日本語で書くのをサボっていてごめんなさい。海外の人が多く読んでくれているので、なんとなく英語になってしまいます。
１０月のひと月、毎日ひとつずつ、写真に添えて自分が感謝していることを書く、というチャレンジを他の方のブログで見つけました。６日遅れでしたが、昨日から始めることに。

今日の私は１０月の素晴らしい天候に感謝します。

昼間外で写真を撮りたかったのですが、今日に限って忙しく、先日ニューハンプシャーで撮ってきた写真を載せました。

こんな天気で思い出すのは、まだ高校の頃、妹と二人で学校をサボって公園にピクニックに行ったこと。少し肌寒く空は明るく、妙な高揚感があって本当に楽しかった！（学校になんて言ったかは覚えていません。。。）もうそんなことも出来ないのか、と思うと寂しい。

１０月が来たことに、そしてそれが暑い夏のあと、ひときわ美しいことに感謝します。

Grateful

Inspired by new friends, Retta and Shelly, I decided to join this challenge and, each day, post a photo plus comments about a thing I am grateful for.
It was supposed to start from the beginning of October, but "it's better late than never", right?

Today I am actually grateful for 3 things:

First of all, I am grateful about a cafe/deli in the neighborhood of my office.  It's a Japanese style deli, and my most favorite lunch place now.  If you order a lunch with pasta, you will get a bowl of matcha green tea (or coffee).
Second of all, I am grateful about finding this iPhone camera application.  It's so great and so addicting!  I kept taking photos all day today.
Third of all, I am grateful for my new friends.  We touch bases daily, encourage each other, and have fun together.  Retta told me about this camera apps.

Squam Retreat

From the moment signing up for Squam Art Workshops until actually arriving there, I had no idea what I was doing nor where I was going.  I knew nobody except for a person I was sharing a ride from the airport.  I did not know where I would be staying, nor how many people would be there.  But I expected that I was going to experience something great.

Everyone came with some expectation.  And every single person I met at the camp had an experience beyond their imagination.  The 5 days were that wonderful.
People, energy, creativity, crisp cold air, reflections of sunlight on the lake, food, fireplace in the evening, smell of smoke and pine needles, endless chatters, tears, laughter.  Above all, amazing new friends.

The moment my shuttle-mate and I arrived at the site, Elizabeth and Jen and all the other people welcomed us wholeheartedly.  Lily, my shuttle buddy, was truly sweet and took extra care that I settled in cozily.  My cabin mates, Caryn and Shelly, were both so wonderful and we became great friends.

When you grow older and when all your friends got married, and especially if you work for a very conservative financial institution, you don't get enough doze of female companionship.  Come to think of it, for most of my life since highschool, I had been in predominantly masculine environments.  I didn't know until now that being surrounded by all-energetic and creative female souls is that refreshing and can restore your soul.

Our cabin was small, cozy and old.  There were paintings on the wall, jigsaw puzzles, and diaries, left by people who stayed there before us.  I spent one evening reading the diary entries in front of the fireplace.  Because my roommate was from New Hampshire, she brought a whole lot of things from her home, including this beautiful bouquet from her garden.

Most of the cabins are facing the lake.  There is a small pier in front of each cabin.  In the evening, people, one by one, come down to the lakeside, and spent truly relaxing and tranquil time, often with a drink in hand, sharing their life stories in calm voice.

Each one of us had a story or two or a lot more.  I don't talk about them to anyone.  Sometimes I do, but only a small and different bit to each person.  It is strange but here, in the cabins, by the lake, it felt right to talk about ourselves.  Really about "us".  We were allowed to be as self-indulgent as we liked.  It felt just right.  

Apart from the mental restoration, all of us were well-fed (with someone else cooking for us 3 times a day!), better exercised (had to walk 10 min. one way to get to the cafeteria where we can eat), our creativity thoroughly kindled, and we were satisfied by chatting so much from the moment we woke up till the moment we fell asleep.

Many people wrote and said that you cannot explain the Squam experience to anyone who wasn't there.  I fully agree.  So we just have to go back there to talk about it.  Now I am debating myself whether I should attend next June session, or possibly September one to meet my friends again.


On the last note, I was the only one of the 3 Asian-looking people, and I was the one who came the furthest way.  Everyone treated me so kindly.  Thank you, all of you, I enjoyed the every moment of your company.

Taste of Autumn 2

My distant uncle picked some veggies from their field last week, and this pumpkin is one of them.

I don't like American pumpkin, very watery, fiberly, and taste strange (no offense!).  This Asian/Japanese pumpkin is less watery, taste almost like chestnut or sweet potato.  Usually, I simply cook it with deluded milk and some spices until the milk is almost gone.

Most common way to cook pumpkin in Japan is to cook it in a salty/sweet soup (made with dashi, soysauce, suger, and a bit of saki).  Unfortunately, I don't like it that much... the mixture of sweet and salty does not appeal to me.

Chestnut is also my favorite snack in this season.  We used to get a lot from my mom's relatives every fall.  Sometimes my mom cooked them with rice, or make some desert, but most of the time she just boil them.  Afterwards, we cut them in halves and scoop the inside with spoons.

I did not want to buy them at a supermarket, for they were pretty expensive in my neighborhood, but I couldn't resist.  Last week, I saw a lot of chestnuts just falling from trees on the roads everywhere... for free. 

Collage

While strolling around my mother's home town in Kyushu, I went down to an area called "Mameda" district, where in recent years people are making efforts to revive an old shopping strip into a historic tourist spot.

It often astounded me during this trip how everything looks old and rustic in remote areas, including mid-sized cities like Nagasaki.  In Tokyo, especially where I live, there are some old-looking things, but they are usually made to look old.  In my mom's hometown, things are really actually old.

Sweet and Savory Verrines

Japanese texts follow. 日本語は下にあります

It's been almost 2 weeks since I returned from Squam Art Workshops.  I guess I had been too lonely afterwords, so I spent most of my time doing something - work, dinner with friends, watch TV drama series, knitting - until my brain stopped functioning and fell dead asleep.  With this intense rehabilitation, I got over my jetlag and finally started to feel more or less "normal".

Since SAW website seem to have a technical problem, I will start by introducing a Food Styling class that I took on the 2nd day.  The instructor is a well-known food blog writer/food stylist, who also contributes articles to Boston Globe and other major publications, Beatrice Peltre.

La Tartine Goumande

She used to be a technical translator for a software company, but decided to pursue her passion in cooking and photography.  I felt an instant connection with her (probably solely on my side ;)) when she said "I loved my job but I didn't love my job". She was well paid and fairly comfortable, but felt something was missing.  Now she is a food stylist, a mom, blogger, writer, and occasionally a teacher.  She is very inspiring for me.

The class started by her explaining her background, basics about food styling, about the recipe.  We spent morning hours cooking, then afternoon hours taking photos and learning about cameras.
Verrines are now popular dish in France, and now it became so popular that everything is served in a glass in France (or so she says).  It's pretty common for me too, I see verrines all the time at the restaurants I go to, but I didn't know that there was a name for that kind of thing.  In two groups, we made a custard&berry desert and shrimp/avocado/crab/grapefruit savory verrines.

If you scroll down further, you can see my very first shot and the "after" shots with Bea's coaching.  "After" photos are still not that good, but you can perhaps see the difference?

All in all, I learned so much, and it was a great fun!

Squam Art Workshopsから帰ってきて２週間たちました。休みが終わってしまった寂しさを紛らわせるためか、ここ１週間くらいドラマばかり観ていて、やっと復活！したかな？

SAWの報告をしようと思いますが、今の気分でまずは取ったクラスのひとつ、フードスタイリングの紹介から。

先生はBeatrice Peltreというボストン在住のフランス人で、独学でフードスタイリングを習得して、いまでは人気ブログを運営する傍ら雑誌や新聞（ボストングローブ紙）に寄稿したり、料理の本を執筆したりしています。もともとは技術翻訳をやっていたということ。「好きだったけど、でも好きじゃなかった」仕事をリストラされたのをきっかけに、好きだった料理に集中してみようと、作った料理を写真付きでブログに紹介することにしたのが始まりといいます。

ブログをみると分かる通り今では素敵な写真ばかりなのですが、始めた当初の酷い写真というのも見せてくれて、それは確かに素人のもの。練習と執念しだいでここまで出来るのか、と非常にインスパイアされます。

そんな技術を惜しみなく教えてくれたのがこの授業です。

午前中は大まかな説明、自分の経歴やどうやって写真を覚えたか、料理の説明、そして皆で実際に料理をつくるところまで。午後は写真の取り方やカメラの話をして、屋外で写真撮影をするところまで。

前日に行われたクラスではタルトを作ったそうなのですが、私たちはVerrinesという「ガラスに盛りつけられた食べ物」（verreがフランス語でグラスの意味なので）デザート＆アペタイザーを作りました。デザートはカスタードクリームとベリーを盛りつけたもの、アペタイザーはアボガド、カニ、エビ、グレープフルーツを何層にも盛りつけたものです。両方とも美味しかった！Beatriceのブログでもレシピが見つけられると思います。

さて、撮影です。Beatriceは普通のフードスタイリストとちがい、あとで料理が食べられなくなるようなことはしない主義らしいですが、一般のスタイリストがどんなことをやっているかまで教えてくれました。ラッカーを塗ることから、ブログにはちょっとかけないことまで（笑）。。

それにしても、微妙な角度や小道具まで彼女のこだわりはスゴく、それを見ているだけで勉強になった！位置合わせに時間がかかるので、料理を作るまでにセッティングを済ませておいて（三脚使用）、料理が出来たら熱々の湯気が上がっているうちに「よーいどん」で撮るそうです。今回は冷たいデザートだけど、やはり時間が経つにつれて見た目の美味しさが下がっていくのが分かりました。

これは、最初に撮った写真。(The very first shot)

色々指導していただいて、最後のほうに撮ったのはこれ。("After" shots)

同じカメラで先生が撮ったのはこれ。やっぱり違う。。。(Bea took this picture with the same setting, with my camera.  Looks so different.)

ちなみに、盛りつけをしていて驚いたのですが、他のクラスメートはみんなグラス一杯に盛りつけ過ぎ。。。写真を撮るんだってば（笑）。やっぱりアメリカ人は（私以外は料理好きで毎日他人の分まで作っている人ばかりにもかかわらず）食べ物は山盛りがいいっていう発想から抜けきれないんだな〜と思いました。

撮影する段になったら、わたしが盛りつけた「ほどよい」グラスを先生も他のクラスメートも持っていってしまって、あとで皆気がついたかな。

って、クラスメートが読んでいるかもしれないので英語では書けないけど（笑）。

Onta Pottery Village 小鹿田焼

母の実家の近く、小鹿田の里に行ってきました。
子供の頃から何度か訪れてはいましたが、大人になるまで良さが分からなかった。前回２０代後半にも訪れたのに何も買わなかった気がする。小鹿田焼自体も、この２０年くらいでマーケットのニーズに合わせ、少し軽くシンプルになったのではないかな。
ここ数年、Lucy Leeの焼き物に出会ったり色々なところで焼き物を目にしたり、実際自分で陶芸をやってみたりという中で、やっぱり好きだなあと思うようになったところ。Lucyの作品にも、Bernard Leach 経由でその影響が色濃くでています。

There is a famous pottery village called "Onta" in my mother's home town.  My family visited there many times since my childhood, but I had never really understood the beauty of their products until these past few years, I used to think the style is too rustic.  It seems their style has also been adjusted to the market trend, less rustic, lighter and simpler.
I love Lucy Lee's potteries, and her work had also been largely influenced by Onta pottery, through her teacher Bernard Leach.

Taste of Autumn

秋の味。
昨日の夜、九州から帰ってきました。
近所の町で新米を買って2kgほど貰ってきたので、今日はそれを炊いてみました。
いつものように電子レンジで炊いたものだけど、それでも十分。
まだ稲刈りをしている途中の、しかも地元でもその地区が特に美味しいと言われている、採れたてほやほやの新米。
炊いてぱらりと振りかけをかけるだけでご馳走です。
親戚の庭から、かぼすも貰ってきました。

I came back from Kyushu, the western-most island of Japan.  My mom's hometown is in northern part of it.  While I was there, I bought some just freshly cropped rice from  a nearby village.  They say that rice from that village is especially a local favorite (although you see rice fields everywhere around), and indeed, it was good.
Even with my non-fancy micro-wave rice cooker, the shine and the bounciness is different from old rice we can buy at supermarkets.  If you live in outside of Japan and if you have never tasted fresh rice, I hope one day you will!
My relatives also gave us some veggies from their fields so I brought some home.

This fruit is called Kabosu, used as lemon, but milder than lemon.

Jazz

I met 4 cool musicians at Shinagawa station taxi stand yesterday, on my way home from the airport. They invited me to ride with them (to where !? ... I politely decline because I had 4 pieces of luggage and was stinking after 14 hours of flight), then invited me to their shows this week.

Alain Brunet Quartet will be playing with Charito at Body & Soul in Aoyama this Thursday and Friday. Details are in below site (Sept 23 & 24):

  http://www.bodyandsoul.co.jp/schedule/index_e.html

This is going to be a great show, I know it! Wish I can go! But I will be in my mom's hometown on those 2 days... Uggggh!

Squam

I am back from the camp.  It was magical... It requires time to digest and write about my experience there.
More later, for I am off to Nagasaki from tomorrow.

Heaven (buried in wool...)

Ever since childhood, I have found it extremely curious that Chinese image of paradise or "afterlife place" is called 桃源郷, a place where peach flowers bloom everywhere, pink, green and red.  As you might already know, Japanese image of afterlife (in a bit ghostly way) is where cherry blossoms bloom in a faint light of the night.

Anyway, at this very moment, my personal "heaven" involves comfy couch, cool air conditioning, and knitting.  Nothing feels more heavenly than knitting with wool for autumn when it is still 35 degrees C outside.
These days I try not to knit in public, for it is really crazy just to talk about "wool" in this deadly heat.  It is the hottest summer ever, according to 85 year-old lady who was interviewed by a TV news reporter.

My recent FO (looks better and make-sense when worn by human body):

Forest and Frills
Design: tiny owl knitsOwlknits
Yarn: Mirasol Yarn Sulka  in Lime, 7 skeins
Needles: US 13 (9mm) / Hook 6mm
Started: January 2010, Finished: September 1, 2010

I know, this is exactly what I mean "crazy"... knitting this bulky yarn in summer.
These days, I am working hard to finish up all my past project, clear up my stash, so that I can move on to the new ones.

For example another work in progress is:

This is going to be a bulky simple sweater.   Knitted with tweed yarn and kid mohair.
To be very honest, I have about 7 more projects going on...

Guerre des boutons

ボタン戦争、という名前で子供たちにお裁縫を教えるグループがフランスに出現！らしいです。先日ブログにも書いた通り、フランスでは若い人がお裁縫を「独学している」状態らしい。

Somehow related to my previous posts - In France, a group called Guerre des Boutons (Buttons War - how cute!) teaches little children how to sew.  During the lessons, parents are not allowed.  As my friend told me, French youngsters are re-learning how to sew their clothes sort of on their own.


http://www.atelierguerredesboutons.fr

読書

最近、なかなか本を読み終わらないのが気になります。読み始めますが、興味が持続しません。脳の老化でしょうか？
今読んでいる本を挙げてみると。。。

華氏４５１　レイ・ブラッドベリ
どろぼうの神さま　コーネリア・フンケ
これから正義の話をしよう　マイケル・サンデス　（まだ読んでる）
What the dog saw   Malcolm Gladwell  （まだ読んでる）
JavaScript  Michael Morrison
Good Enough System （上司に勧められたが進まない）

他にも読むのを諦めた本も。。。

でもついにKindle!を買ったので、Kindle版があればもう一度買ってみよう。

そう、Kindle買いました。iPadとも迷ったけど、結局既にKindle for iPhoneで読んでいるというのが決め手。iPadは高いし、Kindleは値下げされたし！これからもっと原書で読む機会が増えそうです。

Kindleが届いたら読もうと思ってセーブしているのは、
Outlier  by Malcolm Gladwell
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

David Mitchellの本は、以前装丁の素敵さに本屋さんで一目惚れして、いつか読もうと思っているもの。日本に住んでいたこともあるイギリス人の若手作家らしいです。小説の舞台は日本が多い。でも面白いのかはまだ不明。（その素敵な表紙のバージョンはもうOut of printらしい。。。）

Please Remember...

That there are more (and perhaps better?) articles in my older blog.

http://sparkles.jugem.jp/

More than 80 movies reviewed, some books reviews too.

FYI-古いブログにも記事があります。映画のレビューや、かつてはもっとビジネス書を読んでいたので、そんな話題も。　

Organize

Dear readers,
I am trying to get my blog more organized around proper labeling, and I am working on re-label all my past posts right now.  Please bare with me, for "Contents" menu on the right hand side may not properly work for a while.
Thank you for your patience!
Meri

DONE NOW!  Please navigate past contents through the "Contents" menu.

Fermat's Last Theorem by Simon Singh

(日本語は下に）
I have seen this book mentioned here and there for quite a while, and finally picked it up from piles of books on the floor (in my room). Knew this book is great, and it truly is.

I have to confess, I did not even finish all the required math courses that were necessary to get into 4-year public universities.  (I had to be specific, because some private universities in Japan do not require math exams.)

To be honest with you, my grades in other subjects (English, Japanese, History, etc) were good enough to compensate the extremely low math scores (due to I did not even take Statistics and advanced courses).  At young an age of 17, I knew my limitations.  My best friend was (and still is) a math (and physics and chemistry) genius, who helped me realize my lack of talent.

I always need to know exactly how things work, in order to understand and make use of it.  My friends were all saying "you just have to memorize the theorem, you don't need to think or know why".  My nature is all against it... I always want to know "why".

This does not mean I had no interest in math or science, especially when it is related to history and when it helps us to see new aspects of this world.  This book, Fermat's Last Theorem, is exactly that.
I am only into 1/3 of the book, but I already feel that I should tell the world how great it is.  Please read!

P.S. After posting, I just realized that I had written nothing about the content itself.  This book is about how a great mystery of Fermat's Last Theorem attracted so many mathematicians, and how Andrew Wilds came across the mystery at the age of 10, for which he spent 30 years to solve.

色々なところで以前から見かけてきたこの本、自宅の床に積んである本の山からついに手に取りました。そもそも面白そうだから買ってあったのですが、本当に面白い！

数学の本なんか読んでいてなんですが、実は最後に数学を勉強したのは高校のとき。しかも、大学受験に必要な科目ですら履修せず（統計とか）、数学の点数の低さに友人に「志望校大丈夫？」と言われたほど。他の教科の点数がそこそこ良かったのと、「受かりさえすれば良いのだから満点を目指す必要はない！」という開き直りのもと、数学はほとんど捨てていたのでした。（でも国立大学なので受験科目。。。）*
親友が数学の天才だったのをみて、いかに自分に才能がないかを思い知っていたのも理由のひとつ。皆には「公式を覚えて組み合わせるだけなんだから、深く考える必要はない」と言われたものの、性格的に「なんでそうなるのか」が納得できないと使いこなせないのです。やっぱり向いていない。

でもだからといって、数学とか科学に全く興味がないかというと、そんなことはない！特に歴史に関係していたり、世の中に新しい光を当ててくれる、人間をより理解する助けになる、そんなものは大好き。というわけで、この本は素晴らしい。まだ１／３しか読んでいないのですが、とにかくレビューしたくなって書いてみました。
フェルマーの最終定理を証明するために、数学者たちが3世紀かけた軌跡。アンドリュー・ワイルズという数学者が10歳ときにこの問題に出会い、30年かけてついにその証明方法を世に公表した瞬間までがドキュメンタリータッチで書かれています。
是非読んでみてください！


*P.S. 国立の2次試験では事実、数学の問題のうち半分しか解きませんでした（しかも点数の低い導入部分のみ）。これが上手く行ったせいで、その後「最低点で受かる努力」が身についてしまった私。社会人になって初めて、そんなやり方が通用しないことが分かったのでした。。。やっぱり全力投球が基本です。（と、改めて自分に言い聞かせる。。。）