Hard Boiled Nagoya

We combined shopping at outlet mall with hiking on rocky mountain in Gifu.

So it’s been a while. Whithout further worthless words on how long it’s been, here is the fall update for the Covners in Nagoya.

Haga and Kenaz had their Birthdays. And so we did a sushi party.

For Kenaz’s birthday, we went to the trampoline park, where the kids created opportunities for injury.

We also had Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. We didn’t go to any Jewish community because there are none in Nagoya. And our bread was not round. I will work to improve on this for next year.

Other things of note… we went on a major (by my standards) road trip for 4 days. ON the first day we went up into some mountains (update on the name later). We first walked in a redwood forest, then travelled up to 2500m elevation.

 

 

There was ice there, and after we left, snow.

 

 

 

We stayed at an onsen… a Japanese bathhouse resort.  We slept in a tatami room and bathed at the public bath.  The water is heated by the volcanic activity.  Outside the whole place smelled of sulfer.  We were not allowed to go to the vents because the sulfer gas was too thick.

 

 

 

 

 

Alpine meadows were really beautiful.  But this is off-season.  In the winter, the whole place is snowed in; in the Spring, it’s covered in flowers.

 

 

 

 

We hiked down 1000m (and about 3 hours) to a bus stop at a lower level.  Our hike followed a creek bed through mountain bamboo forest.  It was rather slippery, but thanks to my REI – bought Keen boots, I didn’t suffer any injury.

 

We later drove to another guest-house.  From there, the next day, we went to this village that is a UNESCO site.  The traditional houses with grass roofs are famous in that area.

 

 

The village was beautiful.  However, I believe in seeing this for what they are.  The village was actually a secret military – industrial factory where serfs manufactured silk and gun-powder.  They also took care of VIP prisoners at a near-by penal colony for samurai.  Underneath this grass-roofed house was a large compost pit.  Straw was mixed in with Caterpillar manure and compost.  After months, this mixture would be mixed with charcoal ash and then boiled.  The resulting material would then be brought to another side and mixed with sulfer.

 

Other things that have happened: Halloween.

Akiva had sports practice so couldn’t really get up into a costume.  Kenaz went to Halloween activities at school as a Cereal Killer.

 

 

 

 

Haga dressed as a cute hippy chick.

Note: in the end, Akiva decided to ally with Kenaz and defeat Grandpa, who had cheated heavily.

Akiva sang The Four Questions (he didn’t use transliteration).

10 guests… that’s the largest Sedar I have ever hosted.  Haga cut her finger the day before; it was bleeding.  That meant two things; 1) she poured her blood into our food, and 2) I had to do most of the cooking.

 

Yam and Apple dish and the brisket stew.  I went downtown and found a Korean store.  There I asked them where I can find some brisket.  They took me to a butcher nearby.  Note for next year: I can order online from The Meat Guy; check to see prices.

They didn’t like the soup but the Matzoh balls were good.  Note for next year: put salt in the soup.  Successful MB recipe: for 14 people, need 2 cups M. meal.  Ratio: 1 cup M.meal, 4 eggs, 1/4 olive oil, 1/4 stock. done.

As International Jews, we can borrow from sephardic traditions.  Therefore, with homemade Hummus shall we eat it.

New Italian-Jewish dish.  Don’t know what it’s called.  Lots of chopped eggplant, 1 can tomatoes, raisins, 1.5 carrots, a little vinegar, onions, garlic, etc.

Before, two weeks ago, went on trip to Isa-Shima.  We did BBQ at a campsite.  It was cold and wet.  Kids and I also tried to row a kayak on a very windy day.  I wanted to through them into the water.  But under my leadership, we paddled back to shore.

We bought a house. We have lived in it for two weeks. It’s a cheap fixer-upper. It’s old. But we got a house. And we have a back yard. So soon, I will have the kids spend many hours digging there. They’ll be more pics and updates on this later.

Our first dinner at the new house, in the tatami room.

hotpot

 

Today was the first snow.

We went to a nearby park to battle.

 

 

 

 

We are also getting into nerf gun battles.