Tuesday 4 ~ Just Wondering

 This Tuesday 4 is from Monday December 9. 2019.

A Repeat ~ Just Wondering

1.   When was the last time you tried something new?

Hmm, I guess I don't try new things that often. I suppose I could say it was a recipe for English scones which I made last night. I've made similar baked goods before but this one was with buttermilk. I suppose it's the proper way. I just so happened to have buttermilk on hand because dear hubby accidentally mistook it for cream.  Although the recipe was for English scones, I added blueberries, an ingredient that I don't think the English use in scones. The recipe greatly understated the amount of buttermilk required. I could have added more than I did but they still taste great. (I bake rarely these days due to being a Type 2 diabetic.  Over the years I've had to change my diet but there are times when I am not so disciplined.  To be honest, I just get fatigued from thinking about it all the time).

2.   Who in your family do you compare yourself to?

No one except perhaps my mother in certain circumstances like cooking and sewing because she was so good at both. A natural talent whereas I am not, but I keep trying. Update: After reading the answers from others, I realize I didn't understand the question. I'm like my mother in very many ways: stature, resemblance except for skin colouring, some aspects of personality, work ethic, many interests and values. But I'm also like my father in several ways: build, complexion and colouring, personality & work ethic.  My mom however told me often that I reminded her of her grandmother. She was referring to her grandmother's patience. I always found this an interesting observation since I personally didn't think I was so patient though my assessment of self has since changed. I think I became more patient with age.

3.   What lesson in life did you learn the hard way?

Sometimes you will stand alone in life so you must learn to be strong and have strong faith in God.

4.   What can you do today that you weren't able to do before?

I don't think there is anything I can really point to except perhaps walking. I thank God I could always walk but some years back (I forget what year it was), I was suddenly stricken with osteoarthritis and couldn't walk for many months. I was in excruciating pain and gained a lot of weight. I tried getting better by diet, supplements, acupuncture etc. Finally, I learned about something called rehab poles for walking. They are a lot like like Nordic walking poles.  I started using those and going for short walks. I also learned about whole body vibration (WBV) and started using WBV machine every day.  It took well over a year but I was finally able to walk without agonizing pain. Now the arthritis did not go away and from time to time and I still suffer on a daily basis but nothing like I did several years ago.  Also,  I can still walk. I take at least one pole with me every time I leave the house.  It helps me go farther and keeps me upright. I did have one big arthritic attack last year and that was difficult but the recovery didn't take as long. I had the benefit of physiotherapy and my poles to help. I'm happy to say I lost the weight I gained due to sitting so much.

An Experiment in Japanese Cuisine

On my errand running early Friday evening, I decided to stop off at a local Japanese restaurant, Nikkuyu.  I always seem to forget that this particular place specializes mostly in sashimi and their selection of other foods is minimal. While I usually like sashimi, I generally eat it very sparingly. I also like sushi but not the nouveau favourite around here which is California rolls. This roll tends to find it's way into most combination dishes in Vancouver and I really don't like it. I think I probably had too much of it when I first started eating Japanese sushi.

Not really knowing what I wanted and having another few small errands ahead of me I opted for the following dishes.

BBQ beef enoki - this is thin slices of cooked beef wrapped around a bunch of enoki (Japanese mushrooms) and covered with some kind of sauce. The waitress got my order wrong as I had actually ordered BBQ beef and bamboo shoots with prawns but until I ate it I didn't really know the difference, lol. It was surprisingly very chewy. The dish looks like the one below though I had two pieces on my plate.

This photograph was imported from Flickr. It was originally taken by Flickr user Loozrboy and the original photo can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/30624156@N00/4421015797

For  my main course, I had a combination dish which came with miso soup and salad with miso dressing.  The main plate came with two kinds of sashimi (raw fish): salmon (3 pieces) and tuna (2 large pieces). The fish was fresh and very rich.  It came with 3 small spring rolls and a dipping sauce that was somewhat sweet and spicy. The main part of the dish was unagi don. I asked first what unagi was and discovered it was eel.  I've never tried eel so I decided to be adventurous.

Unagi Don Photo credit: http://www.dineouthere.com

My beverage tonight was cold water. Then I decided to have a Kokanee (Canadian) beer as well since the restaurant does not serve pale ale.

Overall I was disappointed in my dinner selections.  I've eaten several times at this restaurant and it has never disappointed me but I could not say that tonight.

I expected the BBQ beef to be tastier and I was dissatisfied with the texture of the combination of beef and enoki.  Perhaps I just need to get used to the enoki mushrooms but since I've liked every mushroom I've ever eaten before, I'm not sure this is the problem.

The miso soup and green salad were okay but I've had better.  The fresh fish was quite good.  Five (5) generous pieces is a lot so I left half a piece of tuna and a half piece of salmon behind. I'm hoping what I did eat was filled with good Omega 3 oil as I need to watch my cholesterol levels.

The unagi don was massive. It came with 3 big pieces of eel (actually 6 that were "hung" together) piled on top of a humongous portion of white rice. The sauce that was poured over the eel and rice was a bit sweet and there was far too much of it.  It made the rice inedible.  The eel itself was like a "fleshy" fish and it was rather soft.  It didn't taste too bad at all.

The three spring rolls were very small and very hard.  Even with the delicious dipping sauce it didn't compensate for it being of a very tough texture.  The Canadian beer was fine though I didn't finish it all.

Altogether I found my solo dinner  an expensive and disappointing feast at $22.30 which included taxes but not the tip. I had an attentive waiter so I left a fair tip.  I don't feel so bad about spending the funds though it is extravagant for me. I very seldom eat out anymore. And that's a good thing.

I did have some entertainment while I ate.  A man came in with his two young boys who were I would guesstimate about ages 2 and 6 or 7, respectively. Both of the boys were eager to eat sashimi and sushi.  The boy who I guess is about 6 or 7 years old ordered for the family and I was super impressed. Then both boys got their chopsticks and soy sauce and wasabi ready. When the tuna sashimi arrived first, they both tucked in with gusto. These 3 guys had massive amounts of sushi, sashimi and tempura before they finished dinner.

Though I was super impressed with how these young boys were so habituated to Japanese food, I also felt rather sad. I felt sad because it is obvious that these boys do get to experience such outings on a regular basis and that the parents are exposing them to world cuisines, etc. That is a good thing, but all I could think about were the starving children in Africa (where my heart is) and how the village children in Africa likely wouldn't know a thing about Japanese food.  Rather they would be so happy to get a serving of ugali and sukuma wiki on a regular basis and to get a chance to go to school.

Ugali: Photo credit: http://listentolearn.wordpress.com/

Greens are sukuma wiki. Photo credit: http://www.dongo.org/kenya-belgium/

I'm travelling to Africa next month and I will make sure I don't eat out too much before then so I don't waste my  money.  I've already been fortunate enough to have exposure to so many other cultures and their foods.

I would love to hear from you if you are a parent or grandparent. I'm interested in hearing how you raise your children/grandchildren and whether you expose them to other cultures by eating out or through other means. This would be very eye opening for me I'm sure.

Learning to Swim

I mentioned before that I was going to start swimming lessons. I have now taken my second lesson. I'm enjoying it and since these are private lessons we will be going very slowly through the training.

It isn't the first time I have tried to learn how to swim. In fact I can swim a little but it is deeper water that frightens me. I need to get over my fear and anxiety of deep water before I can truly learn to swim.

My instructor is a young Chinese man who himself learned to swim as an adult. I'm enjoying his approach very much and it is quite different to any lessons I've previously had so I'm feeling optimistic.

How about you my readers? Are any of you unable to swim, have a fear of water or learned rather late in life? I'd love to hear your story.