Here is a recipe for Japanese Egg Salad Sandwich, Tamago Sando. I made this today and it was good. I used Japanese Mayo KEWPI and I also recommend using white milk bread and cut off the crust has shown here. The step you may want to skip is the making of pickles, simply use prepared relish or buttered pickles which can be easily bought. I also use one tea spoon of Dijon Mustard mixing it with the KEWPI Mayo and I do not use salt at all.
It is important to measure the cooking time for the eggs carefully. Tamago Sando is easy to make and delicious. Enjoy!
Old Home Week is a tradition here in PEI, it is in support of the race horse industry. Charlottetown has a race track that goes back to the 1880’s and many fine horse are bred on the Island. Some will tell you that Charlottetown is like Kentucky when it comes to racing horses in terms of traditions. Red Shores also has a casino and a very good restaurant.
This year again the race takes place and people make bets on who will win the race held on Saturday 22 August. Yesterday Friday we went across the yard to our neighbour for a drink in the garden and some food. It is our fifth year to do this.
Friday was a funny day, the weather was grey and cool at 20C with some kind of humidity that gave everything a September look. Next week school starts and there is a lot of trepidation in the air. Parents, teachers and students are a bit on edge and plans are still being worked out by the Provincial Dept of Education on what to do. Interestingly on this topic the Chief Medical Officer gave her advice but is leaving final decisions to the Premier and the Minister of Education. Everyone is keeping fingers crossed and hoping for the best. Also today I was at the grocery store and again observed that most people do wear masks and only a few don’t. Lots of people also use hand sanitizers in the store or in the parking lot, many carry it in their cars and you see people sanitize before driving off.
I think we have a couple of Covid cases left on the Island, overall for several months now Covid has disappeared from the Island, the only new cases came from people who arrived from abroad. Since March we have had no deaths and no hospitalization. But this pandemic is still weighing in on us, you cannot forget about it.
I was at the new Japanese grocery store SUMMIKO MART this week and I was looking for Japanese mayonnaise called KEWPIE. The recipe is different from North American mayo. It only uses Egg Yokes not the whole egg. I remember when I visited Japan, I had a egg salad sandwich made with Kewpie Mayo and it was so good, the taste was rich. I found some and will try it next time I made egg salad sandwich.
They also make fresh Japanese food all ingredients imported direct from Japan and made in front of you. This is truly a first in Charlottetown.
We also have a new Vietnamese Coffee House called Madame Vuong preparing coffee the Vietnamese way which is very different from North American Coffee, the roasting process and choice of beans is a new experience. They also have Vietnamese style sandwiches, etc. It would appear that the Vietnamese are replacing the Chinese who, many, have left for Toronto. Alambé is another Vietnamese Coffee shop on Kent Street, it is very nice to see such new additions to our local scene.
Gert Van Hoef is a young Dutch concert Organist, he started learning to play the organ at 13 from his grandfather and as he says, he became obsessed with the instrument and decided to make his career of it. He has been successful and gives numerous concerts in Europe.
Here he plays as you will recognize the tune played by Big Ben in the Elizabeth clock tower of the Parliament in London, the Carillon de Westminster, Opus 54 deel 6 van Louis Viërne (1870-1937).
This week we mark a sad anniversary, 75 years ago the USA dropped the first Atomic bomb on Hiroshima and a second one on Nagasaki a few days later, killing instantly hundred of thousands of people by incinerating them and leaving the wounded to suffer for years with the effects of radiation. Today about 136,000 are still alive from that event and it is thought that it is difficult to keep alive the memory of this first Atomic explosion as they die off. More countries now have Atomic weapons far more powerful than the original ones, enough to blow up and kill all life on Earth over 300 times.
I visited Japan twice and had the opportunity to travel by the famous bullet train around the country. It is a wonderful place and so much to see and experience. Love the food and the people, the culture and traditions. I cannot say enough good things about Japan.
When I lived in Beijing I would watch the news on the Japanese National Broadcaster NHK and also a soap on television. It was very interesting to see how they present the news with much calm and with a neutral tone of voice. I also followed other programs one was a the television soap I followed about a Doctor and his wife and kids living in a town outside Tokyo. The story of their lives revolved around the wife and how she saw the family dynamic. It was all very nice keeping a normal pace, there was none of the over the top dramatic, grabbing for a laugh or open family conflict etc often seen in Western television. Even at the end of the series when her husband dies of what was possibly a heart attack, it was presented as a matter of fact, something that happens in life and with sorrow, reflection on the past but the assurance that life will go on.
This morning I was listening to the early radio music show on Radio-Canada from Montreal and they had this piece which caught my attention.
The Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal produced in 2014 this very nice record of music for Japanese Children, Shoka. This music is universal and travels well. I also think that if offers calm in this pandemic period, something everyone can appreciate.
Oborozuyi, hazy moon. Diana Damrau, soprano sings with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and the Choir of Les Enfants de Montréal under conductor Kent Nagano.
Here is another selection with soprano Diana Damrau.
I was able to travel twice to Japan and visit the country. It was the two most amazing trips I ever made. Japan is a fantastic country with a complex ancient culture. One great thing about Japan is the food culture. Food is everywhere and people love eating. This YouTube video is exactly what I saw and experienced.
I travelled a great deal by train and the train stations are a wonder to behold, why fly when train travel is a dream. The food on offer in Train Stations is incredible, not to mention all the other restaurants and the impeccable service everywhere.
The title is Japanese and means Ancient Moon. This is a jazz piece by Koichi Sugii and is part of Japanese Jazz and Salon Music from 1936-1941. It was very popular in Japan and even the Emperor HiroHito would request it be played by the Imperial guard, old 78 rpm exist out there for those who might like to hear it. Koichi Sugii (1906-1942) was a Japanese bandleader, composer, arranger, conductor, singer, accordionist and recording artist. He skilfully bridged Eastern and Western styles, combining American orchestral jazz with Japanese pop and Chinese folk music to create a sophisticated and melodic hybrid with broad appeal.
Sugii was born in Tokyo in 1906. His mother sang traditional Japanese music while accompanying herself on the samisen, a three-stringed instrument. An early familiarity with his country’s native folk songs later inspired Sugii to arrange these melodies in jazz settings.
Sugii took piano lessons from a Canadian teacher, and became an ardent admirer of Western classical traditions, jazz, and film music. In 1930, after graduating from Tokyo Imperial University, he was hired by the Osaka merchant shipping company, which assigned him to Buenos Aires. In Argentina the young business executive became fascinated by musical trends, especially the tango. Convinced his true interests were in music, Sugii returned to Japan in 1932 and found work composing and recording for a film studio. In 1935 he joined Sakurai Kiyoshi’s Sakurai y Su Orquesta, a Latin-influenced band which specialized in tangos.
Those years prior to the Second World War were years of great development in Japan and the wealth people enjoyed brought luxury products to Japanese markets and a fascination with Western habits. The brother of the Emperor had a complete Lalique Museum built after a visit in France where he and his wife had René Lalique’s house dismantled and rebuilt in their museum. If you visit Tokyo you can see it, fascinating.
This Art deco building built in 1933 is part of the The Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum. The museum is located in Minato ward, just east of Meguro Station. The Art Deco building interiors were designed by Henri Rapin and features decorative glass work by René Lalique. It was pure delight to visit it and showed how sophisticated Japanese society is and was then.
Another spectacular area is the open air museum in Hakone outside Tokyo is easily reach by train. Japanese trains are a dream, never seen anywhere anything like it. The open air museum presents sculptures by Henri Moore, Constantin Brancusi, Barbara Hepworth, Rokusan Ogiwara, Kotaro Nakamura and Niki de Saint Phalle, 120 works in all, the green space was well thought out with trees, and shrubbery designed to bring peace and facilitate reflection for visitors, very much in the Shinto style.
There is more and another incredible find is the Lalique museum, yes more Lalique and Le Train café restaurant, the actual train transported from France, it was in service until 2001 and was part of the Orient Express line. I was trying to imagine how do you transport a train car from Europe to Japan. You can have tea on board with all the actual dishes and linens, absolutely exquisite, very high quality. Again the train car is decorated by Lalique panels and is exquisite in terms of luxury. Reservations are a must.
June was Pride month and in PEI PRIDE week is 20-27 July with the usual big parade, everyone joins in, it’s the thing to do.
I was in the Parade here in Charlottetown last year and we had a lot of fun. Come and celebrate PRIDE in PEI, www.pridepei.ca
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the first pride parade on P.E.I. Pride P.E.I. is planning 12 days of events and learning opportunities for Islanders, beginning on Saturday, July 20.
The theme of this year’s parade is ‘shapes + forms’. The organization says love comes in many different shapes and forms. Inspiration for the theme comes from the vibrant spectrum of gender and sexual diversity visible in the province.
For something completely different here is PRIDE TOKYO. Japan has a lot of Festivals and Pride is another one. I love Tokyo, visited the city on 2 occasions for several days each time and travelled in Japan also. Very impressive place, just love it.
For some years now we listen to international radio broadcast on the internet. When we live in Italy it was RAI the Italian radio and television broadcaster. In Beijing I use to listen to NHK the Japanese national broadcaster, ok it was all in Japanese but I just loved the way they read the news, it was so relaxing no matter what the disaster.
At the moment it’s MDR (MITTELDEUTSCHER RUNDFUNK), they have a great selection of classical music and concerts and news of course all in German. When I listen to it, it is usually during the night in Germany due to the time difference +7 hours with Canada. It maintains the illusion that we are in Europe.
Tomorrow at the National Gallery the Claude Monet show opens. It is all about bridges, a bridge to modernity, young Monet paintings before he was known or truly appreciated. The National Gallery has 9 Monet and for this exhibit other paintings featuring bridges painted either when he was in living in London or Paris after the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 or elsewhere will be featured. Truly modern paintings when you look at the Academic and romantic style of the time, including the Pre-Raphaelites. http://www.gallery.ca
The National Gallery is having a Pre-Raphaelite exhibit at the moment built around a recent gift by Dr. Lanigan of Saskatoon who all his life collected their work.
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The three founders were joined by William Michael Rossetti, James Collinson, Frederic George Stephens and Thomas Woolner to form the seven-member “brotherhood”.
The group’s intention was to reform art by rejecting what it considered the mechanistic approach first adopted by Mannerist artists who succeeded Raphael and Michelangelo. Its members believed the Classical poses and elegant compositions of Raphael in particular had been a corrupting influence on the academic teaching of art, hence the name “Pre-Raphaelite”. In particular, the group objected to the influence of Sir Joshua Reynolds, founder of the English Royal Academy of Arts, whom they called “Sir Sloshua”. To the Pre-Raphaelites, according to William Michael Rossetti, “sloshy” meant “anything lax or scamped in the process of painting … and hence … any thing or person of a commonplace or conventional kind”. In contrast, the brotherhood wanted a return to the abundant detail, intense colours and complex compositions of 14th century Italian art. The group associated their work with John Ruskin, an English artist whose influences were driven by his religious background.
Well it is now Official our lease ends on 31 July 2016 and we must move. Our landlord has told us that he is selling the condo. We have been here for almost 5 years and enjoyed the area. So the wheels are in motion and more announcements to come.
As for our little Hounds Nick and Nora, well on Wednesday they are starting another 8 week session of training. It will be a bit of a shock for them, so used they are to lounging. Dachshunds are a difficult breed to train because they are very independently minded and very intelligent.
Jerry and I get around. In 2011, we moved from the USA to Spain. We now live near Málaga. Jerry y yo nos movemos. En 2011, nos mudamos de EEUU a España. Ahora vivimos cerca de Málaga.
Tutto iniziò con Memorie di Adriano, sulle strade dell'Impero Romano tra foto, storia e mito - It all began with Memoirs of Hadrian, on the roads of the Roman Empire among photos, history and myth!
Telling the stories of the history of the port of Charlottetown and the marine heritage of Northumberland Strait on Canada's East Coast. Winner of the Heritage Award from the PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation and a Heritage Preservation Award from the City of Charlottetown
