January at home~ in Aptos

We got some mochi going- again!!!

 Maybe it was the brand of mochi...it didn't cook so well.
It wasn't like the mochi we've had in Japan~ or the cooking method was the problem?!

I love this stuff~ YAMAIMO! Slimy potatoes...it's what I was holding, and then after cutting it into bite size pieces, with SHOYU and KATSUOBOSHI (shaved bonita)~ QUITE the appetizer! Margi and Tim visited from Oregon, and got to try it, and I got their thumbs up on it AND NATTO!!!

Yes, we got to hang out for the first time since 1982 Margi figures! That was when she came through Santa Cruz and met up with me last- since our '80 HS graduation.

Margi and her man Tim were on their way south to LA, and had two nights sleep, some good food (I must admit) and GREAT catching up! 

It's our first winter in our house on Porter Gulch. The sun never shines on the yard now. It's constantly wet. But, these sweet peas are still growing! And FLOWERING!

    

I keep helping them grow UP the poles. I keep winding twine up the "fencing". Yes, I still hang laundry outside. After two days it does get dry! I do what Japanese would never do, leave it hanging outside all night long! For NightS!!! 

Daikon grows! 

I don't know how much underground it's grown...

MISUNA...that skinny leaf isn't growing well. And I think it's slugs that like it. So I'm trying beer~ they like beer and drown in it I've heard. Most of what's drowned tho are black bugs...I don't know if they have been eating my pitiful veggies...Mushrooms are growing everywhere

I don't know what mushrooms are edible, no idea, and am not interested in experimenting with them

Taka got our first cold frame built! 

Soon I will plant seeds in little pots.

I hope the cold frame will help keep seedlings a little warmer...not sure it can/will~ we'll see.

Maybe the sun will shine again, more and more in our yard and on our home, come...March? Not until April? It was shining in our kitchen windows last May when we moved in~~