Lifting of the state of emergency

My son and I got to spend some time at the park today.  We sat in a semi-wooded area that had almost no other people in the area.  It was a nice little break after spending the morning doing his homeschooling.

Afterwards, we walked to the store to pick up some allspice, which I needed for dinner.  As we walked home from the store, we passed by some budding hydrangeas.  The flowers made me smile, as I have always loved hydrangeas.  They are plentiful around here, making the season even better.

After coming home and eating dinner, it was time to watch the news.  The government officially announced the end of the state of emergency in the entire nation.  On the one hand it is a huge relief.  On the other hand, I wonder if we are really ready.  

I saw a report today by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government that showed the number of Covid-19 tests that were administered each day since the end of January.  With over 17,000 tests On April 3, 551 people were tested.  

Will the numbers stay down?  When will the next wave of infections surface and how quickly will the government respond when that happens?  There are so many questions racing through my mind.

At this point, my family will probably stick close to what we have been doing for the last month and a half (well, longer than that) for a while longer.  I know there will be a rush to get out and see and do.  We don't need to be part of that rush.

The white stuff

When I was a kid there were only four kinds of milk - nonfat, 1%, 2%, and whole.  If you wanted to get fancy, you could buy goat milk or soy milk, but that was about it.  

Over the years, milk has gotten fancier.  There is lactose free milk, vitamin fortified milk, and the list goes on.

It shouldn't surprise me that it is the same here in Japan.  Milk isn't just milk.  This recently came to my attention when a friend commented that she asked her husband to bring home milk so she could make yogurt.  Instead of bringing milk, he brought her "milk beverage" and her yogurt was an epic failure.

We don't drink milk.  In fact, we rarely have it in the house.  But I do make copious quantities of yogurt.  When I first started to make my own yogurt, my husband found organic milk for me to use.  Although I can only find it at one store in town, I dutifully buy that particular milk.

So, when she told me about the "milk beverage" I had to ask for a definition.  It turns out you can buy: 

• whole milk (gyunu), 
• lowfat milk (teishibounyu), 
• nonfat milk (mushibounyu),
• processed milk (kakonyu) meaning other ingredients such as butter or cream have been added to the milk, and
• milk beverage (nyuinryo) that have other non-dairy ingredients added to the milk

Processed milk (with cows), milk beverage, whole milk (orange)

This is another product that may seem easy to decipher, but you might not be buying what you wanted if you don't know the nitty gritty!

Many of the milk beverages are fortified milk, with calcium and iron added to it.  This sounds fine, just don't cook with it (for example, a cream sauce or yogurt) because it will not come out like you think it will!

If you really want to get whole milk, there is a trick.  On the top of whole milk cartons, there is a notch.  This is actually for visually impaired people to be able to quickly and easily determine if the milk is whole or not.  But I think it is useful for people who can't read Japanese labels!

A big cover up

Our Abe-masks have finally arrived.  Over a month and a half ago on April 1, Prime Minister Abe committed to sending 2 cloth masks to every household in Japan.  Knowing that many households have more than 2 people in them, there were a lot of jokes about how they would be distributed between the family members.

We didn't think much about the masks, other than wondering when they would arrive.

As time went on, we heard even more jokes about the size of them (fit a kid, but not an adult).  We were curious, but there was no sight of them.

Finally, they arrived today.  I checked the mailbox and there they were.  I think my husband was a bit disappointed I found them because he's mentioned their lack of arrival more than once.

I have to agree with the teasing.  They are comically small.

Avoid the "3 C's" - Closed spaces, Crowded places, and Close conversations.

Washing instructions and notes for daily life.

A note explaining the masks.

But I actually don't want to use the mask.  Stores, even online ones, have been out of thin elastic for weeks and weeks.  I am going to utilize the mask elastic for my own homemade masks.  So, they won't be going to waste.  They just won't be used for what they were intended for.

Coronavirus through a child’s eyes...

I saw this going around Facebook and thought I would ask my son about Covid-19.  These are his answers.  He is currently 6 years old.

1. What is Covid-19?
It’s a virus that looks like a crown. And if you get it you would cough and sneeze. That makes your breathing very hard. Hard to breathe.

2. How many days have we been home?
Aaaaaaa lot! It feels like 1,000, but it’s actually not.

3. Do you want to go back to school?
Which school?  I want to see my new friends and I do want to go to my new school.

4. Who is the first person you are going to hug when this is over?
Shin-kun. If I could I would do Kako-Chan.

5. Where is the first place you want to go?
US. Africa. And … ask me again later.

6. What do you think we can do to get rid of the Coronavirus?
Keep washing hands. 10 times a day. More vitamins. D!  Vitamin D the most!  But it’s really hard to get because you wear a jacket, you wear a mask...

7. Are mom and dad good teachers?
(Laughing)  Ummm… Very good teachers. 1,051% I can say they are good teachers.

8. How did the coronavirus start?
I don’t know. How did it???

9. If you had to wear protective clothing what would it be?
Mask, hat, jacket that won’t warm up, pants is what I would wear for protective clothing.

10. Are you enjoying being home?
Nods head yes. Yes I am enjoying. We can play games like we did yesterday. We could make stuff. I could do anything but not something that allows a park and play equipment and something else.

11. What is your favorite thing about staying home everyday?
I can be with my family.

12. What is your least favorite thing about staying home everyday?
I can’t be with my friends. Also I miss being at the park. Wearing a mask!

13. Is there anything else you’d like to say about coronavirus?
Bad coronavirus. I want to fling it into outer space. Coronavirus needs to move around. It doesn’t like to stay still. If we sent it there, it would be gone. That’s just a guess.
I’m very sad because our friends and us are getting further and further from each other. Coronavirus is bad.

Enjoying the little ones

I have always loved dill pickles.  It is something that I miss very much in Japan.  I can get jars of them at Costco (which I do), but I don't think I've ever seen them in any other stores here.  I've seen gherkins and cornichon and several Russian varieties, but never dill.  This also upsets my son, who got his vinegar obsession from me.  I've never met another kid who loves sour as much as my child!

While at a small grocery store (I still won't let my son go to the crowded big grocery stores, but I've relented on the smaller stores with much smaller clientele), my son asked for quail eggs.  "What do you want to do with the quail eggs?" I asked.  He replied "pickle them!"

When I was a kid, my stepmom introduced me to pickled eggs.  Simply hard-boil some eggs and drop them into the leftover pickle juice.  Let them marinate for a few days and then enjoy!  These eggs, in my opinion, are delicious right out of the jar, or to make egg salad or tuna sandwiches.

I've tried several recipes over the years (marinating them in pickled beet juice makes beautiful pink eggs), but I keep coming back to simple dill brine.

Since pickle juice is in such short supply here (will I ever get back to Costco???), I decided to make some myself.  I happened to have a small container of dill seed from my pea patch (community garden) that I had saved.  Using a recipe from foodinjars.com, my son mixed up the brine himself.  Then we just boiled the quail eggs, peeled them, and dropped them into the brine.

I learned long ago the easiest way to peel your quail eggs.  After cooling them in an ice bath, put them in a dry bowl or pan (I typically us the pot I boiled the eggs in).  Shake them to crack the shells all over.  Then pinch the bottom where the air pocket is and the peel will come right off.  My son loves doing this!

Quail eggs are incredibly popular in Japan.  They can be found at most grocery stores.  Besides using them in sushi, the tiny eggs are also popular marinated, fried, and hardboiled (in bento boxes).  We like them so much we had a small flock of quail in the US for a while.  At 2 years old, my son thought the tiny eggs were just his size.  He loved collecting them even more than the chicken eggs.

We can't have quail here (rules of our housing), but at least these eggs are super easy to find in Japan.  And we have no problems making our own brine.  The hardest part of the whole process is waiting a few days for them to really soak up the flavors.