[A Taste of June
]
"This tastes like my first love. Sweet and sour," said someone after eating some blackberries I'd grown in my garden.
Today, I defrosted last year's harvest of blackberries that I'd kept Zip-locked since last June.
While simmering the berry sauce and stirring the bottom of the pot, I suddenly recalled that romantic comment.
A decade ago, I planted a blackberry seedling in my small garden. The vine grew quickly spreading out green tendrils.
In May, pink flowers appear and after the petals fall, its tiny green grape-like fruit gradually turn red.
Then, with only a day or two's notice, the fruits ripen totally black. Picking the plump, sparkling berries is one of my June routines.
My family, however, doesn't seem to care much for blackberries. One glimpse of the black color, and they were already reluctant to try them.
When they got up the nerve to take a gingerly nibble, they grimaced. Sour.
Fresh blackberries are not for sale at markets in Matsuyama, so I can understand their unwillingness to eat such an unfamiliar fruit.
Since my family wouldn't eat them fresh, I decided to make blackberry preserves. The jam I made went well with vanilla ice cream,
but still they didn't really care much for the fruit. Blackberry vodka, a garnet colored liquor I prepared, was welcomed at our table only once.
And my blackberry vinegar provoked nothing but antipathy. So, I'm not sure if they'll like the original blackberry sauce I'm working on now.
Unlike strawberries and blueberries, blackberries require the extra work of filtering out small seeds.
This process is necessary to make the sauce smooth. The sauce has a pretty wine color and a tart and punchy flavor,
so I'll have it with beef cutlet. It'll pair well with a full-bodied wine.
People have different tastes in food. I like blackberry's refreshing sweetness better than any other fruit preserve.
When I happened to know that a person I admired liked blackberries, my heart skipped a beat!
(Miwa N.)
Of course,there are various delicious cuisines all over this world.
But as I get older, the flavors of food and the sounds of cooking coming from the kitchen remind me
more and more of old family times. There is a Japanese confectionery called "minazuki"
that I eat in June, minazuki being another name for June in Japanese.
I've eaten this treat the first month of summer since my childhood,
so it's somewhat of a ritual for me.
When I see minazuki, I remember my late grandmother saying,"You know. Today is the day we eat minazuki.
Let's eat some together, and I promise we will be fine during the summer."
Minazuki is a kind of sweet rice jelly called "uiro" made by placing red beans on top of white uiro
and cutting them into triangles. It resembles ice and even looking at it makes you feel cooler during the long,
hot summer months. When you eat minazuki, you'll notice the chewy texture and how the sweetness of the red beans
quickly spreads throughout your mouth. It really is a delicious seasonal sweet.
In the Heian-period (794-1185), it is said to have been difficult for people to endure summers
because of their lack of physical strength brought on by prolonged drought,
the shortage of food and spread of infectious diseases.
Minazuki is believed to have originated from a court custom of eating "himuro" ice chopped from blocks
preserved in icehouses on June 1st, the day of the Himuro Festival according to the lunar calendar.
The white uiro is made into squares which are then cut into two triangles.
One triangle represents half the year, as June 30th is the day the first half of the year ends,
and the red beans are seen as providing protection against evil.Minazuki is a special sweet for me.
It reminds me of my late grandmother and her spell-like sayings:
Today is the day to eat minazuki; let's eat some together.
But my first minazuki this year will be rather different than usual.
I hope the world emerges from the current calamity which has occupied the first half of this year,
and that everyone can spend the second half of the year in safety and health.
June 30th is approaching. I am going to eat minazuki this year, too.
(Y. Kashio)
What do you do in your free time? I like watching movies.
Now, due to the current pandemic, we are all staying at home, so I'm seeing a lot of movies.
Recently I watched "Last Christmas". It seems like the wrong season to watch a movie with a title like that,
but I really enjoyed it. I think it's the kind of film women would like.
The story is inspired by WHAM!'s hit number one song "Last Christmas". I love this song.
It reminds me of my college days, and it's one that I can remember all the lyrics to.
When I was in college, I took an interesting exam. My English teacher had a good sense of humor,
and he said that if we could sing two Christmas songs in perfect English, we would pass the exam.
We were very happy about this because it meant we didn't have to study very hard for the exam.
We were to make groups consisting of 6-7 people and give a performance of our songs in front of the class.
Our group chose "Winter Wonderland" and "Last Christmas".
The members in my group got together, and we practiced the songs many times.
To our surprise, singing a song in English was very difficult.
It's different from conversational English, but we succeeded in our performance, and we all received credit!
I think the exam was very good practice, and even now some of the expressions I learned are very useful.
There is something positive about the power of music, and an old, familiar song
always takes me back to the good old days.
(Chiharu. I)
When she's exhausted with all the work she must do,
she pulls the smartphone from her coat pocket.
She sees an image of Doraemon putting on a white mask, and it inspires her with this message.
Doraemon, the blue robot cat from the future, a beloved cartoon character in Japan for 50 years saying,
"Because you help people who are ill, Because you never give up, Because of you, the future will be fine."
What does the number 31 mean to her?
That's how many days she spent working in the hospital in May.
A new resident has not one single day-off. It's part of the job.
Before the morning conference, she makes the round of her ward and visits her patients one by one, seven days a week.
Our oldest girl is a clinical trainee and she's been working at the hospital since last April.
For six days last month, she worked from 5 pm one day until 12 noon the next.
During the Golden Week Holidays, on the ER night shift, she attended at an elderly man's last moments on earth.
Lying on a stretcher in a hallway leading to the examination room, his death came swiftly.
She learned that there would be times she would be totally helpless to forestall death.
Followed by a supervising doctor, she leaned over the man and with her stethoscope solemnly listened for a heartbeat.
Then she joined her hands in prayer and bowed silently to his family.
Back with her patients on the 11th floor of the hospital, the familiar night views of the Ferris wheel
on top of the department store and Matsuyama Castle returned her to inner peace.
The Castle is always there, and from April 27th to May 31st, it was especially lit with blue floodlights
for the "Clap for Carers" and "Make it Blue" campaigns started last March
in the UK in recognition of those fighting on the frontlines against Covid-19.
I Hope someday she will deserve to receive this sort of approbation as a professional surgeon.
(Kazuyo)
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