Baji Koen

WRITTEN BY RYAN

After a nice lunch out together as a family, Roo and I headed by train to Baji Koen (Horse Park) in Setagaya. Baji Koen served as the site for equestrian events during the 1964 Olympic Games. It provides a significant amount of green space with relative proximity to the city. Roo got to see many thoroughbreds. It was interesting to watch as the riders seemed to be the ones learning, not the horses.In addition to a standard horse track, Baji Koen has extensive "cross country" grounds, where the horses jump over fixed barriers, water hazards and drop-off's (Roo referred to them as cliff's). The park also has about 7 playgrounds spread around the grounds. We went back and forth between the playgrounds and racing on the horse paths and over the cliff's.

You can see this video of Roo making flying leaps into a sandbox. This went on for about 20 minutes.

After a hard afternoon of playing and chasing, we went to the Starbucks across the street (yes - the greenery is not surprisingly very close to the conveniences of the city). Roo enjoyed a churro (like a Mexican sugar donut--not very popular here but seen now and then) while I sipped a hot chocolate to break the chill of a late fall afternoon. On the bus ride back home, Roo saw one of his teachers from school - - again demonstrating a city as big as Tokyo sometimes isn't that big at all.

Book Review: The Middle Place

The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan is a memoir about a young mother’s journey with breast cancer that coincides with her father’s journey with bladder cancer. A father she very much depends on to validate all that she is or does. Even more so, it’s a story about what she calls “the middle place”, the time when parenthood and childhood overlap. While I can’t relate much to this notion of a “middle place”, there are words in this book that parallel the life of any mother with young children. Sentiment aside, the main reason to read this book is because it IS funny. Regardless of whether you find her antics enduring or childish, she has wit. She takes you back to “Guess” jeans and “Jessie’s Girl” right up to “bioflavonoids” and “Harold and the Purple Crayon”. Most likely I’ll read her next book, Lift, due out early next year.

Mesclun

The mesclun is growing! Yearning for that fresh from the garden taste, I decided to give container gardening a go. I was waiting for cooler weather to start this project, although not quite this cool. I should have planted the seeds in October for a November harvest, but what can I say, I got busy. Better late than never. Relieved and a bit surprised they germinated, now I focus on protecting these delicate plants until they reach four inches high. Mesclun, described as a mixture of baby salad greens, is well suited for container gardening, requiring only 3 inches of soil to grow. The lettuces and brassicas that make up the mesclun mix are a fan of cool-weather. In addition to achieving freshness, I'm hoping to avoid the high priced highly preserved bagged varieties available in the supermarket. If this works, I may expand my "garden" in the spring with a few cherry tomato, herb, or bean plants.

Happy Thanksgiving

With help from these two women, Michelle and Kristy, we served an American Thanksgiving lunch to twelve parents from Roo's school as part of a series of "Ladies Lunches" to raise money for a charity in the Philippines. Despite rising early to stuff and start the bird, the "it's finished" pop up pin on the sixteen pounder was stubborn and we got a late start. By the time we ate, everyone was good and hungry. Thankfully, when it was time to eat, everyone seemed to enjoy the food.

OUR MENU

Turkey with stuffing and gravy

Mashed potatoes

Candied yams

Green Bean Casserole

Assorted dinner roles

Pickles

Cranberries

Norwegian rice

Pumpkin pie

I was happy the Swedes in the group authenticated what I grew up calling "Norwegian Rice". Michelle's test runs last week paid off as she produced a delightful pie. And Kristy put to good use in the green bean casserole a portion of the FOUR POUNDS of French's fried onions I accidentally ordered from America.

After the guests departed I headed off to school to share the leftovers with the teachers, and read a book titled "The Pilgrims First Thanksgiving" to Roo's class. Absentmindedly, I forgot to save some food for my husband, so poor Ryan only got pie tonight when he came home from work. I've promised to repeat a few of his favorites (turkey, gravy, candied yams, Norwegian rice) this weekend. Since he's not feeling so hot tonight, it's probably not a bad thing. I just happen to have an extra turkey (smaller) in the freezer. Maybe we'll even put American football on.

The Dog Who Could Dig

Today the creative staff at Roo's school performed an entertaining puppet show titled:

As I've come to expect from this bunch, the props were awesome and the story was accompanied by guitar.

Afterwards, parents helped the children make their very own Digger the Dog sock puppet. Instead of plush velour, Roo choose the scratchy yellow sock with silver nylon threads weaved throughout. He opted for purple people ears and an orange nose.

And, Roo had a chance to try out his puppet behind the scenes.

A Raised Bed Garden

Finally, a chance to try grow something! One of the parents at Roo's school has been granted a small plot in a city garden. Generously, he offered the space to the school to use. I'm coordinating a garden project that will hopefully include this 8sq meter raised bed, a small container garden at the school, and mesclun (baby leaf lettuce) flats on the school rooftop. I love the idea of exposing children to the life cycle of plant foods, especially in this city of concrete. Tokyo's tempered climate accommodates year long gardening. Today a few of us planted beans, lettuce, and onions. Here's hoping Mr. Sun continue to warm the soil and our planting succeeds.

A pair of portraits

On the left, classmate Jenny's portrait completed by artist Roo. On the right, Roo's portrait completed by artist Jenny. As a class project, pairs painted portraits and wrote a short message about their friend. The finishing touch, a twisted newspaper frame painted in pink. Not sure how Jenny convinced Roo to agree to pink. Lately, he rarely misses an opportunity to clarify that "pink is a girl's color".