Heritage | Split Peas From Coffee

Invertebratarians, Like Me

Apr 112010

G&M crab cake with two sides

When did I become a vegetarian? I am asked that even more frequently than “why.” The answer to the two questions is the same. My wife, Virginia, returned home one evening, about 30 years ago, and stated that we would no longer eat meat. She asked “how did I feel?” Chicken? Nada. Fish? Zip. My cooking skills are absent. As a bachelor I survived on fried wiener sandwiches, Vienna sausages (which my Dad still calls “vienners”), frozen chicken pot pies, and Wolf brand chili. Love to, dear.

For the past 30 years I have been meatless and guiltless. Yet over the past couple of years I have begun to slip, to stray. I am off the meatless wagon. I can finally admit that I am an invertebratarian. I consume animals without a face, a mother, or a backbone.

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Washington DC - Which World Am I In?

History 1 Response »

Apr 052010

Joining a few close friends at the White House Easter Egg Roll

There are times when travel catches up with me, and I cannot remember exactly where (or who) I am. Surely you have had the same out-of-body experience. You wake up early one morning, and wonder whose bed you are sleeping in and how did you get there.

Today I am in Washington DC. I speak at Penn State on Wednesday, and I decided to bring my youngest grandson, Woodrow, with me. Woodrow lives in Palos Verdes (near Redondo Beach), and is enjoying his spring break. We decided to combine business with pleasure on this trip, and we are squeezing in DC before we go to State College.

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Austin - Spring Sneaked (or snuck) In

Nature 1 Response »

Apr 042010

Wine Cup

While in Japan spring sneaked (or snuck, depending on your origins. In East Texas, use snuck) in through the back door. There were several spring wildflowers blooming along my trail this Easter Sunday in Austin. Although normally suffocated by the various exotic weeds that dominate any space given them, there are still a few lovely spots in the city where the colors endemic to this area may be appreciated.

My favorite wildflower is wine cup. I know; as a Texan I should vote for bluebonnet. But bluebonnets and paintbrushes are ubiquitous and collectively gaudy. The wine cup is subtle, rarely collecting in sizable aggregations. The color of the flower morphs with age, from a dark Cabernet to a light Zinfandel before it fades.

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More on Dragonfruit

Food No Responses »

Apr 042010

Since dragonfruit and I only recently met, I decided to get to know it better. To my surprise, dragonfruit comes from a cactus, the genus Hylocereus. The fruit is cultivated in the tropics around the world, and I am not sure why I have not come across it before. In Japan, the fruit is grown in Okinawa.

Hylocereus is one of several cacti genera that are known as “night blooming,” such as in night-blooming cereus or queen of the night. The plant and fruit are also known as pitaya, and apparently several types are cultivated. We commonly see tuna (the fruit of prickly pear cactus) in our markets, but not pitaya.

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The Dragonfruited Plain

Food No Responses »

Apr 022010

Tokyo Fruit Store

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Japan - The End

Culture, Opinion, Travel 3 Responses »

Mar 302010

Shinkansen in Utsunomiya Station

Our trip is at its end.

We arrived in Austin last night. Today has been one of jet lag and travel recovery misery. Jet lag is part of the yin-yang of international travel. The enjoyment of spending time with your granddaughter is balanced by the pain you suffer once home.

Our last Shinkansen ride brought us back to Tokyo, this time to Ueno station. UT (the University of Tokyo) is located near there, in the Meguro District. Cassady’s apartment is nearby as well. We stayed in a roykan within walking distance of her, and on Saturday we visited the Komaba campus where she will be studying the next two years. UT has five major campuses, with Komaba housing Arts and Sciences.

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Kyoto, Nara, and Osaka - Thank the Gods, The War is Over!

Culture, History, Nature, Opinion, Travel 1 Response »

Mar 272010

View of Nara and the Ikoma mountains beyond the Yamato Plain

Although I have traveled extensively in Japan, I do not profess to have deep insight into the culture or the people. As a westerner (and a Texan, for God’s sake), Asia is blithely enigmatic.

There are certainly cultures in the world that strive to remain apart. The Japanese, for all of their western trappings, do not have to work hard to remain distinguishable. The radical differences in language are, in part, responsible. Although English is commonly seen in Japan, most of it is related to the perplexing English tag lines, slogans, and non sequiturs that Japanese marketing whizzes concoct. Otherwise, Japan is for the Japanese.

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Hiroshima - Day One, AB

Heritage, History, Opinion 1 Response »

Mar 272010

A-Bomb Dome, Hiroshima

Hiroshima.

The name is synonymous with the A-Bomb. The two are interlocked, interchangeable, forever connected by the one ghastly day.

On August 6, 1945, at 8:15 am, the atomic war age began. Since that moment there has not been a day that “nuclear” (even when mispronounced) wasn’t perched on the lips of the world. I would carve up human time into BB (before the bomb), and AB (after the bomb). We are living in the year 65 AB.

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Osaka - Dining by Blowtorch

Food 1 Response »

Mar 232010

Takoyaki

How often do you cook with a blowtorch? Not canned heat (the fondue pot type), but an industrial grade blowtorch? We have now eaten our way across half of Japan, but tonight we witnessed a new style of Japanese cooking – flame thrower.

We left Nara around 11 AM, and arrived in Osaka in the early afternoon. I am behind in my accounts, but I must again take a side track and tell you about the food. Cassady has a good friend in Osaka, Besu, and we met her for dinner. She wanted us to go to a local takoyaki restaurant, the Pizza Ball House (Takonotetsu). The translation is loose. Trust me, there is no pizza in this cuisine other than melted cheese.

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Nagasaki Reminiscences and My Red Vest Day

Culture, History, Opinion 1 Response »

Mar 222010

Oura Catholic Church, Nagasaki

Today I am 60. In Japan men wear a red vest on this day (I will make do with a green shirt). Last night we kissed my fifties goodbye, and this morning I am contemplating geezerhood. As a child I thought of my grandfather as being ancient, yet he died at only 64. Last night my granddaughter reminded me that “you are only as old as you feel.” True, except that you are only as old as your body allows you to feel. Age is both body and soul.

We are in Nara, in the Mikasa roykan within the Nara Koen (Park). We are well above the valley that holds the city, surrounded by forest, deer, and silence. Given the tourist bustle of Kyoto, I welcome this peaceful interlude.

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