Halloween Sequel

I purchased eyeball marshmallows for Halloween 2022. Marshmallows are not common sweet given to children at home; therefore, it’s quite an effort to consume them. 

The second day after Halloween, T had a marshmallow toast for breakfast then

Toad in the Hole

A chef friend had a post about a new item on the menu in her café: toad in the hole, a traditional pub food in England. That gave inspiration to a wife who has to think of three meals to cook every day.

I didn’t drink at all and was only a rare customer to pubs when I was in England. Even when I went to pubs, among friends, I was notorious for ordering hot tea. Eating out was a rare option because of cost and feeling timid  before new things. Toad in the hole, a typical English dish, was alien to me until this time I made it myself in Japan and almost thirteen years after I left England.

Since the authentic taste was unknown to me, I could not give a fair judgment on the quality of my own cooking. However, the fully grown Yorkshire puddings was a satisfying seven to see.

Somehow I came to know more about English life after I left there.

Reading while Child-Raising

Short Stories

Groff, Lauren. "To Sunland". The New Yorker (July 4, 2022). 58-64. (faith and Flannery O'Connor and betrayal)

Ma, Ling. "Peking Duck". The New Yorker (July 11&18, 2022). 62-69. (On writers and their parents)

Alexis, Andre. "Houyhnhnm". The New Yorker (June 20, 2022). 52-58. (Talking horse, grief, absurdity)

Notes about my past life

 

Source of Image <Takamiya Collection in Beinecke Library, Yale>

Recently, I have come across some news in the field of medieval studies. One of them is the discovery of a large-scale tannery in the Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire. <Tannery Discovered in Fountains Abbey>> 

I do not remember I have been to Fountains Abbey during the 4 years when I was in York. What a shame! Isn't it? At that time, having been too much engrossed in the new relationship, I consciously avoided going anywhere without his company. Skipping my own graduation ceremony was another unreasonable decision that I made at the end of my PhD course. It looks a mystery to me now why I would choose to stay in Japan with my newly-wed spouse rather than making the trip alone to England to see witness the end-result of my 4-year efforts. 

All these "compromises for love" seem ridiculous to me now. How much I would want to rewind to the past and tell myself to make a right decision for my own interest. 

Last week, a couple of email exchange with another emeritus scholar here reminded me, almost to the degree of remorse, of the kind of academic career that I had pursued before coming to Japan. Apart from the unfriendly job market here, I know that I did not make as many efforts as I should/could have. Suddenly a strong urge to stay engaged surged, so I decided to recite and memorise Middle English poems by heart. The local search for the cassettes of the recording of The Canterbury Tales in Middle English has shaken me. I thought I always have it somewhere near me, but nothing can be found. The search then was expanded to the Internet as it had never occurred to me that I will just go of this item, an possession that is integrated to my early academic self. Some goole search for the studio which produced the recording went fruitless. I was in shock. Fortunately, I was able to locate the university studio once again. Everything has turned digital now, but the voices and performers are different in the new recordings. 

The Creative Works in BYU

General Prologue (The Canterbury Tales) App

Crossroad: Carolingian Medicine

Jhumpa Lahiri's The Clothing of Books

I read Lahiri's The Clothing of Books while waiting to get my first COVID-19 vaccine. 

It's been a long while since the last time I read Lahiri, an author's works in which I was engrossed. It is a piece of short writing derived from her lecture in Italian to a foundation some years ago. 

The writing still has her unique touch of quiet tone. It was a good read, but somehow I felt distanced as the writing seems to have lost its grip on me, a grip reinforced by some magical attraction to her language that I experienced 9 to 10 years ago.