The other day, I tried making mizu manju, a cool Japanese sweet filled with red bean paste.
Put the ingredients listed below in a saucepan and stir over low heat, being careful not to let the mixture burn. Once it starts to thicken, spoon some of the mixture into small molds, add some red bean paste, and cover with the remaining mixture. Then chill them in the refrigerator until set.
By the way, I bought a pack of Yukimi Daifuku just so I could use the plastic tray as molds. 😅
I also used some other small containers I had at home, but if you use molds about the size of Yukimi Daifuku, this recipe should make about six.
<Ingredients>
Potato starch — 40 g
Sugar — 30 g
Water — 400 ml
Red bean paste — as needed
You can also make milk mochi by changing the proportions and using milk instead of water: 35 g potato starch, 20 g sugar, and 250 ml milk. It’s delicious served with kinako (roasted soybean flour) sprinkled on top.
If you eat it with red bean paste, you can leave out the sugar.
当時はカセットテープで、その後CDを購入しました。落ちたと思っていた会社も採用されて、嬉しかったという忘れられない思い出です。下記は彼女が歌っている歌詞で、これはKing James Versionそのままです。何度も聴いているうちに、英語の「主の祈り」をいつの間にか覚えました。
･･･Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
(Matthew 6:9-13 KJV)
かなり久しぶりになりますが、「主の祈り」の原書を調べてみました。古典ギリシャ語の原書（聖書アプリのTHGNT）は下記テキストに書いた通りです。word by wordの直訳は「Bible Hub」を使いました。下枠のNKJVはNew King James Versionで、私が個人的に原書に近いと思っている英語の聖書です。
黄緑色のフォントは動詞、オレンジ色は名詞になります。なお、文法的な詳細は、「Blue Letter Bible」をご参照下さい。（Blue Letter Bibleの英訳はNASB95ですが、対訳にブランクが多いので、NASB95は使っていません。）
I went out shopping late one evening two weeks ago. I found myself craving a Saizeriya Margherita pizza and thought it would be nice to eat out for a change, so I decided to visit the restaurant for the first time in a while.
Two years ago, I was surprised by their very "analog" ordering method: you had to write the item number on a slip and hand it to a staff member. 😅 Looking back, perhaps they had adopted that system as a measure against COVID-19.
However, I was surprised all over again to find that the system had switched to ordering via smartphone. It felt as if things had suddenly leaped forward in time. 😅 You scan a QR code on the table with your smartphone, place your order on the screen, and pay.
I wondered if people who still use flip phones or don't own a smartphone were unable to use the service. It seemed like they were targeting younger customers. Later, though, I learned that there was a call button on the table and that you could also place an order verbally with a staff member.
Speaking of Saizeriya, it reminds me of the Italian classes I took at music college seven years ago. Italian was a mandatory subject for vocal majors in the first year and an elective in the second. Since I believed Italian was crucial for studying opera, I took the course during both the first and second semesters of my second year.
By the second semester of the second year, the class size had dropped to five students, so the teacher switched to a small-group format. One time, our Italian professor gave us a lengthy lecture on Italian cheeses, showing us photos from a book. After hearing all that talk about delicious food, my four younger classmates headed to Saizeriya, while I stopped by a different Italian restaurant on my way home. 😅
These days, I live more frugally than I used to, so I rarely eat out. I’m a creature of habit, though; whenever I go to Saizeriya, I always order the same things: Margherita pizza, chicken salad, and the drink bar. I'm really grateful that all of this costs just 950 yen. 😊
Since I find most recent TV programs rather boring, I've been watching Korean dramas on SKY PerfecTV!. The other day, I happened to watch The Sound of Music again for the first time in quite a while.
It stars Julie Andrews, one of my favorite actresses, and was filmed in Salzburg. I even own the DVD and have watched it countless times over the years.
These days, you can even watch movies on YouTube. Since the movie cannot be embedded directly here, I’ll post the URL below.
The video below features the song "Climb Every Mountain" sung in the movie. In this scene, the Mother Abbess sings to Maria after she returns to the abbey, confused about her future. Maria is torn between becoming a nun and returning to the von Trapp family.
The subtitles display both the lyrics and their translation. Here are some of the lyrics:
Climb every mountain
Search high and low
Follow every byway
Every path you know
Climb every mountain
Ford every stream
Follow every rainbow
‘Till you find your dream
It is a song of encouragement urging her not to simply hide in the abbey, but to discover the true mission God has given her. Here, the word "dream" means much more than simply a wish or personal ambition; it signifies the life calling or mission bestowed upon her by God.
Climb every mountain
Mountains symbolize life's difficulties and trials. The message is that you shouldn't give up just because things are hard; rather, you should climb the mountain if necessary.
Ford every stream
Ford is used here as a verb meaning to cross a river by walking through shallow water. It doesn't imply a safe path with a bridge. The image here is to keep moving forward, even if you get wet.
Search high and low
This means searching everywhere—both high and low.
Follow every byway
A byway is a side road or a less-traveled path. In life, we often take unexpected detours, but the song suggests that those detours are not wasted.
Every path you know
This seems to suggest that you should explore every path you know and gain experience along the way.
Follow every rainbow
It is a poetic way of encouraging us to move forward without losing hope. I think this song symbolizes the overall theme of "The Sound of Music".It is also heard again near the end of the movie, giving the audience a sense of hope and a bright future.
I've visited Salzburg four times over the years because I love both Mozart and The Sound of Music. Each visit brought back wonderful memories of this timeless film.
<Photos of the film's shooting locations>
These are quite old photos... While there, I spontaneously signed up for the "Original Sound of Music Tour" (an English-language bus tour) to visit the actual filming locations.
If I remember correctly, this is the tree-lined path where the children climbed the trees in the movie.
The von Trapp family home was actually created using two different locations: Leopoldskron Palace and Hellbrunn Palace. The photo below shows Leopoldskron Castle.
Below is another location: Hellbrunn Palace.
The scene where the eldest daughter, Liesl, and Rolf confess their feelings was particularly beautiful and romantic. They caught in a sudden thunderstorm and dashed inside, where they sang and danced to "You are sixteen, going on seventeen....♪”
I didn't learn until much later that when the movie was filmed, this gazebo was originally located on the grounds of Leopoldskron Castle. It was reportedly moved to Hellbrunn Palace to make it easier for tourists to visit and see.
This is St. Michael's Church, where the wedding scene between Maria and Captain von Trapp was filmed. It was a pastel-yellow building, similar in style to Mozart's Birthplace.
These are the "Do-Re-Mi Steps" in Mirabell Gardens. The bus tour concluded here.
