Laundy, Shopping & Keiko Dinner - Utsunomiyia

 Keiko & Yugi's house where we spent 2 weeks living with them.Keiko spent the morning stringing up persimmons.  Persimmons are very popular as autumn fruit in Japan and some kinds of them are considered luxury fruits.  While the fruit is drying it must stay dry from moisture or it will mold and rot.

Hoshigaki

This process involves skinning the fruit and hanging the fruit to air-dry in a sunny window for several weeks.The fruit take about 3-4 weeks to air-dry, so the technique is not for those who require instant gratification. The final product looks darker and collapsed.

Directions

1. Using a small paring knife, remove the skin from each persimmon.
2. If the persimmon has a branch attached, tie twine to the branch and hang it over the rack. Repeat with other persimmons.
3. If the persimmon has no branch attached, insert a small metal screw into the top of the persimmon, and attach the twine to that screw.
4. Allow persimmons to hang for 3-4 weeks, gently massaging them once a week to distribute the sugar in the fruit.
5. At the end of the drying period, remove twine and metal screw (if using), and store them in a covered container or zipper-top plastic bag (much as you would store dates).
6. They will be darkened and shriveled, and jammy when you bite into them.
7. Enjoy, and be sure to give some away as gifts from your kitchen!

 

Keiko has many beautiful flowers in her garden. They are all very healthy looking and that's hard to believe its Nov. These flowers look like spring flowers. 

It's time to get our laundry done.  Since we can't read Japanese language thank goodness for the pictures on the machines.  We figured it out.  These machines are high tech.  you can put your phone number in the machine and it will notify you when it is finished.  The machine washes and dries your clothing all in one machine.  So convenient. I washed my sneakers in a special machine that was set up to only wash sneakers. When i put my sneakers on these poles on the inside of what looked like a microwave to me the shoes were dried very fast.

 

 We took our laundry back to Keiko's and prepared for an adventure to Central Park in Utsunomiyia. Stopped and picked up some sandwiches and chips to eat lunch in the park.  It's a beautiful day. 

CENTRAL PARK

Found a nice place to eat lunch in Central park.  The fall leaves are just gorgeous with all the vibrant colors.

Egg salad sandwich and Star chips for me.

School children had been taken to the park for a walk and lunch at the park. 

We left the park and walked to the FKD mall to do some shopping.

  

Saw this poster in the FKD mall.  The poster is for Soccer competition which will be held here in Utsunomiyia for 2020 Olympics. The first Rugby World Cup will be held in Japan.

  

This is the year of the boar in Japan.

I liked how they used these scarves to decorate their hand bags.  Think I will give it a try.

 

While we were shopping we found this awesome tea cup at Starbucks for Keiko.  I can say I'm pretty sure she liked it by the smile on her face.

 

Keiko made dinner tonight and boy is it delicious.She is a great cook.