With so many plums on hand, I've gotten creative. There's only so much jam you can make and give away when everyone else is also making it. It's sort of like "zucchini season" in Pennsylvania when everyone is overwhelmed with their harvest.
This is an adaptation of a British chutney recipe from Saveur. I localised it to use ingredients we can get here in Japan.
Ume chutney
makes about 4 cups
1.3 kg ume
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar (tubinado/cane)
1 cup rice vinegar
1 cup raisins
1 onion sliced thin
2 large cloves of garlic, sliced thin
1-2" fresh ginger, mined
1 Tbsp black mustard seed
1 tsp peppercorns
6 whole dried chilis
1 Tbsp salt
Wash the ume and discard any with holes that show the fauna have been nibbling. Count the ume (optional but you'll be grateful for this later) Boil the ume until the skins break and the fruit is a little soft - this shaves hours off the total cooking time. Drain the water and set aside.
In a large pan, bring the vinegar and two sugars to a simmer. When the sugar is dissolved, add everything except the plums. Bring back to a simmer and allow to cook for a few minutes. Add the plums.
Simmer for 1-2 hours, stirring to avoid sticking.
When the pits are obviously detatched from the fruit, fish them out with tongs or however you feel like doing it. When your pit count equals the ume count, from when you washed them, you can be confident you got them all.
Put the pits in a strainer and smush the pulp back into the pot. Continue to simmer until the chuntey is a camelised brown and a soft channel forms when you run a spoon through the mixture.
Transfer to sterilised jars, nad process them in a water bath in the standard canning procedure. Sealed jars should last a year unrefridgerated. Unsealed jars, about a month in the fridge.
]]>Ume-zing spiced plum jam
makes about 2 cups
1 kg ume
500 g sugar
1.5 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mace
Consume with a month or so, or process the jars in the traditional canning method.
]]>Babysitter
Lifeguard
Aerobics instructor
Camp program assistant
Tutor
Video rental clerk
Bartender
Photocopier
Retail sales
Teacher
Secretary
Desktop publisher/designer
Corporate marketing/events
Stage manager
Telerama school director
Prep cook
Academic computing trainer
Academic IT manager
Feature writer
Interviewer (journalist)
Academic courseware developer
Webmaster
Year 2000 test center manager
Entrepreneur
Scriptwriter
Camera operator
Boom operator
Gaffer
Continuity girl
Video editor
Logo designer
Graphic designer/illustrator
Model
Narrator/voice actor
Ghost writer
Jewellery maker
Translator
Fixer (video production)
Brand designer
CMS programmer
Technical writer
Test subject (cosmetics)
Hoop performer
Hoop dance teacher
Wedding planner
Costumer
Yoga instructor
Circus performer
Choreographer
Circus teacher
Ringmaster
Circus prop maker
E-book writer
Business manager
Art teacher
Meditation teacher
HasGeek director
Musical performer
No wonder I don't know what to do next. Maybe it's time to review and repeat some of the best ones.
]]>This has been quite a year of making, reliving, questioning, and forgetting memories. From the brain fog of pre-menopause to my mother's dementia to the loss of several friends - I've been mired in memories.
Overwhelmed by some sad news of a friend's tragic demise, I went outside to tidy the garden. I ended up building a structure of felled bamboo. It just seemed right and opened a flood of detailed memories about friends and family. I was compelled to write some of these recollections on ribbons of cloth and tie these burst of color to the poles. Over the next few days, the collection grew and some friends joined me in adding their memories to the piece.
Today, I am opening the project to the world. I invite you to add your memories to Memory Support. You're welcome to stop by in person and rummage in my bag for cloth and a pen. If you aren't nearby, you can participate via post.
Write a memory on a strip of cloth or a ribbon at least 20cm/8in long. Any cloth is good and any memory you want to share is fine. You can create as many as you wish.
Tie your memory to the structure, or send it to me and I will tie it on for you.
Mail your memories to:
Kristen McQuillin
Hiratsuka 1577-2
Kamogawa, Chiba 296-0232
JAPAN
And all the 25 Word entries I've written since 2001:
2016
Half century joys: circus successes; drawing again; driver's license; warm neighbors; loving husband. Sorrows: multiverse branched and Zoupi vanished; my heart broke; mould ruined everything.
2015
A new era began with Japanese eijuuken and freedom to do anything! We quit Tokyo for rural Chiba. Now we have time, space, and ease.
2014
Our 25th anniversary. Eyes opened in Ireland and India to a new life together. More adventures, independence, inventiveness, alliances. Yes, yes! The ayes have it.
2013
Running away to the circus confused me. Spent ten months wondering "What next?" Tried resting, contests, midwifery - not my things. Travel, teaching, performance? Yes. Circus.
2012
Hooping took me up to Tohoku, down to Niijima, and around the world on tour. Ukulele, yoga, improv, songwriting, skating, visiting, & fundraising filled the gaps.
2011
Mother Earth trembled and futures fell apart. Uncertainty ruled us for months but in the end I'm still in Japan, married, hooping, and feeling happy.
2010
Lived my hoop dreams, wheeee! Connected, created, collaborated, choreographed, costumed, capered, camped, coordinated, but then crashed hard. Ouch. Healed and found my truth. Full circle.
2009
Rose petals in blue sky and the scent of muddy elephants conducted me to presence. An intense upwelling of joy revealed the universe inside me.
2008
I made dresses, meals, 100 necklaces, friends. Grew food. Witnessed a birth! I am greying, wrinkling and fading, but I started hooping, so who cares?
2007
Food ruled 2007: went almost vegan, developed recipes, and lost 10 kilos. Also sewed Morsbags, made political statements with robots, and explored Tokyo real estate.
2006
Forty was a pleasure/pain year - a roiling emotional sea. Heartbreaking anguish half drowned me but also un-dammed a flood of patterns, photography and creativity.
2005
This year, a lesson in
How to bear pain and loss.
Travel doesn't cure heartache;
Friends ease the agony.
Healing and peace flow like water.
2004
Did more, finished less.
Strengthened friendships and traveled.
Constructed 18 videos, knitted scarves,
Shared my pencils and my love.
Still seeking realisation of my principles.
2003
Hello Tokyo finally done
Neon Chopstix now begun.
'Twas mostly work but also fun.
Hosted friends from far away.
Another visa for three years' stay.
2002
Celebrating four years in Japan, I exercised my right brain and my poetic voice. I filmed then procrastinated. I waited for the axe to fall.
2001
Spent seven weeks on holiday in Maui, China, mainland US. Wrote lots, taught many, earned little. Saw the inside of my head. Didn't do enough.
Half century joys: circus successes; drawing again; driver's license; warm neighbors; loving husband. Sorrows: multiverse branched and Zoupi vanished; my heart broke; mould ruined everything.
2015
A new era began with Japanese eijuuken and freedom to do anything! We quit Tokyo for rural Chiba. Now we have time, space, and ease.
2014
Our 25th anniversary. Eyes opened in Ireland and India to a new life together. More adventures, independence, inventiveness, alliances. Yes, yes! The ayes have it.
2013
Running away to the circus confused me. Spent ten months wondering "What next?" Tried resting, contests, midwifery - not my things. Travel, teaching, performance? Yes. Circus.
2012
Hooping took me up to Tohoku, down to Niijima, and around the world on tour. Ukulele, yoga, improv, songwriting, skating, visiting, & fundraising filled the gaps.
2011
Mother Earth trembled and futures fell apart. Uncertainty ruled us for months but in the end I'm still in Japan, married, hooping, and feeling happy.
2010
Lived my hoop dreams, wheeee! Connected, created, collaborated, choreographed, costumed, capered, camped, coordinated, but then crashed hard. Ouch. Healed and found my truth. Full circle.
2009
Rose petals in blue sky and the scent of muddy elephants conducted me to presence. An intense upwelling of joy revealed the universe inside me.
2008
I made dresses, meals, 100 necklaces, friends. Grew food. Witnessed a birth! I am greying, wrinkling and fading, but I started hooping, so who cares?
2007
Food ruled 2007: went almost vegan, developed recipes, and lost 10 kilos. Also sewed Morsbags, made political statements with robots, and explored Tokyo real estate.
2006
Forty was a pleasure/pain year - a roiling emotional sea. Heartbreaking anguish half drowned me but also un-dammed a flood of patterns, photography and creativity.
2005
This year, a lesson in
How to bear pain and loss.
Travel doesn't cure heartache;
Friends ease the agony.
Healing and peace flow like water.
2004
Did more, finished less.
Strengthened friendships and traveled.
Constructed 18 videos, knitted scarves,
Shared my pencils and my love.
Still seeking realisation of my principles.
2003
Hello Tokyo finally done
Neon Chopstix now begun.
'Twas mostly work but also fun.
Hosted friends from far away.
Another visa for three years' stay.
2002
Celebrating four years in Japan, I exercised my right brain and my poetic voice. I filmed then procrastinated. I waited for the axe to fall.
2001
Spent seven weeks on holiday in Maui, China, mainland US. Wrote lots, taught many, earned little. Saw the inside of my head. Didn't do enough.