Great Fire-wall of China

This is the first time after the long lapse, I received the access from the China.

( 3 access may not be an accident !)

Long since the WordPress blog has been blocked by their authority which has been

dubbed as “Great Fire-wall of China” hence, to access it needed to have

long chain of proxy. —– It might have changed !

Thanks Buddhaness.

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Carl Zeiss 85mm F1.4 lens — and Maneki-Neko

On the face, photo here is a Japanese Kitsch, so-called Maneki-Neko / 招き猫

(of its rather small mascots) I found in a Japanese restaurant’s window.

For some people, me to branding Maneki-Neko as a Kitsch might be unfair as they are so popular

= almost like the nation’s most beloved icon.

So far I couldn’t find its origin —– probably once there was a cat sat on front of a shop moving

a hand as if he (she ?) is inviting the people = and he attracted a lots of customer,

hence the shop’s business flourished. —– And this story spread and has become a legend. 

(This might be an equivalent of Garden Gnome in this country, especially its Kitsch appearance :-D)

This is a photo just next of Maneki-Neko above = despite it looks very rustic, they are still same

Maneki-Neko, some may say more artistic though.

( Incidentally, a dog-like figure behind is probably a figure of Tosa Champion Dog = a thick rope

on the neck symbolizing that he was the Yoko-zuna / 横綱 (of Sumo wrestling rank = Sumo was

once a part of Shinto festival, hence the thick rope is common with a rope hanged on a Shinto Shrine

Gate / 鳥居) of a Dog fight competition. = may be the owner of the restaurant had him before and

the figure was it’s commemoration to became Yoko-zuna )

[]

Though, what those figures were about, was not a point of those photos.

The matter was a test of a depth of the focus of 85mm F1.4 lens made by Carl Zeiss

= once a must have lens for a professional portrait photographer, because of its high quality to

capture beautiful skin-tone and smooth softness of the out of focus Bokeh. —– the top photo was

in its F1.4 hence showed very shallow depth of focus, and the second one was set to F2.8.

( This lens convinced me to change my camera system from Nikon to Contax in the 80^s. 🙂 )

[]

Just for a curiosity, I tested this lens at the life-size close-up with 85mm extension ring.

( In general, if we extend the lens same as its focal length, it would produce life-size image —–

though, some exception)

This Carl Zeiss 85mm lens has shortest shooting distance 1m, not 0.85m therefore, it imply,

the lens was not designed (= aberration was not well corrected) for shorter than 1m.

The photo here which was taken at F1.4 showed its life-size close-up image.

( This is yet another experiment to see “How shallow the focus can be”).

—– In the photo, the focused image is pretty sharp though, the out of focus image showed

quite visible Chromatic Aberration. = right photo, the saturation was exaggerated to show

separate red and green images. (To see it, please click and enlarge the photo)

= it was utterly out of what this lens was designed.

To design large F- aperture of 1.4 was hard enough and never considered a situation

under such extreme close-up. 🙂

(In comparison to Primary lens, Zoom lens can adjust the position of each lens element, hence it is

easier to compensate the aberrations, many Zoom lens has very extreme yet sharp Macro setting

though, as the lenses were suspended by tiny 3 pins in the curved channel, one drop would destroy)

Everybody knows that a prism can make rainbow color

= when the light pass through an angled grass, the light

would be bent according to its color (wave-length of the

light) hence each color is separated = resulting a rainbow.

A lens is a kind of prism of which the angle of

the grass surface is gradually changing. = naturally, never all the color light comes

to the same focal-point = this is called Chromatic Aberration.

So that, lens designer compensate this effect by using different kind of lens element

within one photographic lens though, aberration also changes depend on the

distance of the object, it is impossible to be perfect. (Even for the Carl Zeiss  🙂 )

—– still, it was an interesting test for me = I never encounter the out-of-focus Bokeh image

in such clear red and green. (Again, please enlarge the photo to see it )

[]

LED Torch-Lamp

I don’t know how many LED torch lamp I had bought altogether. (not mention Christmas lights :-D)

Here the photo of some torch lamp still I have. —– though, with my bad habit, as often I

disassemble them and utilized it for another purpose, many of them are no longer here.

In the left photo, top is a torch-lamp made by OSRAM using 5 ordinary ( 5mm white ) LEDs

powered by 3xAA battery which I bought 8 or 9 years ago. (but I discarded outer casing which was

too bulky )

The second in the photo was made by Ansman, which is using Hi-power Lumiled 1W LED

and 2 lithium battery = it’s mean powered by 6 volts (current was regulated by a resister) —–

quite bright but, as it use lithium battery, very expensive to run.

non

In the right photo, which I found at Tesco was also 1W torch, but using only 2 AA battery !

LED ( Light Emitting Diode ) is, as the name suggests, a kind of semiconductor diode.

To make a diode start to emit the light ( Photon was emitted) it is necessary to give the high-enough

electric energy = higher than so-called Forward Voltage which is for White LED about 3.5V, therefore

if it was powered by the ordinary battery, it is necessary to use minimum 3 batteries (1.5 x 3 = 4.5 V

—– then the LED will work until the voltage drop below 3.5V)

The Tesco torch-lamp which was powered by only 2 AA batteries mean, it is having an electronic

circuit called DC-DC converter which rises the voltage from 1.5 x 2 = 3 V to

more than 3.5 V. = And in fact this circuit can keep out-put voltage near constant 4V until the

battery become almost empty.

And this torch light is using hi-power 1W LED made by Cree. Even more surprise, this torch was

sold £5  (can you believe ?) = So, I bought 4 of them at once. 😀

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—– But funny story here was, as this torch lamp is able to drain the battery until it is completely

empty = on the end of the life, the internal pressure of the battery rise = battery become fatter =

stack inside of the chamber. (Really a hell to pull the stacked batteries out. :-D)  Battery maker

wanted to make their M-H battery having higher capacity (without using rare earth material)

therefore, the easiest way to achieve this is, to make the battery casing larger and thinner.

In the same time the manufacturer of the torch-lamp body wanted to save the material,

therefore made it to the minimum size, just enough to accommodates the standard AA battery.

= this is the situation, a trouble was waiting to happen  😀

—– Yet still, the reason why I bought 4 of them is to make a video-light kind of device.

= If I use only its light head and having separate battery box, it wouldn’t give any trouble.

( 4 W video-light with DC-DC converter which gives constant out-put, for £ 20 is a bargain ! )

Same as Tesco’s torch-lamp, photos above, this LED torche are also using only 2 batteries

= to say, second generation LED torch-lamp.

= It came from Lidl with £15 price and using Cree’s 3W LED.

3W mean, LED draw almost 1A current, hence it needs to use 2xD type battery and quite

solid aluminum structure with water proof O-ring. (pretty heavy though, it is blindingly bright,

and thanks to a built-in mirror the light can concentrate to narrow 5 degree = can see 50m away)

This one, photo left, was also from the Lidl. But this is a cheaper plastic version and a cost £3.

Yet still this is 2xAA battery type. In the photo you can see a LED and a Switch-mode DC-DC

converter circuit.  In the circuit-board, round black component is a coil to induce high voltage, and

together with 2 transistors (one oscillate and other is acting as a feed-back comparator to stabilize

the voltage) supply the power to a LED. (round aluminum block under the LED is a heat-sink).

When the battery is new and giving 3.2V, it supply 130mA 3.5V to LED and even the batteries are

nearly the end of life = 0.8Vx2, converter still give the same 3.5V though much reduced current,

10mA therefore the light out-put is not as bright as on the beginning (still usable).

(This LED is about 1/2 to 1/3 W —– 3.5Vx0.13A= 0,45W on the paper, but it seemed LED is not

a genuine Cree = cheaper copy ?) = Still, this one could be a best buy

= second generation LED torch for £3 !

[][][]

Yet still, the battle in a market is so fierce, a torch-lamp, photo right,  looks very ancient which

is using 3 LEDs was found to be also 2xD type which cost whopping  £1 only ! ! !

By using 3 standard LED, heat is not much a problem and 0.1W each x3, the light out-put is more

or less the same as the other one.  The circuit-board has only 2 component with 3 LEDs

—– in one glance,  I thought they are 1 transistor and a register though, they are in fact,

transistor-shaped 3 pin microchip and a coil in a shape of register.

= it was a proper switch-mode DC-DC converter.

With an atmost mean simplification it managed to make a £1 products. (Wittingly or unwittingly)

[]

  In comparison to those rather elaborated approach,

  the photo left is the opposite.

  It was made in a meanest way —– it’s using

  3xAAA batteries in the traditional manner but uses

  no soldering at all but just push-fit, relying only

  on the friction = Still, if it is only £1 and as long as

  it works, who bother. 

  While using 9 LEDs, it has a reasonable brightness.

  —– But, my intention to buy this was, again for

  different purpose 😀 —– somewhat properly made aluminum

body which got ON-OFF switch and 3xAAA battery holder = it can be used like a battery case or

handle of another device.  Hence, I bought 10 of them. 😀

( to make such parts from scratch, it needs to have a lots of work, and it couldn’t be £1 )

[]

Whether, to use it as a Torch-Lamp or utilize part of it, they are very useful tool.

= Torch-Lamp is not only looking for a lost coin under the bed. 😀

[]

San-sai (山菜) = Edible Plants from Mountain

Early summer, lots of Japanese goes out field or mountain to gather edible plants.

They appreciates each plant’s distinctive tastes and the flavor which is unique to the season.

= Naturally, I receive my friends Email with those stories and photographs (Link here).  (He was few years

Younger member of the Alpine Club = In his older Posts, you may see that he is climbing snowy mountain

every week and skiing ! = That’s how Japanese is living with the Nature )

[]

—– those custom was behind of my Bracken story. = for me, as an ex-patriot, it is a sort of nostalgia to my

Japanese taste,  in the same time it is a resistance to the modern western culture “Vegetable comes

from Tesco”, —– but in fact, it often came from a farm other-side of the earth, 

and regardless the time of year.  (Still, I got tasteful great memory to eat full-ripen tomato in the

very middle of dizzyingly vast, red tomato field in a Canary Island which tomato is destined to

a shelf of super market in England.  A farmer stopped me to pick, and gave me the better one  😀 )

For a sake of convenience, it degrading the one’s only life to a life in statistical number.

To live in its moment mean = unique moment = unique to its year’s season. = not standardized

homogeneous pattern, which was mass produced and sold by a Supermarket.

[]

The stories from Japan is not a kind of surprising news = went so and so place and picked this and that plants then

enjoyed eating them as a Templa and so-on.

(In the photo left, underneath is Wasabia Japonica (that Wasabi /山葵 , comes with Sushi.

They grow in a very clean mountain stream).    And the Small Bamboo Shoots (Takenoko / 竹の子 ).

The big one on top is Aralia Cordata (Udo / 独活).

Right photo is also in the Araliaceae family, Eleutherococcus Sciaphylloides (Koshi-abura / こしあぶら) = may

be not in the west and its bitter taste may be too strong for other than to Japanese ). —– Yet, I noticed, this

Japanese tradition may have some displeasure to the western people which might be originated

from the difference of the natural environment in Japan, and their attitude toward the plants.

= In comparison to the England where only 20% of the land is mountainous,  Japan got their 80% is the mountain

= hence the area where those plants grow is huge and those plants are everywhere = human activities wouldn’t

affect so much (anyhow people wouldn’t go to the same area which got too much competition) and

the plant would recover by making side shoot.

[]

—– It may sound too funny though, only a week or two ago I discovered that I can use Google and Wikipedia

in Japanese. 😀

Because of my knowledges of the plants are all in Japanese, I didn’t necessary wrote the name of the plant in English

or in Latin before. —– But when I Googled and saw Wikipedia in Japanese, then found the English name, I noticed,

some of the plant which Japanese eat, are the garden plants in the west.

Like Foster, they are quite common in the gardens here, and in Japanese mountain they are everywhere.

= they are easy to distinguish and easy to cook such as to put into Miso soup though, the western people may not

feel comfortable to eat them as they make pretty flowers.

The Japanese “Udo” Aralia Cordata is now widely sold in England with a fancy name of “Aralia Cordata Sun King”

hence people never considered to eat as “Udo” like Japanese does.

There is a very firm idiosyncrasy

= plants in the garden is only for visual pleasure never for eating !

And they may not want to be seen as an hungry people. 😀

Kitchen garden might be only for a show-off of their rich folly and for a talking piece.

—– For a Japanese, nature is not just for looking at. They eat a lot from the nature as well

= literally living together.

[]

Goma-ae Ingen (Green Bean in Sesame source)

– ——( To show the source, it was poured on top of the Green bean, instead to put the bean into the bowl

——where the source was mixed = it’s mean one more bowl to wash = it’s against the way of simple  life    🙂 )

[]

As a humble  Zennist’s principle, I don’t buy so-called snack or sweets.   ( I said, in principle =

exception is a fruits cake in December.   In an old tradition, families goes out to the woods to pick wild

fruits and use them to make a cake to celebrate a festive season. —– Even if it is just a nostalgic story,

still I like a luminescence,  when people had a life with a cycle of the nature.

[]

As a matter of fact, last time I eat a piece of chocolate was last year ? at somebody’s party.

( I don’t like a scandalous situation, even after it became an issue, still the African children were forced to

harvest chocolate beans to satisfy the craving of the people )

But it was not the reason of such social issue, why I don’t buy those sweets was, simply my shopping

list was fixed.  Where and what to buy is always the same and bare essential.  Hence, in my shopping habit,

there is no such item of sweets, and they don’t came up to my scope. —– Of cause I can see, it is there, like

a land scape though, —– So What ?

[]

Instead of such snack, I always have boiled Green bean (Ingen Bean) or Sprouts in a pan.

Before, I used to buy fresh one.   Then, I realized, frozen one is about the same price.

And, they are already prepared. ( In here, I wouldn’t brandish a dogma —— simple life is meant to be

good for a lazy person. = Life would be even simpler if I don’t need to cut them —– yet, I don’t have

Food processor = when one knife can do all the work, why do I need to spend a money to

buy a machine.    Ha ha ha   😀 )

[]

—– Anyhow, in a day, I eat those Greens as a snack.

I eat  fruits as a snack as well, though they are sweet = this is a savory alternative.  (In fact, a Tomato is

also good alternative  🙂 )  —– Then you may say why not a bread — but  to eat tasteless bread we need

to put either butter or jam kind, hence it’s no good.  ( Don’t tell me about Marmite  😀 )

Ask your mouth, not to your brain —– An idea came from the brain can force your mouth to chew, but it

can’t force your throat to swallow = throat was controlled by your instinct,  not by your thinking )

(Priority here is, it should be cheaper than sweets, and others may say it is healthier too)

[]

To eat them, I wouldn’t eat like a rabbit.

Its gotta be good enough for the sophisticated  Zennist’s mouth.   😀

( Simple life doesn’t mean eat junk food = Still, it should be cheap and easy to make =

achieved by some clever adaptation here.   😀 )

In the authentic Japanese cooking, sesame seeds have to be ground in a kind of small mortar called

Suri-bachi with Surikogi stick which I don’t have here ( —– once I tried it with Coffee grinder,  ended up

with miserable havoc = unlike coffee, sesame seeds are very oily = without falling to the bottom, the seeds

became gluey sticky staff and clogged the grinder.  It took me hours to disassemble and clean every parts.

And even after a cleaning, the ground coffee became awfully oily taste = The lesson was, never attempt to

use coffee grinder for anything else but for coffee bean.   😀 )

instead to grind the sesame-seed, I discovered ready-made sesame-seed paste = Tahini

from Greece or Turkey.   ( Sold in the most super-market.   This substitute is a cheat, and not much

freshly ground crispy flavor though, still it has the Sesame taste)

[]

So, this the way to eat  Goma-ae Ingen  in Yoshizen style :

—– (to make for one potion)

= Put a teaspoon full  Tahini paste into a rice (sized) bowl.

= Add a teaspoon of Soy-sauce and mix well —– That it !

This is too humble and taste is not rich enough, so I normally put something a bit more.

= Half tea spoon of Miso (Soybean paste).

= Quarter teaspoon of Dashi powder. ( or few shake of MSG if you dare)

= Two or three drops of  West Indian Chilly Sauce. (This is a very hot staff so, if you like )

===> Mix well. Then put boiled Green bean and mix with the sauce.

And just eat as its own,  or a side-dish for a meal.

[]

—– It wouldn’t take more than few minutes to make still,  you will be surprised the taste so good !

With this source, I eat boiled sprouts or broccoli as well.

In place of  Tahini, it can be done with Mayonnaise as well.

(Except Dashi which contains fish powder, rest are totally vegetarian.  People despise MSG though, it was

originally extracted from Kombu ( Kelp seaweed) and synthesized out of  Wheat Gluten = if it is anything

bad for the health, Chinese are already extinct from the Planet as they use tons of  it every day.

Additives in a Mayonnaise are far more suspicious than few shakes of MSG   :-D)

So, have a try, and Enjoy an healthy eating of  Ingen-bean.

( Incidentally, the name Ingen was after a  16th century Zen master who said to have

brought this bean from China)

The beauty of this cooking is,  if we are going to go a party, where everybody bring a cooking,

—–  just bring a mixed source in a small jar, boil the bean in their kitchen and serve.

It will be counted as one good dish.  = very convenient !

[]

Principle and Reality

Oh, holy Mackerel.     Is it Palm Sunday ? ! —– It must be April-Fool.

In principle, I don’t buy a calender. —— May be not such a principle but I just don’t buy.

Regardless whether a calender says it or not, the days come.  Next of 31^st March is definitely 1^st

of April.  In that case, why DO I need to have a calender.   It is a waste of money isn’t it.   😀 😀

In a principle to be a Buddhist, I should be a humble, poor man, hence not spend a money for non essentials.

A calender comes in this category. —– Therefore, I hardly know when is the Easter.  Ha ha ha 😀

[]

Without having a calender, how do I know, this is the Palm Sunday = because the Radio said so.

(I don’t have TV) And I’ve been wondering, why BBC Radio 3 plays such as J S Bach Mathieu Passion. ? ? ?

Then blimey, the so-called Easter said to be coming soon.

Unlike Xmas, the exact date of Easter is always drifting = it’s a headache, especially before, suddenly, all the

shops were closed, as they say it’s Easter —– What a hell, I don’t care Easter, I need to buy a bread. 😀

—– So, for a wise precaution, I have to make sure, in my fridge, at least something to eat is there.

[]

Principle or just a mean man’s habit, it often cause a conflict with the reality of the world.    He he he.

—– I don’t care Easter, is a principle though, in the same time I got so used to listen Baroque music,

especially J S Bach’s.   In my view (or should I say, my ear ? ) Bach’s Mathieu Passion is one of the

zenith of the human musical culture = just a combination of the sounds in a sequence, how such

purely sound stimuli can make a person to tear. ? ? ?

I don’t care and not necessary believe the whole story of the Passion, and unlike Dr. Albert Schweitzer’s

view of him, Bach may not necessary wholly committed Christian ( such as a fact in reality, he composed

Mass C miner, in order to seek a position in Roman Catholic ) —– still, (regardless Protestant or Catholic )

he knew what is the Spirituality in the human mind and in the ear = Sound of the God is

beyond the argument of the Christian sects.

[]

From the principle, or a posture to be a Buddhist, I should find something Buddhists Music though,

there are virtually non.  (the President of Mitsutoyo Co. Japan is a profound Buddhist, and organizing

International Buddhist’s Music Competition though, I haven’t heard any music from its event)

Virtually non mean, of cause there are some, such as Nen-Butsu Wasan (念仏和讃) or

Tendai Shomyo (天台声明), name but few though, sorry to say they are in musical term, not listenable.

May be only the exception is the one composed by Takemitsu (武満徹), using Tendai-Shomyo in very

powerful contemporary music style —– yet, I have heard its broadcast only twice in my life.

[]

Leave the Moslem, as they prohibits religious music (still, their secular, so-called Arabic music has

literally Arabesque universe of rich music culture —– their rhythm automatically drives my body).

The Hindu has such great tradition of religious music which gave an influence and flourishing in the

Indonesian Gamlan music too (incidentally some Gamlan tune were even imported to the Okinawa (沖縄)

music = some use of chromatic tune are unmistakably Gamlan !)

Whether they are religious music or not, Jewish music is one of a basis of the western music.

—– yet still, where the influence of the Buddhism, of its music tradition has gone in China

and in Japan. —– was there any prohibition, or repentance of music in the early Buddhism ?

To keep the music kind away, —– was it in the teachings and in their principle ?

Didn’t Lord Buddha sang a song with followers ?

(Imagine, Pope singing popular song. Doesn’t he?  Didn’t he ever ? — I’m sure he got his real life as a human.

Enjoying a wine and singing loud   😀 )

[]

Historical facts showed, at least the musical instrument from India had reached to China and to Japan though,

it seemed it was only as a fancy goods = not accompanied by a musician, hence no music came together.

Such as a string instrument called Piipa (琵琶) in China, Biwa in Japan is the same Veena in India

(incidentally, it is the origin of Lute in the west)

In China and in Japanese traditional performance, a story teller use this as an accompanying instrument.

( In Japan Hei-kyoku (平曲) or Heike biwa (平家琵琶) and Chikuzen biwa (築前琵琶) is an old tradition,

but now kept by only handful players —– how sad )

How sad is my principle.  Though, in reality, I play its tape only as an sample sound when I have a

conversations with friends.

And in reality = regardless whether I’m Japanese Zennist or not, I listen and deeply appreciate

J S Bach’s Mathieu Passion = in this very moment it was played by the radio. (come from Amsterdam)

( The sound of Mathiew Passion, but in Miku Hatsune version is in this post (in enbeded YouTube ) )

If it is a good music just listen it.   There is no Dogma in Zen.

If anybody having fixed view, the mind has just stacked ===> free your mind.

If the song and dance is such bad, Dharma wouldn’t have created the musical tone

in the first place.  Don’t you agree ?    Ha ha ha 😀

___/\___

[]

Anmochi = Rice Cake with Sweet Redbean Paste (make it in 10 min)

It was a bit of blunder  :-D　（いささかドジだったね 😀 ）

This Post should have appeared on the 3rd of March, a day of

the Hina-matsuri (ひな祭 ）

Girls Festival in Japan.

And its formal name Momo no Sekku (桃の節句) suggests,

it has to come with  Plum Blossoms, —– m m m, though,

there wasn’t a hint of blossom at all．

Then, few days ago, I found it in full bloom !!!

So, the belated Plum Blossom and the Anmochi’s photos here.  Mission accomplished !  😀 

To cook  Anmochi  in 10 minutes may misleading to some readers, since this cooking is an addition to the

previous post on January [ Cooking  Oshiruko ] ( the Link here) of which the boiled down Red Bean soup

had become to  Anko = Sweet Red bean Paste.  And the  Anko should come out freezer for this cooking  🙂

( To make  Anko from scratch, may need at least 4 hours —– still worthwhile to cook = try it. )

Provided, you have  Anko , to make  Anmochi  is really 10 minutes process ( with Micro-wave Cooker )

*** Put 4~5 spoon full Glutinous Rice powder into stone-ware noodle bowl ( Micro-wave  proof)

*** Add 4~5 spoons of water and stir well to make it to gluey staff (photo right = slowly dripping )

*** Cover the glue with Red bean Paste and heat it up in Micro-wave Cooker / Mid High = for 3 minutes.

===== Here, Anmochi  is ready to eat.  (careful !  the bowl is very hot.   And the Rice cake is stacked

to the bowl = you need to use a spoon to scrape it.  If you like even more rich taste, add a cream on it.

Looks not very pretty though, taste is unmistakably Anmochi = believe me  😀

Enjoy an eating.   Welcome Spring.

[]

Early Cherry Blossom

In order to put  [ An-Mochi Cooking ] post, I needed to have a photo of Plum Blossom. 

Though I couldn’t find it in time of the 3rd of March, Japanese Hina-Matsuri (ひな祭り／Girls Festival )

Then few days ago, I saw a Pink Blossom from a bus window.  But when I went back there with my camera,  tree was

turned out to be a  Mountain Cherry  ( we call Yama-zakura/山桜 ) = the origin of  Somei-Yoshino variety.

Despite of normally rather small Mountain Cherry,  this tree was a quite hefty big tree of 5~6 m tall which

I can even climb up. ( Though, as a good citizen, I didn’t  😀 )   As it spreading the branches wide, it

convinced me to use Fisheye lens ( again )  😀

In the western tastes, the more the flowers, mean “Gorgeous” !

So, enjoy the view.  Gorgeous isn’t it.  — though, if I may a bit sarcastic, this psyche and its tendency

might be related to the birth of the Capitalism.  ( In its endless greed —– though, don’t ask me

how about the psyche of tremendously rich eastern industrialists  😀 )

So, it might be only a fig-leaf of yet another greed, still this kind of rather reserved decency, originated from

the Confucians philosophy is more appreciated in the east as it often appeared in the Chinese paintings.

Coinciding with Confucians, Taoism has been teaching

the virtue of  living with the rules of the nature.

 Be humble and live as an anonymous small person

 = This is the idea of Minimalism.

This minimalism has been reflected into Zen philosophy.

So that even in poetry, such as in Haiku/俳句, it is not just

short,but the strict rules limiting the use of the word  = only one word indicates the season/季語 = it must be

there, but another word doubling it is regarded to be superfluous, hence illegal = it got to be strictly minimal.

[]

So, in photography, in order to show the full bloom of cherry,  some time photographer only showed a fallen

petal or two on the ground, or floating in the stream.  ( Though, in real life, to create this image, photographer

remove all the petals on the ground before, and places the best look flower petal in the most effective,

looks natural position = it is a staged photo  😀 ) —– I don’t have any editor to please = I’ve just clicked

a photo above.   If you find the flowers in full bloom and its end of the life = temporariness of

the life,  it is what this photo meant to be.  ( Click on the photo to enlarge, and click it again for further

enlargement = it become about the life-size.   Put your lap-top or tablet on the floor.   Kneel down as if you

are  looking into the fallen petals on the real ground.  Give a thought.  =  It would make you feel a bit humble. 

—– Take this as a Buddhist’s practice in Direct Transmission. )

( Camera used was a very humble Canon EOS 5D Mk-II,  8~15 mm Fisheye Zoom, 24~70 F2.8 Zoom Lens )

___/\___

[]

Dragon Image ( for The Friends having Chinese NEW YEAR )

Yet again, the images of my Dino the Wire Dragon —– for a Chinese New Year  !

In order to have a New Year ( 23rd of January 2012 ) Celebration ,  Chinese people goes back to

their home town, in the scale of many hundreds millions.  = said to be the largest ever human

movement in the history.  A wave after wave of the people coming to the station —– it is far

beyond of my imagination.  Any how, 1/3 ~ 1/4 of human population is the Chinese,  when ever

it’s happened it must be colossal —– still, m m m ? ? ?    How can they manage ?

What so ever all the people there, include my friends,  I hope they have safe journey

and above all, have a Happy New Year.

What so ever electrolized and materialized the environment, still the last Bastian of human life and

its happiness lies in their family and eating the meal together.  It’s the same in million of years.

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Cooking Adzuki-beans and Make Oshiruko お汁粉

The culture of growing and eating beans in Japan was originated from China, such as

Soya-bean and its derivatives/ Soy-source, Soyabean-paste, include Aduki-beans.

Unlike western and some African cultures, eastern people doesn’t eat beans as their staple food and most

of the case, cook them as a kind of sweets or its basis.

(Inside of famous Chinese Moon Cake, you can see the heavy Adzuki-bean paste mixed with Walnut and the oil

which makes it even heavier or richer = to celebrate, the taste richer the better for them to feel rich  :-D)

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Many years ago, at the party held by Thai students, I cooked (supposedly) Japanese Sweet Dish of Oshiruko,

then Thais pointed out “Hey Yoshi, this is not Japanese, it’s our cooking”.

So that, when I visited their country I realized that almost identical cooking called in Chinese name,

Hon Tao Shui (紅豆水) was served every tea house, even a street corner which the Red-bean or Adzuki-beans

was cooked and made sweet soup with Rice-powder dumplings in (and often, some  ice-cube as well = which

we call [Koori-Adzuki] in Japan) And I noticed, the situation is the same wherever the Chinese people lives.

I guess, a lots of western people encountered a Japanese sweet [Yokan], Adzuki-bean Cake with rather revolting

feelings “Yack, What’s this”(since, westerners never expected to eat the bean other than in a savory taste =

same situation of easterners tasted a Green Tea or the Rice with added sugar) 😀

Not necessary in China, but in Japan, adzuki-bean is regarded to be an auspicious food, because of its

red color, especially when it was cooked with a combination of white, such as rice or rice-cake.

Hence, any festive occasions, Japanese cook [Sekihan]赤飯 (Red-colored rice = Glutinous rice with

Adzuki-beans) and [Oshiruko] = (Rice-cake in Adzuki-bean soup) simply because its got red and white  🙂

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Because of this, Japanese adzuki-bean got festive value.   It’s carry 3x more price, but pretty high quality.

—– though,  bean is the bean, it is more or less the same as ubiquitous Cowpeas  (top photo).

To make [Sekihan] it’s better to use Japanese bean but,  make Oshiruko can be done with poor-man’s choice.

To make Oshiruko for 4~5 people use 1.5 cup of bean and put it into 7” big pan, start with 2 cups of water

to boil. (Only a shortcoming to use cheap bean is, they got many stones and insect infested bean = you need to

sort them out, before start cooking)

And when the pan started to boil, drain the water and flush the bean with fresh water to clean it.  🙂

Then real cooking start with 4 cups of water. —–> While boiling, the water will disappear.

So, you have to put more water. ( You need to top-up the water 3~4 times and the bean increase the bulk 3 times

or more = till here you may need to boil 3~4 hours ! —– or, if you have slow-cooker it might be a better choice

for an overnight cooking)

When the bean was cooked and became soft, then put plenty brown sugar (rather annoying amount of almost 1kg !

—– this is what sweet meant   😀 )

Then, put 1/3 teaspoon of salt = never put too much,  and leave the pan to quietly boil another 1 hour.

And put Rice cake to boil yet another 2~5 minutes. (Rice Cake made out of Glutinous Rice powder in my-way

should be OK to boil longer but, a Japanese Rice Cake [Kiri-Mochi] 切り餅 which was made of  mixture of regular

rice powder, would be melt and disintegrates)

Then Oshiruko is ready to serve.

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—– I don’t think you have eaten up all the sweet Adzuki soup yet (may be another 5 portions still left) =

boil further to reduce it become sticky paste = it became to [Anko] and can be used to make many

other Japanese sweets, such as [An-Mochi], [Mizu-Yokan]

—– put this [Anko] onto a piece of bread ! = it’s not too bad.   😀

Heavy [Anko-paste] can last a week in a fridge, or it can be frozen for next time, if not till next New Year.  😀

—– So, I’ll put another post to make those [An-Mochi], [Mizu-Yokan] etc. near future.

Enjoy your sweet teeth 😀

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