Pomelo Juice

Between packing & purging I decided to take a break and try out the juicer I found a couple of days ago. I tried it on the pomelos because there weren't that many oranges left. We had 1 that had been picked. There was a little bit of a learning curve to figure out how to best get the juice out of a citrus fruit that was quite a bit larger than the 2 sizes of reamers that come with the juicer. I got about 10 ounces of juice out of this pomelo.


As I was putting the pomelo rinds in the compost pile, Sam returned from caring for the shearwaters at the zoo. She picked 9 more pomelos; 2 of them dropped before I could catch them so I used those for juice. The juice is much like grapefruit juice but not quite as bitter or as sweet. One of the other pomelos also gave about 10 ounces of juice and the other about 12 ounces; so I got about 30 ounces total. Debbie said she used a sinkful of oranges to get a similar amount.

Today Xander kept trying to get me to open up the suitcase so he could sleep in it again. When I didn't he slept on the floor next to it; he did that all day. He rarely sleeps on the living room floor during the day.

Happy 4th Anniversary to Ali & Latifah!

Blanket Mystery

Curtis told me there was a suitcase that belonged to Grandpa that might interest me; it was in the closet of the room Sam is staying in. So this morning she helped me get it off the top of the shelf.


Here's a close-up of the sticker on the top of the suitcase. It looks like the suitcase was headed for Yokohama but I'm not sure exactly where it came from. We know that this is not the original suitcase that Grandpa used when they emigrated from Okinawa; Mom had said earlier that the other suitcase that I have was from one of his later trips back to visit relatives. They didn't know what happened to the original trunks & suitcases, which would be about 100 years old by now. This suitcase is probably a younger than Dad.


It turns out the suitcase was full of blankets.


After I finished breakfast, I got back to unpacking the blankets from the suitcase and found a surprise at the bottom. The next 2 blankets after the top green blanket were old wool Army blankets, but the one after those was multi-colored with a pattern on it. The final blanket was green & white, also with a pattern.



When I looked closer at them I noticed that the pattern is meant to be seen when the blanket is folded in half & draped over something; I thought they might be serapes. But I couldn't find the opening to slip your head through; I found out on the Internet that the opening is a recent addition for tourists so these might be sarape. Both have wear along the edges and the green & white one has a couple of holes.

I asked Curtis if he had ever seen them before; he hadn't. But both he and I remember Dad talking about his experiences meeting Native Americans when he was sent to the southern states for basic training during World War II. He just could not believe how poorly they were treated and identified strongly with them. Perhaps he brought these back from his time during the war. I showed Dad the blankets when he got up for lunch; he said they looked familiar but he couldn't remember why. We may never know their history. (Dad also had stories about how poorly African Americans were treated.)

After I had emptied the suitcase, I went to put the blankets away in another room. When I returned, I found this. He spent the afternoon sleeping there. When he got up and left I closed the lid; he was not happy with me.


Xander does some strange things sometimes. But none stranger than what he did last night. I was icing my knee to take the swelling down and he lay down next to me. Next thing I know he is resting his head on the ice pack and falling asleep!


One of the other things I found today was a painting that Dad had done after the war. It is a scene in Italy during the war. Italy was the first country they were deployed in and where he was injured. Lori is thinking about hanging it at their house once their remodel work is done.


Happy Birthday to Victoria & Valory!

Dad Aces His VA Physical!

Dad had his annual Veterans Administration physical today at the Spark M. Matsunaga VA Medical Center. We think they make him come in every year to make sure he is still alive. Once again his vital signs were excellent; blood pressure was 112/67 mmHg. Dr. Young's only request is for Dad to be a little more active than he is.


This morning Curtis & I went to Bogart's Cafe for breakfast. He was originally heading to Wailana Coffee House, but as we passed by he saw that there were several spaces in the parking lot at Bogart's. He says that frequently the line is out the door; we found the key is to get there early, they open at 6 am. Curtis had the Chicken Apple Sausage Omelette and I had the Migas; which I was told is a Tex-Mex dish. I could find nothing on the Internet that looked like what I had, but it was good; I would order it again.

The sign over the kitchen door way.

Chicken Apple Sausage Omelette.

Migas.

After breakfast we worked on taking apart the shelf in the hallway. It took about an hour to take it apart and another hour to wrap the parts up for transport. We also spent time wrapping up the bean bag chair, which I have had since college.

We're stacking everything I would like to send to Kohala in the hallway.

After Curtis left, I continued working on wrapping up the glass floats and the Japanese doll. I found out that the case of the Japanese doll is actually plastic not glass; which makes it less fragile. I put spacers around the top and bottom to keep it still in the box, as well as wrapped it in bubble wrap.

The Japanese doll with spacers.

I also talked to Aunty Judy, I will be taking the large green cache pot that she made to Kohala. I started wrapping it up today; I'll finish that off tomorrow.


Curtis sent a photo of the work at his house. The contractor started the framing yesterday; they anticipate completing the framing by the end of the week.

(Photo by Curtis)

Happy 1st Birthday to Jace! And Happy Birthday also to Laurel!

Bathroom Cleaning is Done!

Last night Sam finished wiping down the walls of Mom's bathroom. She also swept everything out to get it ready for me to steam clean this morning.

Sam finishing off the bathroom last night.

Sparkling clean bathroom!

When I let the cats out in to the cat run this morning, Xander immediately jumped up on the tables.

Xander making believe he is a lion surveying his domain.

Later I made a quick run to pick up packing materials to help pack up the living room. I tried to go to U-Haul but there was a lot of road work going on in front so there was no parking; I ended up at Office Depot. I was wandering around looking for the "moving supplies" aisle without luck. Then I heard the distinctive sound of someone using stretch wrap, so I headed in that direction. Success!


On Saturday evening Dad bit down on something and said his tooth was loose. I got him an appointment with Dr. Inouye this afternoon; he had the tooth removed. Dad is doing much better this evening.

I got a text from Sam just before dinner; the van died. It looks like the battery on the van is dying. AAA is supposed to show up tonight and change the battery; they didn't have one here earlier, one is being brought in from Waianae.

Happy Birthday to Patrick!

More Purging & Packing

I spent a bunch of time today cleaning, sorting, & packing things. Unfortunately I was a little distracted and spent time on the dining room also. I worked on the portable cart in the corner that is piled high with stuff. I decided to start with the middle shelf since it had the least stuff on it. I found an unlabelled jar; once opened it smelled & looked like salted lemons. I'm not sure why Mom put a food item on an appliance storage shelf but I think these salted lemons might be a batch from Doreen; if so, it's one of the last she made. I moved the lemons to a more appropriate place.



I found a container of puffed rice cake! Oh wait, that's not really what it was. It's really an immersion blender with some attachments. I'm not really sure why Mom would have an immersion blender, she did not cook much. But now I know there's one in the house and I know where it is if I need one; it is now labelled so anyone else will know what it is without opening the container.



I also found a rice cooker; don't know how old it is but the plastic bag it was in was disintegrating! This rice cooker is a lot better than the one Mom was using when I arrived last year. It looked like the rice cooker was put away without being thoroughly cleaned. I cleaned it up, put a new bag on it, and returned it to the shelf. I'll check out whether it still works on another day.

I also found a juicer; it works & only needed a tiny bit of cleaning. I'm not sure what newer juicers are like; this one has no on/off switch. When you press the fruit down on the juicer part it spins. I am keeping it at the front of the shelf so that I can make fresh-squeezed orange juice when the next crop of oranges ripens! I also found out that you can make pomelo juice; we still have a bunch on the tree so I will try making juice with some of them.


I found a spiralizer; it's still in the box but it has been taped shut so I think it was used at some time. I didn't open it up so I don't know if it also needs a little cleaning or even if it works. The next time a vegetarian or vegan comes to visit we can use it. The spiralizer will also be helpful to provide a non-gluten type of "noodle" for David & other visitors who need gluten-free foods.

This was before it became known as a spiralizer.

After sorting through that one shelf in the dining room I realized that I really needed to be working on things in the living room & hallway so that we would be ready for the flooring project in December. I spent the rest of the time working on the hallway. I concentrated on sorting & purging items in the walking path; I'm leaving the bookshelf clearing to Curtis for next Tuesday. I cleared everything off the 2 little tables near the door. I put them out in the cat run so the kitties have another place to lounge.

Shiro checking out the tables in the cat run.

I found a bag full of rubber bands. That were fused to each other. It went in to the trash can, which is now stuffed because of all the cleaning that Sam has been doing in the bathroom.


I cleared out everything on the floor in the hallway and vacuumed the carpet. It looks really good now! The cats were not quite sure what was going on; this is the first time they have been able to easily walk through the area. There will probably now be some kitties racing down the hallway in the middle of the night! Our plan is to keep the hallway open so that it is easier to wheel Dad to the back door when we need to. (I thought I had a before photo but I can't find it.)

WOW!

Chibi cautiously begins to explore the hallway.

What's that up there?

There is a large green cache pot under the table in the living room. As I was cleaning it out I saw an inscription on the bottom, "Judy 1979". So I called Aunty Judy to see if she had made it. She did! It would really look good in Kohala but there's no easy way for me to safely get it there, so I am returning it to her.

The cache pot has an inner diameter of about 11 inches.

While I was cleaning up the hallway I found one of those styrofoam 'fruit socks'. It was a good fit for one of the glass floats. I realized I could also use some of my old socks to wrap up a couple of the smaller glass floats.



Happy Birthday to Michelle, Gemma, Deisha, & Amy!

Winter Craft Fair

This morning I went to the Hawai'i Okinawa Center's Winter Craft Fair with Lori & Jenny; Curtis dropped us off since parking is very difficult. The center is close to their house. Lori, Jenny, & I split up after making plans to meet back up by the food booth. I picked up a bunch of Christmas presents and some none holiday presents as well.

The Teruyas that the pavilion is named after are the founders of Times Supermarket.

I started at the outdoor booths. I got these microfiber cleaning cloths that attach to the Swiffer, which I have been using in Kohala. With the microfiber cloths I won't have to use the Swiffer chemicals to keep things clean. Since you can also put them over your shoes and shuffle around your floor with them, and I had seen Lori using paper towels to do that this morning before we left the house, I got a pair of purple ones for her. (Like Mom, purple is her favorite color.) Guess what? She also got a pair for herself! Fortunately I let her know I had got some for her; she was thinking about going back & getting another set.

The green ones can slip over your shoes as well as on the Swiffer head.

There was a booth selling dried fruits. I was finally able to find the dried lychee that Kai had asked me to get for him. Since Lori likes lychee, I also got a bag for her. I also got li hing jabon peel and winter ginger.

L to R: li hing jabon peel, dried lychee, & winter ginger.

Inside the pavilion were a lot more booths. I found one that had flour sack dish towels with nice sayings on them. It was difficult to make a selection. They also had 2 gift packages that had a silicone potholder along with a dish towel; I ended up getting one of each.

L: Kaeru lucky frog; R: Year of the Dog.

As faithful readers know, Curtis is a Steelers fan. I found a booth selling different towels including a Steelers towel. After I bought it I texted Lori to let her know; she got one, too! We decided to keep one at each house since he is going back and forth while he watches Dad when I am gone.


One booth had clothing for kids including very young kids like Kaia. I got her this t-shirt.


And I got a t-shirt for Kai in his favorite color, black.

Front.

Back.

I also found some nice refrigerator magnets that will make nice small gifts; they're small enough to fit in an envelope. I also found bookmark clips and shopping bags. I had given these type of bags as omiyage before & people really liked them.

Magnets.

Book clips.

Bags.

We ended our shopping spree by getting andagi, aka Okinanwan doughnuts. I got half a dozen, Lori got 2 dozen for their household.

Here are the andagi that survived to have their photo taken.

Here are more interesting things. These are glass floats used by Japanese fishermen for their nets. Dad would see these while he was out fishing and pick them up. The large one is about 12 inches in diameter & weighs about 10 pounds. Dad used to have it hanging from the corner of the canopy over the patio of the old house. More than once I remember playing tag and running right in to it because I didn't duck low enough. I think all of us ran in to it at least once.


I got an e-mail today from the Neighborhood Security Watch. There is apparently a man going around the neighborhood stealing mangoes; someone was able to get a photo of him. We also got an e-mail about a woman jogger going through people's mailboxes; no one has gotten a photo of her yet. I guess I better have someone replace the motion-sensor garage light before we move all the stuff in the living room out to the garage while they replace the flooring.

Happy Birthday to Eric, Ryan, Kari, & Nicole!