Baked Apples Recipe

Do you remember that I was taking a cooking course last year?  It was over last December.  I’d like to show you several pictures that I haven’t uploaded yet.

The menu of the day :    Au gratin potato / Sliced pork / Chicken dumplings soup / Baked apples

I’d like to introduce a baked apples recipe before apple season is over.  (Has the season already finished?)  This is very easy and delicious.  Try it.

IngredientsA

• 2 apples
• 3-4 table spoons raisins
• Your favorite alcohol
• 2 table spoons lemon juice
• 2 table spoons butter
• 4 table spoons granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon powder

ingredients B

• 1 cup red wine
• 2 table spoons maple syrup
• 2 table spoons granulated sugar

Directions

1. Dip the raisins in your favorite alcohol in advance.
2. Cut an apple in half.  Remove (dig out) cores using a spoon.   Sprinkle lemon juice over the apples.  Fill raisins in the holes.
3. Place apples in a baking pan.   Put granulated sugar, cinnamon powder, and butter over the apples.
4. Add ingredient B in the baking pan.   Preheated oven to 180-200°C  and bake for about 40-50 minutes.
5. Pour wine syrup in the pan  on the top of the baked apples.

Collaboration between Kumamon and Hatune Miku

The Hatune Miku version of “Kumamon Dance” was released this month.    Miku just sings the theme song.   I want her to dance with Kumamon.   Kumamon is very good at dancing.    His dancing looks very cute.   I wonder who the man inside the stuffed suit is.   For your information, Miku sings the song of Bon Dance Festival of Koshi City in Kumamoto.   Additionally, Kumafes that I mentioned before will be held this year again.    Kumamoto might be a unique place.

Kumamon Did Bungee Jumping

I heard the news that Ituki village advertises for people to do bungee jumping.    Ituki is a quiet, small country village, located in Kumamoto, Japan.    The village will put on the bungee jumping event during 16-31, March.    The height of the bridge is 77 meters.    If you want to dive, check it out.　 bungyJapan     Last summer Ituki held it for the first time.    Kumamon did bungee jumping at that time.    As for Kumamon, please read the previous post.       What a brave man wearing the stuffed animal suit!

A Very Stylish Senior in NYC

When I was researching the seniors for my  Super Granny Series,  I came across an intriguing blog.   It was Ari Seth Cohen’s “Advanced Style” blog.   Mr.Cohen’s blog seems to be very popular, and you may have heard of him.   He lives in NYC and reports  on elderly street fashion trends.   His works are very impressive.   The seniors on his pictures are very fashionable.   In Japan, it’s hard to come across such fashionable seniors like them even in Tokyo, I think.  I hope to grow old elegantly like them.   To me it seems fashion and colors preferences differ a little between the US and Japan.   Elder Americans seem to prefer bright colors, while Japanese tend to prefer dark colors.  I prefer bright colors though.   Cohen has published a book called “ Advanced Style“(Power House Books, 2012)

Have You Tried “Face Yoga”?

I wrote a little about various muscles in my last post.    You can shape up your body at a sport club.   Or voice training lessons can help you sing better.  The vocal cords are muscles, aren’t they?  Abdominal  muscles are also needed when singing.   However, I have neglected to exercised one very important part of my body: my face!   The Face has a lot of muscles, doesn’t it?   It tends to sag more and more as we age.    Ahhhhhh!   Thinking of what to do for my face, I searched the web.   Have you ever heard of “face yoga”?   I came across a video about it, but does it actually work?   If you have tried it,  please comment.  Anyway, I’ll give this type of yoga a try.

The Body Builder Shephard is 76

Super Granny Series #7

I forgot to mention one more person in this series : Ernestine Shepherd.   She is a 76-year-old body builder.

According to Mail Online,  she was a ‘couch potato’ until she was 56 years old.    It seems you can gain muscle mass at any age.    Now she is an instructor at a sport club.   I heard of her two years ago.   Her news encouraged me to work out.   But I trained too hard and pulled my calf muscle(>_<)    After that, I didn’t feel like using any training machines  for a while,  but this month I started out again.   Yeah!    My muscle tone has decreased a lot during this period.   The slate is wiped clean now.

By the way, the current Guinness holder for  the oldest female bodybuilding is another person, Edith Wilma Connor who is 77 years old (might be 78)  She is American too.  She started body building in her 60s.   Such articles make me feel like I shouldn’t waste my time. I’m gonna exercise now!  (I’m not intending to become a body builder-just a healty person)