Okinawa Exile #2: Get to Work, Girl / 沖縄＃２：働きは人の動き

Has it really been a week? It's been more than a week since I arrived in Okinawa and since The Earthquake, which has undergone a degree of mythification already in under ten days.
もう一週間経ったの？早いは遅いか。。。時間の感覚がないね。

I've spent afternoons staring at my materials, trying to get my head and heart back into my academic work. I'm so absentminded though... I even forget sometimes about eating. I though that was not possible.
勉強しようと思っても集中できない。あるときでもぜんぜん私らしくないけど食べることさえ忘れるときもある。

Today I got calls from some friends in Tokyo. The news must be full of stories about foreigners fleeing. One friend was so calm that she made me feel ashamed that I didn't return to Tokyo already. Another made me promise that I wouldn't let anyone keep me from returning to Tokyo in April. I told her I have every intention of returning: I still have food in the fridge! A third sounded so exhausted and troubled. She just gave birth to her first child two weeks ago and between this new life in her care and the constant aftershocks, she has little time to process the news she hears.
今日は東京の友人の三人からの電話があった。ニュースで外国人が東京から逃げているというニュースが流れているかも。私も東京にいないと悲しい。一人の友達は赤ちゃんを産んだばかりところで、ニュースを見てたら、何が事実かということで悩んで、とても不安らしい。

"Is it true?" She asked me, "Is it true that the Japanese government is lying and all the foreigners are leaving Tokyo?" I didn't know what to say -- mostly because I don't know what is true, and suspect the truth lies somewhere between the ultra-calm Japanese news and the hysterical American broadcasts -- but I told her she might rest easier if she can relocate to the West for a little while.
事実がわからない私にもアドバイスを言うのは難しいけど、不安があったらしばらく関西の方に行って、待てばって言った。大変でしょう、お母さんになったばかりところで。

As I talked with her, I was walking in a park in Naha that smelled warm and sweet. Okinawa is closer to Taiwan (the relocation destination for many US nationals opting to be evacuated by the embassy) than to Tokyo. Life goes on here, as it does in most places around Japan. The actual danger is local, but the fear and anxiety affects many more...
那覇は東京から遠いけど。。。

Other good news, today, though. Christopher in Miyagi was able to get some beer yesterday. I wish I could send him some; I worry about him getting enough Vitamin B. There is no lack of that in Naha, and certainly the awamori -- the local liquor distilled from rice -- continues to flow. The famed Okinawan hospitality is most likely one part exotic fantasy... but it's also one part awamori.
仙台にいる友人はとてもお酒好きで、ビールも宮城に送りたいと思うときある。沖縄にはビールも、泡盛も少なくないから。。。

I had the enormous fortune to enjoy Okinawan hospitality the other evening. In my last post, I mentioned the great affection I've begun to develop for my local market during the day. I decided that I wanted to see it by night, and I enjoyed the warm and drunken company of (not to mention the chilled and drunk-making awamori from the bottles of) the local color. This included a woman who insisted that I come in to her greasy... chopstick?.. diner in the market and learn how to cook Okinawan food.
この間、夜の栄町市場に出かけて、那覇の心の暖かさと泡盛の強さを体験できた。それで、出会ったおばさんが食堂をやっているので、沖縄料理を習いに誘った。

Here she is (in red) as part of a group called the "Rapping Grannies," who perform at events around Naha.


So I showed up the next morning, even with the lingering awamori still a little angry behind my eyes.
それで、次の日はここでお皿洗いとして入りました。

These ladies -- blurry because they are constantly in motion -- put me in an apron and behind the counter. I washed dishes, prepped veggies, and watched them work their magic.
お皿を洗ったり、野菜を切ったり、それでこのおばさんたちのキッチン魔法を見学した。

After a long morning of work, I felt quite proud of myself. One of my friends asked if maybe I've lost focus... after all, a week ago I was writing my Ivy League PhD, and now I'm washing dishes at the local buffet just to get my lunch. Priorities shift, you know?
先週は博士論文。今週は皿洗い。人生そんなもん。

Their version of the juicy (pronounced "joo-shii") included yomogi, which I'd only had in sweets before. After my shift, I prowled the market to find this fragrant green.
沖縄のジューシーという料理はチャーハンのようなもので、ボロボロジューシーはお粥似。ここの食堂のボロボロジューシーによもぎが入った。今までよもぎの経験はよもぎ餅に限られた。おいしくておしくて、私も使いたいようになった。

Yomogi translates to "mugwort," which is a pretty witchy term for a vegetable. And, suitably, my witchy leafy green woman at the market had it on sale.

It is so fragrant, and kind of woodsy. It does feel witchy and medicinal. In a wonderfully savory way.
不思議な香りを持つよもぎ。

I also saw some starchy roots that interested me. Taaimo:
この根も珍しいと思って、買ってしまった。ターイモです：

Sayaka told me that many prewar texts on Okinawa mention these humble roots, which are "potatoes" that can grow in rice fields, and were a fall-back food for Okinawans facing starvation.

I decided to cut and fry the taaimo, and make a boro boro juicy -- a kind of congee, or rice gruel -- with the yomogi.
それで、今晩のご飯はよもぎボロボロジューシーに揚げたターイモ。

It's funny: rice gruel sounds disgusting, but the Japanese term for congee -- okayu -- sounds comforting. Like a nourishing bowl of chicken soup.
不安な時にお粥がいいでしょうね。

I visited my fish monger, and got some fish to pan fry.
それに魚も。。。

Got home and soaked the taaimo in salt water:

I pan-friend these puppies:

I pan-fried the fish with garlic, soy sauce, and (hair of the dog!) awamori:
魚にニンニク、醤油、泡盛。

And made the juicy with fish stock, rice, yomogi, miso and a little sugar:
ジューシーに鰹節、ご飯、よもぎ、みそ、お砂糖。

It was St. Patrick's Day, so I had to add some green:
緑も少し。。。

We had an Irishman with us, so the faux potatoes were perhaps more resented than celebrated, but being able to eat fresh, warm food with friends was a celebration in itself. It didn't hurt, of course, that we also had a bottle of spumante for Sayaka's birthday. We popped it open, and set about attacking our Okinawan soul food.
さやかの誕生日の祝いにワイン。心を暖める沖縄ソールフード。

I so humbly partake in this meal: Itadakimasu.
このようなごちそうが食べれることができるとラッキーだと考えながら、心込めて
いたたきます。

Okinawa Exile #1: An Embarrassment of Riches / 沖縄＃１：大学院生避難所

At four p.m. last Friday, March 11, I landed in Naha Airport. I greeted my friend Sayaka, and she asked me if I had heard about the earthquake. About a day previous, there had been a long but mild tremor in Tokyo. The epicenter had been in the Northeast, and my friend in Sendai had changed his facebook photo to a cartoon of a namazu, the giant catfish of Japanese myth that lives under the earth and makes it rumble.
先週の金曜日、午後４時に、那覇に着きました。空港まで迎えに来た友人（さやか）に「地震のことを聞いた」って聞かれたら、このホラー映画が始まった。

  

But Sayaka didn't mean that earthquake. She meant the one that hit shortly after I took off from Haneda Airport. She pulled me over to the television screen in the terminal. The tsunami had just hit the Northeast. Reporters were disheveled, and a map of Japan blinked red, pink, orange to indicate the tsunami risk along the coasts of the archipelago.
テレビのライブ放送を見て、津波の直後の映像が映った。日本の地図は赤、ピンク、オレンジの色で光っていた。津波の警告を指していた。

The plan had been to get in the car and head off to the north side of Okinawa, but the graphic on the news blinked away merrily, in pink.

We went back to Sayaka's place, and there we (with Sayaka's partner Colm) watched the news. Reporters were all wearing white helmets (and they would do this for a while), and slowly the first reports of casualties trickled in. It was so hard to know the magnitude of the disaster. Initially there were only reports of an elderly man who died of shock, or a woman gone missing in a supermarket. I guess I don't have to tell you in detail about subsequent developments, or describe the footage we've all seen of terrifying walls of water. I can't yet tell if the repeated viewings of the catastrophe made it feel more or less real to me...
さやかのアパートに行って、テレビを見た。まだ死亡の報告がまだ１人ずつで、まだ大丈夫じゃないかなーと思った。今から考えると非常に甘え考えだった。

My original plan was to return to Tokyo on Wednesday evening, but as we watched the footage coming from the nuclear plant in Fukushima, it seemed wise to extend my stay in Okinawa. From reports from friends in Tokyo, the fear and pressure from family, friends, and authorities from abroad were quite trying, and those who had the means to do so relocated to Western Japan or further. It seemed to improve their mental health, at the very least, and relieved pressure on the infrastructure in the capital.
沖縄は５日間の旅行だけという予定だったが、また福島の事故があって、ちょとだけ那覇の滞在を長引いた。東京に残った友達のたくさんは両親や友人の心配に応じて関西に移った。東京でも体が安全だっても、精神的に安心できなかったという人も少なかった。

In the past week, I've experienced too many emotions to relate here. Mostly, I'm so relieved that Christopher and Nori in Sendai are safe and are working hard to coordinate getting help to those in need in their community. I feel a little bit like I want to go home to California and get a hug. But I'm also eager to go back to Tokyo and get on with my life and research (and get a hug). But to all those worried about me: I could not be safer than here in Naha.
今週にいろんな複雑な感情があった。。。疲れて、帰国しようという時もあれば、もう早く東京に帰りたいと強く感じる時もある。

So it is a confusing, uncertain time. But one thing is for sure, even when the mind is mixed up, there is the body that needs to be taken care of, and fed. Nothing makes me happier than to have people to cook for... And now that Ryan has also joined this community of graduate school refugees (and brought my passport!), I'm happy to turn to the issue of food. So let's give words a break for a moment, and turn to more earthy needs...
複雑な時期だというのは確かだ。とりあえず頭を使わないときに、まず体を大事しなければならないと思う。それで、このブログを。。。

Near the place where I am staying is a market. It's got a postwar black market feel. But alongside butchers that sell every cut of a pig and vegetable stands hawking their exotic foliage are small drinking establishments and hip coffee stalls.
今泊まっているところのすぐ近くに栄町市場というマーケットがある。戦後の直後の昭和の味がある。

The fishmonger I usually visit helps me pick fish based on what I want to make. The other day, when Ryan and I stopped by, he broke a baked sweet potato open for us, and we three stood around the trash can gnawing on the insides while throwing scraps of burnt potato skins into the can. We got a fish for a stew.
行っている魚屋さんがいつもどんな料理にどんな魚が適当かと教えてくれる。この間、ライヤンと一緒に行ったら、焼き芋もいただいて、それを食いながら魚を決めた。

Here is the fish's head, after I unwrapped it from the newspaper:
この魚にした：

  

With this, I hoped to make a Okinawa-inflected bouillabaisse.

これで沖縄風の魚スープを作ろうと思った。

Any visitor to Okinawa has probably noticed the bottled utchin-cha, or turmeric tea in stores and vending machines. At my market, I found fresh, dirt-covered turmeric:

沖縄のウコン茶も有名で、市場でこのウコンがあった：

It resembles ginger, but cut open reveals a lovely golden hue:

ショウガと似てるけど、このきれいな黄色をしている：

I made the soup base with this, local onions, garlic, Okinawan bacon... and the fish's head:

それとタマネギ、ニンニク、沖縄産ベーコン、魚の頭：

To this, I added tomatoes and the local yellow carrots:

トマトと沖縄の黄色い人参：

Toward the end of the simmer, I added the rest of the fish.

I matched the stew with an island salad. The main green was handama:

島のサラダにハンダマという葉っぱ：

Also wrapped in news. I thought it rather poignant, considered that I feel wrapped up in news myself these days, literally rolled up inside of all that information.

To this, I added some beans:

それに煮たまめ：

Opened up to find:

I simmered the shucked beans in salt water...and added them to the greens, with some shaved carrots, avocado, and sashimi that the fishmonger had insisted I take with me.

Rotating the pots (only one burner in these temporary lodgings), the soup was finally ready:

I reserved the fish head for Sayaka and I to dissect, since we are animals like that.

We picked it clean...

I'm truly embarrassed to be safe on this island, surrounded by such bounty. If only I could send them fish stew, or at the very least some beer (poor Christopher!)

本当に東北に食事が足れない人々がいるので、このごちそうができて恥ずかしい。本当に頭を下げて、こころから「いただきます」を言って、みんなの安全のために祈っています。

I hope it doesn't come off as irreverent to those who are suffering from cold and hunger in the Northeast. To cook is the most powerful method I have to escape from the daily battering by the mass media, and it is with the deepest respect for the producers and the food itself that cook and eat.

In Japanese, the word used in the place of 'bon appetit' is literally the humble form for 'I eat.' With the greatest humility: itadakimasu.

Autumn #6: In a Pickle / 秋＃６：一夜漬け

In a perfect world, I would never have any responsibilities beyond cooking (and eating).
私にとって、理想郷というのは料理以外の責任がない世界である。

Reality is a bit different.　理想と現実の差はね。。。

Sometimes I may be reduced to reheating frozen leftovers, but at least I also keep stashes of...
ですからたまに私も冷凍された料理の残りにする必要がある。幸いにこの備え。。。

Anyone who has lived with me knows I keep mystery jars of my culinary experiments in the fridge.　台所実験を発見！

Tonight seemed an auspicious time to break out my onion pickles, which I made a week ago. As you'll notice in the above photos, I added a little kick to the basic pickle juice formula of water, vinegar, salt, sugar with star anise, peppercorns, darjeeling tea, garlic, and ginger.
今晩の食卓に手作りタマネギ漬け物を！上の写真で見えるように、シンプルな水、酢、砂糖、塩という漬け物 汁にスターアニス、コショウの実、ダージリン紅茶、ニンニク、ショウガで贅沢をした。

Lately I've really fallen for this little spice in particular:
最近このスパイスに愛着を感じ初めて：

In chicken soup, pickles, jams, or curries, a hint of star anise makes the flavors both more cozy and intimate, and yet also more exotic. So speaking of curries...
チキンスープにも、漬け物にも、ジャムやカレーなどに、スターアニスをいれると何となく深みがあるエキゾチックな味を生み出す。ところでカレーと言えば。。。

The main dish tonight was reheated curry rice (with my tea pickles in a dazzling cameo). I got the basic recipe for Japanese curry rice from scratch here. The key really was carmelizing six onions for ninety minutes. It was also the reason why I froze a few portions of the curry for later, since it keeps well and I certainly could use some easy curry when I'm feeling short on time. I highly recommend adding a little bacon with the beef, and kabocha with the vegetables.
今晩のメインは前からの手作りカレーライス。レシピは ここで見つかった。ポイントは９０分にちかくタマネギをいためること。そのためにもたくさんのカレーを冷凍した。冷凍されてもカレーはおいしく保存できるので時間に迫っている時にまた暖めるだけでいい。私のおすすめはお肉と同時にベーコンを入れると野菜と同時にカボチャも。

Here is the meal, in all it's rushed-preparation glory:
これで１５分以内に作ったメニュー：

How could I resist a little sesame on the rice and an egg on the curry? Sometimes this modern life gets messy, and we feel like we don't have enough time to pamper ourselves. If you can plan ahead for those moments just a little bit though, you'll be able to find yourself in a pickle and yet also happy to to just...
ご飯にごま、カレーに卵。たまにこの現代的な人生は散らかったものだ。その時に余裕なくなってしまうね。本当はきれいな食卓を整えればいいけど、結局一夜漬けしかできない。大丈夫だよ。ちょっとだけ準備すると、乱雑になっても。。。

   Dig in. がつがつ食えばいい。