Sandwiches & Soup

It was cold today, so I had ham and a cheese sandwich and celery and bean soup.

Purple Soup

I cooked some soup today. The ingredients are sausages, potatoes, Brussels sprouts and some cabbage. When the soup had finished cooking, it had turned purple. I was surprised and remembered that I had used purple cabbage instead of green cabbage. It was a shocking failure but I enjoyed the taste of my uniquely colored soup.

View while driving

When I drive to work, I look up at these trees from my car every morning. I can feel that the seasons have changed when look at these trees. I see them full of pink flowers in the spring. The leaves change color quickly from new green leaves to green in summer. After lots of leaves fall down at the beginning of fall, I can see the clear sky between the branches during fall and winter.
On the way home in the evening, I sometimes see a beautiful orange sunset over the lake. I like the nice view around here so much. I will miss this when I stop driving this route.

Steak

I don't eat steaks often at home because I am not good at cooking them. Recently though, I went to a Brazilian store and found some good meet there. I asked Andrew to cook it since he knows how. He cooked it with some Montreal steak seasoning. I cooked mashed potatoes and I made Camembert cheese salad with mushrooms and broccoli. It was all very delicious.

Setsubun

Today is Setsubun. Setsubun means the division of seasons and this day is the end of winter. On the evening of this day, we throw roasted soybeans inside and outside our houses while shouting "Oniwa-soto, Fukuwa-uchi!" which means "Devils out! Good luck in!". As the beans are thrown, it is believed good luck is invited in and bad luck is driven out. It is also customary to eat as many roasted beans as your age plus one. It is a charm against ill luck for this year.

We did it of cause.

Fukuwa-uchi!

Rye Bread with Caraway Seeds

Andrew set our bread machine up last night. So that we can eat fresh bread for breakfast this morning.

Rainy Day

Clouds, mountains and a lake make beautiful foggy layers of gray.