ChanomiTalk

今日は仕事が休みでしたが、朝から職場からの電話で目が覚めました。
用事は電話で済みましたが、休みの日くらい仕事を忘れてリフレッシュしようと、出かけました。

もう散ってしまっていますが、お気に入りの公園に、桜を見に行きました。





桜の向こうに、桜島が見えます。





この桜は比較的花びらが残っています！





元気が出ました〜

It was my first time visiting Fujisawa city. I could partially see Mt Fuji from Zengyo town. I was happy that I got to see cherry blossoms in this area. There was a nice smell to it. I bought a lot of snacks at a super market to send back home to share with family, friends and co-workers.

名古屋在住の兄から、磁気に関する論文を書いたので国際雑誌に投稿したいが、内容の一部は医学にも関係するので目を通してほしいと連絡してきました。それは勿論喜んでしますと返事したところまでは問題なかったのですが、メールの送付方法が聞いた事も無い方法で、コンピュター画面の何処を見ても在り場所がわからず、ついに音をあげて、テキストを小分けにして通常の添付方法で送り直してほしいと頼みました。小分けされた論文は無事到着したのですが、今度はパスワードが必要で、知る限りのパスワードを打ち込んでも開封できず、またまた連絡して尋ねる始末。
そうやって四苦八苦している間に思ったのですが、そう言われれば、翻訳の仕事でも秘密厳守の誓約書にサインをした事もありましたし、今やウイルスやハッカーは世界中にはびこり、安全確保 security　のためには念には念を入れてもそれでも充分でない時代になっています、とは考え過ぎ？

Last week I finally was able to start giving blood again. I have not been able to do so for about 6 months so I was very happy to be back at the blood center again! I originally started giving blood way back in 1977 and have been a fairly regular donor since then but it was only in the last 2 years that I went from giving blood to giving platelettes.
About two days before I gave blood I received a call from the blood center saying that there were 2 children in the hospital that needed my blood type very badly as they were undergoing a serious operation. It is a very nice feeling to know that I am able to help somebody in that way. Hopefully I will be able to continue donating every 2 weeks.

Yesterday, I got invited by my coworker to watch a pro soccer game with the Chicago Fire playing the New York Red Bulls.  This was actually my first pro US soccer game and it was pretty fun. Even though it was a little cold, the sun was out and it was a beautiful day. Being that I use to live in Italy (where soccer is sacred), I was wondering how the level of play was going to be for the MLS (US Major League Soccer). I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a pretty good game. I noticed that there were a lot of international players on team so the MLS is definitely picking up a lot of popularity. I had a lot of fun and will definitely try to see another game.

Last week, I experienced my first St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago and I have to say there is nothing quite like it. For this occasion, my friend and I decided to join a pub crawl… that started at 8:00 AM! So basically to start off the day, we ate pancakes, hash browns, bacon and sausage while drinking green beer haha After a couple hours of drinking we headed down to see the dyeing of the Chicago River, which was pretty interesting. I learned that they use about 50 lbs of eco-friendly vegetable dye to make the river turn green, which lasts about 5 hours. After the seeing the river, we saw a bit of the parade before heading back to the bars. I have to imagine that St. Patty’s is the biggest money day for alcohol establishments because all of the bars were packed. I’ve never seen anything like it… but despite the crowd, the energy and excitement of the city made for a great day. We decided to call it quits at about 8:00 PM. Even though I had a lot of fun, I’m not sure if I would do it again haha Might be one of those once in a lifetime experiences.

目下、メキシコ料理というか chile （chili 唐辛子ではなく、ピーマンの仲間達です）料理に凝っています。アメリカ大陸に住んでいるのだから、ぜひ、ここの、いわば西半球、の料理を手がけてみたいとは思っていましたが、最初に住んだのがアイダホ州、そして今はネブラスカ州と、南の国々とは離れすぎているためか、これまで延ばし延ばしになっていました。きっかけはどうもはっきりしませんが、２週間前にPoblano chileを味わってそのおいしいのにびっくり。以来、Poblanoはむろんのこと、 それを干したAncho を使った料理をせっせと作っています。慣れないと笑い話がつきものですが、Ancho chileとばっかり思って買ったのが、Guajillo chileと気がつくまでかなりの日数がかかりました。しかし、黒っぽいAncho chile にくらべて赤みががかったGuahillo chileを使った料理は色鮮やかで味もよろしく、今後も両方を使っていくつもりです。Poblanoはピーマンに決して劣らぬ味なのにどうして日本で余り見かけないのか不思議です。中華料理の酢豚にはパイナップルとピーマンが必ず入っています。ピーマンの代わりにPoblanoと使ってみるつもりです。