On: Octopus Balls

Well, this title might seem a bit strange, but this is exactly what these delicious treats would be called in English, Octopus balls. 🙂

In Japan, they are called, Takoyaki (pronounced taco + yah-key).

Takoyaki (たこ焼き or 蛸焼 is a ball-shaped Japanese snack made of a wheat flour-based batter (like tempura). It is cooked in a special takoyaki pan, that resembles a muffin tin. Ours can be placed directly over flame or as most Japanese homes like the pictures show below, they are table top, propane units.

Takoyaki pan, heating and filling with negi (green onion)

Takoyaki is typically filled with minced or diced octopus tako, tempura scraps tenkasu, negi (chopped Japenese green onion), pickled ginger, and sprinkled with green laver aonori (a type of seaweed) and shavings of dried bonito katsuobuschi (fish flakes).

Once filled and as the batter cooks, the takoyaki is constantly prodded with a stick like a long metal toothpick and turned. This shapes the treat into balls while cooking. And once they are cooked on all sides, to a lovely golden brown, they are done and ready to eat, almost. 🙂

The Takoyaki are then brushed with takoyaki sauce, similar to Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce in color. There are many recipes for the takoyaki and variations for the sauce such as:

ponzu (soy sauce with dashi (a clear broth like used in meso soup) and citrus vinegar

goma-dare (sesame-and-vinegar sauce)

vinegared dashi.

The final step is to squeeze some mayonnaise on top from a tipped-bottle like a ketchup or mustard squeeze bottle. I’m not exactly sure what makes Japanese mayonnaise different from that in our country (USA), but it is; it’s delicious and I love it! And Takoyaki? OMG, these are incredible!!! Eat with a a pointed stick (see last picture below). Each one is about a mouthful.

Takoyaki was first popularized in Osaka Japan when a street vendor named Tomekichi Endo, first introduced his culinary delight in 1935. Takoyaki was inspired by akashiyaki, a small round dumpling from the city of Akashi in Hyōgo Prefecture, made of an egg-rich batter and octopus.

Today, Takoyaki is sold almost everywhere in Japan. They are very popular with children, young people and older people alike. And this is not only the Japanese, but many people love Takoyaki! It is not uncommon to see long lines of people, especially during festivals, waiting to be served their Takoyaki. They are sold in restaurants, on the street, super markets, 24 hour convenience stores and probably, even in vending machines.

I know, tako sounds like taco, but take care in using the sound as it may be Japanese slang for stupid? Tako means octopus. If you ask for tako, you might get an angry ‘look,’ some octopus salad Takosu タコス, or Taco rice (タコライス takoraisu. Taco rice is similar to a taco, only it is served on a plate without the shell. Now you might be able to actually find some Japanese tacos, but the shells are made out of rice flour and not corn. Just ask for Takoyaki (octopus balls) and you’ll be fine and happy that you did! 🙂

March 5, 2014 0

On: Aren’t You Glad…

…Yeh, aren’t you glad that Instead of this, right now here…

Snow-storm-SNOW_ani — …and working on taxes, you could be here…

…and even if it was snowing I could be heading to this… — …and even if it was snowing you could be heading to this…

InsteadOf2 — … an onsen (hot springs) at the …

InsteadOf3 — …ryokan (Japanese Inn) and…

…maybe even the first cherry festival in Japan. — …maybe even the first cherry festival in Japan!

The Kawazu Cherry Blossom Festival 河津桜祭り, (Kawazuzakura Matsuri) is held yearly from early February to early March in the city of Kawazu, located on the Izu Peninsula. The popular event celebrates the flowering of the Kawazu Cherry Trees (Kawazuzakura) and attracts almost two million visitors annually as one of the earliest opportunities in the year to see large numbers of cherry blossoms near Tokyo Japan.

Yes, ‘Aren’t You Glad’ you are there instead of here!!

Hi Honey and everyone else! See you soon! 🙂

March 3, 2014 0

On: The World is Yours

And ~~We’re~~ You’re Off!! I’m coming! 3/12! 🙂

Japan2 — There’s your Plane!
(actual picture by Susan)

Japan3 — The World is Yours!
Banner following and The Smile of God behind plane! 🙂

Happy Trails! 🙂

February 26, 2014 0

Bon Voyage

French: "Have a Safe Trip!" — French: “Have a Safe Trip!”

Have a safe trip Susan and everyone else! I’ll see you March 12! 🙂

February 26, 2014 0

On: Update

Due to circumstances that were mostly within my control, but are not now, The Gathering Place goes global plans have changed. The good news is that Susan and the rest of you will be leaving as scheduled and ON TIME!!! 🙂

I will be leaving on March 12, 2014 and meet up with Susan and the rest of you at that time.

P.S. If you can’t make it on February 26 and you still want to go, you can come with me on 3/12/14. 🙂

February 25, 2014 0

On: The Gathering Place Goes Global

In just a few short days, we (Susan and You and I ) are leaving for 65 days. We will be visiting first, Japan for about a month. Then, after about a four hour lay-over in China, we’re off to Australia for about another month. We will be returning home on May 1st, 2014. Not to worry, someone will be staying at your home, your pets will be well cared for, your plants watered, newspapers and mail will be picked up, neighbors will be watching your home and the police will be doing several drive-bys day and night while you are gone. You are covered!! 🙂

I trust by now, your bags are packed, and you have your passports. You will need a Visa for Australia. Are you are ready to take a lot of pictures and do stuff and share stuff to send back to everyone else that are NOT going! 🙂

For our current time here in New York or where you live and for Japan & Australia, ‘Google’ or search:

What time is it in New York

What time is (Where You are)

What time is it in Kyoto, Japan

What time is it in Sydney, Australia

or see: http://i-imagine.biz/News.htm

(clicking on the link above will open a new tab on your browser.

Just close that page when you are finished there or use your back button to return to this page)

Please confirm your attendance, in advance…that would be with an, RSVP.

There are some transportation issues, but do not be concerned. We hope you like alternative modes of travel? Do not worry, we’ll pick you up. Will a Limousine Be Ok?

We’ll pick you up at your home and drive you to your nearest airport.

Not enough space? Too bright? — Not enough space, there’s more! Too bright; too loud?
We have sleep masks and noise canceling headphones!

Don’t like flying commercial? Don’t like long lines? Don’t like crowded spaces? We understand, but we can only do, the best that we can do. Once you arrive at the airport, please accept our sincerest apology. We’re sorry, but a private plane is the best that we could come up with.

Travel4 — Plane accommodations. Will these be OK?

Relax, chill, chill-lax, have a drink or two or a few. Not to worry, you don’t have to drive (fly the plane). And there is a full professional medical staff on-board to revive you, just in case you suffer from massive excitement or EXTREME HAPPINESS! 🙂 Take pictures of yourselves having a great time and post them instantly to all your social media sites and just imagine all your friends and family (all those by the way, that decided not to come with us) drooling! 🙂

Watch a movie. Read a book. Have some good conversation. But we also want to apologise for the space. You will not be crowded like on commercial flights! 🙂

Don’t have a thing to wear? Forget something? No problem. You can order whatever you need on the plane and it will be in your room, when we arrive!

Order what you need while snacking! — Order what you need while snacking or dining!

If you get tired from shopping or IF having too much of a good time just wears you out, no problem.

Travel6 — You can fully stretch out and take a nap or…

...just enjoy the flight! — …just enjoy the flight!

So sit back, relax and enjoy yourself while we ‘Gather Together!’ The Gathering Place goes global and we’re off to…

Japan - "The Land of the Rising Sun" & Australia - "The Land Down Under" — Japan – “The Land of the Rising Sun” & Australia – “The Land Down Under”

And don’t worry, we will get you home! 🙂

We'll get you home, by whatever means necessary. — We’ll get you home, by whatever means necessary.

“You are: the Writer, Artist, Conductor, Captain, Driver, Pilot, Chauffeur,

Travel Guide and Director of your own Dreams!”

—— Dahni

Note: Due to last minute packing and details, this will be the last post until we are on our way. Stay tuned here or our FaceBook page at:

https://www.facebook.com/DonnieCHayden

February 23, 2014 0

On: All I’ve Got to Say

If you have not already sent in your RSVP, got your passport in order, have your Visa for Australia and you are not packed and ready to go to Japan and Australia, then all I’ve got to say to you is…

“You’re gonna’ miss me when I’m gone!” 🙂

February 22, 2014 0

On: Music at The Gathering Place

Like most everyone, here at The Gathering Place, we love music, many different kinds!

“Music is the universal language of mankind.”

― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

What follows are a collection of YouTube videos of some extraordinary musicians. Enjoy! 🙂

Various instruments – by Pedro Eustache.

By the way, it is Pedro playing the duduk on Paul McCartney’s song ‘Jenny Wren’ in 2005. This was heard on this blog recently. You can hear it at: ‘Little Jenny Wren’ [scroll to the bottom of the post]

Samvel Yervinyan -Violin

Victor Espinola, harp

You must hear the Victor’s last song!!!

Bogdan Alin Ota, composer and pianist

(was a copy machine deliverer by day and dreamed of composing and performing the rest of the time)

‘Locomotion’ (original composition) – Lawson Rollins, classical guitar

‘Guitar Boogie and Stevie’s Blues’ (original composition) – Tommy Emmanuel, blues guitar

‘Gratitude’ (original composition) – Amin Toofani, accoustic guitar

Need or want ‘music?’ Shop and get cash back for shopping for what you were going to purchase anyway AND, recommend others AND not only will they get the same deal as you, you will get paid for their purchases as well! Get what you want and need, save money, make money, help others AND PASS it ON! It’s the NEW trend, the NEW ‘WHAT’s HAPPENING NOW!! It’s truly a ‘No-Brainer!’

♦

DahniAndSusansMall.com

February 21, 2014 0

On: Little Jenny Wren

For our: Dear friend Janet and our Dear niece Jenny

The Little Jenny Wren(s) Family — The Little Jenny Wrens Family

I am not exactly sure if I got the four little Jenny Wrens, pictured above, for my wife Susan on Valentine’s Day or for me? 🙂

But I thought they were so cute. There are four different little Jenny Wrens pictured in four different poses. I did not have the heart to break up the little family, so I brought them all home to live with us! Think Spring everyone! 🙂

Jenny Wren – is an expression that our friend Janet had not heard of before. So this post in part is, for you Janet. 🙂

Jenny – is the first name of my brother’s oldest daughter, our niece. So this post is also, for you Jenny. 🙂

Jenny Wren – was the name our Mom called this little common wren with the uncommon song.

Jenny Wren – Is a light brown colored, but somewhat washed–out looking little bird that is attracted to the bushy tangles of the garden. Except for off–white undersides, which cannot be described as bright even on the sunniest of days, the House Wren is decidedly a very nondescript looking bird. But what the “Jenny” wren, as my Mom used to call her, lacks in visual attraction, she most assuredly makes up for in song. She is one of the earliest arriving spring songsters. You will know Spring has arrived when little Jenny Wren is back home by singing her sweet song loud and clear. She bubbles and warbles soft and low and works up just like a tea pot on the stove. Little Jenny Wren boils over in song.

Jenny Wren – A beloved character, in a Charles Dickens’s novel. She’s the little disabled doll’s dressmaker who brightens the pages of ‘Our Mutual Friend,’ Dickens’s last completed novel, in 1864.

Jenny Wren – A little bird (a wren) in the 1919 children’s book by Thornton Waldo Burgess (January 14, 1874 – June 5, 1965). Burgess was a conservationist and author of children’s stories. He loved the beauty of nature and its living creatures so much that he wrote about them for 50 years in books and his newspaper column, “Bedtime Stories”. He was sometimes known as the Bedtime Story-Man. By the time he retired, he had written over 170 books and 15,000 stories for the daily newspaper column.

“Jenny Wren, the little saucy wren that builds near your home.”

from the book: ‘The Burgess Bird Book for Children’ by Thornton Waldo Burgess

illustrations by Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Listen to her sing!

Jenny Wren – A song by Sir Paul McCartney, ‘Jenny Wren,’ in 2005

Jenny Wren

“Like so many girls, Jenny Wren could sing
But a broken heart, took her song away

Like the other girls, Jenny Wren took wing
She could see the world, and its foolish ways

How, we, spend our days, casting, love aside
Losing, sight of life, day, by, day

She saw poverty, breaking up her home
Wounded warriors, took her song away

But the day will come, Jenny Wren will sing
When this broken world, mends its foolish ways

Then we, spend our days, catching up on life
All because of you, Jenny Wren
You saw who we are, Jenny Wren”

Note: The solo is played on an Armenian woodwind instrument, called duduk (pronounced due -duke) and is a first in pop music history. It is played by Venezuelan born, world winds specialist & multi-instrumentalist Pedro Eustache. Susan and I had the privilege of hearing and seeing Pedro perform live at a Yanni concert. He is an incredible and a versatile musician. The duduk is an ancient instrument with hauntingly beautiful sounds.

February 17, 2014 0

On: Social Media Basics

by Donnie Hayden © 2014, all rights reserved



Today, there are many social media sites and applications for our smart phones, maybe hundreds? But some of the most popular sites (with corresponding apps for our smart phones) are: Twitter, FaceBook, Google+, Pinterest, Quora (for Questions and answers), YouTube, LinkedIn and Tumbler (at least this one is popular with many young people).

We use these sites and applications primarily because, we want to connect to family, friends, associates and others we would like to be connected with. How many of us use just one of these? How many of these do we use, two or more? Well, even just one requires some investment of our time. Add other sites and apps and we add or multiply our investment of time. Would it be beneficial to us if we could SAVE TIME?

Taking a clue from Twitter, the following is an introduction to Social Media Basics, on navigating through all this ‘stuff’ as expediently, effortlessly and efficiently as possible. Twitter was based on the exchange of quick communication by allowing, only 140 characters per ‘Tweet.’ If we did the same thing with all the rest, we could certainly SAVE TIME!

Oh, before this begins, I should point out a few things about Tumbler. Young people like Tumbler for two primary reasons. For one, they believe it is about as secure as anything can be online. Tumbler allows its users to be basically, anonymous. Be honest, had you ever heard of Tumbler or knew anything about it until now? Pretty effective at being unknown yes? That’s why young people like it. In fact, it is the most popular platform for those under the age of 25. And there are several well-knowns that use it like, Lady Gaga. It was the first platform to publish the blog of President Obama.

Tumbler supports animated .gifs. when other sites like FaceBook do not. Also, gifs are far easier to view on mobile devices than video. Ten seconds of reaction shot — or a PEE act — make a big difference in expressive power! Sounds pornographic no? Yes, Tumbler has it and they will not release exactly how much. Tumbler is kind of anti-blog. Users are not looking to spend a lot of time developing content or looking for an audience. Whereas our use of other social media platforms are to find each other, Tumbler users don’t want to be known so much or found. They just want to connect with their real friends and their real friends know who they are.

On FaceBook, we may find that our parents, other family, friends and associates are all connected. Maybe we have a son named Jack and a Daughter named Jill? Just as long as they check in once in awhile, everything seems OK. Jill, for example, might post a picture of herself studying with the text that simply reads: ‘Studying.” While everyone else is chatting among themselves as if Jill is still participating (listening), Jill could open another tab on her browser and log onto Tumbler as: Alice or say, ‘Love Princess.’ On Tumbler, son Jack might be known only to his friends as Fred or maybe as, ‘Stud of Studs.’ Anonymity, OMG YES (except to their real friends)! That’s how they like it!

So, if you are a parent or a caregiver, know where you kids are, where they connect, with whom they connect and what they are sharing! And also know that they understand how to be in two places at the same time! If they are logged onto Facebook, you’ll know. You can mention their name or send them a message and they will most likely respond. But what you cannot know, see and hear is, what you can’t know, see and hear!

SOCIAL MEDIA BASICS[1]

(somewhat based on 140 characters)

For more information, you can always check the several search engines or just Google: PEE.

If you are well informed and you would like to help others, you can publish content to the popular online reference such as: Wiki-PEE-dia. 🙂

If you are interested in sharing your original content with the world or your world (whatever size of an audience it might be), you might try blogging, a.k.a., weblogs or just call them, online journals. A working title might be:

My Journey of a 10 Million Pees, Begins with a Single Drop

by I.P. Freely

Outback Footprints to the Outhouse

by Willy Makeit

with illustrations by Betty Dont

If you desire even more, nearly-instant-connections, there is always ‘the video chat’ online or by way of smart phones. There are such apps as: Line, Google Chat, Skype, FaceTime and others. These will allow one or more to share a visual pee with others, in digital-time.

Then again, there is this last possibility. Do you know what? I have never, ever found a bathroom that did not have a door! 🙂

Please do not misunderstand me. I like social media. I use social media. I’m all about freedom of expression and freedom of speech. We all should pee freely! 🙂

But those doors on the bathrooms are there for two reasons:

1. Some things are meant to be private and should remain private. I don’t want to watch you pee and I don’t want you watching me either!

2. Bathroom doors lead to something personal and satisfying. No technology or no amount of ‘on-line,’ can match the personal satisfaction of real-time! Ahhhhhhhh! 🙂

February 16, 2014 0

Category: Fun