*the wall clock says it’s 4:13 but it also says “Who cares?” so whatever
*pushed-back chairs and rooster end table to make room for the latest fad: gymnastics
*two of my children + two of their friends = four children
*dying fern hanging by the window
*on the wall, the picture I drew of my husband—I gave it to him the weekend I tried to break up with him
*below that picture, a pencil drawing my brother did of my brother and me when we were little
*on the other side of the window, our wedding fraktur
*leftover decorations (still!) from my birthday
*mountains of laundry and a broken wash basket
*on the table among the stacks of laundry, To Kill A Mockingbird, since my older son decided to re-read it (I think it just may be my favorite book of all time)
*out of the frame and in the very front center: holes in the hardwood floor, and giant cracks, too, as in the boards have split—we’re like a pack of elephant kangaroos
*in the basket on the table: the last of our bushel of Fuji apples
*in the muffin tin: flopped gougeres that no one ate (the second batch turned out better but none of us were fans)
*the black record-keeping notebook that I had been jotting notes in for the next Milkmaids meeting
*on the yellow stool: my recipe/cooking notes/menu notebook (for supper that night: roasted carrots, roasted potatoes, and not much else)

This same time, years previous: iced, pimento cheese spread, and cashew brittle.

The day after Thanksgiving, I turned my kitchen over to my sis-in-law and she churned us out a delux Japanese feast.

Her original plan was to make Bento boxes, but the box of supplies from Japan didn’t arrive in time, so she had to switch to Plan B, okonomiyaki. On the off chance you don’t know what that is (ha!), I’ll tell you. Okonomiyaki is a savory Japanese pancake.

More or less, it goes like this:

Make a crepe batter of eggs, flour, and water.
Pour some batter on a skillet.
Mound the batter-base with green onions, cabbage, and brilliant pink pickled ginger.
Spread several thin slices of pork on top.
Cook on low-medium heat for 15 minutes, flip and cook for another 15.
To serve, place the “pancake” on a plate and crisscross the top with Japanese mayonnaise and okonomi sauce.
Sprinkle with dried seaweed and fish flakes (that undulate gently, making them look alive).
Devour.

My husband took the last step very seriously. I think he ate four of these monsters.

My sister-in-law made a variation that involved adding a layer of noodles and a layer of scrambled egg.

See all the layers?

And she made octopus balls. Similar ingredients, but with chopped octopus, and all mixed together and then cooked in a ball cooker.

“Ball cooker” isn’t its real name, of course. But that’s what the thing did—it cooked balls.

There was also a root that looked like yucca but wasn’t.

Instead, it was slimy and slightly toxic—it would burn your fingers if handled too much. I think she added it to the crepe batter. Maybe?

And dried, crumbled shrimp bits. Maybe they went in the batter, too? I can’t remember.

The next day, the box from Japan arrived.

We encouraged my sister-in-law to save the contents for the next time, but there were a good number of other items for fun sampling. So we had an appetizer feast! Squid stuffed with sticky rice. Dried squid dipped in Japanese mayo (she says that rice wine and dried squid is the Japanese equivalent of wine and cheese). Sticky rice cakes. And boiled eggs in the shape of a rabbit or panda (put a hot boiled egg into a mold and then chill in ice water for ten minutes). There were shrimp-flavored puff-chip things. And bowls of Japanese “ramen noodles”—noodles with cakes of fried tofu—simply add hot water and slurp.

Next up: Bento boxes! (Or maybe shrimp in three seconds flat?)

This same time, years previous: the quotidian (12.9.13), smoking hot, a family outing, peanut butter cookies, Ree’s monkey bread, and butter cookies.

This same time, years previous: 17 needles and 4 children, holding, iced ginger shortbread, winter quinoa salad, my kids are weird, zippy me, baked corn, and play areas, scorpions, and ritual cleansings.