タイガのオヤツの補充をしました。鳥むね肉を一晩凍らせて、冷凍庫から出したら未だ硬いうちにナイフで薄くスライスして天日干しにします。ナイフは必ず事前に砥石で十分研ぎ澄まして使うと、この暑い気温のなか、凍った肉の表面がちょうどナイフで薄く削れます。今朝の11時頃から干し始めて、午後２時にはもうカリカリに乾燥していました。食品乾燥機でやるよりずっと速いです。
I needed to replenish Taiga's chicken jerky. The way I make it is as follows: freeze the chicken breast overnight, take it out of the freezer, and start shaving while it is still frozen. Due to the extreme heat, it is not impossible to shave the surface of the frozen meat, as long as the knife was sharpened on the sharpening stone before use. After getting enough slices, I hung them outside at 11 a.m. this morning, and by 2 p.m., they were already absolutely dry. Drying in the sun is much faster than using a food dryer.
The upper two layers are chicken slices, while the bottom layer contains sliced mochi. When I deep-fried rice snacks several days ago, the inside of mochi slices came out. This time, I dried them before frying.
吊るした場所は、２階の南向きバルコニーの物干し竿です。今日は熱風が吹いていたので天然の乾燥機のようでした。
For this job, the washing line on the upstairs balcony becomes handy. During the day, we had hot winds blowing, and it was like being inside a natural dryer.
左が完成したチキンジャーキー。右は４個の切り餅をスライスしたもの。
On the left are finished chicken jerky, and, on the right, are the dried mochi slices.
ジャーキーは薄くて半透明。鶏肉には元々塩分が含まれているらしく、乾燥させるとそれが凝縮されるので、ほんのり塩味があって自分で食べてみても美味しいです。
The chicken jerky is flimsy enough to be able to see my fingers through them. Chicken flesh seems to contain salt inside, and when dried, the salt gets concentrated, with the result that the chicken jerky tastes slightly salty and tasty.
タイガと私は川沿いの道を歩いて、テニスコート横の草地へ向かいます。
私に近寄ってきたのは挨拶のためよりも、
写真では分かりにくいですが、ツヨシの肩幅は異常に広いです。その肩から前脚がストンと生えているので、立った姿をみると竹馬のような脚です。元は野犬の群れから保護されたそうですが、柴以外にもどんなDNAが入っているのか、ミックス犬の謎めいた側面です。
おかきのほうは、左が前回同様、青さのり。右はケイジャンスパイスの風味にしました。一旦食べ始めると止められなくなる美味しさです。切り餅４枚でこんなに沢山作れるとは、袋入りのを買う気がしなくなります。
The rice snacks on the left are flavoured with green seaweeds, while the slices on the right are flavoured with Cajun spices. Once I start eating these snacks, I cannot stop - they are so tasty. To think that only 4 pieces of mochi were needed to make these, I can never go back to the expensive store-bought ones.
＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝
夕方散歩で今日のタイガは城北公園を目指しました。公園入口に着くと、ちょうどシュナウザーのジョン君が散歩を終えて帰るところでした。だんだん日が短くなると、皆さん散歩の時間も徐々に早まります。
Today, Taiga chose to go to the Johoku Park for our evening walk. When we arrived, we sae John, a male Schnauzer, just leaving having finished his walk. As the days are getting shorter, some people are starting to have walks earlier.
Taiga and I went down the road along the river, to go to the field next to the tennis courts.
草地に着くと、ここ数日の雨のあとなので、草丈がすっかり伸びていました。
When we arrived at the field, we found that the grass had grown tall due to the rain over the last several days.
でも、川風が来るのでこの草地は夕涼みには最適です。
However, thanks to the breeze coming from the river, this is our favourite field for getting cool in the evening.
タイガは草の上で座り込みましたが、私は雨後の湿気を警戒して立ったままです。
Taiga sat on the grass, but I remained standing not wanting to get the moisture following the recent rain.
そこへ柴ミックスのツヨシが到着。
There came Tsuyoshi, a Shiba Inu mix.
今日のツヨシはゴキゲンな表情です。
Tsuyoshi looked in good spirit today.
He came closer to me, but his real motive was, instead of greeting me,
手提げの中のオヤツ目当てのようです。今日の午後に出来たばかりのチキンジャーキーが臭っていたのでしょうか。
to get at what was inside my bag - probably he was drawn to the freshly made chicken jerky.
It is not easy to see in the photo, but Tsuyoshi's shoulders are very broad. His front legs are set apart, stretching out in a parallel way from the shoulders, and when he stands on his fours, his legs look like stilts. He grew up in a pack of wild dogs, and I wonder what other DNAs he might have apart from Shiba Inu's - that is the intriguing aspect of a mixed breed dog.
カレンダー写真に使いたくなるほどのスマイルを見せてくれました。
He posed for the camera with smiles that could make it for calendars.
ツヨシと一緒に歩き出したら、白柴のおもちちゃんと遭遇。
When we were walking with Tsuyoshi, we met Omochi, a female White Shiba Inu.
おもちちゃんとの挨拶はいつも穏やかです。
Her greeting with other dogs is always very quiet.
おもちちゃんも加わって一緒に歩いていたら、カンタがやってきました。夕暮れなのでライトをつけています。
おもちちゃんも加わって一緒に歩いていたら、カンタがやってきました。夕暮れなのでライトをつけています。
Omochi joined us in walking, when we saw Kanta. He is already wearing the colourful light for the evening.
おもちちゃんが背後からカンタにこっそり近づいて
Omochi sneaks up to Kanta from behind,
臭い嗅ぎ。
to take a sniff.
今度はカンタの番。
Now it's Kanta's turn.
カンタはタイガより４歳下で、９月の誕生日で８歳になるはずですが、年々、偏屈になってきた印象です。私が呼びつけると尻尾を振って近づいてきますが、他のワンコに愛嬌を振りまいて場の雰囲気に貢献するということはしません。今日は理由もなく何度も唸っていました。
Kanta is 4 years younger than Taiga and should become 8 years old in coming September. Every year, he seems to become grumpy. If I call him, he will come to me with his tail wagging. However, he makes no effort to be pleasant to other dogs for the best of the group's harmony. This evening, he kept growling for no reasons.
