This morning (early it was 4.0.clock) I watched a film about a baker in Japan. A young man, who worked so hard making countless loaves in the old fashioned way. Stoking the oven, and creating several different types of bread into even shaped loaves. Delicately slitting them down their middle, so that when they came out of the oven the dark brown of the inside rose up against the white dusted appearance of the outside.
It was like watching a priest dedicated to his religion, he was giving of himself the best effort to make his bread and I thought to myself, I shall go down to Lidl and get the sourdough loaf I love and stop eating that crap bread that pretends in its plastic bag, that it has all the 'goodness' I need!
I have been watching a lot of Japanese documentaries lately. You would think that you can only approach Japan through the cities of Kyoto and Tokyo. Busy bustling places with too many people around. But this is not so. Go out into the countryside and life is laid back, and very wooden.
What do I mean by 'wooden'. Well the houses are made of wood, there must be a very distinct smell of the woods in the house, at first it is dark when you enter and then the craftsmanship starts to shine through. It is the simplicity, and one funny thing. You think the Japanese are tidy? not so, their kitchens represent a culture that loves their food. That intricately shaped food, which I am not to keen on by the way, takes plenty of dishes and pots and pans to put together.
Paul had in the sitting room a 'fire box' this box would have sunk into the floor underneath the low dining table, around which you sat cross-legged, and that was the only form of heating a Japanese house had. The one in the sitting room had been given a glass top, and held the intricately shaped roof tiles or filials of temples. Paul had collected these from the ground - I think.
Which also reminded me of this small video of rain falling on a South Korean Buddhist temple.
More lovely memories, but my first thought was 'watching something at 4 a.m?' - I was fast asleep at that hour of the morning!
ReplyDeleteWell Sue you haven't got a cat for a start. But I do go to bed early and probably asleep by 9, which gives me about 7 hours of sleep, which is not bad.
ReplyDeleteThis video reminds me of the amazing buildings I saw in China when I went there for my son's wedding.
ReplyDeleteYour Paul sounds like such an interest man, Thelma.
The temples are very strange, so different to our churches Ellen.
DeleteThe video of the rain fallling was incredibly relaxing and restful to watch.
ReplyDeleteThe sound of rain is lovely Pat, especially when you are inside rather than out in it.
ReplyDeleteI thought I commented earlier. I love 'mindfulness', the attention to detail, turning everyday work into rituals, every day objects into things of beauty. It injects a sense of holiness into our days.
ReplyDeleteNo Debby, can't find you in spam;) Holiness is the right word, a dedication to one's craft. Something you often find in Japan, craft people are respected and often called 'National Treasures'
DeleteDefinitely go for good bread.
ReplyDeleteYes Joanne, I always used to make my own bread but the kitchen here is not very warm for proving the dough. It only happens when the Aga is on.
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