On 22 December a supermarket delivery came. I bought Christmas food. I bought meat and vegetables. The vegetables were potatoes, carrots, parsnips and Brussels sprouts.

When I lived in Japan, I didn't know what parsnips were.　　Parsnips are white and long. They are also called white carrots.

I put the delivery food in the fridge one by one. There were lots of parsnips - four 500g bags? Too many. I looked at my phone and checked. It wasn't a supermarket mistake. I made a mistake and bought four.

I only need one bag of parsnips for Christmas cooking and my fridge is already full. So I am eating parsnips every day. Parsnips are a bit like gobo (burdock root), a vegetable used in Japanese cooking. It is delicious when stir-fried with soy sauce and mirin. I also make soup from a British recipe. I fry parsnips and apples in butter and then smooth them out in a blender. A white soup with a gentle flavour. It was delicious.

12月22日にスーパーのデリバリーが来ました。クリスマスの食べ物を買いました。肉と野菜を買いました。野菜はじゃがいもと、にんじんと、パースニップと、芽キャベツです。

日本に住んでいる時、パースニップを知りませんでした。パースニップは白くて、長いです。白にんじんとも言います。

私はデリバリーの食べ物をひとつひとつ冷蔵庫に入れました。パースニップがたくさんありました。500g入りの袋が4つ？多過ぎます。携帯を見て、確認しました。スーパーの間違いじゃありません。私が間違えて、4つ買いました。

クリスマスの料理にパースニップは１袋しかいらないし、冷蔵庫はもういっぱいです。というわけで、毎日パースニップを食べています。パースニップは日本料理に使われる、ごぼうという野菜に少し似ています。醤油とみりんで炒めるとおいしいです。それから、イギリスのレシピを見てスープも作りました。パースニップとりんごをバターで炒めてから、ブレンダーでなめらかにします。やさしい味の白いスープ。おいしかったです。

On 22 December a supermarket delivery came. I bought Christmas food. I bought meat and vegetables. The vegetables were potatoes, carrots, parsnips and brussels sprouts.

When I lived in Japan, I didn't know what parsnips were.　　Parsnips are white and long. They are also called white carrots.

I put the delivery food in the fridge one by one. There were lots of parsnips - four 500g bags? Too many. I looked at my phone and checked. It wasn't a supermarket mistake. I made a mistake and bought four.

I only need one bag of parsnips for Christmas cooking and my fridge is already full. So I am eating parsnips every day. Parsnips are a bit like gobo (burdock root), a vegetable used in Japanese cooking. It is delicious when stir-fried with soy sauce and mirin. I also make soup from a British recipe. I fry parsnips and apples in butter and then smooth them out in a blender. A white soup with a gentle flavour. It was delicious.

I woke up at 9 am today. I drank soy milk. I ate breakfast. Breakfast was yoghurt and miso soup from yesterday's dinner. Then I went for a walk.

It was a nice day. I went to the forest on foot. It is about 15 minutes from my house. It is a small forest. It is very quiet. There is a large park next to the forest. I brought coffee with me. I sat on a bench in the park and drank it. There were people playing tennis.

I walked a little further and went to see the pond. There are frogs living in the pond, but they are now sleeping in the ground. There were two children in front of the fountain looking at goldfish. There was a red goldfish and a white goldfish.

今日、９時に起きました。豆乳を飲みました。朝ごはんを食べました。朝ごはんはヨーグルトと、きのうの晩ごはんのおみそ汁です。それから、散歩に行きました。

いい天気でした。歩いて森に行きました。うちから１５分ぐらいです。小さい森です。とても静かです。森のとなりに広い　公園があります。コーヒーを持って行きました。公園のベンチに座って、飲みました。テニスをしている人がいました。

また少し歩いて、池を見に行きました。池にカエルが住んでいますが、今は土の中で寝ています。噴水の前に子どもが２人いて金魚を見ていました。赤い金魚と白い金魚がいました。

私はこの公園のカエルの池が好きです。池の近くに桜の木があって、季節の景色が楽しめます。春になったら、カエルが　卵を産みます。そして、おたまじゃくしが生まれます。池の中が　黒いおたまじゃくしでいっぱいになり、だんだん手や足が出てくるのを見るのが毎年、楽しみです。おたまじゃくしはカエルの子どもです。日本語で味噌汁を掬う道具を「お玉」と言います。

I woke up at 9am today. I drank soy milk. I ate breakfast. Breakfast was yoghurt and miso soup from yesterday's dinner. Then I went for a walk.

It was a nice day. I went to the forest on foot. It is about 15 minutes from my house. It is a small forest. It is very quiet. There is a large park next to the forest. I brought coffee with me. I sat on a bench in the park and drank it. There were people playing tennis.

I walked a little further and went to see the pond. There are frogs living in the pond, but they are now sleeping in the ground. There were two children in front of the fountain looking at goldfish. There was a red goldfish and a white goldfish.

I like the frog pond in this park. There is a cherry tree near the pond and you can enjoy the seasonal view. In spring, the frogs lay eggs. Then tadpoles are born. Every year I look forward to seeing the pond fill up with black tadpoles, and gradually their hands and feet appear. Otama jakushi(tadpoles) are the children of frogs. In Japanese, the tool used to scoop up miso soup is called an 'otama'.

Every year, I give Christmas presents to my friends. And I get presents from my friends. I have 6 friends. I buy one present. We play Secret Santa.

This year I was A's Santa. I gave A a present. A likes nice tea. I gave A a voucher for a tea tasting experience. I also gave her a card, but I didn't write my name because I was Secret Santa. It's a present that you don't know who gave it to you.

I got a mug warmer from my Santa. I can drink hot coffee anytime. Thank you, my Santa.

When I lived in Japan, on Christmas Day, I only had a nice little meal and cake, and I never gave presents to my friends. This Secret Santa started at Christmas during the 2019 lockdown - each person only gets one present ready and it's fun and entertaining to guess who the Santa is.

毎年、友だちにクリスマスプレゼントをあげます。そして、友だちからプレゼントをもらいます。友だちが６人います。プレゼントを１つ買います。シークレットサンタをします。

今年、私はA さんのサンタでした。 Aさんにプレゼントをあげました。 Aさんはおいしいお茶が好きです。私はお茶のテイスティング体験のクーポンをあげました。カードもあげましたが、シークレットサンタだから、私の名前は書きませんでした。誰にもらったか、わからないプレゼントです。

私は、私のサンタにマグカップウォーマーをもらいました。いつでも温かいコーヒーを飲むことができます。ありがとう、私のサンタさん。

日本に住んでいた頃のクリスマスは、ちょっとおいしいご飯とケーキを食べるぐらいで、友達にプレゼントを贈ったことはありませんでした。このシークレットサンタは２０１９年のロックダウン中のクリスマスに始まりました。１人１個だけプレゼントを用意すればいいし、サンタを当てる楽しみがあっておもしろいです。

Do you like music? Do you listen to music often? I listen to music on my mobile phone's music app.

This week, I received an email from the music app Spotify. It's my 2023 play ranking, and number one was 'Spinning Globe' by Genki Yonezu. Also, there was a lot of classical music included in the list. But I thought it was strange because I only listen to classical music sometimes. Would be scary if someone was listening to Debussy or Erik Satie on my account. But it wasn't. It was music from a playlist created by Ryuichi Sakamoto.

音楽が好きですか。よく聞きますか。私は携帯電話の音楽アプリで聞きます。

今週、音楽アプリのSpotifyからメールが来ました。私の２０２３年プレイランキングです。１位は米津玄師の「地球儀」でした。あと、クラシックの曲がたくさん入っていました。でも、私は、クラシックはときどきしか聞かないから、おかしいと思いました。誰かが私のアカウントでドビュッシーやエリック・サティを聞いていたら、怖いです。でも、違いました。それは坂本龍一が作ったプレイリストの曲でした。

今年の３月に坂本龍一が亡くなりましたが、彼は亡くなる前にFuneralというお葬式用のプレイリストを作っていました。　　Spotifyで公開されているのを見つけて、よく聞いていました。

私は今年、音楽よりオーディオブックを聞くことが多かった　ので、Spotifyのランキングを見ても、１年間を思い出すような感動がありませんでした。もっと新しい音楽や好きな音楽を　探して、たくさん聞こうと思いました。来年はランキングを楽しみにしたいです。今は上原ひろみのアルバムを聞いています。

Do you like music? Do you listen to music often? I listen to music on my mobile phone's music app.

This week, I received an email from the music app Spotify. It's my 2023 play ranking, and number one was 'Spinning Globe' by Genki Yonezu. Also, there was a lot of classical music included in the list. But I thought it was strange because I only listen to classical music sometimes. Would be scary if someone was listening to Debussy or Erik Satie on my account. But it wasn't. It was music from a playlist created by Ryuichi Sakamoto.

Ryuichi Sakamoto died in March this year, and before he passed away he made a funeral playlist called Funeral. I found it on Spotify.

I listened to more audiobooks than music this year, so when I looked at the Spotify rankings, I wasn't as moved emotionally looking back over the year. I thought I would try to find more new music and music I like and listen to it a lot. Next year I want to look forward to the rankings. Right now I'm listening to Hiromi Uehara's album.