In search of the Falcated Duck at Colusa National Wildlife Refuge

A few days ago on the news there was a story about an extremely rare Asian duck that showed up at a wildlife refuge in Colusa, CA. Normally the Falcated Duck is found in China, North Korea, Russia and Japan, but one was spotted in Northern California back in December. Since then bird enthusiasts from as far away as the East Coast have flocked to Colusa in the hopes of seeing this one duck out of the quarter of a million birds that winter at the refuge. This is only the fourth time this species of duck has been seen in California (in the wild). It's unknown if it somehow migrated here or perhaps escaped from a private collection.

We didn't see the Falcated Duck but we did see a Cinnamon Teal

So hubby and I drove up to Colusa in the wee hours of the morning in the hopes of photographing this unique bird. After all, the news said it was seen almost every day near Refuge's observation platform. I was a little bummed that it didn't make an appearance while we were there but I can't say I was disappointed because we did see a Cinnamon Teal. It was gorgeous. I thought it was even prettier than the Falcated Duck. I took plenty of pictures so you be the judge.

Pictures from our road trip.

And when I said wee hours of the morning I meant before the break of dawn. That's right hubby and I drug ourselves out of the house at 6:30 AM on a Saturday morning to drive to Colusa, 2.5 hours north of San Jose.

We arrived at the Colusa National Wildlife Refuge at 9:00 AM.

Entering the Refuge is free, as is parking. Once there you park and walk a very short distance to the observation deck.

This is where I took pictures using my 14-140mm zoom lens.

For the most part I spent the morning to the right of the deck, along the road that leads to it. I thought it was a better location that allowed for nicer close up shots of some of the birds with a very nice backdrop.

While we hoped we would be able to see Mr. Celebrity Duck, he was not around. Probably because though the weather report said it would be 61º that day, it felt like it was 35º with 40 mph gale force winds. It was sooooooo cold and windy most of the birds laid low for the day. I had to put Kleenex in my ears and thank goodness my Yeti hat was in hubby's trunk because I would have ended up with a bad ear ache for sure had I not been able to stop the wind from blowing into my ears.

It was so neat being at the Refuge. I'd never seen Pintailed Ducks before. Here, two pairs of Northern Pintails greet an American Coot. There were lots of coots. They're like the pigeons of the marsh. They were everywhere!

The Pintails were lovely.

The male Northern Pintails have a beautiful blue and black beak.

There were also plenty of Northern Shovelers. They look similar to Mallards but I think they are larger and the males have more white on their breasts and bodies.

There were many pictures I wanted to take but at this point I was so FROZEN I had to stop. I had to get out of the wind so I decided to check out the 1 mile Hiking Trail behind a windbreak of trees.

This is where I photographed all of the ducks you see in this post.

It was a great idea. The moment I stepped onto the trail there was no wind. And with no wind it was actually rather warm. It was amazing how different the temperature felt just a few yards away.

Dogs are welcome to walk on the one mile trail as long as they're kept on leashes.

After warming up during my short walk I headed back to the marsh shoreline and immediately noticed a new bird. . .

What a surprise to see the pale blue feathers on this teal's forewing.

He was small but hard to miss because he was STUNNING. I asked a lady (with a big camera surmising she must be a bird person to have that nice of a camera) nearby if she knew what kind of bird he was and she said he was a Cinnamon Teal. She pointed out that he had a mate and chatted with me about the birds. The male (or drake) was the most beautiful and vivid cinnamon color you can imagine with eyes as bright red as red can be. He alone made the trip worthwhile.

Their large bills are used for skimming the surface of the water for bugs.

His mate was drab, just like a female Mallard Duck but perhaps even a bit more plain. The lady I spoke with is a regular at the refuge and said while the Cinnamon Teal is not an uncommon bird to see there, she and another man were shocked that this pair had come in and lingered so close to shore. They said it almost never happens. Lucky us!

BTW bird people are some of the nicest people around. All day I chatted up whoever was nearby for help identifying the species I was looking at to save me from having to Google for them later on and they were all so nice and helpful.

What do you think? I think while the Falcated Duck might be more rare, the Cinnamon Teal is more beautiful so I wasn't disappointed at all that we didn't see the duck we came to see.

I read teal rarely "tip up," but this pair doesn't seem to know that.

When I Googled to find out the difference between a teal and a duck I learned there are two types of ducks: Divers and dabblers. Teal (along with the well known Mallard) are dabbling ducks meaning they will skim the pond surface or duck their heads just below to forage for food. Particularly the Cinnamon Teal are said to be "skimmers" who don't put their entire heads beneath the surface of the water to feed and don't "tip up." Clearly this pair didn't get that memo. LOL

The diving ducks are larger than dabblers using their extra weight to literally dive deeply beneath the water's surface which means they also have larger feet to propel themselves underwater.

A quick action shot of a duck taking off right in front of me with lots of geese in the background. Oh my gosh there were so many geese. Literally there were thousands of them!

We were cold again and giving up on the Falcated Duck so we decided to hop in the car and take the 3 mile auto tour. At first we didn't realize that you aren't supposed to park and get out of your car. You can park, you're just not supposed to get out. A very nice game warden stopped and told us so the rest of the time I shot photos from the passenger seat and through the sunroof of hubby's car.

This was amazing. I've always wanted to see an egret with its breeding plumage and there it was, a Great Egret standing along the shoreline. He was beautiful! I only wish I had a stronger zoom lens for my camera so I could have captured more details of his showy, plumes.

As we drove along the marshes you could see the Sutter Buttes in the distance. I didn't realize it at the time but they are old, eroded volcanoes.

As we continued along the loop we spotted a huge gathering of white geese. They could have been Ross or Snow Geese. Unfortunately they were too far away for me to be able to distinguish between the two.

And then I spotted the cutest little bird. It was a Pied-billed Grebe that looked like a teeny, tiny duck. But it was so small, like a quarter the size of a Mallard Duck or even smaller. It was floating amongst some vegetation. Soon I spotted another, but the next one wasn't nearly as cute as the first. . .

In fact the next one had caught a fish! And was trying to swallow it whole! Oh my word. It was straight out of Wild Kingdom. I can't believe I was able to grab these photos from the passenger seat of our car!

It was like watching a snake swallow its prey whole only the Grebe eats a lot faster. The poor fish didn't appear to stand a chance of escaping.

Hard to believe I thought these were super cute miniature ducks! By the time this Grebe finished its meal I was thinking they were more like teeny, tiny, velociraptors with feathers!

Not all of the birds were easy to photograph. We saw several Red-tailed Hawks but they were usually obscured by tree branches like this one.

This was another very exciting bird to photograph mostly because it was so camouflaged when I first spotted it I still can't believe I saw it! It's an American Bittern. It was standing in some tall marsh plants with it's beak pointed almost straight up towards the sky making it very thin looking. I'm sure they must hang out near the shoreline around plants like cat tails and reeds which would make the vertical stripe pattern on its neck blend in perfectly with their surroundings.

As we neared the end of the auto tour we also spotted a large bank of bushes, and nestled among them were approximately 30 of these Black-crowned Night Heron. Just like the Cinnamon Teal and the American Coot the Night Heron's also has bright red eyes. I'd seen one before in San Jose but I'd never seen another, let alone dozens all together.

The last bird we spotted on our way out was this juvenile Great Egret just strolling along. I'm guessing its a juvenile because it lacked the elegant and showy plumage the earlier bird had.

After that we swung by the observation deck but still no Falcated Duck so we decided to call it a day.

We drove into town and had lunch at Tommy's Market Grill. I had a delicious vegetarian deli-style sandwich. It was the best veggie sandwich I'd had in a long time. I'd recommend it for sure! I was lucky to be able to take a picture of the interior with no people in it. Just a few minutes later the place was so packed there were people everywhere.

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If you want to visit the Colusa National Wildlife Refuge here's how you get there from San Jose.

Their website describes the refuge this way:

"The 4,507-acre refuge primarily consists of intensively managed wetland impoundments, with some grassland and riparian habitat. The Sacramento Valley is one of the most important wintering areas for waterfowl in North America. Colusa Refuge typically supports wintering populations of more than 200,000 ducks and 50,000 geese."

Colusa National Wildlife Refuge - Visit their website by CLICKING HERE

• The best wildlife viewing time is in the early morning and late afternoon
• Wildlife observation is best during mid-November - January
• The refuge is open one-hour before sunrise to one-hour after sunset year-round
• 4,567 acres, including seasonal marsh, permanent ponds, and uplands
• CLICK HERE for a list of abundant, common, uncommon and rare wildlife sightings
• Restrooms are available near the parking lot
• In the winter dress in layers and bring a warm hat and gloves
• How to get there from San Jose: Take I-5 to the “Highway 20, Colusa” exit. Turn east on Highway 20. The Refuge is about 6.5 miles on the right. (Note: you will pass the Colusa Hunter Check Station turnoff a few miles before the Refuge.)

Hubby took this picture of me on the Hiking Trail

Frost Cupcake Factory: My new favorite cupcake

You may recall I did a review of the Frost Cupcake Factory located in downtown Campbell, CA last summer.  A few days ago I found myself across the street so I stopped in.

I decided to try one white cake cupcake and one chocolate so I chose the Lemon Meringue ($3.25) and the Salt n' Sweet ($3.25) cupcakes.

Just look at how that chocolate glaze filled the fluted edges of the paper cup.

If you like your cupcakes moist and decadent this is the flavor for you. The Salt n' Sweet had a perfect balance of sweetness, rich chocolate, a bit of caramel and a sparing but bold salt flavor. The cake was soooooo moist. I could tell it was freshly baked.

Yum!

When cut you can see the creamy caramel filling. A tip: On both visits the chocolate cakes have been more moist than the white cakes so if moist is your thing, stick with the chocolate cupcakes. On my last visit the Mocha Java and Rose Velvet were also more moist than the white-based cakes.

The Lemon Meringue I had to try because the last time the Key Lime cupcake, topped with a burnt meringue was my favorite.

The lemon curd was perfect. This cake itself had a nice denseness and was just moist enough to not be dry. The white cake has a texture I can only describe as being more dense than the chocolate, kind of like a pound cake, but not as dense as a pound cake. I've always loved white cake. Can you believe as a child I actually hated *gasp* chocolate cake! Duncan Hines cherry chip and white cakes were my flavors of choice.

The combination of the simple cake, tangy curd and ultra-light and sweet meringue is the best. For years Kara's Fleur de Sel was my favorite cupcake but I have to say that now Frost's Key Lime and Lemon Meringue cupcakes are my new favorites. The next time I want a sweet pick-me-up I'll be heading to Frost.

Or maybe it's the Salt n' Sweet. It's a tough call. Can I have three favorites?

Frost Cupcake Factory
199 E. Campbell Ave.
Campbell, CA 95008
408-866-9866

If you think donating bone marrow is extremely painful, guess what? It's not.

Before you read any further please know this: Registering to join the National Marrow Donor Program is pain free For most people, donating is almost pain free. 80% of donations are done using a method called PBSC. The worst after effects I've read about, by actual donors, are tiredness or mild flu-like nausea that usually pass quickly. It doesn't matter where you join. Just join. In the U.S., Canada or 33 other countries you will be added to the cooperative international registry giving you the opportunity to help patients in the U.S. and all around the world. You can CLICK HERE to learn how to register to become a donor.

I'm writing this post because the end of the year brought plenty of bad news. I learned three Leukemia patients who had all achieved remission, had all relapsed, and about a little boy with Aplastic Anemia. All are in urgent need of an adult stem cell or bone marrow transplant.

Four patients, fighting for their lives. All need to find a marrow match.

Janet beat Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia last year attaining remission after many rounds of intensive chemotherapy. But the week before Christmas the 23 year old relapsed and now her doctors tell her she needs a bone marrow transplant. Her match could be anyone but will most likely come from someone of Chinese descent. CLICK HERE to learn why race matters.

Linda is the mother of one of my friends. Initially diagnosed  with Acute Myeloid Leukemia the weekend before Thanksgiving 2010, she spent seven months in and out of the hospital, and underwent chemotherapy treatments to acheive remission in June 2011. But just a day after Christmas she had relapsed and now needs a marrow transplant to save her life.

Kyle is four years old and needs a transplant because of Aplastic Anemia. Of the nine million potential donors in the national registry, none are a match for Kyle who is half asian half caucasian. His best chance of finding a match will be from someone who is also half asian and half caucasian.

Judy is a 22 year old Chinese Canadian suffering from her third diagnosis of Leukemia. She was first diagnosed at 9 years old, then again at age 13. Now at 22 years old, her doctors have told her the only treatment left is a bone marrow transplant because chemotherapy will no longer help her.

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When I say you could save a life, you could be the match for one of these patients or someone else in need, does it make you feel like you want to try? Would you feel amazing if you were the one? I would feel happy and grateful that I could help. In fact I've been waiting to be a match since 1995 when I joined the registry. So far my phone hasn't rung but I'm hoping it will someday soon.

As you can see, Scott was is in no pain giving his PBSC donation.

So please, if you aren't in the registry will you consider joining? The process to join is so easy! Just 4 cotton swabs to brush on the inside of your cheeks and a short registration form.

1. You can CLICK HERE to order a test kit online. It will be mailed to you and you mail it back.

2. Or locate a live drive using your Zip Code by CLICKING HERE

Only 70% of patients in need will find a match in time. The thing is it doesn't have to be this way. If more people would join the registry now, more patients could receive transplants immediately. That's my hope and goal in every effort I make to help raise awareness about the need for more people to join Be The Match, also known as the National Marrow Donor Program.

Most people don't realize it can take weeks to months to have your sample entered into the registry once you do send in a test kit. When you're helping a stranger, urgency may not be a huge priority. But when someone you love is diagnosed, and unfortunately the odds are someday someone you know will be, you will wish you had joined the registry sooner so that your sample could be available to them immediately.

Are you're already in the donor program? Does your age or health conditions prohibit you from becoming a donor? If the answer is yes but you still want to help please download, print and post this Helping Janet flyer with tear-away tabs on a public bulletin board at work, a grocery store, your local coffee shop, anywhere they'll let you. Today is also the last day of Be The Match's holiday fundraiser. You can donate dollars to help patients and researchers.

Download the high resolution, printable Flyer by CLICKING HERE

Download the Tear-away Tabs by CLICKING HERE

In her own words. Janet, who recently relapsed just made this video while receiving treatment at the hospital I wanted to share with you: Follow Janet on her journey of battling acute lymphoblastic leukemia in this "Day in the Life" (potentially could turn into a series!) homemade video. This is a real glimpse into her life and all she asks for is a simple request -- register to be a marrow donor

This is how PBSC works.

I searched for years for a book Google knew in an instant

In the beginning I read. A lot. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I am certain that reading is what released my imagination and creativity from a young age showing me many more possibilities in life beyond what I knew to be true from my own, very limited experience.

While in elementary school I became a voracious reader. I remember bringing home piles of books (almost all about animals) and reading them over and over again. Because of this my reading level advanced by years and I was soon reading books that were meant for much older students and even adults.

Blanca and Lobo

The other night I started thinking about one book in particular I read while still in elementary school. It had a grey fabric cover with the title embossed on the front cover along with a trail of paw prints along the left side and a wolf's head on the spine. I was actually probably too young for this book when I read it. The story that resonated with me most was about hate, despair, love and the death of a pair of wolves hunted by local ranchers and bounty hunters. The wolf's mate Blanca was ultimately killed in a brutal fashion. Soon after, Lobo is also captured, because of his devotion to Blanca, and dies in captivity of a broken heart.

Um, probably not really appropriate for fourth grade reading but I doubt my parents even realized I'd read it. Inexplicably this book disappeared from our family bookshelf by the time I'd reached the sixth grade, never to be seen again.

Realizing I could stumble upon a used copy, whenever I've walked into shops with old books I've always looked for it, quickly scanning for that grey cover with a wolf stamped along the spine. I had no idea what the book was called or who the author was.

The other night it occurred to me that Google might hold the answer to the question I'd been carrying around most of my life: Who wrote that book? I Googled Lobo+Blanca+Wolf Story and there it was. . .

Wild Animals I Have Known by Ernest Thompson Seton

It was exactly as I'd remembered it. I also found this video, Lobo - The Wolf that changed America. I watched it and learned, to my shock, that  "Lobo the King of Currumpaw" was not a complete story of fiction. Seton was an actual wolf bounty hunter who, in 1893, was hired to come out west and kill Lobo. The longer it took, the greater appreciation Seton developed for the wolves when he realized that the reason they were hunting the racher's livestock was because humans had needlessly decimated the great herds of buffalo. The wolves had no choice but to hunt the rancher's herds which were easy prey compared to wild buffalo.

Watch The Wolf That Changed America on PBS. See more from Nature.

The transformation of Seton's own views about Lobo and his realization that the settlers created the "wolf problem" show that he wasn't a man with a closed mind. He allowed himself to learn to respect and care about the very wolves he had been sent to kill.

According to the video, Seton wrote that he regretted the deaths of Blanca and Lobo. After Lobo died in captivity the night he was captured, Seton never killed another wolf. In fact, the collection of stories he wrote "Wild Animals I Have Known" which included the story I remembered "Lobo the King of Currumpaw" became a foundation stone in our nation's conservation movement. From hunter to naturalist to environmentalist, Seton spent the rest of his life protecting the wilderness and wildlife through legislation and educating the public that as stewards of the land we had claimed, we didn't have to kill everything. He felt it was our responsibility to protect and co-exist with the wildlife around us. He is also credited with founding the Boy Scouts of America.

This is a photo (from the video) Seton took of  Lobo with his legs caught in his traps.

Fortunately, it didn't take being a regretful wolf hunter to teach me empathy (the ability to understand and share the feelings of another). Simply reading about one did. "Lobo the King of Currumpaw" made me want to treat animals with the utmost respect and kindness because in my, impressionable, eyes their ability to feel pain, both emotional and physical, was equal to my own.

This got me to wondering. . . Can reading at a young age be formative in what personality traits a child develops? For instance: If I hadn't read as a child would I still be who I am today? Or would I be different? Are personality traits innate or learned?

This whole exercise made me reach waaaaaaaaaaay back for long forgotten memories. What books did I read that I now feel shaped my character? What books, along with my parents, taught me respect, compassion, honor, courage, personal responsibility and empathy? Below are the titles I could recall. I've placed an * next to my favorites. I'm tempted to read all of them again as they were great stories that I'm sure I'd enjoy just as much today as I did many years ago.

HORSE BOOKS

* Black Beauty - Anna Sewell
* Broomtail - Miriam E. Mason
Flip - Wesley Dennis
* Indian Paint - Glenn Balch
My Friend Flicka - Mary O'Hara
National Velvet - Bagnold, Enid
The Red Pony - John Steinbeck

Album of Horses- Marguerite Henry
Black Gold- Marguerite Henry
Born to Trot- Marguerite Henry
* Brighty Of The Grand Canyon- Marguerite Henry
Cinnabar, the One O'Clock Fox- Marguerite Henry
Five O'Clock Charlie- Marguerite Henry
Justin Morgan Had a Horse- Marguerite Henry
* King of the Wind: The Story of the Godolphin Arabian- Marguerite Henry
* Misty of Chincoteague - Marguerite Henry
• Mustang: Wild Spirit Of The West- Marguerite Henry
Stormy, Misty's Foal- Marguerite Henry
The Little Fellow- Marguerite Henry
The Sultan's Gift - Marguerite Henry, Joan Kane Nichols

* The Black Stallion - Walter Farley
The Black Stallion Returns - Walter Farley
Son of the Black Stallion - Walter Farley
The Island Stallion - Walter Farley
The Black Stallion and Satan - Walter Farley
The Black Stallion's Blood Bay Colt - Walter Farley
The Island Stallion's Fury - Walter Farley
The Black Stallion's Filly - Walter Farley
The Black Stallion Revolts - Walter Farley
The Black Stallion's Sulky Colt - Walter Farley
The Island Stallion Races - Walter Farley
The Black Stallion's Courage - Walter Farley
The Black Stallion Mystery - Walter Farley
The Horse-Tamer - Walter Farley
The Black Stallion and Flame - Walter Farley
The Black Stallion Challenged - Walter Farley
The Black Stallion's Ghost - Walter Farley

DOG BOOKS

Algonquin - Dion Henderson
* Big Red - Jim Kjelgaard
Bruce - Albert Payson Terhune
* Call of the Wild (Get the free eBook) - Jack London
Gabriel - Jean Slaughter Doty
Grey Dawn - Albert Payson Terhune
• Irish Red - Jim Kjelgaard
* Kävik the Wolf Dog - Walt Morey
* Lad: A Dog - Albert Payson Terhune
* Lad of Sunnybank - Albert Payson Terhune
Lochinvar Luck - Albert Payson Terhune
Old Yeller - Fred Gipson
Outlaw Red - Jim Kjelgaard
Sounder - William H. Armstrong
* Where the Red Fern Grows - Wilson Rawls
* White Fang (Get the free eBook) - Jack London

OTHER ANIMALS

* All Creatures Great and Small - James Herriot
* All Things Bright and Beautiful - James Herriot
* All Things Wise and Wonderful - James Herriot
Charlotte's Web - E. B. White
Jonathan Livingston Seagull - Richard Bach
Stuart Little - E.B. White
* The Lord God Made Them All - James Herriot
The Trumpet of the Swan - E. B. White
* Watership Down - Richard Adams
* Wild Animals I Have Known (Get the free eBook) - Ernest Thompson Seton

About Blog Traffic Counters: Pageviews

When I first started blogging back in 2006 I had no expectations about how many people would read my blog on any given day. Looking back I think my lack of interest was a blessing because all too often I talk to new bloggers who are frustrated by how long it takes to grow their readership. They want immediate gratification and when that doesn't happen they give up and quit blogging.

Hyperbole and a Half receives millions of pageviews each time author Allie posts, which is only about once every other month or so. But her fan base is so strong that on her last post, a sad/funny one about depression she received 4264 comments. Those are stunning numbers. But you can look back in her archive and see that early on, she was building her blog slowly and steadily, post by post before Hyperbole and a Half went viral.

There are exceptions to the rule, people who are able to gain a huge audience to a new blog are kind of like Rock Stars, Movie Stars and Super Models. It can happen but most people have to work their way up. I can only say that (imo) for most bloggers it takes several things to grow your readership:

1. Writing quality posts that are informative and/or entertaining
2. Frequent posting
3. Consistent posting
4. Good SEO (search engine optimization)
5. Time

Though I started blogging in 2006 I didn't add a traffic counter until 2008. Then I added the free version of Statcounter and began tracking my blog traffic. This graph shows the growth The Flirty Blog has experienced between 2008 and 2011. Four years is what it's taken to grow my readership six times over and my pageviews almost seven times over.

But here's the thing. While milestones are always fun to hit I don't get too hung up on what the totals are mainly because different traffic counters can give you vastly different results. For instance while Statcounter shows my pageviews for December 2011 at 22,087, for the same time period the Blogger traffic counter shows my pageviews to be 64,720.

The same month, two very different pageview totals.

What? How can the pageview totals vary so widely between two different traffic counters and which is right? Simple answer: I have no idea. Each company uses their own algorithm and all keep their algorithms secret. So I don't get too wrapped up in what the totals are.

The thing I enjoy most about using a counter is if you stick with the same one, over time, you can see the relative growth your blog is experiencing. Since I started with Statcounter it's the one I use even though the Blogger numbers are more impressive. I suspect the actual count is somewhere inbetween.

In 2011 more people read my blog when it was cold outside.

Using Statcounter has also shown me some interesting information. For instance my blog receives the least amount of traffic during the summer and on Saturdays. And every year October is my heaviest month for traffic because of my dog Kitai's Halloween costume post. People love funny dog costumes.

If you haven't added a counter to your blog I'd recommend Google Analytics or Statcounter. Don't check it every day. You'll get too preoccupied with it. I'd say to initially check it once a week or month to see how things are growing. A cool thing is you can see who's linking to your blog and leave a comment or send them a thank you for helping to share you with their readers.

But most of all I use the traffic counter as a guide, not the measure of my blog's success. You will most likely find your readers will reward you when they reach out to you to let you know how something you wrote helped them, made them feel better or inspired them to do something new. At least that's what means the most to me :)

While you wait photo tips: Coffee at Roy's Station

I've decided the best way to learn photography is to carry my camera with me at all times and whenever I'm sitting anywhere, waiting for something, I play with my camera settings and take test shots. I'm gradually beginning to understand both the principals of photography and how my particular camera and lenses work.

Results that were too dark, bright and blurry

For instance I did this exercise at Roy's Station in San Jose's Japantown to continue learning how to shoot in manual mode customizing my shutter speed and aperture settings. In total I took a couple dozen photos in less than 5 minutes while I waited for my peppermint mocha to cool a bit. Most weren't winners. But that's ok.

This was my best result: F-stop of 2.8, Shutter Speed of 1/10 and ISO 100

At first the whole manual thing just turned my brain to mush but now it's making sense.

Have you tried to shoot using your camera's manual settings before? Give it a try and don't worry if your attempts look bad. Unlike film (with digital) it costs nothing to experiment so go for it!

The key confusing thing I've finally figured out is:

Shutter Speed: Your shutter speed runs from full seconds to fractions of seconds. This used to confuse me more than anything else because the number 1 means longer/slower and a number like 250 is shorter/faster. Don't think smaller bigger, it's shorter/faster and longer/slower. The reason the larger number means less is because it's actually a fraction of a second so 250 really means 1/250th of a second. Does that make sense?

Left: Too fast of a shutter speed and/or narrow aperture

Right: Too slow shutter speed and/or wide aperture 

So a faster setting where the shutter opens and closes more quickly means your camera receives less light so if your picture looks like the one on the left above you need to slow down your shutter speed leaving the shutter open longer to let more light in. But not so long that you let in too much light and it looks like the close up on the right. Somewhere between the two is a happy medium.

I'm also beginning to get a grasp on F-stop, also known as your Aperture setting.

Aperture (aka Fstop): A smaller number means a wider opening to let in light and larger numbers mean a more narrow opening that lets in less light. So if your photo is too dark or too light you'll want to adjust your aperture to make the opening wider or more narrow to control how much light your camera receives.

There are also settings for ISO (which I constantly forget to adjust so I'm usually shooting at 100) and focal length (which I have no clue what that means yet) but I'm not going to worry about them until I really have this shutter speed and aperture stuff down. I'm guessing that'll be in another week or two so I'm getting there and if you want to learn how to maximize your camera's potential, I hope you're coming with me :D

For me it's all about better photos for the blog. For you it could also mean better blog photos, a new hobby or simply better snapshots whenever you take a picture.

BTW the peppermint mocha was good. Really sweet (perhaps a bit too sweet for my taste) but I think too sweet is better than too bitter :P

Vegetarian Ozoni Mochi Soup Recipe

This year I made a very simple vegetarian version of Ozoni Soup, a traditional Japanese soup made on New Year's Day. While the soup usually calls for meat broth with sliced chicken or pork, steamed fish cake, vegetables and mochi. I used organic vegetable broth and just four more ingredients to create this easy peasy vegetarian/vegan Ozoni Soup.

Thank you to my friend Gordon who kindly gave me a hostess gift of mochi when he recently came by for dinner. It was in a decorative plastic container with a little "Maneki Neko" or beckoning cat ornament that symbolizes good fortune. The presentation was so cute and fancy. It was a "kagami" or double stacked mochi made especially for New Year's Day.

The main ingredients for the soup were napa cabbage, carrot the mochi and vegetable broth.

To the broth I also added a single piece of konbu seaweed. Also known as "sea bones" this particular kind of dried seweed is often used a base for broths and stocks. It is discarded before serving.

I sliced the cabbage and placed in two bowls. The stalk sections I added to the broth first to allow them to cook just a bit longer than the thinner leaves.

And because it was a special occasion I went all out and used a metal vegetable cutter to make my carrots beautiful. The crab shaped veggie cutter was something I picked up years ago (I think) at Sur la Table as part of a set of three decorative shapes. You can also cut them by hand with an xacto knife.

The mochi container had to be torn open. Then I took a sharp knife and cut the section in two.

I put one piece of the mochi on a small baking sheet and popped it in the toaster oven to bake at 350º for a few minutes. As it bakes it softens and begins to puff up and out.

The broth and veggies cooking. I also added some frozen green peas at the last minute. I love their bright color and the extra bit of flavor they add to any soup.

The easiest way to eat the soup and break apart the mochi is with Japanese chopsticks

The finished soup was delicious and so easy to make! Here's a short description of the recipe I used to make this single serving for one:

Vegetarian/Vegan Ozoni Soup Recipe

1 dried or fresh mochi (baked)
3 leaves of napa cabbage (sliced)
1 wide carrot (cut with decorative vegetable cutter)
1/8 cup frozen green peas
1.5 cups vegetable broth (this was how much I had leftover from another recipe)
1 cup water added to broth
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste (freshly ground)

• Place mochi in toaster oven at 300º for approximately 5 minutes
• Slice cabbage and carrots separating cabbage stalk and leaf sections into two bowls
• Heat broth to boiling in pot then reduce heat to medium.
• Add carrots and napa cabbage stalks and cook for around 4 minutes
• Add cabbage leaves and frozen peas to cook for 2-3 minutes
• Ladle soup and veggies into bowl
• Add baked mochi and immerse in broth. It will quickly soften in the liquid and become easy to break small sections off

You can add all kinds of veggies to this soup including spinach, mizuna greens, renkon (lotus root) or shitake mushroom. Just remember to cook the thicker, tougher veggies first and add the thinner more delicate ones at the end so they don't over cook.

A Word of Caution: Mochi is cooked sweet rice that is pounded into a sticky mass. The result is that mochi is very sticky and if too big of a bite is swallowed without proper chewing it is very easy to choke, even to death, on a bite of mochi. So eat small bites and chew well.

For my Ozoni Soup recipe with chicken broth, meat and fish cake CLICK HERE

New Year's Resolution: Bon Odori at San Jose Japantown's O Bon Festival

As a child my parents made me take Japanese dancing lessons the way other kids were forced to take tap dancing or piano lessons. From a child's perspective there were two kinds of dancing:

1. The bon odori (pronounced bone oh-doe-ree rolling the "r") summer dancing for the O Bon festival that meant we would be wearing thin, unlined, comfortable, lightweight kimonos called "Yukata" with soft obi (pronounced oh-bee) sashes around our wasits and dancing outdoors in the parking lot of the buddhist church we didn't attend. In a way, bon odori is the Japanese equivalent to country line dancing. Everyone does the same steps and movements in unison but while walking in a circle around a narrow, central platform which traditionally held live musicians like the drummer whose rhythmic beating set the pace for the dancers below. The bon odori dancing represents simple folk stories told in a simple way.

Mia Hirata (left) and I wearing fancy style kimono and obi sashes

2. The second type was classical Japanese dance. It was much fancier, more formal and focused heavily on technique to tell the story. Hand gestures, head direction, arm movements, and foot placement were all crucial details in performing a classical piece well. Our teacher was kind so the lessons themselves were quite enjoyable and I think I always looked forward to the time spent with her.

Once a year we would perform the dances we'd learned onstage at our church's annual dinner. That night we would have to wear heavy kimonos with thick, formal obis that were hot and hard to breathe in. I can still remember how I often felt like my ribs were going to crack under the tightness of the obi. Sometimes we had to hurriedly do costumes changes and often used props like parasols, fans and baskets.

It also meant my hair would be pulled, by force, into an excruciatingly tight bun, sealed to my skull with liberal dollops of Dippity Do hair styling gel and lots of hair spray. The only hair that escaped this torture were two, long, spiral curl, side burns that would boing like Slinkies as I performed the dance routines. It also meant I would have to wear my mom's lipstick, which had a horrible floral taste to it when first applied. After a few minutes the scent would dissipate but it was all pretty awful to a little kid.

Pigeon toed me, Mia Hirata, Holli Watanabe and her sister Jenna

At the end of the night we would painfully take our buns down which could only be done by "cracking" our hair loose from their Dippity Do helmets. LOL

We would all take classes from our sensei (pronounced sah-n-say meaning teacher), Madame Kanriye Fujima, who I remember as a very graceful and kind woman. She would come to town several times a year to teach us how to be little dancers. For the classical dancing we would go to her home and learn the steps in preparation for our performances. For the bon odori we would all gather in the parking lot at the Buddhist church and learn the steps as a group. I loved these practice sessions because they were always followed by ice cream. . . Creamsicles, Fudgecicles and those little parfait cups of strawberry or chocolate with vanilla ice cream and a tiny wooden spoon.

I scanned these photos the other day and sent them to Mia and Holli, two of the girls I used to dance with. We had a great laugh over our memories of what Mia (who was always my dance partner) aptly called our "good ole times" back when we were just kids and our biggest problems were things like hating Dippity Do and getting too tanned during the summer so that white powder had to be applied (to Holli and Jenna's faces) for this performance.

San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin

So how does this tie into possible New Year's resolutions? Because San Jose's Buddhist Church holds bon odori dance lessons each year in preparation for the two day O Bon festival in San Jose's Japantown each summer where over a thousand people come together with the women wearing kimonos and the men wearing happi coats to perform the traditional dances of Japan. I was thinking it might be neat to revisit the tradition, willingly, as an adult because it was very much a part of my childhood. With time I have a much greater appreciation for holding onto this bit of cultural heritage I had shunned for years.

What are your resolutions this year?