I won't forget this birthday! - as a guinea pig in a dry run of a "survival day" Masan is organising later in the year. He wanted to see what we could create using local materials to filter water, cook, make chopsticks and bowls, a pit toilet, and to fuel the ancient old bath tub - and have our daily bath outdoors.
Expecting to be led into the jungle and left to our own devices I was mildly surprised when we headed down the tarmac to a piece of forest slap by the Nakatsugawa road (owned by a friend of Masan's). Felling 4 chunky bamboo trees, trimming them and hauling them back to the house reminded me of my conservation-volunteer days - except that we had no tool-safety talk, and some of the tools were in a frightening state of disrepair! It was a fun morning, and I was amazed by the versatility of bamboo, e.g. that it's hollow, and the horizontal stripes correspond to internal "walls". By sawing either side of two stripes we had instant "long bowls"; sawing close to one stripe gave a mini bowl. A longer length, with two chambers could be placed in the fire vertically, with vegetables in the upper compartment and water in the bottom; holes gauged in the chamber wall between the two allowed the tube to act as a steamer. Meanwhile, three lengths of bamboo, with a lid cut into the central chamber, could form a rIce "baker" when placed in the fire. All this, and some potatoes baked in foil, made a very tasty meal, perfectly cooked. It would have been even better if one of the 3 bakers hadn't rolled into the fire, spreading rice and water everywhere! But I'm learning restraint so when asked, "Have you eaten enough?" I said, "Yes".
Alas, the antique bath tub let us down: it wasn't watertight. So we ended the survival "day" after lunch. Although "just" lighting the fire to heat the water for the communal bath is now looking like a soft option, I'd give anything to be able to jump straight into one now! Rain is sloshing down and, although my digestive system is loving the low-meat, no-sugar, no-dairy diet, my knees and back are challenged by kneeling for every meal. But I'm cheered by the promise of birthday tempura for supper. So a very special day.
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