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Hello. I’m Yasui, the president of a one-person company that mainly conducts inspections of high-pressure gas facilities.
Have you started to feel reluctant to try new things?
As we get older, starting something new—having to learn and study again—can feel like a heavy burden.
Recently, I bought a cookbook and have been doing a bit of cooking on my days off.
Today, I made oden, simmered pumpkin, and miso soup.
I ate the oden at night, and the other dishes at lunch.
The miso soup is gone, but there’s still some oden and simmered pumpkin left, so I’ll be eating those again tomorrow.
The cookbook I bought is a book of home-style cooking.
It’s called Katsuyo Kobayashi’s Everlasting Recipes 101 (from the Shufu no Tomo Practical No.1 Series). It seems to be out of print now, so it’s only available secondhand or on Kindle.
Katsuyo Kobayashi, Kentaro’s mother, passed away in 2014, but she left behind many recipes, and her students continue to share them even today.
She was featured on a TV program introducing great figures, and I thought she seemed like such an interesting person that I decided to buy the book.
For example, when the main dish is decided—say, gyoza—I’ll try making a soup that goes well with it.
Today, I really put in the effort and managed to complete an entire meal using my own cooking.
I also cook with my kids sometimes, or make pudding together.
And then my family eats it and tells me it’s delicious.
Most of the time, I’m slow and it takes longer than it should. But by copying what I see and trying things out, I start to realize things like, “Oh, this is how you make dashi,” or “So this seasoning creates that flavor.”
Because Kobayashi valued home cooking so deeply, there’s a lot she teaches through these recipes.
It’s not a cookbook about dieting or anything like that.
It’s filled with fundamental recipes—things I feel I’ll be able to use throughout my life.
When work gets busy, it’s hard to find opportunities to stand in the kitchen.
But within the time we have in our lives, cooking something with your own hands and having someone else eat it—that’s truly wonderful.
It also leads to a deeper sense of gratitude toward the person who usually does the cooking.
Do you think, “I’m busy, so of course someone should cook for me”?
Or do you think, “Thank you so much for cooking when I couldn’t”?
That difference alone, I believe, makes life much richer.
It might just be self-satisfaction—haha.
But even if it is, I think that’s fine.
If my family can see me living happily, I believe that will have a positive influence.
So I want to keep going.
Thank you very much for reading.
See you again!
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