As a result of the email, my fond thoughts of town and friends and food brought me to cooking a batch of American Koshihikari Rice and trying to remember how to properly make a couple of onigiri. I had some lovely umeboshi - made by a classmate in that quilting class and mailed to me earlier this year. (I asked a Japanese person one time how long you could keep umeboshi. She looked confused, trying to imagine having some left over when this year's batch was being made.) 
Putting it all together with some salad for dinner I got out the chopsticks, the little cat hashioki to rest them on, then realized - I have no cups for ocha. How in the world did I return to America from Japan four times with out an ocha cup?
Ah well, I'm finishing up a bit of yokan and feeling a bit better. Japan will always hold on to a part of me.
