A Special Gift

 This is Mr. Ogura.  He was one of our English students when we were on our mission in Japan.  We became very good friends with him.  He would take us on outings.  In this picture, he had taken us to show us his garden.  He loved to grow vegetables and fruits.

Last week, we got a wonderful surprise in the mail.  Well, actually it wasn't a total surprise because about three months ago, I got an email from Mr. Ogura telling me that he had sent us some strawberry preserves that he had made.  This is part of that email:

Thank you so much for your letter and beautiful flower pictures.

Yesterday I sent a strawberry jam bottle for you that I made from harvested them in my farm.

It's sent by ship about one month, I'd like to send by SAL but it's stopped.

 The recipe is simple, Strawberry and 40% caramel sugar (Sanontou of Japan),I poured it into

sterilized bottle. The boiling jam has become cold. It's from a vacuum.

It can store at room temperature. But the lid is opened, it'll kept in a refrigerator.

As he explains in his email, Japan will not allow packages to be sent by air right now because of COVID.  So it took about three months to get here by boat and I had forgotten about it.  

I love that we are still connected with this dear man and that he still thinks about us.  We haven't tried the jam yet, but I'm sure it will be delicious.  Thank you Mr. Ogura!