Cafetalk Tutor's Column

SEMINAR -October 1st 2025-Western-Style Cooking at Home Let`s Cook Together-- Oven Beef Stew

Join me for a special live seminar on Cafetalk, where we'll explore the art of Western-style cookin...

One Small Swim for a Poodle, One Giant Splash for Us All !

After all our living-room prep sessions and bathtub trials, we finally leveled up—Karin went on her...

Two Different Worlds: My Medical Experience in Japan vs. Canada

  Have you ever thought about how long it takes to see a doctor in different countries? Today, I wa...

My Summer Netflix Watching

My Summer Netflix Watching Since June it has been very hot outside, so my husband and I decided to...

A Little Visitor at My Window: The Leafcutter Bee

A Little Visitor at My Window: The Leafcutter Bee The other day, as I was working by the window, I ...

Teaching My 16-Year-Old Poodle to Swim — From the Bathtub to the Lake

This September, we’re heading to the mountains for a much-anticipated camping trip—fresh air, fores...

How I Survive the Long, Hot Japanese Summer (Without Losing My Mind)

Japanese summers can be brutal — the heat and humidity just zap your energy, and staying indoors of...

My New Summer Hobby: Building 3D Puzzles

  This summer, my husband and I found a fun and relaxing hobby: building 3D puzzles together! These...

Mourning Customs/ Culture in Canada – Grief, Community, and Ritual

Mourning Customs in Canada – Grief, Community, and Ritual In Canada, mourning the death of a loved ...

The Shape of After: A Poem About Grief and Transformation

The Shape of After: A Poem About Grief and Transformation By Stephanie Riann  Grief doesn’t just le...

Taking Care of My Health in Japan: Hormones, Kidneys, Teeth, and More

Taking Care of My Health in Japan: Hormones, Kidneys, Teeth, and More Living in Japan as a middle-a...

Takamatsu and Tokushima cities

Day 9 ( April 10)  We got up and went and enjoyed some tea and sweets at Ritsurin Garden in Takamat...

Iya Valley , Tokushima and a few other small stops

Day 8 (April 9) We got up at the free city campground near by site at 5:30 am .  We drove many ba...

Uwajima, Ehime -Tosashimizu and Ochi, Kochi

Day 5 (April 6) - started the day by going over to a beautiful observation deck before heading over...

Imabari, Matsuyama, Sadamisaki , Ehime Prefecture

Day 3 - April 4  We started the day on Omishima  island driving around and checking out the observa...

Kurashiki, Okayama and Omishima , Shimanami Kaido

Day 1  We drove to Hyōgo prefecture Wednesday evening April 2nd it took about 8 hours - sleeping ov...

Super moon and camping

We spent another great weekend camping -- although the crowds of people and noise wasn't so fun dur...

Part 2 : First camping trip of the autumn season

Our favorite activity as my student know is to go camping -- this is a follow up post with some of ...

Part 1 : Niigata Camping trip

I had a few students request some information about my camping trip vacation : Day 1 5am wake up a...

Learn about NOVA SCOTIA culture and special English vocabulary

Would you like to learn about my home province  Nova Scotia? If yes ! -- I am offering two classes ...

Staying cool in summer .....

Dear Students, My apologies for not writing a blog for a long time --honestly our life hasn`t been ...

Looking forward to Spring --upcoming events and other updates !

Hello Everyone ! Here is an update blog of our Jan - Feb events --- Well -- Jan and feb have been s...

Christmas --New Year

Hello Everyone ! Here is an update blog of our break --Christmas Dec 23-24 -- we had my mother in l...

Christmas Virtual Church Choir -- Fall on Your Knees

This Christmas I had the wonderful opportunity to make music again with my musician friends back in...

Eventful November -- Camping , road trips etc

Hello everyone ! Novemeber has been a busy month of camping, travel and many things in between. Lat...

TRAVEL -- June ( IZU ) and July ( SOUTH NAGANO) trips

We`ve gone on a few trips over the last couple of months -- We had a nice trip to Shimoda, IZU in J...

PART 2 : Favorite books read from Jan - July 2022

PART 2 : recommended reads from my list of 240 books read so far this year .   SCIENCE FICTION : Kl...

Learning something new -- PRIME TIME -- entering the midway of the 2nd stage of life

I am now 40 years old -- and almost half way through the second stage of life -- I am newly learnin...

PART 1: My Favorite book reads so far this year from January - July 2022

Dear readers , These are my recommendations from my reads from Jan- July 2022 -- during that time I...

Next destination is ....

Well folks, this has been an eventful year of travel for us again! We always have plans every month...