Chez PLJ

Wasn’t she a peach? Grandma in her early 20s.
As I mentioned in my last post, the reason for the influx of relatives was the occasion of my grandmother’s 100th birthday! As that is a pretty stunning milestone just about the whole clan came to T.O. to celebrate. So on June 10th—her official, if not actual, birthday (there’s some discrepancy)—we brought in a nice lunch at the senior’s home where she lives.

Sushi lunch on the senior’s residence patio.

Ever since her stroke Grandma’s memory for recent events or people is occasionally a bit foggy, but I’m glad to say that her appreciation for good food is undiminished (as is her manual dexterity with chopsticks). I don’t imagine she gets much in the way of Japanese food at her residence, and she ate satifyingly large helpings of sushi and teriyaki chicken. I had baked two cakes for dessert (a white chiffon with lemon-curd filling, and a chocolate bundt with a ganache glaze), and her eyes lit up when she saw the chocolate cake!

Chocolate cake!

Mom & Troy’s slideshow of photos of Grandma’s life went over very well (although—shhh—I think Grandma nodded off for a bit in the middle!) Then a photo session of the whole group in various permutations (“Just the kids!” “Now all the grandkids!”, etc.), and Grandma was pretty much wiped out for the day.

The whole clan (almost). Back row: Ann, Laura, Tamo, Peter, Troy, Reg, Michiko, David, Tamiko; Front row: Jon, Grandma, Midori, Setsuko.

And still looking good into her second century!