sanshikisaido

The other day, Satoshi received a Masala tea from a friend who went to Kenya. I was excited to try it since I figured it must have spices in it and I could make masala chai with it. There were no directions on the package and when I opened it, it was ground really fine--and kind of reminded me of dirt (sorry!) There was a faint spice smell. So, when I made it for Saturday's breakfast, I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't too "spicy". I decided to add more spices and make it again for this morning's breakfast...much better.

Yesterday, Satoshi had his German language class. I met him for lunch and then we were about to catch the train to Kitasenri, an area we visit during this time of year for their colorful foliage. As we walked along the platform, I thought I saw Satoshi's brother....we got closer and Satoshi says, "nah, that's not my brother..." but it was...what a nice surprise! We were catching the same train--the two of them got to chat all the way to his brother's stop.

Last year, we visited Sanshikisaido, which I posted about here. Actually, we came upon this spot by accident a few years back and have tried to visit every autumn, just because it has never let us down for beautiful autumn foliage.

As we got off the train, it was raining, we didn't have umbrellas and it was really COLD! The temperature had dropped all of a sudden. We went looking for a 100yen shop (dollar store) to get some umbrellas.

The leaves were really pink, orange and yellow. Cars kept pulling onto the side of the road to look at the leaves and take photos.

After oohing and aahing at the colorful leaves, we walked back to the train station and rode the train to the next station, Yamada. This train station has a tiny shopping mall with a large supermarket, some eateries, shops and a nice little cake shop called, Grand Deco. My afternoon snack, a chocolat earl grey. A chiffon cake bottom, with a chocolate mousse outside and earl grey mousse on the inside (sorry, forgot to take a photo of the inside) It was really delicious and nice to be indoors.

Today, Satoshi is helping at an alumni function for his university baseball team, so it is just another day at home for me.

Have a great week.