resilience

Was worried about the cyclamen plant after the renovations.

Look how scraggly it looks!

But I noticed a couple of flowers ready to bloom.

Hopefully the plant will recover and look like it did in past years...photo from 2020.
 

friday

Friday we went to the Magome Cyclamen Garden, to see their cyclamen.

We had been here earlier in the year but at that time it was off season for them.

This time around, they had so many pretty varieties and there were quite a number of customers sending cyclamen to friends and family.

Lunch was at Kikuya 

I think they have been around for awhile since their interior is quite retro and so is their restroom...eep! Japanese style!

I had their tempura soba...the broth was a little too salty for my liking but the warm noodles hit the spot.

Satoshi had their curry nanban soba.

He enjoyed this and perspired profusely!

There are other items on the menu that Satoshi wants to try so we'll be back.

Down the street is a little cake shop...Maiko.

They opened last year and we finally got to check them out.

Marron pie...a whole chestnut and chestnut paste covered with flaky pastry.

Love!

Satoshi had their chocolate shortcake...a chocolate sponge with chocolate whipped cream and strawberries.

We'll be back to try other items too.

The weather has been great...sunny but cold!

Have a good week.

Kikuya

3-28-13 Ikegami

Ota, Tokyo

Phone: 03.3751.1127

Open daily 11:30-15:00 (lunch), 17:00-20:00 (dinner)

Maiko

3-29-15 Ikegami

Ota, Tokyo

Phone: 03.6303.5589

Closed Tuesdays & Wednesdays

Hours: 11:00-19:00

this and that

Last Friday, my favorite supermarket reopened after their renovations...so fancy now!

Of course, everyone and then some (even I) went to check out the opening sale...

Total nightmare especially since there was no social distancing! even though they said they were limiting the amount of people in the store...not!

Bummer! not sure if I'll be shopping here too often from now on...

Narly looking lemons that I found at Sankei, lots of juice and a bag of 6 were only 100 yen!

Tuesday was Setsubun.

It was 124 years since Setsubun fell on the 2nd of February (usually it is on the 3rd).

The weather dude explained that apparently every year the Earth takes about 6 hours longer to go around the Sun, the lag makes the day that Setsubun fall on vary.

Since the weather was forecast for rain, I wasn't planning to go out.

So I made our ehomaki by mixing rice with some tsukemono instead of vinegar & sugar then added some kani kamaboko (fake crab), cucumber, egg, carrot and a little mayo.

I used an app (yes they have one! actually there are many) that tells you which way to face while eating...this year was nan-nan-to (south-south-east)

Hoping for good health, happiness and for this pandemic to end soon...

Wednesday, Satoshi had the day off so we walked to check out the Magome Cyclamen Garden.

Apparently our ward used to have lots of farm lands.

This shop started growing cyclamen in 1953 and produces over 7500 plants a year.

If we had visited last November, we would have been able to see their 3 hot houses filled with cyclamen plants!

The owners were gracious to let us see what they had.

The cyclamen plants are bigger than the type we have.

Unfortunately none were for sale.

They also had starter plants that they were preparing for this November.

We hope to be back later this year.

Our case numbers have slowly come down but the amount of severe cases and deaths have not, so our State of Emergency has been extended to March 7.

Hope you all have a safe weekend.

"saba" goma

Saturday, while Satoshi went to German class, I stayed at home and watched a semi-marathon of "Kodoku no Gurume" and learned of a new dish...saba goma.

Fresh pieces of saba (mackerel) are covered with ground sesame seeds, mirin, sake and shoyu.

The way this dish was eaten on the episode was that the fish was covered with the first three ingredients and dipped in the shoyu just before eaten.

The recipe I found online combines all the ingredients then eaten.

You can use any type of sashimi (raw fish).

I used kanpachi (amberjack) and madai (sea bream) because we rarely see saba sold as sashimi where we live.

Hakata-style saba goma : adapted from Nissui website : serves two

1 piece saba (1/2 a fish)
1 green onion
1/4 piece nori (laver sheet)
1 tablespoon shoyu (soy sauce)
1/2 tablespoon sake (rice wine)
1/2 tablespoon mirin (sweet rice wine)
1.5 tablespoons ground sesame seeds

Cut fish into large bite sized pieces
Slice green onion & nori thinly, set aside
Put sauce ingredients together
Put fish into the sauce, coat well
Garnish with green onion and nori
Serve

NOTES: so fast easy and delicious. I only bought two packs of sashimi (each having 5 slices of fish), but would increase the amount of fish to use up the amount of sauce.

I garnished our sashimi with shiso (perilla) because I didn't have nori sheets at home.

This recipe reminded us of something Rakyo, an izakaya in our neighborhood serves.

Will definitely make this again.

With all the uncertainty in the air...our cyclamen plant is still going strong and getting ready to do its thing.

Have a good week everyone.

resilience

The cyclamen plant that we've had for over 10 years is getting ready to bloom...whoo!

If you've never heard the backstory about this plant please read this post.

Even though most of the other plants on my lanai died (after that blazing summer we had), the cyclamen and freesia seem to be doing fine.

Since March started we've had springy days and cold snap rainy ones...

I'm ready for Spring...how about you?

Have a nice weekend.

o-higan

It's O-higan...around the Spring and Autumnal Equinoxes, most Buddhist sects observe this time.

Similar to O-bon, many visit family graves and think of loved ones.

I think it is cool that every year around this time the cyclamen that we had intended to give Satoshi's grandma blooms.

If you don't know the backstory on this cyclamen, check out this post I wrote here.

Anyway, O-higan ends on the 23rd, and we are planning to visit her grave during the weekend.

Thinking of you Hikone Grandma.

this and that

This weekend was so warm.

I think the weather dude said we were having May temps?!

I went to check out the ume (apricot) blossoms at Nakayamadera on Saturday.

It was beautiful.

The cyclamen on our lanai has started to bloom.

Which indicates that Spring is indeed on its way.

Unfortunately, we're supposed to hit a cold snap tomorrow.

How's the weather in your area?

I spy..

The cyclamen that we've had for over 10 years is about to bloom.

This plant always amazes us.

After the flowers die, the plant does too during the Summer, but come Autumn, it starts producing leaves and then come Spring the cycle starts again...

Cool, yeah?!

hair cut

Today I went to have my hair cut. 

I dread this because I don't know the right words to get the cut or look that I want.

And I cringe when I want to get a perm (this is why I haven't had one in months!).

Even bringing in a picture of the style that I want has left me with a hairstyle that I don't particularly care for. 

Most of the stylists don't like to be left up to the task of creating a look for you either. 

Most like to be told. 

They do sometimes take things into their own hands and that's when I end up with a cut/perm that I didn't request. 

One technique they do on their own is thinning the hair. 

They put a scissor that cuts only in a couple of areas at a time to "thin" out your hair. 

I don't like when they do this because after a month or two my hair looks like a bush (because it grows back to the volume it was). 

So, I think to remedy this layered hair, I may have to stay away from the salons for a year or two!

Other than that, it was a very nice sunny day (for the morning part anyway). 

I wanted to share with you, our cyclamen plant. 

This plant is very hearty. 

It looks like it's dead during the summer, but come autumn, the leaves start to sprout and gets to be very leafy and bushy. 

I was amazed at this plant. 

I mean, look how many blooms it has! 

I've seen other cyclamen plants around in the area, but they don't have as many flowers as ours does.

Actually, this plant has a little story behind it. 

About 4 years ago, we bought it for Satoshi's grandma, when she was in the hospital. 

We were so happy with it, because it had some blooms and looked very cheery. 

But after Satoshi's mom saw it, she said, "You can't give her that." I asked, "Why?", but didn't get an answer. And we ended up buying her a bouquet of cut flowers.

The reason why you shouldn't give a person in the hospital a potted plant is because it has roots. 

In Japanese, this is called "ne-tsuke". 

It is a play-on words but they believe that if you receive a potted plant, you will "root" yourself in bed. In other words, you'll be in the hospital for a LONG time.

This year, I cut back the leaves a little too much, so it looked bald until the flowers started to bloom. 

The golden crest tree in the background is our Christmas tree (since they don't sell real cut ones here at Christmastime), it is the second one since we've lived here.

The other plants were bought at the dollar store (100 yen shop). I've found that these plants are the most heartiest and if it dies, it was only a dollar, right??

Well, enough rambling. 

I wanted to share with you another food item of Hinamatsuri, it's called Hina-arare (Girl's Day rice crackers). 

They are colored in the pink, white and green, the chocolate ones are arare covered with chocolate. 

The hina-arare and mochi were bought at the following shop:
Matsuyahonpo
Hankyu Ishibashi shopping arcade
Phone: 072-761-8168

I also bought this pastry at a bakery, Taro pan, in our shopping arcade. 

It's name is Caramel almond. 

It is puff pastry with a dollop of cake batter baked in the middle, caramel and almonds cover the bottom. 

They display it upside down with the caramel side up. 

It was really good, and it wasn't really sweet. 

It really went well with green tea.

Hope you have a great weekend.