We've visited this area several times in past years, but I have never written about the ume (apricot) trees at Nakayama-dera. This temple has a bairin (the literal translation is apricot forest, but I think apricot orchard is a little more appropriate for this particular area), which we've visited pre-blog. 
We had lunch at a nearby cafe called Effet (sorry no photos, was too hungry).
Today Satoshi had the day off. Our day started off with leftover chocolate bread made into a bread pudding. I put fresh blueberries onto the bottom of the ramekin then layered bits of chocolate bread in. Then I added a scrambled egg, some milk and cinnamon and baked the whole thing for 30 minutes. It was nice way to start the day.
The DIY store is about 5 minutes walking from the Nakayama train station, so we quickly got out of the heat and walked around the DIY store. They didn't have what I was looking for, but did have an 18 roll pack of TP (toilet paper) at a really reasonable price, so we ended up buying this instead.
As we walked out of the DIY store, we noticed a Western-style restaurant, Oazo. Since it was almost lunchtime, we decided to check out this place. Satoshi ordered the B Lunch (1200 yen about US$12) this came with a hamburger, fried fish and fried shrimp, salad and potato salad. It also came with a little plate of rice.
I ordered the Fried Shrimp curry (900 yen about US$9). I also added a salad and drink for 450 yen (about US$4.50). The curry was really spicy, but I was disappointed. Fried shrimp curry by their standards means 1 fried shrimp cut in half to look like 2...sigh.
After lunch we decided to walk the aisles of the supermarket next door. We were surprised at how big the market was and how empty it was. We decided to have dessert and picked up some ice cream from their frozen section.
I had the crunchy mac nut brittle ice cream bar from Haagen-Dazs. The vanilla ice cream had bits of caramel mixed in. The outside was milk chocolate with mashed brittle. It was delicious.
I had a lesson so I met Satoshi in Umeda afterwards. We went into a restaurant that we've never been to before.
"Grilled mix seafood--Italian Basil source"...should be sauce instead of source.
"Spicy Grass Bread Crumb Burning condition Province style of a lamb"....first of all Province is way different from Provence and if you are burning it, we don't want it. We didn't know what to make of this.
I ordered their pasta-like tomato soba (1200 yen about US$12). This dish is only served during the summer and they only make a couple of servings a day. This was delicious. Thinly sliced soba served in a tomato sauce made with lots of black pepper, basil and garlic, topped with thinly sliced shiso (perilla). I think this dish could have been colder, but it hit the spot.
After lunch, we wanted to go have some coffee. We noticed this huge house next to the railroad tracks. They had a menu out in front.
It turns out that Ebis Garden & House is a landscaping company. They also have a cafe on their property. I loved how they had a big wooden deck, a sun room and lots of plants.
They also had a consulting area and also have space to hold classes upstairs. It was a nice place to sit and have coffee. I was disappointed with the service though. After the waitress took my order, it was about 5 or 10 minutes later when she came back to tell me that they didn't have what I ordered (a swiss roll or what the Japanese call "roll cake"). So, I ended up choosing their assorted pound cakes--rum raisin, chocolate walnut, poppy ginger (800 yen about US$8, comes with choice of drink).
After a couple of loads, we decided to go to Ikeda. Satoshi wanted to check out their rakugo museum. On the way, we stopped into Yuan for lunch. This place is run by Toyosu, a local arare (rice cracker) maker. I had the o-makase (leave it up to the chef) set.
It came with a mini dessert. I chose the kurogoma dango (black sesame dumplings)--rice dumplings covered with a black sesame sauce.
The Rakugo museum opened sometime last year. Rakugo is a "sit-down" comedy that has quite a long history. It is part story telling and part comedy. I once saw an english version of Rakugo at the University of Hawaii.
Sunday was another great day. Since we didn't want to stay indoors, we decided to go to Nakayama after lunch. Nakayama is about 5 stations from where we live. We stopped in to Marie-Ange for dessert. The cafe area seats only 10 people, but since it was Sunday, no one was there. Satoshi chose the Sakura (cherry blossom) roll--a vanilla sponge cake filled with cream and a sakura an (cherry flavored sweet bean paste) in the middle.
I chose the chiboust. A flaky crust filled with bananas and topped with chiboust cream. The sugary top was caramelized, like a creme brulee.
After dessert, we went to the grocery store. I wanted parmigiano reggiano...and was surprised, as the price has since doubled since the last time I bought a slice. 80g is now 1000 yen (about US$10)!
It looks like the houses on the other side of our building will be torn down. They vacated the houses and have started putting up the poles to attach dust curtains. Hopefully it won't be too dusty.
Today was a beautiful sunny day. After my lesson, I met Satoshi and we walked to a nearby park, Suigetsu park. I had only known about the hanashobu (irises) that are beautifully grown and displayed in June. And only had learned about the ume (plum)grove, recently through a local newsletter. I had walked through the park a week earlier and the buds of the plum trees were just beginning to form. This weekend, there were a few trees that had bloomed. Here they are.
After walking through Suigetsu park, we stopped into MOS burger for a snack. (MOS stands for mountain, ocean and sun. I really like this fast food restaurant because they use vegetables grown in Japan (they have a chalkboard which they list the farms and areas that they got their veggies from). Plus, they make your burger or food item only after they recieve your order. This means it is always fresh and HOT!) They have a new item called, katsu-curry rice burger. Katsu (fried pork) with a curry sauce, shredded cabbage, and a little pasta salad all between two "patties" of rice (sorry no photo). We shared this and it was really good and really hit the spot.
I had the Charlotte Chocolat which was a chocolate sponge cake filled with chocolate whipped cream and chopped almonds then covered with sliced almonds and topped with namachoco (chocolate truffle sticks) and an oatmeal cookie (this came free). Satoshi had the Pudding tart which was a yellow sponge cake filled with whipped cream and fruits and topped with a layer of custard flan and a shortbread cookie. The only gripe I have about this cafe is that they allow smoking. I understand that smokers have to have a smoke after eating, but I would like to enjoy my cake and coffee too!! I think the next time we enjoy these sweets would be to take out. (UPDATE: all Nakata shops are out of business)
The weather is much cooler so there are a lot of pansies and violas on sale now. Since some of my lavender plants died, I decided to get some violas and some new lavender plants for the empty planters.
