fruits of summer

A couple of posts ago, I wrote about laundry. An anonymous reader reminded me about the big clips that are needed to hold your futon (comforter), onto the railings of the lanai.

I wanted to show them to you and luckily the big condo across the street had some samples.

When we first came to Japan, I bought a pair of clips for our futon, then when we moved to the apartment we are in now, I realized the clips I had bought would not hold our futon onto the lanai railing, so I needed to buy bigger ones (insert pouty face)

Changing the subject, what fruits have you been enjoying this summer?

To make these muffin style clafoutis, I used a range of different chocolates (65% Guittard Sur Del Lago, 2006 Gran Couva Valrhona, Madagascar by Nakatani & 65% Guittard Ambanja). Bing cherries were quite expensive this year due to the rise in oil prices (they are imported from the US). I don't think Dhanggit pitted the cherries she used, but I did.

The "muffins" were dense and chocolatey. I want to try this recipe again using muffin papers instead of ramekins, if I can't find fresh cherries, I may use dried ones.

The sakuranbo (Japanese cherry) that I bought wasn't sweet at all, kind of disappointing actually. Overall, I think I may prefer the bing cherries over these.

On the other hand, the suika (watermelon) that I've bought has been really sweet--between 11% and 12% sugar content.

These momo (peaches) smell like they will be were delicious. I'm glad they are not wrapping these guys in saran wrap--I like to smell peaches before buying them.

These fruits are probably the best part of Japan summers.

fruits of summer

More and more fruits are coming into season here. If you remember last month, there was Delaware grapes and Quincy melon.

This month, meet Sakuranbo from Yamagata prefecture. These cherries actually remind me of Rainier cherries (maybe they are of the same variety?) They weren't very sweet and actually a bit tart. I was surprised at the price too, about US$3 for a little over 200 grams.

And white peaches from Fukuoka prefecture. These are called Hakuho. The skins are a bit bitter, but the insides are juicy and sweet.

I had to cut away at the insides to get it off of the stone (it was that ripe!) 2 of these delicious peaches were US$6! Luckily, when I bought them they were in a container with holes so I could smell them before buying.

The fruits and veggies are probably the only part of Japan summers that I enjoy.

Hope you have a good week.

'tis the season...

It is summer, there are lots of fruits in season here.

One in particular is the cherry--very popular now, you can tell because the price is very HIGH!

The prefecture known for producing them is Yamagata. Yamagata is located in the Tohoku area of Honshu, which is in the North-Eastern area, near Niigata.

In Japanese, cherries are called sakuranbo. They are similar to the Rainier cherry in Washington. I got these on sale at a local supermarket, they were having a discounted price for point-card holders.

If you live in Japan--and shop, you'll know that almost EVERY store has a point-card, some give money back after collecting so many points, some give discounted prices to card holders. I think most places have them just to test your memory. My wallet would definitely be a little thinner if I didn't have to carry so many point-cards. And if I could only remember to present them at the check-out, I would probably be able to save a little more $$! But, if you had this many, would you be able to? (and this is only half of what I have!! yipes!)