3-day fall foliage??

Over the 3-day weekend, we went to check out the Fall foliage.

Saturday was the only day that was forecasted to be sunny. Only problem was that Satoshi had his German class in the afternoon.

We got up early and went to Minoo Park to see the Fall Foliage at Saikoji. Some of the leaves had turned reddish, but for the most part, I think it needs another week.

We thought about going all the way in to see the foliage near the falls, but realized we didn't have too much time, plus in recent years, the foliage near the falls have been quite disappointing, not red like most photos advertise.

Sunday was forecasted as cloudy, but when we awoke, it was sunny, so I brewed some coffee, and threw some koto-man into a bag and we caught the bus to Kyuanji.

We arrived there earlier than the opening time, so we had our koto-man and coffee on a stone wall outside.

The flavors had changed since the last time I went, so this time we had yuzu (citron), tsukune imo (a type of Chinese yam), matcha cream (kind of like matcha buttercream), roasted sweet potato and kuri azuki (chestnut with adzuki--They were giving out flyers and on it had a coupon for a free koto-man).

The sun stayed out less than half an hour and then for the rest of the day it was overcast and kind of cold.

Since we were already out, we decided to check out Tada Shrine in Kawanishi.

The leaves here weren't too red either, but we were glad to be able to get out and about.

Monday started out really cloudy and overcast, so we decided to just stay at home. Wouldn't you know that after making that decision, the sun decided to peek its head out for the rest of the day?

The weather over the long weekend wasn't too cooperative, hopefully we'll be able to experience more foliage next weekend.

foodie kind of weekend

Saturday was cloudy with some rain. Satoshi and I took the train to a station called Tada. This town is in the mountains and quite old. There are many large houses with very large gardens and several shrines. Lunch was ramen at a place called Tobe. I think this restaurant is part of a franchise chain. The ramen soup was good, but the noodles were a bit too soft.

Dessert was at a souffle shop called Knott's Berry in Kawanishi. This place is also a franchise chain. The chocolate and caramel souffles that we had were delicious. The only thing I didn't like was that everyone around us were smoking.

Dinner was an assortment of pupus (appetizers) as we watched the Japan Series (the Japanese version of the World Series) We had poke (seasoned cubed raw fish, tomato, onion), cabbage asazuke (lightly pickled cabbage), assorted fried horsebeans flavored with curry, chili and garlic/black pepper and chips with salsa. I got to try Tokyo Black a beer made by Yonayona, I really liked this, it was smoky and full bodied.

Sunday, on the other hand, was a beautiful sunny day. We headed to Banpakukoen which was where the World Fair was held in 1970. After the fair, it was turned into a huge park. We've gone at different times of the year to enjoy the different flowers. Today we went to enjoy their cosmos. There were lots of families with picnic lunches and the weather was quite warm, it was actually hot!

Since we didn't bring our own lunch, we headed to the Expo hotel which is next door to the park, for their buffet. Most of the food had been sitting out for awhile so it was quite crusty and not too good, though Satoshi ate like he's never been fed in awhile...hmm. The highlight for me was the dessert area, there were some mini cakes, creme brulee and scoop your own ice cream. I scooped some green tea, strawberry and vanilla and used the chocolate from the chocolate fondue as a topping to make a sundae.

Dinner was steak with chili soybeans as we again watched the Japan Series.

We hope your weekend was a nice one. We sure had a lot of food and got to enjoy nature. Have a great week.