serendipity

seasonal peas and beans

2011-04-22T13:06:00.000+09:00

*While my mints are lush again on my balcony,
Fresh green vegetables are appealing at shop

while my mints are lush again on my balcony,

fresh green vegetables are appealing at shops,

so i cooked them with a twist, which were lemon and garlic.

they make my dish feel truly springy.

garden peas can make me happy.

especially tiny jade-like peas and beans like these.

i missed the broad bean season last spring, since it is usually very short.

ii’d been watching out.

and at last, i got a bag of them from my local super market.

how would i like them, then?

let’s do it straight, this time i thought, for lunch.

a simple way to enjoy the seasonal taste,

which may mean cooked beans on toast.

voilà!

a bite for a moment of bliss.

by the way, what is a pea and what is a bean, can you tell?

that was my long-unsolved botanical question,

as they are the same term "まめ" used in our language.

but now i know the difference between them and feel appreciative of the net.

have a great easter weekend, everyone!

*
*

a weekend in pink

2011-04-10T19:31:00.000+09:00

strawberries has been sold since december, but they are in real season now.

so, i made an english summer pudding with lots of them.

meanwhile, even after the disaster and despite the nuclear crisis,

cherry blossoms are in full bloom everywhere.

no japanese could get by without cherry blossoms in spring,

no matter what adversity one has.

people go on a picnic having lunch under a cherry tree.

maybe, some bread with strawberry cream cheese would be lovely for me.

and, philadelphia daisies look sweet in april, too.

i adore this kind of rustic cuteness.

i am having a pink-coloured sunday.

enjoy the sunday, everyone!
*

yellow blossoms

2011-04-02T23:02:00.002+09:00

in a time of the happy yellow mimosa, i take a walk in the park feeling joyful.

even though the crisis is not over yet,

i’ve been deeply moved and inspired by the fact that the world is continuing to come together.

i feel so wonderful to see the world as one.

i can never thank you enough for your genuine ongoing aid to my country!

meanwhile, my neighbourhood cherry blossom festival has been canceled.

it does happen to anybody in japan at the moment.

voluntarily, the whole nation has got into the anti-celebrating mood.

we have refrained from anything rollicking at all.

considering the victims and the situation, we should stick to it, of course.

but, the thing is,
when will be the right time for us to stop that?

nobody knows it or dares to tell it.

*
*

calamity

2011-03-14T01:53:00.001+09:00

we knew it.

we all knew that it definitely would come,

but no one knew when or where.

or, everyone could’ve blindly believed that it should not be “today” or “tomorrow”.

at last a devastating earthquake came on friday,

and a even more devastating tsunami followed.

watching live tv-news,

i was associating a seaside town being struck by the great tsunami with,

not hokusai's woodblock print, but, to my surprise, venezia.

it was strangely slow, surreal, something like what happened in my dream.

anyway, another big quake could come any time, any place in japan.

we all japanese are still stunned by the unspeakable calamity.

we are grieving over the loss of every single family in the quake-hit zone

and realizing how great the hardship can be for us to endure.

i am truly grateful for all your compassion and help.

we are toughing it out,
we are good at overcoming adversities indeed.

you bet we will rebuild our country even better.

xxx

*
*

happy valentine

2011-02-14T18:23:00.001+09:00

sorry, everyone, for my long absence.

i'm still here.

have a romantic valentine's day!

xmassy week special #6

2010-12-25T10:50:00.000+09:00

hoping that you are having lots of fun out there.

hoping that all the conflicts among people are over.

but, hoping, wanting and giving are essential.

happy christmas!

kobe luminarie

2010-12-24T16:41:00.000+09:00

christmas lights?

no, they are nothing to do with christmas, actually.

it is an annual exhibition of lights

as a memorial to the victims of the 1995’s great earthquake.

but, the prayer is the same as ones at church on christmas eve.

whatever your religions are,

let us pray!

xmassy week special #5

2010-12-23T11:38:00.000+09:00

***

i've heard of really good news!

maybe angels and santas prayed for that, too.

so did you?

the news...

just wonderful!

xmassy week special #4

2010-12-21T10:22:00.000+09:00

hi, everyone!

i guess you are on holiday.

with your loved ones and friends, i suppose.

and, you are having lots of chats, drink and rich food, aren't you?

have lots of fruits, too!

xmassy week special #3

2010-12-20T10:48:00.000+09:00

my place has no fireplaces or mantelpieces.

still, it's fun to hang my sock on.

have a peaceful week, everyone!

xmassy week special #2

2010-12-19T10:04:00.000+09:00

i am not christian, in my country, neither are most people.

but yet, we do enjoy the (mock) festivity.

i am getting into the mood.

you are already in it, aren't you?

**:

xmassy week special #1

2010-12-18T20:08:00.000+09:00

hello friends!

are you ready?

the saffron revolution

2010-11-30T12:41:00.003+09:00

like my last few novembers,

i was supposed to rejoice at a little harvest of homegrown saffron

from my mother's balcony.

she missed the timing to plant saffron bulbs in september.

so, we have no saffron harvest this november.
*

still, like any other november,

leaves have turned gold and red.

they have plenty of different shades of saffron.

i am absolutely charmed by every single falling leaf.

do you remember the saffron revolution, by the way?

nothing really has changed for those burmese monks and people, though.

but, growing saffron instead of, yes, poppies in afghanistan seems to pick up,

which is indeed good news, don't you think?

i hope this will make a true saffron revolution happen over there.

enjoy the gorgeous season before getting busy, everyone!

*
*

marie’s birthday

2010-10-31T16:02:00.000+09:00

again! i am posting on the last day of this month.

october really flew by.

we had perfect (indian) summer’s days and a bit of wintery weather.

today is marie’s birthday. marie who?

marie laurencin.

she painted and wrote poems in “la belle époque” paris.

here is le carnet des nuits,

which has been my most precious book since i was so young.

e-books seem to be taking on, but favourite books will remain p-books.

papers yellow with age, while printed colours fade away.

even the written words now sound obsolete a little, maybe.

still, i love my old p-books like this one.

do you think i’ve forgotten all about halloween?

no. but, i just enjoy checking what fun-loving people do, not part of it.

i’ve cooked gnocchi di zucca for dinner, though.

happy birthday to marie!

happy halloween to everyone!

september

2010-09-30T18:51:00.000+09:00

on the last day of september, i felt inclined to say hello to the blog world.

this summer was a long and unbearably sultry one.

indeed, the climate change was turning japan into a tropical country!
but “my season” has arrived at last.

i did lots of ironing.

and adorning my place with wild flowers.

i am getting happier to see my environment as you can see here.

enjoy the beautiful autumn days!

xxx

many many thanx for all your lovely comments ;)

momo

2010-08-13T22:11:00.001+09:00

it’s neither this momo, the fantasy novel written by michael ende,

nor that momo, my favourite moroccan restaurant in london.

it’s a pink stone-fruit.
i am talking about japanese peach called “もも momo” in japanese.

there was a nice and kind person (actually my ex-mother-in-law).

she arranged for a box of momo to be sent from a momo farm.

momo, is, possibly, the biggest, pinkest and juiciest peach on this planet.

i’d love to show you all how i relished pinkish pleasures.

first, i just ate it with a ruby grapefruit enjoying the pinks.

second, i experienced the almost ultimate bliss with a frozen “momo” daiquiri i made.

my son came and stayed with me from tokyo last weekend,

so i made bellinis to toast.

the following morning,

i made frozen “momo” daiquiris again for us.

this time, they came out pink, perfect pink!!

then we toasted again.

i am having some more fruits...plums? that is... this weekend.

have plenty of juicy fruits in season, everyone!

a midsummer fedora

2010-08-02T16:21:00.000+09:00

before august started,

my summer (painting) “white” project had been completed.

the new white floors of my living room and bedroom look so cool.

still, japan continues to boil.

i never like sultry days like these.

but i should try to see the positive side of the heat…

let me tell you…ah, i always love straw hats!

i used to have a english fedora and a french canotier that i really loved.

actually,

in early july when i got a paint can, a roller and brushes from a diy shop,

i bought myself a cheap and ubiquitous straw hat,

i want this straw hat to look old-ish,

so i put it on whenever i go out to wear it out fast.

i also have a fedora that looks a bit similar to my old one.

i did impulse-buy when i found it four summers ago.

and it would show up on my hatstand every summer.

it stays new since i’ve never worn it.

sadly because it no longer fits my style… say, age.

but i cherish my fedora.

fedoras have made a worldwide comeback for the past one or two years,

which is great.

***

recalling

english

cool

summer

wore

favourite

fedora

wherever

went.

have a lovely summer week!

the last taste of sweet cherries

2010-07-31T12:00:00.000+09:00

*
*

when i stopped by my local supermarket only two days ago,

i was surprised that cherries were on the shelf.

they were still around in the heat of the scorching summer!

japanese cherry season is so short,

it usually ends by mid-july.

have you heard of anyone on earth who does not love to eat cherries?

they terribly look sweet and cute as well.

they are so lovely to taste and behold.

come to think of it,

i kept missing a chance to post on japanese cherries i’d had them in early july.

so, here they are.

to mark the last day of july and the cherry season!

in the mean time,

there are loads of various stone fruits arriving now.

i can’t help but look at them in shops and blogs.

what a joy!

i’m sure you all are enjoying the harvest.

have a great summer weekend!

a nordic dream

2010-07-23T15:51:00.002+09:00

are you on vacation or stay-cation?

there’s no hot news this week either,

but temperature-wise,

it’s just way too hot.

japan is sizzling.

i’m not lying!

when air-conditioners can’t beat the heat,

i always start a home-decorating project.

as a matter of fact,

i am in the thick of it.

i know i sound like a crazy ant.

i’ve been painting my living room floor nordic white.

it’s more like taking a swedish-style sauna than decorating, though.

the living room looks almost done,

so i can make a move on my bed room, then.

my dream will be drifting around the norwegian wood?

looking at summer flowers,
the bog sages, in the park as well as on my balcony, are blooming,

they are as blue as the summer sky.

white geranium is among my all-time favourites, by the way.

their petals resemble white butterfly wings, don’t you think?

enjoy your hot (or cool?) summer weekend, my friends!

tricolore floral

2010-07-14T09:15:00.001+09:00

it’s le quatorze juillet, la fête nationale for the french.

we japanese have never had such a “revolution” in our history.

so i do admire those who fought for liberation and idealism.

in japan, the anniversary is called 巴里祭 (festival of paris)

in an extremely nostalgic way,

and has been adopted as sort of a day for enjoying french things.

nowadays, almost no one talks about it, though.

but at least, one francophile here.

i shall personally celebrate bastille day with the french flag tricolour.

le drapeau de la france ou drapeau tricolore, oui...

bleu,

blanc,

rouge,

vive la france !

*
*

learning from a lotus

2010-07-10T11:25:00.000+09:00

*
*

i’m kind of feeling low at the moment.

tt is something i, and even good people, sometimes and inevitably experience.

it feels like everything sucks.

the fate will never smile on me?

but, that’s not true.

could i pass this melancholic spell by living like an oriental lotus in the park?

focusing an image,

being receptive enough,

without losing grace and dignity,

and standing still whatever happens for some time to come…

it’s almost 禅 zen, isn’t it?

at any rate, i will enjoy life. and the weekend.

so will you, my dear friends!

a cherry bomb

2010-07-05T15:35:00.001+09:00

the peak season for cherries is now!

so don’t miss it.

the thing is, which one should i try first, japanese or american?

generally, japanese cherry is lighter and more subtle for taste.

they are quite different from each other.

after all, i grabbed american ones from a shelf in my local supermarket.

not because they were less expensive than japanese ones (true),

but because it was dark cherry that’d go with dark chocolate.

i thought i’d need to use up chocolate bars before it got hotter.
lately, sunday has become my baking day. well, sort of.

i made a classic black forest with a modern twist...

using fresh cherries instead of ones in syrup,

using melted chocolate instead of cocoa powder with lots of sugar for the sponge,

and making curls to garnish only the top.

using rum instead of kirsch, simply because there was no kirsch in my cupboard.

in spite of all the twists i’d made, it still was a calorie bomb!

i really have to take extra long walks this week.

have a great and healthy week, everyone!!

my herby baby

2010-06-25T13:24:00.000+09:00

as i am living alone, i sometimes think of having a furry companion.

it would be great if i could walk him or her in the park.

i always find myself being negative, though.

not only because of the neighbourhood residential regulations i have to keep,

(banned from raising dogs and cats in our housing complex, still some do)

but also because of my possible heavy responsibility.

i doubt i can be a better caregiver than i am now to my potted herbs.

i love them like my babies.

but, no matter how well i look after them,

some would get sick or do a perish unexpectedly.

tending furry animals can never be easier than that.

i admire all the animal guardians.

so, i settle for being a happy herb-grower.

they look pretty on my balcony.

besides, my babies are edible.

and it’s time to pick a little,

...hang them in my kitchen

how’s that for my green babies?

...then put them in jars.

all herbs are good.

enjoy the last weekend of beautiful june, my friends!

hydrangeas in the rain

2010-06-21T10:05:00.000+09:00

rain, rain, rain…

i am living in a nation blessed with rain at the moment.

but who’d love a rainy month all the way through?

only thing people love about this wet month is hydrangea.

hydrangea is the june flower in japan.

they are blooming on my balcony, too.

so i am happy to forget about rain adorning my home with them.

i love that.

maybe, happy monday?

wishing you all a happy new week!

p.s.

dear vale, n and kate,

thank you very much for your wonderful comment on my mulberry post!

good black mulberry

2010-06-13T14:42:00.004+09:00

what i wanted to post last time is this:

black mulberry.

there are several mulberry trees in the park,

but no one seem to be keen on or keen to notice them.

maybe because they are truly tall trees

unlike ones you may usually imagine in your garden?

meanwhile, this time of year,

everyone would certainly notice a score of the purple stains on the park path.

last week, when i was walking through the park,

one mulberry dropped from up above.

now, you can guess what was in my mind?

i really hope you'd never think i’m a rubbish-picker, though.

it’s fun and quite palatable to do this.

yes, i started picking up mulberries, but only genuinely fresh ones.

as my crop piled up in a small bag, just enough to fill a small café-au-lait bowl,

i took it home and washed and hulled thoroughly.

voilà, my own homemade mulberry jam

it’s yummy to have some with yogurt,

it’s even yummier to be used for victoria sponge!

yesterday was a perfect summer’s day.

i saw a huge number of ripe mulberries still dropping from trees in the park.

disappointingly, the weather turned humid and bad today.

this year’s rainy season has just begun in my region...sigh.

how are you enjoying your sunday?

*
*

tussie mussie, nosegay

2010-06-09T19:01:00.000+09:00

it’s mid-week.

how's your week going?

i wanted to report on something.

but, i don’t seem ready for it.

instead, i just have some pictures of my posies to post here.

i always love playing with wild flowers.

my report on something delicious will be posted shortly.

till then, enjoy the rest of the week,

however busy,

everyone!

*
*

chamomile

2010-06-05T15:31:00.004+09:00

*
*

it’s been sunny and hot.

at last, my little chamomile flowers have come into bloom.

meanwhile in the park, all the chamomiles disappeared from the flowerbed.

apparently, the blossom seemed already over.

still, i could smell the sweet and fruity scent of chamomile.

aha!

they were just whisked away and some flowers were fallen.

i could see many of them around the empty flowerbed.

one splendid thought sprang up in my mind.

back home, i washed them.

and then i had to wait and see them drying up.

the weather was perfect for drying herbs.

several days later, i happily made a glass of chamomile tea.

let’s enjoy the herby season before the rainy season approaches!

well, this applies only to the japanese, though.

anyway, enjoy the weekend, everyone!

noodles and herbs

2010-05-29T11:16:00.008+09:00

the sun is up.
it’s going to be sunny today, too.
the thing is, it could not be hot enough to grow my basils bigger.
the temperatures in april and may have been lower than usual.
my basils were supposed to be lush and plenty to use for cooking by now.
i potted or re-potted herbs in april with my new little spade.
but they are still small.
herbs like mint and sage look ok, though.

the other day, i craved for noodle.
no, not a ramen japanese people would go crazy for.
i am not really enthusiastic about ramen.
i love heaping herbs on top like the one i had in ho chi minh city.
so i cooked a bawl of rice-noodle soup with dumplings.
it was a sort of melting pot of east and south asian tastes.
with just a few tiny basil leaves, fair enough,
it did not completely satisfy my taste buds.

meanwhile, lemon thyme has been green and lush
since it joined in my kitchen garden.
when i fancied a pasta bowl recently, i tried a new original recipe.
adding lots of aromatic lemon thyme leaves, instead of basil,
my kabocha sedanini regati (with raw egg, tofu and bread crumbs) went great.

for my noodles and herbs, anything goes.

happy weekend, everyone!

*

bluebell report 2010 (belated)

2010-05-24T09:53:00.007+09:00

*
as usual, when i was browsing online newspapers on saturday,
i came across one familiar picture among the guardian’s slideshows.
it turned out to be my picture!
i completely forgot that i’d casually submitted the picture to

“your picture of bluebells” a little while a go.

didn’t i deserve a kind email telling me of the publication from the guardian?

i cannot complain about being chosen for that, anyway.

bluebell is such a magical flower.
i had a certain fondness for this flower when i lived in London.
and i look forward to finding online newspaper articles
about bluebells like this and that every year.

meanwhile, when i first saw them blooming in my local park,
i was overjoyed.
so, i happily posted my bluebell report last year.

but, they bloom in april over here, a month earlier than in england.
i’ve missed out on an opportunity to post this season’s pictures until now.

this is my belated bluebell report.
i hope you enjoy at least the residuum of the blue magic.

have a great week!
*
*

the pedant in the kitchen

2010-05-22T21:05:00.004+09:00

after a period of grief, something should cheer me up.
in fact, i’ve got some happy news to tell.

the japanese version of the pedant in the kitchen, 文士厨房に入る,
came out last week.
i know that the book wouldn’t interest you, though.
unfortunately, it’s all in japanese.
no wonder i’m the translator.

its original book was written by very charming julian barnes.
it is a collection of his hilarious essays on cookbooks
from sort of a mr darcy type gentleman point of view.
i enjoyed being mr darcy-barnes when i was working on the book.
i really hope mr barnes likes my translation,
even though he can’t read japanese at all.

to my delight, my publisher managed to have mr joe berger,
who did the original book’s illustrations,
for my japanese version’s jacket.
its palette with olive green and teal reminded me of something…
something i have in my kitchen…
which turned out to be the same colours as my margaret howell’s tea towel.
what a match!

i judge a book by its cover, i always do.
and, i think this is quite charming, too.

happy weekend!
*
*

adieu

2010-05-20T10:34:00.005+09:00

*
last saturday was the saddest day i’ve ever had in my life.

my big brother passed away.
i was supposed to tend him that day, too,
but he did not wait for me.
but, he did not mean to cross the styx, either.
he had spoken to a nurse mere ten minutes before his heart stopped beating.
that was a mistake, wasn’t it?

still, he’d had enough pain.
his long battle against cancer was too fierce to carry on.
there seemed no chance to win.
nothing could make a miracle happen, after all.

at least, i was close to him during his last hospitalization.
i could help him to change his pyjamas and drink for the first several days,
while quiet hours i spent sitting with a book at his bedside got longer and longer.

sometimes, i would check on him and feel relieved at his breathing.
sometimes, he would wake up and crack a joke.

as he had coached a boys’ baseball team at weekends for the last several years,
some 400 people, including small boys in baseball uniform,
came to his farewell service to say their last goodbyes.
tears rolled down my cheeks before each and every tearful farewell.
i, too, had to bid emotional farewell to him.

my big brother was a humble man.
but, he was the most compassionate one i’ve ever known.
much as i can say i am proud of him,
words can’t express how deep my sorrow is.

he was my rock.

without him, things will never be the same again.

i'm missing him...
*

a may daytrip

2010-05-05T12:27:00.014+09:00

*
*

today is the last day of our long long weekend: so-called “golden week”

consisting of 4 national holidays over a weekend.

(no wonder, it is worth "gold" for hard-working japanese people!)

everyone is entitled to have fun!

and, today is kids’ day.
kids are treasure when japan sees the birthrate declining.
to celebrate the day, traditionally, carp streamers are put up outside.
usually, early may weather should be perfect for that.

the day before yesterday,

i went out to see lush mountainous areas in kyoto.

my brother wanted to show me the breathtaking scenery as you now see,
although he was too ill to take a walk there.
i truly rejoiced in sharing the day with my long-ailing brother.

only a few more days to go before this weekend,
hang in there, my global friends!

pink and red season is over

2010-04-29T10:20:00.010+09:00

we are experiencing unexpected chilly spring days this year.
and, it has prolonged the life of 桜 (sakura: cherry blossoms)
and 椿 (tsubaki: camellia)s’ as well.
however, it is time for us to see them go.

while taking a long work the other day,
this scene reminded me of some artwork created by naturalist-artists,
like andy goldsworthy?

actually, i can’t be wrong.
i should look at this the other way round.
their artwork resembles and reminds us of the serendipitous beauty of nature.

anyway, spring seems to stay a little bit longer than usual,
which is pretty good.

springtime strawberries

2010-04-21T10:20:00.004+09:00

people’s (probably) most favourite sweet little red things are in season.
well, as a matter of fact, over here in japan,
traditionally somehow, strawberries should appear around christmas time.
so, many people could be bored, or not be bothered, with them by now.

i don’t mind that its season gets earlier and earlier year by year.
i could bring my brother a big punnet of strawberries
whenever i visited him in hospital in january, february and march.

but, the real season is now, isn’t it?
as i would enjoy pan-baking upside-down cakes at weekends,
this time was…

the aroma of baked strawberries is as fabulous as they taste.
fresh ones are also sweet and fragrant, of course.

voilà…

no matter what you find at your local fruiterer’s,
i hope you can enjoy the real season as much as possible.

strawberries forever!

xxx

thinking pink

2010-04-16T18:11:00.004+09:00

the most romantic colour i always associate with is pink.

like pink camellia and cherry blossom?
i’d swoon over the softness and exquisiteness.

indeed, they took my breath away
when i looked at their delicate petals.

meanwhile, it’s got unseasonably chilly the last couple of days.
besides, the cold april rain is falling outside my window at the moment.

so, just like the song “my favourite things”
from the sound of music (still makes me cry),
i simply remember this pink-petal confetti.

have a lovely weekend!

feeling flowery

2010-04-12T09:48:00.003+09:00

springtime makes me wanting something classic, chic and cute.
like liberty’s floral print.

i don’t really remember if i’ve ever wanted dresses from cacharel.
i adored sarah moon’s commercial work for cacharel, though.
then and now, i am not a floral-dressy kind of girl,
but, i must admit, i always long to be.

i used to have tons of fabrics in my aluminum trunk.
(which belonged to mr. pianoman’s parents, so it’s no longer mine or with me.)
i used to sew sweet little things like un petit sac.
although most of my fabrics and things went missing somehow,
i still use my favourite liberty print bags i made a long long time ago.

looking at these with overwhelming nostalgia,
i just wonder where my mother has her liberty print blouse now.

have a lovely week!

xxx

s for...

2010-04-06T12:20:00.011+09:00

*
s for spring:
did you have a great spring break?

spring is the time for new beginnings, isn’t it?

especially for the japanese, as schools start in april, spring is so special.

s for sakura:
more importantly, viewing (and many do have a picnic party under the trees)

桜, さくら, サクラ, sakura, cherry blossoms,
is not-to-be-missed… we can’t get things started without, actually.

every kind of spring flowers is also springing into bloom everywhere. mimosa reminds me of paris, while daffodils make me miss london. what a beautiful world! meanwhile, my book translation project is nearly coming to an end (it will come out next month). i almost indulge in liberty now. i truly madly deeply love finding spring colours.

who’s living up there?

carry on enjoying the spring sun.

xxx

thanx for your lovely comments, girls!!

viola, violet, violetta

2010-03-23T21:26:00.005+09:00

hello my friends, thank you all for visiting my blog from time to time in far off in the distance.

spring came along while i was absent from blogging. a few weeks ago, when i felt tired of gloomy wintery days, i bought myself new cups and saucers, for a change and for a spring-like bright mood, so to speak. they are cheap, but still elegant, don’t you think?

meanwhile, i’ve been still working on my translation project since december. and, i am now finalizing it – checking, checking, checking! – with my editor working from tokyo prior to publication in may. he is always kind enough to send me copies of various books.

this time, two copies of two titles arrived. one was “radio-cuisine” (in japanese) written by edouard de pomiane, who is often mentioned in the book i’m working on. another was “elle” (in japanese) written by j. b. pontalis (in japanese), which was published by my publisher.

when i took its jacket off, the mauve colour, which is just the same as violas i’d picked from my park the previous day, appeared. i was charmed by the cover. of course, the content was charming and interesting enough to read at one sitting or two, though.

imagining you have beautiful spring colours in your home, too!

xxx

london, and paris

2010-02-13T11:02:00.010+09:00

hello

and thank you for dropping me a line,

my beautiful friends!

i finally sent my manuscript (for a book i translated) to my editor over the net a few days ago, i decided to do nothing for a while. i was shattered. in the mean time, i started thinking about fashion as this year’s catwalk season kicked off. i’m not really a fashion enthusiast, though. i just look forward to checking reports on fashion weeks. then, i found alexander mcqueen’s sad news yesterday. what a tragedy.

there were young and talented british designers who worked in paris, and then they moved back to london just like mcqueen. when i think of london and paris, i miss something that eventually almost disappeared from the both cities over the last two decades. it’s milliner. millinery is the most romantic item for fashion design, i believe. no matter how unpractical, millinery is lovely to look at. especially in catwalks, it plays the most fantastical role. mcqueen did excellent shows with it.

pic 1, 4 a milliner on the left bank, paris.
pic 2, 3 the hat shop in neal street, london.
all pics from films taken in the 90’s.

have a romatic weekend, girls (and boys)!!

suddenly and briefly

2010-01-23T16:56:00.003+09:00

we had a couple of spring days last week. but now, it’s turned cold and wintery days are back. i am loving my new item (a poster) on the sideboard and enjoying the scent of my white hyacinth that came into bloom when spring was here.

my humble life, and painstaking work, seem to go on in this depth of winter.

have a great weekend, my friends!
*

toties quoties

2010-01-04T10:12:00.010+09:00

on new year’s day, i had the same feast with my old mother as last year. certainly,

that was when i felt happy about the new year.

these are the dishes we ate

(you might remember my 2009’s pics and find these boring, though) :

the feasting time is over now.

still, my memory of the 2010 new year feast stays ;)

have a great week, everyone!!

year of the tiger 2010

2010-01-01T13:06:00.007+09:00

wishing you all

a happy, happy new year!

thank you so much
for all the ispirations you gave me,

your time for visiting my blog
and

making encouraging comments

in the last year.

carry on enjoying a wonderful holidays,
my friends!!

love + peace

ktxx

finally, christmas eve

2009-12-24T09:03:00.004+09:00

my dear friends!

i hope that you are having

a wonderful, wonderful christmas holidays

with your loved ones.

holiday season

2009-12-21T12:01:00.004+09:00

hello everyone. some of you could’ve been thinking where on earth i was. i am still here, but i’ve been engaged in another project. plus, my daughter stayed with me for a while so i was pretty busy being a good mother. she returned to tokyo yesterday and i started catching up on my own things as well as tidying up rooms to get ready for this weekend’s arrival of my son and his wife, yes, my daughter-in-law! phew.

at least, my mother and I will be having a quiet christmas day together. i should be cooking a christmas lunch for her, though. i hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season, too.

speak to you again soon!

momiji exclusive

2009-11-30T12:40:00.005+09:00

time flies, indeed. we have only one month to go before the new year, which is our biggest family event of year (christmas for you from christian countries?). in any case, everyone will be compelled to feel pressed more and more towards the year end.

but, we should relax and take it easy. there’s no use in hustling or worrying too much? take a walk? it’s beautiful outside. i’ve been actually carried away with vibrantly-coloured 紅葉 momiji (japanese maple), the queen of autumn foliage, for a while.

so here. at the end of 霜月 shimotsuki (old name of november) i want to share these autumn colours with you and make my post “紅葉づくし momiji–zukushi (exclusive)” to mark this year’s season, which is nearly over. no words are needed, perhaps?

have a lovely week!

tokyo midtown

2009-11-25T11:08:00.011+09:00

my last week’s tokyo trip had some fun occasions other than attending the wedding: a reunion with my old tokyo friends and an update on what my daughter was up to, thanks to jason, who had offered me and masaco, my girlfriend, his guest room for our new york trip last year. he is now working for the american embassy in tokyo so that i could stay with him and his partner, ivo. the huge compound for american diplomats is located in a quiet residential neighbourhood, 赤坂 akasaka. it’s within walking distance from trendy 六本木 roppongi where narrow streets are crammed with night clubs and various eateries.

my friends and i gathered over “cantonese peking duck” (!!) at a “szechuan restaurant” on monday evening in 六本木 roppongi. actually, 六本木 roppongi had never been my haunt when i lived in tokyo. but this time, i liked it there for the first time ever because of jason’s place and tokyo midtown, a redevelopment area with a new commercial complex and new art museums. i visited there with masaco and jun-chan on tuesday. here are snapshots of shops and architecture in the area.

to begin with, i’d like to show you 21_21 design site designed by 安藤忠雄 tadao ando. it was raining cats and dogs. besides, it was closed. so i went back there the next day with shion, my daughter, and managed to take a pic beneath the fleckless blue sky as above.

i hated the rain, but still loved viewing the superb contrast of concrete and autumn leaves of shrubbery in the rain. i took my hat off to “the wizard of concrete” (i personally call 安藤 ando so) for that. i think the best part of tokyo midtown is lovely gardens laid out in the site.

国立新美術館 nact (the national art centre tokyo) is a stone’s throw from the complex. it was also closed. so i revisited there too the next day. back in tokyo midtown, i enjoyed browsing through the mall with fewer shoppers than other bustling areas like 渋谷 shibuya.

i got jealous of tokyoites, because the displays of muji shop in galleria were far more exquisite than my local muji shops. i’ve been a muji user since its launch in 1980 and written articles about london muji shops for exclusive muji magazines. i could not but feel tempted to buy something.

christmas decorations are seen here and there in tokyo midtown! i found snow flakes made of 美濃和紙 mino-washi (japanese paper) at 虎屋 toraya quite pretty. the confectionery holds at times a small exhibition within the shop, featuring japanese paper crafts this time.

虎屋 toraya is famous for its quality, artisanry and aesthetic. for sure, it doesn’t come cheap, though you can find its branches overseas, like we have a branch of dean & deluca across the aisle from 虎屋 toraya. the white paper decoration in the atrium is also made of 美濃和紙 mino-washi.

lastly, i should not forget about the tokyo tower, the most popular landmark of tokyo. well, it was supposed to be a fantastical cityscape of my tokyo rainy night. unfortunately, it turned out to be a total blur. i didn’t realise something was wrong with my camera. shame.

big thanks especially to jason, ivo and masaco!
*

tying the knot

2009-11-21T13:45:00.013+09:00

it was the most beautiful sunny day i’ve ever had in my life. i could find no single cloud in the blue sky. my beautiful boy and his beautiful fiancée tied the knot at 明治神宮 meiji jingu in tokyo on sunday. everything was gorgeous.

before the ceremony, families and friends all waited and chatted in a small room. then, when the young pair in traditional kimono arrived we (you may guess where i am in the picture below) had our first photo opportunity just like a press conference. (b & w photos taken by mr piano-man)

the couple signed their 誓詞 seishi (oath) in person. afterwards, louie, my son got a little bit nervous about ritualized form of shinto wedding procedure. so he rehearsed how to offer a 玉串 tamagushi, a sacred wand of 榊 sakaki tree with 紙垂 shide paper, to the gods. everything looked so divine.

with a red parasol open for the couple, we walked in a double line and moved onto the main shrine while hordes of tourists trying to capture a traditional wedding scene. unfortunately, the mother couldn’t be a photographer for the ceremony including a traditional music performance and dance and an exchange of rings, too.

meanwhile at 明治記念館 meiji-kinenkan, the reception venue with a spacious lawn garden, a traditional lion-dancer led the newlyweds to the reception hall of the historical “east-meets-west” styled retro décor where the guests and the parents of the couple awaited.

everything but the cuisine (it was french) was traditionally japanese. a ceremony of 鏡開き kagami-biraki (opening the lid of sake barrel) took place instead of cake-cutting. we shared the sake in 桝　masu (wooden cup) prepared on the table.

the bride changed her 白無垢 shiromuku (pure white kimono) into a colourful kimono in the middle of the reception. she took off a heavy wig as well. we all congratulated the two again and they became a blessed married couple now. the party was not that big but was very heart-warming. most of us wept for joy, naturally. as a mother, i was no doubt the happiest ever i could be in life.

today is my son's birthday... many happy returns, louie!!

and, have a happy weekend, everyone!!

little grey dress

2009-11-12T22:00:00.004+09:00

a mother of the groom -- i am going to be. i am going up to tokyo for my son’s wedding this weekend. he and his girlfriend have been living together for almost five years now and at last, this sunday, they are tying the knot at the imperial shrine, meiji jingo. we have a wedding reception afterwards. mr piano-man (my ex-husband, he will be playing his tune on the piano) and i will be the parents of the groom. wonderful. the thing is, i still have no idea what a mother of the groom really should wear.

in japan, most mothers would be in a traditional garment, kimono, for the children's wedding. in my case, no. i’m not good at conventional things. i had my son when i was just twenty-one and i cannot be a mothering type for ever. i still go on in the same old dr martens or cowboy boots. but yet, it’d be nice for me to be feminine once in a long while. i wish i was like carine roitfeld this sunday, though i usually wish i was like angela merkel … i’m just kidding and besides, i am even (but only a little bit) younger than them.

i don’t know the dress rules. i’m not good at sticking to them either, even if i knew any. anyway, i’ve chosen to wear this grey sheath dress. i didn’t buy its matched bolero because the design was not my cup of tea. instead, my pink pashmina shawl would be a match, but not for the wedding? and i’d better hide my arms? so, i’ve decided to wear my purple silk chiffon blouse over this twinkling grey number. in that case, my shawl and clutch should be black to glam up like this? -- i hope my “mother of the groom gear” will be all right.

wish me luck?

what’s in season

2009-11-06T14:09:00.008+09:00

i pretty much always sound like i cry for the moon. for foods in particular. i am envious of foreign countries where there are so many varieties of produce, while we have only several over here in japan. i miss english cox and granny smith very much. as for green apples, we have just two different kinds as far as i know. besides, they look almost the same and their tastes are not so different from one another. so i ask myself: do i have anything i can’t get easily over there? absolutely yes. i should stop complaining about my country then.

梨 nashi (japanese pears) for example, our pears are not in “pear shape”, they are all round like a full moon. and sizes are quite big. even though we have no stylish farmers’ markets, we have a long history of making direct-from-the-farm arrangements. it is often used as a seasonal gift and there must be someone kind enough to do so in the circle of families and friends. in fact, my mother received it from her sister-in-law. the gift arrived in a box and each pear was exquisitely wrapped. never mind english cox. i love local stuff, too.

i shouldn’t forget “proper” persimmons, 柿 kaki. they have crunchy firm texture unlike soft ones i had in london. recently, i tried my old recipe of autumn salad with persimmon and 大根 daikon (japanese radish) for the first time in a long while. also, we have “real” sweet potatoes and purple ones are fashionable. i relish cooked sweet potatoes with apple and raisins or prunes, which is my stable. i like having it with mayonnaise and its surface browned. no sugar is needed when boiled. it’s naturally sweet.

meanwhile, 蓮根 renkon (lotus roots/rhizomes) sprang to my mind when i was reading a thick book about nelumbo nucifera, the sacred lotus. then, fancying hot lotus root tempura made my mouth watering. but this time, i wanted to try an old recipe, which was also among my long-forgotten japanese tastes. that’s how 金平蓮根 kinpira-renkon made a comeback on my table this season.

pic 1
japanese pears: when delivered they are tightly protected just like “being wrapped in cotton wool”? also, wrappers are normally pretty. it’s hard for me to throw them away.
Pic 2
did you know that we japanese always peel round fruits like this?
pic 3
a typical fruit bowl on my autumn table. by the way, we have only one western variety of pear, ラフランス la france. our infamous “chow-chow language” coined the name.
pic 4
this is 王林 orin: one of the two green apples in japan. another one is トキ toki, a new comer, which i am going to taste it. the two look too much alike, though.
pic 5
富有柿 fuyu-gaki: seedless ones are popular and common now. we have quite many different varieties of persimmon in comparison with other countries.
pic 6
kaki & daikon salad: my kind of autumnal fruit salad. slice radish and persimmon as thinly as possible. i added some grated onion to my soy-sauce-base vinaigrette.
pic 7
chunky sweet potato casserole: cut sweet potatoes and apples into bite-size chunks. add raisins or prunes and boil them together in water with a pinch of salt. squeeze mayonnaise (every ready-made mayo comes in a tube in japan) onto the boiled sweet potatoes and put under the grill to brown. if i liked it rich, i’d add butter, cream, cheese and even sugar to this. but rather, i prefer to cook this way so that i can taste the natural flavour and sweetness of sweet potato and apple.
pic 8
金平蓮根 kinpira renkon: slice lotus roots as thinly as possible. sauté them in sesame oil. add sugar, soy-sauce and 味醂 mirin. 胡麻 goma (sesame seeds) are pretty essential for a better flavour. i like sprinkle 鷹の爪 takano-tsume (chilli pepper) over it to spice up.

enjoy your autumn harvest this weekend, too!

an anniversary

2009-11-02T10:06:00.009+09:00

time flies. today is the 4th anniversary of my "home sweet home." i settled in this run-the-mill suburbia of osaka where my mother lived alone some five years back. i at first didn't know if i could survive the monotonousness when i started living in my mother's home. i now think my present life is not that bad. since i moved in this flat, located in the same town, my mother and i have managed to keep a comfortable distance from each other. i can't complain, or rather, i should be content having my own commodious living space. besides, a huge park lies adjacent to my flat's premises, which is a major factor behind my so-so happiness. i walk there and come home with some wild flowers.

wild flowers? well, in short, they are weeds. but i like them. if you look at weeds closer, you'll see they all have sweet little flowers. and, ones i often pick are white because they go well with my home surroundings. in terms of style, by the way, i'm not really keen on the mid-century. some chairs are just plain elegant, though. for my home, i'd avoid graphic patterns and designs; usually give up quirky or funky stuff no matter how much i get inspired. i've always loved white interiors with classic kind of feel, plus a rustic flavour. although i need to compromise on so many conditions, i try not to lose much of my daintiness.

while my home is far from my dream house, i can be happy as long as there are some white flowers on my bedside table or the chest of drawers as well as plenty of natural sunlight getting into my flat. today is, however, cloudy and turning chilly. believe me, i'd gone walking outside in a half-sleeved tee until yesterday. it is time to put on slippers? oh, i've got favourite ones i bought in ho chi minh city. now that it's november already. time flies, indeed. meanwhile, my new "white project" is making progress, but i don't reckon this quilt will be able to adorn my bedroom wall before the new year arrives. anyway, life goes on.

have a great week, my dear friends!
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waxing gibbous moon + last goodbye to the summer visitors

2009-10-30T11:09:00.008+09:00

our japanese custom of autumn moon-viewing came from ancient china as i posted on october 3rd. and, i've just learned, for the ancient japanese, the annual moon-viewing must take place for not only the full moon but also the waxing gibbous moon, which was believed to be the second most beautiful moon. i've found that it falls tonight. luckily, the sky looks clear enough.

meanwhile, the temperature rose as high as 24 degrees c yesterday. the indian summer seems to stay on for one more day or two. obviously, this warm weather, due to the global warming, has prolonged my local butterfly season so that i can see tiny butterflies like pale grass blues in the park. as long as a butterfly is seen the season is summer to me.

however, according to the recent weather forecast, we will eventually need to prepare for chilly mornings. no wonder, october is ending! it must be the time i to bid last goodbye to the summer visitors in the park. so here, i wanted to show you who i ran into there this season. plus, the last night's moon.

oh, are you going to a halloween party tomorrow night?

happy halloween!

shocking pinks in the park

2009-10-24T15:34:00.005+09:00

we’d enjoyed the whole sunny week until today. it’s said that autumn makes people feel melancholic, while there’s been no room for melancholy in my heart so far; i’ve been too busy treasure-hunting in this october country. when i take my routine walk around the park, i always find and bring back home something beautiful like a crimson cherry leaf or two. i feel so great and appreciative of what nature has to offer us. when the weather is brilliant, the park’s rich flora and fauna just makes me happy. i am no doubt having the best season in japan.

meanwhile, it’s cloudy and going to rain tomorrow. i may, more or less, feel melancholic. i am not really in the mood for a treasure-hunt today. i know that the best time for viewing the red maple leaves in the park patio should be this weekend, though. never mind. i’ve lately seen a couple of maple trees with leaves tinged red there. while we have another month for japanese acer leaf-peeping, we japanese could go frantic over the viewing autumn foliage. i love the autumn tints, too. but, on a cloudy day like today, these unexpected “shocking pinks” in the park should look gorgeous under the grey sky.

pic 1, 2, 3
all the kochias in the park garden have turned pink now. among the autumnal colours such as gold, red and brown, its pink is quite shocking.

pic 4
this is 紅花常磐万作 benibana-tokiwa-mansaku (loropetalum chinese) in the park's cottage garden. the olive green leaves have changed smoky burgundy. this plant blooms in spring, so my encountering one pink flower at the tip of the branch came as a lovely shock.
*
enjoy the autumn colour, everyone!
*

still crazy for summer noodles

2009-10-18T15:44:00.009+09:00

i read an article about a new michelin guide a few days ago. 京都 kyoto, where i am from, has 110 stars. i don’t care less about it, though, i am happy to live in a foodie nation and proud of kyoto as a gourmet city. japanese foods have gone more global than ever. i find even 蕎麦 soba, to cook just like pasta, quite often in the food blog sphere. but, 素麺 somen, another typical japanese noodle, seems not popular yet. as somen is usually served cold, we customarily eat it in summer. in autumn, many bundles of unused dry somen will be seen in the cupboard in my or anyone’s kitchen. so, i made a somen salad.

the other evening, i saw a tv news about 松茸 mastutake, pine mashroom, which is one of kyoto’s specialty crops. matsutake is in season! however, the report told us that this autumn would experience the worst ever season in years. the reporter even told us the price of matsutake mushrooms. believe it or not, it was 130, 000 yen (1,425 dollars or 958 euro) for only three. would you buy one? me? of course not, since i simply can’t afford it. instead, we can get some far cheaper imported matsutake. i bought chinese ones from my local super market. well, they are not exactly the same, but they are still mastutake.

meanwhile, i’ve recently tried a new bean, which we japanese call “morocco bean” somehow, for the first time ever in my life. they were just flat green beans basically, and probably similar to romano beans? a few sundays back, when i was still in the mood for a mediterranean summer meal, i made a salade niçoise with the beans. i ate it along with a lemon pasta, which i added that chinese matsutake. we are having another gorgeous sunday now. i still go sockless. a lovely autumn day like this should be called Indian summer, but i take liberties with it and call it mediterranean summer — perfect for a noodle dish.

pic 1.
somen salad: i always put lots and lots of vegetables, such as okura, red onion, tomatoes and young leaves, for any pasta salad. this time, i added some shredded left-over chicken sauté. this dish goes with sesame paste vinaigrette.
Pic. 2
moroccan beans: i don’t know why this bean is called “morocco” bean in japan. does anyone know? by the way, i leaned that this bean is grown only in certain areas in japan. so, it looks like a pretty exclusive kind in terms of season and production.
pic 3.
lemon (needless to tell you?) and chinese matsutake: the shape of chinese matsutake is a bit different from japanese ones. but it’s affordable. i needed to overlook the fact that it had little aroma, obviously.
pic 4.
spaghetti al limone con funghi matsutake & salade niçoise (in the background): stir-fry sliced matsutake mushrooms in olive oil. smash garlic cloves roughly with a knife for garlicky extract and a flavour. add all the ingredients, together with fresh lemon juice and olive oil, to the cooked pasta while it’s really hot. you need salt and pepper to taste, of course. i love to use 紫蘇 shiso (japanese equivalent for Italian basil) leaves as a garnish.
*

hoping that you are having a gorgeous autumn sunday, too!

cornwall where colin and joy live

2009-10-11T12:07:00.006+09:00

i learned that irving penn passed away on thursday, aged 92. he was one of my favourite photographers. and i am very fond of black and white photos like his and henri cartier-bresson’s, although i don’t take any black and white photos myself any longer. i only rely on digital camera now and my old canon eos has been laid to rest in my closet for years. i’m not good at portraits, but i used to take a few black and white ones, of colin wilson for example. he is an english author who is actually better known in japan and the usa than england.
*

cool and fresh air of this glorious autumn morning brought me memories of my october trip to scenic cornwall where colin and joy wilson lived. i sort of befriended them when i made colin fly to tokyo for a special lecture as part of a symposium i organised along with my girl-colleagues. they were kindly saying to me i should visit them home in cornwall some time. so some months later, when i started my ma art course in london, i took a train from paddington. in advance of that, joy reminded me not to forget to bring a raincoat with me because the weather could be whimsical there.

*

joy picked me up from the st. austell station. after a heavy shower, the sun appeared on the way to gorran haven. the day turned out to be a beautiful indian summer day, which seemed as if it’d last forever in cornwall. fuchsias were still in full bloom here and there in the village. in their big garden, there were a bungalow and several sheds that all stored some 30, 000 titles of books. i stayed at the bungalow comfortably but in fact i slept being surrounded by their bookshelves. during my stay, between sightseeing, joy took me to various places such as an archaeology workshop and a local library for her research, namely, to help colin out.

colin would work on a book in his basement study from early in the morning to 5pm every day. supper would start around 6pm when colin opened a bottle of wine. they had no dinning table. we gathered in the lounge instead, using a tray on our each lap. colin kept talking (almost nonsense) to rowan, his younger son who lived with them, while joy kept just smiling quietly. although i forgot why, i happened, and sure was certainly honoured, to meet all his family members at the weekend as his daughter came back home from south africa for some reason where she lived at the time and his elder son drove home from london to join.

as time went by, i lost contact with them. but i am glad to find via some net news they are both well. especially these black and white photographs make me feel appreciative of the precious time in cornwall colin and joy offered me.

pic 1.
his house is built on the hill overlooking the sea, while the parrot perching on a branch overlooking me in his lounge.
pic 2.
small room next to the entrance hall. i found the young colin on an old poster quite cute.
pic 3.
idylic view out of the bungalow window where i stayed. there were flocks of sheep and goats behind the wire fence.
pic 4.
bungalow interior.
pic 5.

lounge with colin’s creative clutter.
pic 6.
their cat fell asleep on joy’s lap while their dog yawning. i often walked the dog down to the nearby shore during the stay.
pic 7.
joy told me that all the animals in the house belonged to her daughter. whenever she came home she left joy and colin her pets one by one.
pic 8.
entrance hall. no cornish country life could exist with no wellingtons!
pic 9.
in the bungalow. i picked nasturtium from the garden and placed on the windowsill.
pic 10.
mr colin wilson, smiling.
*
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how are you enjoying this sunday?
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amendment (plus shades of autumn)

2009-10-04T11:38:00.002+09:00

i was wrong. sorry, the moon last night was not full yet. the mid-autumn moon festival does not always coincide with an exact full moon. that’s what i’ve just learned. it is very confusing. but luckily enough, i could see a beautiful moon last evening. besides, it is a beautiful sunday; i’m still in a half-sleeve tee and the sky is as transparent as the voice of joni mitchell, which may assure me of a chance to gaze at the true full moon tonight.

meanwhile, i am eventually being taken with warm shades of autumn like those as above: rudbeckias, cherry brandy, in the park garden and sweet macarons i received from masaco, my friend, in tokyo. have a beautiful sunday!

under the silvery full moon

2009-10-03T15:45:00.008+09:00

the moon is in her plenitude tonight. and, it is a harvest moon and called 十五夜 jugoiya (the 15th night). this mid-autumn full moon festival falls on october 3rd this year, so peoples in many asian counties are partying today. we japanese also have a little celebration. our aristocratic ancestors would gather to recite poetry under the full moon. we modern japanese, meanwhile, put a foodie custom first like we usually have special dishes such as a rice dumpling. so, i am going to turn my ordinary pumpkin risotto into a “月見 tsukimi” dish by adding a poached egg to it. "tsukimi" literally means moon-viewing. any dish with an egg, which is likened to a full moon, can be called tsukimi-style.
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regarding activities, needless to say, nobody reads poetry anymore. traditionally, we arrange ススキ susuki (japanese pampas grass) in a vase to deck the room. many japanese still do that. most importantly, we view the full moon. unfortunately, the chances look rather slim over here in osaka at the moment. i am hoping that the clouds will clear out in the evening, though. for the japanese, moon always represents good or romantic things. nothing ominous. and i am sort of a moon power believer. whenever something unmemorable happened in my life, i noticed a full moon up in the dark but cloudless sky. i always come to think that the moon goddess would make things to happen for me.

well, this could sound a little bit lunatic, but i’d feel like taking photos of a moon when shinning brightly. i in fact captured it with my camera when i was in London, new york, buenos aires. naturally, wherever i was, the moon was always there. in other words, the full moon you gaze at tonight no matter where you are is the same moon as i do from my window. quite fascinating, don’t you think? let’s make a wish upon the mid-autumn full moon.

pic 1
nuts, which somehow resemble some planes, from the park. i wish they were edible.

pic 2, 3
both full moon photos were taken from my balcony last year. i’ve had mystic full moon experiences in my life. but i’ve never turned into a werewolf so far.

pic 4
have you ever heard of japanese beautyberry (callicarpa japonica)? this shrub is named after the great novelist, 紫式部 murasakishikibu (lady purple). it’s usually purple as the name tells its colour (take a look at my pic in the old post). white one is relatively unusual and looks like a pearl or even a full moon? it’s lovely to find it laden with lots of tiny berries in either purple or white in my neighbourhood.

pic 5
the bloom of 金木犀 kinmokusei (sweet olive/osmanthus fragrans) has passed the peak now. you’d never imagine how heady the sweet scent of this little flower was. it was just like dreaming.

pic 6
my pumpkin risotto á la tsukimi. i’m pretty good at poaching eggs. i am proud of my son who can make a poached egg, by the way.

wishing you all a beautiful full moon!

upside down, and round and round...

2009-09-27T12:19:00.015+09:00

although the sun still scorches my back when I water my herbie babies on my balcony, I know the season is shifting into autumn. Recent disappearances of summer fruits from stores remind me of that. The best summery thing I enjoy every summer is various stone fruits when they come into season. this year, I tried a new method to eat them: not raw, but cooked fresh fruits. Well, it wasn’t actually new since I had already tried when I lived in London many times. One afternoon, sitting in front of fat plums, a sweet and tart upside down plum cake sprang to my mind. The problem is, I now have no oven to bake. (There is room for an oven to fit, but I would feel compelled to change my old kitchen unit if I did.) So I made one with my muji non-stick frying pan. It turned out great!

simple method:
1. caramelise cut fruits with brown sugar and fruit liquor or brandy.
2. spread the cake mixture (self-raising flour, eggs, sugar, milk and veg oil) over the half-caramelised fruits. And keep a lid on it until it's cooked throughout on very low heat.

optional:
3. make crème anglaise and put aside.
4. spread the cream over the cake and then cover it with a thin pan cake like a sandwich.

critical moment:
5. flip the cake out onto the plate.
incredibly easy and quick! voilà, some of my summer fruitages.

peaches:

caramelise them.

ready to taste.

let it snow a little? why not!

figs: this fruit has no stones, stii its flavour gets richer when cooked like peach and plum.

caramelise them, too.

well done.

serve it with a spoonful crème fraîche.

almost all kitchens have an oven in europe and the states. but, just in case yours gets out of order, or you don’t have enough time to bake a cake, my simplified method really works for you!

*
**

manjusaka 　曼珠沙華

2009-09-24T23:25:00.010+09:00

during 彼岸 higan, which is the equinoctial week, we japanese would visit our family graves because of the buddhist tradition. so i, too, went up to kyoto and visited our family temple where my father and my mother’s ancestors all lie at rest, today. as the temple is situated in the mountainous area and the grave yard overlooks the valley, people, both deceased and alive, can enjoy the spectacular view. it was too hot (the temperature rose above 30 degree celsius!) to appreciate it in the sun today, though.

after coming back home, i was a bit tired and had a nap. then, i went out to the park with my camera to look for 彼岸花 higanbana (manjusaka in sanskrit; spider lily in english), which only blooms during the equinoctial week. in the woodlands, i could find the blood-colour flowers here and there. they looked mystic, but beautiful. and, i wandered about in search of on something more mystic: white spider lily. there should be some in the park. i at last found a white mass near a serene pond just in time for the sunset. i felt something mystic like zen!

after the emerald rush

2009-09-20T09:34:00.008+09:00

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these days, i’m enjoying reading your latest post reporting on shifts in season one after another. Everyone appears to bid the summer lingering farewell. i wish that this summery day, like today, will last longer than it normally does. we ultra season-sensitive japanese don’t say it “summer” once september begins, but, another long summer has been actually forecasted in japan so far … yes, due to the global warming.

in the height of summer, the whole area of my local park, from meadows and marshes to woodlands, turned emerald green. and now, after the peak of summer, i can see many hues and shades of green and brown, or even red and yellow in there. whenever i have a late-afternoon walk in the park amid a balmy late-summer breeze, every little discovery of the new season makes me feel just great.

pic 1, 4, 5
nelumbo nucifera, 蓮 hasu: it’s lotus as you know. this ancient plant is pretty common in japan. and, believe it or not, we eat lotus roots (rhizomes) !
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pic 2, 3
typha latifolia. 蒲 gama in japanese. how do you say it in your language? the first time i ever saw this plant was in my picture book “bambi.” many decades later, i could find a myriad of real typha in the park nearby very happily.
*
pic 6
japanese maple. 紅葉 momiji: the most famous colour for leaf peeping, which the japanese can’t enjoy autumn without. but, i took this pic in late august. i guess something wrong has happened to its environment in the park, since it’s too early for the foliage to develop such a bold autumn colour. usually, we go and see displays of crimson-red momiji leaves in urban areas as early as mid november. incidentally, i’ve also found a 紅葉スモモ beniha-sumomo, red-leafed plum tree, blossoming in the park orchard for the second time this year.
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pic 7
bitter melon. ゴーヤ goya. what amazing colours! do you remember the green ones in my past post? it’s turned egg-yolk yellow and produced red beans inside. i’d had no idea that bitter melons would mellow so colourfully until i found this in the park.
*
*
it seems like another perfect sunday for a glass of white wine (chilean, this time) even after making a bad start with a croissant burnt. have a relaxing sunday and a great week!
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biscuit tins

2009-09-13T09:53:00.014+09:00

this time, i’m going to talk about nothing to do with weather or floras. well, it’ true that the most enjoyable part of my life is associated with seasonal changes of nature. but, my artsy side seems never to be influenced by seasons or even bad weathers. (oh, it’s another fine summer’s day; ideal for an italian white wine here in osaka.) matter of fact, i’m pretty design-conscious. i can be fussy or crazy about colours, patterns and shapes of end products that some talented persons have created. for this reason, i have a tendency to fall for things that can be my collectibles.

meanwhile, i tell my mother, who can’t throw anything away without feeling guilty, to stop accumulating rubbish. in her drawers and cupboard, i’ve been seeing a host of strings, rubber bands and shopping bags sit still over these years. i do understand that any woman of my mother’s generation experienced the times when anyone simply could not afford to waste anything because of the war. i, however, say to her mercilessly: “mother, do you really need a dozen of empty plastic yogurt tubs?” it’s no joke.

on the other hand, when it comes to pretty things like ribbons, boxes and biscuit (or tea, coffee, cocoa power?) tins, i am not in a position to tell my mother to get rid of that stuff. actually, i used to have way too many tins. i still keep some in spite of frequent relocations of my base crossing the seas, back and forth, in the past. my old biscuit tins all look ravishingly beautiful. in fact, years back, when i jumped off a double-decker i’d taken from piccadilly after shopping at fortnum & mason, i left my handbag. i was totally carried away with a gorgeous lazzaroni biscuit tin i’d just bought there. i know i’m sometimes such a comic. * **

pic 1
maker-unidentified french bonbons tin: i don’t really remember this … probably i bought this in london since the tin charmed me, while i clearly remember the bonbons were not so tasty. this tin now contains my sawing kit.

pic 2, 3
lazzaroni amaretti cookies tin: this is quite ubiqitous. i used to have all three sizes. the tall one is a perfect size for spaghetti. this spicy macaroon’s tissue wrapper is beautiful, too. design-wise, i prefer retro to modern, by the way.

pic 4
another lazzaroni biscuits tin: i eventually bought this after several visits to fortnum mason. this is the tin that cost me my handbag. several months later i received a letter from the london transport lost property office, telling me to collect my handbag. a good world? but, i had to pay for restoring charge.

pic 5
ladyfingers (french sponge type biscuits) tin: i think i bought this when i lived in 横浜 yokohama. i was going to make a charlotte with these biscuits, but i ate them all before making one. threads, buttons and beads are crammed in there now.

pic 6
末富 suetomi japanese biscuits tins: my new numbers. in my opinion, these minimalistic tins are the best designed confectionery tins in japan. 末富 suetomi, an well-established confectionery in 京都 kyoto, does have its own aesthetics not only for confectioneries but for packaging as well.

pic 7
(additionally) whiteman’s sampler box: i bought this in new york last year. it is not a tin as you see. and it is a bit girly, you might think. still, this nostalgic feel makes me so hard to throw away when empty.

have a beautiful sunday, everyone!
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calendrier des fleurs

2009-09-06T09:14:00.023+09:00

september. what flowers can you see in your garden? i picked a few leftover lavenders from a pruned hedge in the park (don’t tell it anyone, please) and placed them on my bedside table. the fragrant is soothing. then i thought of my personal flower calendar -- scabiosa should be for september. i took this picture as above in my london flat exactly 20 years ago! i’m still very fond of this sweet flower and my daughter still snuggles down into this scabiosa colour blanket in winter in tokyo. but in london, people actually start grabbing a blanket this month. over here, my kind of summer -- like a mediterranean summer -- has just begun.

i enjoy the coolness of bed sheets at night and the sun during the day. still, the sunlight is different now: the days have become shorter and shorter, while the rays of sunlight have become longer and longer. what i love this season best is everything seems to glint in a ray of sunlight and it reminds me of my ancient september trip to scotland. if someone asked me what the most beautiful scenery i’d ever seen in my life was, my answer would be the divine landscape of the moors with rabbits leaping and heathers blowing that i saw from the train window on my way from inverness to glasgow.

those views of the scottish highlands were absolutely heavenly. i’m sure my mind will be milling about with rabbits in the scottish heath whenever i look up at the clear blue september sky. in the meantime, as the humidity level got lower, a diligent part of me was looking for something productive. i’ve just started my new “white” project: this time, an all white patch-work quilt for my bed. there seem no headboards that match to my image of my newly painted white bedroom better, so i am making this not as a cover but as a headboard, like a tapestry? i hope to show you the complete hand-sawn white quilt in next several months.

versatile mint

2009-08-30T11:20:00.010+09:00

mint sprigs are something i’m always glad to have. if you have some in your kitchen garden, they sure will come in handy when you add the finishing touch to drinks and desserts you prepare. like the fresh blueberries i had (they were also in the food parcel i posted last week), bright green mint leaves made it look gorgeous. as i froze some of them, i can enjoy a bowl of ice cream with frozen blueberries any time, adding a mint sprig of course. indeed, mint is very one of versatile herbs. as you know, i love using mint not only for garnishing but for cooking as well. naturally, mint is essential for me to grow amid my herbie babies.

on a hot afternoon especially in hot summer months, having hot mint tea works for me to chill out, really. i learned how to make proper mint tea when i travelled around morocco. in london, i could easily get a bunch of fresh mint and a small packet of gunpowder tea from ethnic north african grocers in kilburn high road. besides, baklavas were sold there. i’m now living in a suburb of osaka, you know. i make kind of “fusion” mint tea substituting japanese green tea for chinese gunpowder tea. what would i have instead of baklavas? i’d have some traditional sweets, 落雁 rakugan (made from beans and sugar) for example. japanese sweets surprisingly go with mint tea.

with summer winding down, people can’t help but get sentimental, can they. i am missing that short (and often cool) english summer right now… i just imagine myself sitting in a pub near hampstead heath sipping a glass of pimm's as the sun sets. in reality, i fancy a cocktail i can make myself – mojito? why not? -- so i stand up to fix. i think i have all the ingredients at home, by the way. as my local super market does not always have limes, I’ve got a small bottle of squeezed lime juice imported from turkey; i have enough fresh mint sprigs, while i now grudge even a drop of my havana club that i brought from cuba. accordingly, i’ve recently bought white rum from a local shop.

lemon is refreshing; has no season that i have fresh lemon juice all the year around. still, if fresh mint is added, it gets fresher. so i make minty citron pressé in summer. meanwhile, like other drinks i’ve named as above, citron pressé has a story to make me smile, too. years back, i had the most elegant one in the bar of hotel le bristol paris. the taste was the same, however. i was there to interview phebe philo, the creative director of chloé at the time. she suggested meeting there since the hotel was just a stone’s throw from her atelier. in fact, it’d been cancelled at the last minute once before and my client (a magazine) had gone panic. for me, it was so lucky to visit paris from london twice within a month.

pic 1
in the herb garden of my local park, mints are in bloom. what lovely flowers!
pic 2
plum little blueberries… picked, packed and delivered to me from 静岡 shizuoka. so fresh.
Pic 3
fusion mint tea with 落雁 rakugan from 小布施 obuse for summer afternoon tea.
pic 4
for mojito: white rum, lime juice, soda, a few sprigs of fresh mint, sugar and ice cubes.
pic 5
voilà. mini mojito for two. click here for recipe and i bet you’ll enjoy this cuban experience.
pic 6
my own citron pressé avec les rameaux de menthe served hot or iced. but i prefer brown sugar.
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bountiful season

2009-08-23T13:42:00.010+09:00

have you heard of bitter melon? bitter melon used to be a little bit exotic vegetable but is pretty popular for japanese summer cooking these days. we japanese call this ゴーヤ goya, although there are several names of this cucumber’s cousin. it is unbelievably bitter. so why do we eat this? because, bitter melon contains superb nutrients. another reason for its growing popularity does not come from a culinary motivation, but from a literally green action. bitter melon vines shade your rooms from the sun as they grow when planted by the windows.

in theory, you can go with more air conditioning switched off and less carbon dioxide emission even a little. it does work. besides, it’s fun to eat them. unfortunately, my balcony is not suitable to have bitter melons. instead, i check on how bitter melons grow in the cottage garden during my routine walk in the park. the staff members in the park office seem to have already harvested lots of crops this summer. i am a bit jealous of them, but the pergola with shinny shoots and yellow blossoms of bitter melon simply provides me a space for a relaxing moment.

at any rate, i love vegetables and am happy that summer vegetables are no longer only summer produce so that we can eat them all year around. however, i don’t want to lose the sense of “what in season”, you know. two weeks ago, i received a food parcel from chiharu’s mother (she is my son’s girlfriend). her retired father grows various vegetables, tea and rice and her mother sends me some fresh crops from time to time. this time, there were aubergines, okras, cherry tomatoes, green peppers and corns in the box. they were beautiful to look at. the tastes were distinguishable. in fact, i’d never had such sweet corns before.

i usually cook aubergine with olive oil but i thought it’d be nice to grill it for a change, since the taste of the material could be drawn out by the simplest way of cooking. grilled aubergine is one of traditional japanese summer cuisine that i forgot for some time somehow. i grilled green peppers, too. how did i have them? with ground ginger and soy source. i added some finely chopped basil to be my style, though. too simple? but i believe that simple cooking can cultivate your taste for subtle flavours. i appreciate the bountiful season.
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keep calm and carry on

2009-08-16T17:44:00.017+09:00

i got my summer project done. i’ve kept calm and carry on painting for the past week. i have nobody else here for whining, anyway. in the teeth of the summer holiday weekend, even thought hardworking japanese people are enjoying their summer break (only four or five days for the average salaryman? so they should be on their way home now) at home or their parents’ home or somewhere else, i’ve had a busy week doing a swelter. i finished it before lunch time, though. i know i am a full-brown kook. but, it was worth the heat rash (itchy!) since i am much happier and comfortable about my flat than before.

when i moved in, the unattractive wallpaper, which was made of synthetic material with a pattern of blotches and freckles on the white base, was nothing but an eyesore to me. it looked almost white in a distance, so i had to get used to it because my willpower was not strong enough to take lots of work. now that i am smug in my accomplishment, surrounded by the walls i’ve given a fresh coat of white paint – my dinning room, living room, bedroom and the hall. still, this is not a sterile gallery white. in the 100% personal surroundings, white makes me feel calm and even mellow at the same time.

a “keep calm and carry on” poster at last looks fit there. i made a toast the completion of my “home sweet home project 2009” with a glass of campari and soda. 乾杯 kanpai!

nagasaki day

2009-08-09T12:45:00.009+09:00

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yes. it’s nagasaki day. i observed one-minute’s silence again at 11:02 am this morning. well, i was going to post some other topic, but it couldn’t be fair if i ignored nagasaki after writing about hiroshima. i don’t really want to sound too much pressing, though. or, this should really be a pressing concern for anyone who wants peace on earth? so i’ll go harping on this issue at least one more day.

i’ve never been to nagasaki, although i’ve seen a slew of photographs that captured 被爆者 hibakusha (a-bomb-explosion-affected people dead or alive) in nagasaki. if you see just one of those, you can tell the nuclear weapon is no doubt the most inhuman mass-distraction weapon. i watched a special tv programme dedicated to the hibakusha in nagasaki last night. i remember my mother was weeping in front of our tv set on one of these nights before the nagasaki day when i was really little. i was so surprised because i’d never seen her crying before, while the horrifying aftermath of a-bomb on tv screen was printed in my child’s heart. it was an awfully muggy night, just like lat night.

i just wonder how many tears people did shed on the nagasaki day special tv programme in sympathy with hibakusha this year, too. let’s talk about the world peace, shall we?
* *

hiroshima day special

2009-08-06T09:04:00.016+09:00

it is hiroshima day. the japanese observed one minute’s silence at 8:15 this morning. on august 6, every year, to commemorate all the war victims, i'd think of hiroshima, and then the red carps i saw in a pond of a hotel garden in hiroshima. i was six back then. at the time we lived in kokura, kyushu, the southern part of japan, but we spent every spring holiday in kyoto, where we are from and a big house that belonged to my mother’s family still could accommodate us. one spring holiday, my parents came up with an idea of stopover in hiroshima en route to kokura from kyoto; decided to take me and my brother there. we were all to see what happened to our country during the war. i’ll appreciate my parents’ decision forever and ever.

in hiroshima, we went on a guided tour of the city’s now preserved damaged sights. that was utterly shocking to me as a child. the morning after the day of dazed and confused, i at last felt easy, aimlessly watching red carps swimming in the small pond of our ryokan (traditional japanese inn) while my parents were checking out of it. since that morning, i’ve never forgotten about those red corps and hiroshima. we all should not forget that in 1945 enola gay, an american B-29 bomber, dropped the little boy, an atomic-bomb, on hiroshima today, and three days later, nagasaki was destroyed by another atomic-bomb (of which, i learned, original target was in fact kokura).

those people who started the war were completely stupid. as a pacifist, i am very proud of our “three non-nuclear principles.” like the great japanese designer, issey miyake, i, too, am a little more hopeful, thanks to mr obama’s anti-nuclear stance, than last year. but, i am frustrated at the fact that some people still fail to learn. not only nuclear weapons, but any war is stupid. we all know that war is never the answer, no?

paper chase

2009-08-02T11:48:00.019+09:00

are you on holiday somewhere sunny? i am not going anywhere and have been thinking of a painting project – to paint dull and naff walls crisp white in my flat. so, when i took some interior books off the bookshelf for inspirations, i came across my old scrapbook, which i made during my “flower london” era when i was studying floristry at college and working as an apprentice for jane packer. the scrapbook, however, doesn’t suggest my then-obsession with flowers. it was paper, such as tickets, stamps and labels. you know, ubiquitous things you find in foreign countries, materials and colours are slightly different from ones you familiar with, which fascinate me a great deal.
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i’ve been prone to accumulate pretty little but trashy things like ribbons and wrapping paper since my childhood, anyway. you can call me a real scrap-maniac or a rag-picker. i simply could not throw them into a dust bin because i got hooked on the beautiful colours and textures of paper, let alone memorabilia like tickets of exhibitions and concerts i took my kids, or went by myself, on weekends or on holiday; postmarks on stamps reflect on how good i was in communication with my mother and friends from around the world. after all these years, i am still surprised at the supposedly big number of letters that they wrote me while living in london. i could treasure each of them in a form of a book for life.

well, once upon a time, people bought stamps for sending letters and tickets for taking a bus and a train. In lieu of taking extra care not to lose those tiny pieces of paper, we text, email and use e-tickets for travel these days. it’s economical as well as ecologically better this way. wonderful designs can still remain in the virtual world. then again, i can’t help but feel like i am missing out on something sensuous more and more. my old scrapbook took me back to the good old days, apparently. apart from that, my scrapbook also includes my daughter’s drawing and scribbles as well as messages that i asked jane and my then-workmates to write when i was leaving london for tokyo. i rediscovered the warmth of handwriting, too.

serendipity

2009-08-01T13:24:00.004+09:00

as you notice, very recently, i’ve changed my blog template. on top of that, i’ve changed my blog title, too. actually, my original aim to create a blog was to facilitate mainly a promotion as a translator, which is my current profession. that’s why i named this blog partially after my own art project. i was having this just for what i wanted to share my everyday happenings and photos with you, while i was thinking of having another blog genuinely for that. instead, i thought i could change the name, rather than creating a new one. so, here “SERENDIPITY” goes! i really hope you can enjoy it.

summer breeze, summer foods

2009-07-26T10:45:00.018+09:00

my recollections of foreign cuisine experiences i had overseas are brought back whenever a summer breeze blows through my window. it doesn’t have to be so exotic, though. even if it can be a little exotic for my fellow japanese, it’s become the norm in my kitchen. for example, when i find my mints overgrowing the pot, i cook something, some moroccan dish with mint leaves. basil? likewise, but some italian dish. i mastered most of my multi-culturalist home cooking repertoire during my london years. london itself is a city of multi-ethnicity. besides, it’s a hub for jet-travellers. even morocco i was smitten with is not far away from london.

*

when i was a northwest-londoner, i enjoyed a walk around portbello road especially in summer. i loved the street markets regardless of overcrowding i'd usually avoid. strolling up and down the rows of food stalls at the open-air markets was such fun. there were also several haunts of mine on and off the street: the test kitchen of books for cooks, which was among my most favourite london eateries; the spice shop and a “non-boho” moroccan tea room where local people of north african origin would gather and sip mint tea. italian, spanish, portuguese, to name but a few, global food shops were there. no doubt, portbello road was my source of foodie inspirations.

it is funny that i stick to foreign cuisine even back in japan, while japanese food is becoming more and more global than ever. of course i like japanese food. yesterday, i had a family gathering having sushi prior to my brother’s hospitalization. we japanese are the first people who discovered “うまみ umami” as a taste that has been unfamiliar to non-japanese. what’s more, we have the ultimate term “食い倒れ kuidaore” for foodies in gastronomic osaka and i am proud of it. but my palate still tends to go beyond the oceans. in fact, i was in heaven the evening before last, eating lemon garlic pasta and sweet couscous with some home-grown herbs. so, i beg you, tiny little caterpillars, get your hand off my baby herbies!

(by the way, i have no exact recipes. because i always improvise things depending on what i have. rather, i enjoy finding new combinations of ingredients and, to me, this is what cooking is all about.)

pic 1

moroccan salad: i love the combination of orange, red onion and mint. adding olive oil, lemon juice and cinnamon powder to dress with them. it must be served really chilled!
pic 2
pan con tomate y tomillo: chopped fresh tomatoes on garlic toast with olive oil. i saw andalusians having this for breakfast, while i like having this for lunch. and with fresh thyme.
pic 3
penne pomadoro e basilica (all’arrabiata): if i had fresh and ripe tomatoes and garlic cloves, i’d cook this without question. usually i’d sprinkle chili flakes on it to spice up.
pic 4, 5
tortilla de potatas con orégano: i ate a lot of this when i lived in buenos aires. i also quite liked a spinach version that was sold at a bakery there. i made tortilla adding dried and fresh oregano this time. as a result, it enhanced the flavour. the eggy colour turned less brilliant, though.
pic 6
soupe à la citrouille à la crème et aux herbes: this is my all-time favourite soup, which i cooked a lot when my kids were little. i prefer not to use a strainer because i like chunky bits of pumpkin. ingredients are pumpkin, chopped onion, flour, butter, chicken soup stock, cream (for the calorie-conscious, milk can be a substitute for cream) and a couple of dried bay leaves. plus, some fresh oregano leaves to garnish.
pic 7
fuss-free minestrone: whenever i need to clean out my fridge, i go for minestrone. i can make the most of vegetables in the fridge, even a broccoli stalk and a leftover cucumber, namely anything. actually, i make soup quite often in summer. i serve it hot, and chilled the next day. it’s always hearty, anyway.
pic 8
sweet couscous: whole grain couscous, amanatsu, lemon juice, rum soaked raisins, honey, cinnamon powder and mint leaves. i made this oil-free to lower its calorie. as a main ingredient for sweet couscous. this time, i used 甘夏 amanatsu, a typical summer citrus in japan. amanatsu used to be popular and cheap, but not anymore these days. it’s easy to peel and get segments; tangier, more refreshing and less juicy than orange. lemon supplements juice.

pure white

2009-07-19T10:01:00.010+09:00

our local cicada choir woke me up. a full-fledged summer’s day began. i got out of my bed, walked into my dinning room, and found something purifying my soul on the table. i knew it was there, but i was awakened once again by the beauty of pure white clover flowers. i had taken them home from a narrow park path a few days ago. they caught my eye during my routine walk. until then i’d never seen such big white clover flowers: as white as snow and as perfect globe-shaped as a snow ball. mostly, white clover flowers we see in meadows are murky and imperfect-shaped.
*

when it comes to pleasing the eye, i have no boundary between cultivated flowers and wild flowers, say, weeds? as for picking flowers, i enjoy the latter since i’m not allowed to pick flowers in public gardens. besides, adorning a table with wild flowers sounds like a pretty elegant manner of living to me. so, i delight in spending a few days with these white clovers at home. i always find myself preferring white flowers to other colours, by the way. i even play with an idea of creating a little “white garden” of potted white flowers on my balcony one day. but, i only learn that i have no ability of being a constant gardener.

gary, my best friend who’s lost touch with me sadly since last christmas (i was wrong in expressing my worries about his taking the financial risk for a new relationship apparently, rather than congratulating him. i’m still hoping that my dear american friend will prove me wrong at the end of the day) took me on an english garden tour while he was visiting london. among many gorgeous gardens we visited, hidcote manor’s white border as well as sissinghurst castle’s white garden were muted but awfully alluring. i got charmed by the white magic. my taste in colour for garden flowers was characterised at the time, i guess.

usually, i’d love white flowers to be in my congenial surroundings, even though i am also very fond of flowers in different soft hues. old (and old-fashioned in particular) japanese people, however, would associate white flowers with funeral. in fact, a friend of my mother’s refused a delivered gift of some white flowers from her son last year. my mother laughingly told me about her girlfriend’s remark on her son’s chic mother’s day gift. she actually called her son to say this: “perish the thought, are you expecting my funeral so soon?” -- oh, what a thought!

summer-white delights:

pic 1, 2, 8

pure white clovers and tiny flowers i don’t know the name (from my local park)
pic 3

千日紅 sen-nichi-koh, globe amaranth (in the park garden)
it resembles clover in flower, but the two belong to different families.
pic 4

百日紅 hyaku-jitsu-koh, which is read as sarusuberi, cape-myrtle

(on the premises of the block of my flat)
the japanese names of globe amaranth and care-myrtle are only one chinese character (千: thousand or 百: hundred) away from each other. in fact, they do not bear the slightest resemblance to each other. interesting.
pic 5

初雪草 hatsuyuki-soh, snow-on-the-mountain (in the park garden)
i love the soft green and white foliages like this one.
pic 6

梔子 kuchinashi, gardenia (in the park)
this luscious flower always takes me back to my buenos aires days. gardenia is called “jasmine” over there, though.
pic 7

sweet rambling roses (in london several years back)
i could see fragrant roses of organdie-like petals with glossy foliage anyplace in uk. i simply miss london parks and gardens.

summer gems

2009-07-12T09:44:00.006+09:00

this is my season -- foodwise. i can’t love stifling summer days like today, but i am a sucker for fruits. there have been more and more fruits to show up to attract me as the summer sunshine ripens them since late may. i love fruits to behold, too. so i call fruits gems. they are glorious and absolutely gorgeous.
*

when i have a routine walk in the park my eyes are darting around to find some fruits, whether or not they are edible, to pick up. in my park, although there are many trees bearing juicy fruits such as mulberries, plums and japanese apricots, signs warn people, saying: do not pick fruits. they are for children’s nature observation, besides, picking fruits can hurt the trees. fair enough. they are also for birds and insects, then go back to the earth when rotten, righ? i, as a good citizen, pick no fruits from the branches. instead, i pick up some before going bad just for looking at them at home.

meanwhile, there are several fruits i cannot see around europe. so i would like to show you some you may not familiar with: the first one is やまもも yamamomo (japanese bayberry: myrica rubra) growing in the park. they are so cute to look at. some regions sell its jam and liquor as local specialities; the second one ぐみ gumi (silverberry: elaeagnus). this, in fact, was my very first fruit i recognised the fact that a tree bears fruits as a kid. and the memory of its tannic taste will never escape me. lastly, びわ biwa (loquat: eriobotrya japonica). it is widely available to buy, though biwa season is short. i quite like its soft but light crunchy texture of the flesh.

incidentally, i’ve noticed that fresh apricots are not always easy to get. so, my mother orders a packet with co-op every year for me. she, who is not really a fruit-lover, likes apricots out of her sentiment. we once had a big apricot tree in our family garden and she made apricot jam every year. apricot jam is still my most favourite jam, by the way. spreading a generous spoonful of bonne maman apricot preserve and nutella on a toasted slice of sonnenblumenbrot (german sunflower seed bread and i can’t get it in osaka, unfortunately) can bring me a happy morning. for fresh apricots, i love having them with yogurt the best.
*

pic 1 japanese bayberries (from my local park)
pic 2 mulberries (from my local park)
pic 3 silverberries (from a hedge nearby)
pic 4 plums and japanese apricots (from my local park)
pic 5, 6 loquats (from my local super market)
pic 7, 8, 9 apricots (from co-op)

ps
... hope you don’t mind me heaving a sigh of grief here. you know what, after the exciting news i received last week, i got the worst news on wednesday. that’s life, isn’t it? but, why is this world so unfair to good people? i’ve been feeling as if i am coming to being drowned or suffocated deep in sadness since then. cancer has returned to my brother. this is not the end of the world for him, of course, yet he has to fight it forever and i know how devastating this blow can be. as for me, i am trying to shake off this feeling ... by looking for something really funny just like these two gentlemen: mr. obama and m. sarkozy.

a quiet week, exhilarating emails

2009-07-05T13:41:00.006+09:00

the first half of 2009 went by and the new month began. it’s been a quiet week, but quite an extraordinary week at the same time. in fact, i received two exhilarating emails -- well, technically speaking, i was supposed to find one of them on 13th june, though; i just didn’t check it inadvertently. at any rate, the internet is incredible. i find a comment or two only once in a while if i am lucky. but, i never know who visit my blog all the way or what he or she makes of my post mostly, right? even if it is serendipitous or accidental, i have visitors without knowing. that's what i've now learned.

*
someone who visited my blog was kind enough to get in touch with me via the net. martin zweiback, the sender’s name, seemed surely not familiar to me, while its subject was “me, natalie”, a film i really love. then i found that the email was, actually, from the screenwriter of the film. i was lost for wards. he felt compelled to tell me he was appreciative of my favourite films list in which he found his “me, natalie”. unbelievable. i’m just a fan of the film. it is i who is very appreciative of receiving such an email from such a great screenwriter like him! nevertheless, what brought him to this blog and made him feel like checking my profile?
*
when i was fourteen, the film, which i hadn't seen yet, was a regular topic of chat among my girlfriends. so i asked my brother to take me to the cinema where “me, natalie” was on. i became a natalie, who should leave the nest and move to greenwich village, as i walked out of the cinema. i also bought myself a copy of screenplay of “me, natalie” a few years later. the impact those film and book had on me was huge and deep. almost miraculously, i still have the book. so i can tell how much natalie’s story meant to me. she was my hero throughout adolescence, while i was not able to live a life of natalie’s at the time.
*

centuries later i saw the film and read the book written by martin zwieback, i am living a life of Independence just like natalie, anyhow. even though this is not bohemian greenwich village, i can’t complain, i am comfortable about myself. oh, and, another email? sorry if i sound like a braggadocio again, but i couldn't keep this to myself. so...another email i received it on friday was from a publisher whom i sent my book proposal at the end of june. a quick reply is always good news in this kind of case. he got back to me right after he found my translated book potentially readable. no matter what kind of snag i would hit, i am thrilled with my new project.

june whites

2009-06-28T13:43:00.006+09:00

today is the last sunday of june. i suppose many couples tied the knot yesterday. any girl, once, now and probably forever, wants to be a june bride. i don’t know where this superstition came from, though. white wedding gowns look gorgeous and really stand out against the background of fresh green in june. “white” remains quite special as the colour of bride, while black is no longer the colour of wearing mourning. many women do attend weddings even in little black dresses these days. when i saw a host of articles about june bridals on the net, my elegant white elephants came back to my mind out of the blue.

i thought: although i haven’t seen them for ages now, yes, somewhere, i still have those white things that make me feel romantic. Indeed, they were vacuum-packed in a plastic bag and kept in a box in my closet. so i opened the bag and let them out -- just exquisite. i sighed with deep admiration. my admiration obviously was for french women in mid 19th century who had done incredible needlework like these. i found white nightgowns at les puces in paris in the 80’s. flea market was one of my must-visits whenever i made a paris trip back then. i remember how i negotiated the price with the lady antique dealer when i bought the first one.

dawn work, embroidery, pin-tucked pleats, trimming, scallop and ruffle are genuine vintage and all hand-sewn (a few seams in some parts were reinforced by machine). so, when did i wear these french white cotton chemise ancienne? well, one of them was cropped off to wear as a blouse; i wore it back in the new romanticism era. also, i’ve worn some with simple needlework as nightgowns. but, as i was scared to wear out, i was saving the complicated rest for special occasions, which have never happened so far. meanwhile, my other romantic whites: a lingerie bag bought from vietnam and a swatow hankie from china are new, so that i can use them without fears.
*

culture or nature?

2009-06-21T12:43:00.008+09:00

it rained, all in all, until this morning. i’d enjoyed having a daily walk in the park adjacent to the premise of my flat pretending there was no rainy season this year until today. but, as i certainly noticed that some flowers in the park almost blighted, i knew they needed that. so, i felt happy about the rain for them, even though i usually hate rain.
* i was thinking about my present environment when i was walking in my park yesterday: if i had to choose between culture and nature, which would it be? i didn’t think i’d bear to live a life without cultural inspirations. until i moved to this suburb in osaka, i had an urban life (mostly in london) with galleries, museums, cinemas, opera houses, concerts, bohemian cafés and glamorous restaurants, street markets and multi-ethnicity of people from all over the world. now, there are no such things; culture-wise, people are less adventurous here.

however, i have my park -- a huge, by japanese standards, and beautiful park where a dazzling variety of fauna and flora live. it amuses me throughout the year. i am not saying i no longer need cultures, though. in fact, i am dying to have a local art centre like camden arts centre or whitechapel gallery in town. but, there are very few who fancy a city-run contemporary art gallery to use our tax, i suppose. so, instead, i have a prefectural-owned park that is situated so close to me. how lucky i am?
*
in retrospect, i seem i always tended and tried to live near a park in my life. while living in london, i could get both: culture and nature. london parks are gorgeous; actually living near one of them was a dream-come-true experience. but when i lived in new cross (a hip town now? according to the new york times) because of goldsmiths college where i was then studying art, i couldn’t help feeling restless, owing to the environment that there were no parks nearby. greenwich park and blackhearth are not an easy walking distance from new cross, you know.

i wanted a green retreat as much as i wanted a daily debate on art back then. now that i have no choice, i am happily live up to only one of my ideals. in my park, i have my favourite spots where green looks magical. and, i encounter little creatures like a kingfisher in a secluded spot, while i am relieved to see honeybees hovering over the lavenders, since i know their recent mysterious disappearing has become a big issue not only in the usa and uk but in japan as well. small coppers (butterfly) and carpenter bees are also busy working at the moment.

*
the purple of the stream-like lavender fields gets deeper and deeper day by day. what a joy – the reason why i feel now this way probably came from my experience of recovering from serious illness. i was hospitalized two years ago today. since i got back home, i don’t take anything for granted anymore. meanwhile, i greatly regret that i treated my father as if he would be around forever. he did not, quite the contrary, he died much earlier than average japanese guys. while he was alive, we never had a walk together in the park he too loved. yes, it’s father’s day, today. treat your daddy good. happy father’s day, everyone!

blue and white

2009-06-14T10:44:00.014+09:00

in kansai area where i live, the rainy season officially began on tuesday and june is a sullen month in japan usually. we’ve been having little rain so far, however. today, it looks even sunnier than yesterday, which makes me feel great. i, along with some two hundred workmates, completed a big translation project on friday, which means i’ll be staying home during daytime and weekdays from this week again. hooray!
*

i really should go back to my own unfinished project right away. but my alter ego keeps telling me to take it easy; there’s no point in wasting a sunny day of a rainy month for the project with no definite deadline. ok. one more day, just one more day i should forget the fact that i made a vow to become a flagellant and remain an epicurean? i thought so. so, i’ve been lying on my sofa thinking what i would associate with june since this morning. i am imaging something refreshing – like blue hydrangeas in the rain for instance?

and then refreshing colours – blue and white, perhaps? like my tea towels i bought myself in different global cities. also like my old china. i used to visit antique fairs in tokyo to buy 伊万里　imari (porcelain wares): sometimes a bit pricy 染付 sometsuke (hand painted with blue and other colours) and mainly inexpensive blue-and-white 印判　inban (blue-pattern printed), some of which i had to give up at some time or other when i changed the direction of my life.

luckily, my favourite blue-and-white café-au-lait bowls and plates are still kept in my cupboard. i bought one by one whenever i visited paris in my twenties. i was kind of obsessed about blue-and-white crockery when i was young. i had various english blue-and-white porcelain wares, too. then i got a little bit bored with them as i got old. therefore, i didn’t really care whenever i left many of them behind (i now regret that). at any rate, blue and white will forever be my favourite colour combination. and, what’s yours?

balcony strawberries

2009-06-07T12:21:00.007+09:00

wimbledon? strawberries!! – english people would instantly associate with. and, they love the messy way of eating strawberries posh etonians invented: eton mess (click for a recipe). over here in japan, strawberry is an all- time queen of fruits. to pander to market demand, our consumption has been pushed ahead of its season year by year, so japanese kids might associate christmas with strawberries, really.
*

as strawberry has become an innocuous ingredient for rather pedestrian pastry chefs, we can see strawberries all year long. still, there is great variety of cultivated strawberries. i prefer pointed small one to hulking one. when a strawberry is cut in half, pointed one looks unbelievably beautiful. no matter how we eat strawberries, sadly, its real season is already drawing to a close here. it is way too early, don’t you think?

my strawberries survived the winter and came into bloom again this spring even though i did nothing but watering for them. my strawberries' petals are pink and the flower resembles a wild rose, which clearly reminds me of the fact that strawberry is a member of the big rose family. my balcony strawberries produced fruits this year, too. although the shapes aren’t perfect, the taste is simply but amply sweet and sour. it brings me back some memories of summers i spent in england. over here, meanwhile, the rainy season is approaching.

real madrid

2009-05-31T12:03:00.008+09:00

when london was to celebrate queen elizabeth’s golden jubilee weekend from june 1 to 4 in 2002, i flew to madrid for a spanish long weekend. actually, though i’d visited barcelona and several cities in andalucía before, i’d never been to madrid, i’d known of madrid only through visual and written information until then.
*

so, that was real madrid. you might know this if you were a football fan: “real” in spanish means royal, incidentally. my hotel there was villa real, which is not a super hip but really cool hotel with 5 stars. matter of fact, it was the 1st prize of a travel essay contest organised by a spanish travel agency and mr geek, whom i went out with at the time, won. mr geek, who is a self-claimed anarchist, invited me there to escape the golden jubilee together.

the weather was brilliant in madrid as you can imagine. by day, we rambled about town visiting museos such as the prado, reina sofía and thyssen-bornemisza for master pieces of velázquez, goya, el greco, bosch, but picasso’s guernica was “away’ unfortunately, and jardín botánico was a real oasis for chilling out. by night, we went out for tapas, or a meal at 1 michelin-starred zalaca ín, or to teatro real for the modern adapted “madam butterfly” where i needed a bucket for my tears.
*
it is always so nice to go on holiday with a companion who has lots in common. still, to be honest with you (and with me too), my memories of being a traveller can be more vivid somehow when i travel all by myself. maybe, because i’m too selfish and greedy to have all experiences in foreign countries to myself? and, because i want to be free anytime for taking pictures without keeping anyone waiting. in this sense, our madrid trip was fun but tends to slip out of my memory.
*

my babes mean herbs

2009-05-24T16:13:00.011+09:00

late may – i am so happy to see my babes growing. my babes? yes, my edible babes, i mean, herbs. i’m not a green thumb, really. but, once i take a herb home from a garden shop i look after it with love, just like pet owners. if any of them gets sick or a pest attack, i will be very sad. herbs are much easier than cats or even goldfishes to look after, though.
*

at the moment, my little green babes are italian parsley, basil, rosemary, thyme, oregano, coriander, nutmeg geranium (i don’t know how to use this for cooking, but it flowers almost all year around and its heady scent is addictive!) and 3 varieties of mint. they are all fine, growing lush, on my south-faced balcony.
*

i love using herbs for cooking. they sometimes even overwhelm other ingredients in my case. basically, i prefer vegetables and fruits to meat, so my dinner plate always looks colourful. meanwhile, one of my favourite japanese herb is 青紫蘇 ao-ji(shi)so (green perilla). as i’ve found that growing it in a pot is difficult, i get leaves from a supermarket.

青紫蘇 goes with pasta. you can use it like basil. since japanese cuisine has become a global trend, you’ve possibly already tasted it, no? and, i love japanese mushrooms. we have great variety of mushrooms, actually. mushrooms and 青紫蘇 go very well. what about 水菜 mizuna? it is versatile and can substitutes rocket. i always use it for pasta and salad (pics are: linguine with水菜 and mushrooms; 水菜 salad with chopped pelican mongo and balsamic vinaigrette.)

other dishes i’ve lately cooked with my babes are avocado salsa with shrimps. surely, i used coriander, which is a new face on the balcony. another dish is paella. my paella can impress guests, because not only parsley but saffron is genuinely home-grown. my mother grows saffron crocus every year for me. isn’t she wonderful?

peony

2009-05-17T11:25:00.008+09:00

i’ve noticed that peony is probably the most popular flower among girl/lady bloggers at this time of year. matter of fact, like vale says, i, too, prefer delicate and subtle beauty of flowers to dominant and obvious beauty of flowers like peony. still, i do love every flower. when i visited my mother on tuesday, several peony buds in her living room caught my eye naturally. i remember that my parents used to grow peonies in our garden. one of her friends grows peonies and brought a couple of stems to her.

“wow! 牡丹botan (peony)” i said. “no, it’s not 牡丹, it’s 芍薬 shakuyaku (peony lactiflora)” my mother denied and added, “牡丹is tree but芍薬 is not.” oh, is that so? indeed, i know at least the difference that bloom of 牡丹is bigger and more powerful in a way than 芍薬, which is taller than 牡丹 although the characteristics of both flowers look the same. in japan, we have a saying for a beautiful lady that “she’s a 牡丹when she stands up, she’s a 牡丹 when she sits down.” anyway, i always associate both flowers, especially this shocking pink, with china, though, because it’s a floral symbol of china.

as for colours, if i had a choice, either tree peonies or plant peonies, i prefer pastel shades to shocking pink. but when i my mother offered me one bud, i of course took it home. and it fully opened up yesterday. no doubt. it’s gorgeous. i hope you all are enjoying the season of 百花繚乱 hyakkaryoran (a hundred of floweres profusely blooming)!

happy mother’s day

2009-05-10T09:32:00.006+09:00

it’s mother’s day. it’s sunday and sunny (going to be a scorcher ) over here. oh, i don’t need anything else… do i? in japan, sending red carnations to mothers is sort of a peculiar mother’s day tradition. every year, i’d wonder who started it. the picture is the one my lovely daughter sent me one year ago. i’ve already sent my mother a pot of hydrangea (this year again, though) and told my daughter i’d want no mother’s day gift this year. whatever you want for mother’s day, have a good one!

bluebell report

2009-05-03T16:27:00.011+09:00

in japan right now, we are in the middle of spring break. people have gone on holiday somewhere. me? i do love spending this pleasant season staying at home (no, not because of the swine flu pandemic), because, you know, i have a beautiful park adjacent to the premise of my flat. so i couldn’t be happier to find spring flowers, especially bluebells, in my park than going anyplace crowded. for me, bluebells associates with springtime in london. many english people associate magnolias or rhododendrons with spring, maybe. the bluebells took my breath away when i had a walk in the park between sprinkles of rain last sunday.

in retrospect, i was a big fan of cocteau twins who sang “blue bell knoll” in the late 80’s when i lived in london. over there, bluebells could be seen anywhere. but sadly, i lost my own favourite photos of a bluebell wood of newbury. i can get identical images from here or blogs like vanya’s, though. also, i once had an opportunity of working on a magazine assignment with a renowned japanese photographer ages ago. we had a photo-shoot at kew gardens. that image of the bluebells seems to remain in my mind for good. by the way, i believed those ones were common bluebells. perhaps, the ones i now see in my park are spanish bluebells, which, i’ve just learned, invade areas of native common bluebells in england. so they are precious now.

the bluebell season looked nearly over when i had a walk yesterday. still, i could enjoy sort of a residue of the english spring image. i sometimes spotted a white variant in london. in fact, i’m always attracted to white or greenish flowers. along with bluebells, clearly green hellebore also passed their prime, however. now that white lace flowers (orlaya grandiflora) must be the queens of the garden in my park. there were other whites such as tulips and 姫空木 hime-utsugi (deutzia gracilis). if you took a closer look at flowers, you would find tiny green creatures like a spider and a grasshopper busy working on them. despite the fact that i have a terrible arachno-phobia, that was another lovely discovery!

trees were beautiful, too. 花水木 hanamizuki (dogwood) can never be an eye-opener, but it brightened up the path in woodlands. do you remember my post on 梅 woo-may (prunus mume) blossom back in february? when i walked through the 梅 orchard, i saw swelling green fruits on the branches already rounding. and, what about the post on burning 紅葉momiji? lacy soft green leaves, trembling to the breeze, now made me a green canopy while walking up to the main path. then, on my way home, i found that each 柊南天 hiiragi-nannten (mahonia japonica) in the shrub near my flat had dozens of fruits, which exactly look like gems of jade.

back in my living room, a couple of white bawls of lace-up hydrangea, a new face among my pot-plants, looked just serene. for me, it was heaven on earth, for a moment or two.

the taste of spring

2009-04-26T12:15:00.006+09:00

it rained all day yesterday. and today, happy windy day -- like winnie the pooh said? it is a windy sunday. indeed, the weather is up and down – like my dear mr bill cunningham has described the new york weather in his latest on the street. this time his report is about spring coats, which people no longer talk about. a few days ago, coincidentally my mother said to me “almost no one wears a spring coat these days…” in our conversation when its topic came to my new half-length cotton trench coat i just bought. i remember the old days when my mother used to be measured up for a bespoke, mostly pinkish beige, spring coat at a department store to get ready for windy spring days.

so, weather-wise, i am spending quite a disappointing weekend, but my eyes are happily catching anything fresh light green here in my living room or trees outside. even in newspaper articles, i wouldn’t miss anything light green as the definite sign of spring. then, i came across a recipe of risotto with 空豆 sora-mamey (broad beans: i’ve learned they are called “fava beans” in the us, which i didn’t know) yesterday. actually, on friday, when i stopped by a local supermarket to get a carton of milk on my way home from work, i noticed small plastic bags of shiny fat broad beans displayed among haricots verts (french beans) and green peas (english peas). i took home a bunch of bananas and an avocado, but no broad beans.

saturday night means, for me, garlic. i popped into the supermarket in the rain and got a small bag of broad beans, after all. the food writer of the new york times wrote “their season is, sadly, a short time”, which is true. shelling peas looked like a fun job? the broad leathery pods happened to contain only a couple of peas, though. still, it seemed all right, enough for one people. i cooked a garlicky risotto with them, but i did not follow the new york times recipe. i substituted green peas and rucola pesto for asparagus and saffron as i used saffron for bouillabaisse (a poor man’s version, however) my supper last saturday. to make it a little more original, i placed a poached egg on the risotto, too.

the taste of spring was not bad at all. i didn’t take pictures of it, unfortunately – since i don’t like food pictures with lighting. instead, let me share my old and sort of kaffe fassett-inspired spring image with you, please? i took it during my “flower london era” a long long time ago.

serendipity

seasonal peas and beans

a weekend in pink

yellow blossoms

calamity

happy valentine

xmassy week special #6

kobe luminarie

xmassy week special #5

xmassy week special #4

xmassy week special #3

xmassy week special #2

xmassy week special #1

the saffron revolution

marie’s birthday

september

momo

a midsummer fedora

the last taste of sweet cherries

a nordic dream

tricolore floral

learning from a lotus

a cherry bomb

my herby baby

hydrangeas in the rain

good black mulberry

tussie mussie, nosegay

chamomile

noodles and herbs

bluebell report 2010 (belated)

the pedant in the kitchen

adieu

a may daytrip

pink and red season is over

springtime strawberries

thinking pink

feeling flowery

s for...

viola, violet, violetta

london, and paris

suddenly and briefly

toties quoties

year of the tiger 2010

finally, christmas eve

holiday season

momiji exclusive

tokyo midtown

tying the knot

little grey dress

what’s in season

an anniversary

waxing gibbous moon + last goodbye to the summer visitors

shocking pinks in the park

still crazy for summer noodles

cornwall where colin and joy live

amendment (plus shades of autumn)

under the silvery full moon

upside down, and round and round...

manjusaka 曼珠沙華

after the emerald rush

biscuit tins

calendrier des fleurs

versatile mint

bountiful season

keep calm and carry on

nagasaki day

hiroshima day special

paper chase

serendipity

summer breeze, summer foods

pure white

summer gems

a quiet week, exhilarating emails

june whites

culture or nature?

blue and white

balcony strawberries

real madrid

my babes mean herbs

peony

manjusaka 　曼珠沙華