Kairakuen at Mito in Ibaraki

Kairakuen in Mito, Ibaraki is one of the three most beautiful Japanese Gardens in Japan. Every year, public can enjoy plum blossoms viewing during the Mito no Ume Matsuri from mid February to end of March. The park has 100 different types of plum blossoms. Kairakuen was opened by Tokugawa Nariaki to the feudal lords and warriors, as well as the commoners in 1842.

Overlooking the Kairakuen-koen.

Old plum blossom trunks such as this (80 years) twist as the tree age.

The Japanese plum blossoms comes in all shapes and sizes including this, which shapes like a dragon.

A unique plum blossom with green hue.

Weeping plum blossoms.

Pretty shade of pink.

Three of the 10 Mito no Ume Musume (Mito's Daughters of Plum Blossoms)

Kinkan/Kumquat

I discovered kinkan/kumquat recently. It is a kind of citrus fruit that has a sweet skin and a sour (sometimes sweet) flesh. The fruit is oval in shape and has a nice bright orange colour. It is a winter/spring fruit. 

To eat the fruit, first wash the skin. Then cut it into half and remove the seeds. The seeds are slightly bitter in taste. 

Tonki's Tonkatsu at Meguro

I tried Tonki's tonkatsu at Meguro based on a recommendation from my colleague . If you make a reservation, you may not have to queue too long but will be seated on the second floor, where you will miss all the action. I didn't make a reservation and instead queue for a good 45 minutes before I got a seat at the counter.

Arrived at 5.30 p.m. The shop only opens after 4 p.m.

The queue on the right. About 50 people can sit around the counter. 

The second guy from left specialises in taking orders and remembering who is where in the queue. The other guy specialises in cutting the tonkatsu in portions of 70:30. He even got a permanent slouch from his work. The lady on the far right is responsible for cleaning the table when people leave. Another guy is supposed to only put the mustard sauce on the plate. It works like a factory serving good tonkatsu to their continuous flow of customers.

Got the meal at around 6.35 p.m. It was good and authentic.

Snow in November, 18 degrees Celsius in December

This year Tokyo had its first snow on November 24; the first November snow since 1962! The temperature was lowest at around 2 degC. On the contrary, on the December 4, my friends and I went to climb Myojougatake near Gora and Miyagino. The temperature was as high as 18 degC - big swing in temperature.

If you like hiking with a lesser crowd than that in Takao san, I would recommend Myojougatake. The trainfrom Tokyo to Gora via Hakone Yumoto is approximately 2 hours. On the August 18 of every year, a bonfire of 大文字, can be seen flaming as part of sending away the spirits of the deceased during お盆.

The entrance to the mountain is about15 minutes walk from the Gora train station. You can see the large 大文字 character from afar.

 The normal paced hike up to ~900m takes about 70 minutes. Glimpses of Fujisan.

 My friends brought Bunsen burners and pots to make udon, kimichi soup and houtou for lunch.

 On a good weather day like this, lunch can be accompanied by the view of Fujisan. It was splendid indeed!

 One can view Gora and Miyagino from the lunch spot.

 Ichimanbei Buddhisht temple on the way down from Tonomine. I was told that there are only three of such temples in Japan. Would need to verify that. 

70 minutes hike up and another 95 + 30  minutes hike to Tonomine and to Hakone Yumoto Station. My leg muscles ached for 4 days after the hike. I must remember to constantly go for long hikes like this..

Showa Kinen Park

Showa Kinen Park is not too far from Tokyo. If you take the Chuo Rapid train from Shinjuku, it takes only 33 minutes. There is an entry fee of 410 Yen, slightly more expensive than the entry fee for Shinjuku Gyoen,

Today is a public holiday in Japan, which coincides with the Culture Day. I was lucky to catch the last day of the Cosmos Flower Festival. Beautiful magenta, yellow and white cosmos at the park. There were also some dahlias. It was a sunny day day and the blue sky made a good backdrop for photos.

Near the Tachikawa Entrance of the park are rows of beautiful ginko trees that turn golden in colour as the sunset rays shine on the leaves. Autumn has begun!

Yellow Skin Apple - トキ

The sweetest apple I have ever eaten! Grown in Aomori. Eaten in Tokyo.
トキ is a hybrid of Ourin and Fuji apples.

My favourite fruit in summer - peach!

There are many fruits that I enjoy in Japan. My favourite in summer is definitely 桃 (Japanese peach). This fruit can be red or light yellow and has fine hairs on its skin. The flesh is extremely juicy and sweet when it is ripe. I have been advised not to refrigerate the fruit for too long as the taste will change. Best to eat it at room temperature.

These 白糖桃 are from Okayama Prefecture. It costs about 1600 yen for a box of three. Peaches from Yamanashi Prefecture are also famous in Japan.　

Fruit agar is also a popular dessert in summer. I made momo, blueberries and apple juice agar. It was quite easy to make and the agar (vegan) can be bought from supermarkets.

I also tried the melons from Furano in Hokkaido, recently. The texture of the melon's skin is different from the one's I usually have back home. The colour of its flesh is orange. The taste is definitely sweet and the fruit is juicy. I bought this at Farm Tomita, Furano for 300 Yen per slice.

さくらんぼ (sakuranbo) are also available in summer. Oh, how I love Japanese fruits!

Simple Arrabbiata Spaghetti and Stir-Fry Taugeh

My kitchen space is so small that I can only cook one-dish meals conveniently. I have been thinking about how to cook for a party in that small space. After making dinner, I thought that this could be one of the choices for main dish - organic Arrabbiata spaghetti. In order to remember the steps, I am writing this down.

Stir-fry chop garlic and dried 小エビ。Then add in cut yellow pepper and shiitake mushrooms. Pour in the Arrabbiata sauce and add black pepper at the end. I used whole-wheat spaghetti and it tastes really good!

Japan has a fascination with fish- or squid-cakes. Today, I stir-fried 'taugeh' (Hokkien for bean sprouts), ねぎ、carrots, cabbage, mushrooms and the eda-mame fish cake, with chopped garlic and oyster sauce. Pretty good too! Simple dishes makes a happy stomach and person.

Next up, I will try to make 'sambal' (Malay for chili paste) without the 'belacan' (Malay for dried shrimp paste) and apple-fruit juice jelly. Apparently, in summer, Japanese people likes to make transparent fruit jellies. I saw a grandma making the kiwi, peach, and apple fruit jelly on the television today - inspired.