Japanese Cuisine in Kyoto

Hello there! How have you been so far? I think I haven’t posted anything on my blog for a while, and I apologize for my laziness. You know once we get lazy, it’s hard for us to start again, right?

Today I want to write about Japanese cuisine in Kyoto and the cuisine is called Kyo-ryori in Japanese.

I went to a Japanese fancy restaurant called Tan-kuma (たん熊）with my husband and two of our mutual friends and ate together. We had a lot of fun there while chitchatting.

This is called sesame tofu made from sesames.

Fish soup called sumashi-jiru

 

 

Fresh raw fish called sashimi

 

Main dish

 

My favorite, eel rice! Mmmmm, yummy!

Dessert: green tea ice cream and kinako mochi with red beans

 

I went to Kyoto again with my other friend on a different day, and she and I ate different Japanese cuisines at another fancy restaurant. The restaurant name is Gion Yuyama. ( 祇園ゆやま）

Sesame tofu made from sesames

The restaurant chef. We sat in front of the chef, and we could watch him. It was fascinating.

 

Main dish

 

He is cutting tiny fish bones from a hamo ( a kind of fish which we eat in summer in  Kyoto)

 

Egg plants, okura and oriental melon

 

Rice with shirasu (dried tiny fish), miso soup and some Japanese pickles

 

Dessert: Ice cream, sesame flavored pudding and coffee flavored gelatin with water melon

Both restaurants were really good, and I hardly can choose which was better.

Since we were in Kyoto, I want to introduce summer in Kyoto as well.

The street where we walked was very Kyoto. Each house has some blinds called sudare to block sun shine and keep inside cool.

 

 

 

I think this house is a tea house called ochaya which has geisha and maiko (geisha’s apprentice)  because we can see square wood printed maiko and geisya names above the door.

After that, we went to another place to look around the pottery festival in Kyoto.

Since I went to the festival last year as well, I didn’t take many photos this time. I am sorry for this.

 

 

I bought some pottery for kintsugi techniques Japanese traditional techniques for pottery)  which I am currently involved in.  I will write about kintsugi techniques on my other blog entry soon. You will see what it is then.

 

Thank you so much for visiting my blog again! I will keep posting, stay tuned!!

 

-Yumi

 

 

Purple Shower in Japan

Hello there! How have you been so far? Our beautiful spring  has passed, and we are now in humid early summer. Every day is really muggy, and in the northern part of Japan, Hokkaido recorded it’s the highest temperature ever for that day. It was 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit ) yesterday even though we are still  not in our rainy season. This is really strange for us.

Anyway, I want to show my favorite flowers, wisterias today. My husband and I went to a park close to our house a couple of weeks ago and I took a bunch of photos of them.  Unfortunately, they are all gone now, but you can enjoy looking around them in my blog.

We have both white wisterias and purple ones.  Which do you prefer?

 

 

Look at the pretty Japanese garden. Since the day had no clouds, the view was just amazing!

 

 

 

 

 

They look just like a purple rain shower to me! The wisterias are my university’s symbol and they reminds me of my uni’s campus a lot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Isn’t it a nice shot? I am happy that I could take the photo of wisterias and a bee together!

The bee was huge and just like the same size as a humming bird.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think this photo above is the best photo of  wisteria I took! Don’t you think so?

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed other flowers as well. I love purple or blue flowers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wisterias are called Fuji in Japanese and we have loved the flowers for more than 1800 years. We have painted the flowers a lot in the Japanese style of paintings. I am from Otsu, Shiga prefecture and Otsu-e ( painting below) is popular with the flowers.

She is called Fuji Musume in Japanese. The Fuji Musume is played in Kabuki as well.

As you know, Kabuki is played by only male actors.

Thank you for visiting my blog! I will update it soon again!

See you soon!

 

-Yumi

 

Spring Flowers in Japan

Hello there! Long time no see! How have you been so far? I am sorry that I hadn’t posted anything on my blog for a while. Now, I have returned!

In Japan we are in the mid spring and I would love to show you what kinds of flowers we can see in this season.

A couple of weeks ago, I went into my neighborhood and took some photos of these flowers called Renge in Japanese.

They bloom only in Spring. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astragalus_sinicus

I love these tiny flowers because they are my favorite color purple! They bloom in rice fields.

 

 

 

When I was a little girl, I used to make crowns or necklaces with these flowers with my childhood friends.

Look at the center of the photo! Can you see a bee?

The bee seemed to be busy to gather honey from the Renge flowers.

 

 

What kinds of flowers can you see in your area where you live now?

I will post other flowers for spring some time soon! So, stay tuned!!

Thanks for taking a look at my blog post! See you around!

 

-Yumi

 

China Fair in Kyoto

Hello there! How have  you been so far? I think you forgot that I have blogs, lol. Yes, I myself almost forgot about them as well, lol. Well, I had lost interest in blogging for a while. Since I have been away from this blog for months, I have no idea what I should write. Then, I found that writing about a china festival inKyoto might be interesting.

This summer was really hot, and I avoided going out. I rarely went out, and this festival was one of those rare times. I don’t know why people in Kyoto hold the china (porcelain) festival in summer because summer in Kyoto is one of the muggiest places in Japan.

Anyway, the festival is held every summer, and many people have visited there because it opens from the morning to evening. I suggest to go there in the evening because it’s much cooler. You will be very comfy.

You can see lots of stands where people are selling their hand-made porcelain on the streets. If you love porcelain, the place is heaven.

 

They don’t sell Western porcelain at all. All are Japanese styles.

 

 

 

 

Usually, our pottery shops are just like this.

These are incense plates with Chinese zodiacs. I know you think they are very Japanese.

Another pottery shop.

I love the pottery designs and took this photo.  For some reason the designs remind me of one of my favorite painters, Klimt :https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Klimt

My husband and I visited a temple for pottery. These statues are made from porcelain dishes. Isn’t it cool? I don’t know what the left side is, but I think the right side is a samurai.

I prayed to the God of pottery to improve my painting skills on porcelain, of course.

I have reblogged this blog entry on my other blog, my porcelain painting blog. I will start posting the blog soon as well.

See you around in two weeks!

-Yumi

 

I Miss Spring!

Hello there! It’s getting more muggy here, and I really miss our wonderful spring! How is the weather there? I hope you are having a good one.

Today, I want to show some photos of plum blossoms that I have taken a couple of months ago. Of course, our plum blossoms bloom in early spring. We can’t see them anymore.

I think our cherry blossoms are much popular than the plum blossoms in the world, but actually, they are really cute. I love both of them.  I especially love the rich pink ones.

I took these pictures at a shinto shrine close to our house.

Plum blossoms sometimes have been used to a Shito shrine, temple or family symbols like the flog.

 

This pink plum tree was so cute! I really loved this one.

 

This tree is white. The white one is pretty too, but I prefer the pink one.

 

Well, this is new. The shinto shrine has a pray spot for kitties. Since I am a cat person, I couldn’t help taking the photo!!

 

 

We have lots of different pink colors in our plum blossoms. This one is my favorite color!

 

Do you know what it is? This is called “omikuji” in Japanese. You can read about omikuji here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O-mikuji This is a part of our shinto-ism or Buddhism. We are kind of superstitious and try to know our fortunes.  When I visited here, I tried it out. We usually leave the used omikuji like this in the photo. The white paper things in the photo are all used omikuji.

 

This plum tree is my favorite one. I really love the rich pink!

 

Plum blossoms are a good object for painting, and when you look at our ancient paintings, you can see a lot of them on papers, porcelain, woods and so on.

Now, we are having lots of hydrangeas. Which flowers can you see in your place now?

I hope you start a good week! See you in weeks here again!

 

-Yumi

Food Art in Japan

Hello there. How are you doing?

I wanted to write about my previous place where my family and I had spent for seven years, but I don’t have enough time to blog this time. I have to start over my last tea set for my painting school. So, I changed my mind. When I have enough time for blogging, I will write about the place. I am sorry for this. In stead of this, today I want to show you so-called food art. I took these pictures when I ate dinner with my hubby, family or parents at some French restaurants. In Japan French cuisines are expensive. I like dressing up and going out with my hubby or family there. I hope you enjoy the photos.

La Baie, The Ritz-Carlton hotel  This restaurant have been given one star from the Michelin Guide.

https://www.ritz-carlton.co.jp/restaurant/labaie/

The second picture is some bread. I was inspired by the way they served them. We can keep bread warm longer in the box.

Some salt with two different butter. I really loved the butter in the right side.

This is the Japanese portion, lol!!!!  Now you know why we don’t have BIG people here.

Don’t you think this looks like art? I think both Japanese food and French food are very visual food.

 

 

This crepe had a bit alcohol, brandy and I couldn’t eat it. ( I am weak at alcohol. My hubby enjoyed eating it.)

They served us more deserts. Oh, I loved their service!

On the other day, my family and my parents went to the other French restaurant, Restaurant Varier. http://www.restaurant-varier.com/menu/index.html

Well, Japanese portion again, lol

This dish is very artistic!

 

The color red and the color green, the contrast is very pretty!

 

 

My favorite, Foie gras with stake, of course, Japanese portion, lol

 

This plate is also very artistic.

 

Did you find some art in Japanese French cuisines? I am wondering which one is more artistic, real French food in France or Japanese French food in Japan? I would love to try out real French food in France in person some time!

Thank you for stopping by my blog. See you around in two weeks!

-Yumi x

 

 

 

 

Cafes in Japan

Hiya! How have you been so far? I am doing great to enjoy my life.

Today, I want to share something interesting with you. You know we have weird cafes, like maid cafes, right? Our cafes are getting more diverse. Now, we have lots of cafes where we can enjoy getting together to share our interests.

Cats cafes where we can touch cats or conversational English cafes where we can speak in English with foreigners or English teachers are more popular. We have more cafes like rabbit cafes where we can touch rabbits. Rabbit cafes are getting popular in Japan as well. I don’t think it’s a clean place to drink something, though, lol.

I have never been to those cafes before, but I had an opportunity to go to a knitting cafe recently.  I have to say that knitting is my hobby. I have found knitting is meditation for me, and that’s why I love knitting. I found a knitting cafe where I can learn Fair Isle technique from Scotland and went there.

There were 10 students plus three teachers there. We all knitted the Fair Isle techniques.

Fair Isle knitting started for fishermen, but they have become more sophisticated.

 

We can see lots of Fair Isle knitting products which the instructors  have placed on the walls. They were so perfect! I was in love with them at first sight.

A student was knitting her sweater with the technique. According to her, it takes 6 months for her to finish one product!! Oh, I need a lot of patience to finish one piece!!!!

The instructors show us lots of traditional patterns and books to make us think we can make these!

Since I am a definitely beginner of this technique, I have nothing to show. I just started learning this technique. My goal is to knit sweaters for all my family! The yarns for the technique come from Shetland, Scotland. Their yarns are very light and warm like cashmere. Since I love conservative, classical and traditional style of fashion a lot, I really really love these knitting patterns!

Cafes where we can learn something is different from schools or clubs. When we learn something in schools or clubs, it’s hard for us to quit after one experience. However, it’s easy for us to quit in cafes. We don’t need to go to the cafes constantly. Whenever we want, we can book the cafes and keep learning. The knitting cafe is open 8 days each month from 10 am to 1:30 pm for students to learn . My plan is to go there once a month to learn. It’s more convenient for us to save time and money. It’s easier for us to start learning something new. Of course, we call these “cafe”, so we order something to drink while we learn.

I had a wonderful time there with knitting people. All of them were very friendly to share their products, ideas and technique.

I think these style of cafes where we can learn something will be more popular in Japan.

Thanks for stopping by my blog entry. I hope I will be able to update my other blog, my porcelain painting blog next week!

I hope you all start a great week! Take care!

-Yumi x

 

 

Autumn in Japan

Hello there! How have you been? It’s been a while since I have posted my last blog. I had been busy for a while and, when I realize that, it’s the season that we can see leaves changing.

Last week, my husband and I went hiking the closest hill called Pon Pon Yama. It was the best timing for us to enjoy the autumn view. Since I took some photos, I want to show them to you. I hope you enjoy Japanese autumn views.

In the hill we have a Shito-shrine, and it’s popular among people who live in the area.

 

This statue is a guardian for a Shito-shrine called Komainu.

 

 

I think this is a monk’s house of the Shito-shrine.

 

 

This statue is called Jizo and God for children. He is my favorite God because his face looks always peaceful.

 

 

 

I am very proud of these Japanese maple leaves. I love their red. This is the Japanese autumn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The color green and the red are so pretty!

 

 

 

 

I found six cute zizou.

We enjoyed the views, the clean air, and walking. I realized that hiking is so much fun, and good for exercise. I want to do this more often from now on with my hubby.

It’s getting colder here. I think in some places it’s getting hotter. Stay warm or cool and don’t get sick.

See you around in two weeks again here!

-Yumi x

 

 

 

Rose Garden

Hello there! How have you been?

I am doing good, and I am sorry for the delay. I am glad that I can post something today.

It’s fall and not a season for roses. I took these photos in May when I visited my closest rose garden with my hubby.

Every year I go there with my hubby to take some rose photos, and I am glad that this year the rose photos look much better than last year. I admire a lot these nature. They are just so beautiful, and I think the words, “flawless” or “divine” are just for them.

I hope you enjoy looking at my rose photos and can get some inspiration form them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Which color do you like the best in roses? I love pink roses the best.

I am already looking forward to visiting this garden to see them again next year. I hope they will bloom prettier flowers then!

Have a lovely weekend/ week! See you soon!!

-Yumi

 

 

 

Eel Foods

Hello there! How have you been? We are in the midvv summer, and every day is so hot and humid. To cheer ourselves up, we eat eels in summer. Well, it means Japanese summer is too tough, and many people lose their appetite. It’s easy for us to get sick. To stay healthy, we eat eels.

A couple of days ago, my family and my parents went to the biggest eel restaurant in my hometown. We ate eels until we got stuffed, lol. I think my family, my parents and I can stay healthy during this summer thanks to the eels.

Since the restaurant has a beautiful garden, I took some photos with some foods. I think eel foods are very fascinating for you to see because I don’t see eel foods so often out of Japan. I hope this blog entry is interesting for you to know about our food culture. As I repeat mentioning, our food culture depends on the seasons a lot. Eels are definitely summer food for us.

appetizer with some cherry blossom tea

grilled ell with koi fish sasimi

I love eating koi fish sasimi with sour miso sauce. It’s so yummy.

Umaki, egg omelet with grilled eel

Umaki is my favorite too!!

 

Koikoku, miso soup with koi fish

Koikoku is my favorite too. It’s sweeter than regular and has much richer flavor than the regular one. We have another good restaurant for Koikoku close to my hubby’s parents’ house. When I get there, I will introduce the foods there.

Koi-no-amani

It might be gross for you, but this is another one of my favorite. The fish is koi with sweet tasting soy sauce flavor. It’s hard for people to get Koi fish from a market for the amani, but I cook other fish with amani. The only thing that I don’t like is the fish part, though. My hubby loves amani with fish eggs.

Unadon ( Una-jyu)  with some Japanese pickles

This is my best favorite food! I love grilled unagi with some rice!

 

Yuzu flavor ice cream. Yuzu is a citrous fruit.

On this day my dad found a dragonfly. According to him, the dragonfly was a rare sort. I forgot the name, but I took some pics with him. He seemed to be very happy with good foods and the rare dragonfly.

The restaurant has a koi pound.  I guess we ate some koi fish from the pond, the fresh ones, lol.  Poor fish……

I hope you enjoyed the blog entry!

 

See you in two weeks again!!

-Yumi x