The Flavours of Autumn

Did you notice that I neglected autumn in my post about the seasonal flavours of Japan? I enjoy fall foods so much that I thought I would give them a whole post to their lonesome. When I think of autumnal foods, the first things that come to mind are pumpkin, apples, cinnamon, corn on the cob, and traditional Thanksgiving food. In Japan, fall brings with it a whole slew of delicious seasonal treats. There are all sorts of delectable yam, chestnut, and pumpkin goodies. Here are a few sweet snacks in flavours that you can only come across during the fall: 

A maple flavoured version of the normally chocolate biscuit bamboo shoots

A chestnut version of the normally chocolate biscuit mushrooms. These were so good!

A purple yam  and black sesame flavoured version of the normally chocolate biscuit bamboo shoots

Pumpkin pudding Kit Kats

Another food that is representative of autumn in Japan is a thin silver fish called sanma, or Pacific saury. They cost only about 100 yen a fish in this season and are served grilled with grated daikon,  and soy sauce. This fish is one of the numerous reasons that fall is my favourite seasons for food in Japan. It is just so amazingly good! 

This year we had (maybe a new tradition?) a Japanese style autumn feast and of course invited our friends the Oshimas to join us. We barbecued sanma, and made a huge pot of miso soup, steamy rice, and chestnut pumpkin cake for desert. 

Sanma, cut in half and popped on the barbecue. That lone little
pork cutlet was for Dustin, who really only eats fish when
it is absolutely necessary or battered and deep fried. 

Usually sanma is grilled whole, with the head on, and not gutted. Mrs. Oshima wasn't sure the kids would be too fond of that, since the guts are pretty bitter, so she beheaded them, cut them in half, and gutted about half the fish for the boys. I tried one with the guts but found them to be so taste smotheringly bitter that I couldn't enjoy the mild fish flavour at all. I ended up joining the boys eating their gutless ones. Maybe one day I'll learn to eat what the grownups are eating!

A close up of the beauties

All crisp and ready to eat. 

Fish is one of Theo's favourite foods. He really anticipated this meal!

Rosie didn't know what she was missing

But at least she didn't miss out on a good opportunity to have a nap in the cozy arms of Obaasan

Another, not to be forgotten, star of the fall foodscape is the mushroom. Japan in autumn is the place to be for mushroom lovers. There are so many varieties and they so inexpensive that there is no reason no to eat them all the time. I think I could eat them for every meal! 

Apple Picking

A few weeks ago we headed off into the mountains near Mihara, Hiroshima with Obaasan and Ojiisan to a tourist fruit picking farm. We had visited this farm during apple harvesting season last year, but because of my crippling morning sickness I wasn't really able to enjoy it all that much. This year the weather was once again fabulous, I actually had an appetite for apples, and the children were generally well behaved, so all was grand.

They grow all types of fruit at the farm, including kiwi, apples, strawberries, grapes, peaches, and pears, and depending on what time of year you visit you can pick different kinds of fruit. I think they also have a large pasture of chickens where you can collect eggs for purchase. There is a small fee to get into the farm and once you're in you can eat all the fruit you want for free. They give you a small basket and a paring knife for collecting, and peeling and coring your apples if you wish. If you want to bring any home with you, you have to pay. It is a very relaxing and tranquil place with a large field to picnic in and beautiful view of the mountains. Now that we have gone two years in a row I guess it has become a bit of a tradition. Can't say I'm too upset about that!

The apple orchard had about fifteen rows of apple trees in five different varieties.

Next to the apple orchard, the kiwi were hanging large from their vines. Kiwi are the next fruit to be harvested, toward the end of October and into November. 

Last year, I spent the majority of the time policing William and making sure he didn't yank apples off the trees willy nilly and just to toss them on the ground. This year he knew the drill and was pretty good about asking before picking. 

He did manage to yank off a few spotty ones though. 

Theo managed to eat about two apples, which was no simple feat considering that he had one bottom tooth missing and a very wobbly tooth right beside it. Here he is trying to take a big bite while avoiding his front teeth.            

William, who is a little bit more particular about how he eats his apples, waited until they were cored and sliced by Obaasan.

He also enjoyed wandering around with Ojiisan who was much more lenient about which apples William picked.

Rosie even joined in on the fun by gumming and sucking on an apple slice. She wasn't too terribly impressed but kept on sucking nonetheless. 

After eating as many apples as our stomachs could handle, we had a picnic in a large grassy field. The boys loved being able to tear around and shout with not a care in the world.

I remember regretting not bringing our kite last year and so we made sure to pack it along this time. It was a nice breezy day; perfect kite weather.

As if the apples and bento weren't enough, the boys also had a tasty ice cream cone before heading back to the car.

What a perfect way to celebrate the fall!

Living and Growing

After our hot and unusually long summer, the weather has suddenly turned cooler. On my daily walks around the neighbourhood, I have begun to notice that it isn't just me enjoying the weather but all the plants and creepy crawlies too.

Our little street has a sort of rusty, run down beauty in early fall. The train tracks become lined with a healthy tangle of blooming cosmos and red spider lilies and the green mountains rise up in the distance. After a year and a half in our little house, it is really starting to feel like home.

The view down our street

Higanbana, or red spider lily

I have been coming across a lot of hornworm and hawk moth caterpillars (from the Sphingidae family of moths). It is almost impossible to miss seeing them since they are about 7 cm long, as thick as your finger, and have a little wagging "tail" at their end.

An Impatiens Hawk Moth (Theretra oldenlandiae) caterpillar making its way across the street

This caterpillar was a little smaller and also from the Sphingidae family (I have no idea
what genus and species though!)

A tobacco hornworm caterpillar making short work of a morning glory leaf on our bike shelter

And we have also seen the adult stage of these hawk moth caterpillars frequenting our four o' clocks and morning glories each evening. Dustin and I never grow tired of seeing huge hummingbird moths flitting in and out of the flower bed. 

There has also been a boom in the spider population as of late. Dustin managed to get a picture of this stripey and colourful individual last weekend.

Last year Dustin was pretty disappointed by the vines I chose to plant near our fence and bike shelter. He was envisioning a lush green blanket enveloping everything in sight but the flowering vines I planted barely covered half the fence before frost killed them off in December. This year I promised Dustin that I would make his dream come true and so I planted morning glories. I didn't really even plant that many of them, maybe six or seven plants around the yard, but they have really taken off. Every weekend I have to spend a few minutes cutting them back or else they would have long since eaten the road in front of our house, been all the way up the electric line and across the street, and completely covered the entrance to our bike shelter. 

Now that the weather has cooled, the morning glories have started to bloom. I love it! 

William posing outside our fence on a bright, sunny morning (yes, there is a fence under all those vines)

We also trained morning glories up a net in front of our window

From inside, it fills the room with green, dappled sunlight.

and the side of our bike shelter

Maybe I did go a bit nuts planting vines this year but there has not been one complaint from Dustin!

Autumn Matsuri

We have already had a month of autumn and yet today was the first day that it was cool and crisp. The days are fairly warm for the most part and I only noticed a few leaves here and there changing colour. Maybe by the end of November it will feel like fall has come. Meanwhile, all of the neighbourhoods have long since had their autumn matsuri, or festivals. Dustin was able to participate in one matsuri for a neighbourhood to the south of us; helping to carry their mikoshi. This was actually quite an event, since foreigners are very rarely invited to be involved in traditional events like this.

When it was our neighbourhood's turn to have their autumn festival, we heard the procession drumming its way down the street for 15 minutes before it passed our apartment. We went outside to watch everyone pass and were surprised when an Oni, or Japanese demon/ogre creature, came up the stairs to take a picture with Theo and give him a handful of roasted bean snacks. We adults were given little cups of sake.

I just love the amount of festivals that are put on throughout the year all around us. I am sure that it does much to build the community spirit and culture.