Bentenjima Hanabi

This weekend, Dustin and Theo biked the Shimanami Kaido. This was the first time that Theo has been on this cycling route and the fifth or sixth time for Dustin. I will try to convince Dustin to write a post about their adventures in the next week. The two younger kids and I decided to stay home, firstly because I was working in the morning and early afternoon, and secondly because that evening was the annual Bentenjima fireworks festival. Our friends, the Oshimas, watched Rosie and William while I was at work and as soon as I returned home, I threw on some yukata and headed out the door.

The fireworks are held each year in Tomonoura and as always, it was incredibly lively and crowded. William was exited enough to add a new word to his repertoire: hanabi, or fireworks. We arrived early enough to get a parking spot, wander around the street stalls, and find a good spot to view the fireworks.

William demanded a photo in front of this firetruck 

Overpriced, unhealthy, but oh, so delicious!

This was my first time to see a chocolate and sprinkle covered banana stand

I thought these Anpanman candy covered apples were great. The lady in the background was busy
making a Hello Kitty candy apple. 

Happy as Larry he was

and totally oblivious to the samurai father and son sneaking up on him

There are a lot of different stalls that allow children to "fish" for toys. At this stall, you pay to get one metal hook attached to a short piece of twisted tissue paper. The object is to hook as many of these balloons without getting the piece of paper wet and losing your hook. Once the paper breaks, you must stop fishing, but until then you can keep whatever you hook. William got one balloon before he got impatient and ripped his hook off the paper for no reason. Maybe he is a bit too young for this game? 

A similar game involves a little plastic hoop with rice paper stretched in between and a collecting bowl. You then try and scoop as many balls, toys, or whatever out of the water and into your bowl before your paper net breaks. There is an art to it: you need to work fast because the paper breaks down quickly once it is wet, but you can't get too greedy and scoop too much. Whatever you collect in your bowl before your net breaks you can keep. 

This stand lets you scoop up goldfish with a paper net which I think is pretty sad.

I thought this mom and her tiny little girl in yukata were so incredibly cute.

William, Rosie, and me

All thoughts of fireworks were temporarily forgotten when William found a new little friend on the sidewalk. It was a funamushi, or sea slater, which was very friendly and docile. It is an oniscid isopod, very closely related to pill bugs, which are actually crustaceans and not insects like most people think. One of William's favourite pastimes is playing with pill bugs in our yard so it was not at all surprising that he found the sea slater so appealing. He discovered the "fun" in "funamushi" by letting it scamper all over his hands and arms, carrying it around, and creeping out anyone who came close enough to see.

I think someone drew on its back because they don't naturally have white markings

Rosie occupied herself by picking up rocks and trying to eat them, one of her all time favourite hobbies.

 And puttering around the street stalls taking in all the new sights.

This was her first real fireworks show and I was curious to see how she would react to all the noise and lights. Thankfully, she shrieked in joy and clapped her hands as each firework boomed in the sky. The boys were always pretty mellow about fireworks when they were babies, so her overboard enthusiasm surprised me.

Looks like we'll have to go to more fireworks shows this summer! 

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!

Canadian Thanksgiving 2013

In March, we were happy to welcome a Costco to our capital, Hiroshima City. Before its opening, there were certain foods that either we couldn't get at all, like turkey, quality cheese, pecans or cranberry juice to name a few, and some foods that were only sold in small amounts and egregiously overpriced, like oatmeal, flour, and coffee. I was, however, sad to see that not all of the products sold back home made it to the shelves in Japan. I would have been so happy to see whole wheat flour, hemp hearts, quinoa, flax, basically any healthy whole grain, dried beans, and some kind of breakfast cereal that wasn't cornflakes and Cheerios. You can't have it all, I guess.

Unfortunately in some ways and fortunately in others, we live about two hours from Hiroshima City and don't really get the opportunity to visit more than a handful of times in a year. In early October all five of us packed into a friend's car to drive to Costco and pick up some Thanksgiving essentials. We were joined on the big day of feasting by our neighbours and their one year old daughter and our good friends the Oshimas.

Making apple pie

Can you believe that I fit a 6 ½ kilo turkey into this oven? 

Getting ready to sit down to our feast 

William was overwhelmed with delicious scents and smells

Theo and our neighbour's daughter waiting mostly patiently to eat 

No Thanksgiving is complete without apple and pumpkin pie! 

Every year that we are here, cooking for holiday meals seems to get easier and easier. I am not sure if it is because I am fast becoming used to my tiny, nearly counter-less kitchen, because I am just not putting as much pressure on myself to make the "perfect" holiday meal, or because I am starting to invite more people and delegating what dishes I want them to bring along. Whatever the case may be, this ended up being a fun day with friends, family, and yummy food! Until next year turkey!