Yuzuri at Nanayama

Today was a public holiday here (umi no hi/ day of the sea) and since it was terribly hot (about 36C), we decided to drive to Nanayama (7 mountains), a mountain area with a lot of farms, rivers and nature.

The pics I post here are from 2010, because I forgot to take pictures this time...

But I want to show you the places we visited today and they haven't really changed at all.

But what has changed to our big surprise was a new restaurant, opened in June here, near the river, where the kids use to play.

It is called "Yuzuri" ゆずり (柚里) and the food there is excellent !!!

The cook uses fresh vegetables and fish from that area and also mixes Japanese and Western cuisin. The menue was really one of the best I ever ate and I want to go there again.

The Yuzuri is located in such a beautiful spot. We will visit there again :)

Oh and the whole menue was 1800 Yen, less than 15 Euros.

Kurumabasso ice cream in Hakodate

Finally, after about 4 years the woodruff ice cream is available in Hakodate...

The story was, when I moved there, I found woodruff in the forest. In Germany, woodruff flavour is used for ice-cream, winecocktail (Maibowle) and other things.

 

Back then I used to make that winecocktail for our friends at the Miraidai Univesity and they loved it very much. The reason is, in Japan people use the same aroma, which is in woodruff (Cumarine) for Sakuramochi. The difference is. The Cumarine in Sakuramochi comes from fermented Cherry leaves. The process is quite complicated, but with woodruff, it only takes 5 minutes, if you let it wilt a little bit in your hands.

So back then we thought, why not introduce it to people in Hakodate?

My friend Prof. Noyuri Mima, from the Miraidaigakku and me got together and talked about this. I showed them what woodruff is, where it grows and how to make icecream, Cocktail, etc out of it.

 

Here is the whole story, but unfortunatelly in Japanese only...

http://www.fun.ac.jp/~noyuri/hakodate_herb/index.html

 

That's how it started...

 

 

 

 

And thanks to the wonderful team of Mima-sensei and people of Hakodate, here is the finished product.

 

And I'm proud that it is out on the market.

Feeling a little bit like Carl Raymon now ^_^  

  

And lucky me, in Fukuoka grows woodruff, too ^_^

Biwa and Ajisai

Rainseason took a little break this weekend. It was sunny, but not too hot and we could finally do something outdoors again. Yesterday we went to check our mushroom-spots, but no luck... so we went to one of our fave Ramen restaurants "Nagahama Shogun".

 

After eating Ramen, we went to one of the beaches in Iroha. It's an area in Saga county, which has one of the most beautiful sceneries, I have ever seen. I love the beaches there, the green islands and the emerald green see... there are many farms and vegetables and fish are so delicious there.

This little fellow lives on an island there together with a whole crab colony...

and here is a view over some of the islands. It is always difficult to take "the whole picture" of this adorable scenery... so I try to post little fragments of it.

And here is Ajisai... the typical flower of the rainseason in Japan.

That little trip really made my day today... :)

Cat and cherry blossom

 

Rain season starts over here and so I sat down and finally finished this painting I started a while ago. It was really challenging to shape the fur out of the dark background.

Done with acrylics, pen, watercolor and airbrush on paper.

Size is about 24x17cm

****Original available*** 

2 commissions...

No, I haven't given up painting. I was just very busy working on two commissions.

The first one goes to a good old friend. It is the mountains in Fukuoka area...

...the second one goes to my beloved "Japanese sister", who will give birth to her child soon :)

 

and here is another one, a "work in progress", which will is not finished yet, but will be available later... happy Spring to everyone !!! 

 

Katy Perry - Firework ( Lyrics )

For Yumi ^___^
http://youtu.be/F7tqq1PPR5Q

Golden week 2013 Part 1

Spring and Autumn are my fave seasons here in Fukuoka. It's still not to hot and we can do a lot of hiking. Last weekend we hiked Nijodake and had an awesome view.

Some days ago, we went for Koshidake, which is not so high as Nijodake, but the view and the walk where a great experience.

Here you see bamboo sprouts...

...and the little shrine of the valley at the feet of the mountains. There was a castle there about 500 years ago and the village is as old.

On our way back, we saw some Koinobori-flags

and a "Tanuki"

Today we did some hiking as well, picked Udo, Taranome and Warabi

enjoyed the flowers...

...AND picked a lot of woodruff for woodruff wine. :)

 

high up on the mountains we still found some Camelia blossom...

Now I'm looking forward for next weekend. Friday and Monday are public holidays and there is still so much to see and pick.

Happy Golden Week :D

Cooking with Yumi :)

 

Cooking with Yumi is fun :) I did the Pasta, Yumi the rest, I'm really proud of her, because she is very eager to learn how to cook delicious food. :)

We cooked

Salmon, spinach, spinach soup with egg, pasta and salad...

A glimpse of Spring

Today is just one day before Setsubun. The day, where people drive the Winter out.

But this year, Spring has already arrived.

We drove to Hakozaki Shrine and enjoyed the beautiful flower garden there.

The plum blossom has already started...

and we also saw Fukujusou, the first Spring flower in Hokkaido. It's very rare here, but at Dazaifu and Hakozaki Shrine, you can see it, too. 

And this is the shrine itself, about 1000 years old.

That holy tree over there is 800 years old.

and here are Koi and Sagi... the Sagi was sitting so peacefully there and I thought, maybe it's a little "Kami" relaxing and enjoying the beauty and serenity of the Koi.

 

Moji and Shimonoseki

One week ago, we went to Shimonoseki and Moji. Both lie across each other. Moji is the end of Kyushu, while Shimonoseki is at the end of Honshu. The tide and current of the sea runs very quick through this small channel, so it's said fish and seafood is especially delicious there.

Shimonoseki is famous for blowfish (Fugu) and it has a famous fishmarket, which is open for tourists at weekends.

 

 

Here you see the fishmarket.

 

And I tried a Fugu menue, which was really delicious !!!

 

 

Later, we crossed the channel via tunnel and went back to the other side to Moji in Kyushu.

Moji really impressed me.

 

 

 

There are many historical buildings there...

 

 

...and it reminded me much of Hakodate or Nagasaki.

 

 

No, this is not Hakodateyama... but it really looks like it on this foto :)

 

I hope I can come here agian... it's not such a famous sightseeing spot, but the atmosphere made me feel very nostalgic, like in a "Hakodate state of mind"...