Anyway... In the above picture from left: Me, Macomo, uncle (Masaki-san), my son Chad, aunt (Takako-san), and my sister Megi.
What was so awesome about visiting our aunt and uncle is that as I mentioned in an earlier blog, used to teach horticulture in high school, and he has quite a spread of different things in his back yard garden. Cucumbers, eggplant, potatoes, lettuce, fruit trees, etc. And what is so awesome? Our uncle is an accomplished cook. Most every meal was a home made meal, except for the days we went to the museums and the shrines. Breakfast and dinner daily, and he is one of the better home cooks, well, more like a home chef. His food is awesome!
Here are some of the pictures I took of their garden.
One view of the home garden.
Onions of a sort in the center. Herbs to the left/bottom. Not sure w/ vine.
The fruit trees, right of center, are the Kumquat trees.
Herbs, wild flowers, and more.
My aunt’s parents used to live next door to them, and so the garden extended into that yard as well. With all of these fresh produce and herbs to cook with, who wants to leave home to eat? We were lucky to be able to stay in the home of my aunt’s parents, which is now a guest house for them. Seriously, the food was delicious. But I’ll come back to that, seriously.
We got to go to a shrine and park where the deer are so friendly and used to people, they come right up, especially if we have these special deer cookie that you can buy to feed the deer. And, some of them can be relentless!
A young buck, nips at Chad's shirt, to try to talk him into a cookie.
Chad, feeding 3 does. Yes, they will try to take their cookies right out of your hand!
Our uncle, Chad, and I, feeding the bucks. Sometimes, their antlers are scaled back, so they don't scare people so much.
A sign stating to not fight with the deer, and there was another stating not to scare them, either.
They were cute. But as cute as they can be, they are ornery. One decided to take the bus pass from my son’s wallet and ate that, when he couldn’t get a cookie right away. The situation was funny, I lol’d. I learned that in Buddhist tradition, that these deer are sent as divine creatures, so that is why they do not harm these animals. The park is also home to a temple.
Entering the Temple grounds.
The biggest and original Buddha statue, which survived the big fire.
Standing in front of the Temple entrance way.
We had done a lot of walking, and saw a bunch of cool stuff. One afternoon, I’d taken Chad out with me to walk around and see what we could find while hiking. It was interesting as to what we found, and what we got to check out. The landscape is very different from what we are used to here in the Midwest for sure, and even throughout most of the USA. It’s interesting look at the different architecture, scenery, and the many differences in infrastructure. Especially when we get to see things like bugs.
Walking around in the immediate area of our guest house, looking for stick type grasshoppers. They are different looking.
A rice paddy, where you see a LOT of water underneath, but, hard to tell in a picture because the water is muddy.
So, of course, with all of the walking, we get hungry. Did I mention my uncle is an awesome cook? The different things we got to eat, all home made...
Shabu-Shabu - literally translated wash-wash. It is usually a winter meal, but, they wanted to treat us.
A tempura meal, with fresh salad and more.
Curry with fresh rosemary from the garden, smoked salmon, tofu, green beans, cucumber salad, rice, and tea.
Miso soup with fresh oysters... This was delicious!
Again, thank you for obliging me, and this is a fun blog series. Next will be about the day we spent with my cousin Tomoki and his wife, who is such a sweetheart, and a nice addition to the extended family. I really lucked out. Stay tuned!
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