Month: September 2015

The End of Summer and Okra

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I am in Japan now. Because of some technical issue (I don’t mean Japan is technically behind though) I have not been able to post as often as I would want to do.

“Autumnal Equinox Day (秋分の日)”

The 23rd of September was our national holiday “Autumnal Equinox Day (秋分の日)”. After this day the length of the daytime gets shorter than the nighttime day by day so this was officially the end of summer.

Still it is quite hot and humid here. The daytime temperature now is just below 30°C so it is almost the same as the hottest summer day in London.

In the garden Okra is still flowering and we can harvest some. Okra is one of the vegetables I wanted to grow in London and gave up after trying for a few years. It does sprout and gets cotyledons – the first leaves but … never reaches to the point having true leaves. So, I am happy to see the plant growing here. It’s been a bit late but some Peanuts plants are also growing in the garden here. I am looking forward to harvesting home-grown Peanuts sometime soon.

My Very First Purple Kale Smoothie

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‘Drinking Kale? That must be awful!’ That was what I was thinking until two days ago.

I have a food processor but did not own a juicer/smoothie maker until recently so I never tried making a smoothie before. A small glass of freshly squeezed orange juice first thing in morning is just good enough to me and I have never particularly wanted having a smoothie before. However, since I started my blog I have been reading posts about a smoothie on fellow bloggers. I was convinced that a Kale Smoothie is easy to make, good for health and also delicious!

When the juice maker came to my house I thought ‘Hmmm, I’ve got some organic Purple Kale in my fridge and also some fruit. I have a blender now … Why not try making a some smoothie with Purple KALE?’.

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Blackberry Cup Cakes

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Blackberry Cup Cakes 2

It has been Blackberry season in England. It is good to eat seasonal food. That is Macrobiotic Diet. I am very disappointed that I managed picking them only once this season … 😦 It is nearly the end of the season now so it is very unlikely that I could get any more decent berries …

Blackberries

During the season in almost every year I make a tart with Blackberries, except for this year. But this year I made cup cakes with them instead. I have to say it was rather successful! I am annoyed that I could not make the tart but I am happy about these cup cakes so that I am sharing the recipe here with you.

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The Walk along Cray Riverway & the Picnic

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River Cray

Definitely summer has gone away from England. Each time we have some rain the air is getting colder and wetter. Autumn is here now and then … ‘Winter is coming’ … Huh? Are you from Winterfell?

Jon-Snow-In-Game-Of-Thrones( ↑ Don’t mention the thing not everybody understands! 😦 )

However, the Saturday two weeks ago had great weather. As it could have been the last nice day to go out, we did not want to miss the chance. We packed our ‘Bento’ Lunch box and left home for a walk.

PubThis time our destination was ‘Cray Riverway’. There was a little walk from the station to the path. We had to ask the direction twice including the landlord of this little pub. I liked the interior of the pub. Very authentic.

Pub ceiling　　

Shortly after leaving the pub we found the entrance to the Riverway which was a small river that went through dense woodland.

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The Infinity Dreams Award

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It was just about one month ago that I was nominated for ‘Sisterhoods of the World Blogger Award’ and then I was nominated again for another award. This time it is for ‘the Infinity Dreams Award’ and the generous recommender is Trudy from Rendezvous En New York.　Thank you Trudy!　She is a lovely New Yorker who writes about the life she comes across in NY in wide range of subjects from Arts, Food and People.

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