Last night we had a heavy ☂️ shower,
and we started this morning with a beautiful ☀️ sunrise!!
Have a lovely Sunday!!
food
Clematis
It’s so spring here in London all of a sudden! Once the sun starts shining above our heads everything bursts out in the fiels and the garden. One of the plants that looks almost dead during the long miserable winter time but is the first to show signs of life in my garden is the Clematis. When the temperature becomes slightly higher, tiny green buds emerge from dead looking branches and then if you don’t care for it quickly enough all the leaves get tangled up and become a mess. However, if you look it after it well you gets a beautiful reward!
There are many different types of Clematis. Some flower in spring and some in autumn. Some get small flowers and some get huge ones. The one I love the most is the type with bluey purple flowers with a slight pinkish tinge and which come out at this season. The Clematis in my garden is quite similar to this one in this photo and will start flowering soon.
Clematis
I created a Japanese sweet in a Clematis shape as the monthly sweet for May.
Koinobori on Children’s Day
The 5th of May is a National Holiday in Japan that is called the ‘Kodomo-no-Hi’, the Children’s Day. We celebrate the healthy growth and happiness of children, particularly boys (because there is the Girl’s Day on the 3rd of March). There are several things we do traditionally for that day. As the National Holiday in Japan we of course have special food related to this day. One of them is ‘Chimaki’ which is a steamed Mochi sweet wrapped in bamboo leaves and the other one is ‘Kashiwa Mochi’ that is also a Mochi sweet wrapped in an oak (Kashiwa) leaves.
Koinobori
There are also things we do for the day but not food related. We decorate our houses with a model of ‘Kabuto’ Samurai helmet by hoping the boy becomes big and strong. Last year I created a Kabuto sweet by being inspired by its shape. And the most significant thing we do traditionally for this Children’s day is placing a huge Koi Carp shaped banner called ‘Koinobori’ outside of the house. It is made of light cloth and when wind comes in from the carp’s moth and goes through its body, it flows up in the air and looks like it’s swimming above the roof.
‘Koinobori’ Koi Carp
I have actually made this Koinobori sweet two years ago. It went quite successfully so I made it again this year.
However, there is a small difference between this year’s Koinobiri and my previous creation.
Weekend Photo – Sakura Sweet
Although it’s a rainy weekend in London,
Have a wonderful time! 💕
Sakura 2018
We are in April. We had a cold winter with quite a lot of snow in the UK but even we must be finally in Spring? I keep receiving posts and photos that say ‘Sakura’ Cherry blossoms came to Japan far too early this spring. Single-petaled Cherry species always blossom earlier than multi-petaled ones and it normally starts opening at the end of March and becomes full bloom at the beginning of April. However, this year single-petaled blossom almost ended even before April came. April is the beginning of the academic year in Japan so the entry ceremonies to schools and companies are held at the beginning of April. It is normally a great sight that people posing with full Sakura blossom as the background for the photo shoot on their special day, but maybe it did not happen this year.
Because the weather was so miserable for the last week or two in London I did not go for a walk very often. I went to the nearby park to see the Sakura blossoming situation two days ago and noticed that half of the flower buds were already open. It is a warm and sunny day yesterday so most of the buds would be open by now.
Sakura, 2018
Since I started making Japanese sweets I always make some sweet in the theme of Sakura Cherry Blossom in spring. I made a sweet quite literally in a Sakura flower shape last year so this year I wanted make something Sakura as an image.
New Life – Sprouting Spring
After I introduced my Matcha Swirl Mochi in my previous post with a hope that the arrival of warm sunny spring is nearer we had another snow in London, but yesterday turned out to be a very sunny day. In Japan we say that it is ‘San-kan-shi-on’ (三寒四温/ 3 cold and 4 warm) which means “the weather moves onto Spring by having three cold days and four warm days”. It is describing the weather condition particularly in East Asian countries, however, I feel it is the same here in London.
The sunshine outside looked so welcoming yesterday and I could not resist stepping out into the garden. My garden has been messy during winter time and I did the first gardening of this year. I hope good weather stays so I can do some tidying up bit by bit before the real spring arrives here.
New Life
Spring is a season of new life. I created some sweets in this ‘New Life’ theme which is also the theory of Easter that comes next week. I wonder whether you can see what it is supposed to be?
Weekend Photo – Kaki Tower (Persimmon)
Oh dear, London is covered with the grey sky …
but Have a great weekend!!
Sweet 🌹 Roses for Valentine’s Day
We are in February. It is the month of Valentine’s Day. So I wanted to make some suitable sweet for this particularly ‘Love’ month. In Japan by following an opportunist Chocolate company’s strategy Valentine’s day became the day that a girl gives chocolate to the boy she likes, but I am in London and I will just create something that shows love between people.
In England it does not matter if you are a man or a woman you can give flowers, a card or a book, anything to the person you love. However, I think the most common things people choose as a gift are flowers so I made a sweet in a shape of flower with Love.
Sweet Roses
When you express your love with flowers I believe Roses are the most obvious choice for many people. I had an idea to decorate my Japanese sweet as a rose for a white and used it for this month’s sweet.
Weekend Photo – Tricolour Chillies
Have a spicy weekend! 🙂
‘Sensu’ Folding Fan
I say here once again ‘Happy New Year!’. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. In Japan New Year is such a big deal so the first three days of January are national holidays. Traditionally we celebrate those days in very Japanese style visually, musically and spiritually. So naturally I would like to make a very Japanese looking sweet for this New Year month.
‘Sensu’ Folding Fan
I wondered what was very Japanese in design. I thought something that relates to Japanese clothing ‘Kimono’ must be surely very Japanese. The pattern and the texture of the silk print and embroidery work are unmistakably Japanese. So I had been thinking what was suitable as the design for my sweet making and decided to create a sweet in a shape of one of the important props when you wear Kimono. It is a folding fan called ‘Sensu’ that is made of Japanese paper ‘Washi’.
Sakura Junction 