summer

Sunflower

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It is the middle of Summer in the UK. The weather is so far so good. Many sunny days and also a few rainy days. It is great for plants and nature. In the summer time one plant you cannot avoid talking about is ‘Sunflower’. The most significant things about this flamboyant flower are its huge flowerhead with array of magnificent yellow petals and big leaves. It’s called ‘Himawari’ in Japanese and it means the ‘thing moves with the sun’. It came from the plant’s nature that the flowerhead moves its direction by always trying to face toward the sun. 

Sunflower

During this summer time I wanted to make this most summer-like flower as a Japanese sweet.

Sunflower pp4p

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The King of Summer Fruit – Watermelon (スイカ), Wagashi

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What is your favourite fruit in summer-time? Mine is definitely Watermelon. In Japan when you see big watermelons displayed in a shop I feel ‘summer is here!’. We used to have some farmers selling ripe watermelons on the side of the street. When I was about 13 on one Sunday evening my family came back from a day out and saw a farmer was about packing up his stall. He had one big watermelon which had a crack and told us “Can you buy this watermelon, please. It’s got a crack but it is very sweet. I’ll make it just 100 yen for you”. 100 yen is about 50 pence in present time. Of course we bought the watermelon and went home. When we put the tip of a knife into the watermelon it just cracked up into two by itself because it was so ripe. The flesh was so red and juicy. It was the best watermelon I have tasted in my entire life. All of my family still talk about it when we eat watermelon. It was such a memorable taste.

Watermelon (スイカ), Wagashi

As the Sweet in summer time I had to make ‘Watermelon’ as a Japanese sweet. It is almost like an homage to my summer-time childhood.

Watermelon Suika front

How does it look?

It is made of Sweet White Bean Paste with Rice Flour & Black Sesame Seeds.

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How Japanese’ Mind works in Hot Summer Day – “Shaved Ice with Matcha Syrup”

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When it becomes hot and humid in summer, there is only thing comes to Japanese people’s mind.

Summer + Hot = …

 

Matcha kakigori Shaved Ice with spoon

“Kakigori” Of course!

‘Kakigori’ is Shaved Ice with some sweet syrup. We love it during a very hot and humid Japanese summer. Japan is composed of a collection of many islands that lies very long from the North to the South so that there is slight difference in weather but anywhere in Japan we cannot escape from the heat and humidity in summer time. So, what do we do? We enjoy eating the food that beats it!Kakigori Nobori

That is the way how Japanese people’s mind work. ‘Kakigori‘ shaved Ice is the best remedy. Actually I have introduced ‘Kakigori with Mango‘ last year (Remember this ↑ flag?). Mango flavour is fairly modern in Japan, so this time I made the most traditional flavour for Kakigori. That is ‘Uji Kintoki‘ flavour.

Uji Kintoki Kakigori (宇治金時）

Matcha Kakigori Shaved Ice whole2

Uji-Kintoki Kakigori, Shaved Ice with Matcha Syrup & Sweet Bean Paste

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Morning Glory / Asagao 朝顔

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Morning Glory top

It is mid-summer now. Even here in London we are having the hottest days so far this year. I know it is nothing compared to the heat and humidity of the summer in Japan or India, but still it is hot.

So what does Summer remind you of? For me it is the Radio Gymnastic Exercises and Morning Glory flowers. In Japan during school summer holiday many (probably not all) children get up early and gather in a nearby square or school ground. We tune in the radio to “NHK Radio Gymnastic Exercise” program which starts 6:30AM every day. After exercising each child receives a card and collect one stamp a day. On the way back home I remember I felt good and healthy after exercising in the fresh morning air and saw Morning Glory flowering beautifully at the front of many houses. The flowers are mostly in gradation between blue and pink which is my favourite colour.

1280px-Morning_glory

Its Japanese name is ‘Asagao 朝顔’ meaning ‘Face in the Morning’. Morning Glory opens its huge round flower in early morning and closes in the afternoon. The people in the old days maybe thought the flowers reminded them of smiley faces of children, I wonder. It is certainly a face of beautiful flower in summer.

Now we are in July. However, I don’t see them in London. So … I made my nostalgic summer flowers as Japanese sweet.

Morning Glory / Asagao 朝顔

Moening Glory white

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The End of Summer and Okra

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Okra6

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.