The Hina Matsuri

March 3rd is the 'Hina Matsuri' doll festival in Japan.

Families with girls display beautiful dolls dressed as emperor, empress, court ladies and musicians from the Heian Era (around 1000 years ago). I don't have any dolls because I wasn't born here to receive them from my parents or grandparents, and I don't have any children. Someday I want to have a daughter so I can display dolls. This year I did have some paper dolls to display thanks to Mr and Mrs K. Mrs K kindly made these lovely origami dolls. The flowers are spring camellias I received yesterday. (Thank you!)

The Hina Matsuri is my favorite festival in Japan because of the dolls and because of cherry tree LEAVES!You might think it is weird, but I LOVE eating cherry leaves! The leaves of one kind of sakura tree are preserved in salt and are used to wrap Japanese sweets made from pounded sticky rice. Inside of the ball is sweet adzuki bean paste. The leaves have a flavor and fragrance that is absolutely wonderful! You can also buy cherry blossom tea, which is full blooms preserved in salt (only blooms and no tea). You add one flower to each cup and it opens when you add hot water. Again the fragrance is heavenly! Cherry blossom tea is served for happy occassions like engagement or wedding ceremonies.

March 3rd is also a day to eat chirashizushi, a kind of mixed rice sushi in a big bamboo dish. I was too busy (and lazy!) to make it, so I bought pre-made boxes. These boxes had half regular sushi and half mixed sushi. The yellow you can see is thinly sliced omlette.

By the way, hina dolls are usually displayed for about a month from early February to March 3rd. However, it is said that the dolls must be quickly put away after the third. Tardy mothers who leave out the dolls mean daughters who can't marry!

tardy - 遅ればせの;〈進歩・成長などが〉遅い,遅々とした

Not so delicious + yummy!

Today we went to an Italian restaurant in Takezono that had been recommended by a few of my friends. We had the set pasta lunch, and I'm sorry to say, that it wasn't really very good.

The pasta was a little overcooked and the sauce was something you could probably do at home by yourself. (Shrimp and chopped shiso leaves, in a salty broth base.)

The bread was interesting. The menu said handmade foccacia. It was light and fluffy, but had quite a strong yeast taste.

I guess we won't go there again, though the service was nice. Finally the waitress who I paid at the register said 'Thank you and we're waiting to see you again'. Sorry!

On the other hand, check out my late afternoon snack. Yum! It is sliced processed cheese sandwiched between a sheet of nori (dried laver sheet). Nori is the dried seaweed that is wrapped around sushi.

You might think it is weird to combine cheese and nori, but try it - it is actually very good! The tastes blend well and the soft texture of the cheese and crisp nori harmonize perfectly. You should eat it quickly and don't let the nori become soggy.

I don't know if anyone else eats this. I thought it up by myself :)