Coffee or Tea?
August 29th, 2010 by tomonoAre you a coffee person or tea person, or possibly an espresso addict? For some reason coffee disagrees with me, and I’m not really a tea person either. But I do love ‘doing coffee’ with friends and chatting hours and hours. I love Japanese brown teas such as Genmai cha, Mugi cha and Houji cha, but since they are not easy to find in cafes in the UK, I normally have English style tea with milk (we call it ko cha in Japanese).
When you are pregnant it can be difficult to decide if you should drink any tea or coffee. When I was pregnant I avoided Green Tea as it contains a large amount of caffeine. Regular decaf tea was the obvious choice, but it was a bit boring and I wanted more options to replace all the wine I couldn’t drink anymore.
When I stayed at my friend Aki’s house in Osaka, she made me really nice Indian style tea every morning. She boiled milk and added some tea leaves with some spices and honey before putting the lid on to make leaves dance around, giving the best flavour. It was wonderful.
Do you have any top tea making tips?
Oscar loves tea breaks too!
Aki is great in the kitchen
Tomono x
Places to take a little one when it’s hot
August 21st, 2010 by tomonoWhere do you take your little one when it’s too hot to go outside?? I can’t imagine having this kind of situation in the UK but it was so difficult to entertain Oscar in July Japan.
No park to run around unless it’s early in the morning or the afternoon but had to spray anti mosquito every few hours. They are very annoying and leave us such a red marks…. So I took Oscar to Kids Plaza science museum in Osaka.
Entering in the first thing in the morning is the best while its still quiet. Oscar enjoyed feeding little fish, experimenting how water pump works, and making lots of big bubbles, wearing traditional clothes from the other country etc. He especially showed interest in balancing balls. He played there for about 30minutes.
He could also do shopping experience. It was so funny to see him choosing only his favourite things!
Can you recommend me good places to take a little one when it’s too hot/cold outside in your country?
I’d love to know!
Oscar at the Osaka Kids Plaza
He loved the ball games
Tomono x
Cocoro goes to Mt Fuji
August 7th, 2010 by tomonoHave you ever been on Mt Fuji? We woke up very early one morning and drove to Yamanashi. We left early to avoid nightmare Tokyo congestion however it was very smooth and arrived there around 7:00am. We went into “Famiresu” which is a Japanese abbreviation of family restaurant and had breakfast.
I ordered pancakes for Oscar , although he did not eat at all but my breakfast, he really enjoyed drawing pictures on the pancakse with an icing pencil.
It was such a cloudy day and we could not see Mt Fuji at all, so we went to Oshinohakkai. The fountain is made of melted snow from Mt Fuji, the water is absolutely beautiful and cold. I heard it took about 80years for that melted snow to become a fountain.
My friend Yanochi took us to see Lake Yamanaka then drove up to Mt Fuji. It was only 14degrees (it was around 24degrees at the bottom of the Mountain) and still cloudy. I never felt that cold in Japanese Summer. It was something spiritual.
Fresh, cold water at Mt Fuji
Mt Fuji in the mist...
Tomono x
A mother’s love…
July 15th, 2010 by tomonoHigurashi cicada starts crying in the very early morning in the summer. They make me feel very nostalgic, reminding me of my childhood. It is the sign of the beginning of summer here in Kochi. Summer may just be beginning but I only have 2 more days with my parents before heading off to Osaka - then back to UK.
My mum called me this afternoon during her lunch break asking what I would like for my last supper at home. I answered straight away “I’d love to have your curry and rice, mother”. It is not a special dish, but her curry and rice is special to me and still my comfort food.
When I was working in Osaka, I was only able to come home for few days a year because of my work. So she used to cook all my favourite dishes in one night. The big table was filled with Sushi, Sashimi, BBQ steak, Udon noodle and lots more small side dishes. I was so confused and never really appreciated it. I told her it’s not helping my diet and I will have stomach ache!!!
Now coming home as a mother of Oscar, I realized how much love I received from her. All her concern was about my busy life style with bad diet. In Japan we have Cool Takyubin which is a small freezer truck that delivers parcels. So she used to even send me some cooked dishes by Cool Takkyubin.
I would like to continue this love to my beloved Oscar.
Tomono x
A few years ago...
Mum and me
Mother and daughter
Bright lights, Tokyo city!
July 13th, 2010 by tomonoOscar and I went to Tokyo to see my friends last week. Oscar got so excited to see many airplanes at the airport. It was only 1hour 20minutes flight so it was easy-peasy after the nightmare 12hours flight back from UK.
On arriving at the airport, my dear friend Erina greeted us, and we took the train back to her home near Shibuya. Oscar again got so excited to be on the choo-choo train, everything was so modern and high-tech I felt like I was in the movie Lost-in-Translation. Lots of electric noise and it was just so busy everything was in your face. Lots of flashing lights, many police cars, I wondered to myself “will this city ever be silent?”
When I was living in Japan, I didn’t notice most of those things but being away for a while made me realise that Japan definitely has an interesting lifestyle.
Tomono x
Tokyo airport
A Japanese Police 'Patokaa'
Japanese Festival in London - 18 September
July 3rd, 2010 by tomono30 June, it is the day for ‘Natsukoshi no Harae’ or as we call it in Kochi ‘Wanukesama’. We walk through a big circle which is made of thatch to purify ourselves of any minor guilt.
Every time we go to a shrine, we have a habit to wash our hands and put a little water to our lips.
There were lots of food stalls and games. We enjoyed catching goldfish and eating lovely ice cream.
I love Japanese festivals and only once a year, it will be available in London ＠Spitalfields on Saturday 18 September this year! There will be lots of Japanese food stalls, crafts and to experience culture.
For more information about Japan Matsuri (festival)
http://japanmatsuri.com/
We’ll be there - hope to see you there too!
Tomono x
Guilt cleansing circle
Local Temple in Kochi
Oscar loves ice cream!
Lunch is the new dinner (for mums…)
June 27th, 2010 by tomonoI love getting dolled-up and dining out but can’t really do that much nowadays in the evening because of Oscar’s routine. But going for lunch solves that problem and is also more reasonable than dinner!
My friends took us to a lovely cafe in the countryside called Kappa 38. They have a lovely room with a wooden kitchen for children, also lots of other wooden toys and a rocking horse. It is so important for me that restaurants/cafe have child friendly facilities.
It was raining so heavily that day but the view from window was absolutely amazing with beautiful vivid green colours.
Lunch came with so many little dishes, in cute little ceramic dishes. We were all very impressed and it reminded me that I used to love playing with dolls houses with miniature tea sets! It was just like that for the children’s lunch at Kappa 38.
And of course, lunch can not be completed without a piece of cake… We had lovely pumpkin pudding and Italian lemon tea with rosemary…
Yumm
View from Kappa 38
Oscar enjoying his lunch
Such cute little dishes
Finished with Italian lemon tea with rosemary
Tomono x
Aren’t kids amazing?
June 22nd, 2010 by tomonoOne of my good friends from school Kazumi invited us for dinner last week. She has a 7 year old son Makoto and a 5 year old little cutie called Aoi. The last time I saw little Aoi, she was so small and still holding onto her mummy. Two years later today, she is reading a book for Oscar.
She also had two nephews over. One of the boys asked why we are speaking English and where England is.
All four of them kept asking ‘How do you say this in English?” and as soon as I teach them English words, they can pronounce perfectly! I was so amazed by children’s infinite ability.
We had a lovely meal that Kazumi cooked and also take-away Sushi. Years ago we always met up at the bars but it was so nice to spend some time at home with children around. Both of us agreed that we are not getting any younger and that is shown by the way we enjoy ‘Ienomi’ (having drinks at home).
Oscar had such a lovely time and even watched Sponge Bob in Japanese! Sponge Bob is capturing the world! Aoi also gave Oscar a few books with the Japanese Alphabet ‘Hiragana’. The alphabet was all about food, so Oscar absolutely adore it and making ummm noise!
Oscar having fun
Cute little Aoi has grown up so fast
Food book
Tomono x
How I love fish!
June 17th, 2010 by tomonoOne of things I really wanted to do while we are in Japan is to live on Fish!
My mum is a traditional mum and used to feed me fish for every meal. Grilled fish for breakfast with rice, Nato (fermented soybeans, aka stinky sticky beans) Miso soup and some vegetable. Another type of grilled fish for Obentou (lunch box) then Fresh Sashimi (raw fish) for dinner
So I miss fresh fish everyday…. Luckily I had lovely Morrison’s just around the corner and used to get lots of different kind of fresh ones from the fish counter but I never knew which one I could eat raw.
It took only a second for Oscar to love small fish (with head) for snack and I am on fish fiesta! Also Takoyaki (savory pancake with Octopus) is the best snack after a few drinks just like Kebab for English students?!
Oscar loves snacking on little fish
Lovely Takoyaki!
How I love sashimi...
I don’t really eat dairy products but as long as I keep eating fish, it should cover my calcium requirements. I wonder how other people who don’t eat much dairy get their calcium?
Tomono x
No prams allowed?
June 12th, 2010 by tomonoCan you go anywhere with your little one in a pram in your country? Do you have any popular children’s characters?
When we visited Anpanman museum* I was surprised to see the big sign which says NO PRAM ALLOWED because of the narrow aisles. I could go anywhere with a pram in the UK, so it was a big culture shock.. What if I had a baby in a pram and a toddler? It would have been a nightmare!
*Anpanman is a mega popular character among toddlers in Japan. He is a super hero. His head is made from sweet bread with Azuki beans inside. So whenever his friends need energy, he can feed them his head and his master Uncle Jam bakes another sweet bread.
Odd, isn’t it?
Anpan Man
Oscar the art lover
Anpanman's world
Tomono x
"I just got them!!!! I love them, they are more fantastic than I thought they would be!"
Danae, Athenes
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