hanabi d

His 'n hers

His birthday treat - dining on petals

My birthday treat - sharing some rice. 

Growing old together is going very well.

 

 

Shinmai time

The rice I’ve been watching grow ....

through the summer ...

 

 ... is hanging out to dry now. 

 

Harvest is home.

 

Antioxidizing with anthocyanins

Murasaki imo sweet potatoes are such a beautiful colour I didn't think they needed much talking up. But just in case I'm short on polyphenol intake from wine and chocolate it's handy to know I can antioxidize with anthocyanins if I make purple potato potage with these. 

 

This market stall has an aversion to any common or garden vegetables...

They have string aubergines but not string beans ...  
.... and are the white 'silk' aubergines really called Caspar after the ghost?

 

Sanma season

Sanma in the market...

... means sanma for dinner (with a squeeze of sudachi)

Garden says

NHK says it's autumn 

but the morning glories beg to differ

I side with the garden on this.

Getting chilli

It's getting chilli down at the market.

Jalapeno, yellow chilli and 'France" chilli

Higher up the Scoville chart - prik ki nu and 'shima' Okinawa chilli

And sweet little cherry peppers - not hot at all.

 

 

 

Little green peppers

Shishito - love them all - from creased up and curly ....

.... to long, lean and juicy. 

 

Amanaga shishito and a slice of sudachi on a soba afternoon.

 

  

Round and round

Morning glory's playing round and round the rake ...

and I can be a furin too - with a little help from a spider. 

   

Back from the beach

 

Schoolkids' lanterns

Most people, including me usually, escape the heat and head to anywhere less humid in August but then you miss some of the best summer festivals. For the 3 days of our bonbori festival, lanterns painted by schoolkids are hung along the street. 

This year, the World Cup and Michael Jackson inspired a few.. 

 

...but most kids stuck to their usual favourite summer themes, like chasing stag beetles up trees ...

 

... chomping into watermelon

...and going to the beach with friends to watch fireworks

  

I'm guessing Koutarou's Papa didn't mind being depicted as bog-eyed in blue but I wonder how Mama felt about being immortalised as a cross between a crab and a squashed tomato.

 

There's always an homage to kakigori shaved ice - this one with a line of ants on the long march to a slice of watermelon. So summer.