I was too busy cooking and entertaining that I didnt get many good pictures of the Thanksgiving party again this year, but I will say that it was another great success. The foods and dessert were delicious, and as usual there were a lot of kids running around having fun.
Another Easter dinner party this year with all the usual foods, and as usual housemates made lots of other dishes and desserts.
For this years Girls Day, we made sushi balls again along with the three color roll cake.
Every year my house makes homemade miso…
Mix the boiled soy beans, salt, and fermented rice
Make them into balls
Chuck them into the wooden barrel for a whole year of fermenting
This year’s sushi roll and bean throwing party was great. The lucky direction this year is east-north-east. Melina ate one and a half sushi rolls, and I was so impressed, and proud, at how hard she threw beans at the oni this year.
This year for Christmas we had a big dinner at the house with our friends. I made a large ham, and had a small gift exchange game afterwards.
I finally took the family to Ise in Mie prefecture for a long weekend. Ise along with Ise Shrine is one of the more famous Japan travel destinations that I had not yet been to. The Ise Grand Shrine is considered the most sacred ShintÅ shrine in Japan, and along with the top of Mt Fuji is considered a must visit sometime in your lifetime place. Of course we did many of the other activities in the area and made sure to eat all the famous foods:
We took the shinkansen and express trains there and back
Purification stream of the inner shrine
At the inner shrine. There are always lots of people visiting.
The Uji Bridge
The famous shopping street in front of the shrine. There were lots of traditional shops and foods, and we saw a Taiko performance.
Eating ‘Akafuku’ the famous Japanese sweet of the area
Eating the local style Ise Udon
For dinner we had the local style ‘TekoneSushi’
At the fairly impressive Toba Sea-Folk Museum
Melina loved playing in the submarine
Eating Unagi for lunch
Taking a boat ride around Ago bay, famous for Japanese Perl cultivation
A quick stop at a park for slides, running around, and ice cream
We hiked up to the overlook of the bay at Yokoyama
Eating Matsuzaka beef (up there on the rankings with Kobe beef) for dinner along with other things Melina likes.
‘Okayu’ at the outer shrine for breakfast
Finally was Melina’s favorite part of the trip; Toba Aquarium. She got to see and touch a whole lot of sea animals, and a snake. It was my first time to pet a walrus as well.
