Early hanami

Since discovering the early blooming cherry tree in our local park, we've been meaning to go back for hanami (cherry blossom viewing) and this weekend finally gave us some good picnic weather. It was still a bit chilly though, so rather than make up a proper hanami bento (cherry blossom viewing lunchbox) we just picked up a few snacks at a nearby take-out place.

It's still not officially hanami season, since few cherry trees have started blooming, but the early bloomer I'd found last month had already dropped all of its flowers. Luckily the tree beside was also an early bloomer, and although the flowers were past their peak there were still enough to make this a good hanami spot. And because it was early for hanami there was nobody else out celebrating the flowers, except for a dozen or so mejiro (Japanese white eye, one of the cutest birds ever) who seemed to think they were in heaven and treated the tree like an all-you-can-eat flower buffet. They tend to move about so quickly that I've never been able to photograph one, but here are a few pictures of the sakura (cherry blossoms):

Above was our view, and below was our lunch:

Takoyaki (octopus dumplings) from the takoyaki stand across the street, and beer (happoshu actually) from the convenience store. Takoyaki are small balls of eggy batter filled with chopped octopus and topped with aonori (flaked nori seaweed) and katsuobushi (bonito flakes).

The takoyaki stand has recently started selling imagawayaki (a pancake-like batter filled with something sweet, also called obanyaki or taikoyaki), so we picked up a couple for dessert. There are two flavours: custard cream and the more orthodox anko (sweet red bean paste). And if you're wondering why I am including my grass-covered legs in the picture, it's called foreshadowing.

The first time we bought these, a few weeks ago, the takoyaki lady told us that the custard cream one was identifiable by the aonori on one side. We thought we'd misheard but sure enough one of our treats was green on one side. It was so odd that we assumed she'd just run out of some other more appropriate ingredient for differentiating the flavours, like black sesame seeds or something, and had quickly substituted with the takoyaki ingredients she had on hand.

But the aonori was there again this time, so it seems to be a regular thing. I don't like creamy fillings so I didn't try it, but I believe my husband when he says that aonori and custard cream are a terrible match. My anko-filled imagawayaki was delicious, or at least the two bites of it I got were.

And then I dropped it on the filthy ground. Not a surprising thing for me to do at all, and I should have known enough to have brought a blanket or tarp to protect my food. But no, it fell straight onto a pile of last year's grass.

With a couple of bonus dog hairs as well.

I'm just glad it didn't fall onto one of the many ant holes we discovered we were sitting on. Actually I was really tempted to dip my sullied imagawayaki in the ants to get a more impressive picture (I swear the spot above was crawling with ants before I pointed my camera at it--who knew that ants could be camera shy?), but as I'm long past my ant-torturing stage I decided against it. I hope they like the crumbs we left for them.

Next week if the weather is nice we'll try again. With a better lunch and proper ground covering.

Comments

[illahee]

we have a hanami date in a couple of weeks, but i'm afraid the flowers are going to be gone by then, here in fukuoka!!

[Hanna]

Beautiful pictures! I wish I was in Japan, would love to have a picnic under the cherry trees...in Sweden it's still winter and having a picnic seams really far away

[Tara]

Takoyaki! I miss those so much. When we were in Japan last year, my husband would buy some at every opportunity. He also got a kick out of the fact that "tako" means kite in Japanese, and he's a kite flyer. Glad you enjoyed your picnic, grass and bugs not withstanding.

[Tiffany]

I just found your blog recently and I think it's great :). Those pictures are so beautiful. I'm hoping to visit Japan in a few years during cherry blossom season for my honeymoon. All the food looks great, even with the grass. At least you were able to have a bite :)

[zee]

So nice to have a picnic with such beautiful view. *Sigh.. I wish we have a beautiful park here which we can go to to have a picnic.
'Look forward to see your picnic bento next week. Let's just hope that next week the weather will be nice.

[Amy]

Illahee, I'm slowly figuring out the differences between all types of sakura, and it seems several varieties are late bloomers. If you haven't already chosen a hanami spot, maybe you could do a little research and find a place with yaezakura--they may still be in bloom.

Hanna, one of my favourite things about Japan is the short winters! I hope spring comes to you soon.

Hi Tara, you know takoyaki is actually really easy to make at home, you just need the special grill. If you really miss takoyaki you could order the grill online and make it yourself!

Thanks Tiffany! I hope you make it here for your honeymoon.

Zee, that's too bad you don't have a nice park near you. I'll consider myself lucky!