Thursday 26 April 2012

日本

cherry blossom picnics

On Saturday I arrived back in England after two weeks in Japan. It was such a great trip and we crammed in so much. Too much for me to describe.

The cherry blossom was in full bloom when we arrived and there were lots of people celebrating with picnics under the trees both in Tokyo and in the countryside.

kamakura
cat cafe
sake & a sit down

We visited shrines at Kamakura and cycled around Hiratsuka in the sunshine. And when a rainy day came along we took the opportunity to visit one of Tokyo's cat cafes (one of my top goals!)

In the second week we took a 24 hour ferry ride (possibly the lowlight of the trip?) to the Ogasawara islands where we snorkelled with tropical fish and saw whales and turtles.

chichijima ogasawara

The residents of the island waved us off in incredible style when it was time to leave the island! They were so lovely.

ogasawara send-off

Of course, the no.1 highlight was seeing Yumi after such a long time. It was a shame it didn't last longer - I don't think I've been on a better holiday!

Now I keep thinking about snorkelling trips...

Wednesday 4 April 2012

oxalis triangularis

purple
On Saturday I'm flying out to Japan for two weeks to see my good friend Yumi.
I can't wait!

Tuesday 3 April 2012

an orange battenberg


Success for mother! 
She managed to make a Battenberg cake where I failed.


There was still a bit of trouble with the food colouring so she ended up with an orange cake instead of a pink one, but that's much closer to the end goal than I got. Well done mum!

We went on a walk on the downs on Sunday and took the cake to enjoy at the top of Ditchling Beacon.

It got a bit squashed on the way.

It was very tasty - our independent adjudicator gave it a 10 out of 10.
Next month: Samosas.