A Very Japanese Garden

My husband and I went back to the Japanese garden in Washington Park Arboretum. The last time we were in January the surrounding area was dead and sad looking. Today the sense of spring has brighten up the area in the warm gentle air. The garden designed by a Japanese is authentic with tranquility and landscape modeled on nature and it makes you feel as if in Japan. There are many familiar plants including mosses. Later I learned it was part of the designers' effort to represent scenes found in Japan.

Magnolias - still blooming after cherry blossoms.

It seems like a wild type of azalea. I've seen similar ones in mountains.

Here are interesting animal activities taking place in a peaceful Sunday afternoon. Synchronized swimming performance by ducks. 

Sun bathing turtles!

Some ferns sprouting. The swirls fascinates me.

A gnarled tree with branches looking like delicate fireworks. It turned out it was planted by then crown princess Michiko. It's still small after some fifty years.

Moss Blog

A friend of mine Naoko is a great cook and food lover. She is always exploring new flavours and parings and has also taken food coordination classes. I'm one of her fans and love her creative cooking with unexpected combinations which pleasantly surprise me. The wedding gift from her and her husband was a bag of le sel de Guérande and a bottle of Mancino olive oil along with her original recipes. It was really like her and has her personal touch. And of course I tried the recipes too. Here is her blog on her life around food: http://ameblo.jp/sanonao/


I cooked roast beef using this delicate salt. You can even see square crystallization in it. It brought out the full flavour of beef and the vegetable giving the depth and made the dish a success. I could serve it when we have the family or friends over. Salt is essential to food obviously. I couldn't agree more with the princess from a fairy tale I used to read as a child. I often recall this even now especially with a piece of salted butter in my mouth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_and_Salt