With a sporadic work schedule over Golden Week, we stayed in Japan this year.
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| Koinobori | Center Minami |
A weekend trip that began at Granny's house in the Hakone mountains learning how to cook fish and spot edible mountain vegetation ended with a lavish breakfast in an Atami ryokan (Japanese Inn),
Hotel Kanichi. Brent developed a rash from the tsukemono (pickles) so more for me! Can't get enough of pickled ginger, radish and plum!
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| home cooking at Granny |
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| dinner | course 1 of many |
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| breakfast |
We made a hasty return home with a fractious toddler and steady snack supply on the Shinkansen 700 today, but the highlight for me was the food, ryokan toilet paper and Brent announcing that it was his late Grandfather's birthday after a candle was lit at Granny's obutsudan (home alter) in his remembrance.
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| highlight | Japanese retro toilet roll |
His was most probably the 'birthday' cake from Tully's, the hotel's gift of Anpanman origami paper and the Koinobori fish. Something tells me their is some serious birthday anticipation on his end... oh the pressure.
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| 'itadakimas' | Japanese hotcakes from Tully's Coffee Tama Plaza |