Lotus

Frog spawn on lotus

Lots of frog croaking now, with the rainy season here, a wet one this year.

Frogs are good. At least, they're a good sign. They tell you that the farmers aren't overdoing the pesticides. Of course, I'd prefer straight organic, but still, if the frogs can stand it, probably most things can.

Biwa

AKA loquats -- lots of them in the supermarkets now.

Sugar overload

Sugar was listed five separate times in the ingredients. The amazing thing was, you could still sort of taste some of the other flavors.

It's from Switzerland.

Mochi -- a nice dessert for three.

Five dollars worth of sashimi

at a local supermarket.

Hamachi (yellowtail), maguro, octopus, and squid.

Summer food 2

Goma dofu -- tofu made from sesame seeds. So rich and flavorful!

Summer food 1

Zaru udon -- udon noodles served on a flat wickerwork tray, so they cool off.

Served with a bunch of other stuff, also cold or room temperature.

Whale meat - again

There's a renewed debate over the Oscar winning documentary, "The Cove." It's been showing at some theaters in Japan. Then it was pulled from some screens. Now that censorship has been criticized by a lot of people and the controversy is being covered in the English language Japanese papers.

And last night, at Sushiro, I saw thin slices of whale meat bacon sushi.

And then packets of whale meat jerky (I think that's what it said) in a grocery store.

Filling in the gaps

The rice fields are basically all planted now, and the rainy season is expected to start officially in two days.

All that's left for most farmers to do is to fill in the occasional gaps left by the planting machines. This is mostly done by women over 60.

Club sandwich pizza

Can't leave well enough alone!

How much sugar is in that?

This is from a lesson my daughter was taught this week in her third grade class. The kids first guessed, then were told, how much sugar is in various common sweet things. The sugar is counted in 3 gram packets of sugar, the kind of packets commonly served with tea.

This was actually a lesson in dental hygiene, not nutrition per se. They were also told that o-sembe (rice crackers) are a fairly healthy snack, which I guess is correct, at least compared with the ones shown on the handout.

Florida grapefruit

Four for 298 yen. These are pretty run of the mill but once I found Indian River grapefruit for the same price as any of the others.

Freshly planted seedlings

What 498 yen will buy you

in the way of sashimi

In case of heart attack . . .

First have a drink . . .

Then get out the defibrillator . . .

Check the directions . . .

And save a life.

Kid breakfast

lotus field

Starting again.

Giant tomato

Which I bought at the local farmers' market and sliced for a summer themed pizza.

Fruit and Vegetable Sommeliers

Buy California, they say.