Valentine's Day 2015--Plum Blossom Festival

 Feb. 14th--Our Valentine Day family traditions had a some glitches this year, due to a lack of some key ingredients.  The Valentine fairy couldn't come and turn the milk in the fridge a nice pink color while we were sleeping.  For breakfast on this day, I always make pink heart-shaped pancakes and we top them with strawberries and whip cream.  Usually, Dad will buy link sausages to go with them.  I was missing my large griddle this morning, as I used three different pans to cook heart-shaped pancakes.  No strawberries, since they are about 600-800 yen for 6 berries.  Instead, we used Duo Penotti.

 They weren't as pretty as the pink ones covered with strawberries, but they were better than nothing.

The kids were o.k. with the breakfast.  What they were not o.k. with was the lack of sugar cookies.  Every year, I make a heart-shaped sugar cookie for each child with their name on them.  They are much anticipated and the kids really look forward to them.  With the lack of food coloring and my frosting tips, I couldn't make them.  Plus, powdered sugar here is almost impossible to find.  In place of the much-loved sugar cookies, I bought each of the kids their own package of Genji-Pies.  They are pretty darn good and they are heart-shaped.  We'll miss these when we go back to the states.

 Since we were lacking pink things in our day, we decided to go to Hanegi Park to check out the plum blossoms.  They are blooming for the next few weeks, and this park is holding a festival in their honor.

 Ahhhh.....this will fulfill our need for pink, pretty things on this day.

 The festival was mainly a bunch of food booths.  There were a few that were selling tea and other things made from plums.  Half of the reason we came was for the authentic food, however, and so we headed over to the food booths to sample.

 This man was cooking up some squid.  We all love calamari, but have only ever had it breaded.

 It looked rubbery, reminded us of little car tires....but we tried it out.

 Wow.  They were really good.

 These are the common sweet potatoes that one can find in Japan (I can't find the sweet potatoes that we regularly eat in the states).  We haven't liked them as well as the U.S. ones, but I was curious to see what these tasted like.  They had some type of sticky stuff on them, maybe honey?  Out of everything we tried today, this was the favorite!  I need to figure out how to make this.

Mmmm.....yakisoba.  I want his big spatulas.

I have made yakisoba for awhile, and feel like I know what I'm doing.  This yakisoba didn't have any veggies other than onion, but it had amazing flavor.  It easily beat mine, and I watched the man make it trying to figure out what he did different.   Other than the veggies, I couldn't see a difference.  I think his is better just because of the spatulas.

 Takoyaki.  Raymond loves these and ordered some.  The rest of us weren't real thrilled.

 We gave them another try, however.  We're glad we did--they were MUCH better than the ones we had at the Meiji Shrine.  The octopus was tender, and the overall flavor was really good.

 Nathan didn't love them, though.  He had his heart set on one thing........

 Yakitori--chicken on a stick.  He led Dad over to where he had seen them cooking.....

 ....and came back with one for everyone. 

 We were almost full, we just wanted to try okonomiyaki. 

It was really good, but mine is just as good.  No new Japanese cooking secrets to learn here.

 On our way to the bathrooms, we bumped into this lovely lady.   She was showing off her pet owl to those attending the festival. It was so small, but was full grown for its breed.  It was very tame and let the kids pet it.  She told us all about him: what he eats, his living area, etc.  Very fun!

 Now to get our plum blossom fill. 

 The plum blossoms are not as impressive as the cherry blossoms, but they are more of a preface of what is to come during the infamous cherry blossom season.  Tayla, Chris, Logan in the picture.

 Nathan and Logan.

Chris, Nathan, and Logan

 

 The blossoms were mostly white or light pink, but some were so dark they were almost red.  There were also some yellow ones.  Their aroma was amazing.

 There were also some flowers for sale.  Oh, temptation!

 And then, we noticed some adorable bonsai plum trees.  Huge temptation!

We let the kids play on the playground for awhile before we walked back to the metro to head home.  We really enjoyed seeing the plum blossoms today.  Who needs pink food coloring for Valentine's Day when you have such beautiful pink blossoms?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here's what the kids thought about the day:

Caitlin:  It was cool to see all of my very favorite flowers everywhere.  I took way too many pictures.
Tayla:  The takoyaki there was really good.  I really liked the candied sweet potatoes and the chicken on a stick.  The plum blossoms were really pretty.  I like the white ones best.  It was the best Valentine's Day ever.  It was really fun and we had time as a family.  Usually, Dad works on Valentine's Day and so we don't get to spend all day with him.  He was with us this year.
Christopher:  The playground was fun.  The food was good but I didn't like the takoyaki.  I enjoyed the blossoms in their different colors.  I enjoyed the paths because they were just cool.  They were tatami mats.  I enjoyed kind of getting lost in all the plum blossoms as I walked around on the trails.
Logan:  The plum blossoms were beautiful.  The plum blossoms are white, red, pink, and yellow. 
Nathan:  I don't have anything to say about it.  The food was good.  The playground was fun.  The spinny circle thing on the playground was really fun. 
Audra:  Some of my flowers on the trees.  And my birds.  I like flowers.  I like Mommy.