It’s a fine time to make home your haven Soft clouds float by like a flock of sheep grazing in the wild blue yonder. I spot a small bamboo tray on Kuniko’s balcony that holds a few carrot peels drying in the sun. This is her admirable thrift, her equal regard for elegance and economy […]

It was early in my time in Japan, on a trip to Kyoto, that veiled, velvet city, when I learned that chrysanthemum florets were edible. Back then, Kyoto was mythic to me. An ancient capital humming with secrets.

Savory eggplant to welcome autumn My love of autumn quells the sorrow of summer passing. In the pink glow of a lean morning the raspy coo of doves opens the day, while the pulse of cicadas brings it to a close, urging us into the the gloaming. A week ago today we were preparing for […]

A kombu appetizer to open any meal As the sun sinks behind our hill, the collective cry of cicadas swells to a crescendo before fading with the light. We are allowed a moment of quiet in the gloaming before the gentle reverberation of crickets’ wings start pulsing through the late evening air. These days a […]

Celebrating shiso at the apex of summer We are at the apex of summer, which in Japan is already deemed to be the start of autumn. This is the custom here, to look ahead with anticipation towards the beauty held within the bud rather than be reminded by a flower in full bloom of its swift […]

A shiso laced ume sorbet looks like heaven on a spoon During a midsummer run of high heat in late July known as the doyo, the sun blazes and the cicadas roar. It’s a hot, dry (if you don’t count the humidity) interval between the tsuyu rainy season and stormy August skies seen when turbulent typhoons […]

Somen on ice for a sultry summer   The rains clear leaving a steaming cauldron in their wake. The sun burns brightly stalling any breeze that might whisper some small reprieve. Young hawks take flight, learning to soar through the hot summer skies. The heavy rains followed by sun has spurred a burst of growth […]

Ice brewed shincha for summer If June was any indication, we are in for a sultry summer. Alternating rounds of torrential rains that fall in this tsuyu rainy season and bright sun that vaporizes the gathered moisture bring on riotous thunder storms. Bolts strike alarmingly close to our hilltop home. On these muggy days a […]

Loquats are the sweet pleasure of June June is a month of sweet pleasures. After the hustle of staying warm all winter long, and the sprint through spring, we slow down at the start of June, if not in body, at least in mind. This season feels sweetly languorous with light that lasts so long […]

I would like nothing more than to cook all day After so many years living in this same rural corner of Kyushu, I still stumble upon sights I’ve never seen before. A wrong turn on a drive to a nearby town took me down a narrow country lane. Camel colored fields stretched into the distance […]