Monk lunch

Yesterday we went for a rather special lunch out in the country. It was a beautiful day and our friend Tatsuya had arranged for a group of us to go out to a Buddhist temple called Takedera in Saitama, to sample shojin ryouri or monk lunch as I call it! It is a strict vegetarian menu prepared by Buddhist monks who are not allowed to eat meat due to religious beliefs. The temple is only open to visitors in spring and autumn, where seasonal vegetables are prepared and served on utensils made of bamboo.

I have to say, I was not sure what to expect, but it was a really special day! The walk up to the temple is beautiful and surrounded by trees and streams. As you get closer, you wind your way through a bamboo forest, before arriving in a little haven of serenity. We ate our lunch sitting on tatami mats in a room overlooking the grounds and a wonderful old Buddhist priest talked us through each dish, which was prepared using plants, leaves and vegetables found locally.

The walk up to the temple through a bamboo forest.

The grounds of the temple were stunning.

We sat at a long table and the priest explained each dish to us in Japanese.

Each table setting had an amazing array of food and untensils.

Leaf tempura, including dandelion leaves and blossom leaves!

Sake was served in a bamboo spout and then rested against a bamboo trunk in the centre of the table.

Friday night sukiyaki

It is now countdown time to our departure from Japan at the end of July and along with trying kimono dressing and indigo dyeing, we also want to make the most of all the good food on offer. Last night's food adventure involved sukiyaki, a Japanese stew-type dish served in a hot pot.

We each got given a two-tiered wooden box with vegetables on the top and very thinly sliced meat underneath.

A heavy metal pot is brought out with a candy floss-type substance in the middle. It is placed on the burner at your table and slowly heated in soy sauce.

The meat is placed on top of the sugary substance, and as the soy sauce heats up, the sugary substance melts into the soy sauce creating a divinely syrupy mixture.

The meat cooks very quickly and can then be scooped up, dipped in raw egg (yes, I was very dubious about this, but it was very tasty) and then scoffed! It was absolutely divine!

Indigo day

On Wednesday I was very lucky to have the opportunity to learn indigo dyeing from an indigo master! It was organized through a Canadian man called Bryan who has lived in Japan for many years and became passionate about indigo soon after he came here. He has his own classes at his home, but also knows of a sixth generation indigo dyer, and it was his workshop that we went to for the day. 

What an amazing experience!

We met Bryan and some of his pupils at Hachioji station, and then we all got the bus to a very old house, where the guru prints and dyes his kimono lengths.

 Apparently he is only allowed to continue dyeing if he keeps the house in its original state, hence the rather ramshackle feel. But it was so wonderful being there and experiencing a centuries old technique.

 The resist that is used is a yellow paste that is mixed with a red bean paste so that is shows up on the white fabric when printed through the stencil. The cut paper stencil has a thin netting placed over it to enable the paste to go through the stencil more easily. The paper is coated in a black substance to strengthen it. This stencil was beautifully intricate.

The stencil is then placed on the flattened fabric (which is attached to a wooden board with glue) and the mixed paste is then placed on the stencil with the net facing up. The printer then scrapes the paste evenly across the stencil so that it goes through it and onto the fabric. The printer matches up the design perfectly as he works his way down the fabric. What you see here on the right is the red design. This is the paste and it acts as the resist so that when the fabric is dyed, the design will remain white.

 We then had a chance to choose a pre-made stencil and print our own resist, which the guru helped us to do.

I chose a stylised parasol design. You can see the stencil on the left and my printed paste on the right. The stencil has to be wet first, to make applying the paste easier.

The wooden boards are then brought out into the sun to dry.

Once the paste is dry, we removed the fabric from the boards, dipped them in water and then dipped them into the indigo vats (which are made of clay) for two minutes at a time. You can dip the fabric up to four of five times. The more times the fabric is dipped, the darker it becomes.

The fabric is then washed and scrubbed gently with a brush to remove the paste. It is then hung on a line and dried in the sun and here is my finished result! Three pieces which I am really happy with. I am now looking forward to making them into clutch bags.

Kimono magic

I'm afraid I've been a bit lax about writing on my blog recently, but now that we only have a few months left in Tokyo before we leave, I feel that I need to tick a few things off the list before we go, and will be writing about them as I go along.

One of the things I've wanted to do since I got here is find out how to wear a kimono. The other day I was lucky enough to get to go to a lovely event at the International House of Japan in Azabu Juban. It was held by the CWAJ, where members modeled kimonos in varying styles from the traditional to the avant garde. It was all done in a setting overlooking a beautiful Japanese garden.

Irises at the Nezu museum

I have always loved the Nezu Museum (not to be confused with Nezu, the area north of Tokyo) and went there recently to view the irises in the beautiful garden they have there. The irises are in full bloom right now and look stunning! They also have an accompanying show of iris screens in their beautifully designed museum.

Azaleas at Nezu

Now is the season for azaleas and, just like the blossom season, people come out in their masses to view the blousy flowers in all their glory. We chose to head north to the Nezu shrine where there is a whole garden full of the blooms. We did share it with hundreds of other Tokyo folk, but it was a beautiful sunny day and great to be out and about. We even managed to find some snacks that celebrate the season in the shape of salty azalea flowers....

Caroline and Nobu's wedding

On Saturday evening we were honoured to be invited to the wedding of Carloine and Nobu, who celebrated at the Cotton Club in Shimbashi. I know Caroline through Stitch and Bitch (as you do when in Tokyo!) and have had the privilege of knowing her for the past three years or so. She met Nobu at a jazz club (he is a jazz musician) and it was love at first sight! The wedding celebration was a lovely affair with amazing food, moving speeches and fab jazz music to dance to. A great way for Neil also celebrate his birthday!

Garden party

The other day I was very honoured to be invited to a garden party hosted by the parents of my friend Tatsuya. It was held in their house which is way out north of Tokyo in a quiet suburb. The garden was beautiful, with a combination of Western styles and Japanese styles which mixed amazingly well. It was a warm sunny day and when we arrived, we admired the garden and then headed inside for an amazing feast (sitting on tatami mats), washed down with champagne and red wine. Tatsuya's father used to be a French chef, so the food was delicious!

Bob and Tom in Seoul

While we were in Seoul we noticed quite a lot of the 'Tom n Tom' coffee shops. I couldn't believe it when I saw one of them next to 'Bob's Lunch Box' in Dongdaemun!

A weekend in Seoul

A weekend in Seoul was not necessarily at the top of my list, considering the rumblings coming from North Korea, but Neil went there for work last week, so I decided to brave it and meet him there for the weekend. We ended up having a fab time, soaking up the sights, enjoying the sunny days and eating good food.

I arrived on thursday evening and while Neil was at work on friday, I headed to the National Art Gallery which is housed in a beautiful light and airy modern building. 

 There was a beautiful selection of Korean pottery which gave me a lot of inspiration. I loved its simplicity.

The fabric hoarder in me then decided to head to Dongdaemun, the wholesale fabric district where there was a mind blowing selection of fabrics in every form possible, spread out over several warhouse-like buildings, each on five floors!

I was totally frazzled by the end of it!

 Zaha Hadid designed the new Design Park and Plaza that is in the process of being built in the Dongdaemun area. I loved the way that its space-age shape loomed over the surrounding area. It's a shame it wasn't finished though, I would have loved to have seen inside.

On friday evening we went out in Gangnam (where our hotel was) to find some 'Gangnam Style'. The area is very lively with a main road leading through it and big shops on either side. But if you head down the backstreets, there are endless eateries and drinking spots to choose from. 

 We ended up at a place that served piping hot pork soup with an array of interesting side dishes, including the hot and spicy kimchi (cabbage marintaed in chilli) which I love.

Saturday morning was spent renting bikes from the park and heading along the river which has designated cycle paths. The weather was beautiful and lots of people were out enjoying it. There were lots of food vendors selling their wares.

I loved the way these foot-long sausages were kept warm.

On saturday afternoon, we got the cable car up to Namsan peak to see the view.

 It was very crowded at the top, where people were enjoying the view and the selection of tasty food on offer.

We then headed back down for a wander round Namdaemun market where there were all sorts of items to buy and food to sample.

This was some sort of fishy paste that was getting rolled up and put into sticks by one person, and then being fried up by another.

Saturday evening was spent at an Indian restaurant with Neil's work colleague and some of his friends. It was a really fun night and we ended up at a fab little speakeasy where we had to knock on the door and wait to be let in. The cocktails were very good!

 Slightly sore heads on sunday morning, meant a slow start to the day.

We had a late breakfast at the hotel and then headed out to Bukchon Hanok village, a lovely chilled out area full of traditional Korean houses.

It was the perfect thing to do on a sunny sunday, and there were lots of coffee shops and ateliers to dip into when we felt like it.

Traditional woven slippers worn in the house.

 This is a typical traditional courtyard. Each house is beautifully structured from wood and no nails are used in the construction. This allows for the expansion and contraction of the wood in hot and cold weather.

The blumpers sampling life in a Korean home....