Sweet things

It's the time of the year for fruit trees here in Israel. The mandarins in our yard are almost orange, and the oranges are starting to turn from green. The lemons still have a way to go, but we managed to pull one that ripened early and it was delicious! It's so nice to have your own fruit and know that it's not coated in pesticides.

Walking through the neighborhood, I've seen pomagrante trees and a starfruit tree! These are fruits you rarely even see at the grocery store in the US, let alone in your yard.

It's just nice to have such a great variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. This morning I had a persimmon, for example. Yummy.

Cooking Adventures
Yesterday, a Japanese friend of mine came over and taught me how to make nama-Yatsuhashi (a Japanese sweet famous in Kyoto) and dango (another Japanese sweet) in the microwave! It was much easier than I ever expected.

Then, today I made an (Japanese sweet bean paste). I had tried to make it once about 10 years ago, and I failed miserably. Today's attempt went much better, and I think it's actually pretty close to the way it should be. Woohoo. That's a good thing because it took 4 HOURS to make.

Japanese cuisine is not known for being quick and easy. My goodness. I just made a pot of beans and sugar, but it took FOUR hours. That stuff should be worth its weight in gold!

英語が難しい方のため、私は先日日本人の友達に八橋と団子の皮、電子レンジでの簡単な作り方を教えていただきました。20分でできとても楽でした。昨日彼女が作っておいた餡を使ったんですが、今日私は一人で粒餡を作ってみました。10年前に一度作ろうとして失敗した経験があったのですが、今日頑張って、何とか結構いい餡が作れました。嬉しいけど、相当時間かかりますね！餡は金と同じくらいの値段を取ればいいと思います！