Sumie -- April 19, 2013

The theme today is bamboo.

After some practice for making gradation with sumi ink,
they drew vivid bamboo trees on a long paper and shikishi
hard paper. Aren't they lovely?

Sumie -- April 16, 2013

One of the elegant flowers bloom in spring is wisteria.

But Finnish people say they have never seen these

beautiful flowers. Looking at the image on the ipad,

they challenged to draw wisterias. They really did a

good job!

Cooking -- April 12, 2013

Japanese always keep in mind the use of seasonal ingredients

when cooking. Bamboo shoots, bonito, strawberries were used

today. Typical spring dish is bonito sashimi slightly broiled.

We also made salad with bamboo shoots, asparagus, beans, etc.

Everyone tried making gyoza and had a lot of fun.

Ikebana -- April 9, 2013

3 ladies joined today's ikebana arranging flowers in

a sidling style. Enkianthus (doudann tsutsuji) is used as
a main for making lines and iris as a sub for making
ponts. Making lines with enkianthus is hard as it is still young
and the branches are thin. But its tiny leaves reflects coming
fresh green season.

 

 

Sumie -- March 27, 2013

Theme today is of course "sakura".

After 2 hours concentration, 6 lovely works of sakura
shikishi are in full bloom.

 

Sumie -- March 16, 2013

It was the second lesson of sumie.

Practicing to draw several circles, they challenged to draw
eggplant and cucumber. They did very well.

 

Cooking -- March 15, 2013

We had two visitors from Finland. Six people enjoyed today's cooking.

Everyone worked hard to make seven dishes., which were grilled salmon

with sweet miso on top, cooked rice with vegetables and chicken, egg

custard 'chawanmushi', rape blossom salad, scallop dish, cabbage and

cucumber salad, and sweet potato dessert. It was really a fun cooking!

 

 

Ikebana -- March 13, 2013

It was warm but quite windy day.

Five ladies attended the class.
They arranged sakura, snapdragon and freesia in a vase.
It was hard to chop off the lovely little pale pink sakura flowers.

 

 

Sumie -- February 23, 2013

We had a sumie lesson for a Finnish family for the first time.

After drawing circles many times, they challenged to draw grapes.
Using nice gradation of black and white lovely pieces of work were
made. Please have a look at the photo here.

 

Sumie -- February 20, 2013

Five ladies met for the fifth lesson of sumie.

The teacher brought some daffodils. She gave them

some instruction how to paint flowers and leaves.

Some said the leaves were more difficult than flowers.

Each work was different and lovely. They surely got better.

 

 

February 13, 2013

Flowers today were kodemari, iris and marigold.

Each ikebana has its own artistic taste and they all were
attractive.

 

Ikebana -- January 29, 2013

We had the first Ikebana lesson in 2013 with four

including a new member. Flowers today give a glimps
of spring. Making a curve with slender branches seems
difficult but fun.

Sumie lesson -- January 23, 2013

We met for sumie lesson today. Six ladies joined us.

They have got now their own sumie set. They painted　
camelia flowers. big and small.

Cooking -- January 10, 2013

Our first culture program 2013 was held on January 10.

Four people enjoyed Japanese home cooking.

The menu was tonkatsu, butajiru, kanikama &

lettuce harumaki, and mizuna & tuna salad.

The dessert was green-tea jelly. Everyone worked hard

and all the dishes were ready in two hours.




 

 

Sumie - December 19, 2012

Six ladies joined sumie lesson. The teacher brought sumie
utensils to every one. They now have their own brush,
inkstone,and other stuff. They practiced circles at the
beginning as before, and then tried drawing bamboos
which seemed a bit difficult than grapes or eggplants.

Cooking -- November 29, 2012

The second session of evening cooking started at 4pm.
Today's menu was grilled yellow tail with grated radish,
pork salad, ingen string bean salad with sesame dressing,
fried burdock with sweetened soy sauce flavor, and
simmered pumpkin. The dessert was green tea pound
cake. Everyone enjoyed cooking together and the dinner
was ready by 6 pm. We surely had a lovely chat over food.

Sumie -- November 28, 2012

We had the second sumie lesson with 5 participants.
We welcomed one newcomer.
Today we had fun drawing eggplants. Each work is
different and so artistic!



 

Cooking --November 26, 2012

Responding to a request, we arranged a cooking class starting

from late afternoon twice this week.

The menu of the first lesson were tempura, nigiri-zushi,

 misoshiru and goma(sesame) ice-cream.

The participants of two couples were enthusiastically tried
those menu. They did very well and the taste was delicious.

They know the dishes go well with sake!

 

Ikebana -- November 6, 2012

Because of flu some usual members were not able to

join the class . But one participant brought her mother

who came to Japan to visit her daughter's family.

She enjoyed her first Ikebana with autumn flowers

such as yuyki-yanagi, mum and rindo.

 

 

 

Sumie -- October 24, 2012

Sumie lesson started today with five participants. Everyone was
excited to draw with calligraphy brush. They first practiced
drawing circles and then challenged to draw grapes.
The gradation of ink was fantastic when it dries.