More gifts from a neighbor in midsummer Japan...

Had not been walking the hills recently...

Reason is, there are tons of chores to do in the potager during the weekends, and like all things, it is a matter of priority...

Anyway, thought I would take a break from the potager and accompany my sweeto haato in her regular walk last Saturday morning...

Before long, we met a neighbor (different from the one in the previous post) who was visiting another neighbor in the adjacent hamlet...

After some brief niceties, we resumed our walk...

And oops, bumped into each other again a few minutes later as she was returning home on her bicycle...

Why not take home some tomatoes? She offered...

It was not for us to decline a good offer...

Pretty soon, we were standing at her vegetable garden, watching her harvesting the tomatoes...

Would you like some green peppers too? My husband dislikes eating them and told me not to cook any dish with peppers... she said...

And how about some pumpkins? They are a bit small but they taste very sweet...

Oh, there's okra too... here, take some...

Hmm... what can I say except that it is so nice to reside in this hamlet amongst such generous neighbors...

And my, their vegetables are of a different class compared to the 'mini-mini' ones that I could only grow at my potager...

Gifts in the deep of summer 2012...

Summer is in full swing here in Japan...

Temperatures hover around 35 degrees and it is quite stifling, actually...

The vegetable gardens in the neighborhood are thriving...

And, my sweeto haato continues her walks amidst the neighborhood gardens, meandering herself along the paths in the hills... 

And once in a while, she receives some nice gifts from the farmer-neighbors... this time, cucumbers, zucchini, green peppers...

For the past few years, the local Honda car salesman had been sending me a pot of (normally, tropical) flowers for my birthday...

I had purchased our Honda CRV from him years ago, and had been sending the car to his workshop for maintenance all the while...

Each time, the plants die out when the cold comes in...

With this pretty hibiscus, think I'd plant it somewhere and hope it will survive the cold...

Was invited by our next door neighbor to visit her maternal home in another part of town...

Purpose was to pick up some firewood but there wasn't much...

Was an old farmhouse with orange grooves, rows of blueberries, vegetables patches, an irrigation pond...

Ate some watermelon (yellow and red)... and was offered these asparagus by her younger sister whose husband is a professional asparagus farmer...

These asparagus were huge... over 30 cm long... and they tasted good...

Potluck party with neighbors on a windy autumn's day

We had the honor of hosting the 3rd potluck party for our neighbors last Sunday...

Seven families got together for a day of yakking and for delicious, homemade food...

The wind was pretty strong and the temperatures, somewhat chilly...
But that didn't stop us from having a ball of a time...

First, home-made buckwheat noodles aka soba made from scratch...

According to our friend, the combination was 90% buckwheat flour and 10% wheat flour...
Excellent, excellent taste...

Some salad, oriental style with cucumber, tomatoes, egg, ham...

 Fried dumplings... crunchy on the outside and juicy on the inside...

Ginko nuts... peeled and lightly fried in oil, and served with a pince of salt...

O-yaki... in other words, Japanese yam, lotus root, glutinous rice flour, and seaweed fried in light oil over a flat pan...

This dish was new to us and while the dish did not look that 'photogenic', the taste was good... my missus ended up asking for the recipe...

Update for Alice:
(Managed to ask our neighbor about the recipe... )

Grate Japanese yam（山芋）, lotus root and keep aside...
Mix with 上新粉（top-grade rice flouｒ）
Add seaweed (after softening in water)
Blend all ingredients in bowl and make into patties...
Fry over flat pan over some sesame oil until slightly brown...

Serve with some soy sauce...

Braised(?) pork with fresh veggies done up by one of the husbands...

Our contribution... horse mackeral, deep fried outdoors in our garden...

Fire and utensils were prepared by yours truly while the lady of the house took charge of the cooking...

The fish was immediately dipped into a concoction of vinegar, Japanese rice wine, and lots of fresh vegetables...

And left to season for one night for better taste...
I ate the fish whole... bones, fish head, fins, meat and all...

Plus, vinegrette Spanish Mackeral... also prepared by my suweeto haato on the previous day so as to 'enhance' the flavor...

This dish proved to be very popular among the attendees...

The sweets, various types, were brought all the way from Kobe...

Besides these goodies, there were drinks soft and hard, chocolates, persimmons, grapes, and freshly brewed black mint tea...  

We were very happy that our neighbors enjoy the party as much as we did...

And we are looking forward to hosting the fourth gathering for sure...