More hanami parties

Sometimes I feel like I’m having a good time more than I should. I think it’s spring fever and with a couple of guests in my apartment for the past three weeks, I feel like time has zoomed past and my body still thinks it’s recovering from my holiday in Asia late last year.

I’ve been going out a lot so there’s plenty to post but let’s say farewell to the sakuras which scattered their pretty petals all over Tokyo last weekend. This hanami season stretched over three weekends (usually it lasts for two) because of the unexpected cold that blew into town in the middle. The sakuras held on tight to their branches and that’s why you could see folks picnicking last Sat and Sunday in parks.

On the weekend before last, I headed out to Yotsuya and Shinjuku-gyoen, instead of Yoyogi-koen. It was terribly overcast but the flowers were still mesmerizing…

I had to take this photo of a “reserved” space in the park over Yotsuya station.

You could paste your name, date, and time on a ground sheet and it’s yours.

I tried to make something Japanese for the two hanami picnics I went to but it turned out to be a disaster.

See these onigiris? They look fine but the rice was incredibly hard. I don’t know how to cook white rice! I usually make brown rice and add quite a bit of water but I miscalculated the water for this batch.

I made this for my language exchange partner but didn’t dare give it to her…

So I turned the rest of the white rice into Chinese fried rice.

Do you notice the little octopus-shaped sausage in the photo above? Well, I wanted to make something cute for my friends to eat, but in the unrelenting cold air, they turned into what looked like dead fingers.

My friends still ate them, bless their hearts. I had a bad cooking day…Oh well.

A friend brought this mini portable chair he nabbed at a 100yen store — it was hilarious to see a grown man sitting on this teeny tiny stool but he was smart to do so because the ground was stone cold.

Another friend brought some Easter eggs because it was Easter Sunday. They were delish and added a classy touch to our humble picnic.

To be honest, I didn’t really enjoy this year’s hanami parties because it was too chilly. I couldn’t get it out of my mind although I was wrapped up in my down jacket, scarf, and gloves. But we had a “second” party at my apartment and I was thrilled by the spontaneity of it all — we brought in the picnic tables from my terrace into the dining room and squeezed in 12 people.

Let’s just say we had some cheeky fun after having lots to drink. There were some accidents but nothing serious… What a laugh!

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