October
Wild animals living around my house seem to love my veggie garden. I knew raccoon dogs, wild boars and deers visit there almost every night for dinner. So finally, I asked a hunter to set up a trap near my garden, and one day a huge deer was caught. Next day, the hunter gave me this piece. And I made venison stew cooked in red wine.
To add a little refreshing flavor, I topped it with some cranberry sauce.
Oh, it was so good! :D
At the end of October, when the weather was good, I made candied ginger.
And this was the harvest from my veggie garden.
It was another eventful month. At a fair near a fishing port, they made this lobster soup in a huge pot. Yes, it was free of charge. See how many people stood in line?
*To be precise, the lobster in these photos -- Japanese spiny lobster -- is a little different from the lobster you see in Europe and in the U.S. But it's still tasty (and expensive). ;)
And I bought this tiny pumpkin at the fair to make this:
At another event held in the same month, they treated visitors with tea ceremony.
These are homemade sweets made by the tea ceremony teacher and her pupils.
And the visitors were invited to join this casual outdoor lunch to enjoy local cuisine. The meat? Wild boar. Yum!
It was still warm at the end of Nov. -- warm enough to go on a beach and pick some short-necked clams.
And this is something I can't forget. I joined a crowdfunding to support a young guy who is struggling to keep a home-visit nursing care service in a depopulated village. As a reward, I got a packed ingredient of a hot-pot dish. The meat? Japanese pheasant. :)
December
To tell you the truth, I picked the persimmons from our persimmon tree in October and tried to remove astringency, using distilled liquor. (For more detail about this traditional method, click here. It's an article I wrote in 2014.) But it didn't turn out right. :(So I gave it a try again this month.
This time I tried two methods to remove astringency: treating with liquor and sun-drying.
And both went well. :D I sun-dried the peels for later use. Use for what? You'll find out in January...
And this shot from my veggie garden:
At the end of the month, I joined a hilarious BBQ party.
Can you imagine what's being cooked in this can?
Beer can chicken!! If you're not familiar with this exciting cooking method, click here.
Look!
We all enjoyed the chicken.
And finally, it was time for a Christmas fruitcake.
On Christmas Eve, I had a quiet, relaxing time with home-baked fruitcake, canapé and sparkling wine.
Here's my Christmas wish to you:
Thank you for being my friends and checking on my blog once in a while, even though I completely neglected this blog in 2015.
Love,
obachan
P.S. Sorry, I'm going to fake the date for this one. I couldn't finish this post in 2015...
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