ordinary.sunday

today you take it easy. it has been a week that you are on the rush. 

rushing to see sakura because you know the cherry blossom will not last till this weekend.

today is an ordinary day for you. ordinary in a way but extra-ordinary in another way.

sunday is always special for you because you are meeting great people at your life group meeting at 11am.

this is your usual meeting place, your hang out place on sunday morning. right here, you all share openly about your week, what the Lord has spoken to you, count your blessings, share your problems and right here... there is strength, energy to draw from one another.  right here, where sisterhood is cultivated.

and when the life group finished, you all walk together to jesus life house and there you rock for Jesus. a sunday celebration service, you received the word of God that will last you for another week - no matter your week is going to be great, ordinary or bad.

and you had lunch with your extended "family" some where at harajuku before every one parted different ways, some go for other appointment, others go home, and a few will have to return to the 4pm service.

today you decided to make it an ordinary day in tokyo.  you are not tourist, you live here. you deserve an ordinary lazy sunday.  so you go to bic camera at shinjuku to pick up a lens that you have been eyeing for awhile on your way home. and you drop by a slightly bigger supermarket and pick up some groceries that you cannot get from the smaller store nearby you.

and a ordinary day consists of cooking...

and you pick up a packet of soramame...

as it is in the season now.  you read guess a recipe in a magazine on the 42nd floor, so you want to give it a try.

the bean is nicely wrapped in a spongy pod

you boil the beans for 2 minute and immediately run them through cold water. the skin expand and shrink, and thus it is so much easier to remove the outter layer of the bean.

mean time you also prepare small dishes with a packet of goodies called 桜田夫. it is basically fish frost scented with sakura and in pink color.

 you add some 桜田夫 to the black sesame tofu, and a dash of chili oil. that's a simple and easy cold dish.

 you also mixed some 桜田夫 to your soramame and a dash of shoyu, that's another small dish.

 and when your rice is ready, you just top the remaining 桜田夫 to the pipping hot rice and a dash of green seaweed powder.

 and  you compose your dinner.

you enjoy the process of cooking, because cooking itself is a journey.  a journey to get to know japanese cuisine better, a journey of discoveries, a journey to know a season.

and you end your ordinary day with a seasonal namagashi (生菓子).

 your namagashi is no longer in the shape of sakura because sakura season is over, or rather it is over in tokyo.  this namagashi is in the shape of peony, a seasonal flower that is about to shine right after sakura. you pick this up from a local namagashi store at hogo (本郷) on your way to visit kyu furukawa teien (旧古河庭園), this is probably the cheapest every namagashi that you every purchased so far.

with this, you will end your sunday.  and you wish everyone an awesome new week with many blessings.

updated o 20th april: asked my colleague today, 桜田夫 in romanji is sakuradenfu