Tonkatsu

  

Some years ago I was working part time at an Italian restaurant.
A friend I worked with called me that She opened her own restaurant. I was so surprised and happy for her! So we just visited her place to have a lunch.
The interior is very nice, the base is black and white with some touch of red in it.


And the food... It was delicious! Ando chef does a great job! We ordered pasta lunches. One of them was Japanese style pasta with ginger


and the other one is Tomato sauce pasta with chicken and mushrooms.


We loved both of them. It was the first time for me to try a spaghetti with ginger and it matched so well! The tomato sauce was a bit piquant, it tasted fantastic!

This is more a place for a romantic dinner, so take once your partner to have a nice time together!

Kitchen La Ando
Matsufuku cho, Nichome 11-10
Telephone: 087-813-0502
  

Today was a working day for my husband.
So I've decided to take out my boy to a new place, called Kawarakko. Some time ago my husband found an article in a newspaper and told me we can try it once, as it looks interesting.
So we take the Kotoden train to Kawaramachi. This is a great thing for my child, as He loves trains.
In front of the station you can find Sanbiki no Kobuta. In the same building on the 4th floor Kawarakko just opened this month. Every first and third Saturdays children can play there only for 100yen! There are many toys made from wood and cloth. Children and parents can play together, but there are some nice ladies who play with every child, help them find the perfect toy to enjoy. We were there several hours, taking only a short break to have a lovely sandwich at Sanbiki no Kobuta. My boy's favourite is the fruit juice.;)
We took the train back on the afternoon and got off at the station of the park and played there till the evening.



I've just realised that Kawarakko has his own blog here, in Ashita Sanuki.
http://kawarakko.ashita-sanuki.jp/  

Today was a very long day.
This morning we climbed up Mt. Yashima with some friends. From the meeting point to the top took 1 and a half hour. It is much shorter if you don't bring children with you though.
My little darling didn't want to use his legs, so I had to hold him almost all the way up. The moment we reached the top he hopped out my arms and was running all over the place... Well, I thought it will be like this.
Here are some pictures:

The beginning




From this point a stoned road heading up to the top.



People pray here to ask for a safe journey.


If you feel fit enough you can try the hardest way. In a few years I am going to try it with my child


These are names of ordinary people who climbed up to the top. This number can come out only by going up several times a day... Unbelievable


Takamatsu


Kawara Nage. People throw it down as for a memory of the battle of Yashima. (Or to prevent bad things happens to them)


We came home in the afternoon by bus and now I'm hoping my little devil is going to sleep soon...









  

I am really looking for the summer festivals this year. Now my boy is big enough to be up a bit later so we can go to visit the nearby shrine and enjoy the matsuri.
The other event I am waiting for is due in October. The School Festival of the Takamatsu University offers many programs for children principally between 3 and 7 years old. Last year we visited the enchanted place called Genkimura Ichoume Wanpaku Toori. There was room for children to play with 10.000 () peaces of wooden blocks, slides made from cardboard, etc. My son enjoyed it a lot! The main attraction was a classroom, which doesn't looked like any classrooms I saw before. From the beginning to the end there was a corridor made from cardboard. The channel was tight one place, at in the other one branch of trees were in the way of the challenger.


There were some spots, where children had to do some tasks. Rescue the caught dwarfs, find something in a pool full of strips of paper and at the end get over the Devil.

The story was a funny mix of foreigner and Japanese children stories as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Momotaro, etc. It was a lot of fun and the students made a great, great job by producing a wonderland all by themselves!
This year's program called Genkimura Nichoume Wanpaku Toori. The subject is already decided, but it will be a surprise to everyone who visit Takamatsu University on 17-18 October.
I will be there, hope you too!
This is an address of the Genkimura Nichoume habitants. You can find news about they everyday life. If you do not understand Japanese just write an e-mail to the address written in the left column and you will have all the information you want.
http://genkimurawanpaku.blog60.fc2.com/
  

Today was a day full of fun for my little boy.
Children under three years old can play on the grounds of the local kindergarten every Wednesdays till noon. Every second week there is a class, where children and parents can practise exercise together.
Today was the first day in the summer, when outsider children could enjoy the kindergarten's pool too. We were really waiting for it, but there was no pool today... Unfortunately there is not much water left in Kagawa prefecture.
Of course children were disappointed, but three rangers just came by and taught us the lesson to use water sparingly! It is all we can do and hope that it will be raining soon.



After the rangers left the place my boy and two of is best friends found the sandbox with a lot of mud in it. Of course in no time the entire body of the tree brats was black. Those smiles they made are the best a boy can have in my opinion.



After taking a quick shower we had some lunch and now my little boy is deep in his dreams. After he gets up I think we are going to the park, where we spend all of our afternoons every day, to give him an other opportunity to discover something new.   

As I mentioned it before, we love to go to the see to relax. Last Sunday's plan was have an udon lunch, collect some ladybirds and visit a seaside park.
On our balcony we made a small herb garden. As some ant cows attacked our coriander we thought the best way to get rid of them is to feed up some nice ladybirds by eating the unwelcoming guests. Then we remembered when the last time we visited a mysterious udon shop there were many many of these cute red bugs.
So we left to Aji to this udon shop which name is "Yama". The udon is fantastic and I really love the atmosphere up there. Beside the funny chairs you can find many toys to play with. There is an old fire engine waiting for kids to get on.
While our kid was enjoying the fire engine we found some ladybirds for our precious coriander.




The next stop was "Shirobana Park", where we spent some hours by playing ball games, making bubbles and discovering old ships
We had a really nice day.




  

Hello dear blog reader!

My name is Maria, I am a foreigner living in Takamatsu. Actually I am a stranger among foreigners too, because I didn't come from an English speaking country, not even a well known place. I am from Hungary.
Yes, don't be surprised, you are not the first and won't be the last person who just doesn't know what I am talking about. :)
Hungary is a little country which located in the middle-east of Europe. The official language is Hungarian. As I was learning English at school as you people do in Japan, there may be mistakes in my writing. Please forgive me!

I am an ordinary housewife living in Takamatsu for more than five years now. I have a little boy, who is going to celebrate his second birthday this summer.
Taking care of him is a full time job. Especially in Japan.
In Europe most of the people are working 8 hours a day. So everyone is at home in the afternoon. Officially Japanese people do the same, but I think most of them are leaving home in the morning and finish work at night. Even they go back to work on Saturdays/Sundays, if they left work which needs to be done. At the beginning it was very strange for me. I got to used to it now, even I still don't like it. But who does, doesn't it?

So as our family life concentrates on the week-ends we try to do something fun together. Usually we are spending time in the nature. If it is not for the seaside at Aji, Yashima, one of our favourite spots is Kinbuchi Koen.
There are many different ways to enjoy this park. Every season offers a scene of beautiful flowers and trees. You can have a little walk in the forest if you like, or just sit down and have a picnic at the wide lawn. We choose the second version as our son can have the two favourite things he likes. Eating and playing. He loves playing baseball and soccer. Actually he doesn't say baseball, he says Ichiro, so we know he needs someone to throw balls to his bat. :)
If you have older children or like to exercise yourself there are more places to take out all of the energy you have and ensure a night of good sleep.

Why not visit this place with your family on the next work-less weekend?