Autumn

As I think I have mentioned before, Japan is a country of seasons. Right now we are just heading into autumn and as well as the quite dramatic temperature drop at night, there are many other signs around the place that autumn has arrived. Today we went chestnut hunting – great fun as long as you have thick gloves! My parents-in-law have quite a few chestnut trees and it was interesting to see the difference between those which have been protected by fences from the wild boars and those which haven’t. Those protected have zillions of chestnuts under them while under the un-protected ones all you can find are wild boar footprints. No chestnuts in sight! I guess they are not bothered too much by the prickly protection.

Last week I decided to roast some chestnuts, a first for me. I figured you could just put them in the oven and roast them…. apparently not! After just having cleaned the kitchen in preparation for the Korean guests I found myself re-cleaning it after the chestnuts not only exploded in the oven, but also after I had taken them out of the oven. It is incredible how far little pieces of exploding chestnut can fly! I guess I need to do a little more study before I attempt it again! Any hints, recipes welcome….

Other signs of autumn at the moment are the red “higan-bana” which although are very attractive and deter moles, are also very evasive. The cosmos flowers are also starting to make an appearance. If only the start of autumn didn’t mean that winter is just around the corner…..