2015-09-13, A Weekend in Hikone

Last weekend I went to a very nice, free (even nicer) classical concert at the Culture Center here in Hikone.  There are a few more coming up in the next few months so I'm looking forward to that.

This weekend I thought about going to Kyoto on Saturday but it was going to be 86 + F which is really too warm for walking around (and enjoying it).  And I would have missed my Japanese lesson which I missed last week and didn't have all of August.   So I decided to try (once again) to find the recycle shop people have told me about.  Hoping to perhaps find a Halloween costume.  I found the shop, didn't find a costume, but did pick up a glass pie/fritatta pan.  Then on the way to Japanese class I stopped in for my favorite 'fast food' - sushi at the conveyor belt sushi place, since I had to pass it to go home... Yum.

There were some new students in class.  3 people from the Phillipines and 2 from Vietnam.  The teachers asked for volunteers to help with the community center festival that will be held in October so I'm looking forward to that.  We'll be cooking and serving food.  And I think making mochi by pounding with a mallet.  Should be fun.  After I got home I roasted some potatoes and eggplant that I still had from the box from friends in Tokushima in my new pie plate.  I'm going to use them to make a fritatta tomorrow.

Today started out overcast with rain possible, so again I decided not to go to Kyoto.  But the sun came out so I got on my bike intending to head for the castle and an exhibit about Ii Naosuke - the lord of Hikone castle (it's his 200th anniversary).

I decided to stop for lunch right off the bat.  I've been wanting to try a ramen shop that a coworker told me about.

Not much to look at from the outside.

But yummy!  This is champon.  Like ramen but with vegetables.  Supposedly invented in this area.

Then I decided to go to my favorite vegetable shop which was nearby in Yonbancho Square.  I picked up some unusal things I haven't seen before.

I stirfried this and really liked it.  It has sort of a raw green pea flavor.

These say they are okra.  They're flowers and I'm not sure if they're from okra plants or are a totally different plant.
They told me to use them on a salad or wrap them with (Japanese) bacon (like ham) and saute.  I'll try them tomorrow.

I heard music when I left the store so I sat down to listen - they often have live music there on the weekends.  This time it was different bands from one of the colleges.  The weather was beautiful and the music was very nice so I spent a while there.

After a little while a foreign boy and Japanese girl came and asked me to go to a small event in one of the nearby buildings. (They were asking everyone but I was one of the few who went.)  The boy was from the Netherlands and is a high school exchange student with Rotary.  And it was a Rotary event - some food for sale (too bad I had just eaten), local vegetables, crafts, and this really fun game that was invented in Hikone.

The boy (yes boy) in the green was very good at the game.

The rules are like pool.  There are 2 teams and you use those little wooden disks to hit the red or green disks into the 'pockets' but flicking them.  See the picture in the middle.  It was quite fun.

I went back out and picked up some kiwi flavored ice cream in a pouch (strange but good - although not quite as good as the yuzu flavored frozen sake in a pouch), and sat back down read and listen some more.

As it softens a little you can just suck it out, sort of like a milkshake.

Shortly after I sat down a couple with 2 young children sat down next to me and the husband started talking to me in English.  It turns out they both attended community college in Fresno.  We had a nice chat and found out that we live close to near each other.  I'll see if anything comes of that.

Someone talked them into going up to the event and I decided that I had done enough sitting, although the music was really good, and I took off down the temple road headed for the castle.  It turned out that I'd already seen the exhibit but it's always nice to ride around the castle.

This is Ii Naosuke Lord of Hikone Castle

I had planned to stop at the supermarket for a red pepper for the fritatta but of course I didn't get out of there that easily.  I really don't know why I have absolutely no will power when I'm in a supermarket...

I have to say it really is nice to be able to get out and ride around (without getting heat stroke!!).