Welcome to having food dreams

I enjoy eating food in my dreams too. I usually have the taste of food in my mouth when I wake up from my food dreams. But Andrew doesn't have these kinds of dreams. He finally ate "Blueberry Cheese Cake" in his dream last week. (That's why I baked it another day) It was his first time. I am happy for him.
The picture below is of brownies. I put marshmallows on the batter and baked it.

Small habit

I have a small habit in the morning during the winter. I look for something that you can see only on cold days.
Here is a close-up photo in the same direction as the first. When the sky is clear in the winter, I can see Mt. Fuji clearly from my house. I feel little happier when I can see the mountain.

Happy belated Birthday!

Andrew's birthday was January 4th. We couldn't celebrate his birthday because we were on a plane returning from Canada. I decided to surprise him 10 days later after his birthday. I baked a cake one day before and hid it with a present in our house. I put candles on the small cake and sang Happy Birthday to him.

I know he likes lemon cake. I chose to make a lemon blueberry cheesecake. First of all, I pressed cookies crumbs into the bottom of my tin and baked it.

I prepared lemon peel and juice using a new grater I bought in Canada. This tool is a star in my kitchen. I can grate much more lemon peel with the grater than my old one.
I mixed cream cheese, an egg, sugar, lemon juice and lemon peel together.

And I poured blueberries over the cream cheese mixture.

After I baked it, I hid the cheesecake in a secret place.

I liked the cake because it had a good lemon taste. The birthday boy liked it too. He liked the bottom crust a lot.

Flakes of Snow

I've seen snow few times in the area where I live. Snow never accumulates on the ground though. You can see some small flakes in the movie I took this morning, but it was only a light flurry. You need to look very carefully to see the snow.

Oranges

On the way back home from work, I found oranges were on sale near my house.
In the area where I live, many neighbors grow oranges. Some people sell oranges by their yards. They pack the oranges in plastic nets, write a price on a board and leave a box for money. I like that they let us buy oranges this way. I see this system used for selling vegetables and fruit when I go out of the city.
Anyways, I was happy to find these oranges today because they each ripen in different seasons and I was waiting for them. One type are navel oranges and the other type are ponkan oranges. I bought one of each bag.

Christmas vacation in Canada

Today is first Sunday since I came back from Canada. I haven't organized the stuff I got in Canada. Instead, I am relaxing and enjoying doing nothing at home. I had a really great winter vacation in Canada with my husband's family. I was very happy to see them and to meet my little nephew for the first time. I had a chance to see many of his parents' friends at their 40th wedding anniversary party. They were all nice to me and I was surprised they went overseas lots of times and knew details of Japan. I enjoyed talking with all of them. One of my favorite things is visiting supermarkets. I know I can never be satisfied with how many times I visit them, but I could go to many stores during this visit. On a trip to Toronto this time, my husband showed me where he used to live and work, as well as his favorite shops. I got many Christmas presents including cooking tools, cooking books, a DVD and more. I wish I could have stayed there a little longer but I am glad we had an enjoyable trip to Canada.

Ayako's new and improved blog

Dear my friends, family visitors to my blog.
It has been one year since I started this food blog. I have decided to write my blog in English in 2010. At the same time, I will also start to write about my daily life and my thoughts. I think it is good for my family and friends overseas, especially for my best friend in France, who reads my blog in English using translation software. (I love you Luz!). Also I hope it is good way for me to practice writing English. I will have to ask for some help from my husband, Andrew, at beginning to correct my grammar mistakes, but I hope I will keep improving and won't need his help someday.