Birthday weekend report...

Dear Gramma,
I am doing well out here in the small town of Shichinohe. How are you? 
I hope you're doing great. I miss you a whole bunch.
I first wanted to thank you very *very* much for the generous birthday present. I put it to good use during my birthday weekend! It happened to be a long weekend in Japan, as well as Canada, so my birthday was a holiday here, too. I like to think of it being a holiday in those countries cuz it’s my birthday and I’m just that special.

To the gates of Hell and back again.

When I realized there was a Mt Fear in Aomori, I knew I had to go there. The same location also has the Buddhist equivalent of the river Styx (the Sanzu River) and the gate to Hell it was believed by followers of Buddism to be the doorway to hell... I'm surprised it took me this long to get up there, actually. We got up early and headed out (I packed myself a bento of Roctober Curry) to the Shimokita peninsula to the desolate, yet eerie beauty that awaited us there. I told my office co-workers where I planned to go on the weekend, and they kept (jokingly) telling me that I was going to Hell.

Roctober Curry/Soup...

The minute the sun gets to the tree line and the shadows start to creep across the ground, reaching out to give you goosebumps where the sun had so recently warmed your skin, you shiver and desire a nice warm dinner in your belly and a cup of tea in your hands.

Or maybe it's just me and my refusal to stop wearing shorts and skirts while there are clear skies and temperatures above 15 Celsius. I want my freckles to stick around and to stockpile the delicious-and-cheery-mood-maintaining vitamin D.

Omnomnom.

However, it's also a nice, thick soup. So, I don't know what to tell you. :P

In keeping with the changing leaves, this dish includes many shades of orange, yellow and red (with some hints of green, of course, there are always some leaves that just refuse to change.)

Aaaaanyway.

Roctober Curry