ゆ・ゆ・ゆ・ゆ暮らし

My husband and I had lunch at a Chinese restaurant after church.  Many people have Nanakuma-gayu on January 7th in Japan.  It is rice porridge cooked with seven spring herbs such as water dropwort, shepherd's purse, cudweed, chickeeed, henbit, turnip, and daikon radish.  This custom had some religious meaning in the Edo era,  but nowadays it is mainly to rest the overworked stomach throughout  the Christmas holidays and the New Year's holidays. The porridge at the Chinese restaurant was different from the Japanese one,  but it was really tasty and easy on my stomach.  It came with four kinds of condiments: chopped leek, chopped barbecued pork, Chinese wolfberry, and crushed cashew nuts.  I especially liked crushed cashew nuts.  教会の帰りに中華レストランへ。一月七日は七草粥の日。 七草粥の代わりに、中華粥セットを注文。 お腹に優しいお味にほっこり♡ 七草じゃないけど、お粥についてきた薬味？がとっても体に良さそう。 特に砕いたカシューナッツが絶妙に美味しかった😋

I visited Kyonanmachi with my husband. We made it a custom to visit there every New Year for several years now.  We had lunch at former Hota elementary school,  which was renovated as restaurants and shops.  We had fried horse mackerel in typical school lunch style.  It was delicious! After lunch, we drove to a highway rest area.  We parked the car there and started to walk to a hill.    Kyonanmachi is famous for daffodils.  The narrow pathway was filled with daffodils. I  deeply inhaled the scent of the beautiful flowers.  Some parts of the road to the hilltop was steep,  but thankfully we reached the top without much trouble.  （My husband looked like an ancient prophet😆) The view from the hilltop was breathtaking. We could see the shining sea far away. It was windy, but we enjoyed Sakuramachi, a traditional Japanese sweet for the spring, which I bought at a farmer's market in Hota elementary school.
 We were so grateful for being able to go there again,  especially after I had a