Hawaii trip2

I am back in melbourne after 3 week holiday in Hawaii. I wished the time would last forever and didn't have to come back. I wished II could stay there and forget about all the worries and troubles I would have to face once I am back in Melbourne ( reality...). I knew at the same time that it is not possible and also that is not good for me to ignore them.
The trip was a great experience for me and my daughter.
Here are some things that we did.

Bishop museum (fascinating exhibition on the people and cultures on the different pacific islands, life in and out of the waters. It also had a special exhibition on dinosaurs.
-Swimming at one of the most famous beaches in the world, Waikiki beach
-Lolani palace, where King Kalakaua and his sister and successor queen Liliuokalani lived
- Going for a walk, browsing shops and street performers and artists after dinner.
Sampling some good foods in Hawaii
Going for a tropical bush walks.
-Learning about volcanoes and how Hawaii was formed
-watching Hula dancers and pacific dancers perform
-exploring Hawaii's tropical fish turtles, jellyfish and other ocean life at Ocean centre in Maui
-Collecting and touching rocks and little creatures in a rock pool
-going to farmers markets, where beautiful local and some organic foods are sold
-drinking fresh coconut juice and eating bananas, papayas, mangos and avocados that are just dropped from a tree
-seeing some amazing water falls and scenery
-eating famous rainbow shaved ice
going for a horse riding in a bush
-my daughter didi a dolphin quest where she could touch, swim and kiss dolphins
-learning a few hawaiian words
-having more time to communicate and understand what's going on with my daughter's life, enjoying her company
-seeing my mum for the first time in a year and half. Catching up with her was one of the main reasons of this holiday




I have tio say one of the things I enjoyed was going to a natural organic stores. There are plenty of them in Hawaii and products that are stocked there are so exciting. I could find all the things that I find in Australia and all the other things that are new and I haven't heard of.
There are lots of raw food products.
Many such stores have vegetarian deli sections they are always busy and it is easy to see and taste why.....

hawaii trip

finally I am in Hawaii!
I had been researching and planning and looking forward to this holiday for a such a long time.
I don't have much at the moment so I will post all about the trip when I get back. But let me tell you I love this place! I went to Big Island first for a week and now I am in honolulu. going to Maui tomorrow. So far Hilo in big island was my favourite. Honolulu is so busy! but I did enjoy the buzz in the city as well. trying new things, eating new things, meeting new people. It has been such a wonderful experience.
Organic is pretty big here as well. lots of local foods and farmers market. there are many organic stores like Down to Earth and Wholefoods. so many new exciting products I cant get in Australia too.
I looove this place!

Aloha

Le paysan

We travelled to Kagawa in Shikoku Island to try out this vegetarian french restaurant, Le paysan

They sometimes use dairy but they have lots of things without it.

the food was fantastic!

You know when you go to a restaurant and order something. and then you think "I can make that easy and probably it will taste better...."

well, this was NOT it! the dish was very creative and you could

tell they spent lots of time and effort and of course took the skill

to prepare all the dishes.

the staff was knowledgeable and friendly.

enjoyed the experience a lot.

after the conference we went back to Tokyo and did a bit of touristy stuff.

there was the earth market happening too. We bought packets of sun-dried Shitake flakes, which I never come across before! My daughter is not a big fan of mushroomy things but this she liked it.

I also bought a shirt made of bamboo fabric. Bamboo is an excellent material to use because they grow pretty quickly.

We had a lunch at Brown Rice Cafe deli. very interesting menus. hard to decide what to buy but very happy with our decision in the end. japanese style lunch box and brown rice inari topped with roasted veges. yummmmm

the entrance

The home for the next three nights.

It was bigger than I expected. Knowing that we were to share the house with another person I was relieved to meet this gentle lady from Kyoto. Unfortunately we didn't have much time to do much once we got back to the house as it was always late after intensive days at the conference.

surrounded by thick old trees.

Kushi institute conference

finally I can post about Kushi Macrobiotic Conference!

It was held in Yamanashi, surrounded by beautiful old trees and clean air!!

On the first day we had a welcoming party and of course that means....

THE FEAST!!!

The buffet menu was

quinea salad in a plate of chicory

steam salad

cold cabbage roll

soy and vegetable mini burger

kidney bean corochette

gratin with autumn vegetables

brown rice with sun dried daikon

brown rice udon noodle

green tea mousse

It was so good to be there with like-minded people. This was my first conference for me and I didn't know what to expect but I had a very good feeling already. holding my daughter's hand I was so excited about the new experience I was about to have.

Because we couldn't stay another night at Shalom Hutte, we travelled down south of Nagano to stay at Yoshi Yoshi minsyuku.

I was sad to leave Shalom but when I met the host from Yoshi Yoshi I felt positive about the stay already. Carrying an one year old boy he rushed around to find a toilet for layla! (,who didn't want to use Japanese squat style toilet)

And the meals were fantastic!!!

Very different from European style dishes at Shalom Hutte. The meals here were traditional Japanese,

touch of Shoushin (Buddhist temple meals) Lots of things I haven't tried before and I really liked it.

Next day the host took us to his farm.

we pulled a couple of daikons, sweet potatoes.

There are soy beans, millet and even rice too.

Next day my daughter joined me in Tokyo and went out for lunch in Nezu.

This is the shop I wanted to visit for a while. It has a quite good range of organic groceries as well as fresh fruits and vegetables.

Lunch here is organic and macrobiotic. home style Japanese meal.

we ordered a set menu which changes daily.

As some people know, I am in Japan at the moment. I will be here for another 2 months or so. Japan is where macrobiotic philosophy started.

I still have my parents living in Ehime-ken in Japan and that's where I am staying mainly. However my daughter and I have just come back from the central Japan, greatly experiencing the macro community. And I have to say it was one of the best experience I have had in a long time!

I just loved it so much.

It was so condensed so lots to write. I will post slowly...

On Tuesday I flew to Tokyo for the final seminer to finish off the correspondent study that I had been doing.

this is where the seminer was held

little cafe down stairs as well as selling some macrobiotic groceries

This is what we made on the day.

Brown rice - cooked with a pressure cooker, Osawa pot, and

ceramic pot. The texture of the rice are different

depending on how its cooked.

Osumashi (vegetable soup) - good stock is very important for this

light soup

Nimono with hijiki, carrot and shitake mushrooms

Nishime with sweet seasonal vegetables -calm energy is created

by cooking gently. Yin and yang energy can be

altered by changing the way the vegetables are

layered

sweet and sour tempeh

grain coffee jelly with soy cappuccino topping - here they used the

grain coffee with barley and chicory