Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Sweet Seasons / April 2008 - Butterfly -


"Butterfly" by Nishigawaya

This wagashi reminded me of a white butterfly flying over a carpet of yellow nanohana (field musterd?) flowers. A charming sight which I really love to see every spring.






I'm not sure what these pink stripes are supposed to be, but without them this wagashi would look rather boring, IMHO.


Nanohana (field mustard) on the riverbank near my place


In a way, this looks like a lovely gift box tied with a ribbon. :)


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16 comments:

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

So refined and pretty!

Cheers,

Rosa

Mama Mia said...

kirei!!! Wagashi daisuki~!

Anonymous said...

I think it looks kind of like egg sushi. Except with pink nori and green rice. XD And a butterfly! Was it yummy?

Anonymous said...

oh! And they're called "rapeseed" or "rape blossoms." The flowers, I mean.

Charlotte-Ann Photography said...

Truly beautiful; I love the imagery of the butterfly and the field. I’m amazed how something so simple can be so poignant.

Hollywood Tai Tai said...

Obachan, you always make me hungry. I like your sweet-looking Wagashi. The yellow side looks a little like sponge though. Where I come from, we have a cake that looks like this and it's called 'Wa Kor Kueh'.

I found a little trivia, seems like the largest rape blossom field in Japan is found in Yokohama, Aomori. http://www.jnto.go.jp/tourism/en/10.html

Anonymous said...

Hello Obachan-Shibaraku desu ne!
Your wagashi photos are stunning!
You must be taking many more shots than you post because your photos keep improving amazingly so. WOW! Honto ni sugoi desu!
Rei

bunbun said...

Hello, I just found your blog, and I am so glad/delighted that I did! It is wonderful. I cannot wait to look through the archives! Beautiful photos and baking ideas! I know I will learn so much!!

Anonymous said...

These are so beautiful! I wish I could make these.:)

Anonymous said...

Obachan, I always look forward to your wagashi posts. It reminds me that at least once a month, I should indulge in a small tea break with a nice sweet. It rests the body and mind :)

obachan said...

Rosa
Thanks.

Lina
Watashimo wagashi daisuki desu.

Tindy
Egg sushi! Yeah, it does look like that.
To tell you the truth, the taste was a bit disappointing. I wished the yellow top layer was moister...

Thanks for the name of the flowers. Knowing the correct name makes me feel more comfortable about writing about them.

My bento diet
I agree.

BTW, I saw your lovely bentos on your blog and especially loved your rice mice. :D

Hollywood tai tai
To be honest, I was worried that someone might mention scotch bright sooner or later ... LOL

Rei
Ohisashiburi! :D
Yeah, I do take lots of shots and pick a few good ones which accidentally turned out good. (So glad that someone invented digital camera! I would have gone bankrupt if I had been using a film camera.

Bunbun
Thanks for your nice comment. And I love your profile photo -- the mushroom is so cute!

Anonymous commenter
Yeah, I wish I could make something like this, too. It must be difficult to make those two layers properly stick together...

Christine
Oh, thanks! It makes me feel so good to know that my posts are healing someone. Like I always say, I feel so rewarded.

 gmirage said...

So cute!

Anonymous said...

Another piece of amazingly beautiful food art. :)

Anonymous said...

Very pretty..!! i won't wanna eat it.. :)

Charlotte-Ann Photography said...

Obachan: Thank you for visiting blog! I view your blog as and inspiration for mine; I hope that someday mine will be half as interesting as yours! :D

Oh, if you get a chance, I posted pictures of our trees finally blossoming! We don't have cherry trees, but we do have a plum tree and two apple trees. The pictures on my blog are of the plum tree as the apple trees have a few day or a week before they bloom. Each tree blossoms at different times so we get 3 times the amount of flowers :D

obachan said...

Mirage2g
Yep, it is! :)

Mako
Yeah, I like this design. (I wished that it tasted as good as it looked, though...)

Crunchasarus rex
Honestly, when I am served a wagashi at tea ceremony, I have no hesitation to cut it and eat it no matter how cute or pretty it is. But after taking many photos of it like this -- trying to bring out its beauty as much as I can -- it's way harder for me to destroy the beautiful creation to eat it. Funny.

My bento diet
Oh, you are being too humble. Your bentos are so charming and at the same time, pretty healthy!

I saw your photos of the blossoms. They are so beautiful! To tell you the truth, I've never seen real apple blossoms. Not many people grow apples here -- maybe because the climate is so hot and humid? So when I read about how beautiful apple trees are when they are blooming -- in "Anne of Green Gables," for example -- I wished that I could be there and eat bento or have afternoon tea under an apple tree. You're lucky.