Koyo and Nabe

Nate and I were feeling in the mood to celebrate our time spent in Japan, so we took a nice family trip to Iwajimaya on Saturday, bought the necessary ingredients for nabe (Japanese hot pot), visited the Japanese gardens on Sunday and celebrated with our nabe after Eliana was in bed Sunday night. (We can't wait for next year when she will be able to eat all of it and stay up past 6:00 pm.)

This time of year is always one of the most beautiful in Japan with the koyo (leaves changing color). Autumn (koyo) and spring (sakura - cherry blossom time) are truly magical times in Japan and we reminisce about the time we lived there. What is so amazing about Japanese culture is that they celebrate these seasonal changes and use them as a way to spend their time; for example, if I were to ask someone what they did over the weekend, they would say, "I went to see the autumn leaves." Not only that, but they would have visited a temple, saw the autumn leaves and had a nice hot matcha (green tea) while sitting there taking in the beauty. We miss you, Japan, but we were able to celebrate the beauty here in Seattle as well.





Eliana loves to ride on the backpack of the Ergo. She can see all around and loves to be close to Mom/Dad.




















Looks the same color as acorn squash...


Doesn't really taste like that, though!