Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Grow, grow, grow

Today I'd like to show you something interesting.















Guess what! Can you tell what this is?
Just say it.

















The answer is... a cabbage stalk!


In late April, I bought a cabbage and used some.
However, in May as I told you in my last publishing, I caught a cold and couldn't cook very often.
I just left the cabbage in the refridge for weeks.


After recovering from the cold, I pulled the cabbage out of the refridge, to find that, it's grown a shoot!


I used all the rest of the leaves in several days, and put the shoot in a glass of water with an attempt to grow it.













the shoot that was just removed all of the leaves



About ten days passed. It was yesterday, and I happened to take a glance at the shoot.
What I found was, oh my gosh, a stalk has grown from the shoot!













And it's blooming. Wow.

It was the first time I saw a cabbage shoot, let alone its stalk.
A new discovery. I didn't know cabbage flowers are such pretty.


Have you ever found the unusual appearance of some familiar vegetables?

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Early-summer flowers & leaves

In Japan, May is a comfortable season; no longer cold, not yet boiling-hot, and not yet muggy unlike the rainy season tsuyu in June and July.
Plus, it is very pleasant in May: everywhere I look there are young fresh leaves with unbelievabliy beautiful green. I just love May.

However, unfortunately enough, I caught a very bad cold in the early May this year, so I just stayed home.
About three weeks later, since it was so fine a day, I couldn't help rushing out into a nearby park, to enjoy seeing pretty flowers and greens there.










a blossom of a tuliptree











A fruit of sakura (cherry) blossom!
Unlike those round and big cherry fruits that we are familiar with, these tiny blossom fruits have little edible part and don't taste good. Did you know it?











Ginkgo young leaves














a kind of iris











I don't know the name of these blossoms but they were pretty.


Oop! I feel a bit dizzy... seems like I haven't fully recoverd from the cold. Just go home and take a rest...


YOU must take care not to catch a cold!! Have a nice day.