Nara trip

 I live in Hyogo and it takes me about an hour to get to Nara by train, so I'd never stayed there even for one night before.

 This time, I booked a hotel for two nights and had a great time in Nara.

 On the first day, I climed up Wakakusayama hill after buying two daughnuts for brunch. I thought it wouldn't be hard to go to the top. It ended up being a bit challenging. I had to stop many times in the middle of the hill because it was too warm and the hill was steep. When I finally reached the top, I was sweating.

 There were a lot of deers there.

 I prefer the small ones. They look cute.

 I should've taken a picture of the daughnuts I bought near Nara station. They were really something.

 After relaxing on top of the hill, I went back to the city centre and looked for a place I could eat Yamato beef which is one of the most famous Japanese beef varieties. 

 Fortunately, I found a cafe that serves healthy food made from vegetables grown in Nara and ordered a humburger steak mixed with Yamato beef, Yamato pork and tofu.

 I was full and knackered, so I headed to the hotel soon after lunch.

La Collina

La Collina 

This is where I'd always wanted to go.

 This place is located in Oumihachiman, Shiga.

 It took me more than one and a half hours to get there by train. It would be better if you have a car;the parking space is huge, still I would recommend going there before lunch.

 I went inside, and the view was like this.

 It looks like an old Japanese house. The roof is covered with grass which is going to turn green towards summer.

 La collina is Italian and means hill in English by the way. This place is operated by Taneya and Harie.

 Taneya's signature is a wafer cake with sweet red beans and Harie's one is baumkuchen. I love both of them

 The best thing here is that you can enjoy their freshly made sweets. I had a castella with cream cheese and mandarin sauce. 

 This castella was not type of ones I'd ever had though. It was fluffy and still warm. I finished it in no time.

Fantastic

 Although I ate more, I forgot to take pictures of them. I bacame full two hours after coming here.

 I walked a lot in the city centre to get some space for food in the afternoon. There were many places to eat which attracted me. You can enjoy all day.

 I thought there was no place to see in Shiga, but there's a lot and how beautiful they are.

 I really had a good time.

Carrot cake

I made a cake at home for the first time in more than fifteen years.

A carrot cake

 I followed the recipe of Kurihara Harumi this time. It is rediculously easy to make and tastes really good. You don't feel strong carrot flavour in it, so it might be good for children who don't like vegetables. You can even make it with your kids thanks to this easy recipe.

 I've got another carrot cake recipe I want to try and I also want some icing on top next time.

 I'm rubbish at taking pictures as you can see. I must say I need to practise it if I keep on making sweets and posting their photos. 

 I was going to change my career, but thanks to one English baker, I changed my mind and decided to work as a pastry chef again. 

 I'm going to continue to challenge.

Cherry blossoms

I've been waiting for this time

Cherry Blossoms

I went to Osaka Castle Park with a friend of mine to see them.

The castle looked so amaizing! Magnificent!

When we stooped by the shrine near by, we bumped into the monkey show there.

The monkey's name was Mai and she was three.

She was so pretty and her performance was superb.

I wanted to take pictures of her, but I was busy finding a good place to see. Pity

We also enjoyed eating. We had takoyaki, crapes and so on. I could eat more, to be honest.

My dad set off to visit Nara in this early morning.

Now I'm starting to think about going somewhere to see cherry blossoms again.

I am happy to be Japanese.