Making the Persimmon Leaf Tea

Hello, how are you?

Do you know persimmon leaf tea?

I've never known that before I had it here.
It is dark color and a little bit sweet.
It's a good flavor! ( Actually it has a lot of Vitamin C.)

This tea is made from persimmon tree in Sanae's garden!
She makes tea by herself.
She makes everything...wow!!

I'd like to introduce about the persimmon tree and some trees in her garden:)

This is a persimmon tree. Most of leaves have already fell down.
I picked up these leaves and washed them one by one.
I could wash properly because leaves were strong.
And then, I wiped them one by one, and put in baskets for the drying.
It took a long time.

These leaves are very pretty!
I've never notice that persimmon leaves are so beautiful,
even though there is a persimmon tree in my parents' garden.

I want to try to make the tea next autumn in Japan.

There are many trees which have fruits.

This is an orange tree.
Oranges are huge!
That looks really heavy.

This is a lemon tree.
It's a bright yellow, very fresh!

This is an avocado tree.
There are some avocados.
Viva Santa Monica!!

Seed sell persimmon leaf tea only in the holiday term.
It's lovely!!

I appreciate the blessings of nature.
I hope you enjoy the tastes of the season.

My first Macrobiotic cooking class

Hello!  I'm Aya, from Japan.
I'm staying at Macrobiotic Studio mugen in Santa Monica (It's next to Eric and Sanae's house.) since the end of Nov.
It had been raining when I arrived in Santa Monica.
It was good weather yesterday, but it looks like rain today :(

        


This is a neighborhood around Studio mugen.  It is very quiet and beautiful area.
These trees are really tropical to me compare to Japan because branches and roots are interesting shapes.






BTW, This is the first Macrobiotic class of 12 series.
I'd never learned Macrobiotic cooking before I came to Santa Monica,
so it was my first experience.
It was lectured about Macrobiotic thinking and truth, and then I learned how to cook brown rice.
Even though it is all called "Brown rice", actually there are many different types.
Many natural markets in America sell grains and beans by weight, so we can buy small amounts.
It is very convenience!

This compared the different type of brown rice and pots, which were a stainless steel one, a pressure cooker and donabe (ceramic pot).

When brown rice cooked, there were a lot of holes.
This was a sign of delicious rice!
Wow! It was good smell :))

Sanae made Goma-shio. (sesame and salt)
Goma-shio is traditional Japanese food, but I've never made Gomo-shio by myself because we usually buy it at a store.
We washed sesame seeds, toasted and ground them.
It took a long time, but was so nice smelling and very tasty!
It was amazing!!


I think Macrobiotic use common foodstuffs and cook in simple ways.
It's important that we make by hands.


My Macrobiotic life started this day.
I'm a just beginner in Macrobiotic and also blog.
I try to learn it and share my experiences.
( My English is not good, so it's a challenge!)

Thank you very much.
Aya