June started with making rakkyo pickles and ume work.  

Welcome drink was ume juice made from fully ripened ume.

Hydrangeas were in full bloom in the garden, and we used them for table flowers.

The Japanese cooking class served early summer dishes: rice cooked with fresh onion, tofu steak with hydrangea sauce, pot-au-feu of white fish, and okonomiyaki with bean sprouts and Chinese chives.Butterfly pea soup with barley, and milk pudding with sweet red bean paste.

We made several kinds of sauces using ume jam made from fully ripened ume. We also made soup using butterfly peas because the refreshing blue is the color of hydrangea.

Afternoon tea class was afternoon tea in early summer.

Cheesecake with pearl barley, red bean scones, ume bread, and sesame bread with pearl barley.

Tea was Darjeeling First Flush and Fresh Herb Tea

Overseas guest was from the U.S.A.

She came for making Japanese sweets and tea ceremony.

She made Daifuku very well and made Matcha tea very well for her first experience in Chanoyu.

We are sure that she will continue to make Japanese sweets and drink matcha when she returns to the U.S.

There was one more exciting thing that happened!

We had a photo shoot for a recipe book, where we made 20 different kinds of food and had our pictures taken.

We were thrilled and thankful for the opportunity to cook!

We met a lot of guests this month, talked a lot, and learned a lot. Thank you very much.

I also want to thank all of you who have been supporting us on social networking sites. I look forward to working with you again next month.