Typhoon Number 12 rips through Shikoku

This is quite a record, to have a second, massive, vicious typhoon ripping through the Japanese archipelago within such a short span of time... 

The eye of the typhoon had cut across Kochi Prefecture in the south and through Kagawa Prefecture, and is now slowly creeping towards Okayama Prefecture...   

After experiencing blistering winds and rains for hours, it was surreal to witness a momentary calm as the eye dawned upon where we live... 

I changed into my rain-gear and made a quick inspection of the potager...

Oooh, how heart-wrenching it was to see damage inflicted...
the okra plants, twisted...
the purple corn plants, contorted with some stems broken in the middle... 

the moroheya bush, mutilated...
the Fuji-mame (hyacinth bean) vines, badly torn... and the pumpkin plants, brutally beaten... 
Oh well, this is god's way of doing things... 
Luckily, other 'low-lying' plants like sweet potatoes, chillies, malabar spinach did not suffer much damage...
The rains and winds began to resume...
I promptly harvested some okra, amaranth, long beans, and chillies...
and made a quick dash back into the house...

Anyway, two days ago before cycling off to work, I recorded this Hime-hasu, literally Princess Lotus...

This is a gift from an elderly gentleman whom I have known since 1997...

It is actually a mini lotus, rather small compared to the 'normal' large ones...

This was the only lotus flower we had this season...

I had requested my sweeto haato to cut the flower and bring it into the house...

The following day, to our pleasure, it bloomed beautifully...

I was quite intrigued with how tiny the seed pod is...

The seeds do not develop into the roundish seeds we see in larger specimens... 

Now, our pear trees are pretty pathetic...

Or rather, their fruits are...

They are so 'teeny-weeny'...

In the words of my missus, 'the size of ping-pong balls'...

Harvested a few days ago this Kodama Suika aka Mini Watermelon...

Their skin is exceptionally thin when compared to the 'normal' watermelons...

They tasted just as good and we have kept the seeds for next season...

And like the Hime-hasu, seems like the Japanese folks are doing a great job creating mini versions of such plants... 

In addition, there is also a Bochan Kabocha, mini pumpkin so to say...

Will definitely try to grow them as well, from seeds next season...

The harvest continues...

Was thrilled to have a week off from the university...

In this 'o-bon' (all souls?) season, the Japanese folks take time off from work to pay respects to their deceased ancestors...

For me, this presents an excellent opportunity for me to spend time in the potager...

Still, the heat is a bit too stifling...   

Which need not necessarily be a bad thing...

For I can sweat it out in the mornings when it is still rather tolerable...

And after my tea break at 10:00 am, I get into a change of gear and head out to the sea...

For the first time since we moved here years ago, I am truly beginning to cherish the joys of  frolicking at the sea...

Each day, thankfully, we have something to harvest...

Pumpkin, which weighed about 1.9 kilograms...

Cucumbers so crunchy and fresh...

Tomatoes so sweet and juicy...

We dug out our potatoes some time ago...

The harvest was not the best we had...

No complains though, as the scales tipped at a little over 3 kilograms...

And my sweeto haato turned the potatoes into this...

A mixture of several ingredients...

Urmmm... simple yet heavenly it was...

Was never successful with water melons, so to say...

But this season, not too bad... 

This one was about 1.6 kilograms...

Just nice for the two of us, for two fruit-courses after lunch...

The bitter gourds are turning out pretty well... 

And as the label implies, they are truly bitter although we should say that 'bitter' stuff is not one of our weak areas...

The watermelon as it was...

Juicy, sweet, and sooo refreshing when consumed in the heat of summer...

Chillies, figs, pumpkins, watermelons

As always, autumn here is so pleasant.
The air is dry and cool... only thing is the remaining few pesky mosquitoes...
Been enjoying the garden all along and ignoring the blogging...



This is a picture of the chillies I am growing this season.
The roundish ones are the so-called (second by now?) hottest chilly, habanero.
It is really hot but soaked in vinegar, it is quite lovely especially with noodles.
The greenish one is jalapeno, thick flesh and crunchy, not too hot...
The slim, red, longish one is called taka-no-tsume in Japanese, literally, claws of the falcon...
The whitish one is really flagrant and spicy... brought the seeds from my village in Kedah...
And finally, the classic big red chilli, which is called super chilly here...

Think I mentioned before that figs is one of my all time favorite fruits.
Was invited by a Japanese friend to harvest from his field.
Wooh, heavenly it was to stroke the fruits right off the trees...

Was quite successful with pumpkins this year.
The dark green ones are really tasty, with a chestnut-like flavor.
The elongated, yellow ones are called spaghetti pumpkins...
The flesh is somewhat like noodles, am looking forward to eating them.

And tha-da... watermelons from my garden...
This one weighed about 800 grams, not too big but sufficient for two...
Sweetness was alright and ooh, what a feeling to sink my fangs into the juicy meat...