Chronicles of 豚姉妹 Part 8: Farewell

After a nice trip at the Fukuyama Castle, it was time to return to Akiko's place to present the presents to the important people of the Ose Family!!



So lets start with the Apple crumble pie!!! This was specially made for Akiko's dad, but we all enjoyed it!!!!






















"Hot hot hot!!!!" But its all nice!!! Apple crumble pie the way it should be.. serve toasted and warm!!
Apple pie for you? This is really good! Well, she didn't exactly say that, but it was close to that.. :P

Look at the necklace Akiko-chan's mum is wearing.. Its hand picked by your truly and the 豚姉妹 shared the present for the beautiful mum's birthday coming next month (Well, more like it has passed since this entry is so late...)

And look at my earrings!!! Its a present from 亜貴子ちゃん!!!

The garden is so beautiful that sitting in the tatami room watching television felt so fresh when the plants outside are smiling at you..


That's all the time we have I guess, time to take the JR back to Hiroshima.. Its work tomorrow!! :(






I received these beautiful flowers from Akiko-chan's mother as お土産 (omiyage) presents... Aren't they beautiful?

They lastde more than a week in my.. erm.. water bottle.. HAhaha.. I had nothing to put the flowers in and I had to save on buying the vase, so I sacrificed my water botttle.. Haha.. Well, it can be washed right?

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Chronicles of 豚姉妹 Part 7: The Last Battle (in Fukuyama Castle 福山城)

Main article: The Last Battle
Completed in the spring of 1953 and published in 1956, The Last Battle chronicles the end of the world of Narnia. Jill and Eustace return to save Narnia from Shift, an ape, who tricks Puzzle, a donkey, into impersonating the lion Aslan.
So apparently my Fukuyama trip is so long that even splitting the story into 7 parts like Narnia isn't enough.. But every prefecture and every city in the prefecture has a castle.. There is one in Hiroshima, but in my opinion, its nt as nice as the one in Fukuyama..

So introducing my last battle in Fukuyama Castle aka Fukuyama Jyo福山城 aka Hisamatsu Jyo 久松城 aka Iyo Jyo　葦陽城

Within the castle grounds lies a beautiful Japanese style garden...
And the palace guard dog.. Haha.. joking.. its someone's pet.. I thought it was really cute.. Its actually a mixed breed.. can you guess what breed is its parents?





Papillion and Terrier!!! So cute right? Reminds me of Baby Spice of Spice Girls.. Haha..



And we were lucky that the sakuras in Fukuyama castle was still around, yet to wither.. But if you look at the grd, you can notice the sgn of withering.. bye bye sakuras..



Can you see the Cathedrel looking building in the background? That place is nto a church though.. its just a place for marriage ceremonies..
Apparently western style wedding are getting increasingly popular.. So there are such westernized buildings around for newly wed's wedding shots..
























The beautiful art museum was nearby, so the piggy sisters had the chance to take shots with different artistic structures..
The structure behind Akiko-chan is known as the Love Arch.. or something like that.. Oops... Pardon my bad memory.. But it looks nice right? Though art isnt in my genes, i thought it was special.. reminds me of something related to carebears though.. haha...

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Chronicles of 豚姉妹 Part 6: The Magician's Apple Pie

The Magician’s Nephew (1955)
Main article: The Magician's Nephew
Completed in the winter of 1954 and published in 1955, the prequel The Magician's Nephew brings the reader back to the very beginning of Narnia where we learn how Aslan created the world and how evil first entered it. The professor Digory Kirke (mentioned in "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe") and his friend Polly stumble into Narnia via an entirely different route. Many long-standing questions about Narnia are answered, such as how inter-world travel was made possible, how a lamppost came to be in a woodland and where the wardrobe came from.

I woke up to another sumptous breakfast in Akiko-chan's place in Fukuyama.. Akiko-chan's mother made a huge omelette for moi!! :D

After breakfast, we had some phototaking in Akiko's お母さん's garden.. Here I am with a bed of beautiful noseballs? I'm not sure what its called.. But the Japanese pronounciation is like no-zu bo-ru.. And tulips!!! In her garden!!!! Aren't they beautiful??
Akiko-chan's place has some sakuras.. And I think they're beautiful!!!! After a morning of phototaking, we proceeded to make the apple pie specially for Akiko's father because he loves apple pie!!!!

So here I am peeling the Apple with a fruit peeler.. Look at how long I managed to deskin the apple without Breaking the skin!!!!

Slice the apples and arrange it in anyway you like!After laying out the sliced apples on the pie crust, sprinkle crumble on the pie..
Den lay the pie sheet in any lattice form you like, with some shapes on top of the pie..

Bake.. and ta-da!!!!!
☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★ Apple Crumble Recipe

Ingredients:
One frozen pie sheet
2 apples (Peeled, cored and sliced)
1/2 cup white sugar
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup all purpose flour
6 tbsp butter

Directions:
Prehear oven to 40o degree F or 200 degree C
1. Thaw frozen pie sheet
2. Lay the pie sheet in the pie pan
3. Arranged sliced apples in pie pan on top of pie sheet
4. Mix sugar with Ground cinnamon
5. Spinkle 1/2 the cinnamon sugar mixture over the apples
6. Mix remaining sugar with flour
7. Cut the butter into the flour cinnmon sugar mixture till in resembles coarse bread crumbs
8.Spinkle crumble mixture over apples
9. Use remaining pie sheet to cut strips and form a crosss lattice on top of apple pie
10. Bake in oven for 35-40 mins or until apples are soft with slightly browned crumble topping
☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

While the pie was sitting in the oven, it was time for lunch!! We were going to have yaki soba!!! And Akiko-chan's mother was stir frying the vegetables while akiko-chan was stir-frying the pork!Me? I was just creating a havoc in the kitchen!!! HAHA!!
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Chronicles of 豚姉妹 Part 5: The Pig and Her Sister (BBQ Dinner)

Main article: The Horse and His Boy

Completed in the spring of 1950 and published in 1954, The Horse and His Boy is the first of the books that does not follow the previous one sequentially; instead, it takes place during the reign of the Pevensies in Narnia, an era which begins and ends in the last chapter of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The story is about Bree, a talking horse, and Shasta, a young boy, who have both been held (albeit separately) in bondage in Calormen, a country to the south of Narnia. By chance, they meet each other and plan their return to Narnia and freedom. On their journey they discover that the Calormenes are about to invade Archenland, and they plan to arrive there first to alert the King
Just to make it rhyme with Narnia's title.. Its actually a BBQ Dinner



So after our tiring 'voyage on the JR' , we walked home to a beautiful barbeque dinner!!! Mainly because we were eating in a beautiful garden.. As you can see the flowers planted by 亜貴子ちゃん's mother is simply a paradise in 亜貴子ちゃん's backyard.
And there are even Sakuras in 亜貴子ちゃん's garden... Aren't they beautiful?

And Barbeque!!!!! Eating fresh vegetables is such a great luxury for me.. Since I'm kind of deprived of fruits and vegetables here.. Its not that its so expensive I would die, ut I kinda got so thrift I feel I deserve an award.. I actually spend an average of $30 to $40 per week.. Less than what i spend in Singapore.. Maybe cuz I can't buy baking supplies? Hmmm...




The wonderful 尾瀬 (o-se) family that hosted me for a wonderful weekend in 福山.. (Fukuyama)

See any resemblance to 亜貴子ちゃん？Maybe her mum's beauty? :D
And the 豚姉妹!!!! (Ton shi mai)

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Chronicles of 豚姉妹 Part 3: The Voyage of the JR

After a nice sleep on a futon布団 in the Tatami畳 room, I woke up to a beautiful spread of breakfast!

Main article: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Completed in the winter of 1950 and published in 1952, The Voyage of the ‘Dawn Treader’ returns Edmund and Lucy Pevensie, along with their priggish cousin, Eustace Scrubb, to Narnia. Once there, they join Caspian's voyage to find the seven lords who were banished when Miraz took over the throne. This perilous journey brings them face to face with many wonders and dangers as they sail toward Aslan's country at the end of the world.
Well, since the movie isn't out, I figured I should give an introduction to the third book since most people would not have read it yet... neither have I... Wikipedia gives a summary of the third story.. Maybe reading the third summary won't make you as disappointed as readin the book before the movie as usual.. Haha..

Lets start with the morning at the JR station.. Akiko-chan checked out the timing of the JR's arrival and we waited for the JR at the Fukuyama station.. It was about a 45 minutes ride to Okyama Prefecture. 岡山県.

So 豚姉 and I chatted on the train on our way to Fukuyama.. And I caught some DIY shots... And Akiko-chan, as nice as usual, paid for my trip to Kurashiki.. (She said I would pay for the trip back to Hiroshima.. But in the end, I didn't.. :S)

After what felt like a twenty minutes instead of a 45 minutes, the voyage of the Japan Rail, JR ended.. And I arrived at Kurashiki!!! 倉敷

Here's the department stall at Kurashiki! No worries.. More entries on Kurashiki coming up soon... and also lame chronicles of 豚姉妹 too!! HAha...

The 豚姉妹's journey begins here!!!






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Chronicles of 豚姉妹 Part 2: Princess 豚姉: The Return to Fukuyama 福山

Sweetest Akiko-chan brought me back to her hometown, Fukuyama,which was also in Hiroshima prefecture, the second biggest city in Hiroshima Prefecture.. Hiroshima city is the biggest.. In case you're wondering what is 豚姉(Ton-shi) she's Akiko-chan.. HAha.. Yeah.. You have to read earlier entries to understand why she is called that..




Upon arrival, we were nicely welcomed by Akiko-chan's father.. He was waiting for us near the city hall where we alighted from the bus.. And we returned to a feast prepared by Akiko's mother.. There was great sushi and pork katsu sandwishes.. My personal favourite was 竹の子Takenoko, which is bamboo shoots.. The bamboo shoots in Japan is really different.. Its sweeter and has a slightly crunchy feel to it unlike the ones we have in Singapore which tends to be soggy..

And I saw something cute and amazing on Akiko-chan's fridge.. Not so much about the hanging Japanese charms, but if you look closely, you would see a Singapore fridge magnet!! Haha...
The king of Fukuyama was also the king of music.. Being such a music lover, Akiko-chan and her brother (Prince of Fukuyama) (I better stop my lameness..) had a guitar stand custom made for their daddy... I thought it was really cool and it was custom made!!! Wad more to ask?
My limited information of Chronicles of Narnia will increase via the next few entries.. Haha.. Check out Part 3 of Narnia.. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

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Chronicles of 豚姉妹 Part1: The desert, the bus and the mysterious toilet

My Sister pig, Akiko-chan was nice enough to take me away from Hiroshima City to the nice little town of Fukuyama... The entire week was so boring because all I could wait for was the weekend with Akiko-chan..

Mito-san's wife opened a patissiere recently in 牛田、広島. Lucky for us becasue his wife was so nice to make deserts for him to bring to pigs like me!!!!

So here is the desert I had on Thursday, 10th April!! Its coconut pudding with edamame on top of it!!!

On the day of departure before going to Fukuyama, there was another round of deserts!!!

We had whipped cream swiss roll with Choux Cream!!! Woohoo!!! hurray to Mito-san!! ありがとうございます!!!

And Akiko-chan and I happily left the office to buy our bus tickets to go Fukuyama... And it was gonna be a two hour bus ride, So all I could do was sleep, and take a few photos.. the bus ride was bout 1890 yen.. So almost $30.. Distance?? Like going M'sia?

And obviously there was a jam...
Something interesting about the bus was the toilet in it...
Ever wonder how this flush? Well, if you notice, there is this piece of plastic in the toilet bowl...

Den do your dirty business.... and when you flush, it just wraps your crap away and replaces with a new piece of plastic!!

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