Picking Strawberries ...

First grapes - now strawberries. Japanese people sure do love their fruit.

Naoko made Sunday afternoon plans for her, me, Yumi, Daniel, Ayaka and Misaki to visit a strawberry farm. The only thing we had to do while we were there was eat strawberries. Sign me up for that. :)
We got there, paid 1500 yen a person and a farmer looking man led us to our designated 'strawberry houses'. Once inside, we were handed a small pair of scissors and a plastic bag. I think the farmer man probably had a stopwatch because when we said 'GO!', we had exactly 30 minutes to eat as many strawberries as we could. The door way was like a starting line at a relay. I quickly figured out that these people were serious about strawberry consumption. On your marks .... Get set ...

Inside the strawberry house was what seemed like endless rows of strawberries ...

The directions were simple: walk up and down the rows of strawberries, find one that looks good, snip it with your scissors, blow on it to get any dirt off, and eat up. Put the top in your plastic bag and move on. Take two steps and repeat.

Naoko's a strawberry lover:

Daniel was pleasantly surprised by how sweet they were.
Japanese strawberries are way better than American strawberries.

I don't know what it is about Japanese fruit, but it's all huge. The strawberries were no exception.

I was dared to eat it all in one bite:
Ayaka, Misaki & Yumi

Daniel tried the green ones (which reminded me of the story of eating green tomatoes at grandma and grandpa's house) and the verdict was that they are nasty. I wasn't feeling real hot so I wasn't up for eating green things.

Despite the fact that I wasn't feeling particularly well that afternoon, picking strawberries was definitely a success. It's always fun to do things with the fam (especially when your family is as awesome as mine) and it's even more fun when we manage to drag Daniel along.

Total strawberry count ... Naoko - 40. Daniel - 45. Misaki & Ayaka combined - 50 Tara - 30. I thought I ate a lot and I came in last place. Good thing we didn't have any money on it. :)

much love

-tara-

xx