Autumn Festival and Goodbye to Kuimaru Primary School

Just when I thought all the eating parties were over, along comes the Flavours of Autumn Festival... not that I'm complaining! Far from it! So here we are with some more food photos - tochi mochi (horsechestnut mochi) being dished out by the lovely local lady here, and below with mushroom soup. And then jyaga mochi, made mostly from potato, looking mostly like a pair of fried eggs. Don't ask me how they did it! It was quite good although a little bit sweet, even for me. I didn't think I'd ever feel that way about anything, but then again life is full of surprises isn't it?




After the festival we went here, to the Kuimaru Primary School, soon to be demolished. It's such a great building and a beautiful spot that it's hard to believe it will be gone soon. The other half of the school will stay around long enough to be used as a set in a film and then it will be pulled down as well. Two local women are trying to start a community cafe called Kachi Kochi Cafe, and they were thinking this could be the perfect spot. But no, the local council decided it was a much better idea to destroy it. Hard to see the logic, and doubly heart-breaking because this was the second place they had found for the cafe only to be told it was going to be pulled down.

The Kachi Kochi Cafe girls decided to hold an event at the old school this afternoon to say goodbye. Quite a few families came along, and Mr T. (heh heh!) brought a whole lot of pumpkins to make jack o'lanterns! The kids drew the faces and he cut them out for them, lots of fun. There were kids everywhere running around, posing with their pumpkins, and checking out the campfire where sweet potatoes were being baked, nice to see. And yes, that's right, more food! Of course. And of course I totally overdid it! Oh well, all in the spirit of things I suppose.

I'm really hoping this cafe gets off the ground. It's exactly what we need around here. At the moment there's nowhere much to go in the village apart from the health centre and the public hall. There has to be a building somewhere around the place that's not about to be pulled down!!