Hanami and you

As promised, it was an eventful weekend and for the first time in several weeks, we actually felt like there was some space between Friday and Monday. The weather can't decide weather it's chilly or warm but the cherry blossoms have put their collective foot down and declared Spring officially here. After all the work parties, the last thing I probably needed was more rich food and drink, but that didn't stop us heading to Shukugawa with our little picnic swag. Tarp below, trees above and good times in between.

She's got legs, she knows how to use them

We spent most of Saturday getting things organised and preparing food, both for hanami and a dinner party that we had asked Mel and Adam to for that evening. We had a lot of time hanging around the house thanks to the bed people, who had in true delivery company style, told us that they would be arriving "between 9 and 6". We were nervous about this because the last attempt at buying one died off the second the delivery men saw our tiny staircase and abandoned ship; we had to go back and buy one that came in pieces and had a folding mattress. Thankfully, this time they got it into the room without issue, bolted it all together for us in about 10 minutes and left with all the cardboard and plastic just as quickly. The cosiness of the apartment instantly doubled and Lisa found herself quite unable to say anything except we have a bedroom for the next hour. Sleeping in a bed felt like putting on shoes and realising you've actually just been tying mousepads to your feet for the past 15 months.

A cat bra may also have been involved

In the meantime, we had oven trays a-baking, pasta pots a-boiling and frypans of bacon a-frying, ready for Mel and Adam's arrival. To start with, we made little cheese and olive bread rolls, asparagus wrapped in bacon and mushrooms sauteed in garlic and butter and remarkably didn't set anything on fire in the process. For main we had a creamy salmon pasta, ending up with about twice as much as we actually needed and turning the leftovers into pasta salad for the next day. Perhaps the highlight though was Lisa's lemon cake, which for some reason didn't rise and for some other reason was 10 times better as a result. It ended up like a syrupy tart, eggy and buttery on the inside with a crispy shell - in celebration I made cream cheese icing for it and there are just no words. Mel demanded seconds and then seemed to seriously consider thirds, only deciding not to because she might have physically popped. Despite the near-combustion, it was lovely to catch up with all the news and they didn't leave until deep into the night.

Shoes: also good for holding down tarps

We eventually emerged in the morning with just enough time to get everything into tubs and bags and headed out to meet again in Shukugawa, a few train stops away. We wandered down the banks of the river until we found ourselves a good spot, unrolled the tarp next to a park bench and got out our snacks. Despite still feeling a bit grim from the night before, we had bought cans of beer covered in cherry blossom designs and it seemed a shame to let them go to waste. Not to be outdone by our food efforts the night before, Adam had made a frittata to go with the rest of the spread. This could be the start of a beautiful, fattening friendship.

Get out of my way, smiling photo posers

The Shukugawa area is basically a lazy stretch along the river lined with hundreds of cherry trees - one of the best spots to go in our area. The official opening dates and ceremonies were delayed this year which must have wrong-footed a lot of potential guests; while it was still quite lively, the crowds weren't heaving and it made for a nice peaceful walk along the river. The blossoms weren't quite out in all their glory yet, but it still made for a very picturesque scene.

And great burgers

As usual, the food and game stalls sprawled the length of the festival and as usual, they made sure that you could eat the mascot. So Lisa was finally reunited with her sakura ice cream, but the others didn't seem quite so smitten with it as she was ("It tastes like perfume," was the consensus). We continued down to the other end, where the crowds abruptly dispersed and the narrow river opened out into a big, grassy mouth. I imagine even that bit will be mobbed in a week's time, but for the moment it seemed to be a nice break from all the shouting sellers and gales of drunken laughter. We crossed the bridge over to the other side and gradually made our way back to our tarp, stopping for the odd photo op where the flowers were at their best.

Stunning... and the flowers aren't bad either

By this stage the day was getting on so after finishing off the last of our food, we packed up and headed home. All up it was a beautiful day and a great way to finish off the weekend. This definitely isn't the last we'll see of hanami 2011 though - on Tuesday we're heading out to see what's happening in our local area and on Saturday we're going out to an official event in Akashi. If I was wondering where the crowds were this weekend, I won't be by that stage; expect the next batch of cherry blossom photos to be full of mobile phones and backs of heads.

Needs more frowning old people