Having enjoyed the blossom outside yesterday, today we celebrated indoors, at the annual hanami party at Namikibashi Nakamura .
The circumstances were very different from last year. But the atmosphere just as enjoyable.
The crew cooked up a storm...
And as always there was sake aplenty.
Three kura were represented, all from Tohoku, including Iwaki Kotobuki (below, closest), which until last year was in Fukushima but had to relocate to Yamagata due to its proximity to the damaged Dai-Ichi nuclear plant...
Hidakami (from Ishinomaki, Miyagi) which was damaged but has been rebuilt...
...and Hakurakusei (also Miyagi) which was totally destroyed but is back and brewing again.
And when we'd finished sipping and nibbling, we tucked into our obento.
Before we left, Nakamura-san introduced the latest addition to his team — a soft fluffy two- month old Shiba that's been named Tarako.
It was good to see the crew from Nakamura Shokudo too, before they headed off to open up for the evening. A most enjoyable day out!
