In Japan there were two bank holidays in a row, so lot of people enjoyed their holidays last week, although our three day holiday starts tomorrow! We are going to Fuji, but not for climbing mountain, we are visiting F1 Japanese grand prix! (it has been switched from Suzuka to Fuji this year) We hadn't planned it until last week, but I managed to get hold of the F1 tickets which was officially sold out, and miracly I found the accommodation in the area too. AccuWeather.com shows rain on the weekend, but not the Japanese weather forecast. I want to believe the Japanese one!

I was reading a blog called Ichinichi Ichizen, her mint ice cream photo looked very very good. So last weekend I decided to make my first handmade ice cream. There were two kinds of fresh mint at the supermarket: peppermint and spearmint. I wasn't sure about the difference between the two, so I tried to remember the chewing gum flavours and bought a pack of peppermint and two packs of spearmint. I thought that spearmint has a sweetish, less sharp flavour, but I'm still not sure what the difference is.

These days I've been borrowing many Thai recipe books from the library and I felt like completing my collection of basic Thai food condiments. I could buy most of them from an imported food store in my neighbourhood, but I couldn't find a light soy sauce called 'si iu khao'. So I ordered many ingredients at once from an online Thai food store. When I opened the box, there was a strong Thai restaurant smell. I was wondering where that smell came from, it turned out to be 'bai mak root' Thai Lime Leaf. Mmm I love it!