Gifts from Around the World: The Embassy Holiday Fair

Ikebana International sponsors a flower exhibition and bazaar at the Tokyo Prince Hotel in Shiba Park every year during the first week in December. Last year was the first time I made the trek to Tokyo for this event. This year I went back with Artistic and Shinagawa-san. We hooked up with several past and current members of the Japanese and American Wives Club, including the adorable Junko who initiated my now gargantuan Anpanman collection shortly after our first meeting several years ago.

The draw for me is not the flowers -- I tend to skip right through the first ballroom where the flower arrangements sit -- but the tables in the second ballroom heaped with products and baked goods offered by most of the nations that have embassies in Tokyo. The good old USA was noticeably absent again this year but the Arab countries and Africa were there in force. I picked up some interesting items from Cuba, Spain, and Norway this year but cannot divulge the details without ruining someone's Christmas. You'll just have to use your imagination.

Happy Japanese shoppers flank tall, elegant blonde

As I was skipping through the first ballroom this year, one of the flower arrangements stopped me dead in my tracks. It stopped a few other shoppers as well.

What the heck? Tomatoes ringed with red chili peppers on "stems" constructed of tall, skinny fern-draped cucumbers.

Every now and then when I see a flower arrangement I think "I could do that." This was one of those times. But I'm not promising anything.

You might find this hard to believe, but we stopped for lunch at a vegetarian restaurant, the Food Therapy Cafe. My companions all ordered the "Herbal Medicine Curry" but I opted for vegetable lasagna.  Half of it was edible.

Please note Shinagawa-san's lovely manicure in the photo above.  Those nails snap on and off (she demonstrated).  Artistic and I are hoping to get some flashy ones for ourselves in the New Year.

Today the Ancient Mariner and I celebrated twenty years of marital bliss. He celebrated in DC and I celebrated in Tokyo which might help explain how our marriage has survived two decades. My Japanese friends presented "us" with a pair of beautiful anniversary teacups during lunch. I'll show you a picture when my computer stops acting up.