标题: Cherry Blossom Delicacies [打印本页] 作者: choi 时间: 4-24-2013 11:16 标题: Cherry Blossom Delicacies Florence Fabricant, Blossoms for the Eyes and the Palate, Too. New York Times, Apr 24, 2013 (item 1 in the column Front Burner, of the Dining session). http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytim ... 23/front-burner-14/
is at Brooklyn Botanic Garden http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn_Botanic_Garden
(founded in 1910; BBG's Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden was the first Japanese garden to be created in an American public garden. It was constructed in 1914 and 1915 at a cost of $13,000, a gift of early BBG benefactor and trustee Alfred T White, and it first opened to the public in 1915)
* BBG is "municipally owned and privately operated (by the [private] Booklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences)."
Encyclopaedia Bitannica
Please note that in Japan the kanji 昆布茶 is Romanized as konbucha--there is a hiragana symbol ん which is officially represented always as "n" in English"--but Americans change the "n" to "m" because in English the consonant m always go before b and P (much like American media change the name "LV Lingzi" to "LU Lingzi).
(c) The critique talks about "oukashigure, a bean paste sweet."
(i) oukashigure 桜花 しぐれ. Minamoto Kitchoan Co, Inc, undated http://www.kitchoan.com/?page_id=1543
("Double-layer of sweet bean paste with Cherry Blossom and sweet red bean paste")
(ii) The oukashigure appears to be a trademark of the company.
(iii) Minamoto Kitchoan 宗家 源 吉兆庵 http://www.kitchoan.co.jp/
is a famous 和菓子 (English: Japanese confectionary) maker based in 岡山県岡山市 and incurporated in 1977 (founder 岡田 寅太郎, so the company name has nothing to do with an ancient Japanese aristocratic surname Minamoto 源)
(iv) sōke 宗家 【そうけ】 (n)
means "一族、一門において正嫡（嫡流）の家系。またその家系の当主." ja.wikipedia.org
Namely, the main (as opposed to branch) of a clan, or its head.
(v) ouka 桜花 【おうか】 (n): "cherry blossom"
(A long vowel of "o" can be denoted either "ou" or "ō"--depending on Romanization systems one chooses for Japanese language)
(vi) shigure 時雨 【しぐれ】 (n): "drizzle; shower in late autumn (fall) or early winter"
(d) The critique also talsk about "sakura mochi."
(i) sakura mochi 桜餅 【さくらもち】 (n): "rice cake with bean paste wrapped in a preserved cherry leaf"
(ii) Here is a look at it: