Cherry Blossom Delicacies

choi

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/

Note:
(a) Terrace Café  
http://www.bbg.org/visit/cafe

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

(b) "cherry blossom kombucha"
(i) kombucha 昆布茶 【こぶちゃ; こんぶちゃ】 (n): "kelp tea"
(ii) kombucha
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kombucha
(section 2 Etymology)

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:

桜餅
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%A1%9C%E9%A4%85
(iii) 餅
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%A4%85

is made of mashed 糯米, and can be in various shapes. In Taiwan, the word is localized as 麻糬 (but pronounced similarly to "mochi").

(e) sakuranbo  サクランボ 《桜桃; 桜んぼ; 桜ん坊; 桜んぼう》 (n): "(edible) cherry"  (the fruit, that is)

* The other way to pronounce 桜桃 (fruit) in Japan is ōtō 【おうとう】.
* sakura 桜 【さくら】 (n): "cherry tree; cherry blossom"