Strawberry grand finale

I've probably said this before, but strawberry picking in Japan is quite different from picking in the US. Here, you go to a green house & usually pay 10-20 bucks for 1/2-1 hour of pick-your-own-all-you-can-eat berries, served with sweetened condensed milk for dipping. You can't take any berries with you, which is most of the fun for me & the season.

But, I've got connections, so this morning I met a teacher & her brother at his greenhouse full of strawberries waiting to be picked before the "jam company" comes to take everything. The plants are up on shelves & we pulled a cart through the aisles picking, eating, chatting, sharing recipes for jam and syrup. We filled container after container of delicious (I tasted just to make sure!) strawberries.What's this?! A smile before 7am??! Impressive, eh?View from the top

Ms KG & our partial harvest. We took the big red bucket to school & left it in the kitchenette for others to help themselves. I kinda thought the bucket was too much for the teachers, but they totally proved me wrong. Throughout the day, every time I walked in for a green tea refill, I noticed how much the berries had decreased, and by 3pm, I saw the bottom of the bucket! Now I'm home with berries overflowing in my kitchen - one of the best moments of the season!! There are some in the fridge to eat fresh, some waiting to be washed, and a pot simmering on the stove of one lady's recommended recipe for jam. She warned me, "It's my recipe, but I don't think it'll taste like American jam!"

We'll soon find out!! :)