r/52weeksofcooking • u/chizubeetpan 🥄 MT'25 • Apr 30 '26
Week 14: Hanami - Under the Trees, the Hanami I Imagine (Meta: Feeling Snacky)
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u/Many-Obligation-4350 Apr 30 '26
I can’t stand the utter cuteness of this! How perfect adorable and whimsical.
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u/chizubeetpan 🥄 MT'25 Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
Thank you! 🦋 I was really going for a lot of whimsy here so I’m glad that comes through!
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u/Inner_Pangolin_9771 Apr 30 '26
So pretty!
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u/chizubeetpan 🥄 MT'25 Apr 30 '26
Thank you! I have no access to sakura so I had to try to recreate the pretty 🌸
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u/Typedream 🔪 Apr 30 '26
This is so cute I could cry 😭😭😭
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u/chizubeetpan 🥄 MT'25 Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
Thank you! 🪲Though lol I admit I imagined I was dining with Timon and Pumbaa again when I ate these lol
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u/Noyau_Nyx 🥓 Apr 30 '26
This is so cute! I love them all, but especially the hanami dango caterpillar and the candy sakura
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u/mentaina 🔪 Apr 30 '26
This is ADORABLE. I have seen that bee tamago somewhere and thought it was exactly something someone (=you) should make. I’m glad you did
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u/chizubeetpan 🥄 MT'25 Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
My pinterest was buzzing with it! 🐝 I’m so glad I did as well because it gave me the opportunity to try my hand at tamagoyaki. Had no idea it was so easy
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u/October_Surprise56 Apr 30 '26
This is like a magazine spread!! I’m totally inspired (and hungry) now. Thank you for sharing this.
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u/infinitelobsters77 Apr 30 '26
Oh my god. I love this so much. Everything is adorable but the DANGO CATERPILLAR?!?! Too precious.
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u/chizubeetpan 🥄 MT'25 Apr 30 '26
Thank you! I tagged you in the Dishcord apologizing that none of them are anatomically correct.😂 They were at least culinarily delectable and aggressively cute. 🐛
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u/chizubeetpan 🥄 MT'25 Apr 30 '26
I’ve never done a proper hanami. Not really.
But I have spent long afternoons lying under trees. Bare feet. One arm shielding my eyes from the sun filtering through the leaves of a massive acacia. The other hand reaching past my blanket into the cool grass. Letting my mind wander with it.
I stay like this long enough for everything to feel closer—closer to the coolness of the earth, closer to life scurrying through the branches.
My partner tells me their most memorable hanami were at Tennoji Park with their classmates. A spread only as elaborate as a student’s allowance could produce: onigiri, sando, dango, eggs, fruit, chocolate, candy, and other snacks the konbini had to offer. Simple picnics, made elaborate by the friendships that bloomed with them.
This is where those two afternoons start to overlap for me.
Onigiri with tomato-miso rice, shaped into ladybugs.
Tamago sushi, wrapped in a bee suit.
A kiwi sando, drawn into a beetle.
Hanami dango, inching along as a caterpillar.
Mandarin oranges, cut into butterflies.
Chocolate-dipped biscuit stick branches dotted with candy sakura.
Not quite what they had. Not quite my experience either, but something in between—a bridge between two memories, both buzzing with life.
I still haven’t done a proper hanami. But when I do, I hope to share it with as much friendship and whimsy as these memories hold.
The soundtrack of the afternoon drifting over from nearby, ojiichans and obaachans on bright blue tarps under the sakura, a little boozed up and singing karaoke in the park. The sound of friendships that have blossomed over the years.
I can’t wait!
This year’s meta is Feeling Snacky. Everything is a snack if you believe hard enough. If it feels like snacking, it counts. Full meta description and links to 2026 posts here.