This morning was the monthly Chinese tea ceremony. It is held by Ms. Maeda from Shaoshan Chinese tea shop in Zaimokucho. She comes and the guests eat cakes and biscuits from all over the world and try a new tea each time. In the background is relaxing Chinese music and we can have a chat while we enjoy drinking and eating.
One of the regular guests had recently been to Taiwan, so today she brought sugared plums for us to try. We also had roasted figs, ground sesame paste, and marinated monkey nuts from Hokkaido. The tea we tried was Kesencha （気仙茶）, which is grown locally in Ofunato and has just finished drying after the harvest, so was really fresh and smelt so good. It is blended from three types of tea: Yabukita green tea, standard green tea and lightly fermented green tea. Nobuko-san had helped with the harvest, so today she was presented with one of the first packs to be sealed as a token of gratitude for her help.
Maybe the highlight of the night was the Haunted House. Decked out with dead bodies, decapitated heads, a full size coffin and mannequins that came to life before their very eyes. There were a lot of tears, but everyone said it was the best thing about the evening.
In other parts of the building were a treat or treat game, face painting, pumpkin carving, making black cat hats, dancing, and a relay game involving balancing eyeballs on spoons. And after a hard night of fun, it was off to the witches' kitchen for a sit down and some snake pizza. 
