Butsudan - Offerings
Normal offerings within traditional Japanese Tendai shrines will include small portions of steamed rice, scented water, flowers and the occasional sweets. As well, upon special remembrance days, various fruits, and prized foods/drinks are presented in memorial of deceased ancestors.
Usually, raw foods and meat are not presented as offerings. Also discouraged are garlic, leeks, ginger, onions, etc. and other strong smelling foods. Flowers with thorns or poisonous flowers are not to be used as offerings.
Standard offerings usually face the aspirant (eg. flowers facing toward the person sitting before the altar) as an expression of the Buddha's mercy. "Spirit offerings" face the central Buddha (honzon) of the altar.
Candles are illuminated before a Buddhist altar not as a means of brightening it, but as expressions of wisdom virtue (called toumyou). As lights brightens the darkness, the Buddha's wisdom "enlightens" all. Recently, to alleviate fire hazards, many households have implemented electric candles in place of more traditional candles, a practice not inappropriate at all if we understand the true symbolism of "light."
The correct procedure to offer candlelight and incense before a Tendai Buddhist shrine is to first light the candle and then light the incense stick(s) from the candle flame (putting the match in a separate receptacle), standing the stick(s) within the incense burner. It is also proper practice not to "blow out" the flame on the incense but to wave it out with a hand (this also applies to "waving out" the candle flame when appropriate).