Adventures in a "Mansion" Kitchen

Earlier last week I went to browse in the grocery store with my good friend Ann. Late at night lots of the pre-made food goes on sale and it's a good time to pick up delicious, but otherwise expensive, foods. Ann picked out a salad, and later while tasting we decided it was very strange and probably wouldn't buy it again. It looked like the picture below.

As usual, I had no idea what I was actually eating or what it was made out of. Strangely enough, the same salad appeared in my school lunch later in the week! It's been haunting me. But now, at last, I could figure out what it was. By looking at the kyuushoku menu I deduced that it's called "okara ni", or vegetables mixed in something called "okara". After some further internet research, I discovered this article about Okara, the byproduct of making soymilk from tofu. Basically, this is the fibrous part of the soy bean. Now that I realize how healthy it is I have a new appreciation for this salad. (It helps to know that it's not made from the intestines of small kittens. Or raw fish eggs.)

So today I set out on a mission to find okara in my grocery store and attempt to make okara infused bread. I used the recipe from the linked article, making a few adjustments for my own cupboard. They were cheap and easy to make, and taste like a mix between banana bread and corn bread.

Banana-Okara Muffins, adapted from Just Hungry's Recipe

• 1 cup dried okara
• 1/4 cup (50g, or 1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup light brown or raw sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk or soymilk
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 3 tsp tahini
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2 cups all-purpose bamboo flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 medium ripe bananas, mashed

Directions: 

Pre-heat the oven to 175°C/250°F. Grease and flour a loaf pan. (I used muffin cups). 

Heat up a non-stick frying or sauté pan. Toast the okara, stirring frequently, until it's a golden brown in color. Let cool.

Mix together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and milk or soymilk, almond extract (I added tahini for NUTTY deliciousness) and lemon juice. Add the mashed bananas.

In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture, mixing just until it's combined. Fold in the okara.

Put the batter into the loaf pan. Bash the loaf pan hard on your work surface - this settles the batter and gets rid of any large air pockets. Bake for about an hour, until it's toasty brown in color and a skewer stuck in the middle comes out clean. (Because I used muffin cups I ended up cooking the muffins for about 12-15 minutes at 200 C.... but because my toaster oven is wonky I kind of make things up as I go, generally. Her directions are probably better.)

Take out of the loaf pan and let cool before slicing.

And there you have it!! The productivity that was my afternoon. This is probably not interesting to most people, but I was fascinated to be able to make something with ingredients scrounged from my local supermarkets. Truthfully, a lot of foods are more expensive here, but I bought the okara for 30 yen. It's an adventure to make things with completely new ingredients and to find new ways to enjoy my favorite foods (BREADonmonmon). 

Elementary

Good evening!

It's been a cold cold week in Shiga. It's nothing compared to Upstate-NY, but that doesn't mean I haven't been huddling underneath a blanket all week. I've been running as quickly as possible between one heated room to the next, trying to avoid the chilly hallways.

Today was an elementary school day! 5 days a week I teach at my base school, which is a Junior High, but once a week I spend half a day at elementary school teaching 5th and 6th graders. On these days I also eat lunch with a pre-determined class, which today was 1st grade, class 2.

Fact: small children are adorable.
Fact: Japanese children are especially adorable.
.... this, coupled with...
Fact: White people are pretty non-existent in Japan.
When you put this all together, what does it add up to?

Annica becomes a celebrity at lunch time.

Seriously, I "signed" about 10 notebooks. AUTOGRAPHED. They should keep them. Some day they might be good for kindling. I also read aloud every one of the kids "Engrish" shirts, recited the names of many household objects, and shared my love of Pokemon.

Today reminded me that children are pretty fantastic. If I could get each of these kids' signatures, I would do it. They have so much energy and happiness. Their outlook on the world is so young and innocent. Just the fact that they couldn't stump me with an English name for something was mind boggling to them. "You really ARE an English teacher!!" (Never mind the fact that I speak the language natively).
One boy wanted to know how I was getting home. When I said, "by car", he seemed surprised. "America?!"
"No, I live in Minakuchi."
"........!" <------- SHOCKCONFUSION!

My sixth grade classes have been going less smoothly, and it's mainly because I'm not a novelty to them just by existing anymore. I'm that person that they know who teaches them English. I love that I've gotten to know them, and today made me realize that I need to work harder to make sure that I keep their class just as fun and exciting as it used to be. If it means that I have to be over the top and work twice as hard to find good material for them, then so be it. I am determined to not let their apathy towards English continue! And not to let myself be apathetic as well.

Although I didn't have too much time to ponder my lunch, I was able to snap a picture before I went to the classroom.

WHALE! I ate whale today.

That is all. 

Weekend of Food

This weekend was filled with tons of delicious food and various "end of the year" parties. I had a great two days spending time with some people that I'd like to get to know a lot better. I have been taking aikido classes once a week for the past couple of months and I joined some of the other members to eat nabe for lunch on Saturday. Nabe is a hotpot dish that is commonly cooked in Japanese households in the winter. Each table had a separate broth and a pile of vegetables and meat. As space allowed, we put the uncooked food into the broth and let it stew. Once it was cooked, we used our own chopsticks to serve ourselves the food.

The nabe that we ate on Saturday is a special type that sumo wrestlers eat to gain weight. Although it's a healthy dish (or so I'm told), this specific type contains a lot of high protein ingredients such as meat and fish. These are also higher in calories than some other nabe dishes, which contain more vegetables and low calorie noodle substitutes. 

The awesome-est Nabe Table of them all

Later that night, I also attended my finally Japanese class party. Talk about a lot of food. I made a pie from persimmons that I wanted to use before Australia (!). I'm so glad I didn't go empty handed! 

It was a good time, and I got to talk more to the teachers and students in my class. Pretty much the reason why I am motivated to learn to speak Japanese better: to make friends like this! 

And today... I made Christmas cookies! I hope to give them to my co-workers tomorrow. Making this many cookies in my apartment was an adventure in itself. They turned out all right, and I decorated them with chocolate icing. They're nothing fancy, and my co-workers might think I'm a little bizarre for bringing them in, but I figure it can't hurt to try.

(Pictures will be added once my computer stops being dumb.) [...and it has!]

Backlog

It's been a while since I've posted on here. Almost a month again. That's pretty bad on my part, but I completely know the reason for it. In the end of September I lost my camera. Usually these blog entries end up going up when I have pictures with a story behind them, and it's been a while since I had any to share. Not that my life isn't full of events and adventures... (ha). 

Regardless, I was able to get some pictures off the camera that I'm borrowing from my friend, so here are some incredibly backlogged photos from the month of October and November.

This is pretty self explanatory. I already posted Halloween photos, but I thought this was worth sharing. I went to a Halloween party held for kids in the Koka City area. It was organized by an international organization in the area and the English ALTs volunteered to help. On the left is Jessica, as Pikachu. I am Doraemon. We are some angry (cute?) characters! Happy Halloween!

This is a Doll Festival that happened in mid-October. It was a small local shrine that's nearby an ALT who lives a town over. A few times a year they hold a festival to cleans the spirits and life forces from old dolls and toys before they are thrown away. All of the dolls in this picture once belonged to someone, but are now "dead". After the priest finishes the ceremony the dolls are up for grabs. I grabbed a few for safekeeping. 

In the beginning of November I attended the Yuru Chara festival in Hikone. Many of the geographica areas in Japan are represented by their own character. This tradition began in Hikone with Hikonyan, Hikone Castle's cat mascot. This festival is held at least every year. You can walk around Hikone Castle park and meet all of the mascots, see shows, by souvenirs, and generally be enthralled by the sheer number of people in costumes. This Bear melon headed thing was one of the more ridiculous ones. 

Another major event in early November was my school's Bunkasai Festival. 文化 ("bunka") means culture, and the Bunkasai is a day in which the students and teachers do not attend regular classes and instead hold a singing competition, present artwork, and hold club demonstrations. For a few weeks leading up to the Bunkasai, the students and teachers spend a lot of time practicing and preparing for the performances that will occur. Each homeroom class performs a song in front of the entire school and an outside judge assesses and grades the students based on various aspects of their performance. Everyone takes it very seriously, and enjoy showing their artistic achievements to the parents who attend. This picture is of the brass band performance that took place in the afternoon. 

As always, purikura happened.... 

And recently, I got an oven! It's handy, and I've already made a few things this week. While my first batch of cookies wasn't as successful as I would have hoped, this quiche and the muffins that I made the night before were delicious. I love being able to bake! 

Today I had the day off to celebrate 感謝祭, or Japanese Thanksgiving and Labor Day. Since the Japanese don't celebrate same type of Thanksgiving that we do in the US, my friend Ann and I took the opportunity to make a bunch of food, watch movies, and listen to music. All in all, not a bad thing to do on a Wednesday. It's going to be strange going back to work tomorrow, let me tell you. 

Speaking of, it's time for me to get some sleep. Elementary School calls tomorrow!

Normal Life

It's Thursday!! While this normally means that I have school to look forward to tomorrow morning, this week is different than most. Because of two national holidays, this week I only had three work days. (Monday was Respect for the Aged Day and Friday is the Autumnal Equinox). Funnily enough, the students had school cancelled on Wednesday due to a typhoon that caused it to rain a LOT on Wednesday morning. Because of this it's been a slightly weird week to be at work. I'm happy that it's the weekend and I'm looking forward to taking advantage of it. 

Tonight I went to Kaiten-zushi with a friend of mine and it reminded me that I haven't really done a post dedicated to what I generally eat on a day to day basis. When I thought about it I realized that my diet is completely different in Japan than it is when I am back in the States. I have found that the foods that I normally eat at home are practically non-existent or really expensive. After quite a bit of exploring I've managed to find a couple of cheap things that I can buy locally that make a variety of nice meals. 

As I have said before, I eat school lunch during the week. Kyuushoku is a fair amount of food and it's relatively nutritionally balanced (I think). What they serve each day varies a lot, and it's always a surprise to see what will end up on my tray. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are rice days while Tuesday and Thursday are bread days. Each meal also comes with a soup, salad, milk, and a main dish. On bread days the meal is more likely to be something foreign or western, whereas on rice days they often serve Japanese style meals like fish or tofu. Some days are good, some days are bad. 

Kyuushoku from last week. There is rice in my bento box, a carton of milk,  miso soup with potatoes and tofu, beans, pickled plum, and salt baked fish. 

There are also a variety of dishes that I cook at home. I have a rice cooker, which comes in handy a lot. The most popular rice is a white sticky rice, the kind that you will find in sushi in the States. It's not bad, but can be a little bland. I usually eat my rice with hurikake, a kind of flavoring that you put on top of rice. There are many different types, but I like egg, plum, and black sesame seed the best. I will often  steam up some vegetables or fry an egg or two to complete my meal. 

Rice with hurikake and a hard boiled egg.

Recently, I have also become addicted to eating Japanese squash, otherwise known as kabocha. They are the closest vegetable the Japanese have to a pumpkin and they are harvested in the fall so I have been seeing them everywhere. Thanks to the advice of a good friend I learned that if you steam it and eat it with a little bit of salt it is pretty much the most delicious thing on the planet earth. No lie. It's sweet and filling and good for you, all at the same time! 

Kabocha, how I love thee!

There are lots of other recipes that I want to try soon. Come winter I think I will start cooking a bit more (I hope). The heat has killed a lot of my motivation, so once the cold sets in I think warm food will push me to get my butt in the kitchen. In lieu of hot food, I often take a 15 minute bike-ride to Sushi-ro. Sushi-ro is a kaiten-zushi restaurant that is delicious and very cheap. "Kaiten-zuzhi" means "rotating sushi", which refers to the conveyor belt that circulates the sushi around the restaurant. Customers sit at tables next to a conveyor belt filled with sushi. Each table has an individual ordering pad which you can use to order specific sushi, or you can take what you want from off of the belt. Each plate is approximately 100 yen. If you eat 4 or 5 plates (which is usually enough to fill me up) you might end up spending 500 or so yen. It's a good place to sit and chat with friends while watching the sushi go around and around and around. 

SUSHI

Sometimes I try to cook other things, and sometimes I go out to eat at different restaurants with friends, but the food that I mentioned above makes up a large portion of my diet. Healthy? I think maybe it could be worse. I'm sure it could be better... but Japan definitely doesn't have as many frozen meals or handy microwaveable pizzas. They have a prepared food section, but it's just as cheap to go to Sushi-ro or to buy some vegetables and make something that will actually be tastier. It's inspired me to work harder at eating more vegetables and proteins. Hopefully I can make this habit last when I return to the States as well. Only time will tell!

FOODZ

A list of Japanese food I have eaten:

• Takoyaki 　たこやき
• Okonomiyaki　お好み焼き**
• Osaka style
• Tempura 天ぷら**
• Korokke コロッケ(croquette, originally French)
• Karaage からあげ
• Ebi Katsu エビかつ Breaded and deep-fried shrimp patties
• Natto 納豆 (Fermented soy beans) <--- everyone has to try it... very strange...  
• Ramen　ラメン
• Miso Ramen
• Shio Ramen
• Shoyu Ramen
• Regional Varieties -- Tokyo
• Udon　うどん
• Kitsune Udon
• Tempura Udon **
• Kake Udon
• Karee Udon
• Soba　そば
• Cold Soba - Zaru Soba **
• Hot Soba - Kake Soba, Kitsune Soba, Tempura Soba
• Yakisoba 焼きそば
• Nabemono 鍋物
• Oden　おでん
• Miso Soup **　味噌汁
• Fish
• Salmon
• Unagi うなぎ (eel)
• Whale 鯨
• Vegetables　野菜
• Daikon　大根
• Japanese Pickles　 漬け物 **
• Pickled Plums       梅干し **
• Rice
• Onigiri　おにぎり
• Umeboshi　梅干し
• Kamameshi 　釜飯
• Omurice  オムライス
• Vegetable Sushi **
• Sekihan　赤飯
• Drinks
• Sake　酒
• Plum Wine 梅酒**
• Green Tea　御茶
• Macha (Powdered Green Tea)　抹茶
• C.C. Lemon (yeahh!! :P)
• Sweets
• Azuki bean paste (Red Bean Paste) **
• Dango　団子
• Mochi 餅**
• Harajuku Crepes (not "Japanese cuisine" per say, but definitely a unique Japanese experience ^^)
• Melon-pan メロンパン**
• Anpan あんパン**
• Uiro ういろうTraditional steamed cake made of rice flour and sugar. Has a taste and texture similar to mochi
• Taiyaki たいやき** Pancake-esque batter with a red bean paste filling. DELICIOUS! 

Macha Latte desu~~~

A list of Japanese food I would LIKE to eat:

• Rice  御飯
• Takikomi gohan　炊き込み御飯
• Sekihan　赤飯
• Hayashi rice　ハヤシライス
• Donburi (Huge bowl of steamed rice and toppings) 丼
• Katsudon カツ丼 (deep fried pork cutlet)
• Oyakodon  親子丼 (chicken and egg)
• Tendon 天丼 (tempura)
• Unadon 鰻丼 (eel)
• Gyuudon (seasoned beef)
• Sushi 寿司 <--- why this has not happened yet, I do not know!!
• Sashimi　刺身
• Ramen　ラメン
• Tonkotsu Ramen (Pork bone broth)
• Shio Ramen (Salt and vegetable broth)
• Regional Varieties -- Sapporo, Yokohama
• Soba　そば
• Tsukimi Soba (with fried egg)
• Currynanban (Curry flavored broth)
• Regional Varieties -- Soki Soba (Okinawa)
• Udon　うどん
• Karee Udon (Japanese curry broth)
• Chikara Udon (topped with toasted mochi)
• Regional Varieties -- Hokkaido, Okinawa
• Kushiyaki 串焼き(meat on skewers)
• Okonomiyaki　お好み焼き
• Hiroshima style
• Unagi 鰻 (Eel)
• Yakitori 焼き鳥 (Grilled chicken skewers)
• Yakiniku 焼肉 (Grilled meat)
• Sukiyaki すき焼 (Hot pot style dish)
• Tecchiri (Hot pot style dish with blowfish)
• Nimono 煮物 (Stewed dishes)

And ALSO -- shall I attempt this list?

What do you think? Should I add anything? It's a work in progress...