Oh no, I’ve done it again.
I always tell myself I’ll learn from past mistakes but for some reason this one keeps rearing its ugly head.
It’s my fault, truly, and I’m not trying to blame anyone. Oh, I could blame Betty, I suppose, but I’m sure she was just doing her best and trying to make money to feed her family. Girl’s gotta make a living somehow.
Yes, it’s my own doing and I’ll take the blame. Sadly I’ll probably never mend my ways and continue down this sinful path, this sinkhole, black hole, doughnut hole...called gluttony.
I ate a bunch of brownies. Today. Like….a lot. I don’t even want to say how many there were because it’s hard to tell….I was just kind of cutting and eating as I went. Now my belly is full of sugary goodness and a little unrest. Now, before you go waving fingers at me let me put it into perspective for you: my aunt just sent me a care package last week consisting of some baking items. It may or may not have contained Andes peppermint white chocolate baking chips. You’ll be proud to know I did not open the bag and start munching on them in raw form. No, I had enough will power to resist that temptation. I did, however whimsically make chocolate cookies with Rachel and added some of the Andes. To my credit I ate just a few and gave half of them away. At that time (Friday) I was also home sick with a terrible case of something awful, replacing my voice with a squeaker box and stealing my appetite. After going through the weekend forcing myself to eat something at each mealtime I finally came back to my normal self today. Then Rachel and I (are you seeing the trend here?) made brownies. And ate them. Well, I gave one away. Can you guess what else was in them? Yes, the rest of the Andes peppermint goodies and of course walnuts.
We were watching “Elf,” if you’re curious. Tis the season and all that jazz.
About this weekend…
Last Thursday I went to my 3rd club meeting: The Scary Movie Club. I’m not exactly sure how I joined this group but I’m sure peer pressure was involved. I was never a fan of this genre, mostly because of the fakeness and lack of plot, character development, witty dialogue, memorable lines, musical score…yeah, basically lacking. In my mind scary movies consist of dissonant violins playing in the background while girls with mussed up hair are screaming and immature boys are carelessly toting around 2nd rate video cameras as blood spurts from random places. Call me stereotypical. Well, I’m trying to give the world a second chance and prove me wrong; perhaps I can come to appreciate and even enjoy this genre. We’ll see. So far I haven’t jumped, but I did clutch tightly to Han-kun, my stuffed pig, during the recent showing of Paranormal Activity. The 5 members alternately choose a movie. I’m last since I’m the most recent inductee. I already know what I’m picking: Joyride. That movie creeped me out in 11th grade.
At our most recent movie I was feeling quite under the weather, suffering from an 8-hour headache, and hit the hay as soon as the credits started rolling. I walked into work the next day discovering that my voice was no larger than a mouse. I was sent home. I watched a few movies, took a few naps, IM’d a few friends, and basically didn’t talk or sing…sad day. Saturday I embarked on a mission: to find a pan worthy of green bean casserole. That's my charge for Thanksgiving dinner next week. I’ve run into several problems while cooking and baking here in Japan. The most obvious is shortage, expense, or straight-up absence of ingredients. Secondly but not less concerning is finding suitable cookware for the dish. Ever try finding a 9x13 pan in Japan?! Forget it. Pie pan? Look VERY hard. I’ve found ONE, only glass, and only one size. (I’m thinking it’s a 9” but not sure). Deep dish? Forget it. They come smaller, of course, and by that I mean 5” or smaller. I tried making lasagna once…took me two pans and we had to go buy it because Takae’s family didn’t own a pan that large.
Let’s try a friendly little mental exercise.
Think about it: you make your meatloaf, your casserole, your cornbread, and your brownies in particular baking receptacles.
Got it? Can you imagine yourself putting each one in the oven?
Now try baking each dish in something different. Weird, right? I remember my mom recreating her great grandmothers recipe for rice pudding. She took it out, piping hot from the oven and set it on the table, eager for us to try it. After the first bite she mulled it around in her mouth, forced her gaze up to the ceiling and though aloud: “There’s something missing…I can’t put my finger on it.”
For our listening pleasure she went through the list of ingredients one by one: “Let’s see, I’m sure I put the right amount of rice in there…then, yes, I’m sure I put in the cinnamon and the cloves…just how many eggs…yes, that was right…”
Suddenly her eyes reappeared from behind her head and stared at me. Her voice filled with despair and conviction like someone who knows what must be done but feels powerless to make it happen:
“It’s the pan. I don’t have the pan. I need the pan. You can’t make rice pudding without the pan. The pan makes this recipe. I have to have the pan.”
I thought she was crazy. A pan? They come in two kinds, right? Stainless steel and Teflon?
Anyways, my point is that Japan is lacking in pans, casserole dishes, and basically cookware. Don’t even get me started on ingredients.
The third problem, should you be fortunate enough to procure both ingredients and a suitable receptacle, is the oven. Should I call it an oven? Well, it’s my microwave (see earlier post from May) but it has a button with an “oven” function. It only sets temperature in degrees of 10 Celsius so I can’t even program it to an even 350 degrees. It’s either too hot or not hot enough. Seriously, EVERYTHING is cooked at that temperature! Could you be a little more inconvenient?!?!?
Oh yes, you could.
How about making an oven so tiny that you can’t even fit a normal size pan in it?
Okay.
That’s what I have. Making cookies? Ha. It will take a million years because you can only fit 9 cookies at a time. It’s just a little better than a toaster oven but not by much. Of course, there are two shelf slots in my oven but guess what? There’s only one shelf.
I’m sorry, does it sound like I’m complaining too much? Probably. I just wanna make my cookies…apparently that’s too much to ask around here.
So, with my tiny dysfunctional microwave/oven I’ve been commissioned to make enough green bean casserole and vegetables to feed 20 people for Thanksgiving dinner.
Since I only owned a pan big enough for a batch of cornbread I figured it was time to go shopping.
After poking around in fancy kitchen stores, cheap we-sell-a-little-of-everything stores, department stores, and home depot-ish stores, I finally found something.
It’s just a stainless steel pan, deep for a casserole, and short enough to fit in my oven…barely. It looks like I pinched it from a summer camp kitchen but I paid about 2200 yen for it. It’s a freakin’ pan! There better be some great things coming out of that pan. I also ended up grabbing a metal bowl for my own enjoyment. This girl has some serious Christmas baking plans.
After finding the shiny wonder I decided to kill some time and see what else the store had to offer since it was my first time there. Turns out they sell puppies and kittens. L I’m very much against this. Ask me sometime. But, when I saw the Italian Greyhound puppy nervously pacing and running in his little crate I had to sit down next to him and keep him company for awhile. It was here I saw a fellow walking around pushing his cart with a longhaired daschund inside. Beautiful dog. The man was looking for a new puppy and brought his adult dog along to see if they would be compatible with each other. The adult dog’s eyes got big when the man came into the crated animals section.
“Oh my gaaaaaash! They’re all caged up like ANIMALS here! Pleeeeeze! Don’t leave me here!!!! Nooooo!!!!!”
He looked pretty nervous, that’s all I’m saying.
Putting some items in my backpack and strapping my new aluminum bowl on the back, I covered the entire thing with the built-in rain tarp (Thanks REI) and took a walk in the pouring rain. Strolling along the boulevard underneath my compact umbrella I listened to my “Meh” playlist through deep bass earbuds; fresh Fall air rushed past my throat that was currently under reconstruction after experiencing WWIII.
I met Rachel who had finished working out at the gym and I failed to find a pair of suitable running shoes from Sports Authority. We caught the train back to sleepy Funehiki and watched two movies about mentally disrupted people: The Soloist followed by Benny and Joon. I love both of them. In the evening I hung out with some peeps downstairs and played a pretty sick air guitar. It was my way of making up for not singing.
Sunday was the best day. We moved Bible Study to the morning and then had two hours to prepare for the concert. Our employer treated us English teachers and other employees of the English School and yochien. We drove an hour to the coastal city of Iwaki. The town did suffer damage from the earthquake and tsunami, but is doing well now. It’s pretty close to the nuclear plant, and this is probably its more dire threat at the moment besides reconstruction. There was a concert scheduled here several months ago but was postponed due to the disasters in the Spring. The concert ended up becoming a tribute to the survivors and townspeople who endured these horrific events. Most of the heads of departments, cities, and organizations were present, therefore landing us in the paths of some very important people. We’re talking mayors, heads of …..
The concert itself was amazing. Featuring the Japan Philharmonic, the conductor turned out to be featuring a special conductor: Ken-ichiro Kobayashi. He was invited to conduct this performance because Iwaki is his hometown! Then it got even better when his daughter played the Grieg piano concerto.
Did I mention the seats were in two’s spread throughout the hall. Guess who was sitting in the middle of row 6? Me and Rachel. Oh yeah. I watched every gesture and eyelid flutter on the pianist as she graced over the keys effortlessly. Her expression was so intense, I felt like she was writing the music as she played it. It made me cry. I was definitely emotionally invested throughout the performance.
I was also close enough to enjoy watching the first-chair cellist, a good-looking Japanese fellow, as well as one of the violists. Men, can we please bring back coattails into all formal events?
As we took our seats it was hard not to notice in the sea of tan skin and black-haired heads, a single white guy, front and center in the horn section.
Woah! A foreigner!
It’s hard not to notice. We were all guessing his nationality during the performance but none of us were correct.
How did we find out?
Well, let’s not forget to mention that Enchou-sensei is part of the Rotary club. He probably runs it or something, too.
Well, since they’re an important and influential group and we’re connected to them, we were invited to hors d’oeuvres with the orchestra after the performance at some fancy hotel banquet hall down the street.
So we click-clacked our heels down there and awkwardly took our seats. I say awkwardly because there’s no way a bunch of Americans can go anywhere or do anything discreetly in this country. We’re always noticed.
Guess who was there? Trumpet boy. Our fellows downed a beer or two and went over to his table to make friends under strict instructions to bring him over and be introduced to the ladies.
They did well and showed him to our gaijin table, introducing him as an Italian! Very nice guy from the few minutes we spoke with him. I chuckled when he said that he immediately spotted Rachel and I in the audience before the performance and thought to himself, “there are foreigners here!” And eventually spotted all 8 of us in the crowd. Let’s be honest here: Rachel and I were also looking pretty gorgeous to boot, American or not.
Eventually we had the opportunity to meet the conductor and his daughter and I got to tell him in Japanese how much I enjoyed the performance and it moved me to tears. How many people get to do that?!
Then I got a picture with him. Awesome.
I always tell myself I’ll learn from past mistakes but for some reason this one keeps rearing its ugly head.
It’s my fault, truly, and I’m not trying to blame anyone. Oh, I could blame Betty, I suppose, but I’m sure she was just doing her best and trying to make money to feed her family. Girl’s gotta make a living somehow.
Yes, it’s my own doing and I’ll take the blame. Sadly I’ll probably never mend my ways and continue down this sinful path, this sinkhole, black hole, doughnut hole...called gluttony.
I ate a bunch of brownies. Today. Like….a lot. I don’t even want to say how many there were because it’s hard to tell….I was just kind of cutting and eating as I went. Now my belly is full of sugary goodness and a little unrest. Now, before you go waving fingers at me let me put it into perspective for you: my aunt just sent me a care package last week consisting of some baking items. It may or may not have contained Andes peppermint white chocolate baking chips. You’ll be proud to know I did not open the bag and start munching on them in raw form. No, I had enough will power to resist that temptation. I did, however whimsically make chocolate cookies with Rachel and added some of the Andes. To my credit I ate just a few and gave half of them away. At that time (Friday) I was also home sick with a terrible case of something awful, replacing my voice with a squeaker box and stealing my appetite. After going through the weekend forcing myself to eat something at each mealtime I finally came back to my normal self today. Then Rachel and I (are you seeing the trend here?) made brownies. And ate them. Well, I gave one away. Can you guess what else was in them? Yes, the rest of the Andes peppermint goodies and of course walnuts.
We were watching “Elf,” if you’re curious. Tis the season and all that jazz.
About this weekend…
Last Thursday I went to my 3rd club meeting: The Scary Movie Club. I’m not exactly sure how I joined this group but I’m sure peer pressure was involved. I was never a fan of this genre, mostly because of the fakeness and lack of plot, character development, witty dialogue, memorable lines, musical score…yeah, basically lacking. In my mind scary movies consist of dissonant violins playing in the background while girls with mussed up hair are screaming and immature boys are carelessly toting around 2nd rate video cameras as blood spurts from random places. Call me stereotypical. Well, I’m trying to give the world a second chance and prove me wrong; perhaps I can come to appreciate and even enjoy this genre. We’ll see. So far I haven’t jumped, but I did clutch tightly to Han-kun, my stuffed pig, during the recent showing of Paranormal Activity. The 5 members alternately choose a movie. I’m last since I’m the most recent inductee. I already know what I’m picking: Joyride. That movie creeped me out in 11th grade.
At our most recent movie I was feeling quite under the weather, suffering from an 8-hour headache, and hit the hay as soon as the credits started rolling. I walked into work the next day discovering that my voice was no larger than a mouse. I was sent home. I watched a few movies, took a few naps, IM’d a few friends, and basically didn’t talk or sing…sad day. Saturday I embarked on a mission: to find a pan worthy of green bean casserole. That's my charge for Thanksgiving dinner next week. I’ve run into several problems while cooking and baking here in Japan. The most obvious is shortage, expense, or straight-up absence of ingredients. Secondly but not less concerning is finding suitable cookware for the dish. Ever try finding a 9x13 pan in Japan?! Forget it. Pie pan? Look VERY hard. I’ve found ONE, only glass, and only one size. (I’m thinking it’s a 9” but not sure). Deep dish? Forget it. They come smaller, of course, and by that I mean 5” or smaller. I tried making lasagna once…took me two pans and we had to go buy it because Takae’s family didn’t own a pan that large.
Let’s try a friendly little mental exercise.
Think about it: you make your meatloaf, your casserole, your cornbread, and your brownies in particular baking receptacles.
Got it? Can you imagine yourself putting each one in the oven?
Now try baking each dish in something different. Weird, right? I remember my mom recreating her great grandmothers recipe for rice pudding. She took it out, piping hot from the oven and set it on the table, eager for us to try it. After the first bite she mulled it around in her mouth, forced her gaze up to the ceiling and though aloud: “There’s something missing…I can’t put my finger on it.”
For our listening pleasure she went through the list of ingredients one by one: “Let’s see, I’m sure I put the right amount of rice in there…then, yes, I’m sure I put in the cinnamon and the cloves…just how many eggs…yes, that was right…”
Suddenly her eyes reappeared from behind her head and stared at me. Her voice filled with despair and conviction like someone who knows what must be done but feels powerless to make it happen:
“It’s the pan. I don’t have the pan. I need the pan. You can’t make rice pudding without the pan. The pan makes this recipe. I have to have the pan.”
I thought she was crazy. A pan? They come in two kinds, right? Stainless steel and Teflon?
Anyways, my point is that Japan is lacking in pans, casserole dishes, and basically cookware. Don’t even get me started on ingredients.
The third problem, should you be fortunate enough to procure both ingredients and a suitable receptacle, is the oven. Should I call it an oven? Well, it’s my microwave (see earlier post from May) but it has a button with an “oven” function. It only sets temperature in degrees of 10 Celsius so I can’t even program it to an even 350 degrees. It’s either too hot or not hot enough. Seriously, EVERYTHING is cooked at that temperature! Could you be a little more inconvenient?!?!?
Oh yes, you could.
How about making an oven so tiny that you can’t even fit a normal size pan in it?
Okay.
That’s what I have. Making cookies? Ha. It will take a million years because you can only fit 9 cookies at a time. It’s just a little better than a toaster oven but not by much. Of course, there are two shelf slots in my oven but guess what? There’s only one shelf.
I’m sorry, does it sound like I’m complaining too much? Probably. I just wanna make my cookies…apparently that’s too much to ask around here.
So, with my tiny dysfunctional microwave/oven I’ve been commissioned to make enough green bean casserole and vegetables to feed 20 people for Thanksgiving dinner.
Since I only owned a pan big enough for a batch of cornbread I figured it was time to go shopping.
After poking around in fancy kitchen stores, cheap we-sell-a-little-of-everything stores, department stores, and home depot-ish stores, I finally found something.
It’s just a stainless steel pan, deep for a casserole, and short enough to fit in my oven…barely. It looks like I pinched it from a summer camp kitchen but I paid about 2200 yen for it. It’s a freakin’ pan! There better be some great things coming out of that pan. I also ended up grabbing a metal bowl for my own enjoyment. This girl has some serious Christmas baking plans.
After finding the shiny wonder I decided to kill some time and see what else the store had to offer since it was my first time there. Turns out they sell puppies and kittens. L I’m very much against this. Ask me sometime. But, when I saw the Italian Greyhound puppy nervously pacing and running in his little crate I had to sit down next to him and keep him company for awhile. It was here I saw a fellow walking around pushing his cart with a longhaired daschund inside. Beautiful dog. The man was looking for a new puppy and brought his adult dog along to see if they would be compatible with each other. The adult dog’s eyes got big when the man came into the crated animals section.
“Oh my gaaaaaash! They’re all caged up like ANIMALS here! Pleeeeeze! Don’t leave me here!!!! Nooooo!!!!!”
He looked pretty nervous, that’s all I’m saying.
Putting some items in my backpack and strapping my new aluminum bowl on the back, I covered the entire thing with the built-in rain tarp (Thanks REI) and took a walk in the pouring rain. Strolling along the boulevard underneath my compact umbrella I listened to my “Meh” playlist through deep bass earbuds; fresh Fall air rushed past my throat that was currently under reconstruction after experiencing WWIII.
I met Rachel who had finished working out at the gym and I failed to find a pair of suitable running shoes from Sports Authority. We caught the train back to sleepy Funehiki and watched two movies about mentally disrupted people: The Soloist followed by Benny and Joon. I love both of them. In the evening I hung out with some peeps downstairs and played a pretty sick air guitar. It was my way of making up for not singing.
Sunday was the best day. We moved Bible Study to the morning and then had two hours to prepare for the concert. Our employer treated us English teachers and other employees of the English School and yochien. We drove an hour to the coastal city of Iwaki. The town did suffer damage from the earthquake and tsunami, but is doing well now. It’s pretty close to the nuclear plant, and this is probably its more dire threat at the moment besides reconstruction. There was a concert scheduled here several months ago but was postponed due to the disasters in the Spring. The concert ended up becoming a tribute to the survivors and townspeople who endured these horrific events. Most of the heads of departments, cities, and organizations were present, therefore landing us in the paths of some very important people. We’re talking mayors, heads of …..
The concert itself was amazing. Featuring the Japan Philharmonic, the conductor turned out to be featuring a special conductor: Ken-ichiro Kobayashi. He was invited to conduct this performance because Iwaki is his hometown! Then it got even better when his daughter played the Grieg piano concerto.
Did I mention the seats were in two’s spread throughout the hall. Guess who was sitting in the middle of row 6? Me and Rachel. Oh yeah. I watched every gesture and eyelid flutter on the pianist as she graced over the keys effortlessly. Her expression was so intense, I felt like she was writing the music as she played it. It made me cry. I was definitely emotionally invested throughout the performance.
I was also close enough to enjoy watching the first-chair cellist, a good-looking Japanese fellow, as well as one of the violists. Men, can we please bring back coattails into all formal events?
As we took our seats it was hard not to notice in the sea of tan skin and black-haired heads, a single white guy, front and center in the horn section.
Woah! A foreigner!
It’s hard not to notice. We were all guessing his nationality during the performance but none of us were correct.
How did we find out?
Well, let’s not forget to mention that Enchou-sensei is part of the Rotary club. He probably runs it or something, too.
Well, since they’re an important and influential group and we’re connected to them, we were invited to hors d’oeuvres with the orchestra after the performance at some fancy hotel banquet hall down the street.
So we click-clacked our heels down there and awkwardly took our seats. I say awkwardly because there’s no way a bunch of Americans can go anywhere or do anything discreetly in this country. We’re always noticed.
Guess who was there? Trumpet boy. Our fellows downed a beer or two and went over to his table to make friends under strict instructions to bring him over and be introduced to the ladies.
They did well and showed him to our gaijin table, introducing him as an Italian! Very nice guy from the few minutes we spoke with him. I chuckled when he said that he immediately spotted Rachel and I in the audience before the performance and thought to himself, “there are foreigners here!” And eventually spotted all 8 of us in the crowd. Let’s be honest here: Rachel and I were also looking pretty gorgeous to boot, American or not.
Eventually we had the opportunity to meet the conductor and his daughter and I got to tell him in Japanese how much I enjoyed the performance and it moved me to tears. How many people get to do that?!
Then I got a picture with him. Awesome.
So, in the end our Italian friend has a girlfriend but we’re all Facebook friends now. They live in Tokyo and would be excited if we ever came down to hang out. Yay for international friends!!!
I went to work today, prefacing all my classes with “I can’t talk loudly today so please listen carefully.” I passed out several worksheets and my 8th grade girls watched a movie.
Here’s hoping the week gets better, my voice recovers, and I can get all the ingredients for Thanksgiving dinner.
P.S. Wednesday is a holiday here and Rachel and I have plans to go back to Iwaki and see the ocean!!! I’ll be sad if it’s raining…or snowing.
Oh, my mom finally got her hands on the heirloom pan and now enjoys perfect rice pudding. I’m set to inherit it someday. Too bad I don’t care too much for rice pudding.
I went to work today, prefacing all my classes with “I can’t talk loudly today so please listen carefully.” I passed out several worksheets and my 8th grade girls watched a movie.
Here’s hoping the week gets better, my voice recovers, and I can get all the ingredients for Thanksgiving dinner.
P.S. Wednesday is a holiday here and Rachel and I have plans to go back to Iwaki and see the ocean!!! I’ll be sad if it’s raining…or snowing.
Oh, my mom finally got her hands on the heirloom pan and now enjoys perfect rice pudding. I’m set to inherit it someday. Too bad I don’t care too much for rice pudding.
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