So yesterday night, I told myself that I had to use up the celery I had bought before it went bad, so I ended up running to the store to buy some things for some minestrone soup and some dumplings. I really wanted to try this dumpling/biscuit recipe I had found online. I've been eyeing it for quite some time actually.
A couple of things went kinda wrong though.
First I cooked the soup so long that a lot of the veggies were super duper limp and - to make it worse - I hadn't stirred it enough so it kind of burned the entire bottom. -_- Burned minestrone is not so great. Burned kidney beans are almost worse.
The sad thing is that this isn't even my first attempt on the soup. It's my second or third and it still turned out kinda eh. I think I need to use more water or something.
The dumplings though... I was stupid and didn't read the comments of the recipe which said that pretty much everyone cut down on the salt and the herbs. Stupid stupid stupid. Sigh. So my dumplings turned out really really salty (but still edible).
I want to experiment with these though, like try mixing in cheese or something or pepper cause I think it'd be tasty. The recipe is a good base though. I'll post it below.
The only thing that kept this from being a real cooking disaster was the fact that everything was still pretty edible, albiet kinda salty and not the tastiest. Adding cheese also makes it taste better, but nothing can make the dumplings not super salty. Sigh.
Okay, random, but Avril Lavigne's "What the Hell" has amde the top 5 songs in Japan on tv. I don't understand.
Also, acoustic guitars are sweet. I found this artist called DERAPEPE and he's kind of awesome.
Alright, recipes:
Minestrone Soup
Ingredients:
1/2 onion
1 can diced tomatoes
1000 cc water + 1 can of water from the tomatoes
2 beef boullion cubes (you can use any flavor, but since I throw in ground beef, eh, might as well)
1.5(ish) diced/cubed carrots
5 cloves of garlic
Red kidney beans
1 stalk of celery
~ 500 cc/2.5 cups of choice pasta. I used penne. I also used a little more than this and it was too much. But yeah, most people use elbow or shell or something small.
200 g ground beef
1/2 of a half a head of cabbage. So like, 1/4 cabbage.
Parmesan cheese
Spices:
Oregano, Basil, Bay Leaf (x2), Parsley, Salt and Pepper
Dash of tabasco
Other possible ingredients:
frozen/fresh spinich
eggplant
potato
bell peppers (green, red, yellow~)
zucchini
squash
Cheese (to be added when the soup is nearly finished)
Note, you can pretty much substitute any ingredients you want/have in this soup :) and also adjust the amount. Usually, I try to have equal parts of veggies, maybe a smidge more onion than carrot. Except garlic. I have a ton of that stuff.
Steps:
1. Get a large pot. Toss some oil in the pot. For the sake of the pot, if you can use something that's not a pasta pot, it's better I think. Heat until oil is warm.
2. Toss in ground beef, onions, and garlic. Cook until onions are kinda translucent or until beef is brown.
3. Throw in your hard veggies. Carrots, potatoes... anything that'll take a little longer to cook. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
4. After a little bit, add in the tomatoes, beef stock/boullion cubes and water, beans, celery, cabbage, and the rest of your soft veggies. Also add in your spices. I used like... two shakes of basil (since my basil comes out fast) and a few shakes of parsley and oregano, a round of salt, and lots of pepper. :D I love pepper.
5. Cover and cook at a simmer for at least 30 minutes, though you can go for longer.
6. About 20 minutes before you want to eat, throw in the pasta, unless you don't care if your pasta is soggy or you're using pasta where it doesn't matter much. If you pasta is in for too long, then you have sad, waterlogged pasta. D:
7. Taste, and season as you see fit. Generally I end up adding more basil and more salt, but that's because I like my minestrone really savory. If you stick with Italian herbs (or you have the Italian herb blend) you can't really go wrong. :)
8. Put into bowls. Top with copious amounts of parmesan cheese.
9. OMNOMNOMNOM.
It even has like, all the different food groups so you can eat this as a delicious meal. :D
Herbed Dumplings
From Allrecipes.com, adjusted for less salty/herby dumplings
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt (depending on your taste)
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
3 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup milk
In a bowl, mix the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, thyme, parsley, and oregano. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Gradually add milk, using just enough to form a thick batter.
Drop by rounded tablespoons into your simmering soup or stew, cover, and allow to cook 15 minutes. Do NOT lift the lid while they cook, otherwise yours won't end up fluffy.
Jess' notes: Baking soda is kind of hard to get here in Japan, but baking powder is readily available so I just used that instead. I pretty much used double the amount of baking powder (10g) since most online advice on using baking powder as a substitute calls for 2-3x the amount of baking soda needed. And they turned out fine. Seriously, these are tasty tasty dumplings.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Saturday, March 26, 2011
BZZZZZZZZZ.
Something interesting that I've noticed about going to shows or going to performances here is the way in which they notify the audience that it's time to sit down and shut up.
In the states yeah, the lights will dim or they'll flicker as a warning that you should be heading back to your seats and that in a couple of minutes, the show will start. Then usually, when the show actually starts, the lights will fully fade and a hush will come over the audience as the official signal.
In Japan though, instead of using these visual cues, they use audio cues for this. A giant buzzing noise buzzes and goes BUZZZZZZZZZZZ. Then when the show's about to start again it goes BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ again. Personally, I find it a little disruptive to the atmosphere of it all, especially if it's a more elegant show, but I suppose, to each his own? It's certainly effective in getting people to be quiet.
In the states yeah, the lights will dim or they'll flicker as a warning that you should be heading back to your seats and that in a couple of minutes, the show will start. Then usually, when the show actually starts, the lights will fully fade and a hush will come over the audience as the official signal.
In Japan though, instead of using these visual cues, they use audio cues for this. A giant buzzing noise buzzes and goes BUZZZZZZZZZZZ. Then when the show's about to start again it goes BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ again. Personally, I find it a little disruptive to the atmosphere of it all, especially if it's a more elegant show, but I suppose, to each his own? It's certainly effective in getting people to be quiet.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Miyagi-ken's JISHIN
It's been four days since the earthquake hit in the north-eastern part of Japan.
It was in the afternoon when it hit here; everyone was still at school, and I was killing time and correcting my brother's 12 page paper for his college writing course. Then, randomly, our school's PA system came to life, saying something in that calm, "I'm kind of panicking but my voice is completely calm because I've trained my whole life in Japanese society for this" Japanese crisis voice, all in Japanese, of course. There were a few things I could pick out. Evacuation center. Tokyo Dome. Several different prefecture names (including Tokyo). JISHIN, or earthquake. And the word for "emergency" (I had to look that one up).
It turns out that something basically hacked our PA system to broadcast an emergency message about the earthquake that had hit in Miyagi Prefecture, off the coast of Sendai. We were kind of like, "oh shit." The first place I turned to for information was the internet.
It's been so surreal the past few days as I've been watching the news, knowing that the northeastern part of Japan (roughly the size from NY to Washington, or so I'm told) was in utter chaos and had been partially annihilated. We've kind of been going about our normal lives down here. Okayama is blessedly far away from Tokyo (though the affected zones stretch down to Shizoka really). So I've been completely fine, and was somewhat amused when the first "OMG ARE YOU ALRIGHT?????" messages started coming in.
I was tempted to show them a map of Japan, but then I realized that many people, when they were watching the news, had it reported to them as the quake near tokyo since 98% of foreigners probably know where Miyagi prefecture is. So really, not people's fault I guess. Plus I could have been out traveling. I guess this is why they want you to tell your supervisor where you're going before you head out on long trips.
But this quake, unlike the other large ones that have hit, has hit a little bit closer to home. Literally. All of them, of course, have been tragic, sad, events. But this one in particular has hit the country I've come to call home for the past 7 months now. I could have been placed up there just as easily as I was placed in Okayama. I work with people who have relatives up there. My family members are in Tokyo, which, while not as bad, still got massive quakes.
So while Japan has been way better prepared and (hopefully) will result in fewer lives lost, I still can't help but worry. Entire towns got wiped out along the coast. Entire towns. Granted, some of these fishing villages can be quite small, but an entire town getting obliterated. That's crazy to think about.
It reminds me a lot about the global issues course I took a while back on The Scholar Ship. Prof. Gordon had talked about natural disasters, and how the worst ones in history weren't *actually* that bad as far as power and nature stuff goes. Most of it was location, and where humans had decided to build things. I suppose that's true, huh. But we can't really help where we build, since a lot of the places also are the most suitable for living, even if it means living near the river that's constantly flooding or living near the coast in a earthquake-prone (and thus, tsunami-prone) region.
I can't watch the news though any more. It just makes me too sad.
It was in the afternoon when it hit here; everyone was still at school, and I was killing time and correcting my brother's 12 page paper for his college writing course. Then, randomly, our school's PA system came to life, saying something in that calm, "I'm kind of panicking but my voice is completely calm because I've trained my whole life in Japanese society for this" Japanese crisis voice, all in Japanese, of course. There were a few things I could pick out. Evacuation center. Tokyo Dome. Several different prefecture names (including Tokyo). JISHIN, or earthquake. And the word for "emergency" (I had to look that one up).
It turns out that something basically hacked our PA system to broadcast an emergency message about the earthquake that had hit in Miyagi Prefecture, off the coast of Sendai. We were kind of like, "oh shit." The first place I turned to for information was the internet.
It's been so surreal the past few days as I've been watching the news, knowing that the northeastern part of Japan (roughly the size from NY to Washington, or so I'm told) was in utter chaos and had been partially annihilated. We've kind of been going about our normal lives down here. Okayama is blessedly far away from Tokyo (though the affected zones stretch down to Shizoka really). So I've been completely fine, and was somewhat amused when the first "OMG ARE YOU ALRIGHT?????" messages started coming in.
I was tempted to show them a map of Japan, but then I realized that many people, when they were watching the news, had it reported to them as the quake near tokyo since 98% of foreigners probably know where Miyagi prefecture is. So really, not people's fault I guess. Plus I could have been out traveling. I guess this is why they want you to tell your supervisor where you're going before you head out on long trips.
But this quake, unlike the other large ones that have hit, has hit a little bit closer to home. Literally. All of them, of course, have been tragic, sad, events. But this one in particular has hit the country I've come to call home for the past 7 months now. I could have been placed up there just as easily as I was placed in Okayama. I work with people who have relatives up there. My family members are in Tokyo, which, while not as bad, still got massive quakes.
So while Japan has been way better prepared and (hopefully) will result in fewer lives lost, I still can't help but worry. Entire towns got wiped out along the coast. Entire towns. Granted, some of these fishing villages can be quite small, but an entire town getting obliterated. That's crazy to think about.
It reminds me a lot about the global issues course I took a while back on The Scholar Ship. Prof. Gordon had talked about natural disasters, and how the worst ones in history weren't *actually* that bad as far as power and nature stuff goes. Most of it was location, and where humans had decided to build things. I suppose that's true, huh. But we can't really help where we build, since a lot of the places also are the most suitable for living, even if it means living near the river that's constantly flooding or living near the coast in a earthquake-prone (and thus, tsunami-prone) region.
I can't watch the news though any more. It just makes me too sad.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Ah, nostalgic bittersweetness
And oh hey - a surprise almond!
Today was the graduation ceremony for my base school, Takahashi Senior High school. It was quite different than high school graduations in the states; for one, it's in March since that's when the school year starts and finishes. Everyone else is still taking exams (or grading exams, in my case). The entire school (which is only 3 grades) attends the ceremony, and it's given the proper respect due to any ceremony in Japan. Moreso, since there were even rehearsals for this yesterday (which it was "suggested" I go to by some teachers and not by others).
To be brief, since I have to leave for a year end party pretty soon, here's a summary of the major differences I found between American, public high school graduations and Japanese public school graduations (with n=1):
1. No cap and gown for Japanese school kids. They wore corsages with their uniforms. Then again, we don't have uniforms.
2. Holy decorum batman. Everything had a ceremonial sort of order to it.
3. Bowing. If you went up to speak, you bowed at least 4 times: to the official people from the prefecture/PTA, to the official school people (principal, VP), to the flag of Japan, and to the audience. This of course, meant that as an audience member you could NOT sleep your way through the ceremony, because it requiring constant bowing and standing.
4. No diploma awarding. Graduates' names were read off and then one representative (from the academic classes, and one from the home ec class) went up and got something from the principal. That was it. No one else had to walk up to the stage.
5. Everyone else (the other students) had to attend the ceremony as well, and participated in singing stuff.
6. Auld Lang Sang was sung. In addition to being the "we're closing" song for department stores and supermarkets, it's also the graduation song. It has lyrics in Japanese. You should wiki it if you want to find out more. It's called "Hotaru no Hikari" or the Firefly's light. I almost laughed so hard when I heard them playing it the first time.
7. The audience members also wore corsages.
Afterwards, the students milled about and stuff, and I went back to grade more papers (I'm bustin' through these things baby). But like, afterwards, as I was grading and stuff, a couple graduating students came up to me with their yearbooks and asked me to sign it. X) I was super touched by this, since I only had one class (3-1) and some of the students weren't from that class. Some were though, and I was still super pleased that they came around to say bye and ask me to sign their yearbook. ^_^ This made me ridiculously happy, and I'm not sure why. I even took a couple pictures with some of the students. There were two students whose name I remembered (lols) and I wrote extra long for theirs. :D
The most surprising though, I think, was this one boy who came up to ask me to sign his. So this kid right. Every time I ran into him at school, he was always kinda jokey and stuff. The last time I ran into him, he had his bike and he was like, "you want to ride?" and he motioned to the back of his bicycle (where the little rack thing is). I kind of lol'd and made some sort of excuse on why I couldn't (they weren't untrue, either, but yeaaaah lol, riding on the back of a student's bicycle... yeaaaaaaaah. No.) But yeah. That pretty much sums up the kind of interactions I've had with him. Mostly I just laugh it off, but he asked me to sign his yearbook still and I was like "aww :)"
It makes me kind of sad that I'm not planning on staying a third year, since then I'd get to see the first years I taught this year graduate. I will get to see them as third years though, I guess. But it still makes me a little sad inside knowing that I won't be able to see this group off. Three years is a little too long for me. Places to be, and all that. Like grad school. Hopefully.
Today was the graduation ceremony for my base school, Takahashi Senior High school. It was quite different than high school graduations in the states; for one, it's in March since that's when the school year starts and finishes. Everyone else is still taking exams (or grading exams, in my case). The entire school (which is only 3 grades) attends the ceremony, and it's given the proper respect due to any ceremony in Japan. Moreso, since there were even rehearsals for this yesterday (which it was "suggested" I go to by some teachers and not by others).
To be brief, since I have to leave for a year end party pretty soon, here's a summary of the major differences I found between American, public high school graduations and Japanese public school graduations (with n=1):
1. No cap and gown for Japanese school kids. They wore corsages with their uniforms. Then again, we don't have uniforms.
2. Holy decorum batman. Everything had a ceremonial sort of order to it.
3. Bowing. If you went up to speak, you bowed at least 4 times: to the official people from the prefecture/PTA, to the official school people (principal, VP), to the flag of Japan, and to the audience. This of course, meant that as an audience member you could NOT sleep your way through the ceremony, because it requiring constant bowing and standing.
4. No diploma awarding. Graduates' names were read off and then one representative (from the academic classes, and one from the home ec class) went up and got something from the principal. That was it. No one else had to walk up to the stage.
5. Everyone else (the other students) had to attend the ceremony as well, and participated in singing stuff.
6. Auld Lang Sang was sung. In addition to being the "we're closing" song for department stores and supermarkets, it's also the graduation song. It has lyrics in Japanese. You should wiki it if you want to find out more. It's called "Hotaru no Hikari" or the Firefly's light. I almost laughed so hard when I heard them playing it the first time.
7. The audience members also wore corsages.
Afterwards, the students milled about and stuff, and I went back to grade more papers (I'm bustin' through these things baby). But like, afterwards, as I was grading and stuff, a couple graduating students came up to me with their yearbooks and asked me to sign it. X) I was super touched by this, since I only had one class (3-1) and some of the students weren't from that class. Some were though, and I was still super pleased that they came around to say bye and ask me to sign their yearbook. ^_^ This made me ridiculously happy, and I'm not sure why. I even took a couple pictures with some of the students. There were two students whose name I remembered (lols) and I wrote extra long for theirs. :D
The most surprising though, I think, was this one boy who came up to ask me to sign his. So this kid right. Every time I ran into him at school, he was always kinda jokey and stuff. The last time I ran into him, he had his bike and he was like, "you want to ride?" and he motioned to the back of his bicycle (where the little rack thing is). I kind of lol'd and made some sort of excuse on why I couldn't (they weren't untrue, either, but yeaaaah lol, riding on the back of a student's bicycle... yeaaaaaaaah. No.) But yeah. That pretty much sums up the kind of interactions I've had with him. Mostly I just laugh it off, but he asked me to sign his yearbook still and I was like "aww :)"
It makes me kind of sad that I'm not planning on staying a third year, since then I'd get to see the first years I taught this year graduate. I will get to see them as third years though, I guess. But it still makes me a little sad inside knowing that I won't be able to see this group off. Three years is a little too long for me. Places to be, and all that. Like grad school. Hopefully.
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