Oh man! I just cooked some dank food!
I have been planning both of these meals for a couple days now. I am trying to stay on a tight budget, eat different things, and eat deliciously, so these meals fit perfectly within those constraints, although with a moderately high starter cost.
First, I had okonomiyaki -- Japanese pancake. You get these at restaurants, there is meat, sometimes fish, sometimes veggies, mixed in a pancake like batter with shredded cabbage throughout, topped with a rich brown sauce things and maybe seaweed.
I mixed together an egg, okonomiyaki flour, and water in a bowl. Once it was nice and thick, I stirred in a ton of diced cabbage. Next I fried some meat and mushrooms. Once they were almost cooked, I removed some, and poured over the rest my ton-o-pancake mix. Then I put on the top of the pancake the rest of the meat and mushrooms. I let the thing fry for about 5 minutes, and then flipped it over. I went heavy on the okonomiyaki sauce as I poured it over the top. I added shredded seaweed on top. After a couple minutes the thing was done and I plated it up.
It was pretty good. Def filling. I might have had too much flour and perhaps too much sauce. But, it was def a change of pace. My Japanese food abilities now include stir-fry, kimchee fried rice (technically Korean?), and okonomiyaki. Next up: shabu-shabu and tempura!
I have also had a hecka big sweet tooth recently. Now, I can't go out and buy a whole box of digestive biscuits every time I feel like having desert. So I decided to make crepes. First I did a test crepe. Because I've never done them before. I whisked (all with a fork) together an egg, quarter cup water, quarter cup milk. I had bought what said "something something BUTTER" on it, and it turned out to be spread. So I melted about a tablespoon of spread and added it to the bowl. Finally I added a tiny bit of salt. I mixed all these together. Next I added in a half cup of flour, a little at a time, and mixed it all till it was as smooth as I could get it. This was the test crepe. I had total 3/4ths cup batter.
I greased up a frying pan, heated it up, and dumped in 1/4 cup. I sworled the batter around in a circle. Now, the batter was not flat, little airy lumps popped up, like when making various Indian breads. I couldn't get any of the crepes flat. Is this a common problem with crepes?
In any case, I flipped it over when it looked set, and cooked it for about less than a minute more. Then I put it on a plate.
Next I halved a banana lengthwise and fried it up. I put one half on my first crepe. I wanted to add whipped cream, preferably fresh, else in a can, but they didnt have canned, and i dont have anywhere to whip. So i bought some plain yogurt. Unfortunately I left the yogurt out so it was a little melted. Also, it needed sugar. I stirred some sugar into some melty yogurt in a bowl and it melted even more, instantly. My guess is the sugar lowered the melting point of the yogurt. In any case, I added this sweet yogurt to my banana on the crepe, and of course, I had also bought some hersheys chocolate, and dumped some of that on there too.
It was delicious! But the crepe was cold. I thought it was more important the banana be hot than the crepe. I WAS WRONG! So the next two crepes I ate right after making each. Now you may be wondering -- "Eo-dog, you said you used 1/4 cup batter and yet you still had half a cup left. This means that there are two crepes left. You also said you cut a banana in half and used half for the first crepe. There is one half of a banana left. Assuming you put the whole banana-half in one of the last two crepes, what the heck did you put in the other??!!"
This is a good question, it raises an important issue that I thought of myself. And you are right, I did use the whole second half of the banana for actually my second crepe. I didn't feel like frying any more bananas for the third, but of course I couldn't have an empty crepe. So my second crepe was like a hot version of the first. And my third crepe I filled with rhubarb compote. It was good. I think some chunks of fresh rhubarb, for texture, would have been exquisite. Also, the plate was real messy and creamy chocolaty, so I got a little bit of that going on with the rhubarb.
Well, thanks for joining us today. Man, I feel like a rat... named Remy!
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Shizzle Bizzle
Hey there. Nice to see you again! Wow, you look great! You're getting in shape! It must be all that exercise! Did you get a hair cut? You look ugly. I preferred the old hair cut.
Well, now that we've broken the ice from our long sojourn, let us rekindle our relationship. I can tell you more longwinded stories, and you can nod your head, half paying attention while I ramble.
I went home for the holidays. It was nice. It was good to see the family and friends. Christmas was good. It was a relaxing, but rushed time. 10 days isn't much time. And I flew at least business class both ways, which was hecka nice. I should say that coming back to Japan was in some ways harder than leaving in the first place. I was moving into a new apartment. I had gotten back into a GOC rhythm. There was no new job or anything terribly new to look forward to. So I came back, and it was a little bit bittersweet.
I lug my heavy suitcase on a 2-3 hour train trek to my ew apartment. The girl who I'm living with -- M --was surprising short, ie no long winded intros. This is fine, and the communal space is spare so its not like there is anywhere to chat, but it was still weird to be like, "oh, you're moving in now. hi nice to see you. this is how much rent is. when do you want to practice english and japanese together? im having friends over tonight does that bother you? ok bye." whatevs. i dont care.
I won't go too deep into it this post, but she is extremely neat and demanding about neatness, I think to an unreasonable extent, and that causes me stress. I know I'm messy, but I think things such as leaving the sponge in the sink, and not leaving the proper bathroom doors open and closed is stupid to keep complaining about. Just close the door, put the sponge where it should be, and call it a day. Moreover, there is no table in the kitchen, though there used to be when I looked here in December, so that bothers me, gonna have to talk about that. She's out a lot, so I have privacy, which is nice.
I got back on the 30th and on the 31st was what we like to call "the new year." We had a whole gang celebrating. Me and old roomie J. J's Nova comrade and this comrade's visiting English friend. My friend N and her visiting English friend. Also, there was another English person there. We GOCers were greatly outnumbered. It felt like the war of 1812 all over again. (Which we won.) But I think everybody won on New Years.
We go over to J's apt. We shoot the breeze and play pass the computer so I can put on music I like. That's always a fun game. We started getting sloppy with canned G&T's, screwdrivers, and man-sodas (beer,) for this young crowd (i.e. no geezers.) Then we played drinking card games. This was a lot of fun. In Japan, you don't often get to go over to someone's apartment and just let loose. A lot of people go out to bars or clubs, (and often leave early to catch last train home.) But the whole, let's go over to so-and-so's apartment just isn't done too much in this country, so it was a refreshing change of pace. That is why I was marginally bummed when we decided to go to Yokohama, but that is what the people wanted.
On New Year's Eve the trains are open all night -- so that people can go to temples any time they want. We get on the train, are on it for midnight fireworks in Yokohama, and at midnight J's friend pops open a bottle of bubbly. We pass it around like the gaikokujin we are, (don't worry, drinking in public is allowed here.) I had a good time on that train, actually. Not sure about everyone else, it took over 90 minutes.
We get to Yokohama and go to the amusement park. We wait in line for about an hour. This wasn't hecka fun. There were two French dude-bro's in front of us who were not a fun time. We ride the rollercoaster and it was amazing
ly unspectacular. Next we go to a shopping mall for some reason and wander around wishing everyone a happy new year in Japanese, essentially saying, I think, "good morning and good luck" (trans. from Edward. R. Murrows). Then some people get tired, some people get club urgings, (but didn't go clubbing) and everyone pretty much splits up. I was bummed that they called it a night, but what are u gonna do. I went part of the way home with some people, (not everybody, N lives near Yokohama, for example.) And then took the very long train journey home.
I didn't get to sleep until daylight, which was probably good for my jet lag. I had messed up sleep cycle until about two days ago. I think what kicked it into normal gear was work yesterday. I have to leave here at 6.47, so I gotta get up at 5.30. Getting up this early, I actually went to bed at 10.30 last night and slept aight! I can't believe I got a good nights sleep going to bed that early. And then I woke up at 5.30 no problem. I think I am turning into an old man. I have also been strong and resisting the urge to nap. btw: work is the same, only add 1 hour to the commute each way. But i dont care too much bout that.
The town I'm in is cool. Higashi omiya. I want to go explore it more. It's a small town alright, but it's got a club! What the heck is there a club doing in this small town? (it's expensive to get in, so it's not on the list of my things to do, but it is nestled between a 24 hour fast japanese food joint and a mom and pop cheap foods store.) there is also a bar about two buildings away that seemed kind of lively on New year's day, but havent ventured there too yet. Too cheap/broke. I'm not an alcoholic, really, but there is limited public space in Japan, and as I said, people don't go over to each other's places.
One more interesting thing. On Sunday, I woke up at about 7 am, with my messed up skedul. So I decided to go to church. I can see the Church from my window, its lit across the street, but also across the tracks, so what would be a 30 second walk is more like a 3 min walk. I sneak in, cuz I'm a little bit late, and listen to the priest talk alot. No reciting prayers in the first part, just listening to the preist, I think reading from and talking about scripture. Some usher was nice enough to get me a hymnal and an order of worship. Eventually the priest's monologue ends and people sing a song or two, a couple prayers, and communion starts. I sang along to the hymns tho they were written in Japanese. Brrra! Brrra! The lady next to me encouraged and helped me to fill out a visitor's card. I wrote my name. And she handed it in. Communion came to us. First a peice of spongy bread was brought on trays to everyone. And then grape juice in small individual glass shooters was brought to everyone on a special tray. I ate and drank when everyone else did. I didn't recite the prayer though, because I wasn't exactly sure what I was praying. After this was the announcements, at the end now, before the final hymn. Some people stood up, said some things. Priest said some stuff, some lady stood up, bowed, people clapped. Then the priest read my card and I stood up, bowed, and they clapped! It was crazy.
After church the lady who was sitting next to me dropped me off with this nice man who spoke English. Turns out this church is basically the umbrella Protestant church of Japan founded after WWII. We talk for about 5 minutes in the pews, and then we go I think to leave. I bow to the minister and want to go right to leave the church, but the minister directs me left to coffee hour, saying "doozo" (please.) OK...
So I go to Coffee hour, and it probably lasted almost and hour for me. I small talked with that guy, very nice. Some other people spoke English. I talked to them a little. They were all very nice and directed me to sit down at this table, which I did. I had all the snacks and tea they offered me. It was very warm and hospitable. Apparently, after Church, since some people are interested in learning English, they have the day's translated scripture and go over it in English. I didn't do that this time, but maybe sometime I will help them. As I was indicating that I was going to leave soon, and also when certain people were leaving, people said, "yeah, so, see you next week." Note the period. So apparently I am in this church now, which is I think is essentially the Japanese version of the church I was in in the GOC. As someone told J, who told me -- "Once you're in a Japanese club, you're in it for life." But that's cool. It should be a good way to get involved in the community and maybe practice Japanese.
That's all he wrote for today. Gotta go! Bai Bai!
Well, now that we've broken the ice from our long sojourn, let us rekindle our relationship. I can tell you more longwinded stories, and you can nod your head, half paying attention while I ramble.
I went home for the holidays. It was nice. It was good to see the family and friends. Christmas was good. It was a relaxing, but rushed time. 10 days isn't much time. And I flew at least business class both ways, which was hecka nice. I should say that coming back to Japan was in some ways harder than leaving in the first place. I was moving into a new apartment. I had gotten back into a GOC rhythm. There was no new job or anything terribly new to look forward to. So I came back, and it was a little bit bittersweet.
I lug my heavy suitcase on a 2-3 hour train trek to my ew apartment. The girl who I'm living with -- M --was surprising short, ie no long winded intros. This is fine, and the communal space is spare so its not like there is anywhere to chat, but it was still weird to be like, "oh, you're moving in now. hi nice to see you. this is how much rent is. when do you want to practice english and japanese together? im having friends over tonight does that bother you? ok bye." whatevs. i dont care.
I won't go too deep into it this post, but she is extremely neat and demanding about neatness, I think to an unreasonable extent, and that causes me stress. I know I'm messy, but I think things such as leaving the sponge in the sink, and not leaving the proper bathroom doors open and closed is stupid to keep complaining about. Just close the door, put the sponge where it should be, and call it a day. Moreover, there is no table in the kitchen, though there used to be when I looked here in December, so that bothers me, gonna have to talk about that. She's out a lot, so I have privacy, which is nice.
I got back on the 30th and on the 31st was what we like to call "the new year." We had a whole gang celebrating. Me and old roomie J. J's Nova comrade and this comrade's visiting English friend. My friend N and her visiting English friend. Also, there was another English person there. We GOCers were greatly outnumbered. It felt like the war of 1812 all over again. (Which we won.) But I think everybody won on New Years.
We go over to J's apt. We shoot the breeze and play pass the computer so I can put on music I like. That's always a fun game. We started getting sloppy with canned G&T's, screwdrivers, and man-sodas (beer,) for this young crowd (i.e. no geezers.) Then we played drinking card games. This was a lot of fun. In Japan, you don't often get to go over to someone's apartment and just let loose. A lot of people go out to bars or clubs, (and often leave early to catch last train home.) But the whole, let's go over to so-and-so's apartment just isn't done too much in this country, so it was a refreshing change of pace. That is why I was marginally bummed when we decided to go to Yokohama, but that is what the people wanted.
On New Year's Eve the trains are open all night -- so that people can go to temples any time they want. We get on the train, are on it for midnight fireworks in Yokohama, and at midnight J's friend pops open a bottle of bubbly. We pass it around like the gaikokujin we are, (don't worry, drinking in public is allowed here.) I had a good time on that train, actually. Not sure about everyone else, it took over 90 minutes.
We get to Yokohama and go to the amusement park. We wait in line for about an hour. This wasn't hecka fun. There were two French dude-bro's in front of us who were not a fun time. We ride the rollercoaster and it was amazing
ly unspectacular. Next we go to a shopping mall for some reason and wander around wishing everyone a happy new year in Japanese, essentially saying, I think, "good morning and good luck" (trans. from Edward. R. Murrows). Then some people get tired, some people get club urgings, (but didn't go clubbing) and everyone pretty much splits up. I was bummed that they called it a night, but what are u gonna do. I went part of the way home with some people, (not everybody, N lives near Yokohama, for example.) And then took the very long train journey home.
I didn't get to sleep until daylight, which was probably good for my jet lag. I had messed up sleep cycle until about two days ago. I think what kicked it into normal gear was work yesterday. I have to leave here at 6.47, so I gotta get up at 5.30. Getting up this early, I actually went to bed at 10.30 last night and slept aight! I can't believe I got a good nights sleep going to bed that early. And then I woke up at 5.30 no problem. I think I am turning into an old man. I have also been strong and resisting the urge to nap. btw: work is the same, only add 1 hour to the commute each way. But i dont care too much bout that.
The town I'm in is cool. Higashi omiya. I want to go explore it more. It's a small town alright, but it's got a club! What the heck is there a club doing in this small town? (it's expensive to get in, so it's not on the list of my things to do, but it is nestled between a 24 hour fast japanese food joint and a mom and pop cheap foods store.) there is also a bar about two buildings away that seemed kind of lively on New year's day, but havent ventured there too yet. Too cheap/broke. I'm not an alcoholic, really, but there is limited public space in Japan, and as I said, people don't go over to each other's places.
One more interesting thing. On Sunday, I woke up at about 7 am, with my messed up skedul. So I decided to go to church. I can see the Church from my window, its lit across the street, but also across the tracks, so what would be a 30 second walk is more like a 3 min walk. I sneak in, cuz I'm a little bit late, and listen to the priest talk alot. No reciting prayers in the first part, just listening to the preist, I think reading from and talking about scripture. Some usher was nice enough to get me a hymnal and an order of worship. Eventually the priest's monologue ends and people sing a song or two, a couple prayers, and communion starts. I sang along to the hymns tho they were written in Japanese. Brrra! Brrra! The lady next to me encouraged and helped me to fill out a visitor's card. I wrote my name. And she handed it in. Communion came to us. First a peice of spongy bread was brought on trays to everyone. And then grape juice in small individual glass shooters was brought to everyone on a special tray. I ate and drank when everyone else did. I didn't recite the prayer though, because I wasn't exactly sure what I was praying. After this was the announcements, at the end now, before the final hymn. Some people stood up, said some things. Priest said some stuff, some lady stood up, bowed, people clapped. Then the priest read my card and I stood up, bowed, and they clapped! It was crazy.
After church the lady who was sitting next to me dropped me off with this nice man who spoke English. Turns out this church is basically the umbrella Protestant church of Japan founded after WWII. We talk for about 5 minutes in the pews, and then we go I think to leave. I bow to the minister and want to go right to leave the church, but the minister directs me left to coffee hour, saying "doozo" (please.) OK...
So I go to Coffee hour, and it probably lasted almost and hour for me. I small talked with that guy, very nice. Some other people spoke English. I talked to them a little. They were all very nice and directed me to sit down at this table, which I did. I had all the snacks and tea they offered me. It was very warm and hospitable. Apparently, after Church, since some people are interested in learning English, they have the day's translated scripture and go over it in English. I didn't do that this time, but maybe sometime I will help them. As I was indicating that I was going to leave soon, and also when certain people were leaving, people said, "yeah, so, see you next week." Note the period. So apparently I am in this church now, which is I think is essentially the Japanese version of the church I was in in the GOC. As someone told J, who told me -- "Once you're in a Japanese club, you're in it for life." But that's cool. It should be a good way to get involved in the community and maybe practice Japanese.
That's all he wrote for today. Gotta go! Bai Bai!
Just the Two of Us
From the first time the internet placed you in my sight
I knew that we should talk before we both said alright.
Although questions arose in my mind would I be man enough
Against dirt choose clean and be standin up?
From the bedroom that first night
Sleeping light wondering -- will we be alright?
People talking all loud didnt get me upset
But what did was when i didnt have internet.
The next day I don't think one bit I sent,
While you mailed me texts about the bathroom vent.
I try to live cleanly -- but I'm afraid of this --
Your impatience when I let the sponge lay in the sink.
Then to my knees and I begged the law please
Let me be a good tenant all she needs.
Deposit, utilities, and cleaning fees too
I pledge my rent to you.
Just the two of us, we can make if we try
Just the two of us.
Just the two of us, building castles in the sky
Just the two of us, you and I.
I knew that we should talk before we both said alright.
Although questions arose in my mind would I be man enough
Against dirt choose clean and be standin up?
From the bedroom that first night
Sleeping light wondering -- will we be alright?
People talking all loud didnt get me upset
But what did was when i didnt have internet.
The next day I don't think one bit I sent,
While you mailed me texts about the bathroom vent.
I try to live cleanly -- but I'm afraid of this --
Your impatience when I let the sponge lay in the sink.
Then to my knees and I begged the law please
Let me be a good tenant all she needs.
Deposit, utilities, and cleaning fees too
I pledge my rent to you.
Just the two of us, we can make if we try
Just the two of us.
Just the two of us, building castles in the sky
Just the two of us, you and I.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)