Fuck you, Valentine's Day

:(

Tapioca Pudding

Tapioca Pudding (15 min)

1/4 cup tapioca pearls (1/2 cup once soaked in a cup of water over night)
1 1/2 cup soy milk
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
big pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

(Makes about 3 servings)

1. Although this pudding has an extremely quick creation process, it is a dessert that needs some foresight. You don’t need to soak them an entire night, but you do need to give the pearls a few hours (2-3) to absorb some water before cooking the pudding.
2. Put the pearls, soy milk, sugar, and salt into a sauce pan and turn the heat on low.
3. Cook this mixture for 15 minutes, with the heat on low, always stirring and moving the mixture so that it doesn’t form a skin.
4. Once the 15 minutes is up, turn off the heat and move to a cooler surface, immediately adding the teaspoon of vanilla and stirring the pudding well so that the vanilla is blended evenly.
5. Add to containers and cool in fridge.

This is a Fire Door Exit

I've had a lot of odd days recently. And by that, I mean that I've had some REALLY AMAZING DAYS with some really strange low points. Like, I'll have a great day with the Monday Fundays, but just get kinda blue when they're all gone. I miss having a room mate. I'm tired of being alone all the time recently. I miss having someone I want to talk to all the time.

Sweet and Sour Vegetables

When me and two of my friends went to Thailand over the winter holiday, we took a cooking class while in Chiang Mai. It was a 7 hour class where they took you to the local open-air market to learn about vegetables, and then took us back to their school (which had an open-air kitchen…. so awesome) to learn how to make 7 different dishes. We learned how to make masaman curry, Thai fried rice, Pad Thai, sweet and sour vegetables, coconut milk soup, fried bananas…. we made a lot of food. The school’s slogan is, “by the end of the day, you’ll feel pregnant” and by jove… they were completely right.
Me and one of the two friends that I went to Thailand with were feeling nostalgic last night, and pining for that balmy 32 degree weather (it has been hovering between 0 and 10 degress here in Kochi recently). So! We decided to take a walk down memory lane and cook up one of the recipes we learned at the cooking school. I could almost feel that sweet sweet sunshine.

Sweet and Sour Vegetables

Goma Oil (for frying)
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1/2 head of cauliflower, small pieces
10-12 baby corn, cut into thin strips
1 small cucumber, peeled and sliced
1/2 medium carrot, peeled and sliced
1 tomato, cut into cubes
1 cup chopped pineapple
Cooked rice

Sauce

1 1/2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons ketchup

(Makes 3-4 servings)

1. Get everything cut and separated before you start cooking.
2. Make the sauce and steamed rice before you start stir frying as well. Pour all of the ingredients for the sauce into a small bowl and stir well with a spoon so that the sugar dissolves and the lime juice mixes in well.
3. Heat up the goma oil in a frying pan for 30 seconds on med-high and add the garlic. Fry the garlic for a minute before adding the onions and frying those for 2-3 minutes. The onions should start looking translucent.
4. Turn down the heat to medium and add the cauliflower,  cucumber, carrot, and baby corn to the mix and stir fry for 5 minutes.
5. Add the tomatoes, pineapple and pour on the sauce, coating all the vegetables evenly. Turn the heat down to the lower end of medium.
6. Cover the frying pan with a pot lid so that the vegetables can steam in the pan.
7. Serve over rice.

Hoikuens~

I could die. Those kids were soooooo effing cuuuuute. and TINY. and they LOVED ME. <3<3

5-Ingredient Bread

Home-made bread is just the best thing ever.

Basic White Bread

500+ grams flour
7 grams yeast
2 teaspoons salt
300 ml water
3 tablespoons olive oil

(makes 2 medium loaves)
220 C, 24-35 min

1. Measure out the flour and pour that as well as the yeast and salt into a large bowl and mix.
2. Make a well in the center and add the water and olive oil, starting the mixing process with a fork before diving in with your hands.
3. Use one hand to kneed, and the other to occasionally add bits of flour until the dough is elastic.
4. Let rise for at least an hour.
5. Once it’s risen 1.5 or 2x its original size, punch it down and place it on some baking sheets or in a baking pan.
6. Bake in a 220 C oven for about 25-35 minutes, or until the outside is nice and golden brown.

My oh My...

So, I got kind of excited about class today (for once!) because my fifth grade lesson at Ioki had been canceled due to influenza. All I had to do was sit with the 6th graders for 45 minutes, do one read/listen activity, and let them create stupid skits for the next lesson. Great, easy day! WRONG. About 5 minutes into getting into their groups and writing things down for the scripts, some kid on one side of the room says something, and then another walks up to him, yells, and starts punching and kicking him. He even grabbed his hair.

Yes, this is the first fist fight that has happened during my time here in Japan. I mean, Ioki has a troubled 6th grade class but... they've at least been able to keep it together enough to refrain from REAL all-out fist fights and have resorted to mostly rough play. Today was different. Luckily, there were two teachers in the room, so while my HRT held the kid back from attacking the one anymore, the other ran out to get the Kyoto and Koucho sensei. The kid was thrashing in my HRT's arms, tears flying and cursing the whole time. It got pretty dramatic quickly. One of the girls in the class just waved a hand at me and said "気にしないでよ〜" which wasn't really that reassuring but I did just that and tried to entertain the girl group by telling them what to write in their scripts.

After that disaster or a class, I found out that I was, in fact, supposed to be having lunch with the 1st graders, even though I was told not to bring lunch and eat with them. Instead, the VP took me out to get "Soup Curry" at a place in Ioki called Chez Nous. It was a REALLY cute place, and the soup curry was really yummy. She also decided to buy me some green tea cake to bring home. It was a very strange day. Needless to say, as soon as I start liking my job, the children give me a reason to question why the FUCK I'm feeling that way. Sa...

Me and Matto's trip to Kyoto this last weekend was a lot of fun. We took the night bus at 10:30 on Friday night, and got into Kyoto at 7AM Saturday morning (the bus stopped for two hours to take a rest in the middle of the night). The show started at 12:30PM and went until 7:30PM.... long ass show but the bands were really fun to see. We went mainly for The Lions and Malegoat, but I ended up liking a few other bands I'm gonna have to research. :) We got to stay at Tongu (the singer's) house in Kyoto with a bunch of other guys from Tokyo bands. The after party was fun (even though, I wasn't talked to all that much since I'm not really very knowledgeable about un-known pop punk bands) and we all crammed into an izakaya.

The next day, me and Matto went to a vegan restaurant called "Vege Note" and had an amazing all-vegan lunch. I was impressed with the soup and the curry-flavored korokke the shop made. They also made a wonderful lentil curry that went along with the lunch set. YUMMY!

Other highlights of the 24-hours-in-kyoto included seeing a snack bar named Hiro with the o as a little heart, and the snow falling Saturday night during the show. <3 Can't wait to go back for golden week~

前教育長の送る会

Tomorrow is the previous Kyouikucho's farewell party. The BOE just pulled out this long ass banner that they made for the event. I guess I didn't realize just how important this event was... there will be 80 people there. The BOE, I'm sure tons of people from the Shiyakusho, principals and vice principals from all the schools in Aki, and a bunch of different sensei. Why does this have to happen the night I decide to go to Kyoto for the weekend?! I totally wanna get wasted with the kyoikucho and (omgwhatifmountainsenseiwasthere) go to the nijikai!!!! :<<< oh well. Let's see how this thing plays out...

ドラマ to the max

Man, life has been dramatic lately. For once, I'm not creating the drama for myself (although, Saturday night I really didn't help the situation. I just facilitated for silly-ness). Maybe this'll all settle down soon, but who knows. We have an awful dramatic crew of people over here in Kochi-ken.

Finally getting back to some studying of the Japanese. I picked up どもう and have been going over old grammar and vocab, making sentences out of words I don't know and making sentences for the grammar points I'm trying to review. Hopefully this helps some. Getting through the new vocab that I have in the back of each chapter will take a LOONG time to memorize but hopefully there is some useful stuff in there.

Pumpkin Muffins

Pumpkin Muffin Recipe (adapted)

1 3/4 cups  flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground or freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup pureed pumpkin
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons maple syrup
OPTIONAL: 1 cup finely chopped walnuts (kurumi)

(makes 20 muffins)
200 C, 18 min

1. Preheat the oven to 200 C (400 F).
2. Pour the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and spices into a separate bowl.
3. In your main bowl, whisk together the pureed pumpkin, soy milk, oil, and maple syrup.
4. Sift the dry ingredients into the wet and mix until smooth. (OPTIONAL: Lastly, add the walnuts.)
5. Pour into muffin papers 3/4 of the way full and bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Decided to make some cupcakes for Sea's little birthday party~

Easy Chocolate Cupcakes (adapted)

1 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
¾ cup granulated sugar
½ cup oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt

(Makes a dozen cupcakes)
180 C, 18-20 min

Peanut Butter Frosting

1 cup of peanut butter (I used crunchy type)
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons soy milk (add more for a smoother, thinner frosting)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F).
2. Pour the cup of soy milk and teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in there so it can curdle.
3. Prepare the dry ingredients in another bowl. Pour in the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. The sugar will go in separately.
4. Add the oil, vanilla and sugar to the soy milk mix and whisk until foamy and thoroughly mixed.
5. Sift the dry bowl into the wet ingredients bowl and mix well.
6. Fill cupcake papers 3/4 full of batter, and bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
7. Slowly mix (with a fork) the sugar into the peanut butter. Add soy milk little by little as you stir.
8. Add vanilla.
9. Carefully frost the cupcakes since the frosting is thick.

The Monday Fundays, "Stawks, Unplugged"

http://www.mediafire.com/?75i43vw787316h3

Joyless

I thought today was going to be dreaded... I didn't have 打ち合わせ with Makoto sensei and the fifth graders are hate faces.... but really, the worst thing that happened today was that my first graders were absolutely joyless. For such small kids, they had no fun with making monster faces. I don't know wtf was going on :( It was really quite sad.

In other news. I have a cute new "fiance" and plays in the band Pall Mall. He came to Matto's b-day party at my house on Friday and it was magical~ haha Well, at least we talked. :)

OH MY PASTA

OH NO! MY COLA!

 

明けましておめでとうございます！

A happy new year and second day of work! The first day back wasn't so bad, but I'm starting to feel the drag of not getting my adequate sleep already. Whatever. Two days and Matto's punk-face party. ;)

Monday Funday, the Tuesday edition was a great way to start off this year. Seriously though. I don't think I could love my friends more than I do. When I got back from Thailand on Friday evening, I'd looked around to see if anything seemed out of place, if they had left a mark of their coming over.. but the signs were subtle and I didn't put them together until last night when De- and Matto presented their AMAZING "slide show" of Polaroids to us. They had made a story out of Polaroids of their "monday funday" alone in my FUCKING COLD apartment. They'd even made curry (with a Matto-sized spoon) and used my rice cooker! Hahaha I love them <3

This last weekend was also amazing. Saturday night, I just couldn't stop smiling. The show was good, I got to go out for drinks with Mall and Hiro and Matto (calling Mall a Thai Bird apparently..... I shouldn't EVER voice the junk that flies around in my head) and even though it was freezing and a complete 180 from Thailand, I was happy~ I don't know how many people have reactions like that to coming back to the cold, depressing, Japan winter... but I'm fucking estatic to be back to routine, back to laughing with my favorite people, and back to life (of course, coming home to a nengajo from mountain sensei wasn't so bad either~)