Saturday, March 28, 2009

the joys of roasted eggplant



Try making a roasted eggplant sandwich one of these days. If you haven't had eggplant in a while, you'll probably wonder what else you could have been eating for so long!

After you roast that eggplant-- here, I cut it into rounds, but you could just as easily slice the vegetable lengthwise to get a more sandwich-conducive oval-- using olive oil, black pepper, and some herbs, take that crusty old half-loaf of bread that's been sitting in the bread basket and toast it with just a touch of olive oil and some complementary herbs like thyme, rosemary, or dill. Then put the two together and there you have something savory and nutritious. 

I put cumin and paprika on these rounds, tarragon and thyme on some others. 

I suppose, if you wanted to dress it down for Lent, you could just roast the thing in the olive oil and slap it on some dry toast. But while you're at it, you might just slice it up and put it on a piece of bread raw... although I'm not sure if that would be safe. 

Raw onions are safe. You could stack some of those on some bread and call it a Friday! ;)


Thursday, March 26, 2009

tell it like it is

Sorry for another video post, guys, too much to do (and a lot of it concerning getting that golden Japanese driver's license, more on that next week, I hope).

But this guy is awesome!  I wish more people could speak this way. :)


Monday, March 23, 2009

A fluke?

Last Thursday was the day before a national holiday, so some people at work put together a bowling-and-dinner night "out on the town." Now, I signed up as quickly as the next person, but with considerable trepidation, since I'm no great shakes at bowling. Actually, that's an understatement. I absolutely lose at bowling, and it's not even a winning-losing game. I think my average score is somewhere under 20. 

You get the point. Jasmine Tea is bad at bowling but needed to be part of the group and go out with everyone on Thursday night. 

Well, would you believe I bowled something like 122 my first game??? It was like a parallel universe where suddenly that wretched ball was going where I wanted it to go. 

Then, of course, the score and all the people turning around to watch went to my head and I decided to try harder next game. Scraped a 60. 

Maybe the key to this whole bowling thing is not trying very hard. 

Sunday, March 22, 2009

live like you mean it

I heard that the State of Wisconsin wants to use the title phrase, or a variation on it, as the state's new promotional slogan. Of course, physical trainers and motivational authors were queuing up to complain the phrase being copyrighted after they'd already been using it in their work. Nonetheless, it is quite a good piece of advice.

I just started feeling a little under the weather, so I won't write too much today, but I thought I would put in a plug for a great movie that (I think) would be good for Lenten viewing as well, if you're limiting your TV/video watching this season.



By the way, I don't know why the whole window isn't showing, but if it bothers you like it bothers me, you can click on the video to open it in YouTube. 

See you guys later-

Friday, March 20, 2009

experiment

Avocado growers around the world are sitting on a potential gold mine, methinks. 

So I read about how you can substitute avocados for whipping cream in some recipes, and decided to try it out. This is, by the way, part of the planning stage in a dastardly plot for one-of-a-kind desserts come Easter. I don't have a lamb cake mold, and even if I did, it probably wouldn't fit in my oven. Therefore-! cupcakes. But I'm getting ahead of myself. 

What I wanted to try with the avocados was...

Chocolate Mousse!

Went out and got a couple at the store; lamentably, every shopper for the last week must have been squeezing the avocados. Nevertheless, I managed to find some fairly good ones and hie me home. 

Next, I  set out these simple ingredients next to my blender (which at 1200 yen was a steal,   although, I have to say, the machine is simplistic-- only an "off" and "on" setting). 

Avocados
Cocoa powder
Agave syrup

I blended the green guys first.


Then I added a heaping teaspoon of cocoa powder and a couple teaspoons of agave. Blend away.
Then I got inspired to add a banana I had on the counter. 
When I had it in the bowl I decided to mix in a half teaspoonful of instant coffee.
My final addition was a teaspoon of hazelnut syrup. 

WAHAHAHAHA!!!


In making this, I thought along the lines of some of Sr. Mary Martha's recent advice, and concluded that if it didn't turn out, it would be a nice penitential food. As it is, I have some good data for my cupcake plot, and a bowl of banana-mocha mousse freezing in the icebox. 

What's one of the best things about it?  No soy!! Plus, simple ingredients. If I didn't happen to have agave syrup, I'd just go with maple syrup or maybe powdered sugar. If your blender isn't as sketchy as mine, I guess you could use dates or some other sort of naturally-sweetening fruit. 

I wonder if this was in that book about sneaking vegetables into your kids' food... it was a hot, hot seller back in fall/winter '07.  

Sunday, March 15, 2009

ubi caritas est vera

C.S. Lewis wrote in his amazing book, The Four Loves:

"St. John's saying that God is love has long been balanced in my mind against the remark of a modern author (M. Denis de Rougemont) that "love ceases to be a demon only when he ceases to be a god"; which of course can be re-stated in the form "begins to be a demon the moment he begins to be a god." This balance seems to me an indispensable safeguard. If we ignore it the truth that God is love may slyly come to mean for us the converse, that love is God."


All I can add is that I think the same could be said of a great many things; convenience, for example.

"Downer Cows"?

Briefly scanning the Yahoo! headlines just now, I noticed this article about how the administration has permanently banned the practice of killing and packaging up cows that are too diseased or injured to stand. 

Eeeeeshhh. Yet another reason to have a more vegetable-centered diet. Of course, "downer cows" may present a nonsignificant percentage of all cows slaughtered in the US over a month, and plenty of vegetables may be contaminated with E. coli  from factory-farm-based or other manure... Of course, this may be the case. But the fact is, with all the common sense and precautions in the world, we all die when we die.  "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."

I would just rather not contribute to the number of all those poor critters stumbling around with diseases and open sores and being prodded into killing machines. I think the scale is completely out of control. If people ate meat more like once a week or once a month; a couple of times per year, things would be better. 

I've mentioned before that I think there's a definite link between respect for human life and respect for animal life. I certainly don't equate the two, please understand. But for both abortion/euthanasia/embryonic research and the slaughter of animals to take place, somebody has to look at a living, breathing creature of God and decide to kill it. When the killing of an animal leaves the intimate hunter-prey model and moves on to a farm, circumstances change slightly. Similarly, when it moves from a small farm to a factory farm scale, the circumstances morph again: now you have a few people in charge of a multitude of animals in very crowded and dirty conditions; those people have to be willing to keep the creatures in those conditions and treat them like any other economic object, and they have to be willing to watch their slaughter again and again. And on the outside, thousands and thousands of people have to be content not to know and not to care how their meat is produced, as long as it gets to the grocery store for a reasonably cheap price. 

I hear that keeping all those livestock makes for a powerful lot of gases spewing into the environment. Likewise, it seems that all these people using chemical contraception are pumping an awful load of weird chemicals into the water supply. "Leave no trace." That's the rule of the bush. 


Thursday, March 12, 2009

mental yo-yo

1. How awesome it is to live independently in such a beautiful, clean area with plenty of space and fairly friendly folks about the streets!


2. Man, I need to get some people in my life so I can listen to something besides the wind and rain and the clock ticking. 

Tick. Tock.


These are the states of mind I swing between. All part of life in the inaka. 

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

going soft

Have you seen that new Disney movie, WALL-E? 

I saw it with a friend when I was in Tokyo this past New Year's. 

In a futuristic world, people have left Earth and are floating about on a gigantic spaceship. Hundreds of years have gone by since the evacuation, and the future generation all look roly-poly and full of jell-o. Their sustenance comes through shakes in containers resembling those horrible Big Gulps. I think the aim of the movie was to warn the little kiddies and their obliging parents that continued waste and consumerism will ruin the physical state of the Earth and of our bodies. 

However, I don't think we need to go hundreds of years into the future for this kind of thing. Sure, we don't have trash skyscrapers or jell-o bodies yet, but think of how wobbly our intellects have become-- in general. Using American standardized tests or average high school students' writing as indicators. Writing is simply not enforced like it used to be.  Neither is math. And instead of colleges, we have 'factories of American higher education,' where kids are encouraged to waste time and money on increasingly frivolous material. 

The best grades still tend to go to the kids who put in an honest and intelligent effort, but the kids who do any work at all still get enough points to pass. And why? Is it because there are too many low achievers? Or is it because they're all paying tuition, and are entitled to "get" what they pay for? 

The result, I think, is a sort of degree inflation. There once was a time when high school graduation was a big deal, and only a few, clever people went on to college. They became doctors and teachers and scientists. Now, even basically illiterate people can graduate from high school, and college is less a question of "if" as a question of "when" and "where." Bachelor's degrees are flooding out as student money and loans are flooding in. These days, graduate and other specialized schools (law, medical) are where you need to go to get a competitive edge, and who knows how long that will last? Production was outsourced, and administration can be as well.

I don't have any answers tonight, but I think the value of a solid education can't be overemphasized. 

Also, stay away from those Big Gulps. **shiver**

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

More Crazy Legislation Afoot

Creative Minority Report brings you this bit of news about proposed legislation in Connecticut; all it's missing is a thunderclap.

UPDATE

The legislation has been put on hold, as it ought. The lawyers who drafted the proposal have apparently withdrawn it. 

Fr. Z has a story here

Creative Minority Report follows up here.

gearing up

Some good news:  I seem to be becoming slightly more productive recently.  Today, I translated some stuff, visited a school, translated some more stuff, prepared, and taught two hours of English conversation. During my downtime I read from an amazing book called 『これだけBOOK    英語より敬語!』Hurrah! 

I am preparing to change my international driver's permit over into a Japanese driver's license, and the procedure is going to be long and costly, as well as bothersome and inconvenient.  But, if I don't get it switched, I won't be able to legally drive here, and that would be a real wrench in the works. So please pray that I pass all the tests and hurdles as quickly and cheaply as possible. :)


Monday, March 9, 2009

back down to earth

It was sunny for a brief while this weekend. Now we're back to cold, clouds, and rain. 

Still, every morning, a bird with the most beautiful voice holds court outside my window. Can't see him, but he sounds like a bit of golden sunshine melted into liquid sound.

And somehow that reminds me of the tune that went with this phrase... "Yellow bird, up high in banana tree..."  It's not actually a very happy song, but I was happy listening to it as a child. 




"Before the parade passes by,
I've got to get some life back into my life!"

I felt like singing all day! It's very pleasant to be bubbling over with music inside, but a bit awkward when you have to keep very quiet and serious for the benefit of the office or citizens on the street. Not everyone can appreciate a broadly belted-out Broadway number, after all! 

If only I knew how to tap dance, I'd have to worry about restraining my feet as well as my voice. But I have to admit, what with the persistently nasty weather, the idea of dancing down the street with an umbrella singing "Singin' in the Rain" is awfully, awfully tempting anyway. 

Sunday, March 8, 2009

クラスリツェ Kraslice

"What kind of lice?"

No. Don't go there. 

Someone with more knowledge than I can correct me, but I think the word is pronounced krahs-LEE-tsyeh.

Czech Easter eggs to you and me. 




I want to do an event based on these, you know, for those people with some patience and skill with pins and wax. 



The photos are from a trial run-through I did earlier this week with my supe and some other coworkers. They were surprised at how long it takes to blow out the egg, and to make a design on the egg shell with wax. Granted, we didn't have any of those handy flat-headed pins about, so ball-headed pins, needles, and sharp poke-y objects were all experimented with.  It's my humble opinion that we will need to track down some flat-headed pins. 

something amazing ショック!



In the bread section of the grocery store today, I came upon... THIS... NOVELTY!!!! 

Are we perhaps seeing an end of the six-slice-maximum reign of terror in the bread aisles of the country??

Actually, this loaf is not sliced at all. But it's large enough for much more than the usual six. It and a few others like it were selling for 498 yen each, or about 5 bucks. 

Saturday, March 7, 2009

get out the brilliantine

It's been an interesting weekend so far. 

I went to get my hair experiment fixed, and came away with not only some gorgeous hair but also a lovely gift and a rather twitterpated state of mind.

I went to a seminar on deciphering old Meiji- and Edo-era documents, and stretched my brain. The lecturer said afterwards it was the first time an American had ever come to one of his classes. 

I went to a party held by a group of visiting volunteers, and got to practice my interpreting skills! I also got away without eating any of the crusty dried fish or boiled baby squid, which I see as a major bonus.


At some points during all of the running around, I had reason to consider a couple of nagging questions. I think they are good questions to consider whoever you are and wherever you happen to be, perhaps with the exception of #2. If you don't live in Japan you can perhaps substitute your country of residence, your state, city, or workplace. :)

1. What is my motivation for the work I do?
2. Do I like Japan?
3. Am I unknowingly walking around with an expression so sour it could curdle milk?

1. I think the problem is that I have so many different kinds of work to balance that one really genuine motivation can't support them all. For example, I could truly say that my motivation is to promote intercultural understanding. But that's a bit flimsy (IMHO). Of course, I could also say I work to pay the bills, but that doesn't reflect just how thankful I am to have this job and how much I prefer it to many others I might have.  The fact is, some of the work I do, I do because I think it's valuable to the community, some because it builds my professional skills, some because it's fun and rewarding, and some just because I have to.  In the end, the only generalization to make is that I want to do God's will. 

2. The question to which "yes!!!" came so speedily as a student is now cause for a fearful amount of pondering. The longer I live here, the more I think of Japan as a person, about whom I am slowly learning; with whom I am trying to make friends. But this person happens to be thousands of years old, and shouldn't be taken lightly.  This might not be a helpful analogy, though. It might be better to think of Japan as a mansion, of which I have only seen the foyer and drawing room. 

On the other hand, I like my life in Japan very much. 

3. I might be. I definitely notice a lot of other people walking around with glum and gloomy expressions, so I'll have to watch out for this in myself. 

Definitely not a fan of the pasted-on-bared-teeth-grin, though. That's the kind of person who might eat you for lunch. Plain old pleasant is good enough for me. And for those times when one just can't muster up the energy to be pleasant? 

-"Offer it up."
-"Just think of how much colder it'll be when we get further North."
-"Put on your Sunday clothes when you feel down and out!...Cuz there's no blue Monday in your Sunday clothes!!!"
-"Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!"

And of course,

"There will be time yet for a hundred indecisions, time yet for a hundred visions and revisions, before the taking of a toast and tea."

Ah, poetry. Perhaps I should have been an English teacher, after all. 

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Rain

We're having some rainy days in Japan.   It seems like they've been going on for months, stretching all those weeks and days into a long, foggy, depressing, oppressive blur like the Island of Dreams in C.S. Lewis's Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The rare sunshiny day is cause for all kinds of excitement. 

Unfortunately, people also tend to get giddy and forget basic safety rules. Last Monday was sunny, and at least two unfortunate things happened. There was a car accident in a tunnel, backing up the traffic for kilometers. And then, some poor fisherman fell out of his boat and drowned. 

Naively, I asked, "couldn't he swim?" when I found out about it today.

Fishermen wear these long rubber boots, and if they hit water, the water seeps in, weighing down the boots and suctioning them to the legs. In other words, you've got weights on your feet that are practically glued on. 

"What about lifejackets?"

Here, too, there is a law about wearing lifejackets on water vessels, but here, too, people think of them as a hindrance and go about their business without wearing them.  If the poor man had been wearing a lifejacket, he might very well have gone home for dinner that night.  A diver found his body on Tuesday.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon him; 
may he rest in peace.

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,
Et lux perpetua luceat eis;
Requiescat in pace.


Nevertheless, I hope that this wretched rain relents soon.  It's cold, and it encourages people to be all out of sorts.  It will be wonderful to feel the sun again.  Just... don't forget your common sense in all the excitement.  

Monday, March 2, 2009

A new look

I am always nervous when I go to get my hair done in Japan. ALWAYS. 

I think it's because the first time I went, I didn't really know any Japanese, and since then, I was afraid the results would be like what I got that first time.

My biggest pet peeve is, hairstylists like to "fringe" my hair. I don't blame them-- pretty much all sophisticated adults like the "fringe" look, and it looks extremely attractive on them. However, my hair just won't do a fringe. Ends up looking like what I imagine a Russian serf's hair to be. 

I discovered one very good and very expensive place in Tokyo, in Minami-Azabu. Check out Shingen Japon if you have been saving up for that perfect haircut and are in town.


On Sunday I went in for a hair appointment at a lovely little place nearby. The staff were all really cheerful and beautiful young people, and a couple of them were hard at work on my unruly mop for hours. I think they were just as nervous as I was, but in the end, I got a fantastic haircut and some gorgeous highlights. 

One little experiment near the top of my head turned out rather funny-looking, but the kind manager told me not to worry and that they would fix it when my hair has had a chance to recover a bit. I know it's silly, but I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry when I saw the color at first. But thanks to that generous manager, I soon saw reason again! I'll be going back to this place for sure. 

In the meantime, I think the people around me can generally see only  'foreign' characteristics and won't notice the experiment too much. Silly me. 

ハルミ Harumi

I was the surprised and delighted recipient of a box of harumi mikans this morning!

That I know of, I've tried regular mikans, ponkan, a large variety I don't know the name of, and now harumi. The ponkan had a really vibrant, in-your-face-citrus taste that was just perfect in the grey days of February. It also had a lot of seeds.

In comparison, the harumi is lighter and fruitier, and there aren't any seeds- so far. :)