Updates

What have I been doing recently? Just the usual... Baking, playing futsal, teaching English and continuing my mastery of the Japanese medical system.

On thanksgiving weekend, I baked an apple tarte with the usual ladies. It was a perfect project for that weekend, as it was thanksgiving. Apples are now in season, but it doesn't make them any more affordable. I miss Canadian apples!

The recipe was a little strange in that it called for panko, which means bread crumbs, and it was topped with apricot jelly. Japanese recipes do weird things. For the tarte, we made a crust, and then layered it with fresh bread crumbs, then we layered apples on top of that. The apples were mixed with sugar and cinnamon, which gave the tarte a nice flavour. The finishing touch was raisins, and then it was baked. After baking, the apples were brushed with apricot jelly. It was delicious.

In Japan we also have the Monday off, just like in Canada, except that holiday is called 体育の日, or physical education day. So on thanksgiving Monday I tried to bake a flour-less pumpkin loaf, but it was more pumpkin mush than anything. It was perfectly tasty, but it just didn't look good. Good thing I don't care about how food looks!

The next weekend, I had my third league game with my futsal team. I was unsure whether I'd be able to play, but I could! However, I played goal for half the game. It was a throwback to my youth! I like playing, but it sure is stressful! Luckily, I had a shut out. I played the second half on the field, and I didn't manage to score, but I did set up goals. We won that game 9-1.

Guess which one is me... I didn't realize how much of a giant I am! Ugh!

This is our team meeting before the game. I don't think our uniforms could be any uglier...

Of course, I'm still doing my usual thing, teaching. This month was a little fun in that I got to meet future students and give them a sample class. Every year, junior high students interested in the foreign language department at school come and learn about it. They listen to speeches by students in the program, as well as our exchange students and then they get to try two sample classes. One of those is with me. The other class is an online listening and learning program. In my class, we made hand turkeys, since it was thanksgiving, and the students made up an introduction for their hand turkey. Then they wrote what they were grateful  for, again, in honour of thanksgiving. The students seemed to enjoy it, which is good, because pressure is high for that day. The teachers and principals are always anxious, because if the day doesn't go well, then not many students will apply for the program and the school will be ranked lower.

Also, last week a former exchange student visited from Sweden. She came to see her class, but it was a surprise, so I had to help organize it. The students were all really surprised, and it was a wonderful reunion for them :)

And of course, I continue to see the doctor every two weeks regarding my herniated disc. Both the doctor and the physio say my pain is not a result of the hernia. Whatever. The pain has significantly improved and I can play sports without too much discomfort, so I'm happy. I'm perfectly happy to stop this nonsense and get over this part of the year... All bad things seem to happen from August to December... Every year. It's quite an incredible coincidence, or not.

Christmas has come once again

It's that time of year. The leaves have changed colour and fallen on the ground, leaving the bare bones of the trees behind. The wind has a crisp cool chill. The nights are nippy and the mornings biting. My bed has become more of a nest. And I could go on. One more: I have the urge to clean! That must mean one thing - Christmas! Of course, the obvious signs of Christmas are present as well: Christmas decorations, commercials and adverts, red cups at Starbucks AND 7/11 (7/11 sells coffee now, and they usually have white cups. However, they totally copied Starbucks and have introduced some holiday-themed red cups with snowflakes.), Christmas cake displays, KFC chicken advertisements, illuminations (AKA Christmas lights), Pizza-la delivery guys dressed as Santas, Christmas music, fresh strawberries are available in stores (Winter is the growing season. It's this way in Korea, too.), etc. Christmas truly is drawing near.

Today I took a day off, let's call it a mental health day, and I got all in the Christmas spirit. I baked Christmas cookies, I decorated, I put up Christmas lights, I watched Christmas movies, and I drank Christmas tea. It was a good spirit-lifting experience.

I should say, "I tried to bake Christmas cookies." They didn't really work. Why? I'm pretty sure I know why. Butter. Or rather, margarine. In Japan, every year around Christmas time, there happens to be a butter shortage. At this time it is difficult to find anything but margarine. I have lucked out and been able to get butter. However, the other day I thought I was buying butter, but it wasn't. I used this "butter", which came conveniently wrapped in two sticks, to bake sugar cookies. It didn't work too well. When I was trying to figure out what went wrong, I looked at the package and realized I had bought margarine instead :( There were warning signs. The "butter" was softer and easier to cut than it should have been, it was yellower than it should have been, it smelled more buttery than butter does... But I ignored all the signs and my gut, which pointed out to me that something was wrong. When you try and make sugar cookies with margarine, the shapes distort as they flatten out, making for some very unattractive cookies. In addition to using margarine, I used too much sugar... Oh well. They were still edible in the end, and people ate them up. Lessons learned.

It looks fine at this stage.

Still doing okay!

Eh? What happened? Margarine :(

After the baking mishap, I decided to decorate my apartment. I already have my advent calendar out, which is gorgeous, but I added to the decorations by putting up stickers on the walls, stringing some lights and putting out my Christmas tree (it isn't ready yet). 

I inherited the Christmas lights this year. They look so cheerful! 

My advent calendar!

Close-up for details. Every day there is a new decoration to hang on the tree. So fun!

Amidst the baking and decorating I managed to watch "the Bestest Present" and "The Santa Clause". I watched them while drinking my Christmas tea :) 

Mmmmm! Candy cane lane!

Also spotted in stores, are some special Christmas treats. Some will have to remain secret, but I'll show you a teaser ;)

Pepsi Pink!

Also, this past weekend I attended a bonenkai (忘年会), otherwise known as a "forget the year" party. They are akin to our Christmas or holiday office parties. This bonenkai was with my dance friends. It was a fun evening to just talk and drink and reflect a little on the year (some friends got married, some had babies, some got a girlfriend... Hahaha).

踊りマンの忘年会 Odoriman dance group's bonenkai

So, while it's getting cold, and Christmas is foreign here, I'm finding lots of warmth and a lot of Christmas cheer :) Can't wait to get the real thing though ;p

I have a microwave oven!

Over the summer I acquired a microwave oven from a friend who was moving away from Japan. Up until recently it was too warm to use it for baking. However, I've been a busy bee making baked goods, something I haven't done for awhile, and have never really done in Japan. 

Before getting the microwave oven, I just had a plain old microwave, so if couldn't bake. I think most foreigners living in Japan, the ones that can cook anyway, miss their home kitchens. Having a microwave oven truly increases quality of life. 

So far, I have cooked two delicious things with my oven. The first thing I ventured to make was persimmon gingerbread loaf. Unfortunately, I couldn't find ground cloves, so the taste wasn't perfect. It was pretty good though. 

Persimmon Gingerbread Loaf

Since I don't have a mixer or blender, I mixed everything by hand, I was worried it wouldn't turn out, but all was fine. I chose this recipe because I received a lot of persimmons from a local farmer I know. There were too many to simply eat, so I made something with them. 

This recipe was well-received and I will make it again, especially since I just received another large amount of persimmons. 

My second adventure in baking was actually cheating. I used a muffin mix I found online. The mix is a high fibre, low calorie, wheat free mix. The muffins are a little bland, but they were very easy to make. I'll be making them again, too.

Chocolate Oat Muffins

Because they were bland, I will level up (Japanese English...) with cinnamon and maybe some coconut. 

I'm really happy to be baking again. It's so fun. At first I was worried, because I wasn't sure what I made would be tasty, but my guinea pigs gobbled it up :)

In other news:

At the grocery store near my house, I found these very large pumpkins. They're just being thrown away... What a waste! I would have loved to steal them, but they were too big.

Red cups were in Starbucks shops all over Japan on November 1... This isn't my first and it won't be my last, but the barista drew me a cute picture of a polar bear! It made me smile.

Played futsal with other ALTs. It was a gong show, but fun, nevertheless. In our group, there are many different countries represented, we have such an international group!

On the express trains, they have catalogues full if crazy things to buy. One morning on my way to Onjuku, I found this lovely suit. I need this. So. Bad. It's like a sleeping bag with arms and legs!

After surfing in Onjuku, I found a beautiful butterfly.

This contraption is to keep your feet warm while sitting. I want this too. It was so soft!

The fields in Onjuku have all been harvested. Fall is here and winter is on its way.