I finally decided to jump on the Picasa bandwagon. I added a slideshow to the links on the right, and once I've figured everything out I'll try to add a little more functionality to it. For now I think if you click on it it will take you to the album list. I've had an account with Picasa for a long time but I never really used it. And seeing how other people have used their slideshows to such great effect (esp Julien and Martha in Georgia!) I've decided I want one too.
Because I just have to admit to myself that I don't post about all the cool stuff that goes on here and I'm sure you'd like to at least see pictures ^_^
So far all I've managed to upload are pictures from April and May of this year. But I'm going to work on getting the older stuff up too. And then maybe, just maybe, you'll finally be able to see all those amazing pictures from Sapporo! ha ha ha ha ha
Happy weekend everybody!
PS - I'm playing in a public taiko performance this weekend. It's my first one ever and I'm really nervous about it. So wish me luck!
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Sunday, May 18, 2008
And so it begins
My cousin Dan married his sweetheart Ashley today ^_^ Well, technically it was yesterday.
Way to leave me the last holdout there, Dan. :P Serioulsy though, congrats guys! I wish I could have been there, I'm sure it was a blast
May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of his hand
And I swear, the card is in the mail ...
<_< ..
>_> ..
^_^
Way to leave me the last holdout there, Dan. :P Serioulsy though, congrats guys! I wish I could have been there, I'm sure it was a blast
May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of his hand
And I swear, the card is in the mail ...
<_< ..
>_> ..
^_^
Saturday, May 17, 2008
It's rice planting season!
I've been told that Gifu is one of the poorer prefectures in Japan; full of backwards, country farmers. But when the view on my morning run looks like this:
I really don't want to live anywhere else ^_^
I really don't want to live anywhere else ^_^
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Making Pie in Japan
A friend of mine had a pot luck lunch yesterday at her new apartment, and requested that I bring pie.
Some of you may be wondering, why on earth would anyone ask Jen to bring a pie?
Well, it just so happens that around here I've become well known for baked goods ^_^ Which is actually quite amazing given that there are no such things as household ovens in Japan.
You may be wondering then, how, exactly, do you make baked goods without an oven? Doesn't the term "baked" imply baking? And you would be right. So I've decided to give you a little tutorial on how I make pie in Japan. Apple pie, specifically.
At home I would have just gone to the store and bought a pie tin with a pre-made crust in it, loaded it with filling, and thrown it in the oven. Cause I'm lazy like that. But, though I'm sure it must be here somewhere, I have yet to see pre-made pie crust in Japan. Not in Takayama, and certainly not in the little store in Miya. Which means you have to make the ENTIRE pie from scratch.
To do this, the first thing you have to do is figure out what the kanji for flour is. This took me a looooooooooong time to do as the first time I made pie here was back last November for Thanksgiving. My Japanese isn't that great now, and back then it was even less. But I digress. The kanji for flour is 粉 (kona)
Mine is a fine powder flower good for baking (and the 粉 in the name is therefore accompanied by lots of other kanji to describe that). So once you have your flour you have to make the dough. My recipe calls for 2 cups of flour, some salt, sugar, and an ungodly amount of butter and shortening. And I didn't take any pictures of this step, sorry.
While your dough is chillin' in the fridge, the next thing to do is peel and chop the apples. Normally you use tart green apples for pie but I forgot at the store and just bought the red ones. Heh heh. Still tasted good though ^_^
For the apple coating I use brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, a little salt, vanilla, and a little more lemon juice.
Mix it all together and you should have some nicely coated apples
Next you have to roll out the ball of dough that should be nice and congealed from sitting in the fridge. It takes about half of the ball for the pie bottom and half for the top.
Once you've rolled out your dough and have it in your pie pan
It's time to fill it with the tasty filling! I think I could have actually done one more apple to fill it better but the pies here have a tendency to boil over in the microwave and it's such a pain in the ass to clean up that I'm a bit hesitant to do it.
The next task is to put the top on the pie. I've done both the full and the lattice tops and I think the lattice ones work out better for cooking here. Plus, it looks more "American" to me for some reason
So up until this point, other than the difficulty in buying ingredients, making a pie here is virtually the same as making one at home. The real difference here is how you cook it. With no ovens, we have to get creative. This is my set-up
I put the pie in the microwave at 500 watts for about 30 minutes. It does a pretty decent job of cooking everything.
Now the reason that my pies have a tendency to turn out better than a lot of people's here is very simple: my toaster. It's just big enough to fit the pie plate. JUST. So after cooking in the microwave, I put the pie in the toaster on medium for another 10-15 to brown it and also to try to cook the bottom more. Pies here have a tendency to be rather soft on the bottom I think because of the way they're cooked.
Unfortunately for this pie, I made the crust a wee bit too big so it got shaved off when I put it in the toaster, ha ha
And that, my friends, is how you bake a pie at home in Japan. The real fun, of course, is in eating it
v(^_^)v
Some of you may be wondering, why on earth would anyone ask Jen to bring a pie?
Well, it just so happens that around here I've become well known for baked goods ^_^ Which is actually quite amazing given that there are no such things as household ovens in Japan.
You may be wondering then, how, exactly, do you make baked goods without an oven? Doesn't the term "baked" imply baking? And you would be right. So I've decided to give you a little tutorial on how I make pie in Japan. Apple pie, specifically.
At home I would have just gone to the store and bought a pie tin with a pre-made crust in it, loaded it with filling, and thrown it in the oven. Cause I'm lazy like that. But, though I'm sure it must be here somewhere, I have yet to see pre-made pie crust in Japan. Not in Takayama, and certainly not in the little store in Miya. Which means you have to make the ENTIRE pie from scratch.
To do this, the first thing you have to do is figure out what the kanji for flour is. This took me a looooooooooong time to do as the first time I made pie here was back last November for Thanksgiving. My Japanese isn't that great now, and back then it was even less. But I digress. The kanji for flour is 粉 (kona)
Mine is a fine powder flower good for baking (and the 粉 in the name is therefore accompanied by lots of other kanji to describe that). So once you have your flour you have to make the dough. My recipe calls for 2 cups of flour, some salt, sugar, and an ungodly amount of butter and shortening. And I didn't take any pictures of this step, sorry.
While your dough is chillin' in the fridge, the next thing to do is peel and chop the apples. Normally you use tart green apples for pie but I forgot at the store and just bought the red ones. Heh heh. Still tasted good though ^_^
For the apple coating I use brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, a little salt, vanilla, and a little more lemon juice.
Mix it all together and you should have some nicely coated apples
Next you have to roll out the ball of dough that should be nice and congealed from sitting in the fridge. It takes about half of the ball for the pie bottom and half for the top.
Once you've rolled out your dough and have it in your pie pan
It's time to fill it with the tasty filling! I think I could have actually done one more apple to fill it better but the pies here have a tendency to boil over in the microwave and it's such a pain in the ass to clean up that I'm a bit hesitant to do it.
The next task is to put the top on the pie. I've done both the full and the lattice tops and I think the lattice ones work out better for cooking here. Plus, it looks more "American" to me for some reason
So up until this point, other than the difficulty in buying ingredients, making a pie here is virtually the same as making one at home. The real difference here is how you cook it. With no ovens, we have to get creative. This is my set-up
I put the pie in the microwave at 500 watts for about 30 minutes. It does a pretty decent job of cooking everything.
Now the reason that my pies have a tendency to turn out better than a lot of people's here is very simple: my toaster. It's just big enough to fit the pie plate. JUST. So after cooking in the microwave, I put the pie in the toaster on medium for another 10-15 to brown it and also to try to cook the bottom more. Pies here have a tendency to be rather soft on the bottom I think because of the way they're cooked.
Unfortunately for this pie, I made the crust a wee bit too big so it got shaved off when I put it in the toaster, ha ha
And that, my friends, is how you bake a pie at home in Japan. The real fun, of course, is in eating it
v(^_^)v
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