The Food of Life

As I wait for my oatmeal chocolate chip cookies to bake, I thought I would take my friend Wendy up on her idea that I write about food. Well, she didn't suggest exactly that idea, but she referred to another blogger who regularly highlights what she cooks for dinner every day.

People (Japanese people, especially) often ask me what or if I cook dinner at my house. They ask me this because I am a wife, and they assume that cooking is part of my job as "wife." They do not ask men these questions. They do not ask single women these questions. To be honest, I feel they are prying. They seem to be waiting for me to say something like, "Well, yes, I have tried cooking Japanese food, but it is just so difficult. I can't seem to get the hang of it." And, I appease them by saying just that. From what I gather, it seems to give them a sense of self-satisfaction...like, "See, just as I thought, Japan...Japanese...Japanese cooking...Japanese food...it's all too difficult for foreigners to comprehend!" I used to brag to them about all the things I could cook. Fried chicken, chinese dumplings, grilled fish, miso soup, etc. However, I was usually met with an over-exaggerated "WO-O-O-OW! Re-e-e-eally?! Can you make rice too?" Really annoying, and so I stopped bragging and started feigning ignorance. It stops the conversation dead-cold, and I prefer it that way.

The truth is, I LOVE to cook. It has been a passion of mine for years. I enjoy learning new recipes, and I go through phases of wanting to cook all sorts of new and interesting things. (Then, I go through phases of not really doing much cooking at all, but we won't get into that here.) I also love to bake, especially pies and cookies. My passion for cooking started to bloom when I was 18. I had had jaw surgery and my jaw was wired shut for 2 months. During that time, I poured over all the cookbooks the public library had to offer. I planned elaborate full-course menus that I would start to use from my first day of FREEDOM from the jaw wires. Since then, I have loved cooking, and I have always thought I am a pretty good cook.

Things changed when I got married and discovered my "taste" for Japanese food was not correct; that some of my dishes were not pretty enough; or simply that not everyone likes the things I can cook well. Can you guess that my husband is overly-harsh on me when it comes to cooking, and so cooking in our household has become a somewhat sensitive issue? Nonetheless, I usually try to make the best of it and to add to my repertoire whenever I can. Here I would like to introduce some of my favorite dishes of late.


This is Indian Curry. Curry is extremely popular in Japan, but I have never liked it. We don't eat this in Wisconsin, and I had only been exposed to the Japanese version of curry. Earlier this year, Kaz and another friend and I went to an Indian Curry restaurant, and I realized that Indian Curry is delicious. I cannot even describe how much I liked it, but I continued to think about it for days. I found some Indian curry restaurants near my house, and now Yusuke and I go there often. However, I wanted to learn how to make curry at home, and not from a prepared curry kit. I discovered that there are so many spices involved in curry that one couldn't possibly get all those spices in Japan, and it would take so long to create the perfect dish. Eventually, I found just the thing I was looking for. It is, indeed, a curry kit, but most of the spices are separated. So, you just follow the instructions and add the spices as you go. It takes about 2 hours to make, but it easy as most of the time, you are just allowing the spices to simmer with the meat. As the instructions suggested, I added an apple to this dish, but I did not add the carrots. (I don't like carrots in my curry.) The kit comes with the curry base, called Rue. Then, in separate packages are the cinnemon stick, chili pepper, laurel leaf, peppercorns, dill seeds and three other separate spices to add extra flavor.

This is a very typical dinner for me, especially since starting the South Beach diet in January. The main entree was taken from a Low-carb cookbook that I often used. It is called Pork Chops with Chive Cream Sauce. It tastes nice and even Yusuke likes it. Fresh salad, sauteed mushrooms, Genmai rice and a glass of red wine. This kind of dinner looks like a lot of work went into it, but it only takes about 15 minutes to prepare. I usually serve food in a Japanese style (many smaller dishes, rather than one large plate) because this is what Yusuke seems to prefer. I don't mind since I have gotten used to this style as well.

Once in a while, I like to try out new desserts. This is an Australian/New Zealand dessert called Pavlova, or "Pav" for short. I found out about it when I was teaching a unit called "Christmas Around the World" and I was so curious about this dish. I finally tried making it myself even though I heard that it is very difficult to make. As you can imagine, it is mid-summer when New Zealanders and Australians celebrate Christmas, so they need to eat light foods. Pavlova is a dessert that was invented in the late 1920's and it was named after a famous Russian ballerina who had performed there and stayed at a certain hotel. According to the story, the chef at this hotel invented the dish and named it after her. Pavlova is comprised of meringue topped with whipped cream, and then topped with strawberries and kiwi. It is a lovely dessert and it tasted great despite the warnings I received from a few male Australians.

Lemon Barbecued Meatloaf was one of the only recipes that Mom passed to me when I got married. It is a great recipe. She says she found it in Good Housekeeping a long time ago. I enjoy making this, and it is one of those meals that you can slip some ground flax seed into, and no one would be the wiser. (Not that I try to hide the fact that I put flax seed into everything these days, but you know what I mean.) Other than being your normal, everyday meatloaf, the sauce is quite unusual, and very sweet. It includes ketchup, brown sugar and allspice and ground cloves. How much sweeter can you get? Yusuke likes it though, and in fact, I have discovered that he especially likes dishes which include some type of sauce.


Finally, in trying to simplify my life, I have been finding ways to make more home-made stuff, which costs less and is healthier in the end. After much debating (with myself), I finally bought a used breadmaker from a friend. At first, I was really nervous about using it, but I finally did it. Since then, I have been trying to make a loaf every other day. Mostly, this is for Yusuke's sake because he eats bread every day for breakfast. If I can put flax seed into the bread, then at least, he is getting his daily serving. As many of you know, he lives a very unhealthy lifestyle and his body is suffering for it. I cannot always control what he eats for lunch and dinner, but since he always eats breakfast at home, I thought the best thing would to ensure that it as healthy as possible. Thus, the whole-wheat bread with ground flax seeds. Beautiful and perfect (almost) every time!

As you can see from these examples, there were no Japanese foods included. Why, you might ask? Well, I don't cook Japanese food because it is just so difficult. I just can't seem to get the hang of it.

August Heat

Boy, do I wish I had gone home this summer! But, since I didn't, I have been keeping myself busy with various cleaning projects, hobbies and short trips.

It's boring, but I made a list of some cleaning projects that need to be done in prep for our move. I have to throw stuff out and do some deep cleaning, so I am making progress on that. It's actually kind of fun, and then when Yusuke gets home, I show him my latest work, and he praises me and I lap it up. Next, I need to clean out my personal closet - the one where he is not allowed to go into.

Hobbies - I was on a roll with my scrapbooking. I had finished an album for our Wisconsin/Chicago trip from 2003. Then I started a new album of our Music City Tour 2004. However, I ran out of album pages and am now waiting for my birthday present to arrive from Mom. I know there are some new packs of pages in there. I decided to up the ante on my scrapping skills, so I wanted to involve my computer more. I am now doing the Journaling entirely on the computer, and I am sizing and printing some of the photos as well. It looks really neat. I know that one's personal handwriting is important though, so I am still writing a few captions in my own handwriting here and there. I also have a long overdue scrapbook to finish up. It is my childhood album. I started it about 5 or 6 years ago, but I stopped abruptly when I came to my Junior High years. It's not that they are too painful to remember. I just have no idea how to design the pages or organize the photos. I am waiting for inspiration to hit, perhaps.

I am also working on Japanese still. In fact, I just registered to take the proficiency exam (again!) for Level 2. The exam is only once a year, and last year, I failed. Sometimes I think studying is really fun, and I feel very motivated to do the homework, but then I go through phases where I don't even want to think about it. In fact, I sometimes want to pretend that I actually live in an English speaking country, and I surround myself with English. Nonetheless, I have continued to attend my Japanese class once a week for the past 3 1/2 years. This is just about the only time I am free to speak in Japanese and I can trust that the teacher and my classmates will interact with me completely in Japanese. Outside, in the real world, I run into a lot of people who want to try their English out on me, or they want to answer my questions (which I have just asked in flawless Japanese!) in English - slow, stuttering, painful-to-listen-to Engrish. The other situation is at home with Yusuke where we rely on whatever comes out of our mouths. We speak in both languages, whatever and whenever we feel like, we don't really stop to think about it, and we know the other person will understand. So, what I like best is when I go out in the real world, and the occasional Japanese person talks to me just like he/she would talk to anyone else - in fluent, everyday Japanese. Sometimes it's small talk about the weather or other times, it's information about a product I am buying, or whatever. But, whenever they just treat me like a normal person and they just ASSUME that I can speak and understand Japanese - that is what really makes my day!

Other hobbies include watching movies or Japanese dramas. This summer, I have been watching foreign movies (Korean or French) that are dubbed in Japanese. My listening skills are good enough that I can understand most of what is going on. Finally...I get to watch foreign movies like everyone else! I really missed that! Last week, I went to see the March of the Penguins at the theater. It was great for me because when I was a little kid, I LOVED penguins even though I didn't really know much about them. Recently, I watched a movie called Hoshi ni natta Shonen. In English, I think it is called Little Randy and Star Boy. It's a Japanese movie starring my absolute favorite actress, Takako Tokiwa as the mother of a boy who dreams of becoming an elephant trainer. They own an animal farm in Chiba where they have many different types of animals, some which have been saved from zoos or circuses. It is based on a true story, and it was so moving. I was crying for the entire second half!

My reading list has paused out a bit, recently. Amy O. lent me the book Roots, and I really thought I should read it right away in preparation for my Intercultural Communication class where we will be studying about slavery/segregation/Civil Rights in September. I have started reading it, and it is really good. However, I have been interrupted by a couple other fast reads, and I can't resist picking them up and reading them whenever I have a chance. One is called The French Bulldog : An Owner's Guide to a Happy Healthy Pet. This series is really great if you are thinking about owning a pet someday. You can get a book based on the breed of your choice, and there were lots of photos to make it a more interesting read. The other book is called Queen Bees & Wannabes. The movie Mean Girls starring Lindsay Lohan was based on this book. The author started a program for pre-teens and teenagers in the Washington D.C. area, and she teaches courses at various high schools and junior highs. Her program has expanded nationwide and several teachers around the country are using this program in their schools. Even though I don't have a teenage daughter, it is interesting to read this guide and see what she has to say. Brings back some memories of junior high, as well!

Finally, trips. I planned two short trips this summer so that I could at least get out of the house. Unfortunately, Yusuke wasn't able to participate in either of these. A couple weeks ago, I went to Nagoya to visit Amy O. That was fun, and we always have a good time catching up on each other's lives. Also, her husband is very appreciative of anyone who cooks for him, so Amy and I cooked a few meals and a dessert together. Needless to say, he was a happy man. We also went to visit a woman who breeds French Bulldogs puppies. She happened to have a litter that was just about ready to go to new homes, so we got to play with the puppies and ask her all sorts of questions about dogs. She was so nice and helpful, and we talked about what will happen when I am ready to get a puppy next year. She said that if the timing is not right for her, then she will put us in contact with some of her friends who also breed Frenchies. I was so relieved to see a breeder's set-up in person and to meet and talk with a breeder myself. (Here is another example where the person didn't even blink when she realized I was a foreigner, and she just talked to us like we were normal people. That is a real clincher for me!)

Lastly, my friend Kaz (short for Karen) and I will go down to Osaka to visit a friend of ours. This friend will have her first baby next month, and we just wanted to see her one last time before she has the baby. It is my first time to go to Osaka, and we are going by overnight bus in order to save money. (It will be hell on our backs and tushes though!) So, I will let you know all about our Osaka adventures when we get back.