Today marks my last day of work for the year 2004. Feels good. I enjoyed an easy-breezy week at Elementary school and had a good time. Today I had a special class with one of the first grade classes. Class 1-2 held a little Christmas party, and when I arrived they adroened me with a handmade paper necklace and crown, and started calling me king. No, seriously. I got a stack full of handmade Xmas cards with thank-you messages and pictures attached. Without trying to be mushy about things, I'd have to say they were in fact adorable.
After that, we took a few group pictures and then we headed off to the freezing-cold school gym to play an earnest match of Dodgeball. Dodgeball is a serious sport in Japan, and I respect that. I was drafted to the white team, and was elected to play the tip-off to my slight height advantage over the 5-6 year-old field. Surprisingly, I did meet their expectations and managed to tip the super-malleable turqoise dodgeball to my teammates. The game ensued, in which I got popped and sent to the supporting sidelines twice, but was able to redeem my draft value by taking out countless opposing players, including Ms. Yoshida, the young homeroom teacher who played for the red team. In the vein of a Terrell Owens, and to the dismay of the whites at least, I tauntingly moonwalked across the mid-court line unscathed.
We won.
Dec 16, 2004
Dec 5, 2004
BAMBOO SHOOTS & LOTUS ROOTS
That's what I had for Thanksgiving. While you all were stuffing your big, fat heads with juicy fowl, bubbling mac'n'cheese, butter-laden homemade rolls and the coronary-clogging like, I had my basic school lunch fare packed with highly fibrous, near-flavorless domestic vegetables. I'm not crying though.
So maintaining recent tradition, I enjoyed yet another turkey-less T-day. This year officially brings me to a whopping ONE Thanksgiving spent with my hometown kinfolk in the last ten years. Wow. Turkey in my life has gone the way of the dodo. Fast.
Alas, it's December (already?). With 2 more weeks until the great 13-hour trans-Pacific voyage. Kinda looking forward to the crapload of shopping I need to do, plus all types of eating to catch up on. Just hope I can get it all done this time.
Speaking of eats, I freaked a new flavor of curry this weekend: pumpkin. Yeah. I got the idea from a conversation I had with one of my JHS girl students. Actually, I'd had the idea before, but never quite summoned the moxie to actually purchase one of the 1/3rd cut little green-skinned Japanese pumpkin chunks that have been on sale at the local grocery store since the fall produce debuted. Once my fantasy recipe was affirmed by a 14-year old, I promptly picked up a pumpkin chunk for a mere 100+ yen (about US $1). The price was a plus, considering how obscenely expensive produce is in this country. For example, the other day, bags of 6 red Fuji apples were "on sale" for 398 yen (just barely under US $4). On Sale. 6. ...Yeah, so getting about half a pumpkin (albeit a small one) for a buck was a STEAL, basically.
More importantly, what I did with that pumpkin was groundbreaking for my culinary repertoire. I found out from Sa that you don't even have to peel the skin off--just cook and eat the whole thing. And she was right; I diced the fruit up, and it it melted right into my curry, peel and all. The consistency was nice, much creamier than normal curry, purée-like even. A very subdued pumpkin flavor with all the usual goodies i put in but yummy nonetheless. Along with the standard sticky white rice, I'll be feeding on this stuff 'til winter break, easily.
So maintaining recent tradition, I enjoyed yet another turkey-less T-day. This year officially brings me to a whopping ONE Thanksgiving spent with my hometown kinfolk in the last ten years. Wow. Turkey in my life has gone the way of the dodo. Fast.
Alas, it's December (already?). With 2 more weeks until the great 13-hour trans-Pacific voyage. Kinda looking forward to the crapload of shopping I need to do, plus all types of eating to catch up on. Just hope I can get it all done this time.
Speaking of eats, I freaked a new flavor of curry this weekend: pumpkin. Yeah. I got the idea from a conversation I had with one of my JHS girl students. Actually, I'd had the idea before, but never quite summoned the moxie to actually purchase one of the 1/3rd cut little green-skinned Japanese pumpkin chunks that have been on sale at the local grocery store since the fall produce debuted. Once my fantasy recipe was affirmed by a 14-year old, I promptly picked up a pumpkin chunk for a mere 100+ yen (about US $1). The price was a plus, considering how obscenely expensive produce is in this country. For example, the other day, bags of 6 red Fuji apples were "on sale" for 398 yen (just barely under US $4). On Sale. 6. ...Yeah, so getting about half a pumpkin (albeit a small one) for a buck was a STEAL, basically.
More importantly, what I did with that pumpkin was groundbreaking for my culinary repertoire. I found out from Sa that you don't even have to peel the skin off--just cook and eat the whole thing. And she was right; I diced the fruit up, and it it melted right into my curry, peel and all. The consistency was nice, much creamier than normal curry, purée-like even. A very subdued pumpkin flavor with all the usual goodies i put in but yummy nonetheless. Along with the standard sticky white rice, I'll be feeding on this stuff 'til winter break, easily.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)