Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Kitchen Adventures

See, the thing about living in a foreign country, where English is not the primary language spoken and written, is when you want to venture into THEIR stores you are often lost. Why do I venture to Japanese stores when the COMMISSARY is right here and I could eat the SAD (Standard American Diet)? Because we want to explore, investigate, fully LIVE in Japan....and so we keep exploring.

Arielle was feeling fine yesterday....and sick again today. I wanted to make her some of our new "Ramen" this afternoon.

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This happens often lately with bills. It's a strange feeling not to understand what you are being charged for. We signed up with GI Bill Pay a GREAT service offered here. We took one "bill" in and asked them how much we owed. Turns out it was simply a notice telling us we had signed up for cell phones. ::snort::

Just as I was about to add the flavor packet, I looked closer....

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Ah....X....must not be the flavor packet.

Another little tidbit...the Japanese (at least around here) have a great way of making sure that we understand when the answer is "no" or "don't enter" etc.....they cross their arms in an X fashion and sort of motion in front of you. I've found myself doing it with the kids. They seem to understand clearly what it means.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Nikuman

This is Siopao. One of my favorite foods from my youth in the Philippines.


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I've dreamed of finding a source of Siopao in Japan since early February. I've looked and only saw it ONCE...at the airshow.

Today, Akikosan brought Nikuman to the house.


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Beautiful, aren't they? She asked first if we were vegetarian. When I told her no she showed us two boxes of these.

She told us that they are "Japanese Fast Food" - like American hot dogs. They are considered to be a convenience food and sold at places like Lawsons and Circle K - not the restaurants where I've been looking. I was so happy. They were oishi.


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Akikosan told us stories of growing up and stopping a Nikuman on the way home from school. They are only sold in the WINTER (fall/winter I'd say as they sell from Sept - April) which explains why I'd not been able to find them. In the winter they are kept by the cash registers in steamers, WARM, all day.

I don't remember a huge variety in the Philippines. Here they Curryman, pizzaman, as well as dumplings filled with veggies, chicken, seafood, beef and pork. The ones we had were darling, but my camera battery was dead.

Not to fear, most the kids loved them and we'll go buy some more soon, I'm sure. In fact, maybe next week for Ladies Lunch and Bible study at our home. LOL

Our Japanese lesson was a lot of work and fun today. We had to write our names. The kids all earned red flowers at the top of their page. I got red corrections. ::snort:: We read the hiragana (not smoothly) for all the colors. We talked. We worked on introductory phrases. Mike came in at the end of the lesson and we were glad to introduce he and Akiko.

Akiko told me, "Sorry, De'Ettasan, making miso is very hard. You should buy it in the restaurant." BUT she did show me the hiragana characters to look for. Kim, I'm going to try some cooking links and find a recipe. Do you make Miso Ramen?

I was also glad that I'd gotten a small gift for her.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...