Okonomiyaki Class!

I got to participate in another Japanese Cultural Exchange program.  This one was on hoe to make Okonomiyaki.  You have probably never heard of okonomiyaki, and that's fine.  It does not sound delicious, but it IS!  Me and 3 of my friends signed up and went to learn to make it.  It is called "Japanese pancake" but that's not really a good description at all.  And it does not sound like a yummy combo of foods.  Do not be fooled.  Once it is cooked together to synergistically release the deliciousness, and covered with okonomiyaki sauce, it is quite yummy.  Trust me on this.

They bussed us downtown to a building that must teach stuff regularly, because we were in a classroom with kitchen units and cooking materials.  There were 6 stove/sink/countertops for us.  We got to watch the instructor make it and she walked us through the steps.  Thence made it.  They had conveniently put all the ingredients together for us, so all we had to do was put it together and cook it.

There are 2 kids of Okonomiyaki.  Osaka style, and Hiroshima style.  Osaka style is easier to make.  You mis everything together and then cook it.  And it has no noodles.  Hiroshima style is yummier, partly because it has noodles.  It is also layered and a royal pain to get all cooked properly.  To layer, you have a thin crepe-like layer, then cabbage, noodles and bacon.  And egg.    Osaka style mixes everything together but the bacon. Then you cover it with the yummy sauce.  The Japanese also like to pour mayonnaise over it.  I like Mayo, but not that much!

We made both kinds.  We totally burned the Hiroshima style, because it is hard to get it cooked evenly!  Both were decently tasty, but not as good as when someone else cooks it for me!  We had a really good time.

After the cooking, we got to eat it for lunch.  Yum!  Well, except for the burned bits.  Then they bussed us over to the shopping center.  We could go with the lady and learn to buy the ingredients ourselves, or we could roam around and meet back at the bus.  We roamed.  I'm pretty sure I'd rather have someone else cook it for me, and I probably won't make it myself.  It was a fun day!

These were our two pans filled with ingredients. 

This is the instructor, showing us step-by-step what to do. 

They use chopsticks rather than wooden spoons to cook! 

The line up on ingredients, in case I want to look for them at the store. 

 Her finished product.

Picture perfect!  I know, it does not look appetizing, but trust me, it IS delicious!

Stef, pouring in the crepe-type batter.  (This is where the "pancake" part comes in.)

Checking for done-ness.

Our 2 finished products!

Our group and our lunch.  I love these ladies!

Japanese School Field Trip

 On Tuesday Feb 2, I got to chaperone Marian's 7th grade field trip to a Japanese school.  The object was for our kids to assist their kids with their conversational English.  We came in with 30 7th graders, and they had maybe 50 of their students.

It took a while to get things settled, as they paired the kids into 6 groups of about 15 kids.

Then it was ice-breaker games.  This one here, the kids had to ask a question, and then pass the ball on after they received an answer.  (No outside shoes in the school, slippers or "indoor shoes" only.)

After the games, our kids went to their classes and spent about 30 minutes in 3 different classes.  Marian got to learn to draw Kanji- this is the symbol for Winter.  And it is a lot harder than it looks! 

Science was next.  Marian said she enjoyed this, but I found it dull.  Check out the cool tables with the wooden block seats though! 

This was math class. Marian was unenthusiastic, but her friend Angel enjoyed the challenging problem they were suppose to solve. 

FYI, they don't really heat their schools.  Some classrooms have a portable heater, but the smaller ones do not.  All of them are quite chilly!  Check out the temp gauge.  15C is 59F  in case you were wondering.  Aren't you glad you don't go to school in a building that is only 59 degrees! 

 Lunch time was long overdue.   Our kids brought lunch from home, but we had to wait for the school to bring up their hot lunch and serve it to each other. It looked a little questionable, but smelled yummy.  We all ate together.

The last event was at their gym room.  They had some awesome looking equipment on the side (think, wooden samurai swords and armor wearing dummies!) but the kids just got to learn some dance.  The Dancing was really just patterns to clapping and stomping.  I was cold enough I wanted to join in, but lazy enough I did not.  (Clap, clap, smile, stomp!)  We got a group photo and said our goodbyes.  It was a long day, but I think it was a good cultural exchange.

And, Of Course, Cats

I'm just noticing how well Callie hides from the camera!  Even Marian was happy to let me get pictures of her with the kitties, but as I see here, there isn't much Callie.  

The girls' very favorite thing about Kintai is probably a toss up- ice cream, chicken on a stick, or cats.  There are a ton of cats that roam there and Callie just name every single one she sees.  She also wants to make friends, with varying degrees of success. There were fewer cat encounters than usual, probably due to the cold and recent rain, but there was a bit of cat cuddling going on that morning.

Saturday morning at Kintai

 Joshua had an opportunity on Saturday to earn some volunteer hours.  It merely required him to be at Kintai from 9:15 am to noon, and to take a guided tour (for FREE!).  All he had to do was to give feedback to the Japanese guides on how well they did it in English.  I jumped on this opportunity to get the kids out of the house.  After several rainy days, we needed some fresh air.   Thankfully, the rain dried up just as we left the house and the morning was merely overcast.

We brought along Delaney's friend Kirsten, since she's moving away soon, and we wanted some fun memories and photos with her.  We dropped Joshua off at his pick up point and he went off to his tour.  I took the girls and we spent the next few hours meandering and enjoying the time to thoroughly enjoy the sights.

Delaney and Kirsten at a Torii I had not seen before.

Ryle wanted a picture too. 

The girls were fascinated by this shish dog, because his mouth was full of coins. 

Of course, they had to add their own yen to the pile. 

Oh, Rylee's new glasses came that morning and she loaves them. 

Getting their Zen on. 

Posing at the koi pond. 

Yeah, I don't know what this was. 

Selfie with the weird statue dude. 

We crossed paths with Joshua once and he was having a great time.  He was all excited to share with the girls the stuff he'd learned. 

How super cool is this?! 

Ryle thought she was soon funny! 

 Rylee and the cool Zen Garden guy.

Despite the freezing wind and chill temp, these girls still wanted ice cream. 

Posing on the rock. 

Selfie with the bridge.  Nope, never gets old! 

Delaney and Kirsten, on the bridge, with the castle in the background.   

Me and Rylee, feeling awesome. 

Delaney wanted to do this pose.  Pretty cool! 

 So, then Rylee had to do this one.

And then I made her do this one, because the Iwakuni Castle is always awesome. 

And yes, that's my kid, in 50 degree weather, wearing shorts and (well, not right now) flip flops, and wading in the frigid water.

Then they played in the fountains.  Yes, there were some wet shoes and maybe more.

But they had a very good time!

Poor Levi

 Poor Levi started licking his hind paw a little obsessively.  I checked it out and he seemed to have a tiny abscess in between two of his paw pads.  The next day he had about licked the bottom right off his pads in his attempts to make it feel better.  I was worried about my poor doggie, so off we went to the vet.

They concurred.  A tiny abscess.  But they didn't do anything. I'd kind of thought they might lance it to relieve the pressure or something, but nope.  Didn't even wash the over-licked appendage. Just gave topical antibiotic, oral antibiotic and an oral anti-itch pill.  And a cone of shame.  Apparently the one we bought back when he was a mere 6 months old was no longer big enough to fit his burly neck.

Having a good time at the vet office.

Not so fun now.  He's hoping the door will open and he can escape. 

Fitted for his cone. 

And feeling quite depressed about the entire situation.

And now, some follow up.  The cone was demolished in under 3 hours.  Not because Levi even tried to break it, it was just that cheap and crappy. It disintegrated on contact when he ran into the side of his kennel.   

He licked his paw for the next two days and I think the abscess did it's thing, and he's been licking less and less.  He hasn't limped at all the last 2 days, and we took him on his usual Sunday walk and he was delighted.  No limping or discomfort at all. Yay!