Happiness Happens
When one thinks that no one cares and nothing will change, often happiness or relief falls into place from unseen circumstances. Such has been the reality as of late, though somewhat self-absorbent to be posting such joys in times like these in Japan. I believe that celebrating life and looking forward not backward is the road to reconstruction.
For months I had been looking for work – no matter how menial or mundane – to pass some time and enforce a schedule on my life but also to make a little more savings for crises and loan payments. In many ways I don’t believe that my wife and I will get such a perfect time to save and be free of money worries again like this for quite a while. Thus as the April neared with no job prospects in sight the stress grew and grew and yet in my own classic style I did not realize that I was stressed. Until I begun to feel a sudden, strong tightness in my temple twice or three times an hour . That has since stopped, for a number of reasons but here is the best one: I got a job working in a bakery/cafe! The bakery is called Lapin(or bunny in French). The name comes from that fact that the brainchild of bakery(one of two sisters, who run the place) is year of the rabbit. The year of teh rabbit is associated with many good things, happiness, fertility, creativity, and warmth. All good things for a qualities to ascribe a bakery, right?
First, I LOVE Baking! Second, this is Japan, not America, it’s like studying survival Japanese everyday. Third, FREE BREAD!
Furthermore, this job has opened up a plethora of cultural experiences and lingual opportunities. I get to practice my numbers a lot (haha), polite language, and many more mundane words I would not use nor need but everyone knows. Most importantly, in this job I am treated as an equal. My proposed names of new bread or sweet designs are no more accepted than the owner and maker of the bread. My ideas for how the cafe should sell or how much it should sell are all accepted and discussed. This could very well be the Japanese work ethic of consensus that I had heard so much about. Now i have experienced it. Say what you will about its perchance for inefficacy or inefficiency but I find it more rewarding and inviting. This equanimity was especially demonstrated by the fact that unlike so many job places before that quickly rejected me after they heard I was a foreigner (without speaking to me or even inquiring about my Japanese language ability), they wanted to meet me and talk with me. I could not have asked for a more positive environment. I am so overjoyed with this blessing. God answered prayers never even spoken only wished in my heart.
I truly love this job and I pray that more wonderful experiences await me ahead.
Hallelujah! Viva La Pan!
Photo to come soon!
Various Culinary Adventures
One could say that I have dealt with my culture shock by absorbing myself in obtaining ingredients for and successfully making things from home. I have made banana bread, brownies, snickerdoodles, puddings, Thai Green Curry, and Indian curries. I accumulated quite a wide array of teas and coffees. Though the curries turned out quite well because of many past experiences and the help of curry pastes, the other baking recipes were not so successful. Mostly because of the constant pain and difficulty of trying to convert the stubborn, foolish, arrogant and out of date system that the USA uses for measurements – the American system. While the rest of the world uses the metric system, based on mass, we still continue to use a relative system based on volume. Thus everything is usually out of proportion and the desired consistency, texture, and feel of the baked goods is very difficult to obtain. Furthermore until recently I thought my oven/microwave was broken (but in fact i just did not know how to use it properly) so I have to use a toaster oven – prone to overcooking or inconsistent cooking – and the rice cooker – prone to steaming instead of baking. While the later made for a nice consistency for banana bread, it made a completely different kind of brownie (though still extremely tasty).
So here is the Brownie recipe i used – its the famous Cook’s Illustrated recipe via a cooking blog. Here.
Then this is my Banana Bread Recipe adapted from two recipes one on youtube.com and another on the website that gave me the idea to try baking in a rice cooker. Anyway here it is in the metric system.
BANANA BREAD RECIPE
256g cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
150g cup white sugar
165g brown sugar
113g butter
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
20g plain yogurt(full fat)
6 small blackened, over-ripened bananas
100g crushed walnuts
5-10g Cinnamon
This recipe comes from a mix of the below website and a cook on youtube. This recipe yields a soft, moist, and full-flavored banana bread, with a pleasing contrast with the crunchy walnuts and moist bread. Also the aromatic cinnamon gives the entire room a pleasing atmosphere to enjoy on top of the its delicious flavor.
Then according to this website. You grease the rice cooker and pour the batter for one cycle. Make sure the banana bread is done by sticking a chopstick or toothpick in the middle – if it comes out clean its done. It took two cycles and a little “retain” heat for about 5-10 minutes before mine was done. This is a funny japanese voice announcer version of just normal bread.
Try it out and let me know how it goes in the comment section!
Oh! Saka! 