Wednesday, 27 August 2014

Eating out and Enkais

A hidden turn, then
Sapporo's Ramen Alley,
waiting to delight.

Actually, an alley of 6-seat ramen shops!
Bamboo shoots, pork, egg;
Although not instant ramen,
it disappears fast!

So much ramen, so little stomach...
When in Sapporo,
drink beer as the natives do.
Wait, that's Asahi!

There is a "Sapporo" brand beer...
Here I have found it,
onigiri perfection:
omelette-wrapped rice ball.

Available at a Lawson's near you!
Mmm... Matsuri food!
The perfect yakisoba
in a plastic box.

Not pictured: grapefruit chuuhai
Define "enkai" (noun):
1) lit., banquet or party;
2) work drinking fest...

A delicious enkai spread
The enkai high points?
Meeting new coworkers and
eating fresh melon!


Monday, 18 August 2014

Biking in the rain

It's been over 2 weeks after my arrival in Japan, and finally we have reached the beginning of the fall semester!  From tomorrow, I will get to spend most of my time at the schools, teaching English (and probably learning much more!)  As I commuted to the Board of Education through the perpetual drizzle for the last time, I thought back to my first week here when I wrote the following (essential!) guide for myself and all future JETs.  (Hey! A lot of good advice is based on personal experience!)


How to bike to work:
1.     Leave early for your second day.
2.     Get caught in a downpour as you leave the apartment.
3.     Bike like mad through the rain, laughing hysterically as you go.
4.     Show up five minutes early, hair wet, skirt drenched, tights mud-specked, dignity lost, smile on your face.
5.     Discover that the former mayor saw you en route.

For the record, raincoats do absolutely nothing to prevent your skirt from getting soaked by the rain.  The Japanese have all mastered the art of riding a bicycle while holding an umbrella.  However, since I like my life as it is (ongoing) I guess I'll deal with wet skirts or leave myself more time to walk.

This guy's a pro.
(photo from telegraph.co.uk.  Did you really think my town had that many people?!)
Biking in the rain:
If I weren't going to work,
it would be quite fun!

Thursday, 14 August 2014

Recipe: Blueberry Banana Bread (in a rice cooker!)


One ripe banana.
One bag frozen blueberries.
Ok, fruit. It’s on.

The Goal:  Rice cooker bread
While I am one of the lucky few who has a microwave/oven, my very well-equipped kitchen is somehow lacking a loaf pan.  So I decided to put to the test the rumor that you can make banana bread in a rice cooker.  What I did below was the result of modifications to my favorite banana bread recipe and these instructions.
Note: I only had 1 banana in the fridge and adjusted the recipe accordingly.  This made a fairly thin banana bread.  If you choose to double the recipe, please remember that it will probably take longer to cook!

Mmmm, raw ingredients
Ingredients:
1 very ripe banana
1/6 cup melted butter (guesstimated)
½ cup sugar (or slightly less--it will still be delicious!)
½ egg, beaten (fry up the other half for a mini omelette the next day!)
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 – 1½ teaspoons baking powder (or ½ teaspoon baking soda if you have it)
¾ cup flour
½ cup frozen blueberries (or chocolate chips, chopped nuts... whatever else you like!)

Yep, it's really that easy
Directions:
In a separate bowl (do not use your rice cooker bowl!), mash the banana with your rice spoon or a fork.  Stir in the butter.
Mix in the baking powder and salt.  Stir in the sugar, egg, and vanilla extract.  Mix in the flour.
Defrost the frozen blueberries under warm water, then fold into the batter.
Use a paper towel to coat the inside of your rice cooker bowl with canola oil so your bread doesn't stick!
Pour your batter in, close the lid, and start cooking on a normal rice cycle.  (My bread took 2 cycles to cook.)
Carefully take out the bread and serve it upside-down so the yummy baked side is showing.  (In hindsight, this would probably look even tastier with powdered sugar, blueberry sauce, or chocolate sauce on top.  Your creativity's the limit!)
Itadakimasu!

Rice cooker success!  Now on to white rice...

Wednesday, 13 August 2014

Surviving Sapporo Orientation



First day: no cell phone.
A desperate facebook post.
Mary rescues me!

How a JET networks:
"Oh, hey, you live somewhere cool!
What's your name again?"

More orienting.
From classroom games to must-see sites,
we covered it all!

Passive sightseeing:
pausing to take a photo
en route to meetings.

The Akarenga


The main takeaway:
Hokkaido's cold, lonely, vast,
and by far the best!

(The other message?
Join HAJET, join HAJET, join
HAJET, join HAJET...)



Sunday, 10 August 2014

Meeting the mascots


Look at this critter—
Hokkaido’s tourist mascot.
His name is Kyun-chan.

Deer, love, greenery!











But who needs him when
out here we have Otokkii,
our little tree friend.

Lumber, forestry, soba!












He likes black soba,
protecting the pine forests,
and seasonal hats.

Who would win a fight?
We might never find out, but
those chopsticks look sharp!

A note before we get started...

About the haiku:
I like to be flexible with my syllable counts.  Sometimes 'fire' has 2 syllables.  Don't judge.
Japanese words will be by syllable, not by morae.  Nothing could fit in the poems otherwise.  (Sorry Basho.)

About the other stuff:
So I might be straying from the haiku this time.  In my defense, the Japanese haiku could also mean 'hike' (俳句 versus ハイク).  Since most of these things are thought up while walking, who's to say they're not in the spirit of the blog's title?

Starting a new blog

A little over a month ago, my family and I went to a poetry reading at the Hillstead Museum.  It featured two poets--one who wrote about a space traveler, the other about his depressed dog--and a hippy band which seemed to care more about their looks than the music.  The takeaway from the evening (aside from a general feeling of caution about outdoor poetry festivals) was an autographed copy of the first poet's book (thanks dad!) with this note written inside:

Maddie-
May your travels, too, be various and deeply saturated with color! (Write poems about them.)
-Ben

I hope to use this blog to convey any colorful experiences (and perhaps some sepia ones as well) I have while in Japan, be they poetic or plain.

Here I am again,
a new adventure begins.
Hajimemashou!