Cooking 101

SATURDAY, JULY 31

Happy Birthday Harry Potter (and JK Rowling)!

I figured it would be a good idea to try to stay on a good sleep schedule. I didn't get to sleep until after 11 last night, so I set my alarm for 8AM. My alarm woke me at 8am, the first time I've woken to my alarm since arriving in Japan.

I spent the first two hours organizing in my apartment and reading Veg Out, the JET vegetarian guide. Then, with all of the bravery of a toddler straying from mommy's side, I ventured out of my apartment. I don't know what it is about Japan, but I have a hard time telling streets apart, which makes me particularly anxious about wandering away from my apartment, although I suppose I do have all weekend to get back.

So, I hopped onto my bicycle and made ever increasingly big loops around my apartment, darting outward, then circling back, always anxious. I did stop back in once to pick up a water bottle (it's HOT!) and my address, just in case I get lost. My address won't do me any good, but hopefully someone else would know where it was and could at least point.

On one particularly brave attempt, I reached the grocery store, which I must admit was mostly luck in finding. I parked my bike outside (with all of the other bicycles on top of an odd emblem of a bicycle in a red circle with a slash through it.) and headed in, trying to look more confident than I was.

First off, let me say that I was the only non-Asian I saw all day. This includes while I was walking cluelessly around the grocery store in search of some odd-ball product. I will also say that Japan doesn't lay out their grocery stores in quite the way I'm used to. For example, the flour is not next to the sugar and salt, but in a completely different isle.

I don't know how long I was in the grocery store. I don't want to know. I did have to ask numerous people questions, but everyone was very polite about it, even if they didn't speak English. I would usually do my best to get into the right area, and try to figure out the kanji. But if I couldn't find something (like identify soy sauce in a whole isle of black bottles) I would politely say, “excuse me” and the name of what I was looking for, then point to where I thought it might be. Only for flour did a nice lady direct me to the next isle. Actually, she personally brought me, her young daughter staring at me in fascination.

Even though I was there forever (and bought 4,000+ yen) I didn't think I actually had much in my basket. Things to remember: if your basket (there are carts, but they exist only to hold your basket -- nothing like the carts at home.) is half full, you'd better be wary of buying any more. Secondly, a big 3k bag of rice really throws off the balance in a bicycle. While loading by basket with groceries, it nearly tipped over! I didn't ride the first few blocks (which were along main roads) because I didn't trust myself to stay balanced and steer properly. I also didn't want to embarrass myself any more in front of my new city-mates. As it turns out, I ended up being fine (and practically bumped into my apartment complex in a huge bit of luck.)

I think that the bikes here, being low to the ground, help keep them steadier. I tried to raise my seat today (I probably ride it with it higher than it should be at home) only to find that it was already all the way up. Hmm... But then, have one of the bigger bikes around and it seems that most people keep their seats lower than mine already is. In fact, I should add, I am a positive GIANT in Japan. I tower over people. It scares me.

I spent the afternoon airing out my futon (something to do on a weekly basis) by hanging it over the edge of my porch railing. I also put up some maps as wall decorations. My front hall is a map area, complete with map of Japan, map of Shiga, and bilingual map of the USA. In the kitchen by the cosmetics sink (which would be the equivalent of a bathroom sink in the US, minus the fact that it's not in the bathroom) I stuck up my poster of Japanese hiragana and katakana characters, to review while I brush my teeth. On the wall in the second tatami room, I hung my Irish flag.

I spent the afternoon finishing “Bridget Jones' diary, a gift from my Aunt Alice. It makes me wish I hadn't left my Pride and Prejudice DVDs in the US.

Wow... I just realized that I haven't spoken to anyone today who speaks English.

After finishing the book, I decided that it was an acceptable hour to start cooking dinner. After the book this morning, and the shopping trip, I was inspired. I wasn't sure what I was going to make, so I started off with rice.

Confession time: I've never made rice before.

At home, we have a rice cooker, so it was the responsibility of one of my parents to do that (and the other to plug in the rice cooker 20 minutes later.) At school, it was taken care of by Lynn or Mari, it being such a simple thing that it wasn't worth having someone who didn't know how risk ruining things when there were so many other tasks to do in master chef Alan's kitchen. Even when I cooked stir fry with Lonn, he took care of such matters. Luckily, Veg Out had instructions.

In Japan, you need to wash your rice to remove excess starch before cooking. This involves putting rice in a pot, putting some water in it, and stirring it with your fingers until the water is murky. Change water and repeat 2 to 3 times. From there, for sticky rice, you must soak it for 30 minutes. Otherwise, let it sit out for 30 minutes. Then cook it in a complex fashion involving turning up and down heat with a precision I don't have. I just cooked it until it was tasty.

I used some of the vegetables I picked up today, including some carrot, broccoli, onion, and green pepper. I also diced (as best I could with a dinner knife) ginger and garlic. Cooked it all up (the rice was done much too early, oops) and tried to fry tofu unsuccessfully, so it ended up going into the stir fry pretty much raw. I was most worried about the sauce, as I managed to create a particularly disgusting one the last time I tried in the US. This one turned out (I think the liberal dosage of cayenne helped), thus, the entire meal ended up a success (raw tofu and all.) Picture(s) will be on Facebook soon.

I now, even more desperately need to visit the 100 yen store, as my sugar and cornstarch bags are being held closed with hair clips. I hear that in Hokkaido they put butter on their rice, so I will not be ashamed to have that for breakfast with my leftover rice. I need to have another stir fry tomorrow, though. I have to bring a lunch to school on Monday, and I know it will be watched.

Now, it's not terribly late, but it's dark and hot. Hot, of course, being the unifying trait of my Japanese experience thus far. I can hear fireworks outside, but I can't find out where they're coming from. It makes me sad. Inspiration! I went and looked out the FRONT door and BOOM! Fireworks! My Japanese neighbors ended up coming out of their homes, too, and climbing up the staircase to watch from the second floor deck. The fireworks were quite impressive for being 1.25 miles away. There were some shells I don't recall having seen in the US and one or two particularly impressive BOOMS! I do love loud, chest-shaking booms! I said goodnight to my neighbors after the explosions stopped. Konbanwa...good evening.