Let there be COOKIES!

SUNDAY, AUGUST 29

Today was hot. Miserably hot and humid. My thermometer read 99 degrees in my apartment. I haven't found a website yet that does current weather for this city, but weather underground does have the next town over, so I judge based on that. The website claimed it was 97, so I'd say my thermometer is about accurate, which is frightening.

I put my futon out to air in the sun and ended up startling Brian on the balcony next door. We had a nice little chat for maybe 15 minutes. It wasn't until later that afternoon that I realised that one, just one, of my shoulders is sunburned, and red enough that you can see the outline of the clasps of my tank top straps. I figure this must have been from when I was out talking with Brian, as that shoulder would have been the one away from the apartment, but – jeeze – fifteen minutes turns my poor shoulder into a lobster? What kind of sun is this?

In the afternoon, I baked cookies. The weird thing about Japan is that it's so hot that I kept having to toss the dough into the freezer to keep it from melting. I only baked part of it, so I can keep the rest fresh for later this week. I didn't have any bowls nearly big enough, so I had to be quite careful in my stirring. Obviously, I made quite a mess. Chocolate also melts at room temperature, so I had to put the chocolate back in the freezer after I'd chopped it up. (I haven't found chocolate chips, so I used cheap chocolate bars.)

Finally, I was cooking these in my microwave. It's weird. I can, however, set a temperature so It seems to work, although I can only bake four cookies at one time. I also have to rotate them half-way through as the pan I have hits the edges and thus can't spin freely. They don't turn out quite as consistent or evenly baked as back at home, and certainly require much more work with the smaller space, but, oh, so delicious! If any of you worried about me starving to death – worry no more!

I picked up curry powder one of the last times I was at the store, so I made to pots of rice this evening. Plain white rice to go with my stir fry (the end of what I'd made last weekend) and curry rice. The curry rice turned out okay. It's a bit dry and I don't know how to fix that. I think what I need to make is actually a curry sauce. What I really need is someone to send me vegetarian bullion, as I haven't seen them in stores or on the Foreign Buyers Club website. It seems that everything calls for them.

The highlight of the day came when I was eating my curry and tofu (which, by the way, cooks MUCH better in my non-stick new frying pan than it did in a sauce pan. I think it's also firmer tofu.) My phone started to ring. I figured it was a text message (as it's the same ring tone and I haven't gotten around to changing one yet. Plus, no one ever calls.) but it kept ringing, so I pick up (number only... no name) and the person on the other end asks for Mags in clear English. This should have been the clue. Only my parents and people who know me through my parents call me Mags. It ended up being my parents' good friend Kiki.

Kiki and her husband Nobu lived with my parents back on Long Island when I was just a baby. They had come from Japan so Nobu could work in my father's lab. Since then, they've long gone back to Japan, but still send my parents Christmas cards every year. Since I started applying to come to Japan, my parents kept in increasing contact with them. Now, they have sent me one letter through the post, e-mailed me and tonight called me. I have been invited to their house in Mid-August to spend the night. I'm really quite excited. This will be my first Japanese homestay. I think they are excited, too, at least Kiki sounded like she was. I don't think she's seen me since I was a baby.

Once it gets later, I'll be calling my parents to let them know. My father will be thrilled and my mother will be quite envious. As it is, I haven't heard from my parents in a few days. My guess would be that they are either dead, don't care about me, just too busy to get back to me, or that they're in New England at my mother's cousin's wedding. This is the wedding I wish I could have gone to. It sounds like it will be pretty spectacular.

Now to lesson plan...

Finally made contact with my parents. They were at the Wedding's morning-after brunch. I got in a few words before they had to go be social. Also, I am in LOVE with Google. Google voice is now trying to take on Skype, so, as a promotion, all calls placed to landlines/cell phones in the US are FREE for the rest of the year. What a BEAUTIFUL time for a promotion!