Takoyaki

(tako = octopus, yaki = grilled)

There's a takoyaki truck that drives around Tonosho about once a week. It reminds me of an ice cream truck because music blares from its speakers and people come running up to it to get their takoyaki fix.

Takoyaki are round balls of batter with a piece of octopus in the middle (like an octopus dumpling surprise). They are cooked in a special griddle with round depressions. Monday I ate lunch with some friends and we made takoyaki and it was delicious!

Takoyaki grills!

We made takoyaki at Naoko-san's house. Here she is ladling the batter onto the grills.

Niko-chan watching her mother put octopus pieces into each takoyaki.

Niko-chan, Ayano and Naoko putting green onion and pickled ginger into the batter.

More batter goes on top.

Naomi, Niko, Cino and Miki checking on the progress of the takoyaki.

Me getting in on the takoyaki action. Turning the dumplings over was actually fun and easier than it looked.

Naomi cooking away.

Our finished meal. Naoko also made delicious pad thai!

Now I want a takoyaki grill so I can have a takoyaki party. I figured I could also use it to make cute little pancakes! For those of you who want to make takoyaki at home, I found a fun video teaching you how...

What's for lunch?

Here's what Gordon had for lunch on 11/29 and 11/30...

Rice, mixed veggies with pork, tuna, bean sprouts and cabbage, grape jelly and milk.

Fried chicken, rice, pickled vegetables, seafood curry, cherry jelly and milk.

Kojurin Marathon

Gordon and I ran the Kojurin marathon today. Marathon being a deceptive word since, technically, Gordon ran a 5k (3.1 miles) and I ran a 3k (1.8 miles). Kojurin is the mascot of Tonosho. He's a bird, with a red cap and running sneakers.

Isn't he cute?! (his name is pronounced Ko-jur-een)

This is the actual bird, a kojurin, that you can see all over Tonosho.

We arrived at the site of the race around 8:20 am and checked-in. Several of Gordon's students were there along with their families. Basically, most of Tonosho showed up at the race. There were a couple different races. A 1k for small children, a 2k for the older kids, a 3k for women, 2k for families and a 5k for men. My race didn't start until 10:05 and Gordon didn't have to run until 10:40, so we got to observe all the race day activities.

Kojurin being mobbed by overeager kids.

Gordon sporting number 54 and representing UT. Hook'em!

First wave of runners. Those kids were fast! Notice that the race course was next to rice paddies...gotta love Tonosho!

Gordon and I watched as the kids ran their races and I started to get nervous as the time for my race approached. I don't like running short distances because I don't like running fast. I get tired. I'd rather keep a slow and steady pace and run 200 miles than run 1 or 2 miles very fast. O.k., I'm exaggerating, but I was not looking forward to running. Finally, 10:00 rolled around and I got into starting position.

Stretching.

Nervous adjusting of running shirt. See my competition? Junior high school runners!?

And we're off!

1.8 miles later...

And we're back!

Long story short, several girls finished ahead of me, but it turns out they weren't in my age group. Little did I know, I wasn't competing against the junior high schoolers...AND...I got first place in my age group! 

How many people were in my age group you ask? 

Is that really important? 

Does that REALLY matter? 

Alright, there were only four other women in my age group and I was the youngest.  

Anyway, Gordon's race was coming up so I took up my position as photographer and his personal cheer section.

Gordon talking up the competition. Being charismatic as usual.

I imagine he's probably deflecting a compliment given by one of his students. He's so modest.

There they go!

Gordon approaching the finish line. Everyone was shouting "Ganbare!" (Hang in there!).

After the race, Gordon was approached by several of his admirers.

Cutest. Picture. Ever.

Gordon and I joked that we should make this the Christmas card photo of "our family". The young boy is Kei, a student at Tachibana Elementary. Gordon's holding his time sheet, 26 minutes and 38 seconds! Awesome!

 Gordon and I had an amazing time at the race. My favorite part was seeing everyone from around Tonosho and getting to see Gordon interact with his students outside of school. I was reminded of how truly blessed we are to be surrounded by such wonderful people and to enjoy each others company in the spirit of competition.

On a side note, Gordon and I had a lot of time to kill before we had to run, so I sneaked this video of Gordon being his goofy self. Please don't be mad, Gordon :)

Mochi at Tachibana Elementary

Today Gordon and I got to experience mochi at Tachibana Elementary school. Mochi is a japanese rice cake that's made by pounding rice into a paste and then molding it (normally into small balls or dumpling shapes).

Gordon's last day at Tachibana was on Friday, November 25th. He's going to miss teaching the kids there. I got to go with him several times to watch him teach and the kids were always excited to see him.

Gordon with his students

Luckily, Gordon and I were invited to the mochi festival at Tachibana today, so Gordon got to see all of his students again. There were several kinds of mochi at the festival:

Regular/plain mochi.

Anko mochi (bean jam rice cake).

Kinako mochi (soybean flour rice cake).

Karami mochi (grated radish rice cake).

Zoni (rice cake in soup).

Unfortunately, we didn't come early enough to see the mochi being made, but we did get to eat it!

Students and their families sitting down to eat mochi in the gym at Tachibana.

Gordon eating zoni.

Gordon coming back after a second helping of zoni.

Gordon eating plain mochi.

Yummy soup.

Happy after a good meal of mochi.

Full and satisfied!

A Japanese Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was a little nontraditional. Nontraditional in the fact that it was my first Thanksgiving away from family and I was spending it in Japan. Thanksgiving kind of sneaked up on Gordon and I. There were no fat, Butterball turkeys at the grocery store or decorations of cornucopias to remind us it was the season. And even though the day before, November 23rd, was a national holiday in Japan (Labor Day and Thanksgiving Day) they only treated it like another day off and not an excuse to eat too much food.

So that left me contemplating what to make for Thanksgiving dinner so that it would actually feel like Thanksgiving. Our first course (appetizer) was guacamole, per Gordon's request.

Hogging the bowl.

Then I decided to make mashed potatoes (anyone who knows Gordon, knows he loves mashed potatoes) macaroni and cheese, dressing, green beans and Subu's Mexican chicken. This seems like a pretty conservative and modest Thanksgiving meal, but you need to consider the fact that I am working with a toaster oven. Yes, I don't actually have a real oven, just an easy bake that's pretending to be one.

This is what I have to work with. I'm not complaining, in fact I'm very THANKful (like that?) I even have a toaster oven.

Peeling potatoes.

The food turned out better than I anticipated, meaning it was edible, and it actually felt like Thanksgiving.

Helping myself to some macaroni and cheese and to the right is dressing.

Let's eat!

After dinner, Gordon and I played a game of scrabble and set up our Christmas decorations. Gordon was hesitant to put up Christmas stuff before Thanksgiving was even over, but I didn't want Christmas to sneak up on us. It took us a whole 5 minutes to finish (we don't have many Christmas decorations).

Scrabble time.

Gordon "fluffing" the tree. Its going to be a Charlie Brown Christmas ya'll.

Gordon being a ham. He decided to add his special touch and throw the last two ribbons on the tree and declare Christmas decorating "Done!"

The finished product. Gordon told me it was probably not a good idea to light the Christmas tree candles underneath the tree... thank you for the advice. (Notice the beautiful Thanksgiving card from our friends back home, the Hogues).

This was our Thanksgiving Day surprise, a box full of goodies  from Gordon's parents!