Thanksgiving in a land devoid of "pilgrims."

Thanksgiving. A given holiday in American society. However, having to explain the slightly outdated tradition to a group of students (and teachers, South Africans, Canadians and Australians) in an understandable way was a little trying. Putting it into simple English, while trying to stay politically correct was no easy task, and slightly diminished the joy of the holiday just a bit. Nonetheless, Corin and I both conquered the feat and had, thanks to the Japanese Labor Holiday, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off of work. Our friend Kari offered her house in Shibecha for festivities and Corey and Tom from Akkeshi agreed to drive up for the feast.

A month or so before, Corin had spotted a 2kg French baby turkey (sorry, had to!), small enough for the smallest oven, on the Meat Guy. We decided to splurge and buy the little sucker, along with other essentials (brussel sprouts, hot wing sauce, cayenne pepper and canned jalapenos). We arranged for the frozen turkey and other goods to arrive on the 19th, allowing plenty of time for thawing. This worked out well, although I did spaz a bit worrying that my non-refrigeration thawing method was going to kill those partaking. My stress-inducing method: in order to brine the turkey, and not fill our entire fridge in raw turkey goodness, I placed the little tike in a nice blue bucket filled with cold sugared and salted water. I then placed the whole thing in the "guest" room. We keep the door to that room closed at all times and I believe it stays around 14C pretty consistently. This was a good temperature for defrosting a turkey that would be used within 24 hours, but not so great for keeping a turkey at safe temperatures for a full 48 hours before cooking. Why start defrosting a 2 kg bird so soon? Let's just say I got a little anxious on the preparation front.

On Tuesday, after reading numerous accounts of the worst ways in which to thaw a turkey (read: the best ways to give your guests food poisoning), I was freaking out about my method. I was convinced that I would give everyone the worst Thanksgiving gift of all, food poisoning. I needed a professional opinion and, thanks to the wonders of Skype, I was able to call the non-refrigeration expert, Marina. She keeps and prepares food on her farm without a conventional method of refrigeration. Instead, her and Robert use a recycled fridge, ingeniously rigged with piping that runs ice cold spring water constantly throughout the walls of the ice box (they also have a large cellar). She told me to replace the brine water with clean water to make sure the bird wasn't becoming too salty, find a spot a bit colder (hello, 12C genkan) and to quit. freaking. out. As Robert agreed in the background, the water would smell off if any bad bacteria was multiplying within our Thanksgiving dinner and to only call the whole thing off if things smelled funky.

Come Wednesday morning, I took deep inhales of the turkey water, making Corin do the same, and we both concluded that nothing seemed amiss. I crossed my fingers, lathered up our baby turkey with olive oil and spices and placed the bird breast side down in the biggest pan we own. Then Corin and I held our breaths and prayed the bird would fit inside our tiny moven. With an inch to spare, the bird was ready to go. We set the timer and hoped for the best. I flipped the bird over about halfway through the cooking process, but wish I hadn't.

Sooooo, he's little ugly.

Unfortunately, our moven cooks incredibly unevenly and usually chars the top of most baked goods. With the bird being on the tall side, the end result was a little bit burned, a little bit dry, but a completely done, roast turkey. We were already late, so we loaded up the rest of the fixings--KFC (for Tom, mostly), pear and candied walnut salad, drippings for gravy, my favorite gf cornbread stuffing and pumpkin brownies--and tottled our way off to Kari's house. (Our car, affectionately named "Pip,"  does not zoom.)  We arrived and reheated most of our wares, along with helping get everything set for dinner.

Attempting to "un-can" the cranberry sauce. 

"Carving" the turkey...or shredding, whatever.

Tom provided some southern style mashed potatoes with more butter than he can remember putting in lots of butter and corn with bacon and more butter. 

He's from the south, look at that beard. Oh and the shirt, too.
And the copious amounts of butter.

Corey and Haruka brought drinks and empty stomachs, while Kari provided green beans, pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce, along with beautiful table settings and Thanksgiving decorations.

So pretty!

We gathered around the table, said grace and dug in.

"Extended" family Thanksgiving dinner.

After dinner, we watched 007: Quantum of Solace per previously agreed upon tradition. It was a different sort of Thanksgiving but being surrounded by good food and good friends made the spirit of the holiday feel alive and well on this Japanese island. And no one died of salmonella. Double win.

Two years and the best. dinner. ever.

Well, another week or two has passed since our last post and life continues on in the same fashion. New experiences, new frustrations, and getting a little more used to life here day by day. Corin and I celebrated two years of being "official" on November 15th and, since we didn't end up going out of town like we had once planned, we decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner. We had spotted a place down by the river called Iomante: Restaurant and Community a while back and thought that our anniversary was as good a time as any to try out the posh looking place. During the day on Tuesday we had judged an English speech contest (two of my students won!) so were already dressed nicely for dinner. We arrived, parked and realized that we were 30 minutes too early for the restaurant to be open. So, we bundled up and wondered around downtown Kushiro to kill the time. We went into a few random shops and then, on our way back to the restaurant, stumbled into a little jewelry place by the name of Phantom Suction [the Japanese have an amazing ability to take two perfectly normal English words and combine them into some fairly ridiculous proper nouns.] Anyway, the shop was full of little creations made by the owner. Corin had been putting off getting me a gift since I really didn't want anything, but once he spotted a ring with ornate delicate curves, we knew that my anniversary present had been found! We delighted the shop owner by purchasing it then and there, while he marveled at last year's anniversary present, my teaspoon ring. We're hoping the next time we visit he'll have tried his hand at that style. The ring is a perfect way to remember how our second year together was spent on the northern most island of Japan. 

Pretty things.

On to dinner. We arrived at the restaurant a few minutes after six and were immediately seated, as we were the only customers (and remained so for the rest of our meal). The waiter took our coats and offered us the drink menu. We decided initially on water and then Corin deciphered enough to discover Shirley Temples were also offered. Two, please! We toasted to two wonderful years of laughter and adventures and settled in to figure out what to have for dinner. The menu had three options, each of increasing price. We went for Menu A, the 3800Y option, as B & C, the 5000Y and 8000Y menus, seemed a little too steep for two kids fresh out of college. Menu A came with bread, an appetizer, a main, and dessert. The mains could either be fish, meat, or poultry. Corin went with the locally raised Shibecha beef, while I selected a chicken dish. It should be noted that the restaurant was primarily French themed, so I was gearing up for a post dinner stomach ache by what I knew would be a lot of dairy. Although my stomach is just now starting to settle itself--four days later--it was well worth it. Luckily, we were able to explain to the waiter my allergy to wheat, "komugiko no arerugī," and they were incredibly accommodating. So, on to the courses (note: some of these are guesses as they spoke very little English and many of the foods were unfamiliar to us).

The first course was a thick slice of chicken pate, topped with local vegetables (cucumber and lettuce), prosciutto  and a skewer of green olive, the plate dotted with aoli and a dollop of grainy mustard. It was delicious, although Corin and I both could have gone with the grisly parts of the pate. At this point, the chef came out to talk to the foreigners. He knew about the same amount of English as the waiter but was very friendly and asked if we were celebrating something. We replied that it was our non-marriage anniversary. After congratulating us, he went back to the kitchen and promptly returned with the tastiest french onion soup to "congratulate our memorial." An interesting translation but we'll take it! Our mains arrived and I inhaled the cream drenched chicken. 

So much yumminess, so much tummy ache.

It was carefully perched atop a purple potato slice and two carrot slivers. Everything was incredible. The chicken fell apart, the potatoes had the texture of La Renaissance's new potatoes, and the sauce, oh the sauce, was to die for. Cream, fresh shaved parmesan and probably lots of butter (I told you I was willing to deal with the consequences). Corin was a little jealous, even though his steak was delicious as well...just lacking the sauce factor. After the main, our first dessert came out. A small glass jar filled with shoyu spiked milk custard. I chose to avoid the double stomach ache and didn't eat this course.  Corin told the waiter I wasn't really supposed to have milk, as well as wheat. Without a worry, the chef altered my second dessert to be a heart shaped macaron filled with chocolate ganache, alongside fresh grapes and sliced persimmon, with candy spirals and strawberry sauce.

Nom!

 A good thing since the original dessert, which Corin got, was cream cheese atop ice cream, swimming in a fresh pour of espresso. I am a huge huge huge fan of macarons so I was in heaven. When our third dessert came out, we were nearly stuffed but made room for green tea caramels, chocolate short bread (Corin), local artichoke bread (Corin) and anther macaron for me. Although the meal was definitely pricey, it was so worth the cost. We thanked the chef profusely and sincerely told him he had the best food in Kushiro. Fantastic food and celebrating two wonderful years together are indeed a perfect pair. 

Token anniversary shot.

This post is mighty lengthy so I'll end it there. More to come!

Baking, the Hokkaido edition.

Japanese ovens cost just as much as their dryers: way. too. much. Instead of doling out the cash for one, many Japanese have microwaves that include an oven feature, what I affectionately call a moven. We acquired one of these movens from Corin’s predecessor Courtney and her significant other, Joe. The moven has baked a few frozen pizzas but other than that, it’s simply used as a microwave. When it came to making cookies, pies and cakes, I have to admit that I seriously doubted the moven’s capabilities. Now, after using it, I won’t say it’s the perfect miniscule kitchen utensil but it did the job on Saturday. Basing my version on these caramel stuffed apple cider cookies I found on Pinterest, I set to work substituting and improvising the recipe into something I could make, and eat, here in Japan. While the rest of the ingredients were easy to sub or come by, the apple cider packets and caramels were a bit harder. Instead of apple cider, I used apple sauce and instead of the caramels, I used butter caramels from our local Aeon BIG! Although they looked much like the called for Kraft Caramels, these were like hard butter toffee candy and ended up being a bit dangerous once the cookies cooled (and while they were fresh out of the oven for that matter). I also used coconut oil instead of butter, replaced half of the fat called for with the apple sauce and used Pamela’s Gluten Free all purpose baking flour instead of regular flour. I only made half a batch and ended up with about a dozen cookies. Using half the fat made the cookies more cake like, so use 1/2 cup coconut oil/butter/etc, plus the 1/4 cup applesauce, if you like them to be flat and a bit, well, greasier. The moven took a bit longer than a regular oven but the results were about the same. I do have a few hot spots in the moven and have to rotate the pan once or twice during baking but that may just be a model issue. However, no matter the problems the cookies were delicious! I only ended up using caramels in four cookies, which were immediately consumed by Corin and I. The risk with using the hard candies was that they were just that; once cooled, they hardened back into a solid mass in the middle of the soft cookie, something that’s not exactly a pleasant surprise when going for a midnight snack. Also, when fresh out of the oven, the caramel was prone to be notably hotter than the surrounding cookie, causing some near burns on our chins! Over all though, the experiment was a success and I can’t wait to make some muffins, cakes and more cookies in the moven as the temperature plummets and our tummies call for more comfort food. And now, here’s my version of the recipe:

GF/Lactose free Apple Spice Cookies, with a caramel option (using the caramel makes them NOT lactose free)

Yield: 12-15 cookies, depending on size and if caramels are included

¼ cup coconut oil

¼ cup unsweetened (homemade!) apple sauceàonce you go homemade, you never go back

½ cup granulated white sugarà I bet brown sugar would be divine!

¼ tsp salt

1 eggàfree range, if available

½ tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp baking powder

½ tsp ground cinnamon

1 ½ cup Pamela’s gluten free baking mix

Optional: caramels, the softer the better.

v  Note: You will need to refrigerate these for a bit so don’t preheat the oven just yet. When you are almost ready to bake, preheat an American oven to 350º F. If using a Japanese style moven, give about 3 minutes for the moven to get up to 170º C before putting in the cookies.

v  Note #2: I don’t have a Kitchen Aid or high power mixer, nor the counter space for either, so this was all done by hand.

v  In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and soda, and cinnamon.

v  In a larger bowl, combine coconut oil, apple sauce and sugar. Mix until well combined, or if using a high powered mixture, cream until fluffy (I gave up on making them “light and fluffy” after hand mixing for 5 minutes).

v  Beat in the egg until well combined.

v  Slowly add flour mixture to wet mixture until just combined.

v  Place the whole shebang in the fridge for up to an hour (I only put mine in for 20 minutes or so).

v  While you wait for the dough to firm up, unwrap some caramels, if using, line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and start thinking about preheating your oven/moven.

v  Remove dough from fridgeàNow is the time to preheat moven.

v  Using caramels: take a tablespoon size portion of dough and flatten it in your palm. Place a caramel in the middle of the dough and fold the edges in around it, until completely covered. Place on baking sheet and repeat, spacing cookie balls 2-3 inches apart. Continue until your baking sheet is full (for me, and those of you with equally miniature movens, this will be at two cookies).  Bake for 12-14 minutes in an American oven, or 18-20 minutes for a moven. If using a moven, you may need to rotate the pan a few times to ensure even baking. This is strictly trial and error. Remove from the oven/moven and slide cookies off using the parchment paper. Allow to cool a few moments before transferring onto a cooling rack, or whatever is available. If you are using soft caramels, the original recipe recommends letting them cool upside down. Since mine hardened quickly, this wasn’t necessary. Repeat until dough is gone and comfort food craving is satisfied.

v  Not using caramels: The same as if you were using caramels, but decrease baking time by 2-3 minutes. Cookie size is your call (bigger is always better).

Mmm, caramely goodness.

Heat up a cup of coffee, tea, hot cocoa or better yet, apple cider and grab a cookie or two. The snow is coming so enjoy the crisp air and falling leaves while you can!

The arrival of autumn.

This morning’s alarm reminded me that running is now a part of my routine again, after two runs last week with no pain. After donning my super bright Adidas wind breaker and gloves, I headed out into the 1ºC chill and got in two miles pain free. I’m happy to report that one of those miles was at a 9:45 pace! Although that’s still pretty slow by most people’s standards, it was the fastest I’ve clocked myself at a mile and I’m mighty proud of it. I’m still wary of reinjuring whatever was injured so I plan to keep my distance between 1.5 and 2.5 miles for another week or two. After that, bring on a 10K racing plan! I don’t actually have a 10K to train for but I figure having a plan and a goal will make running while it’s chilly and gray a little easier. The plan is 8 weeks long so it will end right as the snow and cold really settle in to this part of Hokkaido, the perfect time to hang up the running shoes for a couple months and live in sweaters and slippers. Unfortunately, my sanity seems to run parallel to the amount of running I do, so it might be a rough couple of months for Corin.

Anyway, besides being in desperate need of mittens to keep my hands from freezing off, Corin and I shared a fairly perfect weekend. On Saturday we got up early, bundled up in our October best and headed out to get some errands and sightseeing done. After being here over two months, we still don’t feel like we’ve seen all Kushiro-shi has to offer. We’ve also been meaning to drop off dry cleaning for almost a month (literally clothes in the backseat of the car since September) and finally decided to buckle down and face the man. I’m happy to report that Corin is clutch and understood everything the dry cleaning man said, as well as was able to convey what we needed done to our suits and things. Giajin success! After that small accomplishment, we headed to Kushiro’s Peace Pagoda, a Buddhist tower situated on a hill overlooking Kushiro. 

Kushiro's Peace Pagoda in autumn.

We have been eyeing it for a while and decided we’d better check it out before it got too cold to go exploring. The weather turned out to be perfect as we wandered around the structure, looking at the weathered carvings of the Buddha situated on each side. The vantage point also provided a great view of our temporary hometown. Next on our list, we intended to find another temple that was located closer to downtown but the ADD side of me decided to turn down a random road, and we found ourselves at a lake and its surrounding park. We meandered over to the boat dock, looked into the water and were immediately swarmed by the biggest koi I have ever seen. They were clearly well fed and expected more compensation for their existence. 

Hungry koi!

A sweet Japanese girl gave us each a cracker and we found great fun in crumbling it into the water and watching the big gapping mouths battle over the bits. There was a gold one twice as large as the others that actually got bulldozed a few times in the battle to get the goods. After the lake, and Corin refusing to let me rent a paddle boat, we headed off to downtown Kushiro to find the other temple. After driving up and down streets for ten minutes we finally spotted the roof line and were met with the unfortunate news that the temple was closed. Oh well, for another day.

We decided it was lunchtime and tried out a place I’ve run past a few times. It had  a small menu but the food was good and the place is close to our house, so we’ll be going back again I’m sure. While we were eating, it started to rain, hard. After paying, we ran wildly to the car, hopped in—laughed hysterically at our rain splattered selves—and headed to the grocery store. We stocked up on foodstuffs for the week and after running madly once again out to the car, decided it was time to call it a day. We returned home and I immediately went to kitchen to start a few baking projects. One was for a batch of caramel apple cookies that I found via Pinterest. I needed to make them Angie safe and although I now have gluten free flour and baking soda thanks to a recent order from iHerb.com, the recipe also called for multiple packets of apple cider mix, something that doesn’t exist in Japan. So as a replacement, I figured apple sauce would work just as well. BUT, the Japanese don’t even know what applesauce is, resulting in my making it from scratch. Apples are easy to come by and only slightly overpriced, thank goodness. I say had to but really, the boiling apples, cinnamon, and nutmeg made the house smell heavenly and the end result was well worth the—rather small—effort. After the applesauce was done, I got started on the cookies. And that, my first experience baking in a microwave, is fodder for another blog post (recipe included!).  

Homemade apple sauce is the only way to go!

After the dishes had been washed and two more cookies consumed, it was time for my last welcome enkai with just a small group of teachers. It was held at a small sushi restaurant and I was able to try sea urchin, octopus, crab blood and crab brains (not actually brains but they didn’t know what to call it), and some delicious spiny crab unique to Japan. After the enkai I met up with Corin, Corey, Corey’s Japanese girlfriend Haruka, Thomas, Thomas’s date and Lee at a karaoke place. We sang our hearts out in true karaoke fashion. I even got to expose Haruka to the kawaii-ness of Taylor Swift’s song, Love Story (that song always makes me think of my friend Liz. She would sing that song over and over again before her and her now husband, Lucas, got engaged). The fun came to an end around midnight and sleep was a welcome reward for the adventures of the day.

Bundled up on the edge of the Pagoda.

Sunday brought wind worthy of Wyoming. Corin says it’s part of our cultural exchange, bringing our weather to Japan. I did not find this funny.  Noting the busy day that was Saturday and the howling wind outside our windows, Corin and I resolved not to leave the house. We watched football (ok, I napped), experienced the first disk of the first season of Glee, made coconut corn chowder and homemade hamburger helper and crawled into bed at 8:30. Perfect. This week finds us looking into changing our tires to snow tires (as required by Japanese law), filling our kerosene tank and winterizing our house, plus a few days of working late and the reward of a three day weekend. Another month begins and I still can’t believe we’re here living in Hokkaido going through each day like moving to Japan and teaching English is just a natural post-college path to be taken. Maybe someday it will become “normal” but for now, I’m still enjoying and adjusting to the newness of it all. I’m happy to report that Corin is ever the steady one and has adjusted like this is something people just do everyday. I sure wish some of that would rub off on me!

A sunset to rival home.

Akkeshi at sunset.

Worth a stop on the bridge.

Doe in twilight

Daily observations.

• Rice is either about to be cooked, in the rice cooker, cooling on the rack or stored safely in the fridge waiting to be eaten.
• Earthquakes are more like small talk and less like a natural disaster the longer you live here:
• "Hey, is the bed shaking?"
• "Yeah, I think so." 
• "Must be another earthquake."
• "Cool! Can we finish watching Entourage now?"
• In the summer, it rains more than the sun shines and fog rolls in at lunch time.
• Bowing to others repeatedly is expected, even when the subject of the bow is on the other end of the phone line. 
• Seeing pedestrian casualties on the side of the road is becoming the norm.
• Every room in my house can be equated to the size of some form of American closet (a bedroom the size of an ample walk in closet, a kitchen the size of a standard walk in closet, an entryway that doubles as a closet).
• Living without a dryer, garbage disposal, automatic hot water, dish washer and any counter space is the rule, not the exception.
• Dog walkers, taxi drivers and janitors all wear white cotton gloves to complete their jobs.
• A typhoon is the misbehaving love child of the Wyoming wind and a summer rainstorm. 
• If there is a harder way to do things, that is the way it will be done. Convenience is not a Japanese trait. 

The time has come.

After fifty days of being in country, we finally have internet. Thank goodness. I took Friday morning off to wait for the internet man to arrive, sometime between 9-12. He arrived around 11, located the phone box, explained what I'm sure was something very important (all in Japanese), repeated something about having a router, and left. I assumed the deed was done, except for the fact that when I tried out the internet, it didn't connect. I texted Corin that I hoped it would work when he got home and left for work. At 5 in the evening, we not only had a big box from Colorado waiting for us (thanks Amy and Jim!) but a note from a delivery company saying they'd missed us and would return, if they could, before six that evening. We had no idea what they were delivering but since the internet still wasn't working, hoped it had to do with a magic box that could connect us to the world.

Mmmm...brat in a baguette.

We waited around until 6:30 and then headed over to our friend Corey's house for some football: Raiders vs. Broncos. Although the game is played on a Monday night in the US, we're all at work on Tuesday and can't watch it in real time. Thus, we watch on Friday nights with the aid of bratwurst in baguettes and croissants and Boulder Kettle BBQ chips sent from loving mothers, plus a generous helping of 'the good stuff.' After the game we headed over to Veiled Cafe, a small bar run by a mother and son team. Corey has lived across the street from Veiled for quite a while, is a frequent visitor and was very warmly welcomed. Tetsu is the son part of the team and was rocking out in the particle board lined concert hall attached to the bar. As soon as we entered the room, Tetsu changed quite a few lines in each song to include Corey's name.

Particle board grunge.

Tetsu, the man himself.

We jumped around and used a tambourine to join in the revelry, then ended up playing a terrible game of darts with some of the regulars back in the bar. Even though we still lacked internet, I'd call it a successful way to start the weekend. After showing the notice to some Japanese English speakers, we discovered we had been informed to remain at home until 5 pm on Saturday and they would try to deliver again. So we waited, all day. Thanks to some serious rain, it wasn't too hard to want to stay inside and do nothing. At 4 pm, a nice delivery man dropped off the magic box and after dinner and grocery shopping, we ended the evening watching four episodes of Entourage on the real, live internet. I'd like to say the settling in period is finally over with, at least bills/basic needs wise.

I may also be lying to myself but don't tell me I said that.

Origami coffee, yumm!

Thanks to Respect for the Aged Day tomorrow and National Sport's Day next Friday, we'll be enjoying two three day weekends in a row. Some nice weather would be ideal for all this time off but alas, it has rained nonstop for the past two days. At least it makes for a good excuse to stay in and do close to nothing. I'm still nursing what seems to be the mystery injury of the year so anything that keeps me from pushing it too much is a good thing. No swelling, no bruising, no pain when walking or wiggling my ankle but once movement stops, or I start to run, it throbs like my bone is breaking in two. Might get up the guts to brave a hospital tomorrow and get it looked at by a professional.

Tonight has been spent trying to decide what the plan is for tomorrow. I vote another day like today, and yesterday. Listen to the rain, sip some Starbucks Origami Self Drip coffee, eat chips and guacamole for dinner and enjoy the nothingness. We're headed to Sapporo next weekend and I need to conserve my energy.