Cake and Ramen

Tonight, Mike and I got a little creative in the kitchen. We had been talking with our friend Shohei earlier about ramen spots and our favorite kinds of ramen. Since my first visit to Japan I've always had a deep affection for ginger pork. I've been making it myself since Christmas of 2008 thanks to my parents gift of a Japanese cook book. I've tried it in all sorts of things, but my favorite still has to be ramen. Shohei had never heard of ginger pork ramen before and looked at me like I was kind of crazy. Of course, after that I wanted to immediately return home and make ginger pork ramen. So we did!



The best part about making ramen at home is that it's so incredibly easy. Ginger pork is also very simple to make, and frying up an egg takes all of 30 seconds. The most difficult part about making ginger pork ramen is waiting for it to cool down so you don't burn your tongue. If anyone wants the recipe, let me know. I'd be happy to supply it.

I should note that Japanese eggs, for some reason, have a very orangey yolk as opposed to their American counterparts. Don't be alarmed, the egg has not gone bad. I think they actually taste richer and more delicious than American eggs, but I'm just a snotty food elitist so what do I know. It's also pretty common practice to break open an uncooked egg in to a bowl of boiling hot ramen. The heat from the soup actually cooks the egg right on top of the ramen. Japanese people eat a lot of raw eggs. While I do not recommend that in America, I find it absolutely fascinating. It's actually not bad.

Now about this cake business.

I had heard rumors for a while that it was possible to make all kinds of craziness in a rice cooker. Bread, cakes, cookies, stews... all kinds of awesome food. I have not baked a single thing since my arrival in Japan, and anyone that knows me knows that I have to bake something at least once a week to feel like a worthwhile human being. I stumbled upon a relatively simple Banana Cake rice cooker recipe whilst skimming food blogs and I knew I had to try it. I've had some bananas sitting on top of my fridge for the last week in preparation for Banana Cake, and when I realized we didn't have school tomorrow I figured it was the perfect time to give it a shot.

I've also just realized that the reason it tasted a little bit off was because there was TOO MUCH BAKING POWDER in it. If anyone wants to send me American measuring spoons, I would be forever in your debt.

Anyways, here is the video of us taste testing our lovely Rice Cooker Banana Cake. (You can find the original recipe here.)

SNOW.

Sorry for the lull in updates. But check this out! IT'S FRICKIN SNOWING IN TOKYO. THAT IS CRAZY.



Also I got my iPhone today if you didn't catch that. Hit me up for the digitssss. LOVE YOU ALL.

Doko desu ka?

Yeah yeah I know. WTF happened to blogging all the time? Well, unfortunately, my real life has been extremely busy as of late. Promise I will post something meaningful soon.

<3

Challenges?

I started school this week finally. It feels like my brain is struggling to turn back on after having spent months doing nothing but working and goofing off. However, I feel that this semester will be equal parts challenging and enjoyable. It's strange to be on a regular school schedule (by university standards) and not working. I have class every single day, but my schedule is completely messed up.

It goes a little something like this:

MWF: Japanese 3:20PM to 4:40PM
Intro to Cultural Anthropology 6:00PM to 7:00PM

TTh: College Algebra 10:20AM to 1:35PM (Yeah, that's a 4 hour math class. I know. I was bummed too.)
Critical Reading and Writing 5:30PM to 7:30PM.

So as you can see my schedule sucks in several ways.

a.) I have classes in the late afternoon and evening. I would rather be up at 7AM every day (which I usually am) and done with class at a reasonable time. Instead, I get to walk home in the cold and dark every night.
b.) 4 HOUR MATH CLASS. FUCK. (But my teacher makes awesome jokes and has a sweet beard, thus making it slightly less painful.)
c.) I WAS nearly a college graduate and I am taking basic Math and English classes because I decided that going to art school was a good idea. Sweet.
d.) 4 hour gap between my Math and English classes. And it takes me nearly an hour to get home so that's pretty much out of the question to leave and come back. Ugh.

Now, considering I'm in Japan, and that's awesome, all of these things are very very tiny problems. However, I would just like to say now that I missed testing out of English classes all together by ONE. POINT.

Just one.

One point shy on a placement test because they didn't think my essay response was organized well enough. JUST ONE FUCKING POINT. I got a PERFECT score on the multiple choice section. And they are STILL making me take an english class. Um. Come on. I transferred in nearly 2 years of credits and you're making me take what is, basically, a freshman comp class? WHAT IN THE FUCK.

Seriously though it's not that bad. Both my Math and English teachers seem really awesome. And I like to read and write so no big deal. Plus I'm finally taking a formal Japanese class (even though I'm way ahead of everyone in it ^_^) and my Anthropology prof seems like a super rad dude.

So all in all, life is pretty rad and there's not much to complain about. I walked all around Tokyo today accomplishing things and generally just taking it all in. Got my Suica card for the trains and most of my books. Plus Tokyo Tower is right by my school so I see it every morning on my way to class.

That's about all I got. Parties this weekend, lots of school and friend time. New video soon. <3

Week One in Tokyo

BusyBusyBusy

These last few days have been jam packed. I'm talking 8 to 12 hours of orientation per day. No good. Tomorrow morning we are getting up early again to go register for our alien cards (the truth is out there?) and register for classes. Exciting! I've even made some friends and painted my nails like a Japanese teenager (OMG rhinestones!), so as you can see, very very busy.

I will write a more substantial update once I have finished unpacking, registering, etcetera. After tomorrow I will have every day off until Tuesday. Whhoaaa. Then it's class time.

Kisses!

Welcome Home, Japan!

So Mike and I have been in Japan for about 5 days now. We have been doing all kinds of crazy shit like hanging out with our friend Hiroto's entire family, eating tons of food, playing DDR and...well...we have not really been doing that much crazy shit. It has been, in fact, pretty relaxed.

Today we wandered around Ikebukuro some and wound up in Sunshine City. For those of you who don't know, Sunshine City is this HUGE building with tons of shopping, food and, most importantly, a HUGE theme park called Namjatown. Namjatown is home to two of my favorite things in Japan: Ice Cream City and Gyoza Stadium. We were too full from breakfast to eat at Gyoza Stadium, but we did wander around Ice Cream City. They had every flavor of ice cream you would never want to eat and then some. It was pretty amazing. Definitely worth the 300¥ entrance fee.

Here are a few videos of our travels thus far:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKBGsFdWcic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Uwcp5IRWTc

So yep. That's Tokyo so far. A lot has happened in the last 5 days but I'm lazy so that's all I got for now. Now I'm going to finish the alcohol I purchased at 7 Eleven and then walk to Coco Curry for dinner. Japan is sweet.

Jaa, Matta!