Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day, or Baruntine Day バレンタインデイーas it's called here in Japan, has always been a favorite of mine. From childhood, it has been a source of a much needed post-Christmas refill of my chocolate stash. Giving and receiving chocolate, sweets, cards, and gifts is what Valentine's Day is about, at least in the US.

Here in Japan, things are a little different. For one, the givers are limited to women, and the recipients are limited to men. (It's good to be a man in Japan on February 14th!)

Don't worry ladies, you have your own special holiday on March 14th called White Day (ホーアイトデイー ) to receive "obligation chocolate" ( giri-choco,ぎりチョコ) from all the boys you gave sweets to the months before.

Another difference is what is being given. I haven't seen too much in the way of flowers or cards, and Valentine's day dates don't seem to be too popular from what I've been hearing around the English class. In Japan it's all about the chocolate.

One very popular thing to do is to make "deco-choco" (デコチョコ) or decoration chocolate for male friends.

Here's a close up of some deco-choco I found through google.

（Photo source: Ameblo.jp）

Another popular thing to do it to make cookies.

Here are some chocolate-raspberry heart cookies I made for Stephen and my English students.

Stephen had a doubly good Valentine's Day this year since there are two girls in his family now (me and the baby) to give him chocolates.

When I was at the mall recently I saw these chocolates and knew it had to be Stephen's gift from the baby-to-be.

Here's the display case...

Can you tell what it is?

How about now...

It's a line of chocolate called Unchi-kun うんちくん (little poop).

I have never seen something like this before coming to Japan. But what a fitting gift from a baby.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Adventures in Cooking: Squid

Pregnancy cravings and aversions are a funny thing. They're never what you think they'll be. For example, though I've never been much of an OJ drinker, for 6 weeks straight I craved and drank multiple glasses each day. As for aversions: I never thought, being a missionary in Japan, that Japanese food would wind up on the "get that away from me, now!" list, yet somehow it has.

This little quirk of pregnancy has made life a bit difficult for me, as you can imagine. But, I think my greatest challenge was today's Japanese cooking class.

Today's menu: rice stuffed squid-head, & sauteed squid-tentacles.

I'm sure it has a pretty sounding name, but I didn't catch it while I was staring and the whole, raw squid I was about to dismember.

The last time I was that up-close and personal with a squid was 8th grade biology.

I'll spare you the gooey details. but,

with much prayer, I was able to disassemble, clean, chop, cook, AND eat the squid.

Pictured center: squid-head stuffed with rice

Pictured left: sauteed squid tentacles

the Japanese expression "Ganbatte" (try hard/persevere) has never meant so much to me.

I think today's class may have been the end of my Japanese food aversion. Just to be safe though, I'll still be staying clear of the fish section and the grocery store for now.

Nato is a Four Letter Word.

Want to know what the worst food in the world is? I introduce you to nato.













Nato is a fermented soybean dish usually served for breakfast in Japan. I had the misfortune to try it my first day here. I was still at the airport hotel, so I picked it up from the buffet line. It was in a cup with a sheet of plastic covering the top. Hmmmm that’s strange I said…. But then I soon figured why it was sealed. It smells like a combination of stinky feet, rotten cheese, and curdled milk. And who’d want that smell filling up the breakfast buffet line?














I tried to be a man about it. I ate about half before I could stand no more. It doesn’t look so bad at first, but when you scoop it to your mouth it starts to become stringy! I then made a vow that I would never eat Nato again.

That same day we met our host family and had a sushi dinner with them. I tried to sample each type. I remember one sushi roll looking a little different then the others. When I ate it I began to feel that sinking feeling, “what did I just put in my mouth”? The familiar taste started to wreak havoc in my mouth. It was a nato sneak attack! It was horrible.

Later that night, and this is absolutely true, I had nightmares about nato. I had dreams were I was being forced to eat it, and I was throwing it back up. I woke up from my dream feeling nauseous. And I have never recovered.

Every time I express my distaste for nato with Japanese people, they always respond with the rote phrase “ Oh, but its really healthy for you”! SO what! I’d rather live a short happy life, then a long life doomed by having to eat nato. Thank you.

Japan Goes South of the Border

A few weeks ago, a friend at church asked me if I could make lunch for the congregation on May 22nd. I think she was really telling me, more than asking me, but no worries cuz it sounded like fun.

I decided to make burrito bowls (Mexican rice bowls), since it was something no one had ever tasted. And I find that is a good thing when making food for so many. It really cuts down on the criticism and ups the compliments when they have no idea what it's supposed to taste like.

Burrito bowls are easy enough. Mexican rice in a rice cooker (and we have those a plenty here in Japan), Black beans, and shredded chicken in the crockpot.

I started the meal the night before. 3 bags of black beans soaking: Check. 6 chicken breasts, 2 packs of taco seasoning in the crockpot on low: check.

all night a slept fitfully, having nightmares the crockpot turned itself off, or the beans soaked up all the water and were now dry. thankfully, all was well in the morning . Chicken cooked, and beans ready to be boiled.

Making the rice at church was another adventure in itself. Making Mexican rice in a rice cooker was a new idea for all the ladies helping me in the church kitchen. It was an experience translating the directions in to broken Japanese and checking for accuracy in broken English. We must have understood more than we think, because the rice turned out beautifully.

With the beans on the stove and the rice in the cooker, I sat down to hear the message and wait til 12 when I would see if my hard work paid off.

"Interesting." was the statement I heard most. Typically not the thing a chef wants to hear about their food. To my great pleasure, the "interesting"s quickly turned to "delicious"s. The greatest compliment was the fact that there were barely 2 servings of beans left over, and no servings of anything else.

What did they do with the left over beans? They were brought to evening service for our meal there. but, not for the dinner portion. They were for dessert. They were an ice cream topping.

Let's let that sink in.

Black. Beans. On. Ice. Cream!

Have you ever had Mexican black beans over ice cream?

No?

Nor had I. Something about the garlic, chili powder, cayenne pepper, onion powder and beans doesn't exactly scream dessert topping to me.

Our pastor getting a big helping of beans for his ice cream

Our pastor got Stephen to try it by saying, "challenge." That's also how he ended up eating the silk worm pupa.

I tried and spoonful, and although they are not a vile as I would have thought, it was not my cup of tea.

Over all, it was a successful meal. And I learned some really important things about cooking for a large group. Namely always make something they've never seen before to guarantee good reviews, and never underestimate what Japanese think would be good for dessert.

So, next time you have black beans, don't forget the ice cream.

Challenge!