Nabe & Soup Cooking Festival Contest

February 25th the Misawa International Center held a Nabe Cooking Festival contest. I was recruited for one of the teams. It was a great experience! There were five teams all together. We made nabe (hot pot) dishes with Japanese and American elements.  We began by going on stage, introducing our  team and describing our nabe.

 

Next, some team members went to the judging station and served the soup to the eleven judges. The rest of the team members were out serving the audience samples of our creation

Afterwards, Ringo Musume (an all girl’s group from Aomori….like the local AKB48) performed on stage.

 

Finally all teams joined the stage and the winner was announced. This year the grand prize went to the Misawa Bulls. The prize was ¥5,000 worth of Aomori beef to each contestant. Everyone went home a winner though, all teams were also given assorted sausages, local vegetables and live hokki clams.

 

The recipes from each team will soon be available in both English and Japanese for you to try at home.

 

This was a great experience and I’m sure all who attended were grateful to have a hot cup of soup on such a cold day.

 

Shougatsu Event

 

On January 22, 2012 the Misawa International Center hosted a “Shougatsu” or “New Year’s” Event. There were many traditional activities and a performance by the local koto students.

The events that took place this day were Mochi Tsuki (rice cake punding), maki zushi making (rolled sushi), koma mawashi (top spinning), Kakizome (New Year Calligraphy) and koto  playing(Japanese traditional instrument).

I particularly enjoyed playing the koto. Sensei said I was very good. I might try to take lessons!

 

I was asked to do an interview with a journalist. Considering my limited knowledge of Japanese I was surprised how much I could express myself. The article is below.

American Sweets Event with Aomori Bank

 

 

Since I work at the Misawa International Center I was asked if I like to cook. I said yes and talked about my in-home business "Kawaii Keki". I was informed that the folks at Aomori Bank wanted to do an event which involved learning how to make American sweets. I agreed to do it.

After some planning I decided to do a class on baking cupcakes. I figured we would have enough time to make a batch of vanilla, a batch of chocolate and buttercream icing (all from scratch, of course!). Before we began, it was brought to my attention that the ovens were really small and the cupcake pans may not fit inside! Luckily, at least one fit! I then decided to scrap the chocolate cupcake idea and only make vanilla.

 

We had some technical difficulties with the oven. The timer refused to work, it didn’t stay hot and we had to convert Fahrenheit to Celsius. Finally, someone found the manual and all was well with the world. We made two batches using the same pan.

Despite my worries, the cupcakes came out splendidly and everyone had a great time decorating. Take a look!

American Sweets Event with Aomori Bank VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Beginner English: Misawa International Center

The Misawa International Center

Up until now, I have only blogged about where I have been but have done nothing about what I do. This is my second job here in Misawa at the Misawa International Center. I taught Beginner English for 3 weeks, 2 hours, 1 day a week. I took over for the other teacher who had to leave unexpectedly because of a family emergency. I had a lot of fun for those three classes! There is a two month break from August to September, I am hoping to come back in September and maybe teach more than one class if possible! This is the largest amount of students I have ever taught at once! The international Center also has classes to learn Japanese and Chinese. There are many other activities held here as well!

Courtyard

Beginner English

One of my students gave me this purple hydranea flower on my last day teaching the class. It really made my day!

 

Directions to the Misawa International Center: From the Main Gate take a left. Take your first right and keep going straight until you get to a T. (there should be a Lawson's on your right). Take a right and you will pass Super Drug Asashi and Universe will be on your left. At the end of the Universe parking lot there is a traffic light, take a left here. You will pass Universe and Homac on your left now. Go through two lights. After the second light take a left. If you pass the building with the big yellow sign, you have gone too far. At the end of that street take a right. The ice rink will be on your right and the next parking lot is for the Misawa International Center.