Guest Blog: Julie

My sister Julie is visiting right now, which is super exciting.  We're having all sorts of fun and I plan to blog about it soon, but for today she's written a guest post!  (If you look closely she's in the photo too)

I’ve never been much of a picture taker.  While other people are framing their shot, I worry for the things you can’t capture with a click.  The density of this humid Tokyo air, the immensity and yet the painstaking order implicit to every line of this city, the swell of cicadas undergirding everything else.

What I wonder is how I will hold all of this trip in my memory, how I will make sense of it – later – at home.  To make sense of the way that this world I’ve barely grazed is so, unrelentingly foreign.

Before I came here, I had my quiet doubts about my sister’s life.  Surely I.  Surely I would work harder to ingratiate myself to the country where I laid my head.  Surely I would try harder, somehow do better in making this my home.  (I mean – what is it to be her sister and not host secret competitions in my head?)

The other day though, it hit me.  It was a casual conversation about our old habits of eating out all the time.  Here in Japan, Wendy and John eat in much more and while she’d said it before in passing, her reasoning suddenly had new weight:  “It makes it feel more like home to stay in and cook.” 

In walking these winding streets and encountering, time and again, a sense of my insurmountable foreignness, I’ve come to understand that homemaking is not a process of melding, of disappearing into a new world.  Perhaps uniquely in Japan, it must also be an act of bringing home with you.  

Preparing for this trip, I’d told my friends cavalierly that I was as excited about my sister’s cooking as I was for Japanese cuisine.  And while this remains so, so true(!), I’ve realized how incredibly happy I am to find that she has brought home with her, that after a long day of exploring this place, I can sit down to eat at home.

How to Clean a Japanese Shower Room

I decided to write a follow-up to my humidity post after Raku and a I spent a long time searching through the cleaning section of our favorite drug store.  We've got all kinds of good stuff now, and the mildew doesn't stand a chance.

I've been here nearly a year now and I'm still discovering new products, or finally figuring out what they do, so I thought it might be useful to write about what I've found.

The most important new word I've learned is カビ, which means mildew.  So if you're looking for bathroom cleaner, カビキラー  (Kabi Killer) is the good stuff, it definitely had bleach in it.  In my experience the more red you see on the packaging the stronger it is.

Scrubbing Bubbles with カビキラー

Once you find a cleaning product you like, you can just buy refill bags rather than buying a whole new container each time.  When it is time to refill, make sure you're actually buying the same product!  Part of my problem was that I had refilled with something else, that clearly didn't have bleach in it.  When I dumped it out it was bright green and smelled like apples.  The new matching refill was a clear liquid that smelled a little minty.  Oops.

These are chlorine bleach tablets meant to go down drains.  They fizz and dissolve sort of like alka-seltzer.  I don't really know if they do all that much, but I've been using them down the shower drain about once a week.  Side note, the shower drains here are wide enough to put your hand down and filled with standing water.  They're normally covered by a plastic hair-catcher that snaps into place, and on top of that a removable metal grate.

This is a product to clean bathtubs, and even cleans out the jets, since the water doesn't just come out of a spout.  The directions say to fill your bathtub at least 5 cm above the jets with lukewarm water, dump in the powder, and set the temperature to 40° c.  Let the temperature rise for 10-15 minutes, then add 5 cm of cool water.  Set the temperature to 40° c again and allow the temperature to rise for 5 minutes, then drain.  I assume the temperature changes are to keep the water circulating in order to fully clean the jets.  It recommends submerging any bath stools, bowls, or soap dishes in the tub so that they can be disinfected at the same time.

And finally, this is a カビキラー pen to target small problem areas.  

Rolling Foundations

In order to withstand earthquakes most buildings in Japan are built on rolling foundations.  An initial foundation is put down, then rolling balls are placed on top, and then the building is built on a second foundation above the rollers.  This allows the rollers to move in an earthquake and absorb most of the vibrations, protecting the rest of the building.

I've understood this concept, but recently I got to actually see it.  There are two buildings under construction next door to us, and one day looking out the window I saw what looked like a bunch of white bubbles.  It took a minute to figure it out, but they're the rollers in the foundation.

Summer Cocktails

I can't believe that it's almost the end of August!  Just this week I've started seeing fall beers for sale, but summer is still going strong.  I've been making a few interesting summer drinks lately.

Earlier in the summer I infused a bottle of vodka with cucumber and dill fresh from my windowsill.  It makes great vodka sodas.  The dill makes it unexpectedly savory while the cucumber keeps it light and summery.

Infusing Vodka 

Then this week I got even more ambitious and juiced a watermelon.  It was a pretty messy ordeal (pureeing watermelon in a food processor and then slowly straining it through coffee filters), but the result was good.  I got over 2 liters of juice from a medium sized melon!  You can drink it on it's own over ice, or with a shot of silver rum.  John recommends two ounces of rum to 4 ounces of juice.  I think it might be even better with tequila.

Fresh Watermelon Cocktails

Daytime Karaoke

This past week Raku and I did a karaoke bootcamp.  If you've never done Japanese style karaoke, it's not done in public, but rather a group of friends rents a private room and take turns singing songs.  It's always a lot of fun, and the selection of English songs can be pretty entertaining, but I'm really insecure when it comes to singing so it can also be a stressful experience.

Raku and I decided that what I needed to cure myself was an extended karaoke session with just the two of us.  We went to our local Karaoke-kan, and wow is it cheap during the day!  It's 100 yen for 30 minutes, but if you do more than 3 hours they cap it at 600 yen between noon and 7:00.  You just have to order one drink (which we put off until later in the afternoon).

I thought about getting drunk first, my usual method of karaoke courage, but it seemed like doing it sober would be the real test (plus it was 1:00 pm).  Raku made up all sorts of games, like singing songs for all the letters in the alphabet, or picking songs based on our costumes.  Did I mention, we dressed up!

Partway through the afternoon we did a hilarious photo shoot to get us laughing and give us a second wind.  It was actually a blast, and I'd highly recommend it whether you're looking to practice or just want an inexpensive air-conditioned afternoon activity.  On weekends they have the same deal for 900 yen.

And now, since I know you're dying to see - our photo shoot!

Happy

Singing

Sad

Angry

Coy

Scolding Raku

Raku scolding me

Drinking Tea

Pretending to be puppies (Raku's face cracks me up!)

Homemade Ravioli

In my last post I mentioned that I made some ricotta cheese.  Once I knew how easy it was I started to wonder what other uses there might be for it.  Then I heard about a shortcut version of homemade ravioli, and knew I had to try it.  Instead of making the pasta dough you use pre-made wonton wrappers.  I was a little skeptical, but thought it was worth a try.  I mixed up some ricotta, parmesan, egg yolk, garlic, nutmeg, and fresh basil for the filling at got to work.

The first step it to outline a sheet with egg wash, and then place a spoonful of filling in the center.  I used the smallest size wrapper, so my spoonfuls were about 1 teaspoon.

Place a second sheet on top, gently squeezing out all the air, then fold the corners over.  The egg wash should make it stick but if you need to, dab a little more on to seal it tightly.

Keep the unused wrappers covered while you're working so they don't dry out.

Once you've made as many as you want, boil them for 1-2 minutes.  I did closer to three minutes, and one of mine exploded.

Drain them and top with sauce and more parmesan if you like.

We both thought they were good, though more delicate than regular ravioli.  The wonton skins are thinner so a fork will tear them pretty easily, and they have a tendency to stick together.  I was worried about that so I put a little oil in the cooking water but it wasn't enough.  You might trying spraying them lightly with cooking spray for a better result.

More Rice Cooker Baking

I've continued my experiments with baking in a rice cooker.  So far my results have been mixed, but I wanted to share a couple of successes.  The first was a tarte tatin where the apples caramelized very lightly.  The presentation was also really beautiful, and it tasted even better the next day.

Tarte Tatin

I also baked a loaf of rosemary bread!  So exciting!  Real yeast bread with a wonderful chewy texture made right in my own kitchen.  This one had to cook on each side, but luckily there were no disasters when it came time to flip it over.

It's just begging for butter, isn't it?

And speaking of cooking, I recently made my own ricotta cheese.  Imported food can be so expensive here, a small container is about $9.  I'll even admit that I splurged for some when I figured out how to make a stovetop lasagna.  But, $9 for ricotta just isn't sustainable.  Little did I know that it's unbelievably easy to make your own!  You basically scald some milk, add a little salt, dump some lemon juice in, let it curdle, and then strain it.  Awesome!  Homemade and a quarter of the cost.

It's so easy!