torakris

Guess what is for breakfast?? Lenders blueberry bagels and iced coffee My sister Laura made pancakes for the kids...

Jalapeno? I have to keep my eye out for those!

Normally I bring the homework with us and we spend 30 minutes to 1 hour a couple times a week working on it. This year we will be back in Japan on August 9 so they will still have plenty of time do it. Especially that first week when we are up at 3:00 with jetlag. Rajio taiso in our area is purely optional (and only for 3 days), almost nobody goes, so I guess they aren't missing much. We are normally back in time for our big neighborhood dontaku, so they get in their yukata wearing there. Neither my husband nor I are fireworks fans so we never go to see them... ← Can you please explain all of the Japanese words you mentioned in the paragraph above. I am not familiar with any of them. ← Oops, sometimes I forget not eveyone speaks Japanese... rajio taiso (literally radio exercise) this is a summer event often held at schools or parks for all the kids, it can be everyday in the summer or just a couple days in the summer. It really differs from area to area. In our area it starts at 6:00 am is just a bout 15 minutes or so of simple exercises. Dontaku and matsuri are just festivals. yukata is like a kimono but thinner for summer use.

The Memorial Day weekend that I was 19 I did get my dad's car stuck in a flooded road and my family will never let me forget it. I was driving home about midnight from dropping my friend off and was just 5 minutes from my home in a residential neighborhood. I pulled onto this one street and noticed water in the road, not thinking it could be too high I kept going before I knew it water was splashing onto the hood of the car. I panicked and stepped on the gas and the car died. As I opened the door water came flooding in, I wasn't sure what to do so I locked the car and walked home. My dad had the car towed to the dealership he worked at and had it drained. Unfortunately my sister's school text books were on the floor of the front seat and were soaked through. My mom tried to dry them out in the oven but forgot they were in there and cranked the oven up to 400F to preheat it. The books burned. Try explaining that one to the school.

Normally I bring the homework with us and we spend 30 minutes to 1 hour a couple times a week working on it. This year we will be back in Japan on August 9 so they will still have plenty of time do it. Especially that first week when we are up at 3:00 with jetlag. Rajio taiso in our area is purely optional (and only for 3 days), almost nobody goes, so I guess they aren't missing much. We are normally back in time for our big neighborhood dontaku, so they get in their yukata wearing there. Neither my husband nor I are fireworks fans so we never go to see them...

The kids probably had more fun in that rain yesterday than they have any at any amusement park. One part of the part was so flooded that Hide was actually lying in the puddle trying to swim. Unfortunately all the pictures are on my camera which I can't connect to this computer... They also found a huge frog and were playing with that for a while, the kids were absolutely soaked and I don't think the rain had anything to do with it.

As a mid-CSI snack I finished up a little bit of rice along with the takuan-sesame seeds-soy sauce mixture and a glass of ice water. Water is pretty much the only thing I drink except for a morning coffee, unless I mention otherwise you can assume I am drinking water.

It's a commercial.. At Subway I ordered the Spicy Italian with everything and double hot peppers. Mustard is the only condiment for me. I drank water, there were drink boxes for the kids as well as chips, pretzels, trail mix, grapes and the cookies we made yesterday. the kids

It has been raining almost all day today, and I mean really raining! We had a picnic/hike planned at Squire's castle at the North Chagrin Reservation from 4:00. When my aunt got here, the rain had stopped and the half of the sky looked like it was clearing up so we decided to go ahead with our plans. Mistake number 1. The rain was just starting... We had 7 kids and 5 adults and stopped at Subway to buy subs for dinner. Mistake #2. It took close to 30 minutes to figure out what every one wanted... We pulled into the parking lot at the reservation and it was drizzling we debated just eating in the car as it was a short walk up to the "castle", we decided to just go for it. Mistake #3. part of the path was flooded and we had to wade through ankle deep water.... My sister was sure that the last time she was here, there were picnic tables in the "castle". Mistake #4. Never listen to Mary, she seems to get confused a lot, there were no tables.... 5 minutes after we entered the rain started to pour, we set down a towel and put the various foods on it, everyone found either a window to sit in or sat on the floor. Almost everywhere was soaked, while this is called a castle it is actually a stone building that was not actually finished. Half of it has no roof and there is not actually anything in the windows. The rain started to slow down and we told the kids they could go out and explore. Mistake #5. They decided to explore the flooded part of path and conducted an experiment to see who make make the water splash the highest.... Soon it started to pour again. and it poured. and it poured. The flooded pathway soon quadrupled in width and started to get stronger. We thought this will pass soon, we should wait it out. Mistake #6. It never ended.... My brother in law decided to get the car and drive it up the footpath to the door of the castle and then drive all of us back to the parking lot to the other car. We were soaked through in just the seconds it took to get from one car to the other, the water in the parking lot was so deep I couldn't even see my shoes. We decided to try and drive home. Mistake #7. The road had disappeared.... We were at a 4 way intersection just out of the parking lot with a car headed in each direction and no one could move until the logs stopped moving. As we finally eased the car out of the park, the sun started to come out..... We drove the 20 minutes in sunshine and no rain. It is raining again though..... pictures to come, CSI is on.

We are supposed to be going on a picnic for dinner tonight at nearby Squire's Castle but we are in the middle of a major thunderstorm complete with flood warnings... I helped my nephew Jake make some meringues (sp?) last night. He wanted to make them red, white and blue. The red are peppermint flavored, the white were vanilla and the blue were lemon. http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/11540164...3289_517152.jpg

There was just a bit of takuan left so I cut it up and mixed it with some sesame seeds and a bit of soy sauce.

I never did eat breakfast this morning... I had an iced coffee though, my sister Laura can mkae really good iced coffee with instant. I really am going to have to pay attention next time... We drank them in the car when we headed off to Gabriel Brothers (I am not sure if this store is found outside of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia), I got some great deals on clothes but no good kitchen stuff. I promised my sister Mary I would teach her how to make some sushi rolls. We spent two years at the same university and our favorite restaurant was this tiny hole in the wall Korean place. She always ate their Korean version on the sushi rolls. some prep the finished rolls These were very simple ones with some seasoned pork, cucumbers, carrots and takuan. We didn't even season the rice because she forgot to bring over the rice vinegar. We tried one roll with kimchee inside as well, it was really good but next time I will squeeze all the liquid out as is loosened up the rice.

This takuan was the only one available, I don't buy a lot of takuan in either country but I prefer the non-yellow I buy in Japan. The tofu was quite good, and a great price at that. 15 years ago the only tofu I could get in Cleveland was awful. The medium firm was sort of like a soft momen, it worked well for the mapodofu.

I love mapodofu evers since a Japanese friend introduced me to it when I was about 20. As I drink my cup of coffee (instant with 1/2 pack of sweet and low and a spalsh of 2% milk) and contemplate if I am actually hungry for breakfast or not let me tell you more about dinner last night. I was 4th in line for the computer so did't have much time to talk last night... Last night was a good example of working with what you have. I don't want to go out and buy condiments that no one is going to use after I leave so I improvised a bit. I did buy the chili bean paste because I will use that for other dishes and my sister had Hoisin sauce. We had no brown bean paste, rice wine or chicken stock. I just used water for the stock, mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine) for the regular rice wine and then did not add the sugar that was called for. I also added a nice splash of soy sauce to add some depth that the bean paste would have. It was quite good and though I noticed a small difference no one else suspected a thing. The sweet potato dish I was more disappointed in, it was a Sri Lankan dish from a Madhur Jaffrey cookbook but without the chiles and cardamom it wasn't as good. I also ended up using powdered cinnamon instead of a stick and some it basically tasted like cinnamon and lime juice flavored sweet potatoes. Everyone loved it but it wasn't the dish I wanted.. My goma-ae I made in the blender for the first time and it worked great! I usually mkae it in a suribachi (Japanese style mortar and pestle) and will continue to do that at home but it was nice to know it can be made just as well with a blender.

I just finished off a nice sized bowl of cookie dough ice cream, I haven't had that in years. We used to eat ice cream (or some other dessert) almost every night and we always had about 5 kinds in the freezer at all times. Now we try not to keep it in the house to avoid tempting my diabetic father. He is very good with his diet, but he LOVES ice cream. My sister Laura just flew in from Boston tonight, so we will have an extra person in the house until Sunday. Her husband, Jean, couldn't make it with her this time.

Falafel from scratch is easy, and so worth it! Though you will find yourself standing in front of a wok full of hot oil again. ← Hot oil, I didn't think of that... Maybe it won't be as bad if it isn't for 25 people!

There has been a recent boom in Japan of all things Korean for the past year or two. It started with the Korean dramas and movies and has moved into many people wanting to study the language and cook the food. The prices are a little cheaper here, I probably saved myself a dollar on that pack of noodles. But the more important thing is I will have something to feed myself and kids when we are awake with jet lag at 3:00am once we get back. To get these particular noodles I would have trek into Tokyo...

Weds Dinner: Now this was a dinner I would make in Japan! Mapodofu, using hzrt8w's pictorial in the Chinese forum. If you have not tried this yet, you must cook it soon, It was a big hit tonight! I also made one of my favorites, green beans for a sesame sauce (goma-ae), my recipe can be found in my eGCI class on Japanese food. another favorite dish, Sweet Potatoes and Onions with cardamom, cinnamon and lime.

I have tried year after year, I guess by this age they are too set in their ways to change.

Went shopping with my kids this afternoon, Target and Old Navy. On the way back I stopped off at an Indian market (Lakshmi Plaza) and an Asian store (Star foods) both on Mayfield Rd. Nancy and I were discussing at lunch how neither of us have tried to make falafel from scratch and after eating those ones today I will never go back to the boxed stuff again. So I picked up some dried chickpeas, I also needed some ginger for dinner today. The guy at the store just tossed it in for free though... At the Asian store I pick up some of my favorite Korean noodles to take back to Japan and some sesame seeds for tonight.

With 8 kids and other relatives nearby there isn't much leftover for the neighbors. the problem we have is that he gets a lot of one thing at a time. The first week I was here we had swiss chard almost every night and there were almost 15 of us.

Incredible lunch today! NancyH and I had Turkish cuisine at Anatolia cafe in the Cedar Center shopping area. It was the first time for both of us and we wanted a little bit of everything so we shared the appetizer platter, with 7 appetizers. starting with the olive at the top and going clock wise: Haydari (yogurt with walnuts, dill and garlic) Kisir (cracked wheat salad) Humus Soslu Pathcan (eggplant, green peppers, tomatoes, garlic, onions, parsley) Babagannush Ezme salad (tomatoes, walnuts, onions, parslley & hot spices with lemon and olive oil) and stuffed grape leaves we also split a dish of falafel these were the best falafel I have ever had! My close-up of the insides didn't come out very good though. made on the premise pita bread that we had to get refilled. Nancy had the yogurt drink called Ayran and I went for the Turkish coffee then we shared some of the most incredible baklava Sorry the pictures got worse as the meal progressed....

chardgirl, Thanks for the information on the cauliflower, and the beautiful picture! I am off to lunch, A very popular Turkish place called Anantolia, not far from my house with fellow eGullet member NancyH. I noticed she is still online here so I guess I don't need to leave just yet. pictures to come!

I just filled out the survey again, I couldn't remember how I filled it out the first time... So if they have the same responses I apologize. I am really looking forward to it! and thank you for all the work everyone has put behind it.

Back to the garden, I asked my dad about the hours he spend there and he replied, "oh, not too many. About 3 or 4" Sounds like a lot to me... The planters he said are to give him more space, he doesn't want to dig into the rest of the backyard.