Mom's old stomping ground

Here's link to a town in Japan where I visited and intend on visiting again within in the next 5 to 8 years.

http://www.city.miyakonojo.miyazaki.jp/shisei/kokusaikouryu/english/sightseeing_english.jsp

I know its a random post, but wanted to get it out there.

Opening the lines of communication.

This past week we had the exchange organization representative visit and discuss how Aya and our family was getting along.

A few weeks prior Aya had gone over the reps home in order to get a feel how Aya behaves and they also had a Japanese volunteer from the organization meet with her address any questions she had and concerns.

We basically sat down all together to discuss some of the quirky things we've noticed and to have her ask or mention anything that makes her uncomfortable so we possible can fix things on our end.

The rep spoke with us as family without Aya first to get our take and then with Aya alone to piece together what we said then we got together and discussed it as group.

Some of our questions were answered and you wonder why these questions weren't asked early on. The problem was we felt this was normal to be shy and withdrawn - but she said she was being respectful and didn't want to cause any problems. Aya told us if we see something odd - just come out and ask her what is wrong and she will try to explain.

There were a few key points that came up well all will work on:

1) Communication:

a) If we have a concern don't discuss it behind closed doors with your spouse before knowing the whole deal, instead discuss it as a group.

b) When you see if the student is depressed or not including themselves with the family - include them. Everyone regardless from what country has their own personality and Aya is a reserved person by nature.

2) Breakfast items not eaten shouldn't be left about half eaten: Half a bagel, half a pop-tart

3) Calling and planning ahead: If the student wants to stay after school text at lunch time stating the intentions in case the family has other plans.

The one thing that seemed to bum her the most are her grades, which she is trying hard but struggling in some subject to maintain a C+ as most her grades when in Japan were A's - so it came a quite a blow to her self-esteem.

We explained that 3 years of English isn't going to provide you with enough to obtain A's in an American High School in every subject. She did express that she wants us to correct her English more often - but we are somewhat jaded because my mother speaks English with a Japanese accent so we don't even bat an eye when something is pronounced wrong - we know what is meant and carry on.

As a family we told her we will correct her English on the fly to help her - she feels like her English has gotten worse not better. We will see how it goes.

"I don't know, where ima gonna go when..."

Well I neglected to mention how the volcano turned out.

This project thought I have to admit wasn't 100% crafted by her and I, but the whole making of it was fun.

The kit similar to the one pictured below had a mold and stand. Then we had to mix this cement like compound, if I recall it was plaster of paris. We had to allow it to dry for more than 24 hours after we poured it. Then she painted it and my wife creatively added coconut as grass around the base, dyed green.


We did several dry runs as we were debating whether to use vinegar, club soda and baking soda or diet soda and Menthos.


The kit did come with small tablets of baking soda colored with red dye - but in our independent tests did not fizz much.

She brought the set to school and she did a run for the students and teachers before that night, when the parents were to observe. Well she came that afternoon a little upset because somehow the inner container had a hole and when she poured in the club soda in and added the tablets it leaked all out the bottom weakening the structure of the plaster and nearly destroyed other kids projects on the table.


So I arrived a little that night in preparation to remedy this disaster.

I inserted some tin foil into the mouth after forming a make-shift funnel that would collect the soda and she could add the baking soda at will. This worked out okay if fizzed and spilled over into a shallow dish pan we brought.


I am sure it was no where near the explosion I was hoping to achieve like on the Brady Bunch episode, but it was a big hit with the kids and the teachers.


To make a child happy saving the day is a small parentla victory.

Family gathering went well.

The family cook-in went well. All who originally planned on attending came and we included our neighbors as well for an impromptu sit down for a "Taste of Japan", minus the Sushi.

I sort of knew, but had forgotten how long it takes to prepare and cook a Japanese meal. There are so many steps and things you have to remember and the multitude of dirty dishes, bowls and cutting surfaces it can create.

My mom decided to make a selection of the ton of stuff we had available. I also went shopping that morning and picked up $130.00 more of items we didn't have on hand from the local supermarket.

On the menu that day: Gyoza, gohan, okonomiyaki, niku-jaga and tons of tempura.

We started with the Gyoza making - my mom had two kinds of Gyoza skins one made in Japan and the other package had more but made in China. We involved at least 4 people in actual folding of the skin around mom's secret ingredients. The only ones my mom was able to buy that were Japanese skins which were actually for a dish called Shumai and were square, but they worked the same.

The unfortunate problem was the Chinese skins were thicker and after making about a dozen or so were found them to have mold in the under lying layers in over 12 more skins and some on the sides. Talk about an embarrassing moment. Quality and freshness seems to be in question when getting this type of food from China, in my opinion.

We cut up shrimp, peas, beans, carrots, onions and broccoli and made tempura. I couldn't find the box mix I had bought, so mom whipped up her own - it tasted better from scratch. I think we all agreed on that.

Plate after plate was being passed around of the different tempura and Gyoza then we still had niku-jagaimo to eat which is what Aya choose as her dish to make. It basically is meat and potatoes, but in a beef stew sort of way without the soupy part of the stew. I thought it tasted good - reminded me a bit of the way I eat curry rice.

Rice was put out on the table, but for some reason it wasn't making its way to the plates as people seemed more interested in eating the tempura and gyoza. (The rice was eaten next day as a left-over meal for me).

Oh, I forgot mom made home made french fries - but they were gone in minutes. Surprisingly simple and more tasty than McDonald's or Burger King. We used Russet Potatoes and were deep fried in Canola oil.

I noticed that the shrimp went fast both mediums and jumbo.

We all enjoyed the meal and at the end we post-celebrated Aya's birthday (as my family couldn't attend the real date).

Cook Fest 2008!

Getting excited for a family gathering sponsored by me. Although I can attribute it to viewing some of the Blogs I read that show foods.

My mother plans on coming over and preparing some Japanese dishes - I requested 'Gyoza', cooked her way. The recipe she whips up is something she learned when in Japan and she slightly modified it by adding a little more (quality) meat.

There are several different ways to make these and recently I've learned they serve them in some US establishments and call them Pot-Stickers.

The recipe seen is pretty much typical, though mom's is better.

We are going to take this opportunity to have Aya cook some food items she brought with her and some that her mom sends in some of the packages she sends about one every two months.

It's funny, as these packages are sort of what her mom must think as emergency relief packages. They contain teenage magazines, books, comfort foods and snacks to remind her of home and to lessen what kind of homesickness she may have.

I am sure there will be more samplings and have invited my sister who rarely has the time to visit us and the girls.

One of our neighbors recently allowed me to utilize his snow blower since basically to be cheap I shoveled through most of the storms we've had. So in turn I invited him and his wife over on the scheduled Saturday.

My favorite soup is Miso Soup:

Happy Birthday Aya!

Yes, officially Aya has now turned 18 years old yesterday.

She's come home to tell us she has had cake in school where they threw her a surprise birthday party and again at her friends house where her friend from Thailand was celebrating her own birthday (ironically).

Aya last night revealed the fact that she was utterly sick of eating cake as she has had cake the past 3 days for one occasion or another.

As she made that statement my wife brought up a cake with 18 lit candles to the table after dinner, she looked at me with the "OMG" look.

Her mom had sent her a package from Japan with all kinds of snacks and goodies, plus a gift. I told Aya that she could only open up the present from her mom on her actual birthday, sticking with our American tradition. (She was tempted though)

She opened up her gift from her mom, "Jewelery" to include earrings. I believe I mentioned in an earlier post that Aya requested to get her ears pierced but in the state of Massachussetts, no place we went to would allow it without her real parent(s) present. The only way she get her's done is if she was 18 years of age, but this was last Summer when she tried hard to get it done before the start of school.

Well the waiting game was over and we will be taking her to one of the many malls to get hers done properly - she's excited about the excursion.

Her mom did send her a doing-it-yourself home-kit, though I know she tried on her own - but not sure it came out well enough as I didn't see her wearing any after the first month of trying it. My guess is that it wasn't centered and looked akward.

Amongst her gifts we focused on getting her car key chains, car bling stuff because her mom told her when she returns home - she's got a car waiting for her to drive. We of course could not top this gift (mom's always seem to have the trump card).

She told us that she had tried to blow out all the candles when given the cake at school and she failed there, so I told her her wishes she makes before blowing out the candles won't come true if you don't do it in one breath.

She huffed - and - puffed and they were out.