It was quite a bit early for cherry blossoms but we enjoyed a nice day in the park on Saturday.
It's been a while since I posted any recipes. I know I had a few I wanted to write up but can't remember what they were anymore. I have been having fun making mushi-pan (mushi=steamed, pan=bread)! It's the only baking I can do because I don't have an oven.
Brown Sugar Chocolate Mushi-pan
Ingredients for 8:
100g brown sugar
200g (weak) flour
2 tsp baking powder
190~200ml milk
pinch of salt
milk chocolate, chopped (or chocolate chips)
Directions:
- In a bowl, sift together flour and baking powder.
- Add sugar and milk, whisking together. Batter should be relatively thick and smooth.
- Spoon mixture into lined muffin cups until just over half full and top with chopped pieces of chocolate.
- Arrange in the steamer and cover the lid with a cloth to keep water from dripping on the mushi-pan. Steam over high heat for 10~12 minutes.
Matcha Mushi-pan
Ingredients for 5:
100g pancake mix
1 egg
3 tbsp milk
2 tsp matcha powder
60g sugar
(sugared beans -- I don't like beans so I used chocolate but it didn't work very well.)
Directions
- In a bowl, combine the egg, milk and sugar with a whisk.
- Add the pancake mix and matcha, stirring well. Batter should be thick and smooth. Add more matcha if you like!
- Spoon mixture into lined aluminum muffin cups. If you fill each cup 3/4 full, you can stretch the batter to make 6.
- Arrange in the steamer and cover the lid with a cloth to keep water from dripping on the mushi-pan. Steam over high heat for 12~15 minutes.
Both recipes take no time to prepare at all! I tried another recipe for the brown sugar one but it didn't work out well. That was before I got a proper scale so maybe I should try again. Mushi-pan is quite dense but both of these recipes are come out really moist and soft and おいちい～ If you've got a steamer at home, give them a try! All you need is something to rest the mushi-pan on over boiling water. I have one that fits into a pot (a) or you can get inserts that are also used to steam vegetables (b).
(a) 
(b) 
Another sombre ceremony. Aoki-sensei was crying from the very beginning and then again in the middle of reading the students' names and then at the end when they said they loved him and thanks. A lot of the girls were crying through the ceremony too. Jesus! It's not like you're moving countries, never to see each other again. God. Good anyway. And now pic spam!
Tatsuoki-kun! My Junior. Omedetou~
Sending off the graduates.
Ichikawa, Rika, Mai and Haruna. They bought me birthday presents last year. :)
Boys from 3-5. They were one of my favourite classes. Tatsuoki disappeared...
With Noguchi-sensei! ♥
With Manami-chan, one of my students from the Araragi class.
I also took some pictures on my last day at elementary school with some of the classes.
4-2 Niwa-sensei
4-4 Kunii-sensei
4-5 Kondo-sensei
The lunch cart.
There are 2 weeks until the end of school and I can't wait! That means 3 weeks until Korea!
In other news, my friend is getting married! I've known Yuka for ... a hell of a long time, since elementary school. I didn't even know she was engaged, actually. I got the invitation to her wedding reception the other night. She'll be getting married in May so I have to start getting in shape. Now I have a reason to start running and a deadline. Maybe that will motivate me. It's not the ceremony, just the party but she'll be in her dress. Aya and Hajimu were invited as well (I should check to see if they are going) so I will know some people there at least. And of course Yuka's parents and Yuito will be there too but I imagine they will be quite busy.
I've never been to a wedding before, let alone a Japanese one. I've been doing some reading and there's quite a lot of protocol when it comes to one of these things. The guests are supposed to give money to the couple (as opposed to gifts) and the amount depends on your relationship to them. Since I've known Yuka for ever, I would be expected to give her at least 30,000 yen (=$389). But she said it's just a semi-formal party and I'm not expected to bring anything. There's an intense sigh of relief... since I'll have to get a nice outfit and primp and all of that will probably run me about 30,000 yen... The dinner will cost me 10,000 yen too. But even though I'm not expected to give them anything, I kind of want to get a small gift.
How thankful I am to have a nice new camera! I can capture all these great things beautifully. Haji will probably have his camera and be snapping away the whole night too and he takes great pictures.
The send-off assembly for the 3rd years at Toyoshiki was yesterday. It seemed much longer than the one last year. There was a perfromance from the school orchestra and drama club plus a presentation and song from each grade plus some video messages from past teachers presented by the student council. Next Friday is the graduation ceremony so there won't be any classes. Last year the PTA gave all the teachers bentos which was nice. Afterwards, I will go to the immigration office in Chiba to get my re-entry permit on my passport for my trip. That's going to suck royally.
