An Unexpected Trip To Nagoya

Hello friends. It's been a busy and stressful week but thankfully, it's starting to chill. We woke up Tuesday morning to some grim news about an emergency unfolding at the Fukushima nuclear power plants. The news sounded scary but I didn't panic until I started getting emails from work telling me the office was closed and to stay home. People, (mostly foreigners and women and children) started making plans to leave the city and head south or home; basically anywhere far away from the reactors. Long story short, we went to Nagoya where Squidward's firm rented temporary office space for them to work from while things cooled down (no pun intended).

Were we in any immediate danger? In retrospect, probably not. But you know what? When people start panicking around you and the words "radiation" and "nuclear meltdown" start getting thrown around, your natural reaction is to panic too. I'm not an expert on nuclear reactors and as adorable as the Chief Cabinet Secretary was in his workman's jumpsuit, he wasn't giving out a lot of information at the time.

So we're back in Tokyo now. I had heard that Tokyo was totally normal despite reports of a mass exodus. Tokyo is definitely not normal right now. Sure, shelves are fully stocked and there are people around, but this is definitely not the Tokyo I left on Tuesday. The city is dark. Literally. Many shops and restaurants are closed or open for only lunch or dinner. The famous Shibuya lights are off, trains are running at reduced schedules and most escalators in the subway are off too. This is all in an effort to avoid blackouts.

So, what'd I do in Nagoya? I tried my best not to watch a lot of news, especially western channels. I watched a lot of news stories twice - the original broadcast in Japanese on NHK which reported the facts and then the CNN version which was made to make me cry. To be quite honest, I was totally confused by all my friends' Facebook statuses telling me that they were in tears over what they were watching. I totally get it now.

I visited the Nagoya Aquarium on a quiet Wednesday afternoon. It was the perfect place for me to reflect and take a deep breath. I've been to quite a few aquariums in Japan and this one is pretty well put together.

We were hearing that food and supplies were running scarce in the Tokyo area, so ABC Cooking School friend and I picked up some stuff to donate to Second Harvest Japan. We looked pretty cool buying 12 packs of ladies sanitary napkins and baskets full of Soy Joys. 

By the way, this is where I recommend donating to Second Harvest. They have trucks making daily runs to Miyagi Prefecture, where the tsunami hit. These trips don't pay for themselves!

Ate some delicious food such as this inside out オムライス (omelet rice). 

My favorite Nagoyan treat? きしめん. Kishimen are flat udon noodles and they're a Nagoyan delicacy. They're cheap and fun to slurp. 

Took a day trip to Ise which is famous for it's shrines, most notably Ise Jingu, the holiest shrine in Japan. Kyoto is also known for their shrines, but the ones in Ise are not like anything I've ever seen in Japan. They are simple, very traditional and even though the majority of the site is off limits to the public, it's still a great place to visit. This might be the one place in Japan where you can't find a vending machine. It was a nice peaceful day. We just walked around the forest that surrounds the shrines and took in the 500 year old trees and power spots. 

What is a power spot you ask? Well, this is a relatively new craze in Japan. Crash course in Japanese spirituality: In Japan, there's Buddhism and there's Shinto. If you're Japanese, you are Shinto. Shinto isn't a religion, but more a spiritual guide. Many Japanese are both Buddhists and Shinto. Shintoists believe that their deities take the form of rocks and trees and some of these rocks, trees and shrines have been deemed "power spots" by travel agencies. 

 This explains why so many people were hugging trees and waving their hands over rocks throughout the forest. 

 On our way back to Tokyo, I ate some delicious red bean filled mochi while whizzing by the countryside. It's hard not to think about how acres of land that looked just like this just a week ago are completely gone. 

And on that, I'm going to end with a few more donation options. 

It's Been A Bad Day

So, yeah...there was a pretty huge earthquake today in Japan. The biggest in Japanese history, bigger than Loma Prieta and the 6th biggest in the world EVER.

Even though I grew up in CA, earthquakes are always scary. Even little ones. We had a little tremble earlier this week so today makes a little more sense. Sort of? I'm glad I was around my coworkers so we could crack jokes even though deep down, we were all pretty scared and spooked.

Cell service is down nationwide but email and SMS work on and off. Oddly, Twitter and Facebook have been very reliable. As much shit as Facebook gets, Im glad there was an easy way to tell my friends and family I was ok. Key takeaway: Technology is your friend!

Our apartment is really safe. We are only 1 of 3 buildings in Japan that uses Takanaka Super Flex Wall Technology (patent pending) which promises us working wifi during earthquakes up to 6.3 magnitude. I can now vouch that it works after an 8.8. Some things are NOT working, such as our elevators. We had to hoof it up 31 long flights to get home. Home sweet home indeed!

Now I'm plopped in front of the tv watching the crazy video on Miyagi. My coworker will be spending the night here as the trains have stopped and thousands are stranded in Tokyo with nowhere to go. My teacher friend is sleeping in her school but many department stores and parks are serving as shelters. Also, I learned that there is a sticker at the top of all Suntory vending machines that you can pull off and all the drinks are free. Kiiiiinda tempted to try it out, bit I don't want to walk back up these stairs.
We've been getting lots of aftershocks which is to be expected through tomorrow. I suspect it will be a quiet weekend around town. I've packed an emergency backpack just in case, but I hope it never gets used.

It's been a scary day. We were really lucky to be here in Tokyo and close to home. Others weren't as lucky. Maybe for the first time ever, I have nothing clever to say and have zero appetite.

¡Holy Guacamole!

Waiting for a friend at Tully's and got tired of studying kanji. Now I'm clearing off my iPhone pix. Here's one from Chile.

Chicken Lomito with about a pound of smooshed avocados. I do believe this was my last meal in Santiago. Chile recap coming soon.

Ice Cream Sandwich Meets Ice Cream Bar

Two of my favorite things had a baby AND got more environmentally friendly. What will you think of next Japan?!

My Funny Valentine

I really shouldn't be writing this post. My apartment looks like a giant explosion of toiletries, winter clothes, summer clothes and plastic bags. That's right, I'm packing for vacation! This time around, Blammo and I are hitting up New York, Chile, Argentina, Savannah and The Bay Area for about 2 weeks. Yeah. It's going to be nuts. And awesome. And delicious.

We will arrive in Santiago on Valentine's Day, so I decided to bake some vday sweets well in advance. One of the season cake classes at ABC is a White Chocolate Strawberry heart shaped cake. It was adorable but not really my kid of cake. Buttercream frosting seems to be exclusively American and cakes in Japan are almost always topped with whipped cream or ganache. Nothing wrong with that but just not my style. It's pretty though, right?

For my lovely coworkers, who I am getting to know more and more these days I made a batch of Pink Frosting Cookies. When baking for my expat office, I try my best to bring a little piece of home to them and one bite of these cookies will bring you back to elementary school. My birthday is in October near Halloween, so whenever it was my turn to bring in a treat to share for my class, I always got white sugar cookies with bright orange frosting from Safeway. Well, regardless of what color the frosting is the taste will bring you back to those store bought Lofthouse style cookies.

The batch I made tasted spot on and I was so pleased to hear all the Americans say "oh my gosh, these totally remind me of ". Because I always use a 50/50 mix of bread and cake flour, the texture of my cookies turned out more cakey than I would have liked. They were basically cupcake tops. Not a bad thing at all. I don't mind the softness but maybe next time I'll try an 80/20 bread to cake flour mix to see if it makes a difference. 

Ok, I'm running out of things to say about Valentine's Day. I've watched all the new TV shows on my Apple TV and washed every single dish in the house which means, I have to either go to sleep or finish packing.

See you in 2 weeks with lots of pictures and stories from far and away!

Chao Ga :: Vietnamese Rice Porridge with Chicken

It's officially Tết, or the Lunar New Year, so again, Happy New Year! I had a lot of ambitious dreams of making some traditional Tết treats, like Banh Chung and Thit Kho but decided to go with something much simpler. We're talking 2-ingredients simple. Rice and water. That's all you need. Of course, you can fancy it up with toppings and flavorings, but at the core, it's just boiled rice and water. It's simple, healthy and perfect cold or sick food. In our house, when we were feeling under the weather, we got a steaming hot bowl of gingery, peppery Chao Ga instead of Chicken Noodle Soup. 

I've made this a few times in Japan and I think I've finally worked out all the toppings and flavorings to my liking. So here it is: 

Chao Ga :: Vietnamese Rice Porridge with Chicken

Porridge 

1 cup of rice, jasmine or japanese short grain

8 cups of water 

2 inch piece of peeled ginger thickly sliced 

1 bunch of scallions chopped in 1 inch pieces, whites only 

8 whole black peppercorns 

1. Put everything in a large pot. Bring to a boil then simmer on low for 1 hour. Stir occasionally and scrape rice from the bottom of the pan. 

Chicken 

1 chicken breast 

1 inch knob of ginger, sliced 

1. Poach the chicken breast in water with the ginger until done. Set chicken aside to cool. 

2. When the chicken has cooled, use two forks to shred into bite sized pieces. 

Customize your own bowl with different toppings. I put the chicken on top of a small bowl of soup and splash some fish sauce on the chicken. Then flavor the soup with Maggi Sauce. It also gets a healthy sprinkling of chopped green onions. One of my favorite toppings when I was little was something I called "carpet" which is a really salty dried pork that is then shredded (thịt chà bông). It looks like a giant jar of dog hair but it is delicious, especially in chao. 

In Japan, rice porridge soup is called okayu and is eaten with sesame seeds, mushrooms or umeboshi, pickled plums. In Hong Kong, congee is a popular breakfast meal filled with meat, fresh green veggies and greasy donuts. I'm sure other Asian countries have their take on chao and I'm sure that it's a sentimental dish for everyone since it can be topped and mixed with just about anything. 

Brioche :: Eggy, Buttery, Sugary Good

I haven't done a lot of home baking in 2011. Maybe it's because I was burnt out from the Great Christmas Cookiefest of 2010 or pre-occupied with the half marathon healthiness. But now that things have calmed down, I've been turning to my trusty cookbooks for some at-home fun. I was feeling ambitious last weekend, so I gave Joanne Chang's Flour Bakery Basic Brioche recipe a try. The basic recipe can then be used to make different treats like gooey cinnamon rolls (the ones that beat Bobby Flay's throwdown) and various other morning sweets. I chose the Brioche aux Chocolat and Sugar + Spice Buns.

Fun fun fun! Ever since I started my bread courses at ABC Cooking Studio, I haven't really utilized the dough hook on my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer. If I bake bread at home, it's a good opportunity to try out the tips and tricks I've learned in class and we always knead by hand. But that's messy. And this recipe  is especially messy, calling for 6 eggs and 2 1/2 sticks of butter. Plus, Joanne Chang gives really detailed instructions on making the dough in a mixer, down to the sounds (slap slap slap) and feel (cold playdough) of the dough. Seriously, it's really hard to mess up her recipes. From her book and some magazine interviews, I get the sense that she truly understands what it's like to be a baking hobbyist. She recognizes the motivations, struggles and insecurities we all face when baking at home, alone. Which is my way of saying, get the book.

Of the two, I preferred the Brioche aux Chocolat. The melted chocolate and warm pastry cream center go perfectly together. Again, the pastry cream recipe in the book is so detailed, it is pretty hard to botch. Timing and temperature are key but if you read the instructions a few times beforehand and are well equipped with your ingredients in place, you can't fail.

The basic brioche dough recipe in the book is BIG. Like I said, 6 eggs and 2 1/2 sticks of butter. But that is so that you have a dough large enough to knead properly in a standing mixer, so you can freeze the dough for up to a week and try out the various morning treats over the course of a few days. It really is the gift that keeps on giving.