On Thursday we have our big Taiiku Taikai (Sports Day) at school. I am not exactly sure what the actual day will behold; but for weeks and weeks, my students have been practicing their dancing and making costumes and basically living at school. It’s been impressive to witness.
My favorite is this second year class. Lately, I have been going out to the courtyard to eat lunch, while they practice the Thiller Zombie dance. I’m a huge Michael Jackson fan, so I’m going to be sad when lunch becomes less exciting next week.
A few teachers organized an awesome event called THE ART THING this Saturday at a local cafe. Many JETs from around the prefecture submitted art or did live performances. Melissa’s quilt squares totally make me want to make a quilt again. I used to be in a 4-H QUILTING CLUB when I was younger (yes!), mainly because my mom loves quilting.
I didn’t get many pictures of the actual ART, but I ended up doing a little timelapse of the evening.
The weekend has commenced in Japan. すご い”. I got up early for a kettleball workout, which was HARD, and am about to veg out for a while until this evening. A few of my friends and I made a Summer Shape-up pact for the month of June. (Because we all have our imminent RETURN HOME AFTER A YEAR ABROAD in just two months.) That means less cookies and cakes for me, which in turn, made me THINK of baking. I realized that I haven’t properly blogged about just how much I love rice cooker cakes.
Last month, I think I made eight rice cooker cakes. I made rice cooker dinner party cakes. Rice cooker birthday cakes. Rice cooker for-no-reason cakes. It’s my newest baking obsession. Why? I don’t need a special pan. I don’t need to turn on my oven. I just add all the ingredients to my rice cooker and press START. It’s brainless, and they taste incredible. I have been making primarily this spiced banana cake or an almond variation.
Here’s the spiced banana cake, slightly adapted from here.
INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups white flour
1/2 cups white sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 to 3 medium to large bananas)
1/3 cups butter, melted and cooled
1/4 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
Cooking oil
DIRECTIONS:
In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices.
Next, add the mashed bananas, butter, milk, egg, and vanilla extract.
Stir just until all ingredients are incorporated. Over-stirring will make for a tough cake.
Before pouring the batter into the rice cooker’s pot, lightly coat the inside of the pot with cooking oil. I just use a paper towel to spread the oil around evenly.
Pour the batter into the pot, even out the top, and start the cooker. I just do the same thing I do when I make rice: PRESS START. On some rice cookers, you may need to let it cycle twice.
Once the cake is done, just place the cake on a plate. I usually add some cream cheese icing (and nuts or sprinkles) to mine after it cools, but you don’t have to. Enjoy!
It only took 10 months, but I had my first kare-udon bowl for lunch today. It’s a big bowl of thick curry filled with udon noodles and beef, topped with green onions. Ermagawd, so good! Oishikatta desu ne.
This week is flying by! One of the coolest things I did last weekend was run a 10K in Kurobe. I don’t run that much over here, but my friends and I love signing up for 5-10K weekend races in Japan. Please, when else am I going to get free mochi, sushi, and crab nabe after running?!
In Vermont, I had multiple gyms and yoga studios and running friends in the area, so I rarely worked out at home. In Japan, I stopped working out for almost six months, then I got on the at-home workout bandwagon.
I’m actually loving them! In our busy lives, working out at home is cheap and convenient. A lot of us JETs over here do at-home workouts.
1. My go-to exercise is yoga. I realized that even when everything in your life changes, and the things you did that you thought defined who you were come to a halt, this can be there for you. It will ground you. It will calm you down. It will make you stronger. And all it takes is a mat. I love it. I used to run a lot (last year I ran a marathon this weekend!) and now I don’t. I mainly just do this.
I usually do my Body by Bethanny or Ali McGraw DVD or a Yoga Today class. I signed up on Yoga Today for free and get access to one class a week. They also have some great videos on YouTube. My favorite of favorites.
2. Chelsea uses Yoga Download. Her sister got her a one-year pass and she gets access to TONS of videos. Sometimes I go over to her place and we do them together.
3. Clarissa, Ariana, and Josh like Blogilates. Holy wow, Cassey Ho has a huge YouTube following. I’ve tried the Call Me Maybe squat video, which is pretty entertaining.
4. Tone It Up Girls also have a similar following to the Blogilates crowd. I signed up for the e-mails and get updated recipes and workout videos sent to my gmail account. They have a Southern California vibe, so of course, I am as obsessed with their hair as I am their abs.
I also just started reading Project Lifting. Lucy follows the Tone It Up nutrition plan, but focuses on more weight lifting. She totally makes me want to lift heavy weights!
5. Cullan and Alex like the Insanity program. I find it has too much jumping to do at home. My building shakes too much. I also prefer to Zen-out when I workout alone: opting for long-distance running, swimming, or yoga.
Does anyone else have a favorite home workout? I am getting kind of obsessed with them.
P.S. ONE WEEK of free online barre3 workouts! You can get started whenever you like – it doesn’t have to be today – but the code must be redeemed by June 1st.
Promo Code: 7daysbarre3
P.P.S. There are just some cool videos on YouTube. I love the randomness that is out there. This yoga video got a lot of controversy, but I think it is really beautiful.
Limited edition Passion fruit Kit-Kat for my school snack break today. I bought a few in Osaka to send home to my sisters…….but I have eaten them all. Oops.
