Do nothing vacation

Sometimes it's important to take a holiday just to take a holiday. ^_^

When I first booked this Friday (tomorrow, Sep. 24) off, I was originally considering going to Hiroshima. Then I realized that I probably wouldn't have the money or energy to do so between my trips to Takayama in Gifu (night of Thu. Oct. 7th to Mon. Oct. 11th for the apparently fairly famous Takayama Matsuri!!) and Canada (Dec. 23-Jan. 5 for Christmas vacation, then again in Jan. 21-24 for a friend's wedding). And besides, I already went to Hiroshima once this year when my best buds visited in Mar.-Apr.

But I never got around to canceling my holiday request, and in the end I just decided that it'd be good to take a break.

And so far, so good!!

Today the only "productive" things I did were doing the laundry (a load of darks) and going to taiko practice. Other than that I wrote emails, went on Facebook, and read Koko Be Good and stated re-reading Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book.

Koko Be Good is the debut (full) graphic novel of Jen Wang (she has previously had short comics published in the first and second volumes of the Flight graphic novel series). I first became aware of Jen Wang's work back around 1999-2000 when I started reading her awesome awesome webcomic Strings of Fate (1999-2003) the archives of which are sadly no longer available online. =(

But anyway, Koko Be Good--buy it! From the inside flap: "Honest, wrenching, and sharply funny, Jen Wang's Koko Be Good is a stunning debut about human nature and the inhuman efforts we make to find ourselves."

The graphic novel is quite different from the original short comic of the same name (which you can read on her website, just look under Art→Comics)--but in a good way. For me it really resonated because, like so many of the characters in the story, I'm at a stage where I'm trying to figure out what I really want to do with my life. And seeing so many of my friends finding their paths and/or settling down and getting married/having kids, I feel a lot of self-imposed pressure to "not to get left behind or something." So the story really speaks to me and it's definitely a book I expect to be re-reading a lot (which is really important when you live in a tiny apartment with only a single bookshelf).

So yeah, back to my original topic...Sometimes it's really important to just take time to relax. This week, Kocho-sensei (at Kirita) mentioned that I've been less than "genki" recently and he asked if I've been really busy/working too hard. Right now actually isn't the busiest at work that I've been, but since I'm doing both Nihonbuyo (classical Japanese dance) and taiko (Japanese drumming) now, I guess I haven't had as much "do nothing" time to refresh myself as in the past, so I'm less energetic...

Plus, much as I hate to admit it, I *am* getting older. I really can't survive on just konbini bread for dinner and 4-6 hrs of sleep per night like I used to be able to...

But anyway, I'm definitely going to enjoy the rest of this long weekend by sleeping in, reading, surfing the net, taking naps, "studying" at my favourite cafe/restaurants and maybe even cooking!

野菜のめんつゆ煮おかず Vegetables simmered in mentsuyu

[Note: Mentsuyu = Japanese noodle sauce/soup base]

Here are 3 great recipes for おかず  (side dishes) requiring little more than vegetables and mentsuyu--so they're all super easy and cheap to make!

にんじんのめんつゆ煮 (２人分) Simmered mentsuyu carrots (serves 2)

材料 Ingredients
にんじん... …１本   Carrot - 1
黒いりごま ……少々   Toasted black sesame seeds - a little
めんつゆ（市販品・ストレートタイプ)...…大さじ３～４ Mentsuyu (store bought, straight type) - 3-4 tablespoons

Directions:
1. Wash and peel carrots and slice into very thin ribbons using a vegetable peeler or mandolin slicer.
2. Put carrot and mentsuyu into a hot and bring to a boil over high heat.
3. Once boiling, reduce to medium heat, cover and boil for 3 minutes (stirring occasionally).
4. Once carrots are tender, remove from heat, arrange in serving dishes and sprinkle with black sesame seeds

ピーマンのめんつゆ煮 (２人分) Simmered mentsuyu green peppers (serves 2)

材料 Ingredients
ピーマン......４個   Green peppers - 4 (Japanese green peppers are small--probably equal to 1 regular-sized North American green (bell) pepper!)
サラダ油......大さじ1/2   Vegetable oil - 1/2 tablespoon
めんつゆ（市販品・ストレートタイプ)...…大さじ４   Mentsuyu (store bought, straight type) - 4 tablespoons

Directions:
1. Cut peppers in half lengthwise and remove seeds. Cut in half again width-wise (approx. 3-4 x 5cm pieces).
2. Heat oil in a fry pan over medium heat. Fry green peppers until both sides are lightly cooked/browned.
3. Add the mentsuyu. When it begins to boil, cover and let simmer (occasionally turning the peppers) on medium heat for 3 minutes.

じゃがいもの甘辛煮(２人分) Sweet & salty simmered potatoes (serves 2)
(Forgot to take a picture! @_@;; )

材料 Ingredients
じゃがいも......大１個（２００－２３０ｇ）   Potato - 1 large (200-230g)
めんつゆ（市販品・ストレートタイプ)...…大さじ３ Mentsuyu (store bought, straight type) - 3 tablespoon

Directions
1. Wash and peel the potato and cut into 4 pieces (width-wise). Cut again into 2cm pieces (width-wise) and let soak in water 5minutes before draining.
2. Put potatoes, 1/3 cup water and mentsuyu in a pot and bring to a boil over medium heat.
3. Once boiling, reduce to low heat, cover, and let simmer until potatoes are tender (~10min).

Incidentally, all of these recipes are from this Orange Page cooking magazine: 手間なし、きっぱり「即」ごはん (Tema nashi, kippari soku gohan--loosely translated: "No hassle, super quick meals").

Out of all the Orange Page magazines I've purchased (~7?), this is probably the one I use the most. I like it (and the other magazines in the series) because not only does it have pictures for each step of the cooking process, but it also shows how all the meat/veggies should be cut in preparation for cooking! The ingredients for all of the dishes are also quite common and inexpensive.

Free mandolin performance

十和田マンドリンクラブ演奏会 Towada Mandolin Club Performance (Sep 25)
Location: 十和田市民文化センター大ホール Towada Bunka Center Dai Hall
Doors Open: 13:00
Starts: 13:30
Admission: Free!

Counterbalance

After my awesome  "おひとり様" day on Saturday, I thought I'd be going for a repeat on Sunday.

But instead I ended up having an equally good time meeting up with other Towada ALTs to catch the final parade of Aki Matsuri and then going for a drive and a sushi dinner in Hachinohe with a friend afterward.

Impressively enough, the master of the sushi place in Hachinohe  remembered my friend and I from when we first ate there way back in March! (I don't remember the name of the restaurant, but it's across from the police box near the アルパジョン (Arpagon) bakery.)

I suspect that he remembered us because both this time and the last time I was doing my usual thing and taking photos of all the food before eating. =P I got the impression that he's seen very few (if any) other customers take pictures of their food, so that probably made us memorable. I'm also assuming that was why we got a small plate of fruit for dessert as "service"!

So with my taiko debut on Friday night, my awesome day of solitude on Saturday, and a fun day with friends on Sunday, it was an extremely excellent Aki Matsuri weekend. 
Speaking of my taiko debut, here's a photo a friend took during the performance:

(I made a number of mistakes but it was so much fun I didn't feel embarrassed about them the way I usually would. Instead, the mistakes strengthened my resolve to practice harder so I can do better next time! ^_^ )

This weekend also promises to be a good one with the 中体連新人戦 (chuutairen shinjinsen - newcomers' sports tournament) on Saturday and the Kirida Aki Matsuri on Sunday. And Monday is a holiday, too!