Sukiyaki

It seems that food and the kids are my main focus as that`s what I`m always blogging about. Ah well, until that changes you are stuck hearing about those two things!

I made sukiyaki on Tuesday night and it turned out really well. It would be really easy for those of you in N. America because the ingredients are so basic. Let me know if anyone wants the recipe.


(Shirataki noodles, tofu, beef, Japanese leek, shitake mushrooms, chrysanthemum (sp?) leaves, and Chinese cabbage simmered in a soy/mirin/sugar/dashi broth.)

As you can see, I made a lot of sukiyaki so that made my Wednesday obento decision rather easy. I just threw in some carrots in the morning for colour:

(sukiyaki over brown rice, edamame (soy beans), tomato, and persimmon)

Thursday Tigerpapa and I had to go to the kindergarten for some "Bazaar preparation" and a parent-teacher conference. To our annoyance, the preparation turned out to be rather time-wasting and ridiculous. We had to sort through all of the donated toys (which are to be prizes for some games) to separate the dirty/not working toys from the clean/acceptable ones. Well, there is was a HUGE difference in opinion between TP and my idea as to what is clean and acceptable compared to the lead PTA mom`s idea of what is clean and acceptable. Unfortunately, we didn`t realize this discrepancy until AFTER we had sorted 3 or 4 garbage bags of stuff and thrown out one whole bag as unacceptable. Cries of "Motainai" and "Ehhhhhhhh, nande?!!" could be heard from far and wide. We couldn`t believe the stuff that was pulled back out of the garbage to be put into the prize bags....Macdonald toys, old stuffed animals, and taped up character toys, to name but a few. I made TP apologize for creating all the extra work and said that we must have misunderstood the criteria for acceptable (after all I do have to see this woman every day when I take the kids to the bus stop). The fun didn`t end there. Next we got to tie 200 strings of yarn into little loops for the fishing game and attach them (by hand) to the prize bags. Tigerpapa was incredulous that someone created all of this work when we could have just stapled rubber bands to the prize bags and achieved the same goal. I just looked at him and asked, "Aren`t you Japanese?". He had to laugh at that!

The parent-teacher conference went really well. Tigergirl is doing great especially compared to last year (a story for another time) and has turned out to be quite a leader in her class. Tigerboy has adjusted well and is speaking more and more Japanese as the days go by which is great as he was only speaking English in September. All in all, we are very happy with the yochien...even if we have to spend time doing meaningless activities for the Bazaar!

Here`s a rearview mirror I`m thinking of getting to replace the one we have. What do you think?


Take care everyone.