Staying in

So we can't go adventuring EVERY day. We have been increasing our interesting options at home, though. I have already mentioned many of them. Russell is particularly well set up with a nice big computer screen, sexy new guitar and a chair. I just pretty much blog and grade... so I don't get a chair.

We did finally find a video store near us. I think I mentioned that in one of the Golden Week posts. It is a comfortable walk from our house and has tons of videos to choose from. All of the big hollywood videos are available, and a lot of international movies that we probably couldn't find at home. There are also a ton of TV series - American, Japanese, Korean and others. And anime -can't forget that. In other words, we can keep ourselves QUITE busy. The store also rents music, which is a new twist for us. We haven't tried that, yet, but we probably will soon. There are several artists I want to check out, but CDs here run around $35 and up. Rental sounds like a much better option. Plus, all rentals come in a little cloth tote bag that you return to the store. Very cute.


Another form of entertainment is learning to cook Japanese food. There is a fantastic series on YouTube that we found a while back that shows exactly how to prepare a wide range of Japanese cuisine. The series is called "Cooking With Dog" and features a Japanese woman who says very little (but does all the skillful cooking) and her dog Francis who sits on a stool next to her and licks his lips. There is also a man's voice (supposedly Francis) explaining the steps of the recipe. Many of the ingredients are difficult to find in the U.S. - but we aren't in the U.S. anymore! So we are having a great time. Our first adventure: Gyuudon (beef over rice).

I first learned about Gyuudon a few weekends ago when I was on duty Sunday for an open campus (a recruiting event for high schoolers). This included a free Gyuudon lunch and all the cake I could eat. (Truly all I could eat because there was a weather warning out for high winds, so only 20 students came). We had cake coming out our ears - really really good cake. Japanese cake is always super light and not too sweet - and there were maybe 8 different kinds - matcha cream roll cake, cheesecake, chocolate cake, strawberry cake, mille crepe cake, and others. And all I had to do was chat with students here and there. Totally awesome! I'm signing up for as many of these as I can.... but back to Gyuudon...

After that first introduction, I started seeing Gyuudon everywhere - and then Cooking With Dog showed how to make it. Luckily, Russell is up for culinary challenges, so he got right on learning how to make it. The first round he made was tasty, but we were lacking a few ingredients and our on-sen eggs came out a bit runny. Today we had all our ingredients, and the end result was very tasty. It was a bit salty, and the eggs came out a bit overdone this time, but it was still delicious. Check out the pictures - Russell made that!



If you are interested in finding out what goes into Gyuudon, feel free to watch the Cooking With Dog video. We love them. I really want to make Ichigo Daifuku (Strawberry, red bean, mochi treats) but they require a steamer - which we don't have. Russell is trying not to accumulate stuff, and buying a steamer for the sole purpose of making one awesome dessert isn't very motivating to him. I fully intend to watch the video every day until he makes some for me. :D