So, to continue on the theme of foods I wouldn't normally eat at home in Canada. . . here's a "taste" of our "takoyaki" party at one of my student's houses. (By the way, "tako" means octopus -- it's not Mexican here. . . and "yaki" is fried -- first you dump batter over the grill filled with 18 round indents, throw octopus, green onions, dried shrimp, pickled ginger and deep fried bits of batter randomly on top, wait until the batter has set a bit, and then comes the fun of using shiskabob sticks to cut around each of those indents, trying to get everything into a nicely shaped, browned little ball, to be garnished with brown sauce, mayo, seaweed, and fish shavings that "dance" on top. )
Since this is an "Osaka food", I've had the opportunity to participate and somewhat (and I use that very loosely) hone my art of "takoyaki" making, but most of the students at the party had never tried before -- they were pretty excited (about that, and the fact that the "takoyaki" maker was "dirt cheap". . . who says parties can't be educational?!)
Something else that's neat about this group of women in the picture is that at the beginning of January I had no idea who they were. My first week back teaching and 4 enthusiastic (and talkative) women entered the class. . . things have never been the same, I end up learning more Japanese than they do English sometimes ;-), but it's been great to get to know them!

Making Miso!! So, I've mentioned about my friend Chiaki here who works at a farm, where I've been to visit a few times. This time it was to make "miso" the old-fashioned way. Miso is a popular soup base here in Japan -- many families "drink" miso soup every day (sometimes with breakfast!) When I arrived, they had the soybeans boiling outside, and stuck some potatoes and sweet potatoes in the fire for our lunch later.

Here Chiaki and I are mixing the "ground up" soybeans (yeah, just like hamburger meat) with fermented rice, salt and water. We made balls out of the mixture, and then threw it into a bucket (you have to do this to get the air out, although I have to admit, it was a lot of fun. . . who needs self-help books on stress relief when you have miso?!) It will sit in that bucket, sealed away, for a year. . . when it will be "fermented", ready for use in the kitchen and to be drunk out of someone's soup bowl. It's been really neat to be able to get to know the family at the farm here, and connect with them a few times already. I know Chiaki so much wants to be a witness to those around her, and so it's neat for them to be able to meet another Christian too. :-)

This past Friday, 2 of my students (not including the little girl, but she is studying English and she's pretty good!!) and I went to make pottery!! Since this area is pretty well known for it's articles made from clay (good soil here or something), we drove out to the ceramics museum where they offer little demos on how to make your own creations, and then you just buy the clay, some time in this room. . . and then let your creative energies flow! In our case, it was close to 3 hours by the time we were finished. . . but so neat to see what we were able to "design", and to watch others working nearby (who were definitely not amateurs like the 3 of us!!) Guess we'll see how they turn out when we go back next month to pick them up. . .