Hikone, earthquake, and other assorted things

Just a few things to report (I'll make this quick):

Last weekend Katie and I went to Hikone, which is the city where Katie spent her semester abroad during college studying Japanese. Hikone is located in Shiga Prefecture and is situated on the eastern shore of Lake Biwa - the largest lake in Japan. Hikone's population is around 100,000 or so, making it a relatively small city and therefore very convenient to traverse by foot - indeed, you're often required to do so, since there are only two train stations: JR Hikone and JR Minami-Hikone. The city's main attraction is Hikone Castle, which is one of precious few original castles in existence, meaning that it was not completely destroyed over the years by various fires, earthquakes, WWII, etc. It occupies the highest point in Hikone, and a short hike from the inner moat to the main tower provides a sweeping view of the city below, the mountains to the north, and of course, Lake Biwa itself to the west. It was truly one of the most spectacular views I've seen since I came to Japan three months ago.

This week has been unremarkable, with a few minor exceptions. First, there was an earthquake on Tuesday. It was barely a tremor, but it occurred during my only class of the day. The students felt it before I did: I just saw them looking at each other with wide eyes and wondered why they looked surprised, when all of the sudden I felt a little shake underneath my feet, like a giant truck had just passed by. It was small enough to be exciting without being legitimately scary, but big enough so that I really don't care to experience anything more powerful!

Also this week, Katie and I tried out some new recipes. The first was a standard Chinese stir-fry. We make a lot of stir-fry around Chez Robert and Katie, but we usually add sauce from a packet instead of making it ourselves. So we gave the latter a go this time around. The second, which I tried out last night, was a really simple chicken curry recipe I found on the internet. I've shared it below if anyone's interested (you do need a s*** ton of garam masala though, so don't forget to hit up your grocer's spice aisle before you attempt to make it!)

This weekend, Katie and I are headed back to Nara (the place with all the deer running around) to check out the famous Shoso-in Treasures. My principal walks up to me one day and hands me two tickets to this exhibition and says, "Here." Apparently the tickets were for him and his wife, but because they are busy this weekend, Katie and I get to enjoy them! It will be nice: I really enjoy getting out and doing cultural and, dare I say, "Japanish" things on the weekends, because I find it compensates rather nicely for all the time I spend at school doing a whole lot of nothing when not in class. :) Tonight, though, we're "fonduing" with some fellow gaijin down in Kobe; sometimes you just need to hang out with other ex-pats, eat some melty cheese and bread squares, and complain about how there seems to be some gene in the Japanese DNA that makes them walk right in front of your bicycle. Seriously. Even if they've been standing in the same exact position at the bus stop for five minutes straight, as soon as they see you heading towards them on your bike, no matter how fast you're going, they will suddenly be overcome with the urge to take a step either forward or backward - whatever will put them directly in your path. We've all been there. Although I suppose it would be healthy to also get some Japanese friends, so we could hang out with them, eat some melty oyakodon, and complain about how the gaijin are ruining this country. I mean come on. And have you seen what big noses they have?

Katie and I are putting together a little Thanksgiving dinner on the 18th, and we've invited all the Japanese English teachers at my school to our house for the festivities. Anyone care to help me think of some side dishes to serve? Please bear in mind that we don't really have an oven big enough to accommodate anything bigger than your average dinner plate.

Well, that's all for now! Oh, the chicken curry recipe is below.

-Bob


Chicken Curry

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp Oil
• 10g Butter
• 3 Cloves Garlic, crushed
• 1 Medium Onion, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp Garam Masala
• 1 tsp Ground Coriander
• ½ tsp dried mint (for lack of mint, I used dried basil instead)
  
• 570g Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast, diced
• 200 ml water

Method

1. Heat the oil and butter in a wok or large, heavy frying pan. Add the garlic and onion and stir fry for about 5 minutes until onion is golden.
2. Stir in the garam masala, coriander and mint. Add the chicken and cook over a moderate heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add the water, stir, and simmer without a lid for 10-15 minutes until the chicken is cooked and sauce has thickened. (I also added a little flour to the sauce. You could also try adding less water)