Bosco the Boss Man

 Sleeping

 First day, bringing him home in a box

Sometime during the first week.


Meet Bosco the shiba! We have been wanting a pup for a long time (especially me) and we finally got one. Shibas are really smart, but also a lot of work. We take him outside about 6 times a day minimum for potty training, and are also trying to socialize him A LOT when he's young. He's 3.5 months old, and we got him at 3 months. We are really happy about the new addition, and hope he takes to his training well. After two weeks he knows sit (100% if you have food) come (50 % of the time) and heel (er....let's say 50% on this one too, Bret has better luck than I do). I think he knows his name too, but if he's in the Shiba zone and distracted, there's not much you can do. I want to buy a clicker and try that out since he responds really well to claps and snaps. If he's meeting a new person, he gets really excited and sometimes a little nippy, but clapping works well to distract him and get him settled down. Bret's taking him to puppy school next week, so hopefully that is good too!

Ramen

There are many different types of ramen, so I thought I would share some information about the different types there are and which ones Bret and I like. It consists of flour noodles and broth with various toppings. Cup noodle ramen is popular in Japan (especially among bachelors), but whenever you go to a ramen shop it is always made with fresh noodles. These noodles are typically made in-house, so they are usually fresh and much much much more delicious than their rehydrated and styrofoamed counterparts (ps, they still use Styrofoam in Washington? tsk tsk, I thought the Seattle ban would catch on). Additionally, I have to plug Saijo's spring water for contributing to the clear, fresh taste of noodles made in my own beautiful town.

Anyways, there are five different versions that I see most commonly. There are also regional specialty ramens, such as in Tokyo where they use stronger flavors and a greater number of toppings. But I'll just write about the five basic types here.

Sesame Ramen

Why save the best for last when you can save the best for first? This is the kind that Bret usually gets. It has a pretty thick broth made with sesame, miso and soy and a chicken/beef/pork stock base. It sometimes comes with finely ground beef that they put on top and gets all mixed in with the soup. It's pretty delicious. They also put sprouts, alfalfa greens, seaweed, bamboo shoots, and a half of a soft-boiled egg on top for decoration and deliciousness. Sometimes they marinate the eggs too, but I don't care about them so much. When I eat this kind of ramen I like to go to the shop that gives you unlimited kimchi to eat along with it. It is sooooo good. FYI, the dictionary on googlechrome does not recognize to word kimchi. For shame!

Miso Ramen

This ramen also has a pretty thick broth and is more or less similar to the sesame ramen, but is less thick and velvety in texture; just a lighter soup. Usually regular miso soup (like you can get at teriyaki or sushi restaurants) has a lot of separation, i.e. the watery part separates from the cloudy miso part, but that usually doesn't happen too much with the miso ramen--probably because of all the noodles and additional ingredients. Miso ramen is great for when the shop you're in doesn't have sesame ramen. It is still rich and filling but less flavorful in my humble opinion. I do have to add that there are many kinds of miso-- white, red, brown, etc so it's difficult to generalize. Every shop also has their own recipe, so sometimes it's really good but sometimes it's so-so. But still, miso ramen is usually pretty delicious and a full meal on it's own. Toppings include sprouts, baby greens, softboiled egg, a hunk of pork, seaweed,bamboo shoots, and the white swirly thing you see in the above picture is fish paste colored and molded, then sliced. I am not a fan of the fish paste per say, it's more just for decoration and I usually don't eat it. You can buy cooked pasted fish in various molds at the store. They make it in the form of pokemon characters and hello kitty sometimes. It's a staple for decorating bento boxes and kids lunches.

Tonkotsu Ramen

Many people will gasp in horror after reading this, but I do not like Tonkotsu ramen. It is on the heavy side of the ramen broths and very rich and creamy. This is due not to the healthier thickening qualities of miso or sesame, but from the boiling pork bones, fat, and collagen over high heat over a long period of time. The resulting product can be anywhere from a very strong smelling pork broth to straight up gravy. Would I like to drink gravy from an enormous bowl? No thank you. But if you like pork flavor, which many people do, it can be good. It is also topped with a rectangle of seaweed (see pic on the right hand side, the dark green thing) as well as sprouts, a slice of slow cooked pork, thinly sliced scallions and a couple of slices of bamboo shoot. 

Soy Ramen

Soy Ramen is one of the simplest ramens. The broth is made from chicken, beef or pork stock and colored/flavored with a little soy sauce. Soy sauce comes in many grades and flavors, so they use a lighter complimentary kind for soup, not your standard black kikkoman variety. There is a whole isle dedicated to soy sauce in most supermarkets here, and I can't tell what they say, but I know there are many, many kinds. Soy ramen comes with the standard flour noodles, some sprouts, scallions, bamboo and a rectangle of seaweed. Add a slice or two of pork on top and you're good to go. This kind of ramen does well when eaten with more flavorful things like gyoza or fried rice, but you can also add some spices or grind sesame seeds on top to make it taste better. Not my first choice, but it's pretty good. 

Shio Ramen

Shio means salt, so this is literally just salt broth ramen. Yum, right? No but it has the basic chicken, beef or pork stock and salt. You can also buy a stock paste that comes in a big red can with some kanji on it to make this simple soup. Top it with whatever garnish you like and that's about it. I usually get this type of ramen when I go to my favorite fried rice destination. This shop gives you a delicious mound of fried rice and a small cup of shio ramen to wash it down with. The small cup doesn't have noodles or anything, so it's light and nice to accompany the greasy fried rice or gyoza that I'm usually scarfing down.

That's about all there is to ramen! Bret and I had never really eaten it in the US, so it was a novelty when we moved here. I definitely miss the stronger flavors of Tokyo style ramen, and usually don't eat regular old noodle and broth ramen, but it is nice on cold days sometimes. Thanks for reading! I've been wanting to make this post for years and finally did!

All the pictures came from Wikipedia, sorry for the laziness. Maybe one day I will make another post but with real pictures of my local cuisine. It looks pretty much the same in my city's ramen shops as it does in the pictures above.


PS. When I first starting teaching in Shikoku, I asked one of my male adult students to describe how to make ramen in English for a homework assignment. They next week, he came in with two grocery bags full of ingredients and about 50 pages of translated descriptions or cooking methods.To clarify, he was a beginner student and this was by no means an easy assignment for him, as he doesn't usually cook and probably had to do a bit of research. After he was done thoroughly explaining everything, he gifted me all of the ingredients so I could make ramen at home. It was so kind and unnecessary and I will never forget it! 

Kids are so cute. This reminds me of all the times little kids come to the train station to see the trains with cartoon print wraps on them, or just to see any train. A lot of times they wave as the train pulls away. Sometimes when the train goes through the countryside and farmland you see little kids with their parents watching the trains and waving too. I'm gonna wave back from now on. So adorable.

Working on Sundays and my Love of Taxis

Last weekend I decided to mix it up by going to another city for the weekend. This plan turned out to be very convenient because I had to fill in for someone at work and needed to be in that same city on Sunday. Bret picked me up from work and dropped me off at the train station at around 9:45. After texting furiously to coordinate with everyone, we all met up and had a good night. Matsuyama currently has a great number of people from England, which I LOVE, so it was fun.

The trouble came when I had to wake up at 9 am the next day to go to work. Sundays there are irregular classes, sort of like special training seminars for kids about to take a standardized English test. My company faxed (yes, faxed) me all of the teaching materials, which amounted to three 20 page scrolls that I rolled up like a wizard. I was soooo tired, and I don't think my coworkers found my lack of preparation or my scrolls amusing, but it was all really straightforward and everything went fine. I did abandon the scrolls, as there were back-up copies of the materials at the center.

The classes were held in a convention center-like building that had big auditorium rooms. I really enjoyed the acoustics in some of the rooms. My voice became louder and echo-y. The room format also made me feel all professional and proffessory. I usually teach sitting on the floor with my students at a low table, so it was a nice change of pace to be in a big room with regular chairs and tables, and me standing at a podium with a big whiteboard.

The students were great too. They were all about 16-18, and a lot of them could communicate in good sentences and had a lot of interesting things to say, especially at the end of the lesson when the content was specifically aimed at encouraging the students to express their own opinions, something that is really really really difficult for ESL students. I can usually never manage it in my normal lessons, I just get startled/alarmed/confused looks when I stray from the sentence patterns of the lessons. It was great to hear the thoughts and opinions of regular high school kids.

One of the lesson sections about opinions had questions like, "Some say that the trend in Japan is going towards western style and culture and that Japanese culture is becoming less popular. Do you agree or disagree and why?" It was interesting hearing what they thought about this. I would say that the trend is definitely this way where I live, as popular consumer goods are almost always western. From housing trends to clothing. Whereas Bret and I love antique shops and living in a samurai house, most people regard antiques as junk and old houses as undesirable. Anyways, the students said no, citing popular places like Kyoto as evidence that Japanese culture is still valued. I do agree, but I think a lot of aspects of Japanese culture are being lost. I wish they would re-embrace the old architecture style in particular. It's so much more interesting to see the traditional style rather than masses of concrete, rectangular buildings.  But, I was talking to kids with limited English and limited time, so it was better to not launch into that spiel.

About my love of taxis...

I have decided, that hypothetically if I were ever to become rich, a personal driver would be the best luxury service to have in my current living situation. During my time in Matsuyama this weekend, I admit I indulged a bit on taxis. This was in part because it was very cold, and also because I didn't know where I was going for work. A 10 minute taxi ride is approx 10 dollars and is the equivalent of a 30 minute walk, but without the possibility of maybe getting lost. For me, it's always worth it. Also, taxis in Japan are pretty much everywhere, especially when you're in the city. If you're wandering around, attempting to figure out which way the trams are going and if you have the precise amount of change to ride them, the lure of a warm taxi to casually climb into and go exactly where you need in half the time is too strong. Additionally, out of the three taxis I took last weekend, I got presents from two of them. It was awesome. They were small presents, an orange and a chocolate bar, but when else is this going to happen to me? I love taxis and wish I could take them everywhere all the time.

Thank You Everyone

Christmas was so fun I took hardly any pictures. Thank you!!!!

-Bret and Angelina

Pizza Party 2011

Who doesn't love pizza? Our friend works at a stone garden with a woodburning oven, and we have had two awesome pizza parties there. The most recent one was before Christmas, who remembers exactly when.

Showing how it's done :)

 With our broccoli powers combined...

 Everything was homemade and delicious!

 Mai working his magic

A colorful character drives this motorcycle. It has a rocking chair strapped to the back. We see it and the owner most of the time when we visit the stone garden.