Rhubarb and Haskap Jam!

Fresh rhubarb from our garden.

A pot with a broken lid handle.

Viola! Rhubarb and Haskap Jam!

Ok, I know I missed a lot of steps there but this was all that was left when I got home after work so I wasn't able to capture the other steps.  I was able to capture the wonderful smell of rhubarb when I walked in.  What a nice way to be greeted after work!  We have still not ever made a rhubarb and strawberry pie, mainly because rhubarb comes before the strawberries and store bought strawberries are so expensive.  Well, maybe that's not the main reason.  We are pretty frugal and pies, while very tasty, are relatively expensive and short lived.  Jam on the other hand can be stretched out for a long time and eaten again and again on toast, pancakes and in yogurt and the like.  One berry though that does go very well with rhubarb is the equally tart Haskap berry.

Haskap is native to Hokkaido and is being called other things in North America according to an article I read on the Home Orchard Society website. Link later.  Before when I had gone looking for an English name for haskap I couldn't find one but then recently we were at a jam shop in Furano (?) and they were calling it honeyberry.  I was skeptical and this jam here reminded me of my skepticism and I looked it up again.  There were several hits this time, especially from Canadian websites.  I agree with the Home Orchard Society when they say that the original name of Haskap should be used.  Haskap is very tart and perhaps a bit bitter.  It also is very red or purple and adding just a little to your rhubarb jam, not only enhances the flavor but more than that, gives it a nice red coloring.  This is particularly nice if your rhubarb is not very red to begin with. For example we have two varieties.  One that is mostly green and one that is red as you can see in the stalks in the photo above.

Haskap Arrives in North America
http://www.homeorchardsociety.org/article/42/

Rhubarb
ルバーブ

Garbage on the side of the Road

Ah, another post about garbage. Although I often see piles of garbage like this on the side of the road here in Makubetsu, I don't often talk about it. Since this was shortly after Earth Day (April 22) garbage was fresh on my mind. I saw this pile of trash on a long run between Makubetsu and Obihiro. I want to do something about it but I'm not sure yet what I can do. I'd have to convince my wife to let me do it too. It is hard to take of of things like this when you have small children to take care of, too. Sometimes, though, my children and I do pick up trash aroud our neighborhood. Now if only I can convince them to pick up their toys, too!

Number 12 Video

Over the last two weeks at elementary school we have been learning how to talk about our schedules.  In doing so we had to first make sure that everyone could say 1-12 so that they could at least say the hour at which they do something.  Most 5th graders already know English numbers from 1-10 but just to make sure that everyone could say 1-10 and 11 and 12 I introduced the number 12 song from my youth.  I watched this on America's public television channel, PBS. It was an animated video of a song and I watched it many times while watching Sesame Street.  So, now for your viewing and listening pleasure, here is the number 12 song from Sesame Street on YouTube.

12 and Pinball Animation.

Making Flour Tortillas

Today at an elementary school we are making flour tortillas.  To the left you can see a picture of what it might look like while making tortillas with a two-year-old. As you can see the tortillas before cooking are soft but they won't fall apart.

Here is the recipe.

Chewy Flour Tortillas

•  2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup lukewarm milk (2% is fine)

Stir together the flour and baking powder in a large mixing bowl. Add the salt and vegetable oil to the lukewarm milk and whisk briefly to incorporate. Gradually add the milk to the flour, and work the mixture into a dough. It will be sticky.

Turn the dough out onto a surface dusted with flour and knead vigorously for about 2 minutes (fold and press, fold and press). The kneading will take care of the stickiness. Return the dough to the bowl, cover it with a damp cloth, and let it rest for 15 minutes. (This dough will not rise, but it needs a rest.)

Divide your dough into 8 balls of equal size, cover them, and let them rest again for about 20 minutes. Avoid letting them touch, if you don't want them to stick together.

Dust your work surface with flour. Working one at a time, remove each piece of dough and pat it into a 5-inch circle. With a rolling pin, roll out the tortilla, working from the center out, until you have a 7- or 8-inch tortilla a little less than 1/4 inch thick. Transfer the tortilla to a hot, dry skillet or griddle. It will begin to blister. Let it cook for 30 seconds, turn it, and let the other side cook for 30 seconds. Remove the tortilla, place it in a napkin-lined basket and cover with aluminum foil. Repeat for the remaining tortillas.

Although flour tortillas, like corn tortillas, are best if eaten right after they are made, these tortillas will freeze well. Wrap them tightly in plastic, and they will keep, frozen, for several weeks. To serve tortillas that have been frozen, let them thaw and come to room temperature, then wrap them in aluminum foil and heat them in a warm oven. Microwaving tends to toughen them.

Here are some tips as to technique:

l        Do not use bread flour. You want flour with a low gluten content.

l        You don't want to over-flour your work surface, but you don't want your rolled-out tortilla sticking to it either. I found that the dough adhered less to an unvarnished wood surface (like an old cutting board) than any other surface I tried.

l        A flat dough scraper, known in baking parlance as a "bench knife", is very efficient in removing the rolled-out tortilla from the work surface.

l        When rolling out tortillas, dust your rolling pin with flour, and don't be afraid to apply pressure. Flour tortilla dough is pretty sturdy; but not to the point of rerolling. You don't want tough tortillas.

l        The Border Cookbook recommends the use of a tortilla roller (similar to a short piece of broomstick), rather than a rolling pin.

l        Once again, I believe a cast-iron skillet or griddle is practically indispensable for making any kind of tortilla. A dry cast-iron utensil, unlike most other materials, can take high temperatures over a sustained period of time without being adversely affected, although you may have to do a reseasoning afterwards (see How to Love Your Cast-Iron Skillet).

Once you get a rhythm going, you can roll out a tortilla, put it on to cook and, while it cooks, roll out your next tortilla. Seems like an arduous process but, with this method, I could produce 8 tortillas in about 10 action-packed minutes. Be sure to rewrap your fresh tortillas each time you add another to the stack.

This recipe found at:
http://www.texascooking.com/features/sept98flourtortillas.htm

Merry Christmas

Timex Ironman Triathlon Shock
Originally uploaded by mr_caffeine74

Yes, I know, Christmas is over. But I was without a computer for the last month so I am posting this now. I didn't get a lot for Christmas, which is fine since I'm 35 now. My kids did get plenty of new toys and children's educational DVDs from my parents and their aunts and uncles and great grandparents. As for my wife and I, we both got pretty much what we asked for. What other time of year can you expect that someone will buy you something that you want?

The band of my previous Timex Ironman watch (http://tinyurl.com/y93zemu), which I just loved, broke after over two years of use. Timex does not sell replacement watch bands. So I put this watch here on my wishlist for Christmas and, look what Santa brought me! A new one! Yeah! Of course, this isn't the same watch, which was much cooler, but I can replace the band on THIS watch. With the other one, I could not find a replacement band for it. So, I carefully put watches on my wish list that I knew I could get replacement bands for. It is not the color I wanted but beggars can't be choosers and I will cherish it and my extra watch bands for as long as they will take a licking and keep on ticking!
The Watch http://tinyurl.com/y8nmhpy

It is water resistant up to 200 meters, shock resistant, has a timer and a chronograph with a 30 lap memory. It also has two time zones. Just a few less functions than my old one. It is also slight less bulky and a lot less cool. But one of the things I like about this one is that it reminds of the the original Timex Ironman watch, the one that I really wanted as a kid. It just looked so cool back then. Now, I know there are a lot of more advanced watches out there from other brands, watches that have GPS and heart monitors and watches that can store many runs and as many laps as you want, but I'm a simple runner and this watch meets all my needs.

Pain at the Pump

So we just got a new (used) car.
The mileage for our new car as turned out to be 11kpl (kilometers per liter). I've heard that the price of gas will be going up to about 186yen per liter. Our old car had a diesel engine and got a little better than 12kpl. Our new car is going to cost us more to own, not to mention the cost of buying it.

Have you done anything to try and save money since the price of fuel has risen so much? We are driving less and trying to drive as economically as possible. By changing my driving habits I have increased the mileage of my work vehicle from 9kpl to over 12kpl. I usually put 40 liters of gas in the tank when I fill it up. That means that I can drive about 480km on a tank of gas. Before I could only drive about 360 km on a tank. That is a difference of 120km! It works out to about 600yen difference per tank of gas at current prices. I usually use 12 tanks of gas a year. So that would work out to about 7200yen a year in savings, not to mention the reduced CO2 emissions. That also means that I can travel 1440km more per year using the same amount of gas.

This has made me think that it should be required that everyone learn how to eco drive. Especially public employees who are using vehicles bought and maintained by public money. They should be required to learn how to drive economically and they should be required to drive that way, keeping logs of fuel economy with fuel economy targets for each vehicle. We are shutting the lights off and turning down the airconditioning and heating. Why not? There is a hybrid vehicle in the office fleet. I never drive it but I asked one guy what it's gas mileage was. He said 13 or 14kpl. ???? Only 13 or 14kpl!? My 1989 Mazda Familia is getting slightly better than 12kpl! Obviously the people driving it are not concerned with fuel economy.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to all the junior high school students of Makubetsu, Satsunai and Churui who graduated! You will now start a new period in your life. Make the best of it!

I had the privilege of being able to view Satsunai Higashi JHS's graduation ceremony. Many of the seniors and their juniors too were in tears as they gave their speeches of gratitude and talked about the three years spent at junior high. I have known all of them through class for the past three years and some of them I have known for longer. I didn't cry but I can tell you that I was filled with pride and sadness as they walked by in their processions in and out of the gym. I'm sad to part with them but happy to see them growing up and moving on.

From last week and continuing on into this week, graduated jhs students have been coming and going from the teacher's room to announce their acceptance into a private or public high school. They came to say thank you to all the teachers who taught them over the past three years and especially to their home room teachers and others who helped coach them for interviews and entrance examinations. Many of them were in tears of joy.

So once again, I say congratulations and good luck in your new endeavors.