Blog Archives

Cooking in English - again!

5/30/2011

In my quest to become the perfect Oyomesan to my Okaasan...I joined another Cooking Class.

This time students at Hokusei Gakuen tried to teach me how to make okonomiyaki, which we call "savoury pancake" in English.
English teachers at the school invited about 15 foreigners to go to the school's kitchen. We were divided into groups and the students had chosen to cook different Japanese dishes, using recipes they had written in English and as much English as they could with their guest.
My group did great - we made a pile of pancakes and then sat and ate them all with miso soup and white rice dumplings with a sauce of soy and sugar.

Thankyou ladies! I'll try and cook okonomiyaki at home.:-))

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My favorite, fun video...........

5/23/2011

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Maybe like me you spend a lot of time looking at cute/funny/amazing videos on You Tube....kittens, tsunami, old pop songs, Tv commercials, old TV dramas?

But when I am feeling a little "down" THIS video is my favorite.

It always makes me smile.

Matt is a guy who loves travelling. A few years ago he and his girlfriend travelled the world and everywhere they went she filmed Matt dancing in front of a famous sight.
The video went viral (became popular around the world) on YouTube and then he got sponors to go back and redo it with a better quality camera and involving more planning and more people.
This is the result - dancing, dancing, dancing DANCING!!!!

Where the Hell is Matt?
Enjoy!

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New sign board!

5/18/2011

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What do you think?
This is the new Imagine English School signboard we made in Golden Week.

My partner cleaned and repainted the sign and I ordered magnetic green sheets from Tokyu Hands...spent GW cutting it all out and now the signboard is out front of the Mistral 27 building. I hope people walking in the street will notice it and think : "hmm...English!!"

The geranium plant looks good at the moment, so that is out there too. Spring is HERE!

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Imagine there\'s no country..........

5/13/2011

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Last night I went to Shimmin Hall in Odori and saw American jazz legend Herbie Hancock in concert - with his album/band called "The Imagine Project".

I heard about this album first last year when my hairdresser in Hiragishi was playing the album in the salon - he knows the name of my English classroom so he showed me the album.

And then recently I heard on North Wave radio that the tour included Sapporo. GREAT!

I went with a jazz-piano playing student Youko and we enjoyed a wonderful concert.

Six rows back from the stage -so a little TOO loud - but excellent. The album was made with musicians from all over the world with many styles of music and of course they couldn't all come to Japan on tour, so some of the music/voices was recorded on Herbie's computer - but he played THREE instruments, and there was guitar, drums and violin too.

He is 71 years old now but very active and he looked as if he really enjoyed the concert himself.

This version of Imagine is a little different to last night, but you can get a feeling for the concert.

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Remembering my mother.

5/9/2011

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This was my mother. Her name was Eve.
She died in 1996, just after I came to Sapporo. She had been ill for 2 years with cancer of the plasma cells.

Yesterday was Mother's Day in Japan, so I remembered my mum - although in the UK Mother's Day is in March.

My mum was a writer, an editor and a designer. She wrote craft and sewing books, and edited the crafts section of a women's magazine.

That was her public life. At home she loved cooking, gardening, cats, flowers, fashion, wine, word puzzles, reading mystery novels. She was very creative and emotional, and always dressed well.
She was also quite strict and always pushed me to DO more and BE more ambitious.

In many ways I am like her - the creativity side and the emotions. But dressing well? no! Not me. On my non-working time I am a jeans and old T-shirt kind of person.

So, yesterday I remembered my mum. I think she would be proud of me now....sometimes when I am lazy I can almost hear her voice: "Stop it Amanda, get UP! Get busy!"

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Golden Week...my Staycation.

5/5/2011

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Dancing Chaplin stars

Golden Week?
What did I do?
I had a "staycation"!!!!
This is a new English word - mixing "stay at home" with "vacation".

I mainly stayed home and did necessary things that I don't usually do: clean the garden, read a book, play with cats, cook!!!, watch movies on TV...
I saw two movies in Odori: No Strings Attached, starring Ashton Kutcher (Demi Moore's younger man) and Natalie Portman. Pretty bad.
AND I saw Dancing Chaplin, the Japanese movie about the rehearsals and filming of Luigi Bonino and Tamiyo Kusakari's Charlie Chaplin inspired ballet. GREAT!

I went out to see the Daido Moriyama photo exhibition at the Sapporo Art Park - mostly black and white photos of Hokkaido in the 1970s. It was really interesting and made me think how so much of Hokkaido hasn't actually changed at ALL!

Sapporo Station (Moriyama)

And finally - I went to meet some English students! No, not mine.

My friend Eiko is an English teacher in Nango-dori and she held a "Let's Cook and Eat and Talk in English!" party at a community center kitchen.
About 15 women and one little girl came together with Yumi, a cooking teacher, and she taught us how to make Indian bread and chiffon cake. We also did salad and chicken.
I was the guest - giving all Eiko's students a chance to speak English with a real English speaker. They did great and we all had a good time.
After cooking we all sat down to eat (and drink!!) and everyone introduced themselves in English.
Here is Yumi's cooking blog.

Eiko's students and the visiting English speaker...

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Golden Week................

5/1/2011

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What am I doing in Golden Week???

Bad weather isn't it?

But a good time to stay home and do the things I have been planning to do for ages...such as...resdesign the Imagine signboard!

It used to be outside 2 years ago, but then it got rusty and the paint was old.

Recently my partner Yujiro has cleaned, de-rusted and repainted the sign...and this week I cut out the magnet sheets for all the letters....

And today - LOOK!!!!!!!!! We finished. My cat Chichi-chan thinks it is good....he is imagining a nice big bowl of cat food maybe!

.

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Cooking in English - again!

My favorite, fun video...........

New sign board!

Imagine there\'s no country..........

Remembering my mother.

Golden Week...my Staycation.

Golden Week................

What am I doing in Golden Week???

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