Momoko

139. Home Cooking! 1

Momoko — 2009-11-24T22:45:58+09:00

I really into cooking now. I am not a collector of cookery books, but I like to learn a basic recipe and arrange it.

Recently, I tried 2 new categories of food.

The first one is Udon noodles. I went to a shop to get strong bread flour to make chûriki-ko (medium-strength flour) by mixing with plain flour. I luckily found a 1.5kg bag of strong flour for 25 pence (= ¥36 -37)! It was just selling for a special price!! Who in the world hesitates to buy it!!! I do not! But I should have checked details...

Some days had passed. As I had enough time, I was urged to make Udon noodles. I went down to the kitchen and opened the bread flour. Then, I noticed that I bought wholemeal flour! Silly me! Whatever it was and however I moaned, that was that that I had had.

Below is the one that I made.

It looks like soba noodles (made from buckwheat flour) but it is UDON! I tried to cut it as narrow as possible, but when it was boiled, it became thick (;_;) Also, each noodle cut into small pieces like 5cm or 10cm. Is it because I used the wholemeal flour? Anyway, I enjoyed a bit unique-texture Udon noodles^^

I will tell you next time about the other one I made.

Momoko

138. All Mouth and No Trousers???

Momoko — 2009-11-13T22:20:03+09:00

One of the Alex's bike pedals needs a repair. He completely took it off the bike body. I do not know exactly what happened although he explained it in details – I could not understand :-P

He wants to repair it himself because he does not want to spend lots of money on it, which is fine. He has a part-time job 6 days a week. Although he owns a car, he walks to a job because the petrol costs a lot as well, which is also a fine reason.

So far, it sounds OK?

However, it is more than 2 months ago that the problem happened to the pedal and his work place is about a 15-minute bike ride away from the flat. Do you understand what this means?

He has been walking to the job taking 1 hour for a single way every day for more than 2 months. That is to say, he is wasting 1.5 hours every single day!! When I asked him about the bike in early October, he was saying that he would repair it next Monday because the university was starting soon (if he does not repair it, he has to walk to the university taking half an hour for a single way).

It has been 5 or 6 weeks since he said so, but he is still walking. Two of my friends (both Japanese) said, "He must be thick". I felt it was too much to say... because I know him better than they do (they have not met him) and know that he has got many good things.

Having said that, I do understand that he does not want to spend lots of money, but I wonder he does not notice how many hours and how much energy he is wasting? He keeps saying, "I'll repair on my next day off", but never does. I do not understand what he thinks. If he was my close friend or boyfriend, I would definitely egg him on to repair it. Oh well, it is none of my business, though.

* * * * *
He bought a pumpkin for Halloween. But eventually, he did not make a lantern and just left it on a kitchen table. It was still there last Sunday (8th) and rotten.

Alex, if you are not going to celebrate Halloween, would you please keep it in your room!!!

I asked him on Sunday what he would like to do with it. He said, "I'm going to cut the bad part off". He had not done that for a couple of days since then.

* * * * *
In the beginning of October, I suggested a rubbish takeout rota. I first told Alex about it. He said, "Oh, I'll do that because it's a man's job in my country". I said that it is not fair that only1 person does a particular job constantly and it tends to be a woman's job in Japan. Then, as the conversation went to a different direction, i.e. cultural differences, we could not find a compromise.

Though there were 6 recycling days since then, it was only 1 time that he took the rubbish out and it is me who did other 5 times. Other 2 people do not contribute to it. We need a talk...

Alex and I have known for over a year, and I know lots of good aspects of his but to be honest, I came to a conclusion that Alex is all mouth and no trousers. Even if he says, "I do it!", I would not take it seriously.

Momoko

137. Death Penalty

Momoko — 2009-11-10T01:07:26+09:00

Oh, it has been a week since I posted the last entry (><) I was writing a new entry, which was supposed to be updated yesterday or today, but I will write about other thing because I watched an interesting TV programme.

It is called "The Execution of Gary Glitter". In Britain , the capital sentence was banned in 1969. However, in 2004, a campaign of the return of it began and it became bigger and bigger. It was brought to the Parliament and discussed. Finally in 2005, the death penalty (hanging) was re-introduced in the UK. It is carried out to murderers and sex offenders who raped a child under 12 years old.

Gary Glitter whose real name is Paul Francis Gadd was a former rock singer and was in a prison for raping 2 children aged 10 and 11 in Vietnam. He was quietly saying that he did not do anything and there was not a case. He was always quiet and calm as if he was making fun of people who he was speaking with. Against his will, his case was taken to the court and he was sentenced an execution. He was the first person since the death penalty was regained its lawful status.

You can watch the programme on 4oD. You will see a British court scene (I think it is a real trial of his), an execution place, the execution day and a moment of the execution as well.

In the programme, a group of people who are against the capital sentence appears and one lady was shouting human rights to live.

On the last day (execution day), death-row prisoners are permitted to leave a final statement after a last meal. Gary Glitter read a statement that he had prepared and it was tape-recorded. While he was reading it, he cried. I could not tell if his teas were real, but as I continued to watch him in the programme, I became sure that he was afraid to die.

I cannot say if I am for or against the capital punishment, or if serial murderers and rapists still have a right to live, but this documentary gives me a moment to think about it.

Although it is a 77-minute programme, I really recommend you to watch it. If you press "S" next to a volume symbol, subtitles will appear.

Momoko

136. Burnt...

Momoko — 2009-11-02T23:25:43+09:00

Stupid me! I burnt myself by spilling a hot water on my hand. When I made a cup of tea in a paper cup, I poured a hot water too much in it. I thought "If lifting it up, it will spill out...", but as I did not have a tray to carry it on, there was no means other than carrying with my hand. I lifted it up, then, the just-boiled hot water spilt on between a thumb and an index finger. I shouted,

"Ooooouch!"

thinking how stupid I am… It was so painful even after cooling the spot. So while I was studying, I was holding a bottle of water to heal the pain.

When I came back to a flat and looked at the spot, I found a big blister between the thumb and the index finger. It is 1 cm in diameter. Now I knew why it was so painful when I gripped a handle of a bike.

Hmmm... I am eager to break the blister... but I want to show it to my friends too.

Momoko

135. XXXX Cocoa Cake (Not F-Word Cake!)

Momoko — 2009-10-30T10:55:13+09:00

Need sugar! Need sugar! I need sugar!

Study makes me so tired and I need something sweet. So, I baked mayonnaise cocoa cake!

When I tell about mayonnaise case, 100% of people who hear it show a negative expression on their face. But think about the ingredients, all can be used for cakes!

In the past, I have let some friends of mine try a portion. In fact, they liked it.

The cake that I made this time contains only 3 tablespoon of mayonnaise. So, it does not taste it at all. Even if containing more, it usually does not.

Not sure if it is because I mixed the mixture too much or because the recipe was not good enough or this cake is supposed to be what it is now, its texture is something between a cake and bread and it is not fluffy…

If you are curious about mayonnaise cakes, you can find lots of recipes on the net!

Momoko