Back home in America, my kitchen may have been old and equipped with sea-foam green laminate counters, but it was four or five times the size of my kitchen here in Japan, had significantly more cabinet and counter space, came equipped with a full-sized oven, and had a KitchenAid mixer. I love baking, and it was quite easy with so much storage space for my six types of flour, three types of sugar, and so-on. Oh, the dessert masterpieces I made! Especially around the holiday season: pumpkin everything! I miss my American kitchen quite a lot, but I won’t let limited counter and storage space stifle my baking creativity!

In that spirit, I attempted my first baked good this May: chocolate brownies with sprinkles.

I may not have a full-sized oven, but I do have a convection toaster oven! It’s programmed in Celsius, not Fahrenheit, though, so I wrote up a chart in advance as a temperature conversion cheat sheet. Then I mixed my wet ingredients, added the dry, and produced a delicious brownie batter. All seemed to be going well when I put the greased pan in the toaster oven and watched the chocolate bubble inside. It certainly smelled good! But after the timer beeped, the brownies were completely raw. So I cooked them a little longer. Then a little longer again. And finally they were done!

Oddly, the brownies had…puffed up significantly. And they were soft and moist but not remotely gooey. That’s when I realized: I had accidentally made chocolate cake!

Upon reflection, I mixed up the temperature conversions in my chart, and ended up using the temperature for cake (375 degrees Fahrenheit/190 degrees Celsius), rather than the temperature for brownies (425 degrees Fahrenheit/220 degrees Celsius), resulting in the soft, sponge texture so typical of cake, not the crisp outside and gooey inside of brownies. Whoops! Cake and brownies are virtually identical to start with: they use the same ingredients, combined in the same order. The difference is baking time and temperature. Cake bakes for a long time at a low temperature, resulting in an spongy, moist, uniform texture. Brownies cook for a shorter time at a higher temperature, which is why the outside is crisp while the inside is soft and gooey.

I try to learn from my mistakes, so my second attempt at brownies went quiet differently.

My first fraught attempt was a bit of a cheat: I used a store-bought mix. My second attempt was far more labor intensive: brownies from scratch. It took four hours, but the final result was not to be trifled with! Admittedly, a significant portion of that time was dedicated to cubing the brownies for consumption at the Hello!s ice cream party, but that’s neither here nor there. Below is a picture of the successful brownie bites, freshly pulled from the freezer. Yum yum!

今週はハローズの生徒たち、英検IBAテストを受けました。

テストに集中して臨めるように前後で英語のゲームをしてモチベーションをあげました！これは犯人が誰かを当てるボードゲームで、生徒たちにとても人気です。

気になっていたシンガーのコンサートのチケットを

アイフォンで取った後に、コンビニで簡単に取れた

経験のある人はありますか。

結局受け取りはコンビニにしたものの、手数料が

余分にかかり、がっくり。

自宅でポチッっとチケットの購入は、便利なものの

慣れるまでは、手続きが面倒なものですね。

しかし、何を着ていこうかな～とか、ＣＤ買っちゃおうかな～

など当日までわくわく。

みんなの好きなコンサートは、どんなコンサートでしょう。

友人にさそわれ、あるクラッシックコンサートで派手なセンス

まで買ったことのある私ですが

いつか使うことはあるのか？

ハロウィンで使えるかな？？

非日常も楽しもう！

Lots of students went to Ogaki Festival this past weekend, but there was also a festival in my neighborhood in Nagoya – Taiko Festival.  I’ve gone to Taiko Festival every year since I moved into my house a few years ago, and, though it can be really crowded, it’s usually a great time.  Now that my son is getting old enough to appreciate things going on around him, it’s been fun taking him to the festival.  Just like me, his favorite thing is eating lots of delicious festival food.  

I think the most fun thing about festivals for me is walking around and interacting people, while stopping at the occasional food stand to eat.  My favorite festival food is dote-ni, but this year I ate lots of cheese hattogu and tamasen, too.  My son was really into the chocolate bananas and strawberries.  

There’s something about the atmosphere of festivals that’s very comfortable.  It’s very free and casual and lively, and everyone is having a good time.  And with Taiko Festival being very local and close to my house, it feels even more comfortable.  Being able to enjoy it with my family makes it even better.

GWも終わり、次は夏休み、それが終わるとクリスマス、正月・・・というようにあっという間に一年は過ぎてしまいます。まだ高校1年生、2年生と思っていてもあっという間に3年生になります。絶対に・・・。目の前の宿題、部活と忙しくてなかなか将来、いや近い未来にも目を向けられないものです。現高校2年生からセンター試験が共通テストに変更されることは周知の事実。「リスニングが重要だ！」「4技能試験でスピーキングもライティングも重要だ！」と言われながら、どれだけ皆さんの生活、勉強内容は変わっていますか？リスニングもスピーキングもすぐにつく力ではありません。試験対策ができる能力ではありません。長い期間かけてコツコツ慣れていくしかないこの能力は今から真剣に取り組まないと間に合いません。きっとこう言っても試験が目の前に迫ってからしかできないかもしれませんね。これを見て取り組まなきゃと思ったことは行動に即移しましょう。行動あるのみ。ハローズに来て何かの対策をはじめるのも一つの方法です。他にももちろんたくさんありますよ！