Car Blessing, German Chocolate Cake, and Snacks

Recently, Ridge and Holt have both become total sugar fiends. It’s difficult to control how much they have due to the generous nature of Japanese adults. It seems that hardly a day goes by without someone offering or giving the boys some sort of sugary treat. For a while, we just tried to ignore it and write it off as something we would have to not worry about. However, when Ridge told me that Holt eats chocolate everyday for his school snack, Aaron and I decided enough was enough. Holt is quite a picky eater and usually refuses to eat the snack offered by the school. So, instead, the teachers fill his chubby cheeks with candy. Even the other students sometimes have cookies or cake for snack. Holt’s daily chocolate intake combined with increasing demands from both of them to buy candy forced our hand.

It’s pretty important here to “go with the flow” and do what the group is doing. Standing our ground and insisting on less sugar was not an easy feat for Aaron and I. Once our decision had been made, I slapped together a weeks worth of crackers and organic peanut butter to send to school. On Monday, a reluctant and uncomfortable Aaron tried his best to explain to the teachers our plan. Instead of chocolate, Holt could have a “home snack”. If school snack was to be sweets, Ridge could have “home snack” instead. I made sure Ridge understood and we gave it a try. The next day, I decided to clarify the issue and went to Fusae for help. She translated a note I had written and Aaron passed it on to the teachers. Poor guy. I know it was uncomfortable for him. The teachers weren’t upset, just a little confused, I think. Kurata assured me not to worry about irritating the teachers because they are “very generous with Americans”. I laughed and asked him if that was a nice way of saying that Japanese people cut some slack for the “crazy gaijins”. We all agreed in the end that it could be written off as a “cultural learning experience”. The end result is that Holt no longer eats chocolate everyday and Ridge eats a non-sugary snack when the other kids are eating cookies. Since I found a place to buy 100% fruit leather, his favorite, he doesn’t complain about no sweets. Holt, on the other hand, has finally caught on. At first, he told me, “They didn’t make chocolate today, so I ate crackers.” He now knows about the no-more-chocolate rule and is slowing coming to terms with hit. Fortunately, he loves peanut butter and crackers.

German Chocolate Cake…ahhh…a birthday tradition in our family. I decided to attempt this wonderful cake with my English class as our next cooking project. The night before, I had to practice, as I had never actually made this cake myself. Prior to last week, I had only watched Mom make it and then eaten the results. Here’s my first ever German Chocolate Cake, made with real Baker’s German’s brand chocolate, courtesy of my mom.
Cake


Thursday, I had nine women come to the middle school kitchen to make cakes. We actually only made three recipes and then used smaller cake pans. In all, there were ten cakes. Everything thing went smoothly and nothing burned! That was a feat considering the fact that I was trying desperately to keep my eye on all ten cakes while the ladies worked on the frosting. They don’t have pecans here (I ordered some from the internet), so the frosting was quite exotic for them. As the frosting and cakes cooled, we cut and ate the cake I made the night before. Everyone loved it, but they also agreed that it was very “heavy”. I need to teach them the word “rich” so they can use it when describing food.

Lastly – I’m sure you are just dying with curiosity about the Car Blessing. Thursday afternoon, as I prepared to leave the office around five, Mr. Kamaya caught me and said I should come with him for a short ceremony. He explained the village had bought a new car and the “chairman” (i.e. the mayor) was going to do a very short ceremony. So, we went outside into the parking lot and waited for the car to arrive. As we waited, several other men, about a dozen, from the village offices joined us. Mr. Tasaki poured plastic cups of sake and put some dried fish onto a plate (not pieces – the whole stinking fish – each one was about three inches long). Finally, the car was driven up and all the men ogled and played with it. It’s a big van, seating about 11 to 12 passengers. The sliding door on the side is automatic and was a great source of amusement for a good five minutes. Finally, everyone gathered at the front of the car and faced it, standing in a semi-circle. We bowed twice, clapped twice, and bowed once. The mayor said something and then proceeded to pour sake on each tire. A man followed him, sprinkling salt on the ground and tires as they made their way around the car. Then, everyone was given sake to drink and most munched on a couple of fish (I stayed far away from the fish and faked drinking my nasty sake). Apparently, it’s quite common around here, at least in the country, for people to bless new cars. Sometimes they even hire a Shinto priest to come out and do more serious blessing ceremony. Considering how sturdy Japanese cars are, perhaps we should adopt this practice!