From Scratch

Today was my day off. I love days off. I get to sleep in, play with friends, and best of all cook. Most other days, I really don't have time to wash dishes, let alone, make some fancy kind of food after that. But today...

I went out to lunch and went grocery shopping on the way home. When I got back, I did the dishes and decided to make a banana pudding. Bananas were on sale at the store, so it just made sense, since in my brain there is nothing else you can do with that fruit. If I were in "The Land of Pre-Made, Ready-from-the-Box, Convenience" this would be a piece of cake, and I could whip up a delicious dessert in just a few minutes (well, maybe like 30 minutes or so). But, I live in a different country, where you can't find VanillaWaffers, CoolWhip, and Jell-O Pudding in the local grocery store. BUT I do have recipes for all of those necessary ingredients for banana pudding.

Oh Yes, that's right. First, I whipped up a batch of made-from-scratch cookies using a chocolate chip cookie recipe without adding the chocolate chips (oh, and just so you know, NO, sugar cookie dough is not available on the freezer isle). While those were baking, I started on the pudding. Milk, sugar, cornstarch, butter and vanilla. That's it. Just cook it the right way and it turns into pudding. It's great. I never knew pudding didn't come from a box! As the cookies and pudding are cooling (because you don't want to use hot ingredients in banana pudding because it turns the bananas black- made that mistake once. will never do it again) I attempted whipped cream to put on the top. I used my handy, dandy, new milk frother to wise the cream and sugar into a soft topping. It didn't work out quite as well as I had hoped, but that's probably because I wasn't patient enough to whip enough air into it to make it less liquidy. So, now, I had all of the things I needed to actually put the pudding together. Or so I thought. Then I remembered bananas. Easy enough to fix. Just slice them.

Phew. Safe. For those of you who don't know, a banana pudding is a dessert created by layering cookies, pudding, and bananas in a casserole-like fashion, then topped with whipped cream. I will let the flavors mellow tonight, and tomorrow, I will enjoy my magnificent creation. This whole process took probably around 3 hours.

That was so much fun, that I decided to make dinner (okay, the fun of it AND the hunger in my tummy helped me make the decision). I made stuffing. Again, not from a box. I took some old bread, toasted it, and cut it into cubes. In a frying pan, I browned some onions and added the bread cubes. All of that got mixed with one beaten egg and two cups of chicken broth. I cooked it for a few minutes on the stovetop, added a few spices, and enjoyed the simplicity (compared to the complexity of the previous dish).

While I am on the subject, I am still amazed at how easy some things are to make at home. When I lived in the States, I would have never thought of making my own flour tortilla shells from flour, oil and water! I thought you had to buy them at the store! Really! Looking back on it, there were some times when I was in college that I felt like I had NO food to eat. I bet that if I knew then what I know now, there would have been plenty of delicacies to enjoy.

Cultural faux-pas

A few months ago, as I was listening to the testimony of an American Christian with Indian heritage, she talked about an incident that occurred in a hospital while she was visiting her family in India. She really wanted to go over and talk to a man sitting in the waiting room, but she waited until her brother-in-law came back and asked him to introduce her. I was interested in why she waited, and so I asked. She said that women do not approach a man without being introduced to him first. Interesting, I thought, and didn't really give it another thought.

Until last night...

I went to a "Friendship Party" that was held by the international division of city hall. It was a going away party for a group of educators that had been visiting local schools this past week. One of my students invited me, so I went. When I first walked into the hotel where it was being held, I looked around lost. I didn't even know which floor to look on. Luckily, I saw a large group of non-Japanese people sitting in the lobby, so I figured I must be in the right place. As I was standing there like a deer caught in headlights, a woman that I met in the grocery store one time walked in. I was so happy to see someone I knew. I walked with her over to a group of people that were sitting and waiting in the lobby.

One woman- non-Japanese, possibly American- introduced herself, and one of the gentlemen sitting in the circle. I, being the let's-include-everyone person that I am, also started talking to the other gentleman that was sitting with them. I have NO clue what any of their names were, but the two men (both Indian) warmed up to me very nicely and were very friendly and even chatty, especially the one that I had not been introduced to. He said he felt like he had known me for a long time. When he found out that I am a missionary, he invited me to come be a missionary in his part of India. I was slightly taken aback at this- it isn't every day that I am invited into a non-Christian country with the purpose of spreading Truth. But, by this time, the student that had invited me came and I went into the party with her.

While we were upstairs listening to the opening speeches, the culture tip that I mentioned before hit me. I was dumbfounded! How could I have been so bold?! I felt quite foolish for coming to a culture-mixing bash and breaking one of the only customs of Indian cultures that I know.

It turned out okay though. If the man that I introduced myself to had a spare moment, he would come over to talk with me. As the party was coming to a close and everyone was standing around taking pictures, he came over and asked me if I would take a picture with him. Then, if that wasn't enough, his friend was also very open. As I was headed out the door to go home, the friend was talking with some people. I walked over and said goodbye, since I had met several of those people that night. He held out his hand in gesture of a handshake, then he hugged me goodbye. I was very surprised at this. I had barely spoken but a few words with this man. Maybe I have just been in Japan so long that I have forgotten that other people hug. (Japanese people, especially men, tend NOT to hug. ) Does anyone know if it is typical of Indian men to hug?

Anyway, I was very happy to see that my slip-up didn't result in any permanent damage. Overall, I feel it was a pretty successful night. I don't really know if I made any new friends, but I feel closer to cultures around the world somehow. It is a good feeling.

My new hats

I bought a new hat today. Actually, I bought two. I am pretty stinkin excited about them. Normally I don't like hats. They make my hair do funny things, but it is cold here, and if you didn't know, your body loses a lot of heat through the head. One of them is brown cord material with lightly colored stripes scattered for highlights. It is my favorite. I got it on sale for like 1000 yen (around $8 for you Americans... Other currencies, sorry I have NO clue). It was such a good deal that I decided to buy the other one also. It is dark green on the outside, with a red and gray plaid design on the inside. My question is: how can you tell if a hat is reversible? I know that the first one isn't; it has a tag on the inside. But the second one has nothing... How is a fashion non-savvy girl supposed to know??? Sigh. Just another issue for my already distracted life.

The "Moves"

The most recent debate that I am having within myself- which of course means that I ask other peoples' opinions also- is what is considered a "move". I was recently asked by a friend of mine if a guy was "putting the moves" on me. I realized that I don't actually know what "the moves" look like. It got me thinking. How DO men hit on women? I am of course NOT talking about pick-up lines. Those are pretty obvious, and even someone as opaque as me could figure that out. But I mean, real men. Gentlemen. The kind of man that isn't just looking to get a girl in bed. How would THAT kind of man show his interest in a woman? Here are what some people, spanning cultures, have said: (I will add a side note that says all of these opinions have come from women, and one that says that these are not my original ideas. They are stolen from conversations from this week...)

• - Staring- If a man continues to look deep into your eyes, he is showing that you have his attention. He is interested.
• - Touching- If a man makes excuses to touch your hand or your arm, he is showing he wants to be near you, that he can be tender with you.
• - Time- If a man spends excessive amounts of time with you, and even changes his plans to spend time with you, he likes you. You are more important than the other plans he had.
• - The "List"- If a man tells you what he is looking for in a woman, using specific details that ALL match your discription, he is either completely blockheaded OR he is being pretty obvious that you are the kind of person he wants to be with. yes, you.

The list goes on, but these are ones that have seemed pretty common. I still don't know though. I am a bit skeptical. It all seems very circumstantial to me. Just because a man does some- or all- of these things doesn't have to mean he is "putting the moves" on you. He could just be your friend, pretty good friend, and he knows that he can be honest with you. Right?

I mean, the Staring could be because you are in a crowded place and he will get distracted from the conversation if he looks away. As for Touching, for those that really aren't accidental, they can be explained away by his gentlemanness. It is classic for a man to offer a woman his arm as they are walking down the street, or to guide her with a gentle hand on her back or arm. It doesn't have to mean he likes her in a romantic way. And Time is something that ALL friends spend together, even if they aren't close. That is almost a requirement for friendship.

The List is a little bit more than a problem, especially if he is the kind of person that actually thinks before he speaks. However, if he is confident in his friendship with you, then it is possible that he believes that nothing he says will affect that relationship, and so he can speak freely and honestly about something that is close to his heart.

I can see the point that it may be stretching a bit to try to ignore the situation if all of these do happen with the same person. However, these all seem to me to be vague still. Are there any tell-tale signs of a man trying to advance a relationship with a woman? The world may never know.