Friday, February 27, 2015

The Multiplying Bento

Today’s coffee: Dominican Republic

It’s already melt season. I suppose we could get another round of snow storms, but already we can see the road outside our house. Usually we would not expect this for another month. My friends (in this area) are posting pictures of crocuses on Facebook. Global warming?

I want to write about some encouraging things that have happened in the last few weeks… besides the melting snow.

Keith and I were away from home for 3 weeks during the end of January and the beginning of February. As often happens when we take time off for a conference or vacation, appointments and responsibilities got crammed in before and after we go. The day after we returned, I was scheduled to give the Sunday school message.

The usual pattern for the Sunday school message has been that the children sit in chairs in rows while one of the leaders stands at the front and gives a talk or tells a story. Keith and I have been trying some different models. If it’s a story they know well, we get them to tell the story. That worked well on Easter Sunday. Once, Keith had the kids act out the story of the good shepherd as a play. That time the story got a bit out of hand—the so-called “good shepherd” let the robber into the sheep pen and the sheep were overjoyed to be “attacked.” Oops.

The shepherd and the thief "fight" while the "sheep" enjoy the show
I have read to the kids a few times from a children’s Bible story book that I like. Usually I have them sit on zabuton (cushions for sitting on the floor) in a circle, and I ask them questions and interact with them as we read through the story. This seems to keep them engaged (and sitting still), while being a good option for someone like me who doesn’t enjoy public speaking.

To return to the Sunday school message a few weeks ago, I was assigned the story of the feeding of the 5000; thankfully, this story was included in my book. Unfortunately I didn’t have sufficient time to practice reading it aloud—I was busy preparing my visual aid: a bento. (As a cultural aside, this story is a favorite among children in Japan, since they love going on picnics and eating a bento lunch.)


Opening my bento box. That day I had yakiudon. What story does this remind you of, kids?
I stumbled over an unfamiliar word in the first paragraph. I apologized for my lack of preparation and just as I was going to continue reading, one boy snatched the book out of my hands and continued reading where I had left off, perfectly expressing the nuances of the story—the disciples’ doubt, the small boy’s faith, and Jesus’ sense of humor shone through. (My young helper’s brothers were also eager for a chance to read—my role switched from reader to supervisor as I made sure everyone got their turn so that we didn’t end up with a riot…) After the three brothers (and their older sister) finished reading, I wrapped up the story by talking about how God can use even the small and insufficient to do amazing things—he can even use us!

Reading the story together
This development was completely unexpected, and I felt like the story was playing out right before my eyes. Here were three squirmy boys vying with each other for a chance to help. God was using my insufficiently prepared children’s message and making it so much bigger and better than I ever could have imagined.

Last Sunday, another encouragement: our budding middle-school musicians accompanied the Sunday school worship time. I think it’s no surprise that one middle-school girl brought a friend for the first time on this particular occasion. It’s as if she was saying to her friend, “This is my family, my church—I belong here.” This makes me want to give each of these children more opportunities to contribute their gifts to the life of the church, fully expecting that God will make their contributions bear fruit.

A-chan on piano, Ko-kun on guitar, Ke-kun on cajon. (A-chan's friend in the foreground.)
My friend, Izumi once told me that if you want a person to come to your church and stay there, don’t treat them as a guest. Treat them like family—give them something to do; give them a chance to serve. Let them know that they belong. Good advice, I think.

I like to help people find their “bento”: what is God asking that person to contribute? What is it that God has given her that she needs to offer back to him? What is it that God wants to multiply? Our offerings may seem as insignificant as a small child’s bento, but God uses them! I trust that God will continue to multiply the eagerness of each of these children to serve—and use this eagerness for his glory!

Friday, February 20, 2015

Airplanes and Pyramids: The Wind Rises

Today’s coffee: Rwanda, White Day blend

I’ve had this blog post stewing in my head all week. Last week’s chocolate event was actually the prelude to a movie night. This time we watched 風立ちぬ (Kaze Tachinu; the English title is The Wind Rises). This time was a bit unusual: we had 5 newcomers—church kids brought friends!! This also meant that the discussion time was a bit quieter than usual. But then again, it’s usually pretty quiet. We’re still struggling through a major cultural barrier: Japanese schools do not teach children to express their opinions. We started doing movie nights with the youth group because we wanted to teach them to think about the movies, TV, etc. that they watch and engage with them, rather than simply taking them in.

But I digress. Today I mostly wanted to write about the film itself. If you haven’t seen it, watch it now. (Mom and Dad, I’ve had it sent to your house. Other friends in Seattle can borrow it when my parents are done with it. Enjoy!) It’s an amazing, bittersweet, conflicted film. It seems it was a very personal film for the director, Hayao Miyazaki; it may also be his last film. (Maybe. He already came out retirement once.) If you are from Seattle, you may also find that you recognize someone you know in the protagonist, Jiro Horikoshi—he’s an aeronautical engineer. He reminds me very much of my maternal grandfather.

Japanese poster for The Wind Rises
In the tradition of our movie nights, I’ll even give you some “warm-up” discussion questions and some things to think about while you watch. These are the questions we used last week... translated, of course.

Warm-up questions:
  • Do you have a dream? What is it? (Future job, place you want to go, something you want to do, family, etc.) Why is that your dream?
  • When you hear the word, "wind," what do you think about?
Things to think about while you watch:
  • Wind is treated somewhat as a character throughout the film. What sort of character is it? What sort of roles did it play?
  • Who/what did Jiro love?
  • What were Jiro's dreams? Did they come true? Was he satisfied?
Spoiler alert from here on. (You’ve seen the movie now, right?)

I’ll start by saying that I feel somewhat conflicted watching this film. (I think provoking conflicted feelings was Miyazaki’s intention, actually.) While the real life Jiro Horikoshi, a genius engineer, was building the Mitsubishi Zero and its predecessors here in Japan, my grandfathers were engaged in similar work at Boeing on the other side of the ocean. I have visited Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where photographs and displays and uniformed staff tried to explain why such atrocities were committed by both Japan and the United States, so I understand (in a very limited way) the results of Jiro’s work, and that of my grandfathers and their colleagues as well.

But Jiro, the film tells us, just wants to make beautiful airplanes. This is also Miyazaki’s paradox: he is an outspoken pacifist who is fascinated with war planes—because war planes are the fastest and most beautiful planes.

I think perhaps for this reason, Miyazaki inserts another aeronautical engineer, Caproni, into the film. (Seattle people: Caproni’s work is on display at the Museum of Flight.) Caproni and Jiro meet in their dreams and talk about airplanes—or rather, the ethics of airplanes. “Airplanes are beautiful, cursed dreams,” says Caproni. He has already experienced the devastation of World War I. His dream is to make passenger planes, but the Italian government has him building war planes.

Caproni poses this question to Jiro: “Would you want to live in a world with or without the pyramids?” He explains: the pyramids are great monuments, but they were built at the cost of many lives. What about airplanes? They are beautiful and useful to transport people and cargo. But in the wrong hands, an airplane becomes a weapon. Is it possible to build such a weapon "because it's beautiful" and not take responsibility? Who is responsible, Jiro or the pilots flying the Mitsubishi Zero planes? Or is it the people who gave orders to the pilots? What should Jiro have done?

The film points out repeatedly that while Jiro and his colleagues used a huge amount of government funding to research and build new airplanes, at the same time, people all around them were unemployed and even starving. The protagonists seem conflicted, but they are still driven by the embarrassing reality that Japanese airplane technology was 20 years behind Germany and the US. Were they perhaps convinced that advancing technology would give average citizens a better life?

To return to the question about the pyramids, we asked our middle school guests what they thought. Would they want to live in a world with or without the pyramids? The looked at us blankly. I made a stab at answering the question: no, I wouldn’t want the pyramids. I wouldn’t want to build an airplane and have it used as a weapon. And I wouldn’t sacrifice my family to make it happen, either. One guest pointed out that without the need for war planes, airplane technology would not develop nearly as fast. Another pointed out that Jiro’s (fictional) wife chose to become a sacrifice in order to help her loved one achieve his dream.

As I listened to others’ thoughts on the subject, I continued mulling over the question in my mind. This question was much bigger than just pyramids or airplanes. Is it possible to do or make anything in this world and not have it misused or misunderstood? Would I really be satisfied with a sterile world devoid of anything that could possibly lead to suffering or abuse? Could such a world even exist?

This “pyramids” question isn’t a black and white question at all. What if there is a third answer? What if there was a way to have a world filled with beautiful things, but without the risk of having them abused?

At the end of the discussion, I answered the question a second time. I said that I wanted a completely different option: God’s world returned to its original state of perfection. God made the world and called it good—all of it. Yet fallen humans abused God’s good world in their selfishness; beautiful dreams became cursed through misuse.

But this is not the end of the story. Jesus gave his life to reconcile the world to himself. His kingdom already exists in the hearts of those who love him, and we wait with expectation for the full coming of his kingdom, when every wrong will be made right. No more will beauty become cursed through sin and selfishness.

The end of the film finds Jiro watching the successful first flight of his prototype; the pilot, his colleagues, and representatives from the military surround him with praise and congratulations, but he doesn’t seem happy at all. In fact, he wasn’t even watching his plane’s maiden flight; he was looking off into the distance towards where his dying wife was. Jiro’s dream has come true, at great expense. Was it worth it?

That’s all from me; feel free to write your thoughts about the film in the comments below. What about you? Would you want to live in a world with or without the pyramids?

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Chocolates for Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine’s Day! We celebrated in Japanese style (sort of) by making chocolates with the youth group from our church. Although in Japan it is usually girls who make Valentine’s Day chocolates for their significant other, friends, family, and people who have “cared for” them (boss or senior colleagues), we do not discriminate against male chocolate lovers. We had 3 middle school boys (one of whom wants to become a chef) come to make chocolate too.


I’ve long thought about posting my recipe for truffles, but it’s difficult to get pictures with chocolate-covered hands… and I wasn’t really so consistent with measuring and such. But I made an effort this time while making test-batches for the chocolate party. So here we go.

First I make ganache—truffle filling. Depending on how hard it is, you can cover the ganache in coating chocolate or not. I make a variety of different fillings, but let’s start with the easiest.


Classic Chocolate ganache

Ingredients:
  • 120-150ml (1/2-2/3 cup) whipping cream (More cream makes a softer ganache; less cream makes a ganache that is easier to work with.)
  • 120g (4 oz) bittersweet chocolate chips (or other chocolate of your choice, broken into small chunks.)
  • 1 teaspoon rum (optional) or other liquor of your choice, for flavoring
Directions:

Put a little water in the bottom of a double-boiler and bring to a simmer. Put all the ingredients in the top of the double-boiler. (Or, if you are like me and you don’t have a double-boiler, a heat-proof bowl set over a small saucepan of simmering water will work just fine.) Do not stir; put on the lid and let all the ingredients warm up together for a few minutes. After the chocolate starts to look glossy, mix the chocolate and cream together until smooth. Transfer to a container and chill at least 5 hours or overnight.

Measuring the ingredients. The cream has had green tea steeping in it for the green tea variation below.
Assembling the ingredients in the top of my makeshift "double-boiler."
This is the caramel version.
It takes a while for the chocolate to melt. So we waited.
Chocolate is nice and melty; time to stir.

Nice and smooth; ganache is finished!

Classic Chocolate variation: Chocolate Nut ganache
Ingredients:
  • 120-150ml (1/2-2/3 cup) whipping cream
  • 120g (4 oz) bittersweet chocolate chips (or other chocolate of your choice, broken into small chunks.)
  • 50-80g (1.75-2.75 oz) finely chopped nuts of your choice—my suggestions would be almonds, pecans, walnuts, or hazelnuts.
  • 1 teaspoon rum (optional) or other liquor of your choice, for flavoring
Directions:
Follow the directions for Classic Chocolate ganache.


Classic Chocolate variation: Green Tea ganache

Ingredients:
  • 150ml (2/3 cup) whipping cream
  • 2 teaspoons green tea (sencha) leaves
  • 120g (4 oz) bittersweet chocolate chips (or other chocolate of your choice, broken into small chunks.)
Directions:

Place the whipping cream and green tea leaves in a small saucepan; bring to a simmer, then shut off the heat, cover, and let steep for at least 15 minutes. Pour the cream through a fine mesh strainer; press the tea leaves with the back of a spoon to squeeze out as much liquid as possible from the tea leaves.

Continue with the directions for “classic chocolate ganache.”


The previous 3 varieties of ganache are easy to make and easy to work with. They don’t necessarily need coating. Let’s move on to a more challenging ganache: caramel!


Caramel Ganache

Ingredients:
  • 100ml whipping cream (That’s approximately ¼ cup plus 3 tablespoons? Seriously… can’t we use the metric system already?)
  • 130g (4.5 oz) bittersweet chocolate chips (or other chocolate of your choice, but I would recommend dark chocolate for this recipe, broken into small chunks.)
  • 120ml (½ cup) caramel sauce*
  • ¼ teaspoon salt (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon rum (optional) or other liquor of your choice, for flavoring
Directions:

Follow the directions for Classic Chocolate ganache. Make sure the salt get mixed in completely; if you’re not sure whether you want salt in your caramel or not, add a little at a time.

*Although using plain caramel sauce is a good option, I like to mix things up with flavored caramel sauce. Since Hokkaido is famous for lavender, I have made lavender caramel sauce from this recipe, using lavender from our garden.

Another favorite caramel variation is my very own invention, which I call "failed mikan (mandarin orange) marmalade caramel sauce."


Shaping the Ganache

Now that we have chilled ganache, it’s time to shape it into little balls!

You will need:
  • Chilled ganache of your choice
  • Aluminum foil or non-stick silicon mat
  • Cookie sheet or other wide, flat containers
  • A teaspoon, or melon scoop, if you have one
  • Cocoa powder, green tea powder (matcha), finely chopped nuts, etc. to roll finished balls (firm ganache only)
  • For very soft ganache, you may want to use a piping bag with a wide tip
  • Space in your freezer
Directions:

Prepare your work space: line containers or cookie sheets with foil, or use a non-stick silicon mat if you have one.

Option one: using a teaspoon, scoop out a small amount of ganache, and shape it into a ball with your fingertips.

At this point, you can either put the balls in a foil-lined container and freeze them to coat with chocolate later (freeze at least 5 hours)…

OR, if you aren’t going to coat them with chocolate, roll the finished balls in your choice of topping: cocoa powder, green tea powder, or chopped nuts. Refrigerate for a few hours until firm. (And you’re done! You can ignore the rest of the recipe.)

Option two: for softer ganache, spoon the ganache into a piping bag and pipe onto a foil lined tray. Freeze for at least 5 hours. (If your ganache is soft enough for this method to work, you will definitely want to cover the ganache balls with coating chocolate.)

Note: You can make the balls as big or small as you want, but keep in mind that if you are coating them, the additional layer of chocolate makes them quite a bit bigger.

Finished ganache balls
These are caramel ganache. They look kind of funny, since they were stickier than the plain chocolate ganache balls.
Explaining the rolling process to the group.
Rolling ganache balls makes for sticky fingers.
Finished uncoated truffles, rolled in matcha, cocoa powder, or chopped nuts to finish.

Final step: Coating Chocolate!

This step is necessary for caramel ganache, but for firmer ganache as well, this makes a nice finish. And my experience is that most people don’t bother with coating, because it’s a bit of a pain… so that makes it special! But it’s not really as hard as it looks…

…especially if you have one of these nifty coating chocolate packs that you can get in Japan. I think you might be able to get them elsewhere, too. You can melt the chocolate right in the bag (immerse in hot water for a few minutes), open it up, and use chopsticks or a toothpick to dip the ganache balls in the coating. And it hardens right away! Neat! We used them for our chocolate party—(almost) no mess.


But I’m assuming you don’t have access to one of these nifty packs. Here’s how to coat truffles with normal chocolate.

You will need:
  • Frozen ganache balls
  • 150g (5 oz) chocolate of your choice—anything is fine, as long as it melts. I recommend 50-70% dark. CAUTION: Some chocolate has additives to help it keep its shape—you want to avoid that, since it won’t work at all.
  • 2 teaspoons unsalted butter
  • Non-stick mat or foil-lined containers
  • Toothpicks or chopsticks
  • An ice pack or two (optional)
  • Toppings: green tea powder (matcha), lavender flowers, candied fruit, chopped nuts, etc. (optional)
Directions:

Using the same double-boiler method as for the ganache, melt the chocolate and butter. Don’t mix until it starts to get shiny and melty.

Remove your ganache balls from the freezer, and set the container or tray on top of an ice pack if you have one. This will help keep them cool, since warm ganache balls are much harder to dip.

Using chopsticks or a toothpick, quickly roll each ganache ball in coating chocolate. Put in foil-lined container to dry. If you’re using toothpicks, you can leave them in; this makes for easy consumption later. You may want to use chopsticks to swirl the chocolate a bit and make a pretty pattern. This also covers lumps and dents in the coating.

Before the chocolate dries completely, add toppings of your choice.
Chill the finished truffles in the refrigerator until immediately before serving.

Ready to stir. This is milk chocolate, since it's hard to find dark chocolate in Japan that is not expensive imported chocolate.
Ready to dip!
It wasn’t easy to take pictures left-handed while dipping melty ganache balls with chopsticks in my right hand.
I usually swirl the chocolate on top of the truffles--covers lumps and dents!
Everyone is hard at work dipping and decorating with chocolate pens!
And now you're done! Enjoy your truffles! (And feel free to post variation ideas in the comments.)

Finished lavender caramel truffles
Green tea truffles with white chocolate coating and matcha topping
A variety of finished truffles

Failed Marmalade Caramel Sauce

Here’s my attempt at a recipe for my favorite caramel sauce. It’s a little hard to explain, since it started out as a mistake. Basically, I cooked my mikan (mandarin orange) marmalade far too long—it went way past jelly to borderline hard candy. Or, that’s what it turned into when it cooled.

But failures do not necessarily end as failures. I love making caramel (because I love eating caramel); I realized that the failed marmalade was quite similar to the beginning stage of caramel, so I “recycled” it into caramel sauce, and it was delicious!


Failed Mikan (Mandarin Orange) Marmalade Caramel Sauce


First, you will need some marmalade, if you don’t want to make a “failed” batch on purpose. You can start with a jar you’ve purchased or canned yourself. (If you are looking for a recipe, this is the one I used. I assure you, the failure was entirely my fault.) Throw it in a saucepan and bring to a boil; cook for about 3-5 minutes until it gets really thick. You will need about 80 ml (1/3 cup). Now, “failed marmalade” having been prepared, let’s move on to the caramel sauce.

Ingredients:
  • 80ml (1/3 cup) “Failed marmalade” caramel base
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 5 tablespoons butter
  • ½ teaspoon salt (optional, but highly recommended)
Directions:

Return “failed marmalade” to the saucepan and add sugar. Melt the sugar and boil for a couple more minutes. The caramel sauce will be harder or softer depending on how long you cook it.

Remove from heat, and add the cream. Return to the stove and stir until combined. Remove from heat and stir in the butter and salt. Keep in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it. I recommend it for caramel ganache and as a topping for fruit or ice cream… but I have also been known to eat spoonfuls of it straight from the jar.

Caution: caramel sauce is delicious, and you may be tempted to taste as you go. Please don't; it is very hot, and you will burn your tongue and/or finger. I know this from experience. Please wait until the caramel sauce has cooled a bit to taste it.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

February Newsletter

Seasons
Keith and Celia Olson
Newsletter #27・February 13, 2015

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings! We’ve just gotten through a busy season of concerts, sermons, Christmas events, and a workshop, and things have finally slowed down a bit. We’re thankful for the many ways we have seen God at work over the last several months. Here are a few pictures of recent events.

We visited Kyoto in November. This is the famous Kinkaku-ji.
On the same trip, we attended an Ochakai (Japanese tea gathering) at a church in Saitama. We found it inspiring as we think about how to use tea ceremony for God's glory.
Movie night and bread workshop (we watched Shiawase no Pan/The Bread of Happiness)
Christmas fondue party
Celia's Osechi, fifth time!
We’re in the final stretch of our first term, so we’ve started making preparations for our home assignment, which begins in July. We recently attended Pre-Home Assignment Workshop, where we learned, among other things, about storytelling our experiences as missionaries. Keith wrote the following story at the workshop, having been prompted to write about “something that inspired you lately.” (There were originally 2 stories, but one was not appropriate to post on the internet; let us know if you would like to get the email or print version.)
***

I was sitting in the back row in a room filled with people who came for Celia's cello concert. Next to me were the members of the church that were hosting this event including Mrs. Y. Since we were renting a room in the fairly warm and relaxed atmosphere of the Otofuke community center, people were filtering in late and even in the middle of songs. As soon as the door would open, in order to not disturb the concert, Mrs. Y would stand up with a smile, welcome the person, make sure the door closed quietly, and then helped the person to a seat.

Later in the concert, she cheerfully went to prepare tea for the reception. Shortly thereafter, she came back into the room holding a box of snacks for later. Very quietly and with seemingly exaggerated motions she tip-toed to her chair and slowly put it down without making a sound. Then she shoved it rather quickly under her chair, and as it slid, it seemed like she was intentionally making a grating noise, not loud, but certainly noticeable.

If it had been someone other than Mrs. Y, then at that moment I might have justifiably given the look that concert-goers give people to tell them to hush up. But instead, that was the moment it occurred to me that Mrs. Y, who is trying so hard to support this concert, cannot possibly be enjoying the music at all. Not because she is so busy, but because she is deaf. Her servant heart amazed and humbled me. She is serving so that others can more fully enjoy that which she will never be able to in this life.

Mrs. Y’s cheerful service challenged me to reconsider my own attitude. Do I serve out of obligation, or out of love? Especially about humility and service, I have a lot to learn from the Japanese people.

Celia and Shino's Otofuke concert
***

Prayer Points

  • We give thanks for Keith’s “Koinonia” small group Christmas Carol party--several seekers and neighbors attended, and they were able to hear the Christmas story and enjoy fellowship with the group. Please pray that group members will be encouraged by this experience and emboldened to continue reaching out to friends, family, and neighbors using the gifts God has given them.
  • We give thanks for Celia and Shino’s concerts in December and January. Please pray for each of the five churches who hosted concerts, for good follow-up.
  • Please pray for seekers, Ms. M and Mr. K (and his wife, who isn’t as interested). Mr. and Mrs. K (a different couple) have recently started a seeker’s Bible study with Pastor Takahashi, and we are participating as well, as part of our training.
  • We’re starting preparations for home assignment as well as considering where we will serve when we return to Japan in May 2016. Please pray for discernment and patience.
  • As part of our home assignment preparations, we are considering how to hand our church responsibilities off to others, especially Keith’s small group and movie nights for the youth group. Please pray that our “handing off” would empower church members to serve.
***

Save the Date: Home Assignment!
We’ll be on home assignment, based in Seattle, from mid-July 2015 until mid-May 2016. We look forward to catching up with many of you! More details to come in our next newsletter.
***

About the New Banner


We’ve updated our banner in the print/email version of our newsletters with pictures from recent life and travels in Japan. We're including it here, in case you're interested. From the left: bamboo forest (Kyoto), pickled ume plums and cherries drying in the sun, the roof of one of the Imperial Palace buildings (Kyoto—thanks to Sharon Law), a bowl of matcha, Osechi New Year’s feast, Tsuru no Yu onsen buildings in Akita prefecture, and ginkgo trees at Hokkaido University.
***

Language Corner

Here’s a gem we found recently in Kyoto. Remember to always use punctuation!


p.s. the karintō manjū at this shop were delicious!
***

Thanks for continuing to support us in prayer!

Love in Christ, Keith and Celia

I'm glad to be inside for the winter.