私のラザーニャ

 

私の好きな料理をご紹介します。　実は、私にとって、料理は面倒くさければ面倒くさいほどいいです。　もちろん、ラザーニャは面倒くさいので好きです。　ラザーニャを作りましょう。

私のラザーニャは色々な人の料理から影響を受けました。　子供の時、母はおいしいラザーニャを作ってくれました。　特に畑の野菜で作ったミートソースはおいしかったです。　

毎年実家の近所の人達はチリビーンズ祭りを行っています。　父はチリビーンズが大好きで、何回もチリビーンズ祭りの大会で優勝したことがあります。　高校生の時、初めて父と一緒にチリビーンズを作りました。　その時、父のクッキング・スタイルを習いました。　それは、冷蔵庫と相談するスタイルです。　父はレシピを使わず、ただおいしそうな材料を畑、冷蔵庫などから集めて、チリビーンズを作りました。

生パスタの作り方は神学校の合宿の時に学校の教授から習いました。　すごくおいしくて、思ったより簡単でした。

ずっと前からラザーニャを作っていますが、今月の中央教会の料理教室のために初めてレシピを書きました。　（写真はその時撮っていただきました。）　その前は何回も父のクッキング・スタイルと同じように色々なラザーニャを作っていました。　


レシピ：　ラザーニャ

必要な道具

• パスタマシン、パスタカッター
• クッキングマット
• チーズ用おろし金
• バーミックス、またはフードプロセッサー
• キャセロール（22x30センチ位の耐熱皿）

1.　ミート・ソース
ラザーニャ1枚分（10人分）

材料

• 牛挽き肉、400g
• オリーブ油、大さじ1
• 玉ねぎ、1個（大）、1センチの角切り
• 塩、小さじ1
• 白ワイン、大さじ2
• バリエーション：お好みの野菜、旬の野菜（ピーマン、なす、きのこなど、1センチの角切り）
• ローストにんにく*、大さじ1、またはにんにく、大さじ1、みじん切り
• お好みのハーブ、小さじ1　（オレガノ、ローズマリー、タイム、パセリがお勧め）
• トマト、800g、2センチの角切り、またはトマトの缶詰、800g
• 赤ワイン、240cc
• 赤とうがらし、1本（入れなくても大丈夫）
• トマトペースト、170g
• コショウ、小さじ¼
• はちみつ、小さじ1

作り方

1. フライパンで牛挽き肉を炒める。　焼き色がついたら、火を止め、紙タオルで余分な脂を抜き取る。　牛肉をボールに入れる。
2. 大きい鍋にオリーブ油を弱火で温めて、玉ねぎ、塩、白ワインを入れる。　蓋をして、10分ほど焼く。　蓋をとって、ひと混ぜする。
3. お好みの野菜や旬の野菜を入れるなら、それを2.に入れて、2-3分間混ぜながら炒める。ローストにんにく、ハーブを加えて、よく混ぜる。
4. トマト、赤ワイン、赤とうがらしを3.に入れて、煮立てる。　火を弱くして、15分間弱火で煮る。　火を止めて、バーミックスでピュレ状にして、トマトペーストを入れてよく混ぜる。
5. 1.の牛肉を4.に入れて、煮立てて、火を弱くして、10分間弱火で煮る。
6. 火を止めて、はちみつ、コショウを加える。　赤とうがらしをとる。

*ローストにんにく
私は普通ローストにんにくを大量に作って、色々なレシピに入れます。

材料

• にんにく、適量
• オリーブ油、少々
• 塩コショウ、少々

作り方

1. にんにくの皮をむいて、ボールに入れる。　オリーブ油、塩コショウをかける。　
2. オーブンの皿に載せて、180℃のオーブンで30分程焼く。　
3. フードプロセッサーでつぶして、ペーストにする。
4. ガラス瓶に入れて、冷蔵庫で保存する。

2．ラザーニャヌードル、生パスタ
ラザーニャ2枚分（せっかく生パスタを作るので、沢山作らないともったいないと私は思っています。　残ったラザーニャヌードルをカットして、パスタにする説明も書きました。）

材料

• 卵、6個
• 塩、小さじ½
• バリエーション：お好みのハーブ、みじん切り、ドライ・トマト、お湯で戻して、みじん切り
• セモリナ粉、300g
• 薄力粉、300g
• 薄力粉（打ち粉用）、適量

作り方

1. 大きいボールに、卵、塩を入れて混ぜる。　ハーブ、ドライ･トマトを使うなら、それも入れて混ぜる。
2. セモリナ粉、薄力粉を少しずつ入れて、よく混ぜる。　混ぜられない時、生地を打ち粉したクッキングマットの上に載せて、手に打ち粉を付けて、生地をこねる。　残っている薄力粉があったら、それを加えながらこねる。　生地がツルツルになるまでこねる。　
3. 20分間ほど生地をねかせる。
4. 生地を6つに分ける。　1分割を取って、残りの5分割が乾燥しないようにボールを上からかぶせる。
5. 手に打ち粉を付けて、手で生地の1分割を薄く伸ばして、四角い形にして、パスタマシンの一番厚いセッティングに入るようにする。　（私のパスタマシンは「1」というセッティングが一番厚いです。「6」は一番薄いです。） 　パスタマシンを「1」にセットする。　
6. 5.の生地の両面に薄力粉を振り掛けて、パスタマシンに生地を通す。　変わった形になってしまったら、端を折って、もう一度同じセッティングでパスタマシンに通す。
7. パスタマシンを「2」のセッティングにして、6.を繰り返す。　「5」のセッティング、ラザーニャヌードルが1-1.5 mm の厚さになるまで繰り返す。
8. 5.-7.を残っている5分割でも繰り返す。
9. キャセロールの大きさに合わせてナイフでラザーニャヌードルをカットする。　注意：ラザーニャヌードルをゆでないほうがいいです。
10. ラザーニャが出来上がって、ラザーニャヌードルが残っている場合は、パスタにしましょう。　そのためにパスタカッターを取り付けます。　ラザーニャヌードルに両面に薄力粉を振り掛けて、パスタマシンのパスタカッターに通す。　パスタに薄力粉を振り掛けて、クッキングマットに広げて干す。　
11. すぐゆでる場合は2分ほどゆでる。　次の日なら、7分ほどゆでる。
12. 保存のし方：2日間そのまま干しても良い。　その後、冷凍庫で保存するのがお勧めです。

生地を作る

こねる

1分割を伸ばす

クラスの皆さんは手伝ってくれました。　3人で楽です。

うわああ、　きれいなパスタです！　早く上手になりました。

ラザーニャを3枚作ったら、残っているヌードルをパスタにしました。

沢山作って、クラスの皆さんはお土産を持って帰りました。

3.　ホワイト･ソース
ラザーニャ1枚分

材料

• ヨーグルト、900g
• 卵の黄身、2個
• おろしモッツァレラ・チーズ、80g
• おろしパルメザンチーズ、40g
• ローストにんにく*、大さじ1、またはにんにく、大さじ1、みじん切り
• 塩、小さじ1
• コショウ、小さじ¼

作り方

1. ヨーグルトをだし袋に入れて、それを大きいボールの上に、裏ごしに入れて、一晩ねかす。　ボールに出た黄色い液は捨てる。
2. ボールに1.の水切りヨーグルトも入れて、他の材料も全部加えてよく混ぜる。

4.　チーズ、野菜など
ラザーニャは色々な材料、色々な作り方があります。　人によって、旬によって違います。　ですから、私の好きな方法を書きましたが、どうぞ、お好みの材料を使って下さい。

材料

• おろしモッツァレラ・チーズ、160g
• おろしパルメザンチーズ、40g
• お勧めの野菜：
• 秋と冬：きのこ（マッシュルーム、しめじ、まいたけ、200g）、かぼちゃ（150g）、ほうれん草（1束）、玉ねぎ（1個、中）
• 夏：バジル、ズッキーニ（中、2本）、なす（大、2本）など
• テーブルに：ハーブ塩、おろしパルメザンチーズ

作り方

1. きのこ、玉ねぎなどを1センチの角切りにする。　ズッキーニ、なすなどを5mmの輪切りにする。　ほうれん草などの青菜を1センチの長さに切る。　かぼちゃを4mmの厚さにスライスする。
2. ほうれん草などの青菜を1分間ゆでて、水をきる。　
3. かぼちゃを2分間ゆでて、水をきる。
4. きのこ、玉ねぎをフライパンで炒めたら、おいしくなります。
5. ズッキーニ、なすはそのままラザーニャに入れても良い。

5.　ラザーニャを重ねて、焼く

作り方

1. オーブンを200℃に予熱する。
2. 22x30センチのキャセロールにオリーブ油を少し敷く。
3. 下記の「ラザーニャの層」のようにラザーニャを重ねていく。　「0」から始めて、「12」まで進む。
4. この「ラザーニャの層」にはお好みの旬の野菜をいっぱい入れて下さい。
5. ラザーニャをオーブンの下段に入れて、20分間焼く。
6. オーブンから出して、おろしモッツァレラ・チーズとおろしパルメザンチーズを振り掛ける。　ラザーニャの向きを変えて、オーブンに戻して、20分間ほど焼く。　きつね色になり、プツプツして来たら、オーブンから出す。　10分間冷ます。
7. ハーブ塩、おろしパルメザンチーズを振り掛けて、お召し上がり下さい。

ラザーニャの層

• 13: チーズ
• 12: ミート･ソース、少々
• 11: パスタ
• 10: 野菜
• 9: ミート･ソース、たっぷり
• 8: パスタ
• 7: 野菜
• 6: ホワイト･ソース
• 5: パスタ
• 4: 野菜
• 3: ミート･ソース、たっぷり
• 2: パスタ
• 1: ミート･ソース、少々
• 0: オリーブ油

重ねる準備、できました！　秋のラザーニャを作るために、この材料を使います。　ミートソース、かぼちゃ、ホワイトソース、スイスチャード、きのこ、チーズ。

かぼちゃは珍しいかもしれませんが、おいしいです！　お勧めです。

私の畑のスイスチャ－ドはほうれん草に似ていますが、色がきれいから、私はスイスチャ－ドが好きです。

私は1枚を作ったら、クラスの皆さんは2枚作りました。

チーズをいっぱい振り掛けました。

やっぱり、一番楽しいのは食べることです。　：）

My Lasagne

Guess what? I finally wrote out "my recipe" for lasagne. Although it's now written down, there's no guarantee that this is the recipe I will be using from now on. ;) I will probably continue to improvise based on what's in my garden/refrigerator/pantry. But here is one version that I made for a cooking class I did this month at Chuo Church. The pictures are from the class.

Oh, by the way, I live in Japan now. We use metric here. But I'm still using American sized spoons and cups--1 cup is 240 mL, 1 Tbsp is 15 mL, and 1 tsp is 5 mL.


Lasagne

Special Equipment: Pasta roller, pastry cloth, cheese grater, pasta cutter in case of leftover pasta, blender or stick blender (recommended), casserole pan (9x12in or equivalent)

Step 1: Meat sauce
Makes 1 large lasagne

Ingredients:

• 400g ground beef
• 1Tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp white wine
• Optional: other vegetables, diced (pepper, eggplant, mushroom, olive, etc.)
• 1 Tbsp roasted garlic* or minced garlic
• ½ tsp Italian herb seasoning (or 1 T fresh herbs of your choice, minced: oregano, rosemary, parsley, and thyme are recommended)
• 800g tomatoes, rough cut, or 2 cans (411g/14.5oz each) whole tomatoes with juice
• 1 cup red wine
• ¼ tsp hot pepper flakes (optional)
• 170g (1 small can) tomato paste
• ¼ tsp pepper
• 1 tsp honey (optional)

Instructions:

1. Brown beef; drain fat if necessary. Set aside.
2. Meanwhile, heat up olive oil in a large pot over low heat. Add onions, salt, and white wine. Cover and cook for 10 minutes until soft. (If you are using other vegetables such as peppers, add them now and sauté for a few minutes.) Add roasted garlic and Italian herb seasoning (or fresh herbs of your choice) and mix well.
3. Add tomatoes, red wine, and hot pepper flakes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Remove from heat, blend with stick blender. Add tomato paste and mix well.
5. Add beef; simmer for another 10 minutes.
6. Add honey and pepper; adjust seasoning.

*Roasted Garlic
You can make any quantity of garlic you want; I usually make a large batch of about a kilogram of garlic which I store in a jar in the fridge and use for all kinds of recipes.

Ingredients:

• Garlic, peeled and root end removed
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F/180C.
2. In a bowl, toss garlic with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
3. Spread garlic on a baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes until soft and brown, stirring several times.
4. Crush the garlic until smooth in a food processor.
5. Store in a glass jar in the refrigerator.

Step 2: Pasta
Makes enough for 2 large lasagne (16 servings), OR 1 large lasagne (8 servings) plus a bunch of extra pasta (about 4 servings)

Ingredients:

• 6 eggs (or 5 eggs and 2 egg whites, since 2 yolks go in the white sauce)
• ½ tsp salt
• Herbs of your choice, minced (optional)
• Reconstituted and minced sundried tomatoes (optional)
• 300g Semolina flour
• 300g all purpose flour
• Extra flour for dusting

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, salt, and optional herbs and tomatoes.
2. Add flours a little at a time and mix well. When it gets too thick to stir, turn the dough onto a floured pastry cloth and knead the dough with floured hands as you add the remaining flour. Continue kneading until the dough is smooth and only slightly sticky.
3. Rest the dough for 20 minutes.
4. Divide the dough into 6 pieces. Keep the remaining pieces covered so they don’t dry out.
5. Using your floured hands, shape the first piece so that it is roughly square and flat enough to fit through the widest setting of your pasta roller (that’s #1 on my roller).
6. Coat both sides of the dough with flour so it doesn’t stick to the pasta roller… and feed it through! If the shape is funky, reshape (fold in the ends) and put it through again on the same setting.
7. Set the pasta roller to #2, and repeat step 6 until your pasta is as thin as you want it. My pasta roller goes as narrow as #6, but I prefer to stop with #5. The pasta sheets should be about 1-1.5 mm thick.
8. Repeat steps 5-7 with each of your remaining pieces of dough.
9. If you’re making lasagne, cut the pasta sheets to the correct size and assemble your lasagne! No need to pre-cook the pasta sheets.
10. If you are done assembling your lasagne and have leftover pasta sheets, coat both sides with flour and roll them through your pasta cutter. Toss the finished noodles with flour and allow them to dry on your floured pastry cloth for up to 24 hours. After that, put them in a plastic freezer bag and store in the freezer.
11. Cook your noodles in salted boiling water for 2 minutes (if they’re very fresh) or up to 7 minutes (if you’ve dried them for a while) until al dente. (NOTE: This step is NOT necessary for lasagne noodles! Do not pre-cook raw lasagne sheets!)

Making the dough. Actually it is kind of intimidating to do this with a bunch of people watching...

Kneading.

Starting to roll out the pasta. It starts very small.

The pasta stretches and stretches! It's actually easiest to do with 3 people--one to feed, one to catch, and one to turn the crank.

Everyone caught on quickly. Look at that beautiful pasta!

The lasagne is done, so now it's time to cut the leftover pasta. Ozawa-sensei gives it a go.

We made lots! Everyone got to take some pasta home!

Step 3: White sauce
Makes 1 large lasagne

Ingredients:

• 2 packs (450g each) yogurt or 3 c ricotta cheese
• 2 egg yolks
• ½ c/80g grated mozzarella cheese
• ¼ c/40g grated parmesan cheese
• 1 Tbsp roasted garlic* or minced garlic
• 1 tsp salt (or 1 ½ tsp herb salt)
• ¼ tsp fresh ground pepper

Instructions:

1. If you are using yogurt, pour the yogurt into a cheesecloth-lined strainer set over a large bowl; let strain overnight. Discard the yellowish liquid (whey) in the bowl.
2. In a medium bowl, mix the strained yogurt with the rest of the ingredients, being sure to incorporate the roasted garlic so there are no clumps.

Step 4: Cheese , Vegetables, Etc.
I’m usually very flexible when it comes to what sort of cheese and which vegetables I use. Here are some guidelines, but feel free to use what’s in season and available.

Suggested ingredients:

• 160g Mozzarella cheese
• 40g Parmesan cheese
• Suggested vegetables:
• Fall and winter: mushrooms (button, shimeji—135g, maitake—100g), kabocha (150g, cut in 4mm slices), spinach or other greens (chopped and blanched)
• Summer: basil, zucchini, eggplant, etc.
• Optional: herb salt, additional parmesan cheese for serving

Instructions:

1. Grate the cheese, if it’s not pre-grated.
2. Chop the vegetables into bite-sized pieces (mushrooms, onions, etc), 5 mm slices (zucchini, eggplant, squash, etc), or rough chopped (leafy greens).
3. Blanch leafy greens in boiling water for 1 minute; drain well and squeeze out excess liquid.
4. Blanch squash and other slow-cooking vegetables in boiling water for about 2 minutes, or until just tender; drain well.
5. Zucchini and eggplant do not need to be pre-cooked.
6. Brown mushrooms and onions in olive oil. This will increase flavour and reduce water content.

Step 5: Assembly and Baking

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400F/200C.
2. Oil a large 9x12 inch or equivalent casserole pan. Any size is fine, but I find square or rectangular pans easiest to work with.
3. Assemble the lasagne according to the “suggested layering” list below, starting from layer 0 at the bottom and working up to layer 12—leave out the cheese for now; we’ll add that partway through the baking time.
4. This layering list is very flexible. I wouldn’t suggest eliminating pasta or sauce layers, but you can add, substitute, or completely leave out vegetable layers.
5. Bake the lasagne for 20 minutes.
6. Sprinkle the top with mozzarella and parmesan cheeses. Flip the lasagne 180 degrees and bake for about 20 minutes more, until the sauce at the edges is bubbling and the cheese is browned.
7. Remove from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes… if you can wait that long!
8. Serve with parmesan cheese and herb salt if you like.

Suggested layering:

• Layer 13: cheese
• Layer 12: meat sauce (thin layer)
• Layer 11: pasta
• Layer 10: vegetable
• Layer 9: meat sauce (thick layer)
• Layer 8: pasta
• Layer 7: vegetable
• Layer 6: white sauce
• Layer 5: pasta
• Layer 4: vegetable
• Layer 3: meat sauce (thick layer)
• Layer 2: pasta
• Layer 1: meat sauce (just a little)
• (Layer 0: Oil the pan)

I set up the different ingredients more or less in order for easy assembly. This time we used vegetables in season in the fall. From the far end of the table: meat sauce, kabocha (a kind of squash), white sauce, swiss chard, mushrooms, and cheeses.

Kabocha in a lasagne was a pretty novel idea, I'm told. The Japanese concept of lasagna has only pasta, meat sauce, white sauce, and cheese... although I have seen recipes in which vegetables take the place of the pasta. Still, it seems the kabocha and other vegetables went over well.

Swiss chard layer--colorful! (It came from our farm!)

The class participants spread white sauce. I made one example lasagne, and then the participants put together 2 more.

After the lasagne bakes for awhile, cheese goes on the top. (Another cultural note: apparently Japanese lasagnes usually have white sauce as the final layer underneath the cheese. I found out afterwards. Oh well.)

Of course the best part is eating the lasagne! (My mouth was full.) Yay!

Thankfulness

Today’s coffee: mocha (Tokumitsu), Papua New Guinea

So… last week I was hibernating. It’s been a busy two and a half months. First was my concert in Tokyo, then one in Abashiri, and the Wakaba Bazaar a week later (I made 5 different snacks to sell). Towards the end of October, I had a concert at Sakae Church, and then I played for their worship service the next day… and then rushed back to Wakaba to give a talk for the youth group in the afternoon, which I hadn’t really had checked properly… who knows how many Japanese mistakes I made? Then there was a pastor’s conference, and a week after that, a cooking class. Meanwhile, we were harvesting lots of stuff from the farm and preserving what we couldn’t eat right away. After the cooking class was over (I taught everyone to make lasagne with pasta from scratch), for the next week I spent as much time as possible resting… but there were a lot of things to catch up on too.

I’m glad this period is over; now we’ve got a couple of weeks to rest and prepare for Christmas rush. Still, in the middle of all of this, we saw some beautiful fall colors, met up with a lot of people we don’t usually get to see, I actually got around to writing up my lasagne recipe which previously only existed in my head, and we saw God at work in a lot of ways.

Our friend, Izumi is visiting right now; she was a fellow student at Regent. After having heard about her mom’s amazing pickles and her dad’s amazing garden for years, we finally managed to meet up with all of them in Niseko yesterday. During a nice early-morning onsen soak, Izumi told me about how she looks for beauty every day—not just beauty in nature, but the beauty of God at work, and the beauty of time spent with friends and family. This has gotten her through difficult times, she said.

Here are a bunch of beautiful things I’ve seen and experienced over the last two months that had me thanking God for his goodness. There's a huge number of picture that I want to share (who wouldn't take lots of pictures of Hokkaido in the fall?) so I'll give you 2 options to look at them.

For the casually interested, a collage:

If you want to take time to look at each picture (and read the captions), please visit the web album I made with all of these pictures.

A few more things I'm thankful for which don't have any pictures:

• Keith and I went to see the new Studio Ghibli movie: 風立ちぬ (Kazetachinu—The Wind Rises). A beautiful film, very subtly anti-war… and the hero is an aeronautical engineer! Somehow with my family history, engineers are rather close to my heart…
• Our car. It is loud and old, and it uses lots of gas. But without it, we wouldn’t be able to get around in the winter… and we wouldn’t be able to go camping or hiking!
• People who pray for us and encourage us, both here in Japan and at “home” in the US… and lots of other places too!
• Time to rest and cook and spend time with friends.
• Anticipation: wow, does the Christmas fruitcake ever smell good. Waiting is difficult, but we're looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year’s with friends.

Hope for Generation Y

Today’s coffee: blend (at Tokumitsu)

I really didn’t think I’d get to write this week. We’ll make it fast—just one cup of coffee (and a slice of cheesecake). This afternoon I’ve got to actually write down my lasagne recipe, which until now has only existed in my head… (cooking class next week!)

Last night I went to a concert. Well, not exactly a concert. The students at our local seminary have been working very hard at learning to play the organ—some of them may become pastors in very small churches where there is no one else to accompany the singing during the worship service. Last night’s concert was they’re debut at accompanying congregational singing.

During the concert, the students read through the entire book of Philippians interspersed with hymns by Fanny Crosby. (I have a sneaking suspicion that her hymns are more popular among Japanese evangelicals than they are in the US these days.) Encouraged, I decided to read Philippians again this morning in English.

Backing up a bit, last night before we went to sleep, Keith and I talked for a long time about humility—our need for it, our failures in the past, and our thankfulness that God has sent us to a place and a work where we will either learn humility or we will fail. We also talked about a certain blog post which made the rounds on facebook a while ago—this particular blog presented a hilarious and yet painful description of our generation. We were both raised to think we were special. Special in the eyes of our family and friends, yes. Better than everyone else, no. But somehow thinking we were “special” made us lose sight of our own weaknesses and gave us a sense of entitlement that was, and still is, hard to shake.

As I read through Philippians again this morning, I found hope in chapter 2:

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phi 2:1-11 NIV)

I found this passage to be both convicting and comforting. Am I entitled to a life of comfort in which my talents and intellect are respected? No. I am to consider others better than myself. But I’m not the only one. Jesus, the founder of my faith and the model whose life I seek to emulate, threw away all of the things humans want—power, honour, glory—and was born as a human to a poor family, lived a short life full of love for others, and died a painful death in our place.

And yet even if I am disrespected and my life seems less successful than I had hoped it would be, I know that I am loved. Jesus made himself nothing for my sake, for each one of us. Living my life in humble obedience to the one who loves me is far more meaningful than all the successes in the world.

So, I think there’s still hope for “generation Y”: God loves us despite our failures and shortcomings, and we can respond to God’s love for us in obedience and humility and teachability. I still have so much to learn, but I am confident in the one who is teaching me.

Concert weekend!

It's going to be a busy weekend, so I'm not in particular going to do a Friday post today. I have a concert Saturday night, then I'm playing at the same church Sunday morning, and back at my own church to give a talk for the youth group Sunday afternoon... and that talk isn't quite done yet. Guess what I'll be doing today??

For those of you in the Sapporo area, I'm including a poster and details below.

Details:

• Date: Saturday, October 26, 2013, 6:30 p.m.
• Place: Sakae Church, Sapporo Higashi Ku, Kita 47 Jo Higashi 7 Chome 2-1 (Phone: 011-731-7277)
• Repertoire: Bach viola da gamba sonata #3, bits of Bach cello suite #1, Ghibli movie music, hymns.
• Also: I will tell a bit of my story as a musician; Akasaka-sensei (visiting from Kanto) will give a message
• Cake: yes. Sure to be delicious--I know from experience. :)

Hopefully I'll get around to posting some pictures sometime this weekend!

Pear Exchange

 

Today’s coffee: Guatemala

We’ve had crazy weather this week. On Tuesday, we joined the crowd of people at the farm trying to harvest as much as possible before the typhoon came. Our table is covered with peppers and tomatoes and herbs—we’re hoping some of the unripe ones will ripen. There’s zucchini in the refrigerator too.

I think the typhoon must have weakened and changed course, since we hardly got any wind at all, just torrential rain. I guess the farm will be okay for a few more weeks. Here’s hoping the daikon and red cabbage will be big enough to harvest before the snow comes. Yesterday morning after the typhoon ended, the mountains around Sapporo were capped with snow.

This morning as I was taking advantage of the sunshine and airing the futon on the balcony, I noticed that the Ojiisan (a polite way to call an elderly man) next door was on the roof, trimming the pear tree. 

I had previously received permission to pick up as many pears as I like. I made jam with them and brought a jar of it next door with my thanks. Then the next day, Obaasan (a polite way to call an elderly woman) came over with a big bag of peppers from their farm. (In Japan, it is impossible to out-generous one’s neighbour… :)

As I continued on with household chores, I snuck glances out the window. “What shall I do? Maybe I should go offer to help?” When I saw Obaasan picking up fallen branches, I decided to act.

“Could I please pick up some more pears?” I asked. 

“Sure!” said Obaasan. 

We chatted about cooking and gardening as I dropped pears in a big black bucket. Ojiisan smiled absentmindedly as he trimmed branches. “Watch out!” called Obaasan, as pears and branches dropped around me. 

I found out that the pear tree had been in the yard for more than 20 years, but the family never ate any of the pears. They’re not all that good to eat plain, but perfect for baking—unfortunately there’s not many traditional recipes using pears in Japan. (If you know if any, leave a comment. :)

Tonight’s task is to peel, cut, and use as many pears as possible. What to make first? I wonder what our neighbours would like to try?

On Hiding

Today’s coffee: Costa Rica (at Tokumitsu)

Keith and I have been blessed with a house. We have a good relationship with our landlady, a church member, and her husband, who is our neighbour at the farm. Being in a house of our own means that it’s okay to play our instruments, to shout potentially embarrassing things across the house… and go around singing little songs we made up… and other noisy activities. Except that all summer, the windows were open. I wonder what the neighbours thought.

Everywhere in the world, we have certain behaviours which we only do around people with whom we are comfortable. We only share very personal thoughts with those we trust. Each place, each group of people, has certain levels and expectations for the way people behave in public. In Japan, I think Hokkaido is fairly relaxed, like Seattle is compared to Boston. In Seattle, I could go to the grocery store in dirty jeans, whereas I felt awkward riding the subway in clean, tidy jeans in Boston, surrounded by business people in suits. In Seattle, we are also a lot more open with our thoughts and feelings and struggles than I felt able to be in Boston, or in Japan.

I confess I have an embarrassing hobby: I read manga. Actually, in Japan, this isn’t embarrassing at all; it’s quite common, and it’s a good way to start conversations with other people my age. As long as I stay firmly rooted in the real world with real people, I don’t see myself as being in any danger from my hobby.

But I digress. Last week I started reading a manga about a girl who hides her “true” self—all her embarrassing habits, hobbies, and tastes—and creates a completely different persona when she’s outside the protective space of her own home and her family and close friends. The tension points of the story revolve around the protagonist trying to keep her true self hidden so will not return to the ostracism and pain she experienced as a child.

We all have our public and private personas. Underneath the surface, we are all people with embarrassing habits and hobbies and tastes. The public persona competes with all the other public personas—how well can I pass myself off as perfect? How well can I hide the “real” me? (How good does my life look on Facebook?) I resonated with the protagonist of the previously mentioned manga because as a child, I really didn’t know how to create a “public persona.” I said exactly what I thought (often arrogant and socially awkward thoughts) and I behaved the same at school as at home.

In my natural state, 5th grade (hair surprisingly tidy for that time of my life)

I was in the “gifted class” in elementary school—I really wish it hadn’t been called that—with all the other kids with good grades and creative minds but no social skills. In some ways it was a protective haven, where I learned to use my mind but not my common sense. In 5th grade when I left that protective haven, I continued being my awkward self… and got bullied. It didn’t take long until I learned what I could and couldn’t do in public, but not before I was stigmatized as a social reject until I graduated from high school. College was great; I got a chance to start over with a completely clean slate. No one from my high school went to the same college as me. Then in a few more years, I got another clean slate in graduate school in Boston. And again in seminary. You would think I’d be pretty good at this by now.

High school senior year, public persona fully formed

Here I am in Japan. I think more so even than Boston, outward appearances are important, especially for people who stand out. I stand out in a lot of ways. Not only am I a foreigner, I am also a married female missionary, which in some ways is similar to the difficult role of “pastor’s wife.” The level of scrutiny of my lifestyle turns up a few more notches. My heart hurts for friends who struggle to find their place as pastor’s wives. There are so many expectations, but none of them spoken.

I hope that I can live in such a way that my actions reflect what is in my heart—and that I can do this without shame, hiding nothing. And yet there will always be layers, which are slowly peeled away as trust is built. I can be comfortable at home with Keith, comfortable sharing my struggles and joys with close friends, comfortable sharing prayers and answers to prayer with friends at church. I'm praying for wisdom to be open when it is helpful and closed when I need to be.

Sourdough Bread, Part 4: Making Bread ・ 天然酵母のパンの作り方

Sourdough Bread　・　天然酵母のパン

You’ve made your starter and maybe a few batches of pancakes… now the moment you’ve all been waiting for is here: it’s time to make bread! Below is my basic recipe, but there are endless variations to try once you get the hang of it. When I get around to it, I’ll post some ideas.**

天然酵母の種を作って、ホットケーキをもう作ったかもしれませんね。　さあ、いよいよパンを作りましょう！　私はここでシンプルなレシピを書きましたが、このレシピをマスターしたら、色々なバリエーションができます。**　

Ingredients

• 1 ¼ cups active sourdough starter*
• 2/3 cup water** (If possible, use filtered or bottled water)
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 ½ cups flour (my blend: 1 cup whole wheat, 1 ½ cups white bread flour)**
• 1 teaspoon salt

材料

• 元気な天然酵母の種、300cc*
• 水、160cc**　（できればペットボトルの水か浄水器を通した水がお勧め）
• ハチミツ、大さじ1
• 全粒粉、160g**
• 強力粉、240g**
• 塩、小さじ1

*Active sourdough starter is bubbly, like this. 元気な天然酵母の種は写真のように小さい泡が沢山あります。

Active sourdough starter　・　元気な天然酵母の種

A bit too active! Oops.　・　キャア、元気過ぎる！

Instructions　・　作り方

1. You can mix the bread dough by hand (builds arm muscles!) with a wooden spoon in a glass bowl, or you can use a stand mixer with bread hook. Mix sourdough starter, water,** and honey. Add 1 cup flour and mix well. 手で生地を混ぜる場合は、ガラスかホーローのボール、木のへらを使って下さい。　力仕事ですよ！　スタンドミキサーがある場合は、パンのフックを付けて使うこともできる。　天然酵母の種、水**、ハチミツをボールに入れて混ぜてから全粒粉を加えて混ぜる。

2. Add salt  and the remaining flour ½ cup at a time. Your dough should be quite stiff at this point, although still moist.　塩を1.に加えて混ぜる。　強力粉を少し入れて、混ぜて、全量が入るまで繰り返す。　生地はかたいけど、かなりべたべたしている。

3. If you’re mixing by hand, when you can’t stir any more, turn the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead about 10 minutes. Don’t forget to flour your hands! Add any remaining flour a little at a time. If you’re using a stand mixer with bread hook, you can let the mixer do some of the work for you, so you probably won’t need 10 minutes of kneading my hand, but actually bread likes to be kneaded, so no need to worry about overdoing it. Keep kneading until the dough is smooth and holds its shape. When you poke it, it will spring back. Note: The amount of flour necessary varies according to the weather and humidity; also the moisture content in your starter may be different than mine, so you may require more or less flour than I do.　手で生地を練っている場合は、混ぜられない時生地を打粉をした台の上に載せて、手に小麦粉を付けて、10分ほどこねる。　残っている強力粉があったら、それをこねながら加える。　スタンドミキサーを使っているなら、ミキサーが生地をこねるので、手でこねるのは5分位で十分です。　生地はこねられるのが好きですから、こね過ぎる心配はありません。　生地がツルツルになってまとまるまでこねる。　生地を指で押しても、元の形に戻れば、こねる時間は十分です。　注意：天気、湿度、種の水分の量によって必要な小麦粉の量が違うので、一度作ってみて、自分の体で覚えてください。

When you start kneading, it looks something like this.　・　こね始める時はこんな感じです。

When you're done, it looks like this!　･　こうなります！

4. Put the dough in a large glass or stainless steel bowl, cover with a lid or damp cloth and put the bowl in a warm place until the size of the dough has doubled. In the summer, this takes about 10 hours at room temperature.  Warmed to 40 degrees C/104 F, it will take 6-8 hours. In Japan, my oven can be set to 40 degrees C. During the winter, I put the bread dough in the kotatsu (probably around 35 degrees C); I can simultaneously keep the bread and my legs warm! In places without Japanese ovens and kotatsu, I put the bread dough in the oven with the light turned on, and that is sufficient. In a cooler place, rising time can take much longer; the longer the rising time, the sourer the bread becomes. Once I let it rise for more than 48 hours in Sapporo winter room temperature. It was practically inedible it was so sour. Personally I think 10-16 hours is perfect for flavour.　生地をガラスか、ステンレスのボールに入れて、しっかり絞ったぬらしたタオルを被せるかボールに蓋があったら蓋をして、生地が倍になるまで、温かい所に置いて発酵させる。（一次発酵）　夏の室温では10時間位かかるが、40℃のオーブンなら、6-8時間位しかかからない。　私は冬の間生地をこたつに入れる。　冬の室温では発酵は非常に時間がかかる。　私はある時札幌の冬の室温でパンを発酵させて、48時間かかりましたが、食べられないほど酸っぱかった。　時間が経つにしたがって、パンが酸っぱくなるので、おいしい味のため、10-16時間で発酵させるのが理想的です。

This is a kotatsu. Jealous?　･　こたつに入っている生地

It starts about this size...　・　量が少ないみたいけど...

... and it gets big!　・　... 大きくなる！

5. After the dough has doubled in size, knead it again for a few minutes, shaping it into a loaf. You can also divide it into smaller loaves or rolls. I put my dough into an oiled and floured rising basket; this gives the bread a nice shape, but isn’t necessary if you have kneaded the dough properly. If you don’t have rising baskets, put your loaf on a greased baking sheet. If you are making rolls, they can rise and bake in greased muffin tins.　生地が倍になったら、2,3分こねて、生地を好みの形に作る。　ブールという丸いパンがお勧めですが、テーブルロールなどもできます。　バンネトンというバスケット（写真のような型）でパンを発酵させることもできますが、ちゃんとこねたら、要りません。　バンネトンを使うなら、薄くハケで油を塗って、その上から小麦粉を茶こしでふりかけて生地を入れる。　バンネトンを使わないなら、天板に油を塗って、パンをそのまま天板に置く。　テーブルロールはマッフィンの型で発酵させて焼くことができます。

If you're using rising baskets, put the pretty side down and the messy side up. You'll flip it over before baking anyway.　・　バンネトンを使ったら、パンをひっくり返して入れる。　後でもう一回ひっくり返すから。

6. Cover with a damp cloth and put the loaf or rolls in a warm place (see step 4) and let double in size—this should take 2-4 hours. 　4.と同じようにしっかり絞ったぬらしたタオルを被せて、パンを温かい所に置いて倍になるまで2-4時間位発酵させる（二次発酵）。

7. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F. If you are using rising baskets, gently turn the loaf onto a baking sheet. Using a sharp knife, cut one or more slices in the top of the loaf. This will keep air bubbles from forming, but isn’t necessary for rolls. (When I had a large oven, I used a baking stone; if you have one, by all means use it! Preheat the stone with the oven, and turn the bread onto the baking stone at the last minute before baking.)　オーブンを220℃に予熱する。　バンネトンを使う場合は、生地を天板にひっくり返して置く。　バンネトンを使う場合も、使わない場合もパンの上に2本の切れ目を十字の形に入れる。　鋭い刃のナイフやギザギザの刃のパンナイフでもいい。　テーブルロールの場合は切れ目を入れなくてもいい。

8. Fill an oven-safe mug or similar halfway with water; set it on the baking sheet next to the bread. Bake for 20 minutes, rotate the loaf, then bake 15 more minutes. Baking time will vary based on size of loaf; if you make smaller loaves or rolls, decrease the time. I bake rolls for 25 minutes (18 rolls in muffin tins).　耐熱のマグカップに水を半分ぐらい入れて、天板の生地の隣に置く。　オーブンの下段に入れて、20分焼く。　パンの向きを変えて、15分位、きつね色になるまで焼く。　パンのサイズやオーブンによって違うので、注意。　テーブルロールを焼く場合は25分位で焼けます。

9. Remove the bread from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing… then enjoy with your favourite toppings! In our house, my husband is usually watching the timer, bread knife in hand…　パンをオーブンから出して、網の上に移して冷ます。　食べる前に15分以上待ったほうがいいですが、私のうちでは、主人はパンのナイフを持ちながらタイマーとにらめっこです。　

Rolls, baked in a muffin tin.　･　マッフィンの型で焼けたテーブルロール

Suggested schedule

• Morning: remove starter from refrigerator and feed
• 5:00 p.m.: Feed again
• 9:00 p.m.: mix and knead dough
• 9:30 p.m.: first rise
• Next day, 6:30 a.m.: shape loaf/loaves
• 6:45 a.m.: second rise
• 10:30 a.m.: preheat oven
• 10:45 a.m.: bake
• 11:20 a.m.: take out of oven
• 11:35 a.m.: Lunch time!

But actually, the schedule is pretty flexible. You can adjust the times according to your needs.

お勧めのスケジュール

• 朝：種を冷蔵庫から出して、餌をやる
• 17:00　餌をやる
• 21:00　生地を作ってこねる
• 21:30　一次発酵
• 次の日、6:30　こねて形を作る
• 6:45　二次発酵
• 10:30　オーブン予熱
• 10:45　焼く
• 11:20　オーブンから出す
• 11:35　いただきます！

しかし、スケジュールは自由なので、ご自分の予定にあわせてどうぞ！


**Please go to this page for variations! (Coming soon!) バリエーションはここに書いてあります。（少々お待ち下さい。）

Part 1: My Sourdough Bread Story  ・　天然酵母のパンのストーリー
Part 2: Making and Caring for Sourdough Starter　・　天然酵母の種作りと種の世話
Part 3: Sourdough Pancakes ・ サワードー・ホットケーキ

Teamwork

Today’s coffee: I think I had a couple cups at the bazaar… and I think I had some with breakfast too…

Tired. Today was the church bazaar. It wasn’t really as long of a day as I thought it would be (9:00-4:00); the preparations took much longer (2 days). I think it was the preparations that took it all out of me. I made 5 different snacks: pickled beets, kabocha cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, zucchini cupcakes, lavender shortbread cookies, and mini-quiche. Conveniently it was Keith’s birthday on Thursday, so I made the kabocha cupcakes, Keith’s favourite, for his birthday. :)

My snacks. Do I look tired? I was.

Other than making snacks for sale, my role was to play cello for the guests as they were waiting to go in. I played 2 times through the Bach first suite and prelude of the 3rd suite as well as a couple of requests.

Serenading our guests. There was also a lot of interest in the vegetable table. Yes, this is Hokkaido.

The Wakaba Bazaar has been going on for many years, and it’s rather famous in the neighbourhood. It’s probably our church’s biggest event. It’s an opportunity for everyone to bring friends and neighbours into the church for the first time. When meetings started several months ago to plan and prepare for the bazaar, I noticed a major difference between Wakaba and the various churches I have attended in the US: everyone was expected to help out. Church members and staff, regular attenders, loosely connected family and friends, everyone. There was no escape. ;) I felt like I spent a lot of time today standing around doing nothing, actually. There were plenty of people helping. I suppose just being there and being together was important, even if I felt a little useless.

Setting up the cake table. (Don't you wish you had come?)

Okazu Corner--savory snacks (on the left is Yoko, our landlady)

Bagels, with instructions for how to eat them. We will be having these for breakfast tomorrow.

Keith was in charge for games for kids. (The pastor's daughters made the fish.)

I suppose being able to divide responsibilities is a luxury of a much larger church than Wakaba; on any given Sunday, there are about 35 people at church. And yet even in a much larger church in Japan, I wonder if in the same way, full participation would be expected at a major church event. In the West, we tend to value the individual over the group, whereas in Japan, the group tends to be valued over the individual.

A few weeks ago at the fujinkai (women’s meeting), we spent most of the time discussing how to invite participation from a few members who rarely come or who don’t stay for coffee or lunch or meetings after the service. If everyone isn’t participating, it seems like there’s a sense of unease even among the central members. I’m not sure I understand completely; for me, sometimes “trying to include that socially-awkward person” unfortunately feels more like an obligation—something good Christians are supposed to do—than restoring that person to his or her place in the Church, God’s family, and thus bearing witness to God’s glory through our unity and love for one another. Maybe this is a lesson I need to learn from my Japanese sisters.

This isn’t easy; sometimes people struggle to participate in the manner expected of them. Perhaps those members who were the subject of conversation at the fujinkai need to be allowed to participate on their own terms, although I'm not sure what that would look like. I think here in Japan there are a lot of expectations which are difficult to fulfill, in the church as well as in society in general. I pray that in Japan, the church will be a place where anyone and everyone can find a home.